1 Vocational Education for Sustainable Growth in a Connected World

Hanne Shapiro.

Danish Technological Institute

Hsh@teknologisk.dk

FINAL DRAFT

1.1 Vocational excellence and smart growth – introduction to key concepts

Changing patterns of innovation, the changing nature of jobs and the world of work, the growth in

youth unemployment, and the size and scale of low paid jobs in the informal sector, have renewed

discussions about the role of TVET as a driver of sustainable economic growth. In particular, there

is a growing understanding that TVET should not just train individuals to undertake specific jobs.

Surveys conducted among employers both in developing and developed countries suggest that

TVET is increasingly expected to contribute to the development of what has been defined as key

competences or 21st century skills, such as communication, problem solving, ICT, and creativity

and entrepreneurship1 (Shapiro 2011, City and Guild 2006). The notion of entrepreneurship in

TVET tends to span quite different expectations in terms of preparing youth for working in micro-

enterprises, for self- employment in the informal sector, and to enterprise start-up. So it can hardly

be a surprise that much entrepreneurship education is still piecemeal, taught as a scholastic

subject with limited evidence about its contribution to sustainable growth and enterprise and

employment creation.

The World Economic Forum underlines the need to situate entrepreneurship skills, competences and abilities as the pursuit of opportunities, whether this involves start-ups, spin-outs, entrepreneurial activities in larger organisations (private or public), or social ventures (Volkman 2006). To spur entrepreneurial and creative capacity through the VET systems, we need to encourage a more entrepreneurial culture and first and foremost we need more entrepreneurial institutions and societies. The latter will also require envisioning of growth models and societal wealth. (Coats 2011, Shapiro 2012).

Newer research particularly from Australia and USA has shown that the skilled workforce may have

a potentially unique role to play in innovation driven from the shop-floor. TVET players are

struggling to come to grasps with the notion of entrepreneurship and employee driven innovation

and how to translate that into policy and practice, particularly because the two concepts are

converging.

Across developing and developed economies, we are sitting on a ticking bomb with growing youth

unemployment and youth migration to the larger cities, leading to new forms of inequities.

However, we also see new movements where youth groups take control of their own destiny and

learning, resulting in new forms of self-employment and value creation. How do we get sufficient

scale and outreach in TVET innovations that also takes into consideration diversion across

communities, and what role could ICT play?

The paper discusses how vocational education and training can be a central lever for sustainable growth in a connected world and in the context of changing patterns of globalisation. The thoughts and ideas for transformation of the VET system are inspired by development work that I have

1 http://www.entre-week.org/eweek_files/CareerReadyProposal.pdf

carried out for UNESCO – in particular in the development of the methodological framework for TVET policy review - and how the findings of such a review can best be grounded. I owe thanks to OECD/CERI for involving me in the study of Systemic Innovation Processes in VET -Working out Change. Third, and most recently, work undertaken for the European Commission on VET excellence for smart growth has offered me chances to rethink the notion of growth and innovation and how and under which circumstances vocational education and training can function as a lever for a broader innovation agenda. Fourth, without the support of and collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Education and the social partners in Denmark, the opportunities to explore and understand shop floor innovation and the implications for VET policies would never have materialised. More recently, dialogues with professor Phil Brown Cardiff and professor Hugh Lauder have confirmed that more than ever we need to understand the changing dynamics of globalisation. Our societies and economies are already deeply connected at so many levels – so actions taken in one country may have deep implications, positive or negative, for another. Only if these broader dynamics are reflected in TVET policy making can TVET become an enabler of sustainable growth for all. Smart growth is at the core of the European 2020 strategy. In brief it builds on the notion that strategies for sustainable growth can only be identified through participative processes building upon both bottom–up and top-down process in dialectic manner. Learning is at the center of such processes in order to identify opportunities where a region or a country can excel. Smart growth therefore also requires close policy coordination and collaboration to ensure policy learning and as the basis for effective and dynamic implementation and scale in actions taken. Players involved in developing smart specialisation strategies will vary from location to location depending upon the characteristics of the regional innovation system. Typical actors will be companies - also in the informal sector- higher education institutions, tech-trans centres, and public and private VET providers. Economic development agencies, NGOS and, cultural institutions and NGOs may play a prominent role as seen for example in the USA and Australia (Plummer 2007; Raivio 2012). The underlying rationale is that experience-based knowledge matters just as much as knowledge created through research processes. The diversity of actors at the local level therefore potentially constitutes a unique source for bottom-up innovation. Combined, these actors have experiences with and formalised knowledge about what could constitute unique local competitive advantage - or for that matter hinder innovation.

1.1.1 The role of policy in smart growth through smart specialisation

Smart Growth through smart specialisation builds on the notion that free market forces alone

cannot drive growth and innovation. On the other hand it constitutes a break with the assumptions

that policy makers through top-down processes can identify and prioritise growth and innovation

opportunities. Policy interventions should in particular ensure enabling frameworks so that

potentials identified by local actors can be supported in the most effective and creative manner for

example by drawing on hard and soft evidence from previous initiatives or from abroad as a source

of inspiration (OECD-CERI). Smart policies may also be a matter of facilitating a dialogue through

an external and trusted mediator, so that everyone has a voice. Policy coordination is thus also

essential in order to fully mobilise the differing capacities of regional economies. These resources

and capabilities are embedded in firm technologies and routines, the institutional characteristics,

the culture, the linkages between the different players- and the skills and competences in the local

economy. Since local capabilities are also defined by the quality of local actors‘ linkages and

relations within and outside the region, bottom-up dialogue processes are a must. Leading regions

may successfully invest in advancing a generic technology applied to new markets that could be

global in scale- such as water resources. Investment in service innovation within a mature sector or

across a value chain, or the use of known technologies in new combinations will often be more

fruitful for technologically less advanced regions.

The central premise is that smart growth based on smart specialisation is an opportunity for all regions. It concerns all local actors with close connections to enterprises and the local economy.

