Key Qualifications in Work and Education

265 Pages·1998·9.244 MB·English

by  Wim J. Nijhof, Jan N. Streumer (auth.), Wim J. Nijhof, Jan N. Streumer (eds.)

Key Qualifications in Work and Education
Key Qualifications
in Wo rk and Education
Edited by
Wim J. Nijhof
University 0/ Twente,
Enschede, The Netherlands
and
Jan N. Streumer
University 0/ Twente,
Enschede, The Netherlands
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-010-6190-2 ISBN 978-94-011-5204-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-5204-4
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Acadernic Publishers in 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
incIuding photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. WIM J. NUHOF AND JAN N. STREUMER -THE DEMARCATION ISSUE: INTRODUCTION 11
Part 1: The meaning of key qualifications 17
2. WIM J. NUHOF -QUAUFYlNG FOR THE FUTURE 19
2.1. The changing scene 20
2.2. Key qualifications, core competencies, and core problems 22
2.3. Classifications of (key) qualifications: validity and usefulness 27
2.3.1 Powerful skills 27
2.3.2 Hybrid skills 28
2.3.3 Core skills 30
2.3.4 Transferable skills 31
2.4. Toward a system of qualifications? 33
References 35
3. PER-ERIK ELLSTROM -THE MANY MEANINGS OF OCCUPATIONAL COMPETENCE AND
QUALIFICATION 39
3.1. The concepts of occupational competence and qualification 40
3.2. Three views and five meanings of occupational competence 41
3.2.1. Competence as an attribute of the individual 41
3.2.2. Competence as job requirements 42
3.2.3. An interactive view: competence-in-use 43
3.3. An adaptation versus a developmental view of competence 44
3.4. Change-oriented human competence: cognition versus context 45
3.5. Creating a creative learning environment 47
3.6. Concluding remarks 48
References 49
4. BEN HOVELS -QUALIFICATION AND LABOUR MARKETS: INSTmlTIONAUSATION AND
INDIVIDUAUSATION 51
4.1. Qualification: clarification of the concept 51
4.1.1. Characteristic ofp ersons: abilities 51
4.1.2. Linkages to labour market and work situation: an actor perspective 53
4.1.3. Dynamics ofq ualifications and environment 54
4.2. Qualification and sub-labour markets 55
4.3. Revival of key-qualifications 57
4.4. Concluding remarks 60
References 61
5. JOCHEN REuLING -THE GERMAN 'BERUFSPRINZIP' AS A MODEL FOR REGULATING TRAINING
CONTENT AND QUALIFICATION STANDARDS 63
5.1. What is meant by a 'Beruf'? 64
5.2. Correlations between qualification structure and initial vocational training 65
5.3. The principle of the 'BeiUf as a supra-company regulator of initial vocational training 66
5.4. Correlations between qualification structure and work organisation 68
5.5. Correlations between the 'Bernf -principle, wage and salary structures and social legislation 69
5.6. Supporting external conditions 69
5.7. The 'Bernf -principle, responsiveness of the vocational training system and demarcation lines 71
References 75
6
Part 2: Qualification systems and programmes 77
6. GEORGE COPA -nm DEMARCATION LINE IN RlNDING FOR SCHOOL-BASED VOCATIONAL
EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN mE UNITED STATES 79
6.1 The School-Based Vocational Education Enterprise 79
6.2 Major Federal Initiatives 82
6.2.1 Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act 83
6.2.2 Goals 2000 83
6.2.3 School-to-Work Opportunities Act 83
6.3 Funding of School-Based Vocational Education 84
6.4 Demarcation in Funding for School-Based Vocational Education 85
6.4.1 Interest Groups 85
6.4.2 General Funding Distribution 85
6.4.3 Considerations in Fwuling Distribution 86
6.5 Concluding Notes 87
6.5.1 Using a Theoretical Perspective 87
6.5.2 Viewing Demarcation as a Practical Problem 87
References 88
7. TIM OATES -A CONVERGING SYSTEM? EXPLAINING DIFFERENCE IN THE ACADEMIC AND
VOCATIONAL TRACKS IN ENGLAND 91
7.1 Key factors for explaining difference 92
7.2. Key awards in the framework 94
7.2.1. GCSE (General Certificate of Education) 94
7.2.2. GCE A-level (Advanced Level) and AS (Advanced Supplementary) 94
7.2.3. GNVQ (General National Vocational Qualification) 94
7.3. NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications) 95
7.4. Segmented control, intervention and innovation (factors I, 2 and 4) 96
7.5. Horizontal and vertical integration (factors 4 and 5) 99
