02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Diversity-oriented Teachers for Vocational Education. Analysis and Modelling of Competence Requirements for Teacher Education and Training.
Daniela Moser1, Nicole Kimmelmann2, Susanne Miesera3, Silvia Pool Maag4
1University of Teacher Education Styria; 2Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; 3Technische Universität München; 4Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich
Presenting Author: Moser, Daniela;
Kimmelmann, Nicole
Changes in the European labour market, such as the number of vacant positions, new findings concerning the interdependence between social background and educational success, as well as new target groups resulting from the influx of refugees in recent years and the programmatic claim of inclusion of people with disabilities (Euler & Severin, 2020) pose societal challenges connected to diversity for European VET. International comparative VET research can make a decisive contribution here by sharing proven approaches and learning from each other (Pilz, 2017). At this point, ambiguous conceptual understandings in the context of diversity as well as a multitude of different approaches in dealing with diversity prove to be difficult.
Dealing with diversity is taken up by different concepts that either address individual diversity factors (e.g. disability, ethnic-cultural background) or diversity as a whole (e.g. broad understanding of inclusion, diversity management). The perspective on diversity, the distribution of roles in dealing with diversity as well as the associated changes in VET institutions and structures are also seen differently, depending on the concept and the understanding behind it. The authors (Kimmelmann et al, 2022; Pool Maag et al, submitted) suggest international comparative analysis focusing the wider interpretation of inclusion in dealing with diversity.
Common to all concepts is the goal of achieving equal opportunities for all learners, regardless of diversity factors. This presupposes the use of the learners' potential (potential orientation instead of deficit orientation) and requires a fundamental sensitisation and professionalisation of VET staff (Zoyke, 2016; Bach 2018) with a view to the challenges and opportunities of diversity as a cutting-cross category. However, this requires more research on diversity-oriented professionalisation of VET staff. In particular, there is a lack of analyses of competence requirements for vocational school teachers and student teachers connected to diversity in a broad sense, taking into account specific competences for dealing with individual diversity characteristics. This is where the present study comes in and investigates the following research question:
How to model competence requirements for an inclusive approach to diversity in teacher education for vocational schools?
Based on this question, the aim of the paper is to formulate recommendations/frameworks for teacher education for VET schools in the context of diversity-orientation, in order to contribute to inclusive, equitable and quality education.
For this, a discussion of competences and their modelling in teacher education must first take place. The understanding of competence is subject to various conceptualisations. Many models refer to Weinert's concept of competence (2001), which integrates cognitive abilities and motivational, volitional, and social skills. Competency models on professional action competencies have been developed since the 2000s, which structure the skills and abilities of (prospective) teachers in different competency facets and thus make them accessible to a detailed empirical investigation (Baumert & Kunter, 2011; Blömeke et al, 2010). The theoretical construct of action competence comprehensively combines those cognitive and noncognitive aspects into a complex system. Acting competent means to mobilise individual resources and orchestrate them in a complex situation (Rychen & Salganik, 2003).
Existing curricula, standards and competence models in teacher education addressing diversity can be differentiated whether they focus diversity and inclusion comprehensively or specific diversity factors only. In order to integrate the topic into teacher education and training on a most holistic level, the study incorporate broad and specific patterns at the same time.
Based on Weinert's tripartite understanding of competences as well as an analysis of general and diversity-related competence models/standards/curricula, a competence model was elaborated by four researchers from DACH countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) within the framework of the presented study, which anchors diversity as an integral part of a future-oriented teacher education for VET.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedQualitative research is oriented towards social reality and provides methods to better understand complex processes and structures (Flick et al, 2019). This article deals with the constructs of diversity, competence models and teacher training in VET, the complexity of which can be found in different conceptual understandings on the one hand and appears even more complex in their relational contexts on the other. A qualitative literature analysis was chosen as the research method, the systematics of which were mapped in four steps.
In a first step (1), a literature search was conducted on the keywords competence, competence models, teacher education in general and for VET, diversity, diversity management, focusing on current literature from the year 2000 onwards. In addition, (2) the quality of the sources was checked in collaborative online sessions of the research team. For this purpose, the criteria system proposed by Döring & Bortz (2016) was adapted to the objectives of the article and the intersubjective comprehensibility, relevance, consistency and limitations of the studies were used as review criteria. The data obtained in this way were summarised in a table. Subsequently, (3) content analysis (Mayring, 2010) was applied by deriving categories inductively from the existing material. This step was carried out by paraphrasing, generalisation to a previously defined level of abstraction and a multi-level reduction of the text passages. From the analysis of the competence models, the categories "attitudes", "knowledge" and "skills" proved to be target-oriented for the assignment of competence requirements. In a parallel analytical step, (4) competences connected to dealing with diversity and inclusion were derived in a comparable analysis from curricula/standards/models in teacher education and training. Identified competences were paraphrased and summarized into units within the three-categorial structure. Both general education and vocational training models were included.
