In view of the immense importance technical and vocational education and training (TVET) holds for social and economic development, one can simply never underestimate the significance of the collaboration between all stakeholders at all levels in this process. Learners can only be introduced into their professional community of practice during their education and training phase when given the opportunity to learn at authentic, real workplaces in close contact to their future peers. For several years workplace learning has been high on the TVET agenda in many countries worldwide, not only serving the learners but also the companies, by giving them the inestimably valuable opportunity to become acquainted with their future employees in advance of actually hiring them and in addition being able to shape both their education and training. In determining what should be learnt, in terms of developing curricula, a share of that input must come from the corporate sector, for one of the significant roles of TVET is to prepare a skilled workforce for the economy. Vocational teachers must have access to the world of work simply to be able to find out what it is that their students should learn in the here and now. It is crucial to the framework of initial teacher education but also vital in helping their work stay up-to-date, regarding technical knowledge, and even more vitally regarding the work processes, their organisation, and the current competency requirements. At both national and sub-national levels all stakeholders, government agencies, social partners (i.e. employers and labour unions), TVET providers and the relevant sciences have to work together to continuously shape a vocational education and training system attuned to the needs of the people, the society, the economy and the environment, and furthermore, quite simply, render it attractive to its clients. Last but not least, in the era of emerging transnational economic areas featuring goods, services and labour mobility, nations are compelled to work on the transparency of national qualifications and the mutual recognition of skills. Moreover, they should learn from each other about the partners’ vocational education and training systems within an atmosphere of economic cooperation and competition.

Hence, collaboration in TVET is a huge and broad-ranging topic. This first issue of TVET@Asia, the Online Journal for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Asia, tries to approach this topic from different sides without claiming to address all the relevant issues. Most of the contributions were already presented at the 2^nd UPI International Conference on TVET which took place under the same theme heading as this journal issue, and was organized by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia and the Regional Cooperation Platform on Vocational Teacher Education in Asia, supported by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, in Bandung, Indonesia on 4^th to 5^th December 2012. They were selected from approximately 55 paper and poster contributions, and represent quite a diverse view on the subject of “collaboration in TVET”. Several directly address the issue, while other articles focus on another primary topic. All of them, however, address the fundamental necessity of collaboration in TVET in one way or another.

Collaboration between institutions offering TVET and their direct stakeholders (such as companies at the implementation level) is vital in assuring the quality and relevance of TVET. However, such collaboration is not always problem-free as the contributions by Rashidi, Abdullah and Mustapha demonstrate. Rashidi suggests that an internal, formative evaluation of collaboration can lead to improved understanding of the partners and proposes a related procedure. Based on case studies in Indonesia, Abdullah explores what factors TVET institutions have to consider to ensure their collaboration with companies are successful. In his article Mustapha suggests providers of TVET should sometimes take a closer look at what their clients, i.e. the companies, wish to obtain from them. The survey carried out among Malaysian automotive companies reveals that equipping graduates with social skills and social values is almost of equal value to the provision of technical knowledge and skills.

How important the development of a mutual understanding is between the parties involved in the vocational education system, whether at a local or national level, can be well estimated from the contributions by Ratnata, Alias & Hassan, Kurnia & Ilhamdaniah, and again Rashidi. Ratnata addresses the question of how TVET can be made attractive for young people and their parents and thus meet quantitative and qualitative development goals. Alias and Hassan relate what efforts have been undertaken to tap the potentials of collaboration for the development of the National Dual Training System in Malaysia and also reveal the related challenges. The article by Kurnia and Ilhamdaniah examines the practical part of vocational teacher education via a cross-border comparative perspective concluding that the required practical teacher competences simply cannot be developed without contributions from companies and vocational schools.

Agrawal illustrates how India uses the potential of inland cooperation between education and training institutions and industry for the benefit of TVET, but also points to a number of India’s international cooperation initiatives. The supranational perspective on TVET collaboration in Southeast Asia has been provided by Paryono, who adopts a more political viewpoint. Finally, Smith &Brennan’s article shows that learning from one another of the properties of different TVET systems under a true international perspective could itself be quite worthwhile and is also a form of collaboration.

The articles have been roughly organised according to spatial coverage, beginning with the international perspective and proceeding towards more local issues. We hope that this first issue of TVET@Asia is helpful reading for all those interested in technical and vocational education and training in Asia and that it constitutes a good start to this new open-access online journal.

The Editors of Issue 1

Joachim Dittrich, Agus Setiawan, Wang Jiping, Jailani Md. Yunos

Joachim Dittrich
University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven
Len Cairns
Monash University Australia
Agus Setiawan
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Thomas Schröder
TU Dortmund University

Vocational teacher education is a relevant field of continuous development in Asia and in other world regions. Concepts, initiatives and declarations on the professional development of TVET personnel have frequently been issued by relevant stakeholders at a number of signifi­cant international meetings. Among them are the following:

• Ten years ago the UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education was held in Hangzhou, China. This meeting recom­mended developing TVET into an internationally acknowledged scientific community in order to professionalize TVET teacher/trainer education and to integrate TVET as sustainable, reproductive and innovative scientific systems in national approaches to innovation. To implement TVET Teacher Education study programs at the Masters level were considered one of the necessary steps.
• The First World Congress on Teacher Education for Technical and Vocational Educa­tion and Training held in 2008 in Bandung, Indonesia reaffirmed this request by recommending that TVET teacher/trainer education should encompass “studies in the analysis, design and evaluation of (a) vocational learning, educational and qualifica­tion processes, (b) occupational work and business processes, (c) technology as an object of work and learning processes, and (d) critical pedagogy for social change”. The Bandung declaration in addition asked for the establishment of “frameworks for promoting the continuing professional development of TVET practitioners”, a request implicitly included in the Hangzhou declaration.
• The UNESCO Third International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education and Training, held in May 2012 in Shanghai, China, in its “Shanghai Consensus”, more generally recommended to “… specifically, develop policies and frameworks for professionalizing TVET staff”.
• The core of the “Thanyaburi Statement”, an outcome of the ASEAN International Forum held in January 2013 in Thanyaburi, Thailand, suggested developing TVET research at teacher training institutions as the basis for improving vocational teacher education, as a call to develop the scientific basis of TVET for the sake of TVET personnel professional development.

The statements and declarations illustrate the high demand for an international discussion and knowledge exchange on approaches for TVET teacher/trainer professionalization. The 5^th issue of TVET^@Asia presents a variety of different approaches in initial and further voca­tional teacher education from Asia and beyond.

PARYONO provides an overview on current approaches to educate and train TVET teachers and instructors in ASEAN member countries, discussing current policies and practices, chal­lenges and issues, as well as development strategies. His analysis is based on a number of discursive processes he had access to as Deputy Director of the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Vocational and Technical Education and Training in Brunei.

Several articles address TVET teacher education issues in the narrower sense. PHOUMILAY et al. report on a concept of further education and training of in-service vocational instructors to reduce the theory-practice-gap in Lao PDR. HASSAN et al. analyse the contribution of networking and internationalization to competence development of TVET teacher educators in general and in Malaysia specifically. DWI FOSA et al. show in a very action-oriented project, how bilateral cooperation between Myanmar and Indonesia in TVET furthers the training benefits to all involved parties and can achieve a radical change in teaching and learning.

MALLOCH and HELMY compare the trends in TVET teacher education in Indonesia and Australia, and find converging as well as diverging tendencies. Indonesia consequently strives for a professionalization of TVET staff, while Australia seemingly develops in another direction. The contribution of SMITH et al. advocate University-based education of TVET teachers while criticising the recent political developments in Australia which led and will lead to further de-skilling (or de-professionalization) of vocational teaching staff. BOUND and STACK present pedagogical tools for continuous professional development of TVET teachers and instructors, and discuss their impact, focusing on Australia too. Considering the problematic political settings mentioned in the two previous articles, the reader may get an idea why such an approach currently important for this country.

DUGGAN analyses recent development cooperation donors’ activities for TVET develop­ment in Mongolia and concludes that the extreme imbalance between enormous financial support for building up and equipping TVET schools and virtually inexistent activities for TVET teacher competence development has put the impact and sustainability of hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in danger.

FLYNN et al. finally address the always and everywhere virulent topic of industry-school-partnerships as a means for developing the quality of many aspects of TVET, drawing on a number of existing examples in Australia. This, at the time of writing, last article of TVET@Asia issue 5 leaves the somehow narrow focus on TVET teacher professional devel­opment by addressing another aspect of TVET quality, which might be discussed in more detail in one of the future issues.

We wish you enlightening insights, and enjoy reading.

The editors of Issue 5

Joachim Dittrich, Agus Setiawan, Len Cairns, and Thomas Schröder

Citation

Dittrich, J., Setiawan, A., Cairns, L., & Schroeder, T. (2015). Editorial Issue 5: Approaches achievements in TVET personnel professional development. In: TVET @ Asia, issue 5, 1-3. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue5/editorial_tvet5.pdf (retrieved 23.7.2015).

Citation

Dittrich, J., Setiawan, A., Cairns, L., & Schroeder, T. (2015). Editorial Issue 5: Approaches achievements in TVET personnel professional development. In: TVET @ Asia, issue 5, 1-3. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue5/editorial_tvet5.pdf (retrieved 23.7.2015).

Transferable skills are an essential part of the desirable outcomes of vocational education and have therefore become the focus of the Indonesian vocational education system. The concept is expressed through different terms, such as life skill education, but is still poorly developed in Indonesia. The available educational regulations provide neither a clear definition nor specific instructional guidelines, which would enable educators to translate the concept into practice. In fact, different approaches have been taken to integrating the transferable skills concept into vocational education in Indonesia, such as structuring and restructuring of several competencies within the frequently-reformed vocational curriculum. However, there is still a lack of a clear definition that would guide policy formulation and ultimately implementation, which is due to the absence of scholarly discourse and theories on transferable skills. There is no scientific research community working on defining transferable skills. Instead educational policy makers rely heavily on international consultants who often lack necessary understanding of the country context. To improve this situation, human resources capable of developing the education system need to be fostered in Indonesia.

1 Background: TVET in Indonesia

The Indonesian technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system is divided into two largely separate parts, e.g. (1) vocational education which is part of the national education system (Sistem Pendidikan Nasional), and (2) vocational training being part of the national training system for work (Sistem Latihan Kerja Nasional – Sislatkernas).

