Between Idealism and Pragmatism: Social Policies and Matthew Effect in Vocational Education and Training for Disadvantaged Youth in Switzerland

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, research shows that less-disadvantaged individuals more frequently access social policy schemes when compared to their more-disadvantaged counterparts, a phenomenon called the Matthew effect. Through two indepth case studies, based on 60 semi-directive interviews, and document analysis, this study aims to more fully understand the mechanisms leading to a Matthew effect in Swiss Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes for disadvantaged youth. Indeed, education is key to post-industrial labour markets access, and VET appears to facilitate schoolto-work transitions. A Matthew effect in this policy field might thus lead to particularly detrimental repercussions, and public authorities should be especially eager to contain it. Nevertheless, findings show that, under certain conditions, decision-makers push frontline-workers into cream-skimming practices, causing a Matthew effect. Additionally, structural challenges also lead to a Matthew effect, highlighting the general difficulty of the very mandate: (re-)inserting highly disadvantaged individuals into selective markets. Indeed, in contexts of tight public budgets, service oriented modern Welfare States tread a fine line between empowering and prioritising beneficiaries. Dealing with complex target groups, it seems crucial whether the rationale driving public authorities is more oriented towards credit-claiming or problem-solving: the former increasing and the latter decreasing the incidence of Matthew effects.

Double Burden of Disability and Poverty: Does Vocational Rehabilitation Ease the School‐to‐Work Transition?

“…The current support system seems to fulfill the complex needs of poor young people and those with psychological disabilities to a lesser extent than those of other YPWD. Thus, our findings are in line with those of Pisoni (2018), as some of the young people most in need of support are unable to benefit from social policy programs, reflecting a Matthew effect within the target group. Therefore, the state support system must also be researched in more detail to provide suitable individual holistic support approaches.…”

Do Disadvantaged Young Adults Benefit Less from Social Investment? Studying Matthew Effects in Activation Measures

“…Cantillon, 2011;Van Lancker & Ghysels, 2012), only a few of them have specifically dealt with almp. Pisoni (2018) found that programme allocation in Switzerland is based on caseworker's expectations of the success a welfare recipient can achieve during and after participation. She argued this is affected by performance quotas for caseworkers, which provide an incentive to select participants with higher success probabilities.…”

Bringing firms on board. Inclusiveness of the dual apprenticeship systems in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark

“…There are no such measures at the federal level. However, some cantons have developed schemes where disadvantaged youth who obtain an apprenticeship place are then coached for the duration of the apprenticeship (see Dif‐Pradalier, Rosenstein, & Bonvin, ; Pisoni, ). Other examples of cantonal efforts to support and integrate socially disadvantaged youths are inter‐enterprise training networks with an integration mission (Leeman & Imdorf, ; Leeman, Da Rin, & Imdorf, ), where the public lead agency recruits the apprentices and allocates them to participating firms (who have the right to veto the apprentices, see BBT, , p. 11).…”