7.5.1. Contrasts in classifications of academic subject/vocational areas (factors 5 and 6) 99
7.6. Contrasts in learning and assessment models (factors 3, 7 and 10) 102
7.7. Frameworks for levels of attainment (factors 5, 6) 103
7.8. Contrasts in the system: qualifications and systems of regulation (factors I. 3, 4. 6 and 9) 106
7.9. Convergence: movement beneath the surface 109
7.10. Summary 112
References I 13
Appendix 7.1. NVQ framework -levels 116
8. JEROEN ONSTENK -NEW STRUCTURES AND NEW CONTENTS IN DUTCH VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 117
8.1. Towards an integrated VET-system 117
B.l.l. Restructuring vocational education 118
B.l.2. Towards fewer and larger schools I 19
B.l.3. Shared responsibility: The role of business and national bodies 120
8.2. New contents in vocational education: towards a broad concept of competence 121
B.2.1. Developing vocational profiles 121
B.2.2. Occupational problems 123
B.2.3. Key qualifications and broad competence 125
B.2.3. Core problems 126
8.3. Concluding remarks 129
References 129
7
9. FRANK ACHTENHAGEN -GENERAL VERSUS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION -DEMARCATION AND
INTEGRATION 133
9.1. Approaches to bridging the gap between academic and vocational education 135
9.1.1. Megatrends and their consequences for vocational education 135
9.1.2. Opening up the certification system with regard to vocational education and training 136
9.1.3. Opening up the vocational educational system to new goals as key-qualifications 137
1. The structure of goals and contents 13 8
2. The structure of instructional methods. 140
3. Newformsofassessment. 141
9.2. One possible solution of the demarcation problem: key-qualifications within vocational
education 141
References 142
Part 3: Key qualifications in research and practice 145
10. JUDITH MARQUAND -OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS AND BUSINESS ETHICS 147
10.1. Case study -Britain 148
10.2. Different cultures ofcapitaIism 156
10.3. Conclusion -some questions 161
References 162
11. ALAN BROWN -DESIGN1NG BFFI!CTIVE LEARNING PROGRAMS RlR THE DI!VELOPMENT OF A BROAD
OCCUPATIONALCOMPIrrENCE 165
11.1. Aims of learning programs seeking to promote broad occupationai competence 166
11.1.1. Learning to learn 166
11.1.2. Core skills 167
11.1.3. Ability to transfer 168
11.2. Critical learning processes and outcomes 169
11.2.1. Reflection 169
11.2.2. Development of thinking skills 170
11.2.3. Development of learner independence 171
11.2.4. Teamwork and collaborative learning 172
11.2.5. Learning and assessment processes being /inked 174
11.2.6. Importance of learners developing a substontive knowledge base 175
11.3. Effective work-based learning 176
11.3.1. Context of learning 176
11.3.2. Quality ofl earning environments in companies 177
11.3.3. Potential ofw ork-based learning 178
11.3.4. Quality ofs upport in the workplace 179
11.4. Conclusions 180
References 181
12. CATHLEEN STASZ -GENERIC SKIu.5 AT WORK: IMPLICATIONS FOR OCCUPATIONALLY -ORIENTED
EDUCATION 187
12.1.1. Occupationally-oriented education for the new workplace 188
12.1.2. Defining new skills 189
12.2. Conceptual approach and methods 190
12.2.1. Analytic procedures 191
12.2.2. Defining generic skills 191
12.3. Skills in practice 193
12.3.1. Problem solving 193
12.3.2. Communications 195
12.3.3. Teamwork 195
12.4. Employer perceptions of skill needs 196
8
12.5. Implications for research and practice in occupationally-oriented education 198
12.5.1. Instructional activities to teach generic skills must be sensitive to work context 198
12.5.2. Learning environments should reflect 'authentic' practice 199
12.5.3. Teacher training and staff development should support the design of authentic learning
environments 200
12.5.4. Building effective industry-education partnerships 201
12.5.5. Adopt a socially situated view of skills 201
12.5.6. Occupationally-oriented education is one component of a workforce development system 202
References 203
13. ALISON WOLF -COMPETENCE BASED ASSESSMENT. DOES IT SHIFT THE DEMARCATION LINES? 207
13.1. The argument for competence-based qualifications 208
13.2. Competence-based assessment 209
13.3. The evolution of occupational standards 211
13.4.UptakeofNVQs 213
13.5. Different players. different interests 213
