ABSTRACT
After a long time of relative neglect, vocational education in the Netherlands has become a much debated issue. By the end of the seventies, discrepancies between the demands of the labour market and qualifications obtained in vocational education became apparent. Transition from education to the labour market became a matter of concern, just like the relevance of qualifications, the flexibility of the schools and the high rates of early school leavers. In the eighties, the economic situation in the Netherlands slightly improved. However, the number of unemployed and, among them, juvenile unemployed, remained high. At the same time, technological change, asking for higher qualifications, and demographic changes, leading to a decline in newcomers on the labour market, led to a growing concern about the possibilities for providing enough (future) qualified workers. This paradoxical situation led to policy efforts both to upgrade the workforce and the unemployed on the one hand, and to provide as many qualified school leavers as possible on the other.