1.1 Vocational education

Vocational education is provided at the upper secondary level in vocational schools (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan – SMK –vocational middle schools). The vocational track of higher educa­tion is called professional education and is part of the higher education system (Sistem Pendidi­kan Tinggi) provided in higher education institutions such as polytechnics (Politeknik), tertiary-level high schools (Sekolah Tinggi) and even at universities in diploma study programs. Gradu­ates can earn diploma I, II, III and IV (the figures denote the length of study in years).

• Diploma I can currently be earned in extended vocational programs in certain vocational schools, so-called SMK Plus.
• Diploma I and II can be earned in community colleges which are currently being developed.
• Diploma III and IV can be earned in polytechnics, vocational high schools, academies and in universities. Diploma IV is considered as equivalent to an academic bachelor degree (Sarjana 1 or S1).

All these vocational education programs are governed by the National Law on Education (UU 20/2003) and are under the supervision of the National Ministry of Education and Culture (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan – Kemdikbud) which until 2011 was called the Ministry of Education (Kementerian Pendidikan Nasional – DIKNAS).

The National Education Standards Agency (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan – BSNP) is an independent, professional institution whose mission is to develop, monitor and evaluate the implementation of national education standards. It is supported by and works in coordination with the Kemdikbud and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which supervises faith-based education institutions, as well as agencies dealing with education at provincial and municipal levels[1]. BSNP develops national education standards and curriculum guidelines which are enacted through regulations of Kemdikbud, while the regional and local education administra­tions are responsible for their implementation.

Accreditation and quality control is provided by the national accreditation agencies for secondary schools (Badan Akreditasi Nasional Sekolah / Madrasah – BAN-SM) and for higher education (Badan Akreditasi Nasional Pendidikan Tinggi – BAN-PT) which are formally independent institutions but in fact heavily influenced by Kemdikbud due to criteria defined in regulations on education standards.

All education programs up to upper secondary level conclude with a national level examination (Ujian Nasional) run by the Education Assessment Center (Pusat Penilaian Pendidikan) which operates under the Kemdikbud.

With regard to regulations, vocational education, be it schooling or teacher education, is always handled in the framework of upper secondary education. Until 2013, there were hardly any specific provisions for vocational education or vocational teacher education except the national framework curricula for TVET which are developed by the directorate for the development of vocational schools (Direktorat Pembinaan Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan – Ditpsmk) in Kemdik­bud’s directorate general of secondary education. Education standards for vocational schools have only been enacted in June 2013 via the ministerial regulation Permendikbud 70/2013. An expert group, which was established by the directorate of teaching staff development within the National Ministry of Education and Culture is working on a concept for the so-called Professio­nal Teacher Education Program (Pendidikan Profesi Guru – PPG) aimed at vocational teachers. PPG is currently being implemented as a second stage of teacher education as a prerequisite for earning a teacher’s certificate.

1.2 Vocational training

Vocational training is governed by the Labor Law (UU 13/2003) and the government regulation on the national training for work system (PP 31/2006), and is managed by the National Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration (Kementerian Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi – Kemenaker­trans). It finances and supervises via the regional manpower administrations training centers (Balai Latihan Kerja – BLK), which offer short term vocational training, partly as development measures for the unemployed, partly as targeted training measures according to industry demands.

The national training for work system (Sistem Latihan Kerja Nasional – Sislatkernas) also pro­vides apprenticeship programs as stipulated by a related ministerial regulation (Permennakertrans Per.21/Men/X/2005). Apprenticeship programs are based on trilateral agreements between a company, Kemenakertrans, and the apprentice. The company must be registered with the regio­nal manpower administration and is obliged to provide some training to the apprentice which can be outsourced to an accredited training institution. According to the regulation, the standard duration of an apprenticeship program is 6 months, but under certain conditions can last up to a maximum of 12 months. Despite the existing regulation, apprenticeships are not widely available.

Upon successful completion of any training program, the trainee must have the opportunity to have his acquired competencies certified against the National Work Competence Standards (Standar Kompetensi Kerja Nasional Indonesia – SKKNI), national standards of a professional organization, or international standards. Currently SKKNI are available for more than a hundred occupations, albeit with diverse quality. The certification system which is governed by the National Agency for Professional Certification (Badan Nasional Sertikasi Profesi – BNSP) is not yet fully operational in all provinces and for all occupational areas. Therefore, and presumably because of relatively high costs, certification against SKKNI has not yet gained full momentum.

Certification against SKKNI in addition aimed at strengthening the link between vocational education and the world of work. Through SKKNI, vocational middle school (SMK) graduates were expected to have their competencies certified. When SKKNI were introduced, there was hope that SMK curricula would adopt the content of SKKNI and thus become more work-oriented. This, however, apparently did not happen.

2 Concepts of transferable skills in national TVET and vocational teacher education (VTE) policies in Indonesia

Education in Indonesia, including vocational education, is governed largely by laws, regulations and standards established by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan – Kemdikbud). At the same time, scholarly debate in sciences, including education sciences, is not very well developed, and controversial scholarly discussions about education concepts and approaches and their representation in laws and regulations are limited. Since the whole education system in Indonesia is meant to be competency-based, one would expect to find a clear concept which classifies competencies into certain types, which defines ways and means to acquire these different types of competencies, and which allows the identify­ca­tion of a subset of competencies or a theory which relates to the concept of transferable skills. As a result of missing scholarly debate, such a concept still waits for it being developed. Instead, there were a number of concepts named in laws and regulations over time. Their presentation in the following might appear somehow blurry at points due to missing conceptional and analytical scientific work on the subject.

In mid-2013, education philosophy and school curricula (again) underwent a substantial reform. There seems to be a pattern that whenever a new minister of education takes office, a new curri­culum is being issued for secondary schools, which in contrast to higher education institutions do not have the authority to develop their own curricula. The most recent curriculum is called Kuri­kulum 2013 and its related regulations were issued in June 2013. Only by the end of 2012 first informational activities, like concept presentations, seminars and conferences of the new curri­culum, were implemented by the ministry of education and culture. At the time when the curri­culum-related regulations were issued, the general public, as well as schools, teachers, and teacher education institutions had little understanding about the changes the latest curriculum reform would entail, despite the conducted informational activities. Especially parents voiced their concerns about the limited preparation time schools and teachers had been given. Regard­less of these concerns, Kurikulum 2013 was implemented starting from the new school year (from second half of August 2013).

2.1 Transferable skills in TVET

Kurikulum 2013 and its related regulations on education standards contain new definitions of competencies (when compared with the 2005 and 2006 definitions). The following sub-sections will try to demonstrate the differences between the old and new definitions.

2.1.1 Transferable skills in TVET policies up to 2013

The main legal documents referring to what could be termed transferable skills in TVET are the following:

• UU 20/2003. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 tentang Sistem Pendidikan Nasional (Law 20/2003 on the National Education System)
• PP 19/2005. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 19 Tahun 2005 tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan (Government Regulation 19/2005 on the National Education Standard).
• Permendiknas 22/2006. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 22 Tahun 2006 tentang Standar Isi untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Ministerial regulation on the content of elementary and secondary education)
• Permendiknas 23/2006. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 23 Tahun 2006 tentang Standar Kompetensi Lulusan untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasardan Menengah (Ministerial regulation on the competency outcome in elementary and secondary education)

These legal documents all refer, implicitly or explicitly, to life skill education which can be compared with the concept of transferable skills. The Education Act UU 20/2003, which can be considered an umbrella for all education regulations, lists some normative values which are to be included in the school curriculum in article 36. The government regulation on education standards (PP 19/2005) states in article 13 that life skills education (Pendidikan Kecakapan Hidup) shall take place in lower and upper secondary education, including vocational education. According to the regulation, life skills education includes personal, social, academic, and vocational competences and can be integrated in either or each of the 5 learning content groups, namely a) religion and morality, b) citizenship and personality, c) science and technology, d) esthetics, and e) body, sports, and health. The term ‘life skills’ seems to have a similar meaning as the term ‘transferable skills’ coined in the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012.

Vocational education in Indonesia aims not only at preparing youth for gainful employment but also for further education, and focuses on creating ‘good’ citizens. Therefore, the curricula con­sist of so-called ‘normative’, ‘adaptive’ and ‘productive’ subjects (mata kuliah normatif, adaptif, dan produktif) (Permendiknas 22/2006). Normative subjects – which include religious education, citizenship education, Indonesian language, physical education, health education, as well as arts and culture – focus on educating ‘good’ citizens. Adaptive subjects – which include English language, natural sciences, social sciences, information management and computer skills, as well as entrepreneurship education – are considered to provide the necessary basic knowledge and skills for higher education, and the productive subjects. The productive subjects consist of subjects on basic vocational competencies as well as on vocational competencies, both of which are occupation-specific.

The term ‘life skills’, however, can neither be found in the ministerial regulation on the content of elementary and secondary education (Permendiknas 22/2006), nor in the one on competency standards for graduates of primary and secondary education, including vocational education (Permendiknas 23/2006). Instead the second regulation defines a list of 23 competences to be acquired by vocational students (see Table 1).

Table 1: Competency standards for graduates of vocational schools

Source: Permendiknas 23/2006, own, non-official translation

The list of competencies for vocational school graduates (see Table 1) is identical to the list of competencies for upper secondary school graduates, except for item 23. The regulation in addition includes a large number of partly subject-specific competencies for every study subject within the normative and adaptive subjects. Based on the list of competencies in Table 1, an Indonesian definition of transferable skills for the time span from 2006 to 2013 could be derived. However, the somehow disorganized list and a lack of academic discourse on transferable skills in Indonesia makes it difficult to identify a concise, underlying model of these skills.

When looking at Table 1, the reader might get the impression that the development of a self-sustained, self-confident and critical personality is not the most important goal of vocational education. The ability to shape the world of work or the society, which for example is an important goal of German vocational education, is not mentioned at all. Instead, integration in the value system and into society appears more important. This focus might stem from the cultures which can be found on Java Island, the core island of Indonesia[2]. These traditional cultures are very community-oriented and at the same time hierarchical, and require the individual to integrate into society instead of trying to change it.