Comparisons in the sense of interpersonal validation are recommended as a quality criterion of qualitative research (Döring & Bortz, 2016). Here, the communicative validation of the document analysis forms the process to check the validity of the analysis (Flick et al, 2019; Lamnek, 2010). This process took place with the involvement of the researchers and thus represents a form of expert validation. The results of the document analysis were evaluated with regard to their suitability, value and validity within the research group.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe result of this study is a model for teacher education and training in VET that maps competence requirements in the context of diversity along the three areas of attitudes, knowledge and skills. In the presentation of the results, a distinction is made as to whether the competence requirements are directed at teachers in all VET contexts, activity profiles and development levels (from novice to expert).
While attitudes and internalised values/convictions influence the basic motivation to participate in diversity-oriented education, readiness to act, self-efficacy and self-regulation are decisive for a sustainable implementation of corresponding strategies in one's own actions as a teacher. The basis of the knowledge acquisition of teachers are fundamental areas of knowledge in connection with a diversity-oriented implementation of individual didactic approaches. More complex knowledge areas, on the other hand, pick up complementary knowledge that is crucial in key positions, such as diagnosis competences. The share of special educational knowledge (in the sense of knowledge about certain diversity characteristics, areas of support or concepts for dealing with it) is at the top of the competence model and can be counted among the expert knowledge of individual actors. Necessary skills and abilities of teachers can be located along three areas of action in connection with the implementation of an inclusion-oriented approach to diversity in vocational schools: 1. diversity-oriented organisational development and anchoring of structures, 2. cooperation with internal and external partners in the sense of an inclusion-oriented approach to diversity and 3. diversity-oriented methodology and didactics.
The results can be an occasion for a European discussion and corresponding projects dealing with the competences and their promotion (joint curricula development) as well as their evaluation.
ReferencesBach, A. (2018). Inklusive Didaktik und inklusionsbezogene Professionalisierung von Lehrkräften in der gewerblich-technischen Berufsbildung. In T. Tramm, M. Casper, T. Schlömer, & B. B. f. Berufsbildung (Eds.), Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung, Didaktik der beruflichen Bildung: Selbstverständnis, Zukunftsperspektiven und Innovationsschwerpunkte (1st ed., pp. 155–173). W. Bertelsmann Verlag.
Baumert, J., & Kunter, M. (2011). Das Kompetenzmodell von COACTIV. In M. Kunter, J. Baumert, W. Blum, U. Klusmann, S. Krauss, & M. Neubrand (Eds.), Professionelle Kompetenz von Lehrkräften. Ergebnisse des Forschungsprogramms COACTIV (pp. 29–53). Waxmann.
Blömeke, S., Kaiser, G. & Lehmann, R. (Hrsg.) (2010). TEDS-M 2008. Professionelle Kompetenz und Lerngelegenheiten angehender Mathematiklehrkräfte für die Sekundarstufe I im internationalen Vergleich.Waxmann.
Döring N., & Bortz J. (2016). Forschungsmethoden und Evaluation in den Sozial- und Humanwissenschaften. (5. Aufl.). Springer.
Euler, D. & Severing, E. (2020). Heterogenität in der Berufsbildung – Vielfalt gestalten. Bertelsmann Stiftung (Hrsg.). Verfügbar unter: www.chance-ausbildung.de/heterogenitaet/hintergruende
Flick, U. Kardorff, E. & Steinke, I. (2019). Was ist qualitative Forschung? Einleitung und Überblick. In U. Flick, E. Kardorff & I. Steinke (Hrsg.), Qualitative Forschung (13. Aufl., S. 13–29). Rowohlt.
Kimmelmann, N., Miesera, S., Moser, D., & Pool Maag, S. (2022). Inclusion for all in VET? A comparative overview of policies and state of research about migration, integration and inclusion in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In H. Moreno, Herrera et al. (Eds)., Migration and Inclusion in Work Life – The Role of VET. Emerging Issues in research on vocational Eduction & Training Vol. 7., (pp. 117–165).
Lamnek, S. (2010). Qualitative Sozialforschung. (5. Aufl.). Beltz Verlag.
Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. (11. Aufl.). Beltz Verlag.
Pilz, M. (2017). Typologien in der international-vergleichenden Berufsbildungsforschung. Funktionen und ein neuer Ansatz. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 63(6), 761–782.
