Dear Colleagues
Particularly worth noting in this edition are calls for papers
or proposals relating to: the
eucen Conference in Bergen, the WCCI Conference on Education, the International
Human Capital Conference in Selangor (see
Conferences), the
EAN conference in The Hague, the TIY Workshop on Youth Transitions in Mannheim,
the VET&Culture workshop in Zurich (see Networks
and Organisations), the International Spring School in Kerkrade (see
Programmes) and the journal Empirical Research
in Vocational Education and Training (see Publications).And
not to overlook: the vacancies at the Hertie School of Governance (see
Networks and Organisations).
Many thanks to all who contributed information for this edition and
who sent helpful feedback. The L&W Newsletter reaches you via a mailing
list of about 1500 experts in and beyond Europe. It focuses on transnational
research activities in the field of human resource development (HRD) and
vocational education and training (VET), centred on major categories: conferences,
networks, programmes, projects and publications. The next edition will
appear in early April 2018. You are invited to submit short pieces of news
(texts of 100 to 200 words, without attachments, but including links to
web pages) - please by 31 March 2018 at the latest!
Should you prefer to read the current edition online, you can find it
on the L&W website (www.news.wifo-gate.org)
under February
2018. Please pass the Newsletter on to your colleagues and networks.
Special thanks to our partners CR&DALL,
CVER,
PASCAL
International Observatory, UFHRD,
UNEVOC,
VET&Culture
and VETNET for providing input and
sharing the L&W Newsletter via their mailing lists and web portals!
With best wishes
Sabine Manning
Research Forum WIFO
Editor of the L&W Newsletter
Conferences
Call for contributions: 50th eucen Conference
We are pleased to announce the Call for Contributions for the 50th
eucen Conference in
Bergen (Switzerland),
06 - 08 June 2018.
The title of the conference is:
Times of Transition - The role
of University Lifelong Learning. Our conference wants to explore the
future role and opportunities of ULLL in the following three main categories:
Professional transitions, Personal transitions, Digital transitions. Abstracts
will be accepted until
16 March 2018. For your convenience, the
full Call for Contributions is availabe on the
conference
website. Abstracts must be submitted online to the new eucen Studies
website. Go to the "Current Call" section and fill in the online form there.
(Info received from CR&DALL Site Digest for 18/01/18
<noreply@cradall.org>)
WCCI 18th World Conference on Education
World conference of WCCI (World Council for Curriculum and Instruction)
on the Role of Education for Global Citizenship in Promoting Social, Economic
and Environmental Justice, at the Hotel Villa Maria Regina, Rome,
Italy, July 14-20, 2018
WCCI is a transnational educational organization committed to advancing
the achievement of a peaceful world community through collaboration, curriculum
and instruction projects: dialogues on educational and social issues of
a global nature; the exchange of ideas, concerns and solutions to problems
and person-to-person contacts and professional relationships. It is a non-governmental
organization in special consultative status with the Economic Council of
the United Nations and UNESCO. The purpose of the conference is to inspire
and engage educators and researchers around the world in an exploration
of the processes and effects of global education in advancing economic,
social and environmental justice by way of training and producing global
citizens who are informed, sensitive, competent and active members of their
local and global communities, who take part in the global governance process,
who seek sustainable and just solutions to global problems, and who advocate
policy changes for the attainment of a just world. Extended application
deadline: 1 April 2018. Only for European participants! For more
information please contact: WCCI CEE Secretariat, Ms. Reka Schmieder <schmieder.reka@kpvk.pte.hu>
(Posted by Iván Zádori
<zadori.ivan@kpvk.pte.hu>)
Call for papers: Workforce renewal in an era of global change
International Human Capital Conference. Taylor's University Lakeside
Campus, Selangor, Malaysia. 28-29 November 2018
Taylor's University is proud to host this International Conference
on Human Capital, exploring one of the key drivers of economic growth globally,
in ASEAN and in Malaysia. A universal consensus on the need to build workforce
skills to support economic development is reflected in policy documents
of international agencies like the OECD, ILO, IMF and World Bank, supra-national
regional bodies like ASEAN, APEC and the EU, as well as governments of
nation states. All stress the importance of forecasting future skills needs
to ensure that education and training systems are suitably aligned with
labour market needs, to avoid skills gaps, shortages and mismatches. Yet
there is still confusion at the practical level as to what constitutes
human capital, and how best to develop the future and current workforce
to meet evolving labour market needs in a period marked by increasing uncertainty
and accompanied by profound restructuring. This conference provides an
opportunity for academics and representatives of business and government
to debate the issues. Find full call for papers soon at:
https://university.taylors.edu.my/
(Posted by Jonathan Winterton <Jonathan.Winterton@taylors.edu.my>)
NOTE: Forthcoming and recent events related to European research
in work and learning are listed on the WIFO Conference page [www.conferences.wifo-gate.org].
