This book is the final report of the Leonardo da Vinci project SPES-NET (Sharpening Post-16 Education Strategies by Horizontal and Vertical Networking), the multiplier-effect project of the earlier Post-16 Strategies project. SPES-NET was carried out in collaboration between fourteen partners representing researchers, policymakers, administrators and teacher educators from thirteen countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Scotland and Spain). The project focussed on European reform strategies adopted with the aim of improving the quality of vocational education and training as regards links between VET and working life, access to higher education, curriculum reform and teacher education. The project was a response to the challenge of identifying a European dimension of parity of esteem between academic/general education and vocational education and training. The SPES-NET project has been carried out with the financial support of the Commission of the European Communities under the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, of the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Institute for Educational Research and the Partners. The project has been managed by Dr Marja-Leena Stenström and coordinated by the Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä.