This section provides a short history of Austria’s skill formation system up to the 1970s, when the consolidation of its central institutional tenets was large- ly completed. This historical sketch focuses on the historical roots of full- time vocational schooling to explain why in Austria full-time school-based VET plays a different and more dominant role than is the case in Germany or Switzerland. Moreover, this historical analysis of the specific role of full-time vocational schooling in Austria serves to illustrate the complexity of the institutional divide between VET and HE in Austria.
Dual apprenticeship training, which was originally organized entirely by the guilds and craft organizations, has the longest tradition, which stretches back to the 12th century (e.g., Gruber and Ribolits, 1997: 19). However, the first cornerstones of the modern Austrian education system were laid during the enlightened absolutist monarchy in the era of the French Revolution (Engelbrecht, 1984), when the first high-level VET institutes were estab- lished by the state and on various private initiatives. The first such institutes were founded under the reign of Maria Theresia in the second half of the 18th century (Barabasch, Kurz, and Schlögl, 2009) and already included some
vocational programs offering access to HE (Rothe, 2001: 65). Furthermore, reforms inspired by the Austrian politician and school reformer Armand von Dumreicher represented a crucial phase in the institutionalizing of school- based VET (Schermaier, 1999: 133). This late-19th century reform move- ment adopted the French institutions of school-based training as a model and profoundly shaped today’s system of secondary and higher education. Thus, Dumreicher’s reform proposals further promoted the development of a well- organized, centralized vocational schooling system that was institutionalized in Austria between the 1880s and World War I (Gruber and Ribolits, 1997: 27) and also attempted to broadly institutionalize vocational schools to ac- company apprenticeships (which at the time were still provided on a volun- tary basis). Interestingly, one of the Swiss experts stated that the special character of the school-based sector in Austria has also been strongly influ- enced by the historical legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as in Hunga- ry school-based VET played (and plays) a more important role than in the DACH countries:
One word regarding Austria: The fact that they have this double field [dual ap- prenticeship training and full-time vocational schooling, LG] also has to do with their history, because it used to be Austria-Hungary. And from Hungary came these sectors of full-time vocational schooling, while the dual system came from Germany. Thus, this can be explained by the fact that Austria is a leftover-state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. (Interview CH9, translation LG)
While I did not come across this position during my fieldwork in Austria, it seems a plausible claim considering the close ties Austria once had with Hungary and given that the origins of school-based VET reach back to the reign of Maria Theresia (1717–1780), who was Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary.
After World War I and World War II we see periods in which small state corporatism exerts a strong influence on the further institutionalization of the Austrian skill regime. After World War I, Austria lost some of its most eco- nomically developed regions and consequently most of its internal trading partners (Schermaier, 1999: 6). Immediately after World War I, the new republic (First Republic, 1918–1938) was constituted in economically and socially challenging circumstances, with the palpable danger of revolution (Katzenstein, 1984). Crucially, key social regulations of the Austrian social partnership originate from this period of uncertainty. During the succession of different regimes in the interwar period, the apprenticeship system was expanded. In this context, the accompanying part-time school was increasing- ly subjected to local regulation, which laid the groundwork for the influence of the social partners in its governance (Engelbrecht, 1988: 189–197).
The end of World War II, when Austria was reconstituted as an inde- pendent country, signifies another historical breakpoint. Today’s institutional arrangements in education and training as well as social partnership still rest
on agreements representing the socio-political status quo of the postwar era (Pelinka, 1996: 38). Soon after World War II, negotiations started to initiate reforms in the skill formation system, including placing full-time VET schooling under a comprehensive system of federal control. In this context, the Ischler Conferences (Ischler Tagungen) from 1946 to 1952 were especial- ly significant events, for example because the structure of full-time VET schooling was renegotiated on the basis of agreements amongst the system’s collective actors (BMUKK, 2009: 20). The post-World War II period up to the early 1970s represents the “heyday” of Austrian corporatism (see Tálos, 2005: 192; Katzenstein, 1984), in which full-time school-based VET and dual apprenticeship training were brought together within an overarching VET system, albeit as distinct elements.
The period from 1962 to the mid-1970s witnessed an extensive reorgani- zation of the education system, as the profiles of all educational organizations were renewed and policy-makers had to recognize that demand had risen dramatically. The key drivers of parliamentary educational policy were the two main parties, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Social Demo- cratic Party (SPÖ). The School Organization Act (Schulorganisationsgesetz) of 1962 (see Bundesgesetzblatt, 1962) was the product of extended negotia- tions between the political parties and tried to resolve the traditional political conflict about schools by codifying basic organizational structures within constitutional laws. Some observers have argued that this law represents an analogous case to social partnership because of the long-lasting and concert- ed negotiations between the dominant parties, for which the concept of “school partnership” (Schulpartnerschaft) was coined (Pelinka, 1996: 33, 35). At the time, both the ÖVP and SPÖ were interested in reaching a com- promise to prove the viability of the grand coalition (Engelbrecht, 1988: 479). Yet, the road to negotiation had also been paved by constitutional law, meaning that at the time changes to the educational structure could only be made by a two-thirds parliamentary majority (see Engelbrecht, 1998: 19–20). It is during this period that the BHS became institutionalized in its pre- sent-day form. Thus, the Act of 1962 also described the basic tenets of the modern BHS (Bundesgesetzblatt, 1962: 1190–1198). It should, however, be noted that, in line with the long-term historical development of Austrian school-based VET, many of the educational institutes that are today BHSs were created earlier. However, the BHSs were established at different times. For example, the educational institute that eventually became the HTL (BHS) Steyr was originally founded in 1874 (HTL Steyr, 2012) and that of the HTL (BHS) Bregenz in 1908 (HTL Bregenz, 2012). Yet, the BHS that is said to have the oldest historical roots, namely the BHS Spengergasse in Vienna, can be traced back to the founding of the Imperial and Royal Commercial Draw- ing Academy (kaiserlich-königliche Commerzialzeichnungsakademie) by Maria Theresia in 1758 (HTBLVA Wien 5 Spengergasse, 2012).
The above historical sketch shows that the institutionalization of the Aus- trian skill regime involves – in addition to dual apprenticeship training and general academic schooling, which are usually considered as typical for the DACH countries – a strong school-based VET trajectory. Most importantly, the Austrian skill formation system should be understood as a segmented one – with German, French, and possibly Hungarian influences – in which aca- demic education, dual apprenticeship training, and full-time school-based VET have evolved separately. While the deepest institutional divide at upper- secondary level is between dual apprenticeship training and academic sec- ondary schools, full-time school-based VET in the form of the BHS is locat- ed somewhere in between these two different organizational forms. Based on the terminology introduced in Chapter 3, the BHS can be understood as a form of layering at the nexus of dual apprenticeship training and academic schooling. The BHS converts and combines key institutional elements from the fields of VET and academic education and blends them within a hybrid organizational form (see Hybridization Hypothesis and Genesis Scenario II). An example of this hybridity is the possibility of acquiring the double quali- fication of Reife- and Diplomprüfung, and in some cases also the title of Ingenieur. Thus, the hybrid BHS also represents a form of institutional per- meability at the nexus of VET and HE (see also next section).
7.3.2 Phase II (Further Evolution): The BHS as a Key Factor in the