Fit for business - developing pre-vocational skills in the secondary school in seven European countries
Author(s):
Susanne Berger (presenting / submitting) Matthias Pilz (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2011
Network:
2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Format:
Poster

Session Information

02 SES 9.5 PE/PS, Poster Exhibition / Poster Session

Time:
2011-09-15
12:00-13:30
Room:
Seminarzentrum - Posters
Chair:

Contribution

The paper presents a comparative research project on pre-vocational education in secondary schools within seven European countries which is funded as a multilateral project within the European Lifelong Learning Program.

Regarding the EU-wide tension of increasing technical developments, proceeding automation as well as globalization, the three year EU - project “Fit for business – Developing business competencies in school” (“Fifobi”) aims to optimize economic education and to promote entrepreneurial spirit of young Europeans.

Therefore, Fifobi investigates the status quo of the forms and contents of economic and entrepreneurship education in public schools in seven different EU countries (Germany, Latvia, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Scotland and Hungary).

This comparative study, focusing on the last two years of the (general) compulsory education, is based on analyses of the relevant curricula and interviews with teachers and social partners. These analyses shall demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses in the particular school systems and finally lead to a publication of best practice approaches.

By learning from the mistakes and successes of other countries, the project Fifobi can have positive effects on the transition of young people from compulsory education into the labour market and on lifelong learning.

The interim results of the project are based on the curriculum analysis of each country as well as on the findings from Interviews with teachers in European compulsory schools.

Method

The comparative study is based on six consecutive steps: 1. Definition of the analysis area summarized by the term “pre-vocational education” - Investigation of subject competence in the field of business and economic knowledge (Economic knowledge includes amongst others the understanding of basic economic phenomena or knowledge about consumer protection. Business knowledge helps to understand business and its external environment. Furthermore, it includes topics like marketing and controlling.) - Analysis of the promotion of self competence with emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking, which contains amongst others the relevant competencies moderate tendency to take risks or achievement motivation. - Analysis of the exploration of social competencies in schools. 2. Analysis of the relevant curricula with of a common analytical grid which is based on the definition and resulting operationalisation of the analysis area (see above). 3. Conduction of interviews with teachers - to compare the theoretical requirements in the curriculum with the reality of economic and pre-vocational education at school - to learn more about the teacher’s personal appreciation of the relevance of pre-vocational education in compulsory education. 4. Interviews with social partners to learn about the cooperation between schools and the business environment. 5. Evaluation of the results. 6. Formation of best practice approaches.

Expected Outcomes

The interim findings from the study will be presented with a view to identifying and comparing the different European systems involved in formulating entrepreneurial as well as pre-vocational and economic / business education curriculum in the (upper) secondary school and, subsequently, investigating the potential strengths and weakness of how this curriculum is taught within each country.

References

- Berger, Susanne; Pilz, Matthias (2010): Fit for business - Developing business competencies in school (FIFOBI). Vorstellung eines europäischen Vergleichsprojekts zur Optimierung der ökonomischen Bildung und Förderung des Unternehmertums an allgemeinbildenden Schulen. In: Wirtschaft und Erziehung, 62(3), S. 70–72. - Gonczol, Eniko (2010): What business to start? Economic knowledge and entrepreneurial skills as shown in the most widely used Hungarian curricula, Part I. In: Tani-tani, No.3. - Kurek, Slawomir; Rachwał, Thomsz (2010a): The Role of Business Education in the Development of Entrepreneurship in the Member States of the European Union. In: EUROPA XXI, Vol. 19 - European urban system: metropolization and networking. - Kurek, Slawomir; Rachwał, Thomasz (2010b): Założenia i wstępne wyniki europejskiego projektu badawczego "Fifobi” w zakresie kształtowania kompetencji do prowadzenia działalności gospodarczej na poziomie gimnazjum.

Author Information

Susanne Berger (presenting / submitting)
University of Cologne
German Research Center for Comparative Vocational Education and Training
Cologne
Matthias Pilz (presenting)
University of Cologne
German Research Center for Comparative Vocational Education and Training
Cologne / Koeln

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