Pool Maag, S., Kimmelmann, N., Miesera, S. & Moser, D. (submitted). Inklusionsorientierter Umgang mit Diversität. Analyse von Kompetenzanforderungen an Lehrkräfte für berufliche Schulen. Tagungsband der 7. Österreichischen Berufsbildungsforschungskonferenz. Bertelsmann.
Rychen, D. S., & Salganik, L. H. (Eds) (2003). Key competencies for a successful life and a well-functioning society. Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.
Weinert, F. E. (2001). Concept of competence: A conceptual clarification. In Defining and Selecting Key Competencies, 45–65.
Zoyke, A. (2016). Inklusive Berufsbildung in der Lehrerbildung für berufliche Schulen. Impressionen und Denkanstöße zur inhaltlichen und strukturellen Verankerung. In A. Zoyke & K. Vollmer (Eds.), Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung: Vol. 18. Inklusion in der Berufsbildung: Befunde – Konzepte – Diskussionen (1st ed., pp. 207–237). W. Bertelsmann Verlag.
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Considerations on Diversity-Sensitive Approaches in Youth Vocational Assistance regarding Non-Fittings and Resistance of Participants and Teachers
Songuel Cora1, Paula Matthies2, Lea Remmers2, Dr. Natalie Pape2, Prof. Dr. Helmut Bremer1
1University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; 2Leibniz-Universiy of Hannover, Germany
Presenting Author: Cora, Songuel;
Remmers, Lea
Even though Germany is an industrialized country, it continues to have low levels of basic literacy skills. According to the results of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in 2012, adults in Germany have lower literacy proficiency than the OECD average (Rammstedt et al. 2013). Moreover, 6.2 million adults or 12% of the working-age population in Germany are considered "low literate" by the leo. – Level-One Study (Grotlüschen & Buddeberg 2020), which focuses on the lowest competence level of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Based on the New Literacy Studies (Barton & Hamilton 1998) and ethnographic approaches, literacy can be defined as a social practice which is integrated into people's living environment and ascribed with subjective meaning. Therefore, it is important, "to distinguish dominant literacy from vernacular" (Street 1992, p. 51). With reference to Bourdieu's theoretical concept of habitus and field (1982, 1987), the diversity of literacy practices also results from different habitus- and milieu-specific approaches to written language (Pape 2018). These practices can show up in plural forms and are also embedded in power structures. Beside "legitimate literacy" (Grotlüschen et al. 2009) proficiency various areas of life and competence, such as media, health, finance, or politics, determine opportunities for participation in society. This perspective ties in with an extended concept of basic education, which opposes a more functional understanding of basic education that is limited to written language (Duncker-Euringer 2017).
Within the German National Decade for Literacy and Basic Education various development projects are being promoted (BMBF, 2018), which also encompass 'unconventional' places of learning or learning formats. For instance, concepts of work-oriented basic education use 'outreach' strategies, whereby the place of learning is shifted towards the vocational world and work-related learning processes are initiated (Frey & Menke 2021). Moreover, young people in youth vocational assistance show low literacy levels (BAG OERT 2015) and thus can be taken into consideration as a new target group of work-oriented basic education. Since these young people do not directly enter the working world after leaving school and initially find themselves in the so-called ‘transition system’ being accompanied by teachers e.g., concerning their traineeships for orientation and job applications. The support of those participants is linked to specific labour market needs, which criteria are described in the catalogue for training maturity of the federal employment agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit 2009) and refer to the German activation policy of 'carrot and stick'. Peoples’ self-determined career prospects are then often marginalized or 'cooled down' by the agency in favour of increasing opportunities on the labour market as well as the goal of gainful employment (Walther 2014). Coming back to Bourdieu’s field theory, one could regard people who criticize the labour market conditions and, hence, oppose the field’s “doxa” (Bourdieu), as resistant preservers of their own agency. Our presentation therefore outlines these strategies of resistance: How is resistance expressed by participants in youth vocational assistance and related to their own biography and social background? Considering plural educational settings, it is intended to focus on the diversity of participants and, subsequently, explore how their diverse resistant practices are recognised by teachers with (potentially) different biographic and social background. Finally, we will relate to what extent resistance and its assumed emancipatory potential are being supported in the terms of youth vocational assistance. Our joint research project GABO (German abbreviation for Basic Education in the Context of Work and Vocational Orientation) provides the basis for these considerations, in which the perspectives of participants and teachers in their daily practice in youth vocational assistance are captured and intertwined.