Session Information
02 SES 05.5 PS, General Poster Session
General Poster Session
Contribution
A major challenge for contemporary VET is to enhance its responsiveness. Changing technology (e.g. robots and ICT-applications) and societal demands (e.g. in health and social services) will not only change the content of work but also employment practices (labour market flexibility; self-employment; short-term contracts; Cedefop, 2016; SER, 2017). Responsiveness can be defined as the ability of (teams of) educational professionals to interpret socio-economic and technological developments for curriculum development in terms of content and pedagogical approach.
In the Netherlands VET-qualifications are developed on national level by tripartite stakeholders (employers, union representatives and education). Based on these national qualifications, teacher teams in the VET-colleges have to develop curricula. Research in Dutch VET shows that the development of VET-curricula is often a school-internal process with the focus on planning in terms of time and sequence. The limited interaction with labour market and enterprises is about organisational aspects (such as the duration of practical periods) but not about occupational content (Hermanussen et al, 2013; Cedefop, 2012). Co-makership with business partners is still a rare phenomenon. Also the time lag between qualification development and graduation of students is a problem: VET-students are trained for the labour market of the day after tomorrow, based on knowledge from the day before yesterday (Nieuwenhuis, 2013).
In 2017 a consortium of six VET-colleges and three research institutes started an interactive research project (Ellström, 2010), funded by the Dutch Scientific Organisation (NRO-project 405-17-623/3736). Interactive research is essentially about the joint learning process of practitioners and researchers which results in knowledge creation through co-development between researchers and practitioners with a focus on a shared problem or research object.
10 teacher teams participate in an iPLG (interorganisational professional learning community). In the iPLG practioners and researchers work together on the design of a responsive protocol for curriculum development. Design discussions take place in the iPLG and in the individual teacher teams (together with their professional field). Innovative elements of the protocol are tested by the teams.
The aim of this project is to develop a more interactive approach in which school and enterprise are both actively involved in curriculum development. Such an interactive approach requires a responsive protocol, which serves as a standard for the dialogue between school and work. In this dialogue teachers and professionals together should identify typical work situations and processes that in combination make up an occupational profile. This occupational profile will be used to develop the curriculum. Gessler and Howe (2015) developed the “Kompetenz Werkst@tt”, to increase responsiveness in German vocational education (http://www.kompetenzwerkstatt.net/). This approach will be used as a source of inspiration for the development of a protocol tailored to Dutch VET.
The central research question is: What are the characteristics of a responsive protocol that VET teacher teams, in co-makership with their business partners, can effectively use in the development of adaptive, vocation-oriented curricula?
Method
To answer the main question the research part is set up as a design study, with pre- and post-measurement, in which protocols for curriculum development are designed and tested. In both pre- and post-measurement the original (at t=0) and newly designed protocols-in-use (at t=1) will be described in detail and three stakeholder groups (students, teachers and professionals) are invited to evaluate these protocols (pre- and post). As a start the current method for curriculum development in the ten teacher teams will be described. At the same time stakeholders (students, teachers and employers) are invited to evaluate the protocol-in-use. Teachers are asked to evaluate the feasibility of the protocol in use, employers are asked to evaluate the connection of the curriculum to professional practice, and students on the perceived attractiveness of resulting educational processes. These measurements will be repeated at t=1. The design process will take place in the teacher teams and in the interorganisational professional learning community (iPLG). In this learning community representatives from the teacher teams and the researchers are participating. Within this iPLG and within the individual teacher teams social learning processes will take place. The work of the iPLG will influence the design process in the teacher teams, and vice versa. Interviews, observations and social network analysis are used to map the quality of this interaction, both in terms of process and content (De Laat, Schreurs, & Nijland, 2014; Wenger, Trayner, & De Laat, 2011; Hanraets et al., 2011; Akkerman and Bakker, 2011; Mazereeuw, Woppereis & McKenney 2016). The research project will also analyse the assumed preconditions at team level, organisation level and system level (qualification framework, regulations). The main question will be answered by comparing pre en post evaluation of used local curriculum models, and the appreciation by three stakeholder groups. The results are interpreted in the light of the use of responsive protocols as a result of the work of the iPLG.
Expected Outcomes
The research project started in September 2017. T=0 is planned for spring and summer of 2018. In the paper the results of this first data collection will be presented: an overview of design considerations in the teams will be presented. Final results of the project are expected in 2020.
References
Akkerman, S.F. & Bakker, A. (2011). Boundary crossing and boundary objects. Review of Educational Research, 81, 132-169. Cedefop (2012). Curricula reform in Europe. The impact of learning outcomes. Luxembourg. Publications Office of the European Union. De Laat, M., Schreurs, B., & Nijland, F. (2014). Communities of practice and Value Creation in networks. The Routledge Companion to Human Resource Development, (1998), 249–257. Ellström, P.E. (2010). Practice-based innovation: a learning perspective. Journal of Workplace Learning, 22(1/2), 27 – 40. Gessler, M. and Howe, F. (2015). From the reality of work to grounded work-based learning in German vocational education and training: background, concept and tools. International Journal for Research in VET. 2, 3, 214-238. Hanraets, I., Hulsebosch, J., & De Laat, M. (2011). Experiences of pioneers facilitating teacher networks for professional development. Educational Media International, 48(2), 85–99. http://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2011.576513 Hermanussen, J., Verheijen, E., Visser, K. (2013). Leerplanontwikkeling in het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs. De bruikbaarheid van kwalificatiedossiers onderzocht. Den Bosch: ecbo. Mazereeuw, M., Wopereis, I., McKenney, S. (2016). Extended teams in vocational education: collaboration on the border. Educational Research and Education. 22 (3-4). 1-19. Nieuwenhuis, L. (2013) Werken aan goed beroepsonderwijs. (Designing good vocational education). Nijmegen: HAN. SER (2017). Toekomstgericht beroepsonderwijs: Deel 2 Voorstellen voor een sterk en innovatief beroepsonderwijs [Future proof vocational education: part 2 Propositions for a strong and innovative VET]. The Hague: The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER). Wenger, E., Trayner, B., & Laat, M. de. (2011). Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks: A conceptual framework. Heerlen: Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open Universiteit.
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