Norwegian higher vocational education: Between academic drift and labour market relevance

Norway has been characterised as a hesitant and slow reformer in higher vocational education (HVE) reform policies. However, a shift can be identified, where HVE has moved from a residual position towards the centre of policy attention. Policies have gradually picked up speed, and there is a turn towards upskilling and labour market relevance policies expanding access to new and more advanced forms of practically oriented types of vocational education and training (VET). The unprecedented growth of Norwegian HVE have created new political controversies and tensions. The systematics of developments and drivers in higher vocational education have not been much explored. We have analysed the structuring of HVE as an organisational field in a Norwegian setting, focusing on three different mechanisms: coercive isomorphy, mimetic isomorphy, and normative isomorphy. We have identified two different types of isomorphic pressure: academic drift and labour market relevance, and their inter-action in the structuring of advanced practical forms of education and training. We argue that the structuring of Norwegian HVE should be interpreted as a sharpening of the labour market relevance profile in Norwegian education rather than academic drift.