Session Information
02 SES 03 B, Teachers & Trainers I: Strategies for the Future
Paper Session
Contribution
The availability and occurrence of digital technology including embedded systems, artificial intelligence and smart factories is thought to have a sweeping effect on societies and economies in Europe (Bloem et al. 2014) and elsewhere (Hajkowicz et al. 2016). This megatrend is usually discussed using the umbrella term of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) (e. g. Schwab 2017).
As vocational education and training (VET) is linked to specific competence and qualification requirements of digitally transformed work environments, the 4IR impact is expected to be particularly relevant for apprenticeships and other forms of VET (e. g. Pfeiffer 2015). However, the directions of recognized or expected 4IR effects are disputed and contradictory. Some suggest that digitalization will lead to a vast substitution of human labor and a polarization of the labor market (Frey/Osborne 2013, Alhammadi et al. 2014). Others predict a labor shortages (Pew Research Centre 2017) or doubt the loss of a demand for intermediate qualifications (Esser 2017). On the one hand, the 4IR is seen as a disruptive quantum leap (Schultz-Wild/Lore 1997), on the other hand, it is seen as a long lasting, incremental process of change (Kodama 2018) that might help to liberate humans from work that is dirty, dangerous and difficult (3Ds) (Esmaeilian et al. 2016).
In the wake of these contradictory trends, our research interest is focused on the already existing effects of the fourth industrial revolution as perceived by full time in-company trainers of different enterprises and sectors in Germany. The research questions addressed by this study can therefore be summarized as:
- How are implications of the fourth industrial revolution perceived by fulltime in-company trainers responsible for corporate apprenticeships?
- What type of strategies do in-company trainers use to adapt apprenticeships to the effects of the fourth industrial revolution?
This paper seeks to answer these questions from a didactical perspective (Heimann/Otto/Schulz 1965; Klafki 1994, Sloane 2010), i.e. by exploring the ways in which trainers (re-)define their educational goals set for the apprentices, which (new) content is addressed in their training and which teaching and learning methods are used. This is done by applying a holistic model of didactic not only including the design of teaching and learning environments within a given institutional context (micro-didactics), but also including the design of these institutional contexts (macro-didactics). Within this expanded model, we also take into account, for example, curriculum development, further training for trainers, alignment of training and workplaces, cooperation with the managers of the apprentices (if this role is separated from the trainer role), or partnerships with schools and training providers.
Method
The research presented in this paper is a sub-project under a wider project at our University. The full project focuses on changing qualification needs of professionals for VET at schools, enterprises, chambers and other places in regard to the preparation of learners for the digitalized world of work. The present paper combines the results of three related strands of work. Firstly, it draws on a document analysis of apprenticeship curricula as they are today. By this, the scope of possible adapting activities under the current curricular regime shall be reviewed. Secondly, it uses semi-structured problem-centered interviews (Witzel/Reiter 2012) with 4 individual in-company trainers. Thirdly, two focus group interviews (Vaughn et al. 1996) with altogether 16 in-company trainers, separated by trade, were conducted. With both types of interviews the research team intended to understand the trainers’ perspectives in four areas: (1) their understandings of digitalization and how it looks like in their companies; (2) perceived changes at the apprentices’ workplaces and thereupon new demands for competences and qualifications; (3) their views on possible reformulations of the skill set in need for a specific trade resp. profession (‘vision of the skilled worker in the future') and finally (4) implications of the fourth industrial revolution on their teaching and training and on how they organize their apprenticeships programs. At the beginning of the analysis stage all interviews were transcribed. Consistent with qualitative methodology, the interview data was analyzed using deductive coding, based on the two guiding research questions as well as the holistic model of didactic, combined with inductive coding drawing on the richness of the data rooted in the everyday practices of the trainers (Mayring 2014).
