02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Digital Transformation by Women. Competence Requirements of Companies for Future IT Professionals Respecting a Gender Perspective.
Ida Kristina Kühn
Institute Technology and Education, University of Bremen, Germany
Presenting Author: Kühn, Ida Kristina
The ICT sector has been growing over the last decade and, since then, was resilient to crises (OECD, 2017), even during the Covid-19 pandemic (Bayer, Pauly und Wohlrabe, 2022). Due to digitalisation, almost all areas face a growing demand of ICT professionals, leading to a shortage of around 1.3 million, predicted until 2030 (World Economic Forum, 2020). This affects increasingly important areas of work, from software production and services (OECD 2017, p. 115) to encryption and cyber security (World Economic Forum 2020, p. 27). Companies are expected to adapt to new technologies and "re-structure their workforce” accordingly (ibid.). In summary, the so-called digital transformation not only affects core IT professions, but close to every industry.
Thus, meeting the demand becomes an overarching societal question. Given that "gender equality is essential for ensuring that men and women can contribute fully for the betterment of societies and economies at large" (OECD 2018, p. 5) there is still have a long way to go, considering that "men are four times more likely than women to be ICT specialists" (OECD 2018, p. 5). According to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), numbers of female ICT specialists in Europe are on the rise- from 17% in 2017 to 19.1% in 2020. With an improvement of 2.4% (from 16.6% to 19%) Germany shows a higher increase in the proportion of female ICT specialists, but overall remains below the European average.
The gap between male and female ICT professionals is significant all over Europe. Taking the capacity shortage of the sector into account it is obvious, that digitally skilled women are not only important for a sustainable society, but also for a thriving economy. The OECD (2018) states that digital technologies could be applied to raise awareness on "gender discrimination, […] dispel stereotypes […, or] to reinforce women’s curricula and participation in the labour market and develop women’s skills and abilities" (OECD 2018, p. 116). Referring to approaches of the social construction of gender, Kelly and Donnelly (2019) state that male dominancy in the ICT industry leads to a male cultural and systemic hegemony and a narrative which causes favourable and less favourable biases and outcomes (Kelly & Donnelly, 2019). These biases and outcomes influence the "nature of work and individuals’ experiences and behaviours" (ibid.).
The project "Women in IT" (F.IT) aims to create a supporting network to attract more women to the ICT sector at the local level of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The project is funded by the Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe (SWAE) with funds from the state and the European Social Fund Plus. Overall, the project aims to develop and provide supporting structures and the development of a gender-adequate education approach in order to reach women as potential employees in IT.
The focus of the current research lies on the companies' side of the problem. Women need to be addressed and recruited actively in order to (even) consider working in IT in the first place. Companies need to rethink existing job descriptions and identify room for e.g. career changers. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the effects the digital transformation has on work. The research questions of this contribution are as follows: What requirements do small, medium and large IT-companies describe for the target group of women without academic degree to enter and stay in the IT sector? What necessities for adjustments towards a gender-appropriate design of work processes do the companies identify and what solutions do they consider?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe overall research design of the project F.IT follows a mixed-methods approach to map the perspective of women, IT-companies and important stakeholders, e.g. providers of education counselling or federal institutions related to work. The research presented here can be located between a comprehensive regional state of the art and the synthesis of all relevant perspectives to develop the support structures and education offers mentioned above. Especially the second aspect needs the identification of relevant skills at IT-workplaces. Keeping the digital transformation in mind, not only core IT-professions are in the scope of the survey, but also other professional contexts, that may require specific knowledge, skills or attitudes.
The so-called work process analysis appears as a promising approach in the context of this research. Following Howe and Knutzen (2022), the core piece of a work process analysis is a matrix, which consists of the categories legal requirements, operational framework conditions, requirements of the client, work process phase and procedure. The work process phase is divided into steps that follow one another during the analysis. They are named order acceptance, order planning, order execution and order completion. Work processes are located in all areas of the value chain of a company, whereby they can follow one another in industrially oriented workplaces based on the division of labour (Howe & Knutzen, 2022).