VET institutions can through VET excellence play a unique an enabling role in such processes through their linkages to the productive economy and local communities. (Brown 2011)

2 Regions all over the world are challenged to find new growth and job creation

opportunities driven by profound changes in patterns of globalisation and aggravated by the global financial crisis. The growing youth unemployment is a challenge to both advanced and developing economies. However, UNESCO, the EU and the World Bank also point to promising examples of how the recombination of assets embedded in the routines, experiences, cultures and local institutions and people may emerge as opportunities – not within a sector, but across sectors, or through new partnerships between public, private, informal sector, and social enterprises and NGOs. So a central premise for smart growth through smart policies is also that economic systems should be graded on their ability to provide sustainable increases in well-being to the vast majority of its citizens. This is the central message of the International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (Stiglitz 2009). Pathways to sustainable growth models are therefore also participatory, inclusive and shared.

There is a growing recognition that top-down innovation models will often fail because they do not

sufficiently take into account all the factors that may impact the absorptive capacity of a country,

region, or location to successfully exploit R&D in the form of innovation (Hirsch 2008; Jacobson

2005). Furthermore these models may build on simplistic models of growth that do not take into

account medium term sustainability, and how a national approach to growth may have negative

consequences on countries in other parts of the world, due to an increasingly connected economy.3

( Brown 2011;Coats 2011) The promotion of applications and market-driven innovations building on

deployment and diffusion of known technologies in new configurations and service solutions offers

a viable way also for so-called follower countries or regions to define and pursue new avenues to a

more sustainable growth strategy. VET systems may play a central role in stimulating

entrepreneurship and enterprise creation for example by letting students work on real life problems

and affordable technology solutions for the real world for example pertaining to great global

challenges such as health for all clean water, or dwindling energy resources (Shapiro 2012).

The central premise is that smart growth based on smart specialisation is an opportunity for all

regions and countries – and that it is a central matter for all local actors with close connections to

enterprises and the local economy, including VET institutions and the VET system as a whole.

Another central premise is that smart growth requires new forms of partnerships that go beyond

traditional VET-industry relations in terms of simply acting on demand (Buchanan 2010).

It also builds on the premise that in a globally connected world we can no longer build our VET

systems on simplistic models and values regarding growth. (Shapiro, Hanne)4

Across the world governments are challenged to find new efficient and effective growth and job

creation opportunities.

Smart Growth policies recognise that TVET may play an enabling role in driving sustainable growth- but they take into account that the faith in the benefits of supply side policies with regard to skills cannot be a stand-alone solution to a high-value economy (Shapiro 2012, Brown 2011, Schneider 2011). PIAAC pilot data for example suggest that the economy with the biggest stockpile of at higher levels ultimately outperforms all others in the global race for growth. A White Paper from DBIS notes that there is no automatic relationship between skills and productivity. Critically important is how businesses actually use the skills of their workforce, and how they use them in combination with other drivers of productivity, standardisation, technology diffusion, and internationalisation (DBIS 2009: 20). Similar findings also emerge from Australian research, (Buchanan 6). In other words, TVET policies however demand-led and market-driven approach are not sufficient but have to be aligned with demand side policies that address the underlying factors that drive the competitiveness strategies of firms. The question of skills utilization is only

2 Key Note speech- Danish Presidency conference, April 2012. VET-Business Co-operation, Promoting New Skills,

innovation and Growth for the Future. 3 See also discussion from the annual meeting in Davos under World Economic Forum 2012 http://www.weforum.org/s?s=davos 2012 4 Shapiro, presentation at conference, EU commission Brussels 2012: The global race for global talent- or sustainable

growth through new internationally collaborative models for VET excellence

beginning to emerge in the economic research on TVET. Current TVET policies have only to a limited degree addressed how industrial relations and work systems affect how skills are utilised and developed - or the opposite. If TVET is actively going to contribute to a sustainable growth and job creation these factors have to be staged in debates and policy making.

1.2 Smart specialisation and VET Excellence – the innovation agenda

The smart specialisation concept reflects emerging changes in today‘s innovation landscape from

technology and human capital -push policies towards an understanding that supply side policies

such as investment in R& D and investments in skills have to be balanced by demand side policies.

Demand side policies have to address the underlying factors regarding skills utilisation and firm

innovation practices. In the context of VET excellence, this would imply understanding the issues of

skills supply and demand through the lens of competitiveness pursued at the firm level, and how

that firm or groups of firms are connected and compete and/or collaborate globally (Millard 2012,

Noes 2008). In the wake of the financial crisis there are emerging discussions about the wider

innovation factors that will impact competitiveness medium term with focus on value creation the

productive economy (Brown 2011, Porter 2012). In the USA leading edge states and community

colleges have adopted accountability measures that take these considerations of sustainable and

smart growth into consideration (Schaffer 2010).

In Europe, VET is increasingly seen as a key systemic feature in order to ensure dynamically

adjusting labour markets (Bonin 2010). The enabling role of VET in smart and sustainable growth,

and in broader economic terms as a potential innovation driver, is not yet recognised or understood

fully as a central feature of holistic innovation policies. (Shapiro 2012)

Emerging research findings suggest that there could be a number of impediments to the VET systems and actors achieving such a proactive role with a view to driving innovation at the local and regional level. Innovation theory only recently has begun to consider the importance of other factors than R&D and technology diffusion to innovation (Arundel 2008, Toner 2011). Another issue less considered in the discussions about innovation drivers and economic performance as briefly discussed above is how companies´ competitiveness strategies impact the value set on skills. This will define how or if these skills are fully utilised or under-utilised through the work organisation and leadership practices (Buchanan 2006; Brown 2011). At the policy level it is not sufficient to focus on the nexus between VET and the labour market if VET systems are to contribute fully to an agenda for sustainable growth. (OECD, LEED 2010). Traditionally growth has been measured in GDP per capita, and it does have major impact on living standards and employment. GDP per capita can however disguise major and complex forms of inequality. One look at statistics and formal regulations regarding access to high quality VET and higher education versus genuine access and completion rates will quickly show that patterns of participation and drop-out are socially constructed – also in advanced economies such as the Danish, American or Australian. (Shapiro 2005, 2011,

5 OECD-CERI, 2010)

GDP per capita has in the past two decades and in particular driven by the global financial crisis been the key focus of public policy. In fact it should be recalled that that it measures market activity rather than welfare and the quality of jobs (growth)(Evans 2011). Second, national policies that were once effective and feasible may now be of reduced effectiveness and no longer feasible. 2011).Reasons are that globalisation has increased the connectivity of our economies through global trade, inward investments and buy-ups to ensure access to critical natural resources, job and investment off-shoring, capital flows, and global skills mobility including global student mobility (Noes 2008; Brown 2011; Millard 2012). In the context of VET excellence this should be taken into account. The great global challenges linked to climate, energy, health and the question of how we deploy and exploit our natural resources could form the point of departure for pro-active and entrepreneurial approaches to innovations in VET curriculum and in the nature of teaching and learning processes for a

5 http://pub.uvm.dk/2005/retention/hel.html

productive and sustainable growth model. Innovation and entrepreneurship through VET should therefore consider and challenge underlying values and assumptions about growth as necessary.

