Philipp Grollmann

International perspectives on teachers and lecturers in technical and vocational education

This publication examines the history and current status of teaching in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in several different countries from around the world. It presents studies of the profiles of teachers and lecturers and their educational practices in the following countries: Germany, Brazil, Denmark, China, France, Japan, Norway, Russia, Turkey, the UK and the USA. Each chapter covers the historical development of the TVET profession for that country, the current situation and teacher education arrangements. The chapters are as follows: TVET teachers: an endangered species or professional innovation agents? / Philipp Grollmann and Felix Rauner; TVET teachers in Brazil / Beatrice Laura Carnielli, Candido Alberto Gomes and Clelia de Freitas Capanema; China???s TVET teachers and their professionalization / Ziqun Zhao and Lianwei Lu; The professional situation and training of vocational teachers in Denmark / Soren P. Nielsen; Teachers of technical and vocational education in France / Vincent Troger and Wolfgang Horner; TVET teachers and instructors in Germany / Waldemar Bauer; The development and present situation of vocational and technical teachers??? professions in Japan / Moriki Terada; Technical and vocational education and its teacher training in Norway / Anne-Lise Hostmark Tarrou and Icara da Silva Holmesland; Vocational teachers in Russia / Wolfgang Hellwig; TVET teachers and lecturers in Turkey / Ferdi Boynak and Mustafa Meral; Perspectives on teachers of vocational and technical education in the UK / Norman Lucas; Career and technical teaching and teacher education in the United States of America / Richard L. Lynch and Sheila K. Ruhland.

Exploring innovative apprenticeship: quality and costs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the quality of learning in German apprenticeships can be increased without raising costs under certain conditions. It starts with a contextual description of apprenticeship in the dual system, showing that this insight is of central importance, since employers in Germany are increasingly withdrawing from apprenticeship provision.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a case study‐methodology and shows one selected case out of 24 presented. The selected case is then related to the findings of the other cases explored.Findings – The findings in the paper imply that quality of apprenticeships can be improved without an increase in costs, challenge the classical economics of apprenticeship. “Grounded” indicators of quality in apprenticeship are formulated: learning in productive work processes is a core characteristic of apprenticeships; the productive work apprentices engage in needs to follow a well thought through sequential logic; learning is based o...

Professional Competence as a Benchmark for a European Space of Vocational Education and Training.

Purpose – The papers aim is to present a critical review of the current European process of co‐operation in VET with a special view to the European Qualification Framework and its competence orientation.Design/methodology/approach – The approach reviews the official documentation and the consultation process and a contrastive analysis of the state of the art of research and developments in VET.Findings – In order to make European VET a direct contribution to the revised Lisbon agenda, a more concise shared vision with regard to the processes and structures of vocational education might be needed.Research limitations/implications – It does not seem possible logically and pragmatically to fully abstract from the processes in which competence is acquired and in which it is going to be used.Practical implications – Research and development activities in the European Union should be integrated towards an agenda that covers structures, conditions and processes of learning for the world of work.Originality/valu...

TVET Teachers: an Endangered Species or Professional Innovation Agents?

This chapter introduces this book by compiling some comparative results across the individual chapters in this book. First the context is introduced by underlining the significance of teachers for the future workforce and secondly by reducing the variety of existing TVET-systems technical and vocational education and training to four ideal-typical ways of organising the school-to-work transition. In the third step, some findings from the individual chapters are highlighted and some comparisons are drawn and embedded with results of other transnational research projects. In the fourth step the main findings are summarised and some prospective conclusions are drawn.

The 'Europeanisation' of Vocational Education between Formal Policies and Deliberative Communication

This article deals with current European policies of vocational education and training, namely the Copenhagen Process, the Open Method of Coordination and the framework of the Lisbon Agenda. The analysis shows that there is no standard European path of achieving the Lisbon Goals, but rather that there are considerable variations depending on the prevailing VET systems and the respective VET policy. Two antagonistic scenarios on the possible effects of the current activities to implement a European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), and the European Qualification Framework (EQF) are sketched. The best and worse case scenarios can be used to assess the current national activities to improve the quality of European VET systems and stimulate processes of discursive communication. The concluding section outlines some prospects of a European VET policy by utilising the presented findings and proposes some cornerstones of a European VET policy aiming at improving the teaching and learning processes. It is argued that the coherence of policies formulated through the so-called Lisbon Goal is not mirrored in concurrent European policies of VET and that more ‘deliberative’ processes of communication between different actors in VET spanning from the level of practice to the level of European policies are needed in order to truly ‘Europeanise’ VET in Europe.

Structuring IT qualifications: lessons from the German case

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide research findings on learning and the structuring of qualifications in the IT‐sector in Germany and relate this to the international discussion on the structuring of qualifications for the IT‐industry.Design/methodology/approach – The article is based on desk research as regards the international discussion. The empirical findings stem from a standardised survey and case studies on learning in the IT sector within Germany and analysis of supplementary studies.Findings – Two general approaches can be distinguished: one based on coherent occupational profiles and one based on market‐driven smaller unit certificates. The German system can be interpreted as a hybrid. It includes elements of both, thus allowing for a direct comparison of the two approaches. The empirical findings illustrate an acceptance problem. The study also suggests that work process‐oriented learning is not always sufficient to generate the necessary competences required for new tasks, t...

Methods and Instruments for the Evaluation and Monitoring of Vocational Education and Training Systems: A Basis for Evidence-Based Policy Making?

There is an increasing demand for methods and instruments that assist vocational education and training (VET) experts in taking stock of the state of VET systems. In international advisory services VET experts are asked to recommend appropriate measures to policy makers. The increased demand results from the call for more ‘evidence-based’ decision-making in policy that can be heard across all domains in which public policies intervene (see Young & Mendizabal, 2009). Under the regime of new public management and an increased attention of stakeholders to efficient public spending, the quality of policy decisions and their foundations are under permanent scrutiny (Slavin, 2002). The notion of an ‘evidence-based policy making’ has also found its way into the discourse on international cooperation and advisory services in VET. In this introduction we want to ask how far the call for more evidence in this sphere is mirrored by the existing inventory of methods and tools and how far the demand for more evidence is appropriate to the topic. At first glance existing methods and instruments can be applied in order to obtain a systems overview, to recognise strengths and weaknesses and also to identify possible areas for system development and improvement. However, up to now no overview of such instruments exists. Therefore, with the title ‘Research meets Advisory Service’ an international expert workshop was conducted in December 2009 in Konigswinter by BIBB (Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Germany), bringing together experts from international and national organisations that develop or use such tools. Papers for the workshop were selected through a blind review process according to their scientific quality and their contribution to the following questions: • How do we know what is needed for the further development of a VET system? • Which measures are in place for VET system analysis? • What kinds of indicators and benchmarks are in use in controlling the ‘status quo’ or development towards certain targets? • What mechanisms are in place for peer review and peer learning? • Why is one approach chosen instead of another? • Which results are to be expected and how can we monitor them?