Articles

This article deals with governance structures and practices in the field of vocational education and training. Based on the focus chapter of the National Education Report 2024, the field of vocational education and training is initially interpreted broadly, including vocational orientation, vocational training, higher education and continuing vocational education and training. Following an outline of the international governance debate, the governance structures and practices in the field of vocational education and training are presented. The paper concludes by outlining how the conceptual instruments of governance research could be used to empirically assess the functionality of the governance of vocational education and training.

Why are children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) substantially less likely to be enrolled in child care? We study whether barriers in the application process work against lower-SES children — the group known to benefit strongest from child care enrollment. In an RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care (N = 607), we offer treated families information and personal assistance for applications. We find substantial, equity-enhancing effects of the treatment, closing half of the large SES gap in child care enrollment. Increased enrollment for lower-SES families is likely driven by altered application knowledge and behavior. We discuss scalability of our intervention and derive policy implications for the design of universal child..