"Do Different Tracks Lead To The Same Result? On The Impact Of Modern Skill Requirements On Traditional European VET Systems"

Description:

Topic: The level of core qualifications in the sector of European aircraft industry which should be targeted by the related VET systems. A comparative approach to the AIRBUS plants in Germany, France, Spain and UK regarding skill requirements set by the global sector of aircraft industry..

Research question: By which methods is it possible to identify skill requirements on the one hand and the conditions of skill development on the other?

Objective: To show the problems and common approaches to solve them. The problems have been diagnosed by some empirical research on two phenomena:

1. Raw material, technologies and processes are available all over the world - they tend to become the same everywhere. The quality of products and work processes are expected to develop to congruence. This shows an impact on the qualifications required by modern work processes (hypothesis of convergence emerged by universalization).

2. Though there are differences between national ways of qualifying regarding the demands of qualifications there is a high similarity to be identified in the tasks of modern industrial work (hypothesis of a structural reference between tasks and competencies).

We want to explore or discover how the for partners cope with this ambiguous constellation. The structure of the partnership shows a significant European relevance, because it mirrors the exemplary structure of the EADS resp. AIRBUS: The shareholding countries (in alphabetical order) France, Germany, Spain, and the UK represent the four European traditions of VET: France has a school-based one, which consists of vocational profiles, Germany shows the same structure but in combination with a huge regulated private sector, Spain has no regulated system and he UK has a school-based one, too, but none which is bound to vocational profiles. So regarding the systemic level there can't be more differences!On the other hand we have to face powerful tendencies to more resemblance: on global markets all technologies are available and most of the new technologies have a global background themselves. Quality of products and the qualifications to deal with those technologies is expected to be the same all over the world. So the vocational qualifications underlie a new kind of unification. Especially a European company like EADS or AIRBUS producing aircrafts in a transnational and co-operative way has to follow best ways of qualification without regarding primarily the different national systems of VET. This is a need which emerges from the conditions of individual development: successful learning means to fulfil the demands of modern work on modern workplaces. As this is a precondition for the best performance of VET systems there is a possibility to optimize them before the background of different VET systems.

These argument lead to a new conception. We are looking for a basis which allows to identify the implications of competence requirements of modern industrial work processes for VET as well as to evaluate the systemic performance of the methods and means to satisfy those requirements. Most of the methods coming into use by AERONET are approved and theoretically derived in the former project called EVABCOM ("Evaluation of competence development within the milieu of vocational learning").

Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:

Our methodology is based on few hypothesizes which lead to two steps of empirical research. The first step is dedicated to identify the demands of modern skilled work in the sector of the European space and aircraft industry: Competences that are required of skilled workers in relation to work processes can set important standards for vocational education and training - this is the first methodological principle we follow in the AERONET project. The second is related: In a European perspective, the advantage of this approach is that it is fairly independent of a particular national education and training system. Though there are differences between national ways of qualifying regarding the demands of qualifications there is a high similarity to be identified in the tasks of modern industrial work (hypothesis of a structural reference between tasks and competencies). There are two more hypotheses which we assume to cover this idea of reference: A: Raw material, technologies and processes are available all over the world - they tend to become the same everywhere. The quality of products and work processes are expected to develop to congruence. This shows an impact on the qualifications required by modern work processes (hypothesis of convergence emerged by universalisation). In opposition to that we have formulated another hypothesis B: Such tendencies of universalization have to be adapted before they take effect. The basis of any adaptation is given by cultural traditions f. e. expressed in the diversity of school systems and VET (hypothesis of divergence emerged by adaptation). The demands of skilled work we identify by descibing the workplaces in the way be describe the typical tasks to be done there. From these tasks we take one step more to inspect the real working places regarding their relevance for being subject to VET. The second instrumnet of our methodology we make use of evaluation tasks. Instead of analyzing "ready made competencies" and as we are in particular interested in it for improving VET performance the best methodological way seems to be to analyze competencies by observing them in the period of their emergence. Doing so means: to expose those students to competence demands who haven't finish learning by giving them real work tasks as evaluation tasks.

Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:

At first we expect a scheme of two or three task related occupational profiles of European core professions within the sector of the arircarft and space industry. Then we try to identify a kind of best practice in eduaction and training which is related to these tasks and some further qualifications like concept of learning, working and co-operation. The findings of the two year running project should help to establish a real Eurpean vocational profile as well as the optimal way to train it.

References:

• Bremer, Rainer; Arman, Goran; Bergli, Tor; Bremer, Rainer et. al.: Integrated Learning Processes, in: Qualifications for Post-16 Strategies and the German Approach to Paritiy of Esteem, in: Reforming upper Secondary Education in Europe, Lasonen, Johanna (Hrsg.), Jyväskylä 1996, S. 161-168.
• Bremer, Rainer; Employment and higher Education - a Collaborative Investigation across Europe, Brown, Alan; Manning, Sabine (Hrsg.), Tampere 1998, S. 45-63Bremer, Rainer; Developing a modern curriculum for the automobile Industry, in: European perspectives on learning at work - the acquisition of work process knowledge, Fischer, Martin; Boreham, Nick; Nyan, Barry (ed.), Luxembourg 2005, S. 323-338.
• Bremer, Rainer; Haasler, Bernd, Analyse der Entwicklung fachlicher Kompetenz und beruflicher Identität in der beruflichen Erstausbildung, in: Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, H. 2/2004, S. 162-181.
• Bremer, Rainer; Erfassung beruflicher Kompetenzentwicklung und Identitätsbildung im Milieu großindustrieller Berufsausbildung, in: Zeitschrift für Berufs- und Wirtschaftpädagogik, Beiheft 18 (2004), Innovationen und Tendenzen der betrieblichen Berufsbildung, S. 252-261.
• Bremer, Rainer; Kleiner, Michael/Stahl, Reinhold, Das geschäfts- und arbeitsprozeßorientierte Curriculum für Industriekaufleute im Modellversuch GAB und seine didaktische Umsetzung, in: Gramlinger, Franz/Steinemann, Sandra/Tramm, Tade (Hrsg.): Lernfelder gestalten - miteinander Lernen (sic!) - Innovationen vernetzen, Beiträge der 1. CULIK Fachtagung, Paderborn 2004, S. 140-144.

Additional material on the method of Learning Station Analysis is presented below as a powerpoint presentation and in a pdf file together with an overview of vocational training at EADS/Airbus plants in the four countries: