Impulse for the VET column

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Impulse for the VET column

• Flexibility as connecting concept
• ECER Hamburg
• September 2003
• Wil van Esch
• CINOP Policy Research
• The Netherlands

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On the way to the knowledge society

• Industrial
• Standard programs
• Distinction head-hands
• Knowledge and skills more or less closed
• Education and training in one institution
• Differences between students deviation of the
  standard
• Vertical hierarchy

• Knowledge
• Individual learning trajectories
• Head-hands-heart integrated by competences
• Knowledge and skills stream
• Open learning environments
• Differences are the starting point
• Horizontal organisation

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Needed changes in present VET-system

• Opening of a second royal route to higher
  education
• Removal of partitions between the parts of VET
  (prevocational-secondary vocational-higher
  vocational)
• Activation of hidden and wasted talent
• Raising responsivity
• Raising attractiveness VET through career
  building
• Strengthening tailor-made trainings
• Raising external orientation of educational
  institutions
• Raising professionality

4
Impulse regulation

• Aim realisation qualification profit
• Two tracks innovation of contents and
  institutions
• Regulations for 2000 en 2001, continuation for
  2002-2005
• Distribution prevocational-secondary
  vocational-higher vocational 321
• For 2002-2005 2 monitors qualitative and
  quantitative

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Themes education institutions

• Career orientation and guidance
• Programmatic connection
• VET-specific pedagogy and didactic
• Knowledge infrastructure

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Themes Lead bodies

• Improving connection qualification structure
  secondary vocational education with prevocational
  and higher VET
• Strengthening the quality of work-based learning
• Development of a competence-based qualification
  structure

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Definition of flexibility

• All activities meant to optimalize the adjusting
  and specification to characteristics and needs of
  students and clients of prevocational, secondary
  vocational and higher vocational education and
  training

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Figure The wheel of flexibility
Administrative -legal
Organisational and environment
Competence-based VET
Program and curriculum
Professional
Pedadogic- didactic
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Administrative-legal flexibility

• Commission-Boekhoud no central attention
• Important condition for successful implementation

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Organisational and environmental flexibility

• Is Impulse concept central part of strategic
  policy?
• Is Impulse concept translated into operational
  policy?
• Are the Impulse incentives put into action with
  the focus on strengthening the concept of career
  building and the transition within VET?
• Is the environmental potential (schools, trade
  and business, lead bodies, others) used as a
  source for the realisation of the Impulse
  concept?
• Do the lead bodies promote the transition within
  VET?

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Flexibility of programs and curriculum

• Are training programs constructed taking into
  account the wishes and needs of students and
  clients (trade and business)?
• Are there connections between attainment goals of
  the parts of the VET-column?
• What do these connections look like
  (comparison-integration)?
• Are there connections between the parts
  concerning work-based learning?
• Are there possibilities for flexible access,
  flexible transfer en flexible testing?

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Pedagogic-didactic flexibility

• Is there competence-based learning and training
  VET-wide?
• Is there a competence-based education approach
  VET-wide?
• Is there a longitudinal career building?

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Professional flexibility

• Is professionalism aimed at strengthening the
  career and column concept a central part of the
  professionalism policy of VET-institutions and
  Lead bodies?
• Are there connections between the parts within
  VET concerning this professionalism?

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Results concerning environmental flexibility

• Impulse regulation has stimulated the cooperation
  between VET-institutions and between these and
  other institutions in the region
• The cooperation with trade and business though is
  very difficult
• Cooperation mostly bilateral
• The cooperation is concentrated at the transition
  prevocational-secondary VET and less at secondary
  VET-higher education. Higher VET is mainly
  directed at general secondary education
• Cooperation mainly at strategic level

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Results concerning organisational flexibility

• The Impulse concept is mostly part of the
  strategic policy of institutions
• There are big differences between the
  stage-management
• The approach of radical innovations (such as
  integrated, longitudinal learning trajectories)
  is by way of pilots
• Often here the greatest bottlenecks engaging
  personnel difficult because of the late
  publication of the regulation, priority at
  primary process, difficult to arrange
  substitution of personnel

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Results concerning programmatic and curricular
flexibility

• In terms of the innovation cycle most activities
  are in the stage of development a lot is sowed,
  harvesting still has to begin
• Reconstruction of programs and curricula from a
  competence-based angle
• Enormous variety from orientation and exploring
  to completely integrated, longitudinal learning
  trajectories
• Most qualification profit to be reached at
  trainings which have a lot in common

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Results concerning pedagogic-didactic flexibility

• Here too mostly in the initial stage
• There is a longer tradition
• Here and there successful implementation
• Longitudinal apprenticeship and work-based
  learning very rarely

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Stimulating and impeding factors

• Stimulating factors
• Sharing of knowledge through cooperation and
  networking
• Clear frameworks
• Bottom up approach
• Adequate organisational and financial conditions
• Adequate project management
• Linking up with running innovations
• Looking for regional nearness
• Culturel aspects

• Impeding factors
• Law and regulations
• Image forming
• Relation with trade and business more difficult
  in economic heavier times
• Complexity in content and regional complexity
• Complexity of broad, multilateral networks of
  cooperation