Swedish vocational education and training in massified schooling 1975–2025

This paper elaborates on the Swedish vocational education and training (VET) in massified schooling of 16–19 years old between 1975 and 2025 to show how VET has come to articulate with the institution and ‘grammar’ of the school. Three major education reforms are considered. The findings show a set of institutional responses that furthered massification of the upper-secondary school by incorporating VET. One aspect is the integration on an organizational plane. Another aspect deals with the handling of vocational contents in the standardized curriculum, e.g. through a delayed differentiation of content, its re-packaging and the work component. Altogether, these institutional responses indicate a strong political interest in attracting the young at the same time showing persistent difficulties in reconciling VET with the institution of the school in Sweden, shown in upper-secondary vocational education and training’s fluctuating appeal in the time span.