1.2.1 Evidence based policies for VET excellence through smart growth

Responsive VET systems must understand and take into account the different pathways to competitiveness that firms may undertake, and their underlying drivers. Some companies primarily compete on costs and thus the lowest common denominator when it comes to the skills/cost equation (Brown 2011; Noes 2008, Leney 2006). A broad-based TVET policy must therefore confront the prospect of increasing labour market polarisation, characterised by high-skilled, high-wage employment at one end of the labour market and low-wage, low-skilled employment at the other. The latter is a prevailing feature of ‗low-road firms‘, pursuing competitive strategies focusing on price and cost. Jobs in these firms are typically organised around very narrow sets of tasks, often highly routinised, within a prescribed division of labour. Training processes in low-road firms is mainly ad hoc very specific training for firm specific tasks.

For such companies the business rationale for a skills-based innovation agenda has to be made,

but also with the recognition that some companies and individuals may not buy in. At an

institutional level there are numerous experiences in VET institutions demonstrating that the

exposure to new technologies can be the means to begin a dialogue about the skills of the

workforce, as most technologies will require different and higher skills levels to be fully exploited.

There is evidence (Lundvall 1999) that perceived competitive pressure may also draw attention to

the role of skills in driving competitiveness at the enterprise level. Coherent skills-based strategies

to attract inward investment can in combination with other policy instruments therefore not just lead

to job creation, but in fact also drive functional specialisation strategies. This can in turn have a

positive impact on driving a more advanced demand for raising the skills levels at the local level

among companies that have traditionally pursued a low cost, low skills strategy (OECD/LEED

2010). For this to happen, VET policies, labour market, social- and economic policies must be

aligned and must draw on emerging evidence. It also calls for new indicators and accountability

instruments to measure impact. Development of indicators for sustainable growth is not just a task

for expert statisticians. Participative processes that involve ― the women and men of the streets and

the communities‖ can enable civic engagement in complex reform processes. It can furthermore

also help prioritising scarce financial resources, which address genuine needs. (Millard 2012)

Donor initiatives or public policy interventions designed to spur growth through smart specialisation

should reflect the tension between high road and low road firm based strategies in order to not

distort and adversely affect opportunities for firms to pursue high road strategies build on broad

innovation strategies. Inspiration can be found in the previous Finnish Tykes programme6, or the

current US Jobs and Innovation Accelerator initiative in which American community colleges in

many instances play a central enabling role at the local level. 7 The Skills Eco system approaches

in Australia (Buchanan 206) also offer some important policy pointers.

Some of the challenges to evidence based policies at present, however, is that we lack data and

substantial insights into the different dynamics and inter-linkages at the micro, meso, and macro

levels, and between each of these levels in a local – global tension are scarce (Millard 2012).

One of the only partially answered questions is how the VET system and VET institutions can

support firms or networks of firms that are locked into value chains but are based on low value

services -or components, so that they can increase their unique value proposition. Another

question is how VET systems and linkages including micro financing must be configured to benefit

micro companies in the informal sector to help them improve productive and the quality of products

and services as this can spur a positive and sustainable growth spiral ( Shapiro 2010). Lessons

from Mexico suggest that in globalised labour markets VET systems and institutions should

6

http://www.tekes.fi/en/community/a/482/b/1344?name=The+largest+workplace+development+programme+in+Finland 7 http://www.mbda.gov/node/854

develop curriculum standards that are not only based on the nature of demand from national

enterprises. (OECD /CERI 2010) The globalised and network economy has led to that enterprises

are connected in complex value chains and skills webs whether it is tourism or manufacturing. VET

systems can by identifying global best practice in terms of industry skills standards contribute to

inward investments and that local enterprises move up the value chain. (Gaffeti 2010). Yet, VET

systems are still oriented towards national and regional and local labour market and so are

arrangements for forecasting skills demands. Questions remain how VET systems and VET

institutions in practice can navigate and develop curriculum that promotes employability and quality

of jobs linking in to the global skills webs and value chains.

Within the US/European network of community colleges and technical colleges TA38 the

participating colleges have collaborated to develop curriculum for truly internationalised sectors

such as medico technology and air services. One of the new focus areas of the network is

advanced manufacturing. Currently the network aims to expand participation from other parts of the

world.

Smart specialisation strategies are not just a matter of innovative deployment of technologies, but

can also be the tourism sector creating unique experiences by collaborating with partners

representing the cultural heritage and an alternative to simply competing on low-cost tourism

packages (Gafatti 2010, Shapiro 2010). In each instance the answers will differ as will the

configuration of VET partners and the potential role that VET may play. However, only if these

emerging issues become part of the VET policy agenda will we have a truly responsive VET

system building on VET Excellence (Shapiro 2012). There are several trends currently offering a

window of opportunity to situate VET systems and VET players in the innovation agenda for smart

growth.

Understanding these enablers and barriers through research data and case studies are one of the

keys to developing effective national and regional strategies for VET excellence through smart

growth building on smart specialisation.

8 For more information about TA3please see: http://www.ta3online.org/

2 Drivers of Change for VET Excellence

2.1 VET Excellence and changing globalisation dynamics.

There are a range of global drivers that may offer new pathways to sustainable growth with VET

excellence being a central lever.

Many developing countries that have tried to grow by expanding agricultural exports, exploiting mineral resources or developing low value added manufacturing have found that the impact on GDP per head has been limited with high level of precarious work. More successful countries (such as those in East and have adopted rather different approaches with a focus on export industries, but with a degree of support to local industries and based on attempts to link into and move up the value chain and improve productivity and quality of products and innovation capacity – the education sector – with both VET and higher education as a lever.

In advanced economies R&D and technology transfer has been at the core in industrial policies.