2.1.2 Transferable skills in TVET policies from 2013

A number of new regulations have been introduced which define the core properties of the new curriculum 2013. These are:

• PP 32/2013. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 32 Tahun 2013 tentang Perubahan atas Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 19 Tahun 2005 tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan (Government regulation on the amendment of regulation 19/2005 focusing on national education standards)
• Permendikbud 54/2013. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikandan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 54 Tahun 2013 tentang Standar Kompetensi Lulusan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Ministerial regulation on competence standards for graduates of elementary and secondary education)
• Peraturan Menteri Pendidikandan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 64 Tahun 2013 tentang Standar Isi Pendidikan Dasardan Menengah (Ministerial regulation on the teaching content for elementary and secondary schools)
• Peraturan Menteri Pendidikandan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 70 Tahun 2013 tentang Kerangka Dasar dan Struktur Kurikulum Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan / Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan (Ministerial regulation on the basic framework of the secondary vocational school curriculum)

The new Kurikulum 2013 seems to abandon the categorization into normative, adaptive and productive subject. Instead, subjects in vocational education have been divided into specific groups A, B, and C (Permendikbud 70/2013).

Group A:

1. Religion and ‘good manners’ education (Pendidikan Agama dan Budi Pekerti),
2. State philosophy[3] and citizenship education (Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewargane­garaan),
3. Indonesian language (Bahasa Indonesia),
4. Mathematics (Matematika),
5. Indonesian history (Sejarah Indonesia), and
6. English language (Bahasa Inggris).

Group B:

1. Art and culture (SeniBudaya),
2. Physical and health education (Pendidikan Jasmani, Olah Raga, dan Kesehatan), and
3. Crafts and entrepreneurship education (Prakarya dan Kewirausahaan).

Combined, subjects in group A and B make up 50% of the new Kurikulum 2013. The subjects in group A are prescribed at national level, while the subjects in group B are subject to provincial and/or regional regulations. Group C, which makes up the other half of the curriculum, contains vocational subjects. For some of the vocational fields, certain subjects are prescribed, such as physics, chemistry and technical drawing for technology and engineering.

In addition, the ministerial regulation on competency standards for graduates of primary and secondary education (Permendikbud 54/2013) groups competencies under three headings: (1) attitude, (2) knowledge, and (3) skills and defines them for upper secondary education, including vocational education (see Table 2).

Table 2: Competency groups in the 2013 competency standards

Source: Permendikbud 54/2013, own, non-official translation

The ministerial regulation on the basic framework of the curriculum for primary and secondary education (Permendikbud 70/2013) splits the ‘attitudes’ into spiritual and social competencies, leaving the other 2 dimensions unchanged but naming all of them ‘core competencies’ (kompe­tensi inti). The descriptions of these core competencies are slightly more elaborate than those in Table 2 but are quite similar in nature. In addition, the regulation lists, for each subject and for each grade from 10 to 12, a number of ‘basic competencies’ (kompetensi dasar) resulting in a long list of basic competencies, most of which would qualify as transferable skills.

From these definitions it is even harder to deduct a concise definition of a concept of transferable skills than from the competence listing for the years 2006 to 2013. In addition, the distinction between competences of general school and vocational school graduates is even less pronounced.

2.1.3 Summary of transferable skills in TVET policies

The ‘old’ concept of transferable skills in Indonesia was largely based on an unstructured form of ‘life skills’, which are comparable with ‘transferable skills’ as defined by the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2012. The new curriculum, Kurikulum 2013, classifies skills in a traditional manner into spiritual and social competences, knowledge and skills. Somehow this looks like a step back on the path to an internationally-recognized concept for competency-based education. International comparability is further hampered by the use of the terms ‘core competencies’ (kompetensi inti) and ‘basic competencies’ (kompetensi dasar). In addition, neither the old nor the new concept of competencies has been discussed intensively in academic circles in view of the international discussions on ‘transferrable skills’ or preceding concepts dealing with these skills. A concept of ‘transferable skills’ for vocational education which are required for work-related cross-border mobility can hardly be identified in both the old and new curriculums.

It should be noted that in the past 5 years, there have been discussions on the so-called ‘character education’ as a response to a perceived decay of moral values and appropriate youth behavior. These discussions, however, concern the whole education system and are not focused on voca­tional education.

2.2 Transferable skills in Vocational Teacher Education policies

For teachers and lecturers, including those for TVET, the following regulations are relevant:

• UU 14/2005. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 14 Tahun 2005 tentang Guru dan Dosen (Law on teachers and (university) lecturers)
• Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 16 Tahun 2007 tentang Standar Kualifikasi Akademik dan Kompetensi Guru (Ministerial regulation on the standard of academic qualifications and competencies of teachers)

Both documents apply to all teachers and university lecturers for all types of educational institu­tions, including those of vocational education. Law UU 14/2005 stipulates in article 9 that teachers must be qualified for their profession. Article 10 of the same act further defines this qualification as the acquisition of pedagogical, personal, social and professional competencies.

The teacher standards (Permendiknas 16/2007), among other things, define the core competen­cies of normative and adaptive subject (social and natural sciences) teachers in vocational schools together with those for teachers in general upper secondary schools. Core competency standards for teachers of vocational subjects are not defined. These competencies are divided into four areas: (1) pedagogic, (2) personal, (3) social and (4) professional competencies (see table 3).

Table 3: Teachers’ core competences

Source: Permendiknas 16/2007, own, non-official translation

The competencies listed in Table 3 are the ‘teachers’ core competencies’ (kompetensi inti guru). Each core competency has its corresponding ‘teaching subject competencies’ (kompetensi guru mata pelajaran) which amounts to a total of 70 ‘teaching subject competencies (note: there are no ‘teaching subject competencies’ for core competency no. 20). All core competencies listed in Table 3, except no. 20 and 21, could be considered as ‘transferable skills’, at least in the teaching profession. Some of these competencies could also be applicable for other professions. However, discussions on transferable skills for TVET teachers are taking place even less often among teacher educators than those on transferable skills in TVET.

3 Level of implementation of transferable skills

Given the relatively poor state of education research in Indonesia, only some general remarks can be made with respect to the implementation of the competence-based approach, and more specifically the transferable skills approach. The following analysis, except when explicitly indicated, does not apply to the new Kurrikulum 2013 since it is not yet implemented (even the finalised curricula are not yet available).

Schools in theory are required to prepare detailed curricula and syllabi for each subject. These planning documents should define the competencies to be imparted in each lesson, and teachers are required to adhere to these documents. However, the extent to which these requirements are met is unclear. What is clear is that most vocational schools have such planning documents since they are required for program and school accreditation. Even if teachers want to follow these documents, it is unclear whether they have the necessary means, such as abilities, understanding and resources, to effectively support learners in acquiring the defined competences. Generally, it seems more unlikely than likely but will naturally differ from one institution to another. Among the approximately 10.000 vocational schools in Indonesia, there are a small number of high quality institutions which apply up-to-date learning concepts and which produce graduates who are highly-valued by the companies. The large majority of vocational schools, however, tend to be of poor or even very poor quality when compared to TVET institutions in more developed countries.

This is due, among others, to the fact that teacher-centered teaching approaches still prevail, even though student-centered learning approaches have been promoted in recent years. Education planners seem aware of this reality and have therefore introduced measures to improve teachers’ competencies in implementing student-centered learning approaches. Two of these measures include the introduction of a formal qualifications scale for teachers and a scheme for teacher certification stipulated by the Law on Teachers and Lecturers (UU 14/2005). In 2007, teachers started to be certified through portfolios which, however, did not significantly improve teacher quality. Thereafter, short-term in-service training or professional teacher education and training (Pendidikan dan Latihan Profesi Guru– PLPG), which included competency-based assessment, was introduced. Currently, this approach is being reformed to a one-year teacher education program for university graduates called professional teacher education (Pendidikan Profesi Guru – PPG), which likewise includes competency-based assessment. The incentive for teachers to participate in PLPG and/or PPG is a two-fold salary increase. While the short-term in-service courses have shown some, albeit limited, impact, PPG is expected to show greater effects. The reason for this assumption is that PPG includes, besides theoretical courses in pedagogy and subject-specific didactics a three-month guided and supervised practical training in vocational schools and a three-month guided and supervised practical training in a companies (six months in total). One concern is the fact that teacher education institutions (mostly universities) which run the academic study programs for teachers are also commissioned with PPG which implies that PPG could be of similar quality as university study programs[4].

In general, there are two big hurdles for implementing a concept of transferable skills that is relevant to TVET in Indonesia. The first hurdle is the absence of a scientific TVET research community which is the result of a scientific system that does not recognize vocational discip­lines[5] as scientific ones. Therefore, university scholars have trouble developing their academic careers focusing on TVET and related vocational disciplines and getting these activities recog­nized by the Ministry of Education and Culture, their employer. Instead, they usually earn their merits in related technology and science subjects which prevents them from developing a sound TVET knowledge base and research culture in TVET disciplines and vocational pedagogy. As a result, their knowledge of TVET at international level is limited. This reality is compounded by a language barrier which results from scholars’ limited foreign language skills, which limits their use of TVET literature in other languages like German, English, French, Spanish or Chinese.

The second hurdle, which is closely related to the first one, is the fact that the development of the TVET system in Indonesia is largely driven by international donors and frequently-changing international consultants who advocate different TVET philosophies. Australia, the German-speaking countries, the Netherlands, Japan and recently also South Korea exert strong influence on TVET development in the country. However, they take different and partly incompatible approaches. In addition, decision makers in the Ministry of Education and Culture, who often are university graduates with little understanding of TVET, frequently change. As a result of their limited understanding of TVET, decision makers are often dependent on international TVET consultants. In addition, none of the international donors has until now focused on enhancing national academic capacities for TVET system development in Indonesia.

4 Implications for TVET policy and practice

The major hurdle for the development of an adequate concept of transferable skills and its implementation in TVET in Indonesia is the lack of a sound TVET philosophy and TVET research which should form the basis for evidence-based TVET development. This is particularly troubling given the Government’s plan to achieve 70% enrolment of upper secondary students in vocational education by 2020 (DIKNAS 2007). According to the arguments presented at the Hangzhou UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/ Trainer Education (Veal, Dittrich, & Kämäräinen 2005) and our humble opinion, this short­coming is mainly due to the poor state of the Indonesian scientific research system.

To improve this situation, there is a need for Indonesia to establish a framework for developing a scientific research community in TVET, which would be responsible for TVET teacher educa­tion, and which would work in close collaboration with TVET institutions and other TVET stake­holders, such as companies, employer and employee organisations, as well as professional associations.

