Session Information
02 SES 12 A, Developments and Innovations in Occupations
Paper Session
Contribution
As all sectors, the sector of industrial footwear production faces the mega-trends of globalisation, digitalisation and sustainability. Many studies on these trends refer to the meta-level, an example might be the study conducted by Jeske et al. (2021), who stated for the German metal and electrical industry increasing “Qualification requirements for skilled workers” due to digitalisation (p.378). Findings like the one quoted are published broadly for all three trends and lead to enormous uncertainties among workforce (What does this mean for my workplace?).
The conceptual aim of this paper is not to question the serious impacts of the trends, but to ground them via breaking down the sub-dimensions of the trends to the Spheres of Activity (SoA) of a chosen sector, the industrial footwear production. In our previous projects ICSAS and DIA-CVET it was concluded that skilled work of colleagues qualified via Initial Vocational Education and Training (VET) can be described by 9 SoA (ICSAS 2020) and those of colleagues qualified via Continuous VET or Higher Education (HE) by 13 SoA (DIA-CVET 2023). Some SoA like “quality assurance” appear in both lists, as colleagues from various educational levels are working in this SoA; thus skilled work in the whole sector can be described by 18 SoA.
The practical aim of this research is to develop a 4-dimensional matrix, where the x-axis consists of the 18 SoA, and the 3 y-axes Y1 (sustainability), Y2 (globalisation) and Y3 (digitalisation) of the dimensions respective sub-dimensions of the trends.
Research is undertaken in the three countries participating in the current Erasmus+ project ISOV (ISOV 2025): Germany, Portugal and Romania.
Following the thoughts drafted above, two research questions will be answered:
* Q1: Which are the potential dimensions and sub-dimensions of the 3 trends that could influence skilled work in one of the SoA?
* Q2: Which of the potential sub-dimensions have a concrete impact on any of the 18 SoA?
Method
To figure out the potential dimensions for the y-axes, basic desk-research was undertaken. Authors like Pfeiffer et al. (2017, p.14), who pursued a comparable approach for the trend of digitalisation in metal industry, were examined. To investigate the concrete impact of the sub-dimensions on each of the 18 SoA the method of expert-workshops (EWS) will be applied. Experts, both from the sector and for the trends, will be invited to a row (at least 9) EWS. The WS rely on a iterative approach: Always starting with an empty matrix; however when the experts have negotiated their estimations, any available results from previous WS will be presented and the experts will be invited to comment on the judgements made by participants in prior EWS. The row of EWS comes to an end, when a certain saturation is reached and no additional information is expected.
Expected Outcomes
Regarding Q1, the axes Y1 (sustainability), Y2 (globalisation) and Y3 (digitalisation) are consisting of together ~20 dimensions respective ~60 sub-dimensions as drafted above. For the trend of digitalisation, for example, the dimension “new era of robots” is sub-divided into * light-weight robots, * 2-arm robots, * adaptive robots (sub dimensions). The final version of the matrix will be available from 02.2025 on via https://isov-project.eu/. Regarding Q2, very concrete outcomes, for example on the need of new technologies in the SoA “cutting” due to new, environmental-friendly, tanning methods of leather, are expected. These results will be available from 06.2025 on via the webpage and will be main part of the presentation on the ECER 2025 – to gain feedback from experts in VET how these findings should or could influence current IVET and/or CVET curricula.
References
DIA-CVET (2023): Spheres of activity of CVET-qualified in industrial shoe production. https://dia-cvet.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/IO-01_EN.pdf ICSAS (2020): Spheres of Activity of Industrial Shoemakers. http://icsas-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IO_06_EN.pdf ISOV (2025): Innovative Skills for an Old Vocation. https://isov-project.eu/ Jeske et al. (2021): Development of Digitalization in Production Industry – Impact on Productivity, Management and Human Work. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing (ISM 2020). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921004348?via%3Dihub Pfeiffer et al. (2017): Pfeiffer, Sabine; Lee, Horan; Zirnig, Christopher; Suphan, Anne: Industrie 4.0 – Qualifikation 2025. Deutschsprachiges Management-Summary zu gleichnamigen und in 2016 erschienenen Studie, Frankfurt: VDMA. https://www.sabine-pfeiffer.de/files/downloads/2017-Pfeiffer-ua-Q2025-ManagementSummary-DE.pdf
Update Modus of this Database
The current conference programme can be browsed in the conference management system (conftool) and, closer to the conference, in the conference app.
This database will be updated with the conference data after ECER.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance, please use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference and the conference agenda provided in conftool.
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.