Developing economies – including fast growing economies are copying such approaches to

industry policy. This is mirrored in investment policies in the education sector where higher

education has been on top of policy priorities at the expense of VET. It is also mirrored in the policy

rhetoric and measurement of education development in the sense that the increase in university

graduates is one of the key indicators of economic progress. There is growing evidence that

increased investments in R&D, for example in the European Framework programmes, will not

necessarily yield the benefits in terms of break through R&D that turn into innovations. Another

issue is that in developing economies the private sector will often be under-developed. The

preferred employment destination for higher education graduates will therefore often be the public

sector. Many both mature and newly established universities in developing as well in advanced

economies are poorly geared to support high value incubation- both in the early phases of

enterprise start-up as well as in the later stages of professionalization and scaling. Secondly

policies which primary see R&D as a lever of growth tend to ignore the fact that many SMEs and

the whole informal sector will have no internal capacity to absorb R&D for innovation purposes.

More balanced investments in the education sector- and in particular high quality VET

programmes adapted to the local circumstances but with a global outlook and orientation can

therefore be a pathway to a sustainable growth – in particular if VET systems connects with the

informal economy.

2.1.1 R&D policies go hand in hand with other forms of innovation

There is an emerging understanding that R&D needs to be complemented by broader innovation

instruments. In this context the role of VET in technology diffusion within mature and emerging

industries hold particular promises to drive innovation in manufacturing and in the nexus

manufacturing and technological service innovation. Whereas engineers and other academics with

a science-based qualification play a central role in the early phases of an R&D based innovation

process, the skilled work force and technicians will, depending upon the strategy a company

pursues, play a critical role in the uptake and diffusion of technologies in the phase of moving from

prototype to market penetration. The combination of core occupational competences and the

practical and productive application of these in the production process and key competences such

as communication, ICT and problem solving situate VET excellence in a new global specialisation

context. VET excellence based on technology diffusion can drive the development of quality

products that are sustainable in use and meet real market needs. ( Brown 2011).9 For firms in the

informal sector VET excellence can imply training to improve quality of products and services

combined with training in the use of ICT for example for marketing purposes.

9 Presentation by Andreas Schleicher OECD on findings from the pilot phase of PIIAC- Sept 2011 Lisbon

Council Brusselshttp://www.lisboncouncil.net/initiatives/human-capital.html

2.1.2 Digital taylorism or mixed innovation approaches?

This changing ratio of the quality/cost of a high skilled work force in South East Asia, combined

with increasing opportunities to digitise and automate or semi-automate vital and complex

processes, has led to outsourcing of more knowledge intensive work processes in both the

services and manufacturing industry. This has fundamentally challenged previous assumptions in

many OECD countries about global specialisation and the division of work. Developments in Africa

and in Latin America have spurred a beginning discussion about future pathways to job creation.

Many of the small and medium sized firms across the globe that operate as sub-suppliers

internationally have implemented advanced automation technologies in particular in high wage

economies in the EU. At the same time some have also successfully implemented lean

philosophies adopted from Japan. These philosophies rely heavily on the skills and attitudes of the

workers at the shop floor level and their ability to improve processes on an on-going basis. They

also rely on a culture of collaboration and trust between management and employees.)These

strategies are pursued as an alternative or complementary to off-shoring. Successful

implementation relies on broadly defined jobs and integrative work organisation practices shaped

on the basis of the lean philosophy and the broad and deep skills of the skilled workforce. Keys to

unique performance are early and direct involvement of all employees in restructuring efforts and a

culture where lifelong learning For firms that have adopted such strategies the VET system can

play a role in supporting an improved competitiveness of firms, whilst also assisting in the

development and implementation of more integrative work organisation practices by integrating

structured learning activities between companies networked for business purposes. Such

approaches to VET excellence can lead to on-going improvements and service innovation around

the core business. The Basque vocational training umbrella organisation TKNIKA (Fernandez

201210

) provides support in networks of VET schools and companies around such models.

2.1.3 The strategic role of service innovation across sectors

Though strategies to automate and streamline processes may seem unavoidable in a high wage

economy, emerging research shows that also some large multinationals on one hand pursue

advanced automation and off-shoring strategies both for cost reasons and to be located in

emerging markets, whilst maintaining advanced prototype manufacturing on location. This is used

as a base and source both of R&D and employee driven innovation- closely intertwined, ad so to

avoid ending in a commodity trap ( Zysman 2007). Such strategies can only be implemented

through quality VET systems because the strategies rely heavily on the expertise of the shop-floor

workers and their insights into materials and processes through their concrete operations in the

prototyping and early manufacturing phase. In this sense such strategies also have major

implications for VET excellence- not only in Denmark, but for the agenda of advanced and

sustainable manufacturing.

2.1.4 Repositioning old crafts skills

For the many European crafts firms, skills deeply embedded in the traditional crafts occupations

combined with tacit insights into customer preferences also more globally may provide new brand

value to firms that employ workers from traditional VET occupations. Support to collective learning

processes, through networks of firms between small food producers and restaurants can be one

effective way to drive a regional skills‘ based growth agenda. VET institutions can also give

support to really identifying those tacit key competences that constitute a brand, so that a crafts

firm with growth ambitions can begin to set up multiple outlets for their core products. VET

institutions can also play en enabling role supporting that small crafts firms where relevant can

develop e-business strategies to reach a broader market. (Laugesen 2012). The cultural heritage in

music, dance, crafts, and mask making cannot only be a source of employment creation in Africa-

with tourists wanting to learn from ancient old traditions. It can also be a pathway to sustainable

tourism. A country such as the Seychelles have implemented a tourism strategy , where quality

10

Presentation at expert workshop in Brussels on VET Excellence through smart specialisation

jobs and complementary services have developed offering tourists unique experiences – and a real

alternative to low cost tourist packages.

2.1.5 Great Global challenges- A new opportunity?

Sustainability is not a new concepts - and includes many different dimensions. So, central to the renewed interest in sustainability are the concepts of green growth and the green economy encompassing also wider dimensions that have to do with not only the environment, but the way we produce and use natural resources- and the impact that this has on our health and the locations in which we live and work. Green growth and notions of a MESH economy11, or a sharing economy

are all phenomena that have emerged in recent times as potential avenues out of the crisis. Nonetheless, they are hardly new and draw upon an older assessment of the capacity of the economic system to capture the environmental impacts of production and consumption. This will imply that the VET system should not only aim to understanding the changing skills sets within existing occupations and as part of a restructuring of branches and sector. A proactive and entrepreneurial VET system also need to capture and understand the wider effects the greening of the economy could have in terms of the creation of business that emerge exploring and exploiting the wider business opportunities stemming from green and develop new responses in accordance to that- for example through new approaches to TVET entrepreneurship.

