Exploring vet policy making: the policy borrowing and learning nexus in relation to plurinational states—the Basque case

Abstract

The contrasting conceptions of policy borrowing and policy learning processes in relation to education and skills have been widely debated. Nevertheless, most analyses have focused on nation states and, subsequently, cases of sub-sections of a state have been insufficiently considered. This article examines the process of modernisation of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system in the Basque region of Spain since the 1980s. This article concludes that, although a National Qualifications Frameworks-like conception was introduced in the region, the prevailing neoliberal thinking of policy borrowing of reforms was not applied. Rather, the relatively high level of autonomy from the state provided the opportunity for policy innovation in VET. It will be argued that the particular policy borrowing/learning balance helped develop a collective capacity for policy learning and change that still remains and that explains the region’s advancement in raising the overall quality and status of VET. The following process from which this differentiated VET model emerged within the state merits an interest in plurinational systems of governance seeking to better adapt general policies to particular circumstances and socio-political environments.