
Vocational Education andTrainingSystems inNine Countries OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training Vocational Educationand Training Systemsin Nine Countries This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed andarguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD. This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty overany territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. ISBN 978-92-64-60594-7 (print)ISBN 978-92-64-97462-3 (PDF)ISBN 978-92-64-56616-3 (HTML) OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and TrainingISSN 2077-7728 (print)ISSN 2077-7736 (online) Photo credits:Cover © BGStock72/Shutterstock.com. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/support/corrigenda.html.© OECD 2025 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Attribution– you must cite the work.Translations– you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text:In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and thetranslation, only the text of the original work should be considered valid.Adaptations– you must cite the original work and add the following text:This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed inthis adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.Third-party material– the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and forany claims of infringement.You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shallbe Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one. Foreword Vocational education and training (VET) at the upper-secondary level remains the heart of VET systemsaround the world, representing the bulk of VET enrolments in most countries. Itcomprisesprogrammesthat are predominantly school-based, as well as programmes with a substantial element of work-basedlearning. Upper-secondary VET offers lower-secondary graduates the opportunity to develop labourmarket relevant skills, alongside more general and transversalskills. It also typically enables learners toaccess higher levels of education and training. Upper-secondary VET serves young people in initialeducation, as well as adults who are looking for opportunities to upskill or reskill in responseto evolvingskills needs. While upper-secondary VET is a well-established component of most education systems, its design andimplementation differs across countries.This report describes upper-secondary VET systems acrossseven dimensions in nine countries, providing an up-to-date and detailed evidence base on similarities anddifferences between upper-secondary VET systems around the world. The dimensions analysed are:1)VET’s place in the education system and pathways into andafterVET; 2)curriculum and assessment;3)work-based learning in school-based programmes; 4)provider types; 5)VET teachers and trainers’qualifications and professional development; 6)governance; and 7)funding.This report describes theseelements of upper-secondary VET systems in: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany,theNetherlands,Norway, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.As VET commences in post-secondary education inSingapore, ISCED4 level VET is the focus of the Singapore chapter. This report was drafted byBen Game and Abigail Sageevfrom the OECD Centre for Skills, under thesupervision ofMarieke Vandeweyer (manager of the VET team)andElIza Mohamedou(Head of theCentre for Skills). The report has benefited from comments provided by Mark Pearson (Deputy Director forEmployment, Labour and Social Affairs),Malgorzata Kuczera andcolleaguesfrom the OECD Centre forSkills, as well as the Group of National Experts (GNE) on VET.Administrative and editorial assistance wasprovided by Jennifer Cannon, along with Kris Virsilas and Alexandra Kolb, from the OECD Centre for Skills. The OECD is grateful for thefinancialsupportofthe Gatsby Charitable Foundationfor this project, and forthe guidance and feedback provided byNatasha Watkinson and Jenifer Burden. The OECD is grateful tocolleagues inthe countries covered in this report who provided feedback on the chapters. Table of contents 3 Foreword