Steps to be taken in establishing such a framework should include, but are not limited, to:

• Provide support for reforming university faculties dealing with TVET teacher education into teaching and research units. This reform can be achieved by abolishing the strict hiring policy based on the requirement for science-related qualifications and academic merit of university staff, and by encouraging these newly-established units to create departments for vocational pedagogy and TVET system development;
• Develop a culture of academic collaboration in TVET at national level by providing the basis for adequate knowledge exchange and collaboration through national research funding programs;
• Develop academic research quality in TVET (but also in other disciplines) by applying rigid quality control, assessment and (formative) evaluation in national research funding programs;
• Set up a program on basic research in TVET by applying the aforementioned quality-development measures.
• Develop a culture of knowledge exchange and collaboration at the national level between all TVET stakeholders, such as universities, vocational schools, training centres, labour market actors, all concerned ministries, and the donor and consultancy community.
• Support international knowledge exchange and collaboration in TVET, primarily in the Southeast- and East Asian regions, but also with countries with well-developed TVET systems.
• Set up large-scale pilot programs for TVET development, which would encourage uni­versities, vocational schools and labour market stakeholders to collaborate on improving TVET. Such programs would need independent scientific advice based on formative evaluation schemes and measures to develop a culture of knowledge exchange and collaboration.

5 Key findings

To sum up, there is no clearly articulated concept of transferable skills in TVET in Indonesia. This is due to the fact that a) there is hardly any scholarly discourse on the topic, and b) no pronounced TVET philosophy resulting from government regulations that make only little difference between general and vocational education. In addition, the Indonesian regulatory bodies seem to follow an unclear version of the ideas contained in the Education for All (EFA) framework without adapting it to the TVET context and the world of work.

Before an adequate concept of transferable skills, which could improve the overall quality of TVET, can be developed in Indonesia, the institutional landscape will need to be reformed and research, conceptual and planning capacities, needed for developing an evidence-based TVET system, will need to be strengthened.

References

DIKNAS (2007). Rencana Strategis Departemen Pendidikan Nasional 2005-2009 (Strategic Plan of the Ministry of National Education 2005-2009). Reproduction of the attachment to Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 32 Tahun 2005 tentang Rencana Strategis Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Tahun 2005-2009 (Regulation of the minister of education no. 32 year 2005 on the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of National Education 2005-2009). Published by Pusat Informasi dan Humas Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Jakarta.

Dittrich, J. (2006): Vocational Disciplines – How could a general framework look like? In: Bünning, F. & Zhao, Z. (eds.): TVET Teacher Education on the Threshold of Internationali­sation. InWEnt, Bonn, 111-124.

Kurnia, D. (2013): Post-Study Pre-Service Practical Training Programme for TVET Teacher Students. RCP. Shanghai. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/series/RaD_vol-1_Kurnia.pdf (retrieved 27.06.2014).

Permendikbud 54/2013. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 54 Tahun 2013 tentang Standar Kompetensi Lulusan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Regulation of the minister of education and culture 54/2013 on competence standards for graduates from basic and secondary education).

Permendikbud 64/2013. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia No­mor 64 Tahun 2013 tentang Standar Isi Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Regulation of the minister of education and culture 64/2013 on content standards for basic and secondary educa­tion).

Permendikbud 70/2013. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia Nomor 70 Tahun 2013 tentang Kerangka Dasar dan Struktur Kurikulum Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan/Madrasah Aliyah Kejuruan (Regulation of the minister of education and culture 70/2013 on the basic frame and structure of curricula of vocational schools).

Permendiknas 22/2006. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 22 Tahun 2006 tentang Standar Isi untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Regulation of the minister of education 22/2006 on content standards for units of basic and secondary education).

Permendiknas 23/2006. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 23 Tahun 2006 tentang Standar Kompetensi Lulusan untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah (Regulation of the minister of national education 23/2006 on graduates’ competence standards for units of basic and secondary education).

Permendiknas 16/2007. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 16 Tahun 2007 tentang Standar Kualifikasi Akademik dan Kompetensi Guru (Regulation of the minister of national education 16/2007 on academic qualification and competence standards for teachers).

Permendiknas 20/2007. Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2007 tentang Standar Penilaian Pendidikan (Regulation of the minister of national education 20/2007 on assessment standards in education).

Permennakertrans 21/X/2005. Peraturan Menteri Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi Republik Indo­nesia Nomor Per.21/Men/X/2005tentang Penyelenggaraan Program Pemagangan (Regulation of the minister for manpower and transmigration Per.21/Men/X/2005 on the implementation of apprenticeship programs).

PP 19/2005. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 19 Tahun 2005 tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan (Government Regulation 19/2005 on the National Education Standard).

PP 31/2006. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 31 Tahun 2006 tentang Sistem Pelatihan Kerja Nasional (Government Regulation 31/2006 on the National Training Systems).

PP 32/2013. Peraturan Pemerintah Republik Indonesia Nomor 32 Tahun 2013 tentang Perubahan atas Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 19 Tahun 2005 tentang Standar Nasional Pendidikan (Govern­ment Regulation 32/2013 on the change of Government Regulation 19/2005 on the National Education Standard).

UU 13/2003. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 13 Tahun 2003 tentang Ketenaga­kerjaan (Act 13/2003 on manpower).

UU 20/2003. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 20 Tahun 2003 tentang Sistem Pendi­dikan Nasional (Act 20/2003 on the national education system).

UU 14/2005. Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 14 Tahun 2005 tentang Guru dan Dosen (Act 14/2005 on teachers and lecturers).

Veal, K., Dittrich, J., & Kämäräinen, P. (2005). Final Report of the UNESCO International Meeting on Innovation and Excellence in TVET Teacher/Trainer Education held in Hangzhou, China, 8 – 10 November 2004. UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET. Bonn.

[1]   See BSNP website: http://bsnp-indonesia.org/id/?page_id=32, (Accessed 29.9.2013)

[2]     More than 50% of the Indonesian population live on Java Island, the capital Jakarta is located here, and the state government is dominated by persons with a Java Island cultural background.

[3]     Pancasila, the 5 principles, is the Indonesian state philosophy, set in the preamble of the Indonesian constitution.

[4] For more details see e.g. Kurnia 2013.

[5]   For the concept of vocational disciplines see e.g. Veal, Dittrich, Kämäräinen 2005 and Dittrich 2006.

Citation

Kurnia, D. et al. (2014). Transferable skills in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Indonesia. In: TVET @ Asia, issue 3, 1-16. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue3/kurnia_etal_tvet3.pdf (retrieved 02.07.2014).

Rapid changes occurring in the world of work persistently challenge the actors of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to update vocational curricula maintaining its relevance to the world of work. TVET teachers are the very actors at the forefront facing the challenge. The ability of teachers to identify the current competences needed by the world of work is of the most important competencies a TVET teacher requires to enable them to make day-to-day improvements of their vocational curricula.

In line with this challenge, the research project entitled “Occupational Competence Need Analysis” attempts to pilot the application of methods to analyse the current situation in the world of work in terms of the core occupational tasks required to perform an occupation. The methods, employed in the research process were (1) occupational sector analysis, (2) expert worker workshop and (3) work process analysis. The most valuable output of the research is the teaching material gained through the documentation of the research and empirical experience the researcher gains while applying the method. The two outputs should be imparted to TVET teacher students in universities and provide a reference for teachers when they work on curriculum development.

In the framework of the RCP-Project, five partner institutions from Asian countries carried out a joint research process involving application of the method. Comparative analysis between the results is intended to deliver rich and wide-ranging information on the method’s application in different cultural settings. The results yielded from the research showed, among other things, the virtue of being well- prepared and the understanding of methods applied in the research. Shortcomings of the latter two aspects would result in some deviations from the expected research output. 

1 Introduction

1.1 Problem statement

The caveat “change is something constant” can be applied to every sector of human life especially that of education and the world of work. Changes in the world of work in technology and work organization have been extremely rapid over recent decades. The changes have clear implications for education sectors, in particular those of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). The implications reflect the coherent interrelation between technology, work and education.

For the TVET sector the changes require adjustments of learning and teaching material and organization. These adjustments set out to synchronize what is taught in vocational education institutions with what is actually performed at work places. For a broader perspective the competence needs of the labour market have to be matched by those developed within the vocational learning processes.

The TVET system cannot be separated from the world of work, as the main goal of TVET is to develop occupational competencies and enable its graduates to meet the requirements of their future work places. The fulfilment of these goals depends, for instance, on the availability of proper TVET curricula. Appropriateness of curricula in this regard means comply with the competence needs of the world of work as the user of the vocational education outcome.

Synchronizing (matching) training competencies and occupational competencies from the world of work has become a long-term agenda in the TVET systems of many developing countries, and hence do not enjoy highest priority. Often the endeavour to update TVET curricula barely takes into consideration the quality of its output. Instead it seems to be an agenda implemented by request of both internal and external decision-makers with either no or little emphasis on the real needs of employers and industries. This tendency can be traced back to the fact that the TVET curriculum in many developing countries is developed in a centralized system and is therefore overly inflexible (cf. Middleton et al, 1993, 200).

Indeed it is not easy to match curricula and the real occupational needs of industries and their changes. Most TVET stakeholders such as employers, auditors and industry representatives acknowledge the difficulties of keeping up with constantly emerging changes in technological innovations, regulation and the shifts in client demands (Clayton, 2012). However, keeping TVET curricula up-to-date requires continuous effort. If TVET actors cease their efforts, the gap between the two sectors will increase swiftly and curricula will lag behind drastically. Among the actors engaged in and responsible for developing TVET curricula, TVET teachers are at the cutting edge. They have the closest relation with given curricula and deal directly with them in their daily work. They are the forefront stakeholders of TVET responsible for the functioning of a curriculum. They are appointed to operationalize the curricula as a frame instrument to produce the occupational competences of their students.

The central function of TVET teachers in dealing with the curricula has made them the key actors in both the implementation and the development of curricula, which should be striving to continuously keep up-to-date. They should be the first to know what is best for the learners for them to be prepared to enter the world of work. They should also be the first to know what occupational competences are needed by employers and industries.

Consequently, to keep vocational curricula current and relevant to industrial needs vocational teachers and instructors need to be – at the very least – well informed on the methodology of analyzing occupational competence needs directly and empirically in the world of work. However the fact remains that, numerous, if not most vocational teachers – particularly in developing countries – are not in possession of the methodological competencies for undertaking such analysis.

In addition, TVET teacher educators tend to know little of the workplaces and competence requirements of graduates of technical and vocational education and training (TVET)[1]. Furthermore they do not have the methodologies at hand, for analysing such workplaces and competence requirements. The same is actually true at the national level regarding TVET curriculum development.