13.6. The demand for general education 215
13.7. Conclusion 219
References 219
14. HANs HEDKE AND GER RAMAEKERS -1HE KNOWlEDGE AND SKILLS OF ECONOMICS
GRADUATES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE ON THE LABOUR MARKET 221
14.1. Theory 222
14.2. The data 225
14.3. Sorts of qualifications 226
14.4. The qualifications obtained 228
14.5. Occupational domains 234
14.6. Wages 236
14.7. The choice of occupational domain 239
14.8. Conclusions 241
References 244
Appendix 14.1. Explanatory variables used in the estimates 245
Part 4: Reflections 247
15. JAN N. STREUMER AND DAVID C. BJORKQUIST -MOVING BEYOND TRADITIONAL VO CA TIONAL
EDUCATION AND TRAINING: EMERGING ISSUES 249
15.1 Key Qualification. qualification. competence and occupation 249
15.2 Factors leading to organisational change and changes in the nature of the workplace 252
15.2.1 Technology. Economy and Work 253
15.2.2 Workforce Demographics 255
15.3 Organisational Change 256
15.4 Responsiveness of vocational education and training 258
15.5 Conclusions and reflection 260
References 262
INDEX 265
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 273
9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREPARING (YOUNG) PEOPLE FOR WORK is not an easy task nowadays. Labour
market research shows many mismatches and pitfalls. The world is changing so fast
that what seems new today, might well be obsolete tomorrow. Broadening the
curriculum, be it general or vocational, and sharing the responsibilities for
schooling and training among the social partners seem to be the solutions for the
coming years. It is this topic that will be examined here.
This book was published as a result of a conference of the International
Research Network on Training and Development (IRNETD), organised in Milan in
1994. A symposium on 'the demarcation issue' organised by the editors was very
well attended and subsequently attracted a lot of interest.
Discussions on the responsibility of the state and of business and industry and on
the consequences of broadening the vocational curriculum, based on key
qualifications, proved to be timely. Nowadays, the issue of key qualifications is
central to almost every policy debate in modem societies.
Willem van Oosterom, head of the Division of Higher Education of the
Department of Education, Culture and Science (DECS) took the initiative in
carrying out a study on broadening the vocational curriculum in the Netherlands.
Peter van den Dool, Bert de Vries and Toon Jansen from the Division of
Vocational and Further Education, also from the DECS, were constructive partners
in discussing this issue. We are grateful for their support, critical understanding,
insights and co-operation.
The preparations for a book like this are always embarked upon with good
intentions, but the way is sometimes obstructed by the unpredictable. We should
therefore like to thank all those people who have supported us and were willing to
contribute to this book. First of all, the contributors. Secondly, the publishers, Peter
de Liefde and Joy Carp from Kluwer Academic Press, for their motivation and
kindly support. Thirdly, Anne Simpson and Gay Howells, for their excellent talents
in copy-editing, and, last but not least, Gerard de Ruiter, for his substantive work in
preparing for publication the manuscripts of each chapter.
We hope that this volume will be useful to all who are working on the issues of
work and education, and especially to those trying to break down obsolete wall and
barriers and mould a future with highly skilled, well-educated and employable
people, both young and older.
Enschede, July 1997 Wim 1. Nijhof
Jan N. Streumer
CHAPTER!
The demarcation issue : introduction
WIM J. NUHOF & JAN N. STREUMER
THE ORIGINS OF THIS BOOK DATE BACK TO 1993 when the Dutch Department of
Education, Culture and Science (DECS) contracted the University of Twenteto
carry out a study on broadening vocational education. Several arguments played a
role at the time. A new law on Vocational and Further Education was in preparation,
which would regulate the relative autonomy of schools as well as the responsibility
of employers to justify the input of the system: occupational skills being transformed
from attainment targets into learning and then into performance.
