The Nordic countries are often referred to as a group even though their education systems and training models are very different. The aim of this study is to advance understanding of those differences and compare the developments and organisation of initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Finland and Sweden since the 1990s as examples of school-based models of IVET in statist regimes. The research questions address the following: how these two countries have institutionalised school-based IVET since the 1990s; the kinds of legislative reforms that have been decisive for the construction of school-based IVET; and how the models of school-based IVET in these two countries allow access to higher education and the world of work. The analysis shows the heterogeneity of the statist model of school-based IVET systems in two Nordic countries and underlines differences with respect to school-to-work transitions between IVET and different labour market sectors.