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe sample of the qualitative research consists of both, teachers working in youth vocational assistance and of participants in these particular settings. To collect our data, we conducted interviews gaining insights into the individuals’ biography and subjective meaning of the specific educational context. The collected data is being analysed with an interpretive-reconstructive approach called habitus hermeneutics (Bremer & Teiwes-Kügler 2013). This analysis method is based on the habitus-field theory of Bourdieu (1982) who states that the habitus as a "unifying principle" (of patterns of perception, conception, and action) is dialectically linked to social milieus: the habitus is acquired as a part of socialization in the social milieu of origin while the latter is shaped by the habitus bringing forth social practices of the subjects located within the social milieu. Among others, these practices refer to the conduct of life on the subjective level and the social position (education decisions, occupation, etc.) or capital configuration on the objective level. This approach is compatible with the concept of literacy as a social practice (Street 1992). It enables to highlight milieu-specific differences in literacy practices and corresponding valuations in relation to these practices. By means of this methodology, we aim to reconstruct the milieu-specific habitus of the subjects within the sample in order to draw conclusions about fitting dynamics between participants and teachers, as well as gaining insight about possible structural inequalities being reproduced within educational settings. Referring to a wide understanding of basic education we furthermore aspire to unveil the emancipatory potential within educational settings based on milieu-specific practices of resistance.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsConsidering the methodological procedure described above, individual habitus patterns of participants and teachers are being reconstructed and analysed regarding their fitting dynamics. Hence, non-fittings and discrepancies concerning the field and its inherent requirements bear the potential for resistance and can be a starting point for a wide understanding of basic education. Further results show that participants explicate and defend their interests and wishes for a career correlating with high aspirations instead of anticipating the allocation mechanisms associated in the field of youth vocational assistance. This issue ties in with the transition research in Switzerland by Luca Preite (2022), who examined the struggle of participants for their scope of action. Due to their habitus, some teachers tend to create educational 'free spaces' and therefore contribute to the participants’ self-determination and emancipation. At the same time, they are prone to have a certain proximity to the field-specific expectations, which can conflict with the needs and interests of the participants. Overall, our findings offer an insight to diverse practices of resistance related to the habitus and based on that, suggest sensitivity for inequities. Finally, emphasising the ability to criticise and judge as resources becomes a relevant focus to elaborate a wide concept of basic education.
ReferencesBAG OERT (2015). Expertise funktionaler Analphabetismus bei Jugendlichen in Einrichtungen der Jugendberufshilfe. Dresden: BAG OERT. https://www.bbg-lauda.de/files/bbg-lauda/Downloads/Alpha_Expertise__final.pdf (access on: January 29th, 2023)
Barton, D. & Hamilton, M. (1998): Local Literacies. London: Routledge.
BMBF (2018). Grundbildung fördern – Chancen eröffnen: Die Nationale Dekade für Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung. Bielefeld: wbv Media.
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Bourdieu, P. (1982). Die feinen Unterschiede. Kritik der gesellschaftlichen Urteilskraft. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.
Bundesagentur für Arbeit (2009): Nationaler Pakt für Ausbildung und Fachkräftenachwuchs – Kriterienkatalog zur Ausbildungsreife. Nürnberg: Bundesagentur für Arbeit. https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/datei/dok_ba015275.pdf (access on: January 24th, 2023)
Bremer, H. & Teiwes-Kügler, C. (2013). Zur Theorie und Praxis der „Habitus-Hermeneutik“. In A. Brake, H. Bremer & A. Lange-Vester (Hrsg.), Empirisch arbeiten mit Bourdieu Theoretische und methodische Überlegungen, Konzeptionen und Erfahrungen (pp. 93-129). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Duncker-Euringer, C. (2017). Was ist Grundbildung? In B. Menke & W. Riekmann (Hrsg.), Politische Grundbildung. Inhalte – Zielgruppen – Herausforderungen (S. 13-33), unter Mitarbeit von A. Frey. Schwalbach/Ts.: Wochenschau Verlag.
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Grotlüschen, A., Heinemann, A. M. B. & Nienkemper, B. (2009). Die unterschätzte Macht legitimer Literalität. In REPORT Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung, 2009(4), pp. 55-67.
Pape, N. (2018). Literalität als milieuspezifische Praxis. Eine qualitative Untersuchung aus einer Habitus- und Milieuperspektive zu Teilnehmenden an Alphabetisierungskursen. Münster: Waxmann.
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Walther, A. (2014). Der Kampf um „realistische Berufsperspektiven“. Cooling-Out oder Aufrechterhaltung von Teilhabeansprüchen im Übergangssystem? In U. Karl (Hrsg.), Rationalitäten des Übergangs in Erwerbsarbeit (pp. 118–135). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
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