This instrumental goal was accompanied by accountability regulations for schools
such as a quality management system. In order to ensure that the law would be
implemented by January 1996, the department needed to know what vocational
education is and what its content ought to be.
The department wanted to know fIrstly whether attainment targets can be used to
defIne the input of Vocational and Technical Education (VET) in such a way that
graduates could be designated as broadly-educated. Secondly, whether these
attainment targets really meet the needs of the labour market, and thirdly, whether
attainment targets contribute to the innovation of a sector in business and industry,
and especially to the renewal of occupations in a given sector.
While attainment targets were chosen as the main controlled input factor of
education, the department needed to be convinced that these attainment targets really
meet the conditions of the labour market and of the law in its broadest sense:
a) preparing young people for an occupation and employability;
b) preparing young people with learning to learn skills and entrance skills for higher
education;
c) preparing young people with transferable and transition skills;
d) preparing young people for citizenship and culture.
Broad vocational education is in this sense a kind of general education: preparing
(young) people for (working) life. Since this broadening concept is based on
concepts such as flexibility and mobility, a study was carried out into these
phenomena. The analysis in four countries, the USA, the UK, Germany, and the
Netherlands, led to a discussion of key qualifIcations. These qualifIcations would be
perceived as the solution to providing a broad education, which would make young
people more flexible and give them greater mobility.
Two dimensions of reasoning seemed to be important at that time: Who is
responsible for broadly-designed and executed vocational education? Business and
industry or the government? And: how broad or specifIc is vocational education? Is
it vocation-oriented or job-oriented?
When we take these dimensions as a starting point for analysis, four types of
educational contexts for learning emerge.
11
12 Wim J. Nijhof and Jan N. Streumer
Table 1.1. Areas of responsibility in relation to occupational and job preparation.
Public authority Private authority
FonnalSchooling Vocational education, Training, preparation for a
Occupation job
Infonnal Learning Internships! apprenticeships Learning on the job
When vocational schooling is intentional it does not preclude informal learning
taking place. Many schools give students assignments to provide them with the
opportunity to learn informally the social, normative and communicative skills
needed at the workplace. Using such techniques as modelling and cognitive
apprenticeship, coaches and teachers at the workplace can be very effective in
transmitting workplace skills. Since Resnick (1989) made her analysis of learning
both in school and out, renewed attention has been paid to the powerful relationship
between formal and informal learning. Changes in business and industry, as a
consequence of the opening up of the global village through information and
communication technology, demand of new workers the skills to co-operate, to
communicate, to encode and decode information, to learn to learn in the learning
organisation and to optimise performance at every possible level: job, process, and
organisation. New skills and combinations of skills are needed. It is not so much the
skills as such that are new, rather it is the context into which they have to fit. In this
sense globalisation forces people to think big and act small.
Every country and nation is nowadays struggling with the fact that the economy
and business are very unpredictable, as are the demands and requirements for jobs.
To be prepared for this insecure and unstable way of life, people have to learn to
rotate and to learn from their former experiences, and even schooling has to
anticipate on this by confronting students with a complex, entrepreneurial kind of
learning: managerial skills and transition skills to increase their employability.
When flexibility is really important both in and out of school (Raffe, 1992), then
the school curriculum has to be flexible as well. The responsivity of the school to
regional and local needs as well as to national demands is a very important tool to
use, although not an easy one to practise. The experiences gained so far are neutral
with regard to modular, structured curricula as an expression of flexible curricula,
are neutral. But schools have to organise different forms of educational practice, to
introduce the teaching of managerial and entrepreneurial skills for anticipating the
future: shaping skills. The general opinion is that moving from a reactive to a
proactive type of schooling can be facilitated by the introduction of key
qualifications, however confusing the term 'key qualifications' might be.
It is the intention of this book to clarify the issue of key qualifications in work and
education and to present different solutions to the problem. This book is not only
about definitions, but also contributes to teaching and practice in showing what the
consequences might be when key qualifications are taken seriously, in terms of
standards, curricula, systems, assessment and mobility. We think that this
combination of views, facts, and opinions can help to design new learning
environments for vocational education in the twenty-first century.
The topic as such is not new, as this book will show. The discussion on key
qualifications started as long ago as in the seventies, or maybe even earlier.