The description of work-processes can be conducted at different levels of VET, e.g. syllabies, work-processes, professional action fields, learning and development tasks and digital tools (Howe & Knutzen 2022, p. 2). Here, the method is applied at the level of work place descriptions aiming to define the basical related competences that are required for persons interested in IT. Since the project follows a specific gender-related agenda, the structure of the research instrument was adapted.
The final research instrument is designed as a matrix that allows field notes when observing regular activities at the chosen work places. In addition to the observations, follow-up questions are asked. The observation phase is followed by an interview with a process expert. If possible, the perspective of female employees is captured. The selection of the companies is made according to certain criteria: size of the company, broadest possible field of professional IT activities and strong regional reference (minimum of four companies). Leading questions are selected according to former operationalisations (ITB et al., 2018; Haasler, 2003) and will be presented in the long paper.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe research is currently on-going and only first impressions can be described. An important expected result related to research question one (competence requirements of IT companies) is the identification and clear definition of core requirements at different competence levels. At every level, necessary areas of knowledge, concrete skills and necessary attitudes will be described. However, it is not only the need for existing apprenticeships that is mapped. The survey also elaborates areas of activity overlapping with other professional profiles. Moreover, knowledge and skills that generally qualify people for entry into IT are identified. These action fields serve as the basis to creating supportive structures and education offers in order to make this entry easier.
This easy entry is especially dedicated to women interested in working in the IT sector. In relation to research question two, results are expected in the form of needs for change. In the run-up to the survey, a large number of companies described their willingness to employ women. However, these women are not easy to find and the regular professional paths do not change the status quo. The expected results are the identification of alternative pathways, chances and challenges for cooperation with regional stakeholders from government and further education sector. Next to the qualification perspective, there are also results expected in terms of the company culture. This might also take the recruiting procedures into account.
Limitations are given through the small sample size and the regional focus. However, the results can be an example of how companies and the surrounding environment can interact to address hard-to-reach target groups. Future research could analyse the effects of the networks and supporting structures to be developed on learning outcomes and hiring rates. Furthermore, there is still a considerable need in the area of gender research in IT.
ReferencesBayer, F.; Pauly, B. & Wohlrabe, K. (2022). Branchen im Fokus: ITK-Branche [Sectors in focus: the ICT-sector], ifo Schnelldienst 75(), pp. 56-59.
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/250866/1/ifo-sd-2022-02-p56-59.pdf
European Commission (2022). Digital Economic and Societal Index. Female IT specialists 2017-2022. https://digital-agenda-data.eu/charts/desi-see-the-evolution-of-an-indicator-and-compare-breakdowns#chart={%22indicator%22:%22desi_hc_fictspec%22,%22breakdown-group%22:%22total%22,%22unit-measure%22:%22pc_ict_spec%22,%22ref-area%22:%22DE%22}
Howe, F. & Knutzen, S. (2022). Arbeitsprozesse analysieren und beschreiben. [Competence workshop. Analyse and describe work processes]. Handbücher für die Berufsbildungspraxis, tradition GmbH: Hamburg. https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/625
Institute Technology and Education (ITB); International Shoe Competence Center (ISC) Pirmasens; & Gabor Rosenheim (2018). Integrating Companies in a Sustainable Apprenticeship System. http://icsas-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/O1_LSA_DE-version_Germany.pdf
Kelly, E. J. & Donnelly, R. (2020). Navigating the gender structure in information technology: How does this affect the experiences and behaviours of women? human relations 73(3), DOI: 10.1177/0018726719828449, (pp. 326-350).
