Institutional Development of Croatian Vocational Education Policy

Abstract

The absence of an adequate theoretical and conceptual framework dictates that any relevant institutional analysis of Croatian vocational education policy requires a separate, tailor-made explanatory model. Consequently, elements of the political economy of skill formation, a broadly acclaimed conceptual framework, were modified for coding all policy documents governing Croatian vocational education system since the country’s independence. Results of such qualitative analysis indicate that the existing vocational education system is best described as “statism with elements of partial collectivism in training for crafts”; while the dominant mechanism behind it as “layering without affecting the institutional core”. Testing this mechanism could pave the way to a deeper understanding of Croatian vocational education policy; but also, more ambitious comparative research within the context of post-communist societies.