The history of VET in the Nordic countries tends to either focus on education for male students only, or on the professional higher education for women such as nurses. Even in the 21st century, the 1970s are mentioned as the time when women entered the labor market as a consequence of societal industries (kindergartens, hospitals). The aim for this paper is to complement the existing picture of VET as a purely male form for education, related to agriculture, industry/technology, craft and trading. A further aim is to describe VET for women that was closely related to a labor market for women that developed in the early 20th century. The concept of TVET suggests an even closer association to male vocational education as T stands for technical. In parallel to VET for male student, women’s VET developed in the fields household, caring, textile work and trading. In these areas technical development was a central but not an obvious part of women´s vocational education. For instance, new technical inventions like kitchen equipment for commercial kitchen and food industry, as well as for private households required transformation of knowledge. Historically, women’s work in these areas contributed significantly to the production and economic development in the society, but also to women's access to participation in the public. However, while the history of VET and TVET for male students has received extensive attention in research within various disciplines, VET for female students is scarcely researched and the technical aspects even more so.

 In this paper we explore the Swedish umbrella concept domestic education as a point of departure for a discussion of the multiple vocations that this concept represented and thereby also hid. We focus on how the different vocational educations within this area contributed to qualifying women for a labor market in transition: through expansion, differentiation and specialization, intertwined with technical development. This is in line with how cultural historical activity theory emphasizes that changes in tools and rules contribute to changing societal activities over time. This development shows how female competence contributed to societal development during the 20th century. We also argue that education for women in the 1970s was a consequence of changed relations between individuals, families and society that can be identified through analyzing the VET for women in the early 20th century.

The policies and strategies for the integration of immigrants into the Swedish labour market and society evolved considerably between the mid-1900s and early 2000s. While it could be reasonably claimed that there was a similar line of development in many other countries, the Swedish case has particularities that could well be associated with aspects of the welfare state and a traditional concern with social integration. From a historical perspective, this chapter analyses some of the core features of this development and examines questions such as how perceptions about work, education and integration have evolved. In relation to the first decades of the twenty-first century, the cases presented depict a new reality and a diversity of approaches that, it is argued, enrich the process of integration of immigrants into the labour market and society. This chapter will shed more light on the relationship between migration and societal change. In this investigation, the relationship between work, vocation and education is of particular interest. The chapter will also demonstrate how the changing character of this relationship can be understood as part of the idea structures of integration. Even though the analysis relates primarily to a Swedish context, it may be relevant to other national settings.

The presentation in this paper is based on a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council. The focus of this study is to examine the role that vocational education and training (VET) played and still plays in relation to the challenges that stem/ed from structural changes and immigration that Sweden has experienced from the 1950s to today. From the mid-1800s to the 1990s, Sweden experienced major structural changes: a shift from an agrarian economy, to and industrial based economy and labour market and finally to a post-Fordist knowledge intensive economy and labour market. In this study, we investigate how VET responded to labour market needs that resulted in the shift from industrial economy and labour market to a post- industrial labour market. In addition, the focus is on the role that VET play/ed in the inclusion of immigrants/refugees from the 1950s to today.

The project is grounded on frame factor theory as presented by Lundgren (1989). The project consists of two interrelated studies: a historical study of VET and the changes in the VET system from the 1950s to today and two interview studies. The historical study will examine how the delivery and provision of VET has changed over time because of structural changes and immigration, and the role VET has played in the inclusion of immigrants to the labour market from the 1950s to today. In this study we will also look at changes in the organization and curriculum of the car mechanic vocational training from the 1950s to 2020. The historical study will not only shed light on how VET respond(ed) to structural changes and inclusion of immigrants in the Swedish work life from the 1950s to today but will also help to contextualize the interview studies and enrich our analysis of the interviews.

En vanlig föreställning om kvinnors yrkesutbildning i Sverige är att den instiftades under 1970-talet, då den sociala sektorn med vård och barnomsorg byggdes ut i stor skala och yrkesutbildningen integrerades i gymnasieskolan. De utbildningar som numera utgör en del av högre utbildning har uppmärksammats i forskningen, medan den grundläggande yrkesutbildning för kvinnor som växte fram under 1800-talets senare hälft i huvudsak är osynlig. Detta kan åtminstone delvis förklaras med att dessa utbildningar inte erkänts som yrkesutbildningar. Redan på 1860-talet grundades hushållsskolor i de nordiska länderna och blev snabbt etablerade. Hushållsskolorna erbjöd specialiseringar till flera yrken och kom därmed att fungera som ett slags paraply för utbildning till olika yrkesområden. De husliga utbildningarna har således haft en avgörande betydelse för kvinnors yrkesutbildning i Sverige.  

