In this article we discuss vocational education in Sweden against the backdrop of the changing nature of industrial relations in the period from ca 1910 to 1975. Drawing upon evidence from official inquiries and case studies of two industries (forest industry and shipbuilding), we show that Sweden in the 1940s and 1950s can be described as a collective skill formation system in the making, where firms, intermediary associations, and the state cooperated around vocational education and training. However, Sweden developed in a very different direction than similar countries. We argue that this remarkable change of trajectory cannot be understood without considering the simultaneous disintegration of the model of industrial relations, along with general changes in the system of education.