However, it is mandatory, that teacher educators have such methodologies at hand and master them:

1. to include the relevant knowledge on requirements at work places in TVET teacher education;

2. to include the teaching of the methodologies in TVET teacher education, so teachers are able to analyze workplaces and competence requirements in their future job;

3. to be able to run research on TVET curriculum development to inform on national TVET curriculum development.

4. to be able to analyse work places or work processes, for the purpose of comparing competence requirements in TVET at the regional and international level, and for the upcoming regional qualification frameworks.

1.2 Organisational background and goals of the research

In the framework of the Regional Cooperation Platform on TVET Teacher Education in Asia (RCP[2]), 5 Institutions from 4 countries teamed up to address the above-mentioned deficiencies via the implementation of a collaborative research and development project. The partner institutions were Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI – Indonesia University of Education) acting as the lead institution, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY – State University Yogjakarta), Indonesia, National University of Technology Education (NUTE), Vietnam, the Chinese-German Institute for Vocational Education (CDIBB) at Tongji University, Shanghai, (China), and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM).

The collaborative project set out:

1. To collect and select instruments for workplace analysis and occupational competence needs analysis to be taught in teacher education programmes at the universities participating;

2. To be able to prepare relevant learning materials, apply the selected instruments in real-world situations conduct work place analysis and competence needs analysis. The experiences derived from the application of the instruments are expected to contribute to the quality of the learning material and help the project members (all are teacher educators) to impart the acquired knowledge to their student teachers.

3. To check, based on the application experiences, whether the selected instruments work satisfactorily in the different cultural and “production cultural” environments of the partners. In case a need for adaptation is detected, the instruments will be amended accordingly to make it possible to adapt.

4. The fourth, a fairly subordinate one, is to compare the results of the instruments’ application generated in the different regional and national environments, to demonstrate one of the possible applications of the instruments.

2 Research methodology

2.1 Approach and method of research

The first step was to undertake desktop research to identify existing methods of competence needs analysis. All partners studied the respective methodologies – paper based – before the first workshop was held to discuss, which of the methods should feature in the project. Main criteria for the discussion were whether the methods were compatible with the partners’ joint understanding of TVET, whether they gave insight into real-world work settings, and whether they could be implemented without too much organisational and financial effort and be applicable in a vocational school environment as well as suitable for TVET teacher education.

As a common point of reference for the collaborative work, the partners agreed on the concept of “core occupational tasks”[3] as the most appropriate for describing the competences needed by TVET graduates. This concept describing core occupational tasks with the following

• The object of the work

• Tools, methods and organizing of work; and

• Requirements posed on work.[4]

Desktop research showed that competence needs analysis in the majority of cases is performed in the framework of the development of occupational profiles or the related curricula. A small number of different approaches could be identified i.e. the widely applied “Developing a Curriculum” or DACUM (Norton 1997), “functional analysis”, for which Mansfeld and Schmidt (2001) provide an application handbook and the ILO Guidelines for the Development of Regional Model Competency Standards (RMCS) (Lewis 2006), and a set of instruments developed over the years by researchers of the University of Bremen and the University of Flensburg[5] in Germany.

The discussions during the first workshop yielded the joint impression, that the functional analysis approach is not very suitable for obtaining insight into the reality of occupational work, as functional analysis largely deals with structuring already available knowledge. The DACUM approach, if not modified, leads to detailed DACUM charts displaying a mosaic of numerous duties and tasks, which will certainly cover a whole occupation, but tends to fragment the holistic picture of an occupation. Thus it destroys the coherence between object of work, tools, methods and organisation, and demands posed on work.

The partners finally decided to use three instruments in the project: occupational sector analysis for providing background information on the occupational, economic and labour market sector, expert workers workshops for identifying the core occupational tasks of an occupation, and work process analysis for obtaining a deep insight into the requirements of occupational work in the workplaces and work-processes directly.

Each of the research partners prepared documentation of his/her field research. The project reports were analysed and discussed in a second project workshop in terms of the project goals.

2.2 Selected instruments

2.2.1 Occupational sector analysis

An occupational sector analysis should always be conducted as a first step of occupational research as its purpose is to provide the necessary background information. Depending on the overall goal of the research, it must be more or less detailed or comprehensive.

The purpose of an occupational sector analysis in our context was

• to get an overview of the occupational sector with its structures and developments, including the types and volume of the business, the number and type of companies, employees, one’s own account workers, the significance of the occupational profile in question, remuneration structures, regulations, major actors such as professional, employers, employees associations, etc.,

• to discover, which additional occupational profiles exist in the sector and what their relation is to the occupational profile in question,

• to acquire knowledge on the “state of the art” of work in the sector in terms of recent and future development trends in the organisation of work and business processes, technical developments, socio-economic developments, the legal framework settings and major actors (companies, associations, unions, …)

This implies that the sector and geographical coverage must be defined according to the study purpose. If we simply wish to look at a certain economic sector, it will be of little use to give detailed information on other sectors, where the occupational profile in question might also be used. Some information on these neighbouring sectors, however, should be given, as they could affect the developments in the sector to be researched. The same applies to geographical coverage. If we deal with just a province or a city, detailed data should be given related to this geographical unit. Information on the national situation does not need to be too detailed, especially as regions exist with distinctly different economic structures.

2.2.2 Expert worker workshop

The expert worker workshop is an instrument for identifying core occupational tasks and describing them comprehensively. The ‘expert worker workshops’ have the following two main objectives:

• To describe modern skilled labour in terms of core occupational tasks that can be classified according to occupational fields or a specific metier;

• To differentiate between different tasks according to the level of skills they involve.

If a metier/occupation can be described by means of core occupational tasks, then the competences it involves are automatically defined. This implies that workers are able to perform the described occupational task independently.

The documentation of the expert workers workshop is made up of 4 elements, namely a description of the organizational framework of the expert workers workshop, an ordered list of occupational tasks, a more detailed documentation for each occupational task according to a determined scheme, and a documentation of important aspects which have occurred during the workshop.

2.2.3 Work process analysis

The tool of expert workers workshops provides valuable information on the core occupational tasks, which make up an occupation. This information, however, is passed verbally, during the real work processes. The tool enables the TVET researcher, lecturer and teacher to verify the data obtained during the worker workshop directly in the work process performed by the workers, who were previously interviewed.

Occupational task analysis presents an easily approachable means of analysing work for those in the field of technical and vocational education and training. It enables a better understanding of occupational tasks in work and business processes via analysis. Curriculum developers, teachers and lecturers can obtain an impression of the characteristics and requirements of skilled work.

The results of occupational task analysis is help to define and further differentiate the description of the occupational field of activity, the learning and qualification goals and the subject matters for work and study in each occupational task.

The analysis of occupational tasks is also frequently termed “work process analysis”, and occurs in the following three phases:

• Preparing for the research

• Carrying out the research

• Evaluating and documenting the research (so the results may be used in the framework of a research project, for teaching or even for curriculum development).

2.3 Occupational profiles selected

As the application of the last two of the three identified instruments requires the researchers have a certain a-priori knowledge of the respective occupational field and as it should be possible to compare the results of the pilot application of the instrument, the partners agreed, to analyse two occupational profiles, based on the professional experiences of the researchers:

• Cabinet making targeted by the researchers from UPI and CDIBB;

• Domestic electrical installation targeted by UNY, NUTE, and UTHM.

3 Findings of the pilot applications

First and foremost, the research project is not intended to develop vocational curricula, but to get the researchers involved in the implementation of the methods of occupational competence need analysis and evaluate the usefulness of the methods. Thus, the result discussed in this chapter does not deal with the outputs of the analysis, which are job profiles of wood construction and domestic electrical installation[6]. Instead, the findings and experiences obtained from the research process itself are focused upon.

The application of the selected methods for the analysis of occupational competence required a set of methodological instruments to be developed as a working aid (these will be made publicly available in the above mentioned comprehensive study report). The tools provide detailed and clear guidelines for the execution of the research but also allow adaptation to the given circumstances and cultural settings of the respective partner countries.

The submitted country reports indicate that some partner institutions made use of this possibility and applied modified approaches. Analysing the resulting differences allows the subject to learn how a modification of the instrument can affect the research results. Due to space limitations only selected findings of the comparative analysis can be explained in this article. Again, the complete analysis results will be made available in the above mentioned comprehensive report. Selected findings are highlighted below, grouped into categories such modifications of the method, organisational issues, differences in results, and miscellaneous observations.

The findings are based on discussions conducted during a second workshop attended by all partners after implementing pilot applications of the instruments, and on an analysis of the country reports delivered after applying the instruments. Facts and findings explained in this chapter do not set out to criticize the way the different research teams applied the methods and what the result looked like. Instead its purpose is to describe experiences of the pilot applications, from which readers can get some insight into the process of competence needs analysis as well as the researchers’ learning processes.

3.1 Modifications of methods and approaches

One of the obvious cases has been revealed by the research team of Tongji University. has, Due to the worker’s limited time the team organized the expert workers workshop in the workers’ place of work instead of assembling them in a place outside the workshop required by the default of instruments. The researchers interviewed the workers directly in a work situation. Such research organization has some disadvantages. Workers cannot concentrate on discussing the core occupational tasks as they are engaged in normal work activities simultaneously. Furthermore the interview might be undertaken in the presence of their employer or supervisor, which can inhibit the interviewee.

Another critical practice is demonstrated by the research report from Yogyakarta (UNY). The report reads

“Before the workshop activities were undertaken, the research team as facilitator, prepared the documents needed in the workshop activities, these included: invitation to expert workers, designing workshop activities, preparing the occupational analysis draft of residential electrical installation, and other administrative activities.”(Project Report of UNY,  3)and “…Each group discussed the occupational sector that had been guided using professional task instruments the facilitator prepared. The participants gave marks using the symbols (+) or (-) for the different occupational tasks on the prepared instruments. Participants selected teh symbol (+) when the occupational tasks were appropriate for application and the symbol (-) when it cannot be applied.” (ibid, 4)

The two statements indicate that before running the discussion, the invited workers were provided with a draft of occupational analysis by the facilitator. This draft contained a number of work tasks, to be discussed between the workers and the facilitator. In this way the researchers had already provided a fixed framework of thinking and confined the workers ‘contribution to accepting or rejecting the researchers’ ideas.