2.2 The nature of Incremental Innovation and the role of the skilled workforce

R&D and technology transfer have played and still play a central role in industry and innovation

policies in Europe. Still, a growing body of evidence suggests that not only smaller sub-supplier

and crafts firms adopt other and/or complementary strategies to remain competitive; there are also

large multinationals that pursue more diversified strategies. (Toner 2010).

These strategies are typically non-technological (apart from the use of ICT). They stem from

reconfiguration of processes, development of services linked to a particular product, and functional

design play a central role. The aim is to add unique value for different customer segments, by

learning from the genuine and often latent needs of customers and their clients. Whereas R&D-

based innovations may lead to breakthrough products in the market such as a new medicine or a

new service such as SKYPE, the latter forms of innovations are more incremental in nature and

based on on-going improvements and reconfiguration of processes and services through on-going

customer and supplier contacts. Hence these models are also called user-and market-driven

innovation. These forms of innovation on one hand strongly depend on an understanding of the

core products, processes and services delivered and how they are created and maintained, and on

the other hand contacts to markets and customers.

They have more predictable development costs and market potential and can be undertaken by a

broad range of businesses and firms. Incremental innovations are often initiated by shop floor or

frontline workers involved in the production of a good or a service due to their contacts to sub-

suppliers and to the direct user base. User driven innovation and employee driven innovation

therefore often go hand in hand with quality in TVET. (Shapiro 2011a).

2.2.1 Incremental innovation as collective learning processes

From the perspective of VET excellence, it is therefore critical that front line workers and

technicians across industries possess or acquire a broader and more complex mix of skills

conducive to innovation from the shop –floor. These skills are highly contextual in nature; they

11 Definition : MESH business models refer to products or services that can be can be shared within a community

(whatever it is) and that can form the basis for new business models; Advanced Web and mobile networks, and information infrastructures allow real-time tracking of what is shared. Users can access the shared goods wherever they are physically. Happy users spread the word about their experience; See Lisa Gansky for more information

differ according to different phases of an innovation process, and also across industry contexts.

(Green 2007). Skills conducive to innovation need to be put to play through integrative work

organisation and leadership practices that promote effective skills utilisation. This implies that

routine and non- routine work practices and problems that may arise are not just a matter of

constantly improving working and occupational routines drawing on often tacit experiences. Work

organisation practices that are conducive to innovation strategically facilitate that shop-floor

workers in the daily practices get opportunities to question existing routines and practices. The

work place or work based learning may offer opportunities to transcend existing occupational

routines in ways that often results in innovations. This applies to both formal and informal VET

systems.

A care facility for elderly may for years have treated elderly with sleeping difficulties with

light sedatives at night and according to a given national standard. Many incidents can

lead to that the care takers begin to question this routine and brainstorm about other

viable solutions. With the management they discuss the ideas, their implications and

decide to try out a new way of doing things that take into account the diversity of needs in

the elderly group. If results over time are less medication to the elderly and that they

sleep better – an innovation has been implemented, which can be scaled, and which was

based on an exploratory and collective learning process, which may be informal and

highly tacit in nature.

Students in a construction collaborate with a small rural village on the design of new

housing. The focus is on developing low cost housing that needs limited maintenance

and can withstand immense heat. Students are encouraged to use web resources and

test and redesign their solutions real life- before the final proposal is handed over to the

village. Other students close to graduations as plumbers are meanwhile working on an

assignment on how they can improve the water quality in the same village.

Emerging research, however shows that facilitated and more structured learning processes often

play a critical role to enable higher order learning and as a precondition to innovation.

(Neuiwenhuis 2010).

A Dutch bakery works with VET researchers so that their shop floor workers can begin to acquire

systematic methods to questioning routine reactions to common problems. A crafts butcher store

works systematically with the young apprentices and the vocational college so that students whilst

working as an apprentice get opportunities to learn from different customer segments as a source

of inspiration for new services and products. Whilst at school these can be further refined and then

tested in the coming apprentice period. One large hospital in Scandinavia has introduced, based on

observations made primarily by nurses in their practices, a number of new products and services

that have been sold off and are now marketed.

Lundvall (2010) call this phenomenon for innovation through learning by doing, using and

interacting – which he refers to as a DUI (Doing, Using, Interacting) mode of innovation - as the

principal driver of incremental innovation. From a firm and employee perspective, one key element

of VET excellence thus becomes the institutional ability to design learning environments and

learning processes that bridge learning on-the-job and formal learning - drawing on genuine

practice-based challenges in ways that offer employees authentic opportunities to learn by tackling

complex and fuzzy-ended problems and as the basis for innovation (Toner 20l1b). Another central

dimension of VET excellence becomes a matter of developing explicit institutional strategies and

support structures in terms of interfaces and outreach to the local industry and in terms of

partnership and cooperation with local economic development agencies. Furthermore, associated

accountability indicators must be developed, monitored, and communicated to stakeholders as the

basis for building strong partnerships (Shaffer 2010).

3 VET Partnerships for smart growth through smart specialisation

A broader understanding of innovation opens opportunities for the VET system to play a more

visible and recognised role in economic development beyond the core mission of education and

training, not least at the regional and local level, due to its traditional close connection to the world

of work and the labour market.

3.1 Issues of scaling and mainstreaming

Though vocational education and training may in practice play a prominent role in local economic

development in the EU, as case some case studies suggest, the reality is that these initiatives are

often highly localised and discrete in nature. Furthermore, they often dependent strongly upon

various externally funded project sources, and are therefore hard to scale and mainstream. When it

comes to labour market policies - whether a question of addressing current mismatches through C-

VET or meeting the needs for green skills within existing occupations- VET systems play a much

clearer and recognised role, in particular where partnerships are established at a system level or at

the institutional level with social partners, with employers or employee organisations. Cluster case

studies from the EU suggest that it is primarily vocational university colleges, polytechnics and the

German and Austrian Fachhochschulen , that have managed to position themselves as a driver of

and partner in cluster-based strategies. The OECD/CERI study on systemic innovation processes

in VET (OECD/CERI 2010) suggest that there are other factors that inhibit scaling and

mainstreaming such as lack of use of pilots to test out ideas before implementation, unsystematic

use of the formal knowledge base, insufficient mechanisms to generate learning across the group

of stakeholders, participating in a development issue, and a poor evaluation culture for policy

learning purposes. (OECD/CERI 2010).