I denna bok beskrivs kvinnliga yrkesutbildningar inom områdena hushåll, textil, omvårdnad och estetik. De flesta av de nio artiklarna berör förhållanden i Sverige, men även nordiska utblickar förekommer. Varje artikel bidrar med en historisk skildring av antingen en utbildning eller ett utbildningsområde från olika tidsperioder. Några artiklar fokuserar på yrkeskunnande och yrkeslärande, medan andra betonar mer övergripande strukturella aspekter på utbildning för kvinnor. Sammantaget ger antologin en bred bild av de kunskapstraditioner och yrkesutbildningar som format kvinnors yrkeskunnande.     

Denna artikel handlar om hur utbildningar som historiskt riktades till kvinnor kom att formeras i förhållande till samhällelig utveckling. Den studerade tidsperioden sträcker sig från 1800-talet till efterkrigstidens framväxande välfärds­stat. Översiktligt behandlas tre huvudområden inom kvinnors yrkesut­bildning: hushåll, textil och vård. Kapitlet ger en bild av de samhälleliga behov och motiv som utbildning för kvinnor blev en del av. 

Ett verksamhetsteoretiskt perspektiv synliggör kvinnors tidiga yr­kesutbildningar som en viktig del i flera betydande samhällsprocesser, som fattigdomsbekämpning, arbetsmässig differentiering och social­politik. Kvinnors yrkesutbildning kan också kopplas till förskjutningar av ansvar för grundläggande behov från individen och kärnfamiljen till samhällsinstitutioner samt för produktion och privatekonomi i relation till samhällsekonomisk utveckling. Trots detta är det ett föga studerat område. Med denna ingång söker artikeln, mot bakgrund av utredningar och befintlig forskning, föreslå nya utgångspunkter för en yrkesutbildningshistorisk forskning som i större utsträckning inklude­rar kvinnors yrkesutbildning.

The history of VET in the Nordic countries tends to either focus on education for male students only, or on the education of nurses, today part of higher education. The 1970s are mentioned as the time when women entered the labor market as a consequence of societal industries (kindergartens, hospitals). Early VET for male students was related to agricultural work, or to technology, industrial work, or craft. We argue that this also applies for early VET for women: their work within agriculture contributed significantly to the production and economic development in the society. 

In this paper we discuss how vocational educations, historically aimed at women, came to be shaped in relation to societal development. With analytical focus on societal motives and contradictions we will show how women’s VET significantly contributed to societal production and household finances but also how these educations were developed in relation to advancements within natural sciences and socioeconomic development. We use examples from three sectors: the domestic, textile, and the health care/social care sectors.

This article argues that women’s vocational education needs to be viewed in relation to the development of vocational education and training (VET) more broadly. The history of women’s VET is also a history of the term “women’s education” itself and how, almost a century after it was introduced, this term is hardly used. Instead, we see gendered vocations and vocational programmes that predominantly recruit women.

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the rise and fall of VET specifically targeting women in Finland and Sweden, in particular the kind of VET described in educational policy during the 20th century as education that was predestined for women. What societal motives underpinned the establishment and development of domestic education as VET? How can we understand the dismantling of education targeting women? Our primary sources are government inquiries concerning VET for women and previous research in this field. We argue that the reasons for the development of women’s VET reflect not only how certain social groups understood societal needs at the time, but that developing VET was a response to the increasingly significant but complex roles women played in the public arena.dv

This article explores ways of creating educational capital in vocational education and training in Sweden during a period in the early 20th century when vocational learning was first institutionalised as education. As such, at the same time it had to create itself and submit to the established educational system. This process is the focus of the article; it is examined by using concepts from Bourdieu’s capital-theory. In this perspective, vocational education and training as an educational form is considered part of the field of education. However, the main focus of the analysis is the newly formed education for vocational learning as a field of vocational education where a particular vocational educational capital was created. The aim is to illuminate ways of creating vocational education capital by borrowings, crossovers and reinventions of values from two traditions of learning and knowledge production: apprenticeship in the guilds and education in academia. The symbols from both crafts and academia were passed on into the early VET system through its institutions and actors. It materialised in titles, artefacts and rituals that that are presented in archives, journals and school memorial books.