Just how hazardous such an approach can be, was shown by the Malaysian researchers’ completely independent experience. By providing freedom of expression to the expert workers, the researchers learnt, that the occupational profile of a “wireman”, anticipated by the researchers as a proxy for the work area of domestic electrical installation, defined as one of the Malaysian National Occupational Skill Standards (NOSS), barely exists in the everyday reality of the Malaysian world of work. Domestic electrical installation is carried out by small companies, who have much bigger business fields in which each of the workers has to cover a far broader range of occupational tasks.

Another valuable finding was that it is apparently necessary to invest a degree of effort in discussing the concept of core occupational tasks. Even though the instrument gives explanations and examples, there are differing interpretations among the researchers resulting in different qualities of identified core occupational tasks. One research team, for instance, identified abstract categories of tasks instead of real work activities:

 “….Each of those occupational tasks is categorized into three tasks, namely: (1) electrical installation for small houses, (2) electrical installation for mid-size houses, and (3) electrical installation for luxury houses. And, each group is divided into five tasks, i.e.

• Lighting installation.

• Cooling installation.

• Heating installation.

• Motoring installation.

• Protecting and security system installation.”

Another research team defined site exploration, planning, installing, checking, calibrating, operating, repairing, and maintaining each as a separate core occupational tasks, while making distinctions regarding different types of appliances.

Both schemes suggest that the structuring was heavily influenced by the researchers, as practitioners tend to structure their field of work in a different way.

3.2 Modifications in the organization of methods application

The success of the work on occupational needs analysis obviously depends a good deal on the way researchers organize the application of the different methods. Hence, it is extremely advisable that researchers do their best to understand and follow the instructions given in the research instruments, to avoid certain pitfalls. In so doing the results will have a high grade of reliability and validity. Nevertheless every research design is limited by various influencing factors and resources, such as time, money, working environment, cultural setting, etc.

The UPI research team was able to bring together a number of expert workers from four different small furniture companies in an expert workers workshop. The number of companies played a role in the richness, depth, and reliability of the information and data collected. However, all the companies were small-sized or home-industry companies from Bandung, which does not really represent the whole picture of the furniture industry in Indonesia in all its complexity. It can, however, represent the situation of the industry in the city of Bandung which is definitely not a furniture production hot spot. During the expert worker workshop and work process analysis the workers were very cooperative and actively engaged and the researchers were satisfied that they had collected all the information required.

The Chinese research team was only able to get access to one single furniture company as most furniture companies were reluctant to be involved in research.

“It has been very difficult finding the expert workers in the wood furniture industry. Initial attempts were unsuccessful. We tried to get in touch with factories/bosses of some small workshops through the furniture shops near university. However, as the owner of the shop does not know us very well (despite the fact that I have bought furniture for over 1000 Yuan at the shop), he could not offer me very strong support.”

The very limited number of researched workplaces limits the representativeness of the collected data.

3.3 Active participation of expert workers

In selecting expert workers for invitation, researchers assumed that some aspects needed to be taken into consideration. Among these were the workers’ educational background, which could be a modality for them to communicate actively and properly and express their ideas during the workshop. For this reason, before inviting the expert workers, the UPI research team discussed whether it would be advantageous to invite company owners and supervisors to the expert workshops, as they feared communication with the workers would be difficult due to their typically low level of formal education.

Following the guidelines they refrained from this. The workshop experience showed the workers were more than capable of reflecting on their work practice and explaining to the academics, what the essential elements of their work actually are. Obviously, the ability of workshop facilitator to activate the communication ability and willingness of the workers was key in getting the workers to express themselves.   

3.4 Differences in research results

3.4.1 Differences in manufacturing culture

Table 1 shows the comparison of core tasks of the occupation “cabinet making”, identified by UPI for Bandung, Indonesia and CDIBB Tongji for Shanghai, China:

1. Comparison of core occupational task in cabinet making

There was quite a high grade of similarity in the results. Even though the number of the tasks appeared to be different, the underlying structure is similar. Task 5, 6 and 7 in the Chinese version are actually included in task 5 of the Indonesian version, and the Chinese task 9 is included in the Indonesian task 6.

The detailed descriptions of the occupational tasks, however, display some remarkable differences. In the Chinese case, minimizing material waste and considering production and product health and environmental hazards is emphasised, but in the Indonesian case such issues are hardly mentioned. Differences can also be found regarding legal procedures and requirements, the purchasing power of the clients influencing product quality requirements, the size of the enterprise that influences division of labour settings, and the type of material used which affects core work procedures.

3.4.2 Differences in TVET culture

Comparing the results documented for the occupational profile in domestic electrical installation it is clear the Vietnamese researchers applied the concept of core occupational tasks in the main. The Malaysian researchers, however, possibly due to the restrictions regarding the occupational skills of a “wireman” (see above) delivered a documentation resembling a piecemeal collection of tasks with the appearance of a DACUM chart. Consequently the Malaysian result provides little helpful information on tools, methods and organisation of work or on the demands posed on skilled work by the different stakeholders. In addition, both reports from Indonesia and Malaysia contain little information on the economic and labour market framework conditions and the technological development perspective for this occupational profile. Whether this deficit is down to too little time invested in the occupational sector analysis or to researchers’ lacking interest in these important issues is not quite clear.

4 Conclusions and recommendations

The research project was aimed, among other things, at gathering empirical experiences of the application of competence needs analysis instruments. Together with the teaching material, which was developed simultaneously, the experiences are expected to be significant enough for the researchers involved to be able to contribute to the improvement of TVET teacher education. With the material and experiences used to teach teacher student about competence needs analysis approaches, future teachers should be capable to link their curriculum with the current competence needs at related workplaces methodologically.

The analyses of the country reports and experiences and the exchange between researchers during the second project workshop showed that application of the instruments is complex and various aspects must be taken into consideration. One of the key aspects indicates researchers must have a good knowledge and deep understanding of the methodological concept. Deficiencies and deviations from the ideal-typical method will automatically lead to sub-optimal knowledge generation as was clear in the previous chapters.

Given the fact that initially most of the researchers are not familiar with the research instruments, it is necessary to invest more effort and time than was available in the project to develop the researchers’ capacities in applying the instruments. We recommend the researchers remain in touch in the future and continue exchanging experiences when applying the instruments in the framework of TVET teacher education.

Regarding the application of the instruments for scientific research on curriculum development there are additional aspects that have not been discussed in this article, that must be considered. This applies directly to the reliability of research data. Expert workers and their companies must cover the whole spectrum of the businesses for which the occupational profile in question is of interest. Companies of differing size active in all relevant business fields and in a defined geographical region have to be represented, and special attention paid to innovative, future-oriented practices. Only in this way can the research data represent the picture of a prospective occupation which can be generalized in terms of a regional or national scope. The respective selection criteria will vary from case to case according to varying research goals and has to be made transparent and documented in each research report to permit assessment of the research outcome reliability.

References

Clayton, B. (2012). Keeping Current: The Industry Knowledge and Skills of Australian TVET Teacher. In Collaboration in TVET. Proceedings of the 2nd UPI Internal Conference on TVET. Bandung: Faculty of Technology and Vocational Education of Indonesia University of Education, 28-35.

Dittrich, J. (ed.) (2008). Curriculum Design. From professional tasks to the education and training plan. Institut Technik und Bildung, Universität Bremen.

Lewis, A. (2006). Guidelines for Development of Regional Model Competency Standards (RMCS), Regional Skills and Employability Programme in Asia and the Pacific. International Labour Office, Bangkok.

Mansfield, B. & Schmidt, H. (2001). Linking Vocational Education and Training Standards and Employment Requirements – an international handbook. European Training Foundation.

Middleton et al. (1993). Skills for Productivity. Vocational Education and Training in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press.

Norton, R. E. (1997). DACUM Handbook. Second Edition, Leadership Training Series No. 67, Ohio State University, Columbus, Center on Education and Training for Employment.

Pätzold, G. & Rauner, F. (2006). Die empirische Fundierung der Curriculumentwicklung – Annäherung an einen vernachlässigten Forschungszusammenhang. In Qualifikationsfoschung und Curriculumentwicklung. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 7-28.

Citation

Kurnia, D., Dittrich, J., & Ilhamdaniah. (2013). Occupational competence needs analysis as a basis for TVET curriculum development. In: TVET@Asia, issue 2, 1-13. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue2/kurnia_etal_tvet2.pdf (retrieved 30.12.2013).

Wind power is a dynamically developing sector in Germany, fuelled by the need to combat climate change and by the German government’s decision to shut down all nuclear power plants following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The sector needs an appropriately educated and trained workforce, both at the skilled workers’ and the academic (engineering) levels. At the same time there is a shortage of well-educated engineers on the German labour market. Together with political initiatives for “advancement through education” and for enhancing the permeability between vocational and higher education this has encouraged the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology to embark on the development of a Bachelor program in wind power technology. This program can be studied in conjunction with work, especially by practitioners with a vocational education background. This article provides some information on the German wind power sector and its competence requirements, on the opening of German universities for “non-traditional” students and their specific learning needs, and finally presents the overall concept of the aforementioned Bachelor program for the wind power sector.

Keywords: wind power, engineering, higher education, Germany, nontraditional students, competence requirements, permeability between vocational and higher education

1 The wind power sector in Germany

Following the Fukushima disaster, Germany decided in 2011 to successively shut down all its nuclear power plants until 2022 (WEA 2015). Since its goal at the same time is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, and by 80% by 2050 (BMUB 2014), replacing fossil fuels and extending power production from renewable energy sources is mandatory.

1.1 Usage of wind power

In 2014, 11% of primary energy consumption in Germany came from renewable sources (see figure 1). During that year, Germany produced 29.7% of its primary energy consumption, with 37.4% (1453 PJ) of it coming from renewable sources (AGEB 2015, 12). 201 PJ, which is 1.54% of total primary energy consumption or 9.1% of gross electrical energy production (AGEB 2015, 30 and 39), came from wind power, onshore and offshore.

Still the biggest share of energy from renewable sources comes from biomass of various sources, followed by wind, photovoltaic, water, geothermal and solar-thermal power (BMUB 2015, 49). Since, in Germany, the inland-supply of biomass is limited, most watercourses are already used for energy production, geothermal energy is not easily available, and also solar energy is limited due to geographical and climate conditions, wind power is the source of choice to be extended.

Figure 1: Primary energy consumption in Germany, 2014, in percent (provisional figures). (AGEB 2015, 4).