A US-based study conducted by the Rockefeller Institute in 2010 (Shaffer 2010) points to a shift in

models for local economic development becoming more skills-based, although this in no way is a

uniform picture across the USA. The emerging paradigm for local economic development has

many similarities to the underlying ideas of smart growth. Local economic development resources

are prioritised for businesses with ambitions and potentials to grow and create jobs through bottom-

up and involving processes. Knowledge is perceived as the key asset in economic development,

and the community college system in some states such as North Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia,

plays a key role in partnership with economic development agencies in identifying companies with

growth potentials and attracting these through targeted workforce development measures, for

example in the form of non-credit courses. These can be quickly developed and tailored to the

needs of companies willing to locate in a given state. Ensuring that a skilled workforce is available

from day one when a company is expanding its business or relocating has become a competitive

parameter replacing traditional economic incentives such as inexpensive land, tax deductions, and

infrastructure. Several of the colleges may also play a role as Centres of Technology Excellence,

being a point of access and diffusion of new technologies. This in many cases becomes a point of

entry to partnering between companies and the college, because the full exploitation of

technologies will typically require more advanced skills. There are mutual examples from the USA,

Canada, and Australia of how VET Institutions regroup and partner with a network of companies,

not just to ensure the delivery of higher skills (for which there may even be little demand). First and

foremost the focus is on enhancing innovation performance and through that contributing to

economic development. Partnerships are therefore also typically broad in scope and dynamic.

They often involve economic development agencies, technology transfer agencies, RTOs or

universities.

In Australia a comprehensive initiative - the Australian Skills ecosystem initiative - has developed

over several years and has informed policy efforts to align vocational education and training

policies with local economic development and innovation measures.

Fig. 3.1 Beyond traditional understandings of supply- demand side dynamics

Source: Society for Knowledge Economics 2009

3.1.1 Skills Ecosystems

The concept of Skills Ecosystems (Buchanan et. al. 2010) was gradually developed to ensure a

more integrated and dynamic approach to supply and demand. Demand side factors in a VET

Excellence context are mostly understood as a matter of developing more responsive education

systems and obtaining a deeper and long term perspective on labour market dynamics. These

factors are important and are central in features on the ―new Skills for New Jobs policy initiative.

Experiences and approaches from Australia however show that we may need a more nuanced

picture to fully capture and implement balanced supply and demand side policies. The background

for developing the ecosystem approach was a growing body of evidence of significant skills

wastage whilst employers continued to highlight skills shortages. This led to more empirical

research on the demand as well as the supply side of the skills equation (Toner 2007). Supply side

issues include e.g. the training offer, skills profiles, and recruitment practices available for people

entering or in companies within the specific skills ecosystem. Demand side issues relate to how the

skills can be used in an optimal manner, taking into account such factors as work processes,

leadership style, technology deployment and competitiveness strategies pursued within the skills

ecosystem. A central premise of the Skills Ecosystems approach is that expanding and improving

the quality concerning the supply of qualified people is only a partial solution to Australian

industry‘s needs. The traditional VET focus on training is complemented by a broader focus on the

other drivers of business productivity and growth which can contribute to a healthy ecosystem in

which skills are effectively utilised and developed. Development of such enablers may include the

use of advanced technology, the model of service delivery, how the work is organised and

managed, and the design of jobs. The skills ecosystem approach is that business leaders will first

and foremost be concerned about economic performance and profitability. The gateway to

engaging companies primarily pursuing cost based innovation strategies will not from the outset be

through a dialogue about skills. Instead the initial dialogue will need to take the point of departure in

business problems as they are perceived by the business. Through for example technology

diffusion or support to improved productivity through quality management philosophies, a

relationship may gradually begin to develop, where it will be possible to begin to address business

performance and how that can be improved through a better skills utilisation and development

practice. VET excellence is thus not just a matter of responding to demand, but understanding and

designing outreach strategies that reflect the underlying factors that may or may not drive the

underlying factors of demand. The US Job Growth Accelerator initiative also takes this broader

perspective on supply and demand side policies. In contrast to the policy discourse about the

growing importance of education training, corporate strategies on investment in workforce

development and the use of skills show quite different levels of commitment both when it comes to

workforce training and to work based learning engagement for young students. Policies and

institutional strategies that do not take this into account may therefore fail. (CEDEFOP 2010,

Shapiro 2011c, Coats 2011)

4 Institutional strategies

If VET institutions are to become innovation partners in economic development, the mere

complexity of tasks associated with a broader mission will likely require changes in institutional

strategies and partnership models, and likely in the policy framework to ensure scale, outreach,

and sufficient specialisation. In Sweden the Centres for Advanced Yrkesutbildning (advanced

vocational education) as well the Centre of Vocational Excellence can be seen as attempts to

situate VET as a central player in smart growth. Both in Sweden and the Netherlands, partnerships

not only rely on indirect representation through employer or social partner organisations, but they

are based on direct involvement with enterprises that also play a critical role in terms of labour

market intelligence and the wider factors driving this.

In the Netherlands, VET excellence centres typically comprise both vertical and horizontal

cooperation with other VET institutions, universities, and research and business organisations and

businesses, mirroring the characteristics of the regional innovation system.

In Sweden, some of the centres also are beginning to consider that though they play a critical role

in the regional innovation system, the companies they work with will in many instances be linked

into a global value chain and the dynamics of this. Not only may the global value chain have impact

on changes in the skills demands, VET institutions will increasingly need to consider the local

/global dynamics and the role of skills in these if the VET institutions in Europe are to play a more

central role in skills-based innovation.