Expected Outcomes
In this section we present our preliminary findings. Conclusive findings will be shared at the conference. The first preliminary finding is that the curricular freedom of trainers is vast and allows to integrate new technological advances. This however requires curriculum development activities on enterprise level leading to refined corporate training syllabi (German: Ausbildungspläne). The second preliminary finding is that trainers with a more sophisticated understanding of the fourth industrial revolution tend to expand their didactical activities beyond the micro-level of teaching and learning environments. This is, they perform macro-didactical activities concerning the adaption of the wider organizational and institutional context of their apprenticeships programs. The third preliminary finding is that the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the trainers’ companies is described with major differences. According to that, and in line with the contradictory forecasts mentioned earlier, digitalization of the workplace appears in many different types and makes other adaption strategies effective. It is already clear that the adaption activities identified in the empirical data are very distinctive. This leads to a preliminary reconstruction of three adaption strategies: stabilization, integration and academization strategies. A discussion of these empirically grounded strategies shall contribute to a better understanding of how trainers adapting their apprenticeships can be supported.
References
Alhammadi, Yousef / Brynjolfsson, Erik / MacCrory, Frank / Westerman, George (2014): Racing with and against the Machine: Changes in Occupational Skill Composition in an Era of Rapid Technological Advance, Thirty Fifth International Conference on Information Systems, Auckland 2014 1–17. Bloem, Jaap / Van Doorn, Menno / Duivestein, Sander / Excoffier, David / Maas, René / Van Ommeren, Eric (2014). The Fourth Industrial Revolution Things to Tighten the Link between IT and OT. VINTresearch report 3. Online: https://www.fr.sogeti.com/globalassets/global/downloads/reports/vint-research-3-the-fourth-industrial-revolution Esmaeilian, Behzad /Behdad, Sara / Wang, Ben (2016): The evolution and future of manufacturing: A review. In: Journal of Manufacturing Systems. Vol. 39. pp. 79–100. Esser, Friedrich Hubert (2017): Vorwort: In bewegten Zeiten brauchen wir eine Berufsbildung der Balance. In: BWP – Berufsbildung zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis. Ausgabe 2/2017. S. 3. Frey, Carl Benedikt / Osborne, Michael (2013): The future of employment – How susceptible are jobs to computerization? Oxford: Oxford Martin School Working Papers. Hajkowicz, Stefan / Reeson, Andrew / Rudd, Lachlan / Bratanova, Alexandra / Hodgers, Leonie / Mason, Claire / Boughen, Naomi (2016): Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce: Megatrends and Scenarios for Jobs and Employment in Australia over the Coming Twenty Years. Online: https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/16-0026_DATA61_REPORT_TomorrowsDigiallyEnabledWorkforce_WEB_160128.pdf Heimann, Paul / Otto, Gunter / Schulz, Wolfgang (1965): Unterricht: Analyse und Planung. Hannover: Schroedel. Klafki, Wolfgang (1994) (Hrsg.): Neue Studien zur Bildungstheorie und Didaktik. Zeitgemäße Allgemeinbildung und kritisch-konstruktive Didaktik. 4. Auflage. Weinheim/Basel: Beltz. Kodama, Fumio (2018): Learning Mode and Strategic Concept for the 4th Industrial Revolution. In: Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity. Vol. 4. No. 32. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/joitmc4030032 Mayring, Philipp (2014). Qualitative content analysis: theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution. Klagenfurt. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-395173 Pew Research Centre (2017): The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training. Online: http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/05/03/the-future-of-jobs-and-jobs-training/ Pfeiffer, Sabine (2015): Effects of Industry 4.0 on vocational education and training. In: ITA-Manu:scripte. ITA-15-04. Online: http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/ita/ita-manuscript/ita_15_04.pdf Schultz-Wild, Lore / Lutz, Burkart (1997): Industrie vor dem Quantensprung: eine Zukunft für die Produktion in Deutschland. Berlin u.a.: Springer. Schwab, Klaus (2017): The Fourth Industrial Revolution. London: Penguin. Sloane, Peter F. E. (2010): Makrodidaktik. Zur curricularen Entwicklung von Bildungsgängen. In: Nickolaus, Reinhold / Pätzold, Günter / Reinisch, Holger / Tramm, Tade (Hrsg.): Handbuch Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik. Bad Heilbrunn: Julius Klinkhardt. S. 205–212. Vaughn, Sharon / Schumm, Jeanne Shay / Sinagub, Jane M. (1996): Focus group interviews in education and psychology. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Witzel, Andreas / Reiter, Herwig (2012): The problem-centred interview. London: Sage.
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