Figure 2 shows the wind power development in Germany over the past decade. While onshore wind power developed steadily since the beginning of the 1990’s, the first installations of offshore wind power in the North-Sea and the Baltic Sea were only available from around 2010 on. It must be noted, however, that work on it started much earlier, since planning, administrative procedures and installation typically take several years – administrative procedures alone take 4 years on average (Schwieters et al. 2012, 87) – until offshore wind power systems are connected to the grid. In 2014, 2.34 GW offshore wind power were installed ready to run after 0.903 GW in 2013. According to the German Wind Energy Association, installed power will reach about 3.3 GW by the end of 2015 and at least 6.5 GW by 2020 (GWEA 2015).

1.2 Political and economic environment

In Germany most of the energy producers are private companies. Only few power stations are owned by public administration entities, and also the electric grids are largely owned by private enterprises. Nevertheless, the business development in Germany’s wind power sector depends largely on political framework settings, since electricity production via wind still is not competitive compared to traditional, coal and lignite-fired or nuclear power plants. Germany has a Renewable Energy Sources Act (for a non-official translation into English see EEG 2014), which provides funding for energy from renewable sources fed into the grid, and which is altered from time to time. In addition, lengthy and complex administrative procedures have to be passed until the erection of wind energy systems can start. Major hurdles are mandatory environmental compatibility assessments and public participation procedures, the necessary land acquisition, as well as grid integration, at least for larger wind-farm projects. Profitability of investments in wind power plants also depends on the state of the European electrical energy market. This has witnessed a decline of prices over recent years due to low economic growth and the related weak growth of electricity consumption.

 Figure 2: On- plus offshore wind power development in Germany (AGEEstat 2015)

Currently, quite a number of big wind farms in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea – in the North of Germany – are under development as an answer to Germany’s announced nuclear power exit from 2011. They are meant to successively replace nuclear reactors – the oldest first – of which quite a number are located in the south of Germany, far away from the sea. However, the high voltage grid in its current state cannot cope with the large amount of power that has to be transferred from the north to the south. This poses a major problem in the networked national electrical grids in Europe. Electricity flows through neighbouring countries like Poland and France, stressing their grids, sometimes close to safety limits. At the same time, finding feasible routes for additional transmission lines is not easy in a densely populated and federally governed country.

As a result of these and other factors, which we cannot discuss here in detail, the wind power sector faces quite some uncertainty with respect to its medium-term development. Experts, however, believe that employment in the sector will rise and that wind-power-specific skills and competences will be in high demand in the near future (see e.g. Lutz et al. 2014).

1.3 Companies and employees

In recent years, since the small depression in wind power development (see Figure 2), some consolidation took place among companies in Germany’s wind power sector. Some companies were not able to withstand the competition and subsequently folded, and several developers merged or were taken over by other companies. Nevertheless, there are still many companies engaged in one or another – or a number of – stages of the wind power value chain. Figure 3 gives an idea of its complexity. According to a study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Lehr et al. 2015, 3), about 138,000 persons worked in Germany’s wind energy sector in 2013, roughly doubled from 2004. This figure denotes gross employment and includes all persons who work directly in companies who provide wind energy products and services, and also persons who are involved with providing supplies, such as parts and components, to these companies (indirect employment in the sector). With this definition the figure includes all types of professions, starting from CEOs, over engineers, economists and lawyers, via skilled workers of many types, to kitchen, cleaning, and messenger staff. Even though it seems not to be possible to decipher the number of engineers, economic planners and skilled technical workers, who need deeper knowledge of wind energy issues and technology, it is apparent, that the demand cannot and should not be neglected. Each economic sector needs enough well educated and trained manpower with appropriate skills and competences.

Figure 3: Value chain of the wind energy industry (Schwieters et al. 2012, 63)

In the following section we will elaborate a little bit on these skills and competences, concentrating, however, on the manpower that is chiefly concerned with the technical aspects of wind power, leaving out CEOs, lawyers, economists (even though they should also have some technical knowledge if they work in the field), and all the general support functions, that can be found in all parts of the economy.

2 Competence requirements at TVET-level in the wind power sector

Grantz et al. (2013) researched qualification structures and competence requirements at the skilled workers level with respect to the German labour market and with a focus on the offshore wind power sector. As one can imagine, this issue is complex, so we can only cite some of the key findings to illustrate the situation.

Despite of Germany’s well developed initial technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system with its currently (2014) 327 officially recognised training occupations at skilled workers level (BIBB 2015, 126), there is no officially regulated initial training occupation specifically for the wind power sector. Nevertheless, only about 0.9% of the workforce in the wind power sector do not hold a vocational (about 80%) or academic (about 27%) qualification, and some hold both. Most of the skilled workers have vocational certificates from electrical or mechanical engineering, mechatronics, as service technicians, from process (plastics) engineering, or from steel or concrete construction. These occupational profiles seem to be the most adequate ones to work in the production, erection, operation and maintenance of wind power plants, and the skills and competences acquired during the respective legally regulated and usually 3 – 3.5 year long training are sought after by the employers.

However, there are sets of additional skills and qualifications, that are needed in certain parts of the wind power sector. In the production of the parts of the plants, handling of big, thick, and heavy structures is required. Sizes are most similar to those in shipbuilding and other sectors of power engineering. Specifically for offshore applications special knowledge is needed in the field of corrosion protection. For erection, operation and maintenance several additional qualifications are required by HSSE (health, safety, security and the environment) regulations, such as for example in fire fighting, tower climbing, rescue, first-aid, and in the offshore case, seamanship-related qualifications. In operation and maintenance competences in automatic control as well as in remote condition monitoring play a major role since onsite inspections and downtimes are important cost factors, both, on- and offshore.

For the academic degree level (Bachelor, Master, Ph.D), unfortunately, such a structured analysis is not (yet) available. The authors of this paper have started a survey among wind power companies in Germany, in order to find out which competences at the academic level are most sought after by the sector’s employers. Since the survey is still ongoing, results are not yet available.

Almost all existing wind-power-related academic programs in Europe, however, stress the need for interdisciplinary knowledge. Already when looking at the construction of a single wind turbine, a number of engineering disciplines are involved: engineering mechanics for almost all components of the structure, soil mechanics for the grounding, construction engineering for tower and foundation, aerodynamics, fibre and plastics engineering for the rotor, mechanical engineering for the whole mechanical power transmission system, and electrical engineering for electrical power generation and transmission, not to forget metrology for wind load considerations and control engineering for all the measurement and control functions. Simulation is an important field to analyse structures, aerodynamics, aeroelasticity and interactions between all parts of the wind turbine. For erection, operation and maintenance, logistics and project management are of high importance, and for planning, legal and financial aspects play a major role, including environmental considerations, such as the protection of habitats of endangered species onshore, minimizing the impact on marine animals during the construction phase of offshore plants, or the possibility of bird strike. While the development and production of components according to experience largely can draw on established engineering disciplines, this interdisciplinary knowledge without doubt is needed for the construction and erection of complete wind turbines, and even more for setting up, operating, and maintaining wind farms.

3 Opening of German Universities for “non-traditional” students – permeability between the vocational and higher education systems

Not long ago, in Germany, there have been relatively strong demarcation lines between vocational and higher education (Mayer et al. 2003). In general, only somebody who had passed the “Abitur”, a school leaving examination after grade 13 of general upper secondary education (only provided at a secondary school type called “Gymnasium”), was allowed to enter a full university. Holders of a grade 12 examination or of a final examination of a “subject-specific” gymnasium (Fachoberschule, Fachgymnasium) were entitled to enter a university of applied sciences, a type of – at that time – lower level university without the right to award PhD degrees, and for those not attending those types of schools it was tiresome to pass equivalent examinations (for comprehensive information on the current state of the German education system see e.g. Lohmar & Eckhardt (2014)).

Meanwhile, a lot has changed, and is still changing. The reasons for these changes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the course of the creation of the European Higher Education Area via the so-called Bologna Process, German higher education institutions changed their degree structures and adopted the academic degrees Bachelor and Master. That way the formal difference between the degrees of general universities and universities of applied sciences disappeared.
• The analysis of results of international comparative studies on education quality like PISA, TIMMS, among others also initiated discussions about the strict borderlines between different educational pathways in Germany, which had to be chosen at a comparably low age, typically when entering grade 5 or 6. The best performing countries apply a much more inclusive approach.
• Over the years, students’ interest in the so-called STEM (sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields declined, so that politicians and industry representatives see the technological base of the German economy endangered, and try to encourage a bigger share of young people to enter these fields.
• For quite some time, development and policy analysts, among others from OECD, have criticised Germany for having a too small portion of university graduates in order to keep its position as an innovative and technology-based economy and at the same time master the global development trend towards serviced-based economies.

As one of the answers to these challenges, the requirements for admission to university have been loosened by legislative means. Higher education institutions have been entitled by changes in the higher education laws of the federal states of Germany to widen their criteria for the enrolment of students. What was possible before on a pilot project basis at some universities and in some special study programmes, now has become the rule: higher education institutions, in addition to the criteria mentioned above, now are allowed to enrol students who hold a technician’s certificate, a Meisterbrief (master craftsman certificate), and even those who hold a skilled worker certificate and have some years of practical work experience in their profession.

So, according to legal regulations, universities are expected to be open to students with such an alternative university entrance permit. In reality, however, universities are not (yet) so open. Study program entrance regulations are defined at each university for each study program separately. So, the respective study entrance regulations have to be revised in order to admit these non-traditional students. At the same time, universities do have only little experience with this, for them new, type of students. In addition, experience indicates, that it would be wise to apply some changes to the learning and management concepts of the study programs when opening them to the new clientele. All in all, universities experience these new developments as a challenge, on which many of them are reluctant to embark.

To encourage universities to nevertheless start working on the issue, the German Federal Ministry of Education launched a competitive funding program (BMBF n.d.), where universities can submit their concept and apply for financial support to develop and implement it. This program is embedded in a larger political initiative called “advancement through education”, which aims to enhance everybody’s educational opportunities. The specific targets of the program are to secure the availability of academic professionals, to increase the permeability between vocational and academic education, to quickly integrate newly developed knowledge into practice, and to strengthen the academic system’s international competitiveness through profile development in the areas of academic learning and academic studies along with the job. Target groups of the concepts to be submitted therefore are persons who have to care for their families, people already in the job, for example vocational certificate holders also without a traditional university entrance qualification, persons returning into working life, students previously having aborted their studies earlier, or for some reason jobless degree holders. This collection includes virtually all groups of people, who do or did not follow the mainstream educational paths.

