Reforming VET Policies during the Crisis in Spain: What Mix of Policy Learning and Policy Transfer?

This paper constitutes an analysis of the institutional aspects and social learning processes influencing exposure to new information, knowledge management and policy change in Spain regarding the reform of the VET system during the crisis. Barriers to and triggers of policy innovation and knowledge transfer in the overall institutional governance architecture are of particular interest. Institutional rigidity and path dependency are two salient characteristics of policy change in the Spanish case, both likely derived from a strong administrative culture with little exposure to results’ evaluation as the main barriers to innovation. However, research results suggest that a consideration of the effort put by Spain throughout the economic crisis may render the ‘sub-protective’ comparative tag as somehow misleading in that it underplays the systemic concern about and the associated efforts to reduce the risks among the young in transition. The paper is divided into three sections. The first one establishes the analytical framework. The second examines the institutional design of the Spanish VET system from a comparative perspective and considers the reforms undertaken. The third and final section discusses the social learning/social transfer processes. The paper closes by gathering the main findings on the recent evolution of the Spanish VET system and by providing tentative policy recommendations for future reform.