OECD (2017), OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264276284-en
OECD (2018). Bridging the digital gender divide. Include, upskill, innovate, OECD Publishing, https://www.oecd.org/digital/bridging-the-digital-gender-divide.pdf
World Economic Forum (2020). The future of jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum Publishing. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
Impact of Work-oriented Basic Education from the Company Perspective
Ilka Koppel1, Claudia Schepers2
1University of Education Weingarten, Germany; 2APOLLON - University of Health Sciences
Presenting Author: Koppel, Ilka;
Schepers, Claudia
It is undisputed that education achieves superficially positive results (cf. Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2018, 191). For the field of literacy and basic education, an international research review shows that basic education measures have an impact both in terms of literacy gains and so-called Wider Benefits (such as health and well-being) (cf. Aschemann 2015). However, international comparative studies such as PISA (OECD 2022) and PIAAC (Rammstedt 2013) also show that educational measures fall short of expectations and that the effects are less positive than expected (cf. Wolf/Jenkins 2014). Specifically, for Germany, the LEO study shows that 6.2 million German-speaking adults have low literacy skills (Grotlüschen et al. 2019). In addition, an enormous shortage of skilled workers is lamented across Europe. The concept of work-oriented basic education, in which low-literate individuals are integrated into the labor market and participate in further education and training at the same time, therefore appears promising.
Linked to this is the possibility of motivating employees to learn through the perspectives thus revealed, qualifying them in line with the requirements of the labor market and thus contributing to the long-term integration of skilled workers. The added value of work-oriented basic education can therefore be seen systematically at the individual and institutional levels in particular:
At the individual level, the added value can be expected in the form of competence acquisition or growth, for example in terms of increased literacy. It has also been clearly demonstrated in a longitudinal study that low-literacy individuals benefit in the context of work-oriented basic education, particularly with regard to their social and self-competence; however, the positive effect is strongly dependent on the extent to which these competencies can actually be applied in the workplace (cf. Klinkhammer/Schemmann 2019, 61). There are also both lower risks of occupational and social exclusion and higher earned incomes (cf. Rammstedt 2013, 158; Hartley/Horne 2006).
At the institutional level, the added value arises in terms of employer image, working climate, and employee recruitment and retention (cf. Rendant 2016, 90). Low literacy can also lead to poor work performance or additional costs. In conclusion, AoG can help to qualify people for the labor market and reduce the risk of errors in the work context (cf. Ehmig/Heymann/Seelmann 2015). Furthermore, at the macroeconomic level, international competitiveness increases and transfer payments for those in need of assistance are reduced (cf. Rendant 2016).
However, social investments and interventions such as work-oriented basic education face the challenge that their effects are manifold and cannot be measured directly in terms of economic added value. Thus, the available studies provide only very limited information on the concrete monetary added value achieved by work-oriented basic education.
Within the framework of the BMBF-funded Alpha-Invest project, we are therefore linking up with existing findings and investigating what the monetary added value of work-oriented basic education is. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the company perspective.
The central question for the project is: What monetary added value results from investments in service measures of work-oriented basic education from the perspective of companies?
One challenge is that work-oriented basic education measures cannot be implemented in a standardized way: due to a variety of internal learning cultures and organizational resources on the one hand and very heterogeneous competence levels of the employees on the other hand, work-oriented basic education offers have to be tailored directly to the companies. Therefore, when analyzing the added value of work-oriented basic education, it is of great relevance to choose a research framework that allows for a systematic approach and at the same time is open to the diversity of companies and work-oriented basic education.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedDue to the lack of a comprehensive empirical basis in the research field and the diverse range of possible implementations of work-oriented basic education measures in companies, we conduct an exploratory study. The framework is the Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis model. Guiding the analysis of this project the procedure is a SROI light analysis (following Rauscher/Mildenberger/Krlev 2015, 103; cf. Then et al. 2017, 33). The SROI approach aims to make social interventions measurable by translating certain aspects of social values into monetary values. The focus of the SROI approach was originally on organizations that tried to reintegrate unemployed people into the labor market (cf. Krlev/Münscher/Mülbert 2013, 16; Kehl/ Then/Münscher 2012, 314). Therefore SROI is specifically usable for heterogeneous target groups and for non-experimental research.
