Workplace Trainers and their organisational contexts in companies

Author(s):

Anke Bahl

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 07.5 A, Enterprise Learning and Recruitment

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-29

17:15-18:45

Room:

HG, HS 23

Chair:

Andreas Saniter

Contribution

Improving the quality of teaching and training is at the heart of the Lisbon Agenda and teachers and trainers as a target group play a key role in Europe. To plan adequate measures of support for them, it is essential to know about the structural circumstances they encounter at their work places. Some studies have been conducted on teachers in general education but there has been little research on VET personnel, and even less about the role and situation of VET trainers in companies. Workplace trainers offering initial training as part of a dual approach in VET generally do so as an additional function to their regular position as skilled workers. Unlike their counterpart in VET schools, only a minority of them can be identified as full-time trainers and educationalists. In order to be able to conceptualise the pedagogical work and function of company-based trainers, it is essential to explore their roles and activities in the framework of the organisation as a whole. The following questions are relevant: I. Which are the decisive factors determining the position of the trainers and their work? (status of initial VET for the company; recruitment and structure of the training personnel; principals of the division of labour among this staff, measures of continuous professional development etc.) II. What kind of organisational theories are suited for exploring the situation of trainers and their roles in a company setting? The paper will give insights into the process of a recently started research project at BIBB about the situation of workplace trainers and present the results of the first exploratory phase. It aims at developing a structural model about the situation of trainers in different types of companies which will later be validated empirically by qualitative case studies and a quantitative survey.

Method

Desk research; analysis of empirical studies and their theoretical premises on the role, status and tasks of IVET trainers in companies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria from the past 20 years; exploration of organisational theories

Expected Outcomes

The theoretical approach developed to explore the work of IVET trainers in the organisation context is part of the first phase of a research project that is currently being started by BIBB. It provides the starting point for qualitative case studies and other empirical steps in order to test its validity. The results will help to better plan adequate measures of quality assurance and professional development for VET trainers in companies and to raise their sustainability.

References

Bahl, Anke; Diettrich, Andreas: Die vielzitierte ‚neue Rolle’ des Ausbildungspersonals – Diskussionslinien, Befunde und Desiderate. In: Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik - online (2008), bwp@Spezial 4 - HT2008 S. 16 – URL: http://www.bwpat.de/ht2008/ws25/bahl_diettrich_ws25-ht2008_spezial4.pdf Brater, Michael; Wagner, Jost: Qualifikationsbedarf des betrieblichen Bildungspersonals. Ergebnisse einer qualitativen Studie. In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis 37 (2008), H.6, S. 5-9. Giddens, Anthony: The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. University of California Press; Reprint edition (January 1, 1986) Gonon, Philipp; Karrer, Dieter; Straumann, Martin: Der Ausbilder in der Schweizerischen Maschinen- und Elektroindustrie – Eine qualitative Analyse von Berufsbiographien und Gruppendiskussionen. In: Berufspädagogik bei Sauerländer – Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Bildungsforschung und Berufspädagogik des Kantonalen Amts für Berufsbildung Zürich. Bd. 15. Aarau, Frankfurt/Main 1988. Pätzold, Günter: Professionalisierung des betrieblichen Bildungspersonals 1752-1996, 2 Bde (=Quellen und Dokumente zur Geschichte der Berufsbildung in Deutschland, Reihe C, Bd. 6/1 und 2), Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau 1997. Röben, Peter: Ausbilder im lernenden Unternehmen - Ergebnisse aus einem internationalen Forschungsprojekt. In: Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik - online (2006), H. 9, S. 21 – URL: http://www.bwpat.de/ausgabe9/roeben_bwpat9.pdf Schlösser, Manfred; Drewes, Claus; Osthues, Ernst-Wilhelm: Vom Lehrgesellen zum Betriebspädagogen. Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Professionalisierung betrieblicher Ausbildertätigkeit. Frankfurt/Main, New York: Campus 1989. Schmidt-Hackenberg, Brigitte; Neubert, Renate; Neumann, Karl-Heinz; Steinborn, Hans-Christian: Ausbildende Fachkräfte – die unbekannten Mitarbeiter. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 1999. (Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung 224)

Author Information

Anke Bahl

Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training

Bonn

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