The future of the business sector for students in higher education is uncertain. The reasons for this are technological developments, the effects of globalisation and the shifting of business models (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2014; Helbing, 2014). The consequences of digitalisation and robotisation are large for professions in the financial-economic sector, such as accountancy and finance, business economy, and marketing (Frey & Osborne, 2013; Deloitte, 2016). As a result, certain jobs will disappear, but on the other hand new types of jobs will arise. It is expected that people in employment will have to have a strong adaptive ability to handle fast changes. There is an increasing expectation that they need to be mobile between employers and that they should be able to deal with a variety of new tasks, roles and positions (Dochy, Berghmans, Koenen, & Segers, 2015). Professionals need to have a sense of great flexibility in order to be able to anticipate these changes based on their own power and ambition. In addition to this adaptive ability, good interpersonal skills are essential due to the need for working in multidisciplinary teams on complex issues (Onstenk, 2017). The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (Sociaal-Economische Raad, 2017) presumes that the level of basic skills required to participate in an increasingly complex society is continuously growing, and they advise upcoming professionals to train their resistance, flexibility and the ability to continuously develop in order to maintain sustainable employability. In this way professionals regularly need to be able to reinvent themselves during periods of change (Van Water & Weggeman, 2017; Frie, Potting, Sjoer, & Van der Heijden, submitted for publication). This chapter will describe how the Department of Business, Finance & Marketing (BFM) of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) has found an answer to the challenges of a Department-wide educational innovation. First it is outlined what this innovation involves and how it will be designed. The net paragraph clarifies the overlap in the competency profiles of the five programmes of BFM. Then the next steps of this educational innovation process are described. Finally, insights will be discussed as to the role of the lecturers and the business sector, as valuable partners, within this educational reform.
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Onderwijsvernieuwing is een complex proces met veel aspecten. Vernieuwing wordt beïnvloed door het curriculum, de docent, de organisatie en de cultuur. Vernieuwing is een kettingreactie en de reactie dooft uit wanneer onvoldoende rekening wordt gehouden met de verschillende aspecten.
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Purpose - This paper provides an overview on the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) program components/mechanisms and their overall effect on learning outcomes in a developing country context. Design/methodology/approach - Using secondary data, this descriptive case study integrates the realistic evaluation framework of Pawson and Tilley (1997) with Total Quality Management (TQM) frameworks. Findings - Ethiopia's TVET system adopts/adapts international best practices. Following the implementation of the 2008 TVET strategy, the proportion of formal TVET graduates who were recognized as competent by the assessment and certification system increased from 17.42 percent in 2009/2010 to 40.23 percent in 2011/2012. Nevertheless, there is regional variation. Research limitations/implications - Outcome-based TVET reforms that are based on TQM frameworks could improve learning outcome achievements in developing countries by enhancing awareness, coordination, integration, flexibility, participation, empowerment, accountability and a quality culture. Nevertheless, this research is limited by lack of longitudinal data on competency test results. There is also a need for further investigation into the practice of TQM and the sources of differences in internal effectiveness across TVET institutions. Practical implications - Our description of the Ethiopian reform experience, which is based on international best experience, could better inform policy makers and practitioners in TVETelsewhere in Africa. Originality/value - A realistic evaluation of TVET programs, the articulation of the mechanisms, especially based on TQM, that affect TVET effectiveness would add some insight into the literature. The evidence we have provided from the Ethiopian case is also fresh. Keywords TVET reform, TVET quality, Total quality management, Internal effectiveness, Realistic evaluation, Developing countries, Ethiopia
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In this chapter, I look back at the implementation of W12-16, a major reform of mathematics education in the lower grades of general secondary education and pre-vocational secondary education in the Netherlands including all students aged 12–16. The nationwide implementation of W12-16 started in 1990 and envisioned a major change in what and how mathematics was taught and learned. The content was broadened from algebra and geometry to algebra, geometry and measurement, numeracy, and data processing and statistics. The learning trajectories and the instruction theory were based on the ideas of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME): the primary processes used in the classroom were to be guided re-invention and problem solving. ‘Ensuring usability’ in the title of this chapter refers to the aim of the content being useful and understandable for all students, but also to the involvement of all relevant stakeholders in the implementation project, including teachers, students, parents, editors, curriculum and assessment developers, teacher educators, publishers, media and policy makers. Finally, I reflect on the current state of affairs more than 20 years after the nationwide introduction. The main questions to be asked are: Have the goals been reached? Was the implementation successful?
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In this chapter it is argued that self-direction is currently well above the head of the majority of youngsters and even of many adults. Evidence for this conclusion stems from developmental and brain research. However, for various reasons it is important that people develop the competences that are necessary for self-direction. To what degree is it possible to develop these competences? Are they 'learnable'? What can education contribute?
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Innovation is crucial for higher education to ensure high-quality curricula that address the changing needs of students, labor markets, and society as a whole. Substantial amounts of resources and enthusiasm are devoted to innovations, but often they do not yield the desired changes. This may be due to unworkable goals, too much complexity, and a lack of resources to institutionalize the innovation. In many cases, innovations end up being less sustainable than expected or hoped for. In the long term, the disappointing revenues of innovations hamper the ability of higher education to remain future proof. Against the background of this need to increase the success of educational innovations, our colleague Klaartje van Genugten has explored the literature on innovations to reveal mechanisms that contribute to the sustainability of innovations. Her findings are synthesized in this report. They are particularly meaningful for directors of education programs, curriculum committees, educational consultants, and policy makers, who are generally in charge of defining the scope and set up of innovations. Her report offers a comprehensive view and provides food for thought on how we can strive for future-proof and sustainable innovations. I therefore recommend reading this report.
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Under pressure of the continuing need to modernize, Vietnam is rapidly reforming its education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that originated from elsewhere can be “cloned” with similar results) and neo-colonialism (the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform.
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In this handbook we would like to inform (future) social and public professionals about the results of our extensive comparative research on welfare state reforms in Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and UK. The research reveals how reforms take place in local practice and gives insights on the implications of social policies on people’s lives. Social policies are defined as social investment in human lives. We evaluated the implementation of social investment policies in practice and studied 20 innovative cases, 2 in each of the above-mentioned countries. Starting from these professional practices, we would like to give (future) professionals more insights in the realities of system change and the new perspectives that come out of it.
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Numeracy and mathematics education in vocational education is under pressure to keep up with the rapid changes in the workplace due to developments in workplace mathematics and the ubiquitous availability of technological tools. Vocational education is a large stream in education for 12- to 20-years-olds in the Netherlands and the numeracy and mathematics curriculum is on the brink of a reform. To assess what is known from research on numeracy in vocational education, we are in the process of conducting a systematic review of the international scientific literature of the past five years to get an overview of the recent developments and to answer research questions on the developments in vocational educational practices. The work is still in progress. We will present preliminary and global results. We see vocational education from the perspective of (young) adults learning mathematics.
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The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has funded a five years program to encourage the use, creation and sharing of Open Educational Resources (OER) by teachers from various types of education. This program is known as Wikiwijs. Ultimo 2013, the program has come to an end. As some of the assumptions at the start of Wikiwijs proved to work out in unexpected ways the lessons learned could fuel the next steps in developing Wikiwijs. Besides, other national initiatives on opening up education may also benefit from the lessons learned reported here. The main conclusion from five years Wikiwijs was that to accomplish mainstreaming OER, the Wikiwijs program should go along with other interventions that are more oriented toward prescriptive policies and regulations. In particular: the Dutch government should be more directive in persuading executive boards and teachers on schools to adopt OER as an important part of educational reform and the acquisition of 21st century skills.
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