4.1 Emerging Partnership models and configurations

Within these networking and partnership arrangements, a growing number of case studies and

reports from Australia and from the USA in particular have examined the role of vocational

education and training providers and more broadly learning partnerships as drivers or regional

innovation, cluster formation, and social capital development (Pierce 2006). In many of these

partnerships the implication is that VET institutions are both user and producers of knowledge in

relatively fluent processes, and the same goes for enterprises and other knowledge partners. It

also implies that policies should support both horizontal and vertical collaboration in dynamic

partnership configurations that typically will span different policy resorts. Pierce has found at least

seven emerging models and configurations mirroring how diverse institutional strategies in support

of local economic development may be:

work-based learning partnerships;

community/education/training/industry and enterprise partnerships (ACTSS — Alliance of

Charters Towers State Schools 2001);

indigenous community enterprise and training partnerships;

a cooperative campus model where links are forming across training, higher education,

industry and enterprise, with public–private partnership arrangements ;

higher education–community–industry–government and research partnerships with links

forming across regions, government departments, professional associations and industry

groups; Peirce 2006)

partnerships with local development agencies or cluster bodies, that may be loosely and

dynamically connected to similar organisations or cluster bodies internationally. In these

configurations it is the interactions of the players as a whole, rather than one institution that

constitute the unique strength.

industry/technology cluster and cooperative research centres with partnerships that link

technical and further education, higher education and industry research sectors locally,

which facilitate linkages to global value chains;

4.1.1 Policies in support of new network configurations

From a policy perspective, it is worth noting that successful and dynamic learning networks tend to

build on open models of innovation. In practice this means that they do not depend on the

excellence and outreach of one particular institution, but on the quality and active engagement of

all actors- in models that at times are called eco-systems of innovation.12

Vocational education and

training providers can play a role as network brokers or ―Spiders in the Web‖ actively engaging in

and shaping collective learning processes within groups of firms or a sector in the region. For many

institutions this will be a new and unfamiliar role. The early network formation around the

agriculture and food industries in the Netherlands evolved around such a model (Nieuwenhuis

2003). Local tech-trans centres or chamber of commerce might play a role in building capacity in

the VET system to undertake such functions. Evidence of such capacity-building efforts is still

scarce in a European context in spite of the close connections between chambers of commerce

and the VET institutions in some countries. In the USA small business centres and advanced

technology centres are often a feature in the community college outreach system in local economic

development such as is the case in North Carolina (Rivio 2012). Though there is limited evidence

– these immediate business services could in fact also be a way to begin to build a partnership with

firms, who might otherwise not have bought into the services and the mission of a traditional VET

institution. As sectors internationalise, the ability of VET providers to create relevant linkages that

span regional or sectoral boundaries becomes more critical to a visible role in the regional

innovation system (Shapiro 2011c).

The linkages, connectivity and understanding of a changing world of work and sources of

sustainable competitiveness could in fact constitute a genuine innovation differentiator for Europe

in a global perspective. From a VET excellence perspective, it is a matter of a broader perspective

on policy coordination- also in program design. There is also a need to develop new quality and

accountability systems and indicators, and institutions need to have autonomy to take pro-active

stance when new opportunities and needs appear- also in the ways financial accountability is

managed. (OECD LEED 2010, Schaeffer 2010)

12

Def. innovation eco system: An ecosystem is a biological term which refers an environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight. An innovation ecosystem consists of economic agents and economic relations as well as the non-economic parts such as technology, institutions, sociological interactions and the culture. Non-economic components or innovation structure can enable idea making, introducing innovation and diffusion of them. A highly developed innovation ecosystem helps participants to operate beyond firm boundaries, enable to transformation of knowledge into innovation. ( Mercan 2011)

5 Skills conducive to innovation – what evidence is there

From a skills and learning process perspective, the debate on VET excellence has often focused

on skills for creativity and entrepreneurship. Though these skills in part of an innovation process

will be essential, the innovation equation also concerns successful implementation and uptake in a

market. Innovation is thus also about testing out, optimising, scaling, which will often occur through

standardisation. (Brown 2011)

In the education literature there has been a tendency to focus on creative and entrepreneurial

capacity of the individual as key to a more innovative economy. In the world of work, innovation

often stems from collaborative efforts, trial and error processes, and fine-tuning implementation.

Skills conducive to innovation will therefore not be effectively developed through traditional

entrepreneurial or creativity courses. The reason is that idea generation easily becomes the

primary focus, but without purpose and application. Therefore teaching and learning processes

conducive to innovation in a VET excellence context must be thoroughly considered. Innovation

from the shop floor in essence has to do with occupational practice and learning to master the

routines of this practice, in order to transcend and transform this so it creates economic and social

value. (Neuiwenhuis 2010). In essence this means that occupational competences are at the core

of innovative practice, but in order to innovate, the apprentice or the skilled worker will also need to

be exposed to situations that lead to opportunities to question routine solutions in work practice.

This has implications for the design of teaching and learning processes.

The launch of an innovation often occurs in several stages, and this in turn affects changes in

employee competence needs (Patterson 2009) After launch, customer feedback and competition

response will typically lead to new opportunities or needs to reach an even greater market or to be

sold less expensively; these goals can be reached by exploiting feedback from the market and from

users. The call centre employee may be a company‘s most valuable asset to effective

product/service innovation building on the genuine perceptions of the clients. This will however

depend upon the underlying business model. Is the work role a question of reacting to customer

complaints based on a pre-defined script, or to provide genuine service to the customer thereby

obtaining a wealth of market intelligence about what really matters Though skills are central to the

high value service proposition, they will be under-utilized in a company that builds its strategy on

―digital taylor‖ (Brown 2011, Noes 2008).

For the formal continuing training systems there may be new roles to play, both in terms of

providing support to the development of organisational practices that are conducive to innovation,

but also by supporting individuals in terms of new tools and methods so that employees have the

foundation for questioning work routines and transcending these for value creating purposes

(Neuiwenhuis 2010). In addition, employee and user driven innovation is often based on teamwork

and work processes that cut across existing branch structures and occupational boundaries

(Shapiro 2011b). Innovation goes hand-in-hand with praxis and thus cannot be limited to the

teaching of innovation as a subject. It is just as important to learn innovatively as to learn about

innovation.

Because innovation is context specific and spans several phases and processes; the identification

of a set of general innovation competences is therefore only possible to a limited degree.

Enterprises‘ market and competitive strategies as well as styles of management and work

organisation all have bearing on which type of skills and competences are needed. There are some

features of innovation that are central. The literature particularly points two groups of

skills/competences and attitudes (Shapiro 2011a).