[Back to Newsletter]
Networks and Organisations
27th EAN conference on accountability
in access
We are happy to announce the 27th Annual Conference of the European
Access Network (EAN), due to take place on
6th-8th June, 2018 at
the University of Applied Science in
The Hague, International City
of Peace and Justice, The Netherlands. Conference theme:
The Power of
Accountability in Access, Retention and Success. We would like you
to join us in thinking and learning about how we can progress to our next
steps in the future. For more information about the conference and for
your input about the program, send an email to
<info.ean2018@hhs.nl>.
Registrations and call for proposals will open in early 2018. For further
details please look up
CR&DALL
page.
(Info received via CR&DALL Site Digest for 14/12/17)
Call for papers: TIY workshop on youth transitions
The 26th annual workshop of the European Research Network on Transitions
in Youth (TIY) will take place in Mannheim, Germany, from 5 to
8 September 2018. The workshop will be hosted by the Mannheim Centre
for European Social Research (Mannheimer Zentrum für Europäische
Sozialforschung, MZES), University of Mannheim. The theme of this year's
workshop is: Youth Transitions in Challenging Times. The Network
Committee invites authors to submit contributions concerning the area of
youth transitions, especially - but not exclusively - the transition from
education to the labour market and its intersections with other life-course
domains from both single-country and comparative perspectives. Abstract
submission deadline: March 15, 2018 (via mail). For further details
please visit the Workshop website:
http://www.mzes.uni-mannheim.de/tiy2018/
(Info received from Maarten Wolbers c/o <tiy@maw.ru.nl>)
Save the date for VET&Culture workshop
The VET&Culture workshop 2018 will be hosted at the University
of Zurich,
17-18 September 2018, on the theme "Opening
and extending vocational education". This workshop combines perspectives
of 1) a historicising dimension of vocational education, 2) an open understanding
of vocational education, including higher education, further and adult
education, and 3) informal and non-formal aspects of the education system.
We consider that apprenticeship and VET are distinct approaches towards
initial education that have been opened and extended in various directions
over time: Higher education took on vocational education models. Vice versa,
vocational education development tends to adapt to structures of higher
education. Privatisation and marketisation have emerged as
well as utilitarian
approaches towards labour market skills. Informal learning and recognition
of competences have widened the perspectives on vocational education. In
this workshop, we will discuss the variety of opening and extending tendencies
within vocational education. Presentations will alternate with round tables
combined with a planned field visit. Contact: Philipp Gonon (gonon@ife.uzh.ch)
(Info received via VET&Culture Network c/o Matthias
Vonken
<matthias.vonken@uni-erfurt.de>)
Update: Asia-Europe conference
Please find featured below the registration details and conference
programme for "Lifelong Learning Policies and Adult Education
Professionals - Contextual and Cross-Contextual Comparisons between Europe
and Asia", to be held over 16-17 February 2018, at the Julius-Maximilian
University, Wuerzburg, Germany. Details can be found at the CR&DALL
Site and on the website of the Professional Network for Adult Education
and Lifelong Learning (Compall).
(Info received from CR&DALL Site Digest for 12/01/18)
Vacancies at Hertie School of Governance
The Hertie School of Governance
is an international teaching and research centre in Berlin that prepares
students for leadership positions in government, business, and civil society.
An interdisciplinary focus and policy orientation distinguish the university's
research agenda. A broad range of research projects and cooperation with
partner institutions in Germany and abroad are further features of research
at the Hertie School. Research in the field of educational governance focusses
on the comparative analysis of reforms in education and training systems
in Europe and beyond in view of contemporary challenges such as those posed
by social inequality, migration, or digitalization. The Hertie School is
currently seeking candidates for a PhD scholarship in educational governance
(> Details)
and a research associate position in educational governance (>
Details).
(Posted by Lukas Graf <graf@hertie-school.org>)
NOTE: References to research networks in the field of European
work and learning are available on the WIFO page Networks at a glance
[www.networks.wifo-gate.org].
Major online resources related to European research networks include the
ECER VETNET Proceedings (www.ecer-vetnet.wifo-gate.org)
offering a complete and up-to-date collection of conference papers submitted
since 1998, and the Overview of selected HRD conference
papers
(www.ehrd-papers.wifo-gate.org).