In this process, an impact model with (causal) relationships is created for a specific project, program or organization. The identified impacts are measured and, where reasonably possible, converted into monetary units (cf. Then et al. 2018, 14). It is important to note that the goal is not to empirically prove impact relationships (causalities). This is usually only possible with elaborate (quasi)experimental research designs. Rather, the SROI approach allows impact relationships to be based on assessments with experts. SROI approach is suitable as a framework for analysis, in order to significantly include and make measurable the diverse implementation possibilities of work-oriented basic education offers.
Data collection: In order to be able to capture the added value of the service measures from the perspective of the companies, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Persons in companies who hold a managerial position and at the same time are familiar with work-oriented basic education in their company will be interviewed. In preparation, a round table discussion was held with seven company representatives. Based on these results, an online questionnaire for company representatives will be developed. It is expected that the questionnaire will cover the topics of effects and changes resulting from the implementation of work-oriented basic education (e.g. change in the working atmosphere, change in communication, change in the company's image (e.g. "employer branding"). It is expected that about 100 company representatives will participate in the online survey. In addition, the financial expenditures (or monetary investments) for work-oriented basic education will be surveyed.
data analysis: The round table discussion will be analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis (Kuckartz 2018). The questionnaire will be analyzed descriptively.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings gained are monetized - if possible - and offset against the investments. Finally, on the basis of realistic worst- and best-case scenarios, so-called SROI key figures are determined, which provide information about what the investments are or can be worth for the company.
For the comprehensive presentation of results a distinction is made between the input the output and outcome.
The output includes the services that are implemented in the service measures by means of the investments: Counseling, Placement, Design, and Implementation. The output achieves an effect on the stakeholders.
The outcome area comprises the effects that are achieved among the stakeholders. Examples include improved communication within the company and a reduction in occupational accidents. As an example of monetization, it can be mentioned at this point that arising costs to both the company and the health insurance company occur due to occupational accidents. The monetary value saved by reducing occupational accidents can be "offset" against the investment. Based on current findings, it is assumed that a wide range of effects can be calculated, particularly at the individual and institutional levels.
In this presentation, based on the round table discussion and the online survey, the effects of the service measures will be analyzed, assigned to the output and outcome area and monetized. Using worst and best case scenarios, SROI metrics for the added value of work-based basic education will be calculated.
With a view to practice, this study is intended to contribute to the differentiated identification of the various effects of work-oriented basic education for the company, the employees and thus also society, in order to provide companies and politicians with an empirically supported decision-making basis for the implementation of work-oriented basic education.
ReferencesAschemann, B. (2015). Basisbildung wirkt. Wie wirkt Basisbildung? Eine internationale Forschungsübersicht. Materialien zur Erwachsenenbildung. 1. Bundesministerium für Bildung und Frauen. Verfügbar unter: https://erwachsenenbildung.at/downloads/service/materialien-eb_2015_1_wiewirktbasisbildung_aschemann.pdf (10.03.2020)
Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung (2018). Bildung in Deutschland 2018. Ein indikatorengestützter Bericht mit einer Analyse zu Wirkungen und Erträgen von Bildung. wbv. Verfügbar unter: https://www.bildungsbericht.de/de/bildungsberichte-seit-2006/bildungsbericht-2018/pdf-bildungsbericht-2018/bildungsbericht-2018.pdf (10.03.2020)
Grotlüschen, A., Buddeberg, K., Dutz, G., Heilmann, L., & Stammer, C. (2019). LEO 2018 – Leben mit geringer Literalität. Fragebogen. Universität Hamburg.
Hartley, R., Horne, J. (2006): Social and economic benefits of improved adult literacy: towards a better understanding. NCVER.
Kehl, K., Then, V. & Münscher, R. (2012). Social Return on Investment: Auf dem Weg zu einem integrativen Ansatz der Wirkungsforschung. In: Anheier, H. K., Schröer, A. & Then, V. (Hrsg.). Soziale Investitionen: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 313-331.
Klinkhammer, D., Schemmann, M. (2019). Effects of Work-Oriented Adult Basic Education Trainings: Addressing Employee´s Competencies across Sectors. Internationales Jahrbuch der Erwachsenenbildung, 42, 51 – 64.
