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

This paper analyses the policy learning and transfer processes in Spain and Italy regarding the reform of the vocational and education and training (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 both country cases, both likely derived from a strong administrative culture with little exposure to results’ evaluation as the main barriers to innovation. At the same time, amidst rising levels of youth unemployment, pressures for change of VET systems intensified in the crisis in both countries. The paper analyses the dynamics of change evidencing learning and transfer processes and the prevalence of institutional rigidity and path dependency traits. The paper is divided into three sections. The first one establishes the analytical framework. The second examines the institutional design of the Spanish and Italian VET systems with a comparative perspective and considers the reforms undertaken. The third and final section discusses the policy learning and policy transfer processes in both countries. The paper closes by gathering the main findings on the recent evolution of both VET systems and by providing tentative policy recommendations for future reform.