[Back to Newsletter]
Programmes
Call for application: International
Spring School
The ICO International Spring School 2018 to be held at Rolduc Abbey,
Kerkrade, March 19-23, 2018 [website]
Are you a PhD candidate in the domain of educational sciences? We are
pleased to invite you to come to the ICO International Spring School (ISS)
2018. The ICO ISS2018 is a conference and an international educational
event for all PhD candidates who do research in the domain of learning,
instruction and education. The primary aim of the ICO School is to learn:
learn from the keynote speeches, the various workshops organized by experts
in their field, and by presenting and discussing issues with regard to
your own PhD project. The second aim is to socialize and form a network
in an international scientific community. The ICO ISS2018 is a valuable
event for all PhD candidates, independent of the stage of your research
project. During the ISS you will attend two keynote speeches and two workshops
organized by international experts, and you will give a presentation of
your own research. As a participant, you are also expected to review the
presentations of your peers. Registration is open until
19 February,
2018. We are looking forward to meeting you in Kerkrade!
(Posted by Caroline Vonk
<c.vonk@uu.nl>)
NOTE: Contributions are welcome for the next edition of the Directory
of Doctoral Dissertations (www.ddd.wifo-gate.org),
provided as part of the WIFO Gateway, which focuses on European research
in the field of vocational education (VET) and human resource development
(HRD). Please provide information on expected or newly completed doctoral
dissertations investigating issues of HRD, VET or work-related adult education,
according to the following pattern: 1*Theme of dissertation (original language
AND English); 2*Year of (expected) completion or publication; 3*Author
(name and email address); 4*Tutor (name and email address); 5*Institution
of tutor (name and home page). Contributions should be posted by email
to the editor (sm@wifo-gate.org).
[Back to Newsletter]
Projects
Track-Vet project
Developing, assessing and validating key cross-cutting competences
in formal initial and continuing VET (TRACK-VET) - Erasmus+
Céreq is involved in setting up a partnership with six other
institutions for the Track-Vet project, funded as part of the Eramus+ strategic
partnership. The main aim of this project is to provide evidence-based
support to national governments and agencies, EU agencies and key stakeholders
involved in designing policies on developing, assessing and validating
key cross-cutting competences. The TRACK-VET project is being carried out
by a partnership consisting of seven institutions in: Austria, France,
Latvia, Norway, Poland and Slovakia. On 05-06th December 2017, the TRACK-VET
project kick-off meeting took place at the premises of the Warsaw School
of Economics. During the meeting TRACK-VET partners discussed research
methodology to be applied in the project, including: definitions of the
key terms and concepts, structure of the country reports and data collection
methods. Each partner presented the state of art and recent developments
regarding transversal key competences in VET in their countries. The TRACK-VET
project will last 32 months (September 2017 - April 2020). More information
about the project will soon be made available on the project website: track-vet.eu
(Info received via Céreq news, n° 10, Winter
2018 c/o
<delassus@cereq.fr>)
Eramus+ project: Retail sector competencies for all teachers (ReCall)
Teaching self and social competencies in VET has great relevance to
achieve employability in all European countries. These competencies have
been taught insufficiently in vocational education so far. Therefore, four
teaching-learning arrangements have been implemented in advance for vocational
schools/further education colleges to develop self and social competencies
of young people. These materials were evaluated very positively by teachers.
However, the practical implementation of the teaching-learning arrangements
have shown that their distribution largely depends on the teachers' readiness
to use them. The complexity and novelty of the developed teaching-learning
arrangements discourage the teachers sometimes from integrating them as
an integral part of their lessons. Consequently, the focus of the project
has been directed to the professional development of VET teachers. The
teachers' awareness of teaching self and social competencies should be
increased. Scepticism about the existing material should be reduced so
that teachers lose their reservations. Three universities - the University
of Cologne, the Pedagogical University of Krakow and the University of
Bergamo as project partners - as well as three vocational schools, from
Poland, Italy and Germany, belonged to the project consortium. The digital
training is now available online and costless as OER in the languages English,
German, Polish, and Italian. Access:
http://www.recall-ttt.uni-koeln.de/en
(Contributed by Christian Hofmeister <chofmei1@uni-koeln.de>)
Digital opportunity traineeship initiative
In this "digital" year, the European Commission also put forward the
Digital
opportunity traineeship initiative. This will provide cross-border
traineeships for up to 6,000 students and recent graduates between 2018
and 2020. The budget is around 10 mln euros, and it aims to give students
of all disciplines the opportunity to gain digital experience in fields
demanded by the market. LLLP's member, the Erasmus
Student Network, has put in place a project that will serve as
a main
platform to promote it. Find
more details here! Also, the LLLP is proud to announce that we
will be hosting a trainee in the framework of this new scheme as of January
2018!