Krlev, G., Münscher R. & Mülbert, K. (2013). A Meta-Analysis of practice in Social Return on Investment (SROI) studies published 2002-2012. Centre for Social Investment, Heidelberg University.
Kuckartz, U. (4 2018). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Methoden, Praxis, Computerunterstützung. Beltz Juventa.
OECD (2022), Are Students Ready to Take on Environmental Challenges?, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/8abe655c-en.
Rammstedt, B. (Hrsg.). (2013). Grundlegende Kompetenzen Erwachsener im internationalen Vergleich. Ergebnisse von PIAAC 2012.
Rauscher, O., Mildenberger, G. & Krlev, G. (2015). Wie werden Wirkungen identifiziert? Das Wirkungsmodell. In: Schober, C., Then, V. (Hrsg.). Praxishandbuch Social Return on Investment: Wirkung sozialer Investitionen messen. Schäffer-Poeschel, 41-57.
Rendant, M.-L. (2016). (Hrsg.). Grundbildung: Bildung mit Mehrwert. Lang.
Then, Volker, Schober, Christian, Rauscher, Olivia, Kehl, Konstantin (2018): Social Return on Investment Analysis. Measuring the Impact of Social Investment, Palgrave, Basingstoke. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-71401-1.
Wolf, A., Jenkins, A. (2014). Do ‘learners’ always learn? The impact of workplace adult literacy courses on participants’ literacy skills. 40 (4). British Educational Research Journal, 40 (4), 585- 609.
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Paper
VET Students Training for Jobs in the Hospitality Industry Explain Sexual Harassment by Guests
Maria Hedlin, Eva Klope
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Hedlin, Maria;
Klope, Eva
A large part of vocational education and training (VET) concerns socialising the students into the occupation and for them to become part of the vocational culture (Colley et al. 2003). Within the hospitality industry, the interaction with the guest is central. Consequently, in the two Swedish upper secondary school vocational programmes that train for the hospitality industry, the Hotel and Tourism Programme and the Restaurant and Food Programme, a significant part of the training concerns interaction with guests. However, some important issues relating to interaction are insufficiently covered. In many hotel and restaurant workplaces, the employees perceive sexual harassment by guests as part of the job and vocational culture (Bråten 2019; Svensson 2020; Zampoukos et al. 2020). Despite this, the educational programmes do not always cover the issue (Hedlin & Klope 2022).
The fact that the issue of sexual harassment by guests is not always dealt with, or is dealt with inadequately, means that the students neither learn to deal with nor understand sexual harassment. This, in turn, may mean that the students use their “common sense” and often repeated discourses to understand, for example, how it can happen that a guest subjects a student or employee to sexual harassment.
The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about how VET students training for occupations in the hospitality industry, talk about why some guests subjects staff to sexual harassment and how we can understand these explanations from a discourse theoretical perspective.
Discourse analysis is both a theory and a method. It is useful for studying how explanations can be linked to notions that are more comprehensive. A definition of discourse is that it is a specific way of understanding and talking about the world, a way that is based on certain premises and, thus, has certain consequences. (Bakhtin 1999; Laclau & Mouffe 2001). Jørgensen and Phillips (2000) define discourse as a socially constructed system of meanings that could have been different. The way we see the world is always clearly dependent on the time and culture we live in. We need some order to be able to orientate ourselves, but at the same time, the social could have been constructed differently. The premise that things could have been constructed in other ways, however, does not mean that the social can be shaped in any way in a given situation, since there is great inertia in the social construction.