4 Experiences of “non-traditional” students in academic studies

Considering the specific needs of non-traditional students becomes more and more important for German universities, in some subject areas more than in others. Who are those non-traditional students? In a narrow sense, the term “non-traditional” means those students who do not have a “traditional” university entrance qualification as mentioned in Section 3. In a broader sense, however, non-traditional students are all those mentioned in the previous paragraph, including those who already have a degree. This, on the other hand, means that traditional students (in a broader sense) are those students, who come via the common path without any deviation from the “standard”. The common path in that sense means, students graduate from upper secondary school either at the end of grade 12 or 13, and that way earn their university entrance qualification. More or less directly after they graduated from school, these students start university studies, maybe just with a break while waiting for the opportunity to enrol in their preferred study program, for working as a volunteer for a good purpose, or for travelling around the world before embarking on higher education.

Non-traditional students usually are older and more mature than traditional students. Most of them already have work experience, many are used to a proper income, and also many already have their own family for whom they have to earn a living. This culminates in those students being more targeted, often more engaged, and more demanding concerning the organisation of the study programme. They want to achieve their study goals in the shortest time possible while having a restricted time budget available under the triple load of study, work and family duties. This heavy load, together with the little flexibility of traditional study schedules causes many non-traditional students to abort their studies in early semesters.

Many of these “non-traditional” students, at least in engineering-related studies, perceive study content related issues as major hurdles for proceeding in their studies. One of these topics is engineering mathematics. It can be argued, that this is due to mathematics being taught in a way that is difficult to digest for anybody who is not used to learning largely abstract matters without a close linkage to applicability in real world problems. This idea is supported by experiences made in an experimental setting applied at the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, where mathematics and engineering mechanics are taught in a highly coordinated manner by one and the same lecturer. Surveys among the students, which have not been published yet, have shown, that the drop-out rate of the students is much lower than at the time when such a program didn’t exist.

5 The concept of a Bachelor programme on wind power, which can be studied along with the job

The concept which currently is under development at the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology addresses quite a number of the above mentioned issues under specific perspectives (see figure 4). Graduates of the program shall be able to work as wind farm planners, experts for wind turbines, plant and works managers, or in similar jobs, or even continue to a master’s program. The program therefore has to address relevance to work practice and academic quality in parallel.

The study program shall open the academic world to people, who do not belong to the usual clientele of university-based study programs, but shall not exclude fresh graduates from upper secondary education with a regular university entry certificate. Therefore it addresses specifically people with vocational education background and work experience in a related field, like candidates with a master craftsman certificate, a technicians certificate, or a skilled worker certificate with some years of relevant work experience, but also career changers from cognate disciplines or people who did not embark on academic studies because of early family commitments. The first group is especially important for two reasons: first, the wind power sector is still relatively young and companies are interested to raise the qualification level of their staff, and second, work in erection and maintenance of wind turbines is physically very demanding, and when getting older people are interested in moving to less straining job duties.

5.1 Organisational aspects and cooperation in the Bachelor program

The organisational aspects will be fairly conventional. The Bachelor program will have a volume of 210 credits, which is equivalent to 3.5 years full-time study. In the European higher education area one credit (ECTS) represents an anticipated workload for an average student of 25 to 30 hours. Bachelor programs can have between 180 and 240 ECTS, Master programs between 60 and 120 ECTS, and for a Master degree a total of at least 300 ECTS from Bachelor and Master programmes must be collected.

A blended learning scheme will be applied, minimizing the need to be on campus, but at the same time assuring sufficient face-to-face contact between students and lecturers and among students, as well as the necessary contact with hardware and practical work.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) schemes will be implemented to provide the option to reduce the study load for those who can prove that they master specific subject areas at the required competence level. For this purpose, equivalence studies will be conducted with standardized educational programs that lead to a master craftsman certificate or a technician certificate, which are certificates of advanced vocational education and can be earned by attending the respective programmes in advanced technical schools after having worked for some time as a skilled worker. Since these programs, despite standardization, are specific to the school where they are offered, equivalence studies will be conducted with a number of specific programs, from where students are expected. In addition, there will be a possibility to get practical experience recognized, thus reducing the volume of credits to be earned in industrial internships. Being more specific, it might be possible that master craftsmen get credits recognized in the field of human resource management and their practical work experience, technicians might get recognition in certain engineering basics areas. For other areas individual RPL will be applied. This includes special courses attended at higher or further education institutions which cover parts of the content of the study program, work practice, and previous learning on the job. The last points require close cooperation with employers in order to verify competences.

Close cooperation in the study program between organisers and employers (i.e. companies) is also necessary, because most of the practice-related part of the program shall be implemented in close contact with the world of work. The industry internship requires students to get an internship position in a company. Therefore, the study program organisers must agree with the corporate management on what the “engineering apprentice” should do and learn at her or his workplace. Also the Bachelor thesis should deal with practical problems, thus contributing to knowledge development and/or business development in the wind power sector.

Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology, a German apex wind energy research institute, by cooperating in the development and later the delivery of the program are meant to ensure that up-to-date and even new knowledge is covered in the program. In addition, having several providers of vocational education and training in the partnership will assure mutual access to education and training resources and information flow and knowledge exchange between academic and occupational organizations. Together with additional partners like the political administration, the respective industry associations and the above mentioned individual companies a “Wind Power Further Education Alliance” is about to be formed which is meant to be the basis for seamless competence development for the wind energy sector in North-West Germany.

5.2 Content-related and didactical aspects

The content of the study program will be structured according to a number of different principles in order to provide an optimal setting for learning. Throughout the course of study there will be project-based learning, starting with an introductory project on exploring a wind turbine, its physical, environmental, social, and economic environment, and the respective complex interconnections and interactions. At the end of the program there will be another major student project related to wind park planning, where everything learnt so far will have to be applied in a real-world setting. Industrial internship will be organised as a project, the situation in the host company permitting. Also each student’s Bachelor thesis will address a real world wind power research and development problem out of company or research practice, possibly emerging from industry internship, thus also being project based.

For other wind power specific topics, in the narrower sense, a problem-oriented approach will be taken looking at the purpose and function of the different major parts of the wind turbine and at their interrelation and with the environment. That way, the study program organizers hope, students will develop the necessary holistic understanding of the complex wind power system, and will also have a high motivation for learning since throughout the study program they will be able to recognize, where and how the contents to be learnt fit into the whole picture.

Engineering basics are a special, somewhat problematic, but inherently necessary issue. As mentioned above, engineering basics are challenging subjects for students coming from the vocational track, especially because they have to be learnt “on stock”, usually without immediately knowing the intended relevance of the new knowledge. A proper solution to this problem would be, if students could acquire these basics at the time of study, when their knowledge is needed for solving practical problems. To realize this approach, all the engineering basic subjects would have to be modularized, which can then be digested exactly when needed. As an ancillary condition, the modularized content would have to appear in an ordered manner during the course of study, since most of the modules will rely on the knowledge contained in other, subordinate modules. Very likely it would be hard to convince accreditation agencies as well as the engineering teaching community, that this way students will acquire all knowledge in engineering basics that is needed to take up Master level studies in engineering. That is why for the time being, the study program organisers deferred this idea to be realised at a later time.

It was decided, however, to implement the idea at a smaller scale, integrating as a first step only engineering mathematics into the other engineering basics subjects. This will lead to “tailored modules” in engineering basics. The blended learning approach opens the possibility to structure mathematics that way. Mathematics is organised in a collection of pieces, which can be accessed from everywhere in the course of learning, and that way learnt, exactly when its first application is needed. Even in advanced modules, there will always be the reference to the required mathematics content, so that learners are able to review it again. The mathematics module, however, is not dissolved completely. There will be a condensed mathematics module, which collects all the various mathematical chunks and puts them in relation to each other to enable learners to understand the internal structure of this fundamental science. Also there will be assessments where students can prove that they have mastered the subject area. This is done because most German engineering educators think that an engineer who does not master engineering mathematics cannot be a good engineer, and also as learners will need proof of these mathematics competences when they want to take up studies in a Master’s program in engineering.

6 Additional considerations and summary

Readers only superficially familiar with the German dual vocational education system might be interested in the fact that German dual vocational education currently is losing learners. The reasons lie in demographic developments – school leaving cohorts are getting smaller – and in the academic drift – a higher percentage of school leavers study in higher education. In 2014 the number of first-year students in higher education was as high as students entering dual vocational education and training, while in 1998 the ratio was 1:2, a dramatic change over only a few years (BIBB 2015, 13). The current initiative to open higher education to graduates of vocational education also is meant to help slowing down this development by raising the awareness, that vocational education is not a dead end path.

Especially for universities of applied sciences, the option to enrol students with vocational education and additional work experience is promising at least for two reasons. Some decades ago, the majority of students at Universities of Applied Sciences (at that time named “Fachhochschulen” in German) came via the so-called “second educational track”, which means that they already had graduated in a vocational program before they enrolled for academic studies. Especially in technical study subjects these students had a much more developed understanding of technology and work requirements than the fresh general school graduates, which benefited the learning process of all. This has changed over time, and now most of the students come directly from general school without comprehensive work experience. Explicitly encouraging practitioners with work experience to study at Universities of Applied Sciences might help to restore this lost distinctiveness and quality.

In addition, there is the possibility that such study programs might open new business fields for Universities of Applied Sciences. Up to now, the regular study programs are completely government-financed, and students do not have to pay tuition fees for their first Bachelor and Master studies. Defining study programs as further education programs might allow universities to raise additional money from the students, which could create an additional pillar of institution financing to invest in quality development.

And last but not least, for innovative spirits, embarking on such new ventures offers the opportunity to rethink and revise learning organisation concepts in order to contribute to the development of a more permeable and inclusive education system, thus helping to solve some of the pressing societal issues like skills shortages and integration of socially disadvantaged groups of the society.

7 Acknowledgements

The development of the described study program is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in the framework of its program “Aufstieg durch Bildung: Offene Hochschulen” (in English: Advancement through Education: Open Universities).

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Citation

Dittrich, J., Peters-Erjawetz, S., Kühne, U., & Telsche, N. (2016). New approaches to engineering education in the wind power sector in northern Germany In: TVET@Asia, issue 6, 1-15. Online: http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue6/dittrich_etal_tvet6.pdf (retrieved 30.01.2016).