(Info received from LLLPlatform
<info@lllplatform.eu>)
NOTE: Contributions are invited to update the Overview of
European research projects [www.projects.wifo-gate.org],
provided as part of the WIFO Gateway. The overview focuses on transnational
research projects, mainly supported by EU programmes, in the areas of human
resource development, vocational education, work and learning. Please send
the following information to the editor (sm@wifo-gate.org):
(A) exact title and acronym (short name) of the project; (B) name and email
address of the coordinator or main contact; (C) address of the website
(or info page/ flyer) of the project. Contact: Sabine
Manning
[Back to Newsletter]
Publications
Call for papers on test motivation
The journal
Empirical Research in Vocational
Education and Training calls for papers on test motivation and test
conditions in domain-specific assessments in VET:
https://ervet-journal.springeropen.com/tmtc.
In particular, scholars are invited who investigate the effects of test
motivation and conditions in VET domains. Papers are required until the
end of April 2018. All information is available here:
https://ervet-journal.springeropen.com/tmtc.
(Posted by Christoph Helm <Christoph.Helm@jku.at)
New issue of IJRVET: Vol. 4, Issue 4
The International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and
Training (IJRVET) has published a new regular issue containing the
following topics: Tove Mogstad Aspøy and Torgeir Nyen discuss the
effects on the VET system of a recent Norwegian attempt to organise alternative
training primarily as workplace training; Volker Rein discusses the conceptual
intersections of VET and academic Higher Education on competence,
and analyzes comparatively competence-oriented instruments for the classification
and the transparency of learning outcomes and their application in the
education practice of dual study programmes with vocational reference
qualifications; Kristina Kühn investigates the enhancement of social
competence for disadvantaged young people based on the example of the "Werkschule
Bremen" educational course; Peter Changilwa Kigwilu and Winston Jumba Akala
investigate how Catholic-sponsored community colleges in Nairobi utilise
the existing physical facilities and teaching and learning resources for
effective implementation of Artisan and Craft curricula; and Larissa Freund
and Michael Gessler present their book review on "Vocational Education
and Training in Times of Economic Crisis" that was published in the series
"Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and
Prospects" with Rupert MacLean as Editor-in-Chief and Matthias Pilz as
editor of the volume. Please find the articles on
http://www.ijrvet.net.
(Posted by: Larissa Freund <ijrvet@uni-bremen.de>)
IJRVET Yearbook 2017 now available
Starting in 2018, the
International Journal for Research in Vocational
Education and Training (IJRVET) publishes an annual Yearbook including
all electronic articles which appeared in the previous year. The first
printed Yearbook (2017) is now available on Amazon (Amazon.com - Amazon.co.uk
- Amazon.de - Amazon.fr - Amazon.es). An open access version of the Yearbook
2017 can be downloaded on ResearchGate. IJRVET provides open access to
its content on the principle that making research freely available to the
science community and the public supports a greater global exchange of
knowledge and the further development of expertise in the field of Vocational
Education and Training (understood in a wide sense and also known as e.g.
TVET Technical Vocational Education and Training, Professional Education
and Training, Career and Technical Education, Workforce Education). See
further details of this
post and also the special
post "Great start" highlighting the new Yearbook.
(Posts by Michael Gessler
<mgessler@gmail.com>
and Pekka Kämäräinen <pkamar@uni-bremen.de>
on vetnet website)
Building apprentices' skills in the workplace
Philipp Grollmann, Hilary Steedman, Anika Jansen and Robert Gray:
Building apprentices' skills in the workplace: Car Service in Germany,
the UK and Spain. December 2017. CVER Research Paper No CVERDP011. [Details]
This paper analyses how employers in three countries, Germany, the
UK and Spain experience and view apprenticeship. The focus is on a single
occupation - Vehicle Maintenance and Repair (Car Service) based on case
studies and a representative employer survey carried out in the three countries.
Apprenticeship is well-established in Germany and is strongly promoted
by the UK government. In Spain, Car Service courses are full-time college
courses which include a workplace internship. German and UK firms are satisfied
with the practical and theoretical content of apprenticeship programmes,
but case study evidence reveals that the workplace training element of
apprenticeship makes heavy demands on firms' resources. Spanish courses
demand less of employers, but skills are less well-developed. While German
Car Service firms train more apprentices than they immediately require,
UK firms under-invest in apprenticeship, citing the heavy time demands
on experienced employees. The UK should consider a different financing
model for technical apprenticeships. In addition, increased labour market
regulation and employer cooperation could encourage investment in apprenticeship.
(Info received from CVER Newsletter <cver@lse.ac.uk>)
Why returning to VET?