In Laclau and Mouffe's (2001) discourse theory, the constitutive dimension of language is central. They start from the post-structuralist assumption that language is characterised by a fundamental instability, which means that concepts and discourses cannot be fixed once and for all. Although there is a physical and highly tangible reality, the question of how we should understand it is a matter of social constructions. Laclau and Mouffe talk about discursive battles where different ways of describing reality or explaining an event are opposed to each other. Thus, the discourses are to be understood as competing ways of describing reality. The discourses that gain ground are in opposition to other discourses, which constitute reality in other ways, and which threaten to undermine the established discourses. Certain discourses can be relatively stable at certain historical times. There are matters that are not questioned, but it is always temporary. Even if a particular discourse can gain a hegemonic position and be considered self-evident in a certain society at a certain time, it will be challenged by other discourses sooner or later (Laclau & Mouffe 2001).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe empirical material consists of focus group interviews with upper secondary school students training to work in the hospitality industry. Before the students agreed to participate, they received both oral and written information about the purpose and design of the study. It was emphasised that participation was voluntary, and that each participant would also be free to cancel participation without explanation and without consequences. Furthermore, the informants were told that the project would lead to research that would be published and the empirical material was to be anonymised prior to publication (Vetenskapsrådet 2017).
Twenty-two focus group interviews were conducted, and 2–8 students participated in each group. The use of focus groups is a data collection method where the researcher has a slightly different and more passive role compared to traditional group interviews. The intention is to get richer data by encouraging interaction between the informants in the focus group. The participants are given the opportunity to gain multiple perspectives by hearing other participants' ideas, and by interacting with each other they are given the opportunity to reflect, develop their reasoning and, thus, articulate thoughts that may be difficult to elicit in other types of interviews (Caldeborg 2018; Wibeck 2010).
The participants attended either the Hotel and Tourism Programme or the Restaurant Management and Food Programme. They were in the third and final year of their education. Their ages ranged between 18and 20 years. Thus, the students were of legal age, and, in addition to the practicum included in the education programmes, most of them had employment in the form of weekend and summer jobs in the hotel and restaurant industry. 52 of the participants were women and 17 were men. None of them defined themselves in any other way. A total of 69 students were interviewed.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsWhen the VET students in this study talk about the guests who subject staff to sexual harassment, they express six different lines of thinking that explain why the guests act in this way. One explanation is that it is a generational issue, something that in turn can be linked to a Discourse of modernity. Another explanation is that it is an information issue, which can be seen as part of what we call a Communication discourse. A third explanation is that it is about personality, which can be interpreted as an argument within the Discourse of psychology. A fourth explanation is that the guest's sexual harassment is a matter of alcohol influence, which we see as part of a Disclaimer discourse. Fifth, the students believe that sexual harassment is a matter of the male nature, a reasoning that we associate with a Gender binary discourse. The sixth explanation is that it is about guests taking advantage of their status, which can be understood as an explanation within a Discourse of power.
ReferencesBakhtin, M. M. (1999). The problem of speech genres. In A. Jaworski & N. Coupland. The Discourse Reader. London: Routledge.
Bråten, M. (2019). Seksuell trakassering – et stille arbeidsmiljøproblem? Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, 25:1, 28-48.
Caldeborg, A. (2018). Intergenerational touch in PE – a student perspective. Örebro: Örebro universitet, Institutionen för hälsovetenskaper.
Colley, H., James, D., Diment, K. & Tedder, M. (2003). Learning as becoming in vocational education and training: class, gender and the role of vocational habitus. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 55:4, 471-498.
Hedlin, M. & Klope, E. (2022). ”Man blir paff över hur gäster kan bete sig!” Yrkeselever om sexuella trakasserier inom hotell- och restaurang. Stockholm: BFUF.
Jørgensen Winther M. & Phillips, L. (2000). Diskursanalys som teori och metod. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Laclau, E. & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a radical democratic politics. London: Verso.
Svensson, M. (2020). Sexuellt trakasserad på jobbet: en nordisk forskningsöversikt. Köpenhamn: Nordiska ministerrådet.
Vetenskapsrådet (2017). God forskningssed. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.
Wibeck, V. (2010). Fokusgrupper: Om fokuserade gruppintervjuer som undersökningsmetod. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Zampoukos, K., Persson, K. & Gillander Gådin, K. 2020. ”Är du en sådan där #metoo?”: Om arbetsmiljö, sexuella trakasserier och ledarskap på hotell- och restaurangarbetsplatsen. Rapport 2020:3. Östersund.
|
