Dutch prevocational secondary schools are reforming their educational programmes to make them more competence-based. This reform has substantial implications for the roles played by teachers. Yet, little empirical research has been conducted on teachers' processes of competence development in vocational settings. This study explores teachers' individual action theories regarding the introduction of competence-based prevocational secondary education. The cognitive apprenticeship model provides a conceptual framework for addressing this issue. The research questions addressed here are: How do teachers value elements of the cognitive apprenticeship model in designing and delivering competence-based prevocational secondary education?, and, What individual action theories do teachers have regarding competence-based prevocational secondary education? The study was designed in two phases. In the qualitative phase, interviews and concept map techniques were used, while the quantitative phase employed a questionnaire. Teachers valued elements of the cognitive apprenticeship model differently, and suggested two additional features: a custommade educational approach and the professionalisation of teachers.
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When the Netherlands developed a national system of vocational education at the end of the 19th century, it was a direct answer to obvious shortcomings in the technical and trade professions (De Jonge, 1968). It concentrated on training craftsmen for the traditional, mainly agrarian economy, and technicians for the new, industrial economy. The training being offered was closely related to actual professional practices. In the first place, there was a very stable occupational structure, in which professional knowledge and skills did not become obsolete quickly. This, in turn, made it possible that education was -and remained - up-to-date. Secondly, almost all teachers were also experienced craftsmen, who only started teaching after a long career. The teachers learned actual professional practices through direct experience. In addition, students were also frequently familiar with actual practice, because the occupational structure was so stable: they knew exactly for which profession they were being trained. A stable occupational structure, a clear occupational orientation by the students, and teachers with extensive firsthand work experience ensured that vocational education was a powerful learning environment. For this reason, a dual system had hardly any added value. A consequence is that the apprenticeship system in the Netherlands - as opposed to almost all surrounding countries - had a lower status and fewer students than full-time education (Teerling & Bijveld, 1982).
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Learning theories broadly characterised as constructivist, agree on the importance to learning of the environment, but differ on what exactly it is that constitutes this importance. Accordingly, they also differ on the educational consequences to be drawn from the theoretical perspective. Cognitive constructivism focuses on the active role of the learner, and on real-life learning. Social-learning theories, comprising the socio-historical, socio-cultural theories as well as the situated-learning and community-of-practice approaches, emphasise learning as being a process within and a product of the social context. Critical-learning theory stresses that this social context is a man-made construction, which should be approached critically and transformed in order to create a better world. We propose to view these different approaches as contributions to our understanding of the learning-environment relationship, and their educational impact as questions to be addressed to educational contexts.
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In het vmbo zien we een toenemende interesse voor nieuwe activerende, motiverende en op competentieontwikkeling gerichte werkvormen. Deze ontwikkelingen hebben grote gevolgen voor de taken, rollen en competenties van docenten. Van hen wordt verwacht dat zij gezamenlijk met hun collega's nieuwe programma's en onderwijsarrangementen ontwerpen. Het is van belang docenten-in-opleiding, lerarenopleiders en onderzoekers bij dit proces te betrekken. Door sterkere relaties tot stand te brengen tussen Schoolontwikkeling, Opleiding van leraren, Onderwijskundig onderzoek en Professionele ontwikkeling van leraren (SOOP) kunnen individuele leerprocessen worden ingebed in en bijdragen aan collectieve leerprocessen. In dit artikel wordt verslag gedaan van een onderzoek dat vanuit een SOOP-perspectief is opgezet bij docenten die betrokken zijn bij het vormgeven van competentiegericht voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs. Het Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989) lijkt een goed kader te bieden voor het vormgeven van competentiegericht vmbo. We hebben onderzocht in hoeverre de praktijktheorieën van de betrokken docenten kunnen worden getypeerd met behulp van concepten en principes uit dit model. Daarnaast vroegen we ons af in hoeverre en op welke wijze zich daarbij een (eventuele) spanning tussen het door Sfard (1998) onderscheiden acquisitie- en participatieperspectief manifesteert. Uit de met behulp van concept maps, cued en semigestructureerde interviews verzamelde resultaten blijkt dat de vier dimensies van het Cognitive Apprenticeship Model een rol spelen in de praktijktheorieën, hoewel didactische maatregelen en sociologische aspecten van de leeromgeving duidelijk meer naar voren kwamen dan aandacht voor leerinhouden en opbouw van het onderwijsprogramma. Verder waren bij zes docenten passages te identificeren die duiden op een spanning tussen acquisitie en participatie, bij zeven docenten konden geen voorbeelden gevonden worden.