Erika Edith Gericke. Why Returning to VET? Results of a Qualitative
Comparative Study about English and German Car Mechatronics. International
Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, [S.l.], v. 4,
n. 3, p. 206-225, nov. 2017. [Details]
Educational choices, especially the influence of class on these choices
have been a subject of lively international debate. However, thus far,
there has been little international and comparative research with respect
to vocational and education training (VET) decision making from a subject-oriented
perspective. This paper considers occupational-biographical orientations
of English and German car mechatronics and focuses on the roles of learning
and gaining vocational qualifications. Drawing on the concept of occupational-biographical
orientations, the paper describes three types of orientations based on
analyses of findings from 11 autobiographical-narrative interviews with
English and German car mechatronics. The interviews clearly showed that
occupational-biographical orientations explained different views on the
necessity of returning to (continuous) vocational education and training.
They also demonstrated that subjective perceptions of the national VET
system fostered particular occupational-biographical challenges, which
supported or hindered existing learning attitudes. Overall, the findings
suggested that occupational-biographical orientations exerted the most
important influence on learning biographies and decisions to return to
(continuous) VET.
(Contributed by Erika Gericke <erika.gericke@ovgu.de>)
Supporting change in VET
Cathal de Paor. Supporting change in VET: teachers' professional
development and ECVET learner mobility. Empirical Research in Vocational
Education and Training, 2018, 10:1 [Details]
While mobility between countries has become very much a part of higher
education programmes, VET learners have not participated to the same extent.
The possibility which the European Credit System for Vocational Education
and Training (ECVET) offers in terms of the transfer, recognition and,
accumulation of learning outcomes may help to change this. However, this
requires a considerable involvement from teachers, given the role they
need to play in preparing for such mobility in terms of learning outcomes,
learning activities and assessment. This paper considers the professional
development needs of teachers with regard to this, drawing on the results
of an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership, QUAKE, geared towards teacher professional
development and learner ECVET mobility in a number of European countries.
The project provides the basis for an explanatory case study (Yin 1994),
and the case results being considered here are drawn from the views expressed
by Irish VET teachers. The results highlight the need for a greater connection
between VET teachers' professional development and their routine work with
learners. ECVET mobility can contribute to this connection, providing the
context where the professional development becomes an integral part of
the teaching and learning process, thereby ensuring a more successful adoption
of educational change.
(Details obtained from ERVET website)
Apprentice or student?
Regine Grytnes, Martin Grill, Anders Pousette, Marianne Törner,
Kent J. Nielsen. Apprentice or Student? The Structures of Construction
Industry Vocational Education and Training in Denmark and Sweden and their
Possible Consequences for Safety Learning. 2017. Vocations and Learning.
Open Access [Details]
There is a notable difference in occupational injury rates in the two
Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Denmark, with the latter having a 40%
higher rate of fatal occupational injuries in the construction industry.
This study explored differences in the vocational education and training
(VET) systems between Sweden and Denmark that may be important for students'
safety learning and practice during VET. In both countries, students participate
in full-time education, and the curriculum includes school-based as well
as company- based training. However, during company- based training, Swedish
students retain their student status, whereas Danish students are employed
as apprentices. From a perspective of viewing safety as a social practice
developed through interactions of different social and institutional bodies,
the analysis points to this difference in employment status as important
for their safety practices and also for the teachers' position to influence
safety learning and practices during company-based training. An analysis
of interview and survey data focusing on how VET students enact safety
'knowings' across learning sites, suggests how different forms of connectivity
models in VET promote various forms of safety learning among students.
(Details obtained from Vocations and Learning website)
NOTE: Updates on publications provided by the WIFO Gateway include
the WIFO Bookshelf [www.books.wifo-gate.org],
a collection of references to publications focusing on cross-European issues
of work and learning, and "From the Journals" - Overview of articles
on cross-European issues in VET and HRD research [www.articles.wifo-gate.org],
selected from European and international Journals related to education
research [www.journals.wifo-gate.org].
[Back to Newsletter]
Impressum
Editor of the L&W Newsletter: Dr Sabine Manning, Research
Forum WIFO (sm@wifo-gate.org);
Address: Neue Blumenstr. 1, D-10179 Berlin, Germany;
Editions of the L&W Newsletter: six times a year,
every two months (at the beginning of February, April, June, August, October,
December);
Deadline for contributions to the L&W Newsletter:
end of January, March, May, July, September, November;
Circulation of the current L&W Newsletter: about
1500 experts in 40 countries (mostly Europe);
Details and Archive of the L&W Newsletter [www.news.wifo-gate.org].
[Back to Newsletter]