Modular Vocational Education and Training in Scotland and The Netherlands: between specificity and coherence

Modularisation has frequently been advocated as a means to reform and modernise vocational education and training, to make it more flexible and responsive to economic, technological and social change, to take more account of individual differences and needs, and to improve its coherence and efficiency as a system. In this article developments in modularising vocational education and training in two countries-Scotland and The Netherlands-are compared. The analysis is restricted to modular initiatives within initial vocational education and training at a non-advanced level (that is at craft/technician level). Features and developments of the modular system in both countries seem to be closely related to strategies chosen to deal with the need to offer customised vocational (that is specific) training for various client groups, which at the same time does not limit opportunities for progression and transfer-the coherence of the system. In confronting the modular systems and strategies with these somewhat contradictory needs this comparative analysis draws on two perspectives: a sociological and a psychological, educationallearning theory. From these perspectives it might be argued that collaboration and/or certain characteristicsof modular vocational training offer a way out of the quandary of 'specificity' versus 'coherence'.