Dual vocational education: Evolution of actors’ network on twitter

Abstract

In 2012, Dual Vocational Education and Training was one of the main measures introduced in Spain with the main purpose of taking on the high rates of youth unemployment. Its development and implementation process are characterised by regional diversity and by the participation of a wide range of actors. However, the evolution of the relationships between and among actors in the field of Dual Vocational Education and Training in Spain has not yet been explored through network analysis. It is an emergent and increasing perspective in the field of international education research. Using social network analysis, this article explores the evolution over time of the activity and the formation of the actors’ network who debated on #fpdual on Twitter during the period between 2011 and 2019. The results revealed three different periods: the initial phase, the rapid increase and the consolidation of the activity in the debate. These periods show different trends in the incorporation of actors to the debate, ranging from a greater prominence of educational individual actors to a proliferation of the fields and the level they belong to. Companies, and particularly foundations, are prominent and occupy a central place in the network, both in terms of their production and the attention received. These findings could have significant implications when drawing future lines of research in relation to the governance of the Dual Vocational Education and Training subsystem in Spain.