Is there a semiperipheral type of TVET? Conceptualising skills supply and demand in Mexico and Brazil

The paper applies the “world-systems” and the “varieties of capitalism” theories to the analysis of current efforts to expand TVET in Mexico and Brazil. It argues that the direct translation of theories developed in... [ view full abstract ]

The paper applies the “world-systems” and the “varieties of capitalism” theories to the analysis of current efforts to expand TVET in Mexico and Brazil. It argues that the direct translation of theories developed in the central countries to those in the “periphery” and the “semi-periphery” will not help to understand the dynamics of skills supply and demand in these countries. In semiperipheral countries hierarchical, uncoordinated labour relations have fostered the contradiction between the impacts of TVET on accumulation, regulation and legitimation. In Mexico and Brazil national governments struggle to satisfy the growing demands for education and training by setting ambitious national goals in TVET, and passing the responsibility of their achievement to the private sector and to the subnational levels of government. The paper also shows how the quantitative and qualitative deficits in the public provision of TVET resulted in large educational inequalities between social groups and regions in both countries. Furthermore, inequalities in the provision of education and training were exacerbated by an extremely polarized labour market between, on the one hand, a small group of well-paid and high-skilled jobs and, on the other hand, a large group of low-skilled and low-paid jobs that not always are exercised in the formal economy. Drawing on both Anglo-Saxon and Latin American literatures, the paper aims to contribute to the theoretical understanding of the political economy of skills formation not only in Mexico and Brazil but also in other semiperipheral countries.