In Germany, vocational education is popular and enjoys a good reputation. German vocational training, especially dual vocational training, is considered an “export hit” and a guarantee of high quality and reliability. The reasons are its effective influence on economic and social development, not least on youth unemployment (Bohlinger & Wolf, 2016) and a country's competitiveness (OECD, 2015). The dual approach has also been attracting a great deal of attention from international and supranational organisations for several years (OECD, 2015; ILO, 2012). Furthermore, a demand from abroad for vocational training “Made in Germany” can be observed (Kühn, 2020; iMove, 2017). 

To address this need, the German Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF) supports 23 projects which are supposed to foster reform activities in regional or national VET systems on the one hand, and/or which establish TVET products in the target countries on the other hand. 

The underlying program theory is inspired by the concept of “transfer” (Dolowitz & Marsh 1996), i.e. a „process in which knowledge about policies, administrative arrangements, institutions etc. in one time and/or place is used in the development of policies, administrative arrangements and institutions in another time and/or place” (op. cit., 344). Accordingly, projects are designed following a linear input-process-output logic leading ideally to the establishment of dual VET programmes in the target country.

Based on the in-depth case study of one of the projects funded within this program, we argue that the learning process taking place in this international cooperation setting can be better understood using the activity theory and expansive learning approach (Engeström, 1987, 2009), as it also accounts for incidental, unplanned learning processes and unexpected outcomes. Ultimately, we want to answer the following questions:  How far does expansive learning take place and to what extend does the project achieve unplanned and unscheduled purposes – what does emerge and evolve, regardless the original project plans? In how far does this foster educational transfer? To what extent are these developments consistent with the funding line and purpose? 

Theoretical framework

Engeström's theory of activity or Engeström's theory of expansive learning – the terms are usually used synonymously by the author himself (Engeström & Sannino, 2010, 2) – describes how existing work, structures or systems can be redefined by allowing the involved people to design and implement new things themselves. This refers to a development towards a more complex, multidimensional concept (of work, structures, or systems) (ibid.). Activity theory is a theory of practice with the help of which researchers want to understand how and with which interactions individuals and society develop (Geithner, 2012). Figure 1 shows the central assumption of how all kinds of activity occur: A central acting subject (a person; an organization) uses instruments (e.g. working tools) to transform a product or result (object) within a context (set of rules, community and division of labour).

The analysis is based on one in-depth case study of a project funded in the program “Internationalization of VET” by the German Federal Ministry of Education from 2017 to 2021. This project, named GRÆDUCATION, aims at stimulating training of environmental, “green” professions in Greece, while establishing a more intensive dialog between companies and training institutions. Keeping in mind the challenges of a transfer of knowledge between Germany and Greece, GRÆDUCATION seeks to further develop vocational training in both countries. We apply a mixed methods approach using qualitative and quantitative survey methods. Aside from two online-questionnaires, administered at the beginning and at the end of the project, we conducted guided expert interviews at different times in the course of the project implementation and with different persons: - Project team members in Germany, 6 months after beginning of the project - Project team members, 18 months after beginning of the project - Cooperation partners and other stakeholders in Greece, 2 years after beginning of the project - Project team members, at the end of the project. A total of 13 individual or group interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed with a qualitative content analysis method. Furthermore, we conducted a comprehensive context analyses based on desk research, including not only the education and VET systems, but also labour market issues and political reform processes. To gain knowledge on the project processes, we used project documents (e.g. project descriptions; project plans).

In an iterative project approach which is meant to be co-creative, expansive learning can take place. Using the smallest elements of Engeström (subjects, objects, instruments, rules, community, division of labour) and referring concepts like boundary crossing (Akkermann & Bakker, 2011) we show that Engeström’s theory helps us to understand project developments – also unscheduled, unanticipated results. Our first results indicate insights in two dimensions, referring to the research questions: 1) Expansive learning in cooperation. Engeström et al. (1999) describe cooperation within activity systems as knotworking: "The notion of knot refers to rapidly pulsating, distributed and partially improvised orchestration of collaborative performance between otherwise loosely connected actors and activity systems" (ibid., 346). However, collaborative work as observed in this project goes beyond knotworking, as Engeström et al. repeatedly refer to the loose connection that can be unilaterally broken at any time. The cooperations shown by the interacting systems of activity of GRÆDUCATION are medium- or long-term. Still, activity theory helps to unveil the interdependency relations between the actors engaged in cooperation, by helping to understand the process by which a seemingly minor change in the context of one project partner affects the whole project. One example is the division of labour between ministries in Greece which has an impact on the activity systems of Greek cooperation partners and therefore on the curriculum development in different kind of VET schools. 2) Unexpected developments. The concept of boundary objects works well to identify expansive learning processes and outcomes: The communication and work on boundary objects triggers expansive learning processes, which were not foreseen in the project plan. For example, certified further trainings with EU-certification is offered now by a German chamber of crafts (HWK Münster) in the fields of insulation and refrigeration and air conditioning in Greece.

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