CRADALL, together with the University of Glasgow's GLACIER network, is delighted to host the first of two seminars focusing on VET  These seminars bring together scholars engaged in vocational education, skills formation, and comparative education research. All welcome. See below and attached for moe information. Our second session features Dr Johannes Schmees (University of Derby) who will talk about the use of vocational biographis in comparing international VET contexts and experiences.

Title: Vocational biographies as source for international comparative vocational education!? 

Speaker: Dr Johannes K. Schmees (University of Derby) 

Abstract:

International comparative research in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has traditionally concentrated on institutional structures, governance models, and statistical indicators of performance and participation. While such approaches have generated valuable comparative insights, they often overlook the subjective and experiential dimensions of vocational learning and work. As a result, the lived realities of individuals within diverse TVET systems remain un(der)explored – at least in research that focuses beyond national boundaries. Biographical research o ers a means to address this gap. Established within the social sciences (Lutz, Schiebel & Tuider, 2018) and educational research (Krüger & Marotzki, 2006; Nittel, von Felden & Mendel, 2023), it has also informed TVET studies (Harney & Ebbert, 2006; Pätzold, 2023), illuminating how people interpret their occupational experiences, navigate crises (Bergmann, 2020), engage in workplace learning (Bergmann, Frosch & Dick, 2023), and construct vocational identities (Vonken, 2011). Our project, BioDataBase, aims to expand the methodological foundations of international comparative TVET research by developing an international database of transcribed vocational biographies. Drawing on the insight that ‘biographies point to the structure and the actors that are equally inherent in biographical processes’ (Harney & Ebbert, 2006, p. 414), the project connects subjective narratives to structural features of TVET systems – in particular its enabling and restricting dimensions. It thereby o ers a complementary perspective to comparative approaches focusing on the macro level. Using case material from England and Germany, I demonstrate how this biographical methodology enables international comparison beyond system typologies. By collecting and analysing vocational life stories across di erent occupational fields and countries, the project contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of how institutional structures are experienced, interpreted and shaped by individuals. Ultimately, the BioDataBase project seeks to enrich international TVET research by linking the structural with the subjective – offering new empirical and theoretical foundations for comparative inquiry into vocational education and learning.

About the speaker:

I am Associate Professor at the Institute of Education and Skills, University of Derby. In the academic year of 2025/26, I am also guest professor at Berlin University of Technology. As part of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Research Cluster, my focus is on international and comparative research in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). My research interests include (1) the comparison and description of VET systems, (2) the impact of international organisations and discourses on the development of national VET policies and VET systems around the world and (3) the development of TVET theories. Prior to my current position, I was Postdoctoral Fellow in the Section for Vocational Studies, School Development and Educational Leadership, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, and a Lecturer (Akademischer Rat a. Z.) at the Department of Vocational Education and Training, University of Osnabrück, Germany.