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This paper applies the actor-centered institutionalist theoretical framework to research into flexicurity strategies. The first part summarizes the actor-centered institutionalist framework, as developed by Renate Mayntz, Frits Scharpf and others. The second part illustrates how this framework can be used to sharpen both research questions and their hypothetical answers on the flexicurity research agenda. For illustrative purposes, this part focuses on the specific theme of the institutionalisation of markets for intermediate skills.
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Hoe kunnen de designers van de toekomst het beste worden opgeleid in het praktijkonderwijs? Hoe zorgt een bedrijf ervoor dat zij zichzelf de nodige mindset en vaardigheden aanleren? En welke mindset en vaardigheden hebben zij eigenlijk nodig?
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This book is about markets for intermediate skills. It is also about the coordination within and between the (vocational) education system and the (sub-baccalaureate) labor market, and the institutions that govern them. Our goal was to improve our understanding of how particular governance regimes influence the operation of vocational education and training (VET) markets. We conducted an international comparison of three different governance regimes of VET markets in Germany, the Netherlands and the American state of Wisconsin. The central question underlying the national analyses and comparisons is: How do markets for intermediate skills operate in Germany, the Netherlands, and the American state of Wisconsin?
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This article reports on a literature review on empirical research investigating learning for vocations in the context of vocational education. We included 36 studies in which learning for vocations is empirically studied. Learning for vocations is characterised based upon prevalent research traditions in the field and framed from the perspective of vocational education and organised learning practices. This framing and characterisation directed the search terms for the review. Results show empirical data on vocational learning and illustrate how learning processes for the functions of vocational education - vocational identity development, development of a vocational repertoire of actions, and vocational knowledge development - actually take place. The review further shows that, empirical illustrations of learning processes that occur in the context of vocational education and organised learning practices are relatively scarce. The findings can be typified in relation to our theoretical framework in terms of three learning processes, that is learning as a process of (a) belonging, becoming, and being, (b) recontextualization, and (c) negotiation of meaning and sense-making. We argue that more empirical research should be carried out, using the functions of vocational education and the three learning processes to better understand vocational learning.
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Purpose - The purpose of this article is to help schools for vocational education determine teachers' continuing professional development needs associated with implementing competence-based education programs, so that these schools can develop better attuned HR policies. It investigates which elements from the cognitive apprenticeship model and from the acquisition and participation metaphors can be identified in the individual action theories of their teachers. Design/methodology/approach - A case study was conducted in one school for vocational education, where 12 teachers engaged in an innovation project around the development of a new competence-based education program for pupils. They participated in concept mapping, cued interviews (based on video recordings), semi-structured interviews, and a joint feedback session. These four sources were used for an in-depth content analysis of teachers' action theories. Findings - No distinctive, crystallized action theories about competence-based vocational education emerged at the individual teacher level; let alone individual teachers' action theories well in line with the two normative frameworks on competence-based education. The case study shows the struggle that individual teachers are going through to get their every-day teaching repertoire more in line with new ideas on competence-based education. Research limitations/implications - Only qualitative data are gathered, in one school, representing one school type, in one country only, limiting the statistical generalizability of the results. Not all respondents are able to participate in all four data sources. Practical implications - Schools should develop HR policies that offer teachers CPD activities in the crucial area of competence-based education; the frameworks presented in the study can be used to this end, by teacher educators as well as by HRD professionals interested in combining training programs with informal employee learning. Originality/value - The study draws on literature from various disciplines (especially educational psychology and HRD), which traditionally have remained mostly separate. It combines insights from four separate data sources.
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This paper discusses two studies - the one in a business context, the other in a university context - carried out with expert educational designers. The studies aimed to determine the priorities experts claim to employ when designing competence-based learning environments. Designers in both contexts agree almost completely on principles they feel are important. Both groups emphasized that one should start a design enterprise from the needs of the learners, instead of the content structure of the learning domain. However, unlike business designers, university designers find it extremely important to consider alternative solutions during the whole design process. University designers also say that they focus more on project plan and desired characteristics of the instructional blueprint whereas business designers report being more client-oriented, stressing the importance of "buying in" the client early in the process.
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