Deep and broad occupational competences- Clustering of families of occupations characterised

by similarities in processes and technologies- and/ or clustering of occupations around a value

chain. The analysis the SCANS13

initiative pointed on one hand to the necessity to reconsider skills

standards based on broader occupational profiles, due to changes in the nature of work in what

was defined as high performance work organisations. Through work process analyses across

companies and sectors the SCANS initiative from the USA also documented how key competences

at the surface might seem similar- such as communication. In a working context key competences

were deeply embedded in the occupational profile, and to some extent also in the work

organisation practices.

Problem solving is an important context-specific competence. This does not refer to traditional

problem solving where a course participant works on a well-defined problem that is more or less

generic and where there is only one possible solution. The main principle is for participants to have

the opportunity to work with a compound problem that is authentic and has an exemplary

character, but where the problem is fuzzy ended, and fundamentally requires re-examining practice

and demarcating possible problems and ways forward. In these processes creativity may also play

a central role.

A mix of key competences embedded in the occupational profile. It may also involve use of

ICT for search, and for prototyping- including the use of foreign languages for such purposes, and

communication across occupational boundaries and within teams. 14

Self-management and confidence in own capabilities (self-efficacy) is related to competences

such as communication and team- collaboration and listening to and taking on board the

perspective of others, however strange it may seem at first. Case studies from the Nordic countries

(Shapiro 2011b) show that this finding is particularly important to consider in a VET excellence

context. In a C-VET context due to the invisible glass ceiling has to be overcome. For both youth

and adults skills conducive to innovation will tend to be best developed when linked to the

production of concrete artefacts and the environment within which this occurs rather than through

more abstract problem solving processes. (Shapiro 2005)

13

For a deeper discussion see the background work on SCANS-The US Secretary of Labour‘s Commission for ensuring the necessary Skills Standards. http://wdr.doleta.gov/SCANS/whatwork/whatwork.pdf 14

Se f.eks. http://brainreactions.com

6 Organisation of teaching and learning processes

There is a lack of case studies, and in particular case studies that have thoroughly analysed how

learning processes and innovation performance may be connected and actively supported within a

firm and across networks of firm from the perspective of the shop floor worker including their

interactions with apprentices and trainees. This would imply a methodology that also address how

and to which extent informal and formal learning is bridged, as well as the nature of collective

learning processes and how they are embedded in different phases of innovation. Such case

studies could add real value to renewal of work based learning theories and practices in C-VET

and I-VET and across the two domains of VET.

Sources available point to the necessity that pedagogical organisation be developed within

frameworks that are characteristic for employee and user driven innovation. The latter can be best

described a kind of fuzzy logic (Thomas 2011). To further this, learning processes should on one

hand allow for unlimited access to resources to explore a particular problem and not be confined to

text books. Part of this will also imply that students can build on solutions and previous approaches

of peer students. Secondly, it will imply a structured learning environment, where students will have

rich opportunities for experimentation, trial and error around authentic problems and tasks linked to

the creation of artefacts. (Shapiro 2012) Problem formulations that are clear-cut and have a few

plausible and well defined solutions are a poor point of departure for innovation-promoting learning

processes. In contrast, a complex and abstract problem formulation that is far from participants‘

practice will not merely hinder them in developing skills and competences conducive to innovation.

In a VET context it can reinforce the invisible glass ceiling that innovation is something that belongs

to engineers and other academics.

The authenticity experienced in a problem formulation can be qualified by two parameters:

The complexity of the problem- how ―fuzzy is it.‖

Time constraints and time span – simulating a real life context. For the I-VET learner the

learning scenario must provide participants considerable time to experiment and try out

different solutions. The case could be a company where there have been an increasing

number of complaints about the damage of received goods possibly due to packing and

logistics internally. For the more experienced learner and in a C-VET context, the learning

context can be that a solution has to be found within 24 hours.

The preparation of learning processes must therefore in more than one way take participant

preconditions into account. Innovation competences are not merely a question of how employees

are equipped for everyday praxis in enterprise routines, processes, and relations. Innovation

competences also include the tools, methods, and language necessary to renew praxis in a

productive perspective. In the private sector, learning processes to promote innovation are a tool to

strengthen competitive abilities and productivity. In an education perspective, the primary goal is

learning and facilitation of learning processes with a view to improving firm performance as well as

the employability and quality of work for the individual.

6.1 Practice-oriented competence development in an innovation context

The development of theories about practice-oriented competence development has led to

increased focus on the correlation between the learning environment in enterprises and that in

more explicitly designed learning situations. This is crucial for participants‘ abilities for

transformation – that is, the practical ability to use the acquired competences in a way that goes

beyond existing praxis, and qualitatively renews it. 15

There is an organisational aspect to transformation processes which deals with interaction between

enterprises, management processes, and culture. Innovation-promoting learning processes in

15

For en bredere diskussion af transfer og transformationskompetencer i en AMU sammenhæng, se transfer i praksisnær kompetenceudvikling,

Pernille Botrup TUP-projekt 5-53 nr. 109996

continuing vocational education must be linked to employees‘ work praxis, their working

community, and the physical artefacts in the work context (Bottrup 2006). This link to experienced-

based praxis occurs in many ways; the teacher as part of the learning process can facilitate a

discussion with participants about how they in the future better can include families in the care of

the elderly dement, or can work with problem identification regarding process improvement in

production.

Contextualisation can be taken into account by having the enterprise‘s praxis included as a point of

departure for a learning process - be this the wish of a crafts baker to attract more young people to

the store, or an elderly care home‘s concern that more and more elderly get bed sores. The critical

point is the linkage to praxis and opportunities to learn through practice. Nevertheless, innovative

cases from various branches and enterprise types and innovation initiatives that have not yet been

implemented but are still in the ―pre-planning‖ stage can be points of departure for an authentically-

experienced problem complex. The most important thing is for the problem to resonate with the

course participants‘ experience base. In contrast, the problem formulation should not be so well-

known as to be already embedded in participants‘ workplace routines. If the problem formulation is

well known and the primary effect of the learning process is the acquisition of increased skills

related to existing enterprise routines and processes, then the participants will not acquire

transformative competences. One solution to this can be the growing use of learning enterprises or

factories where students and skilled workers work on the production of real artefacts, both services

and products.

The phases in flexibly organised project work can roughly be sketched out as:

Idea generation based on an authentic problem complex;

Problem clarification and identification;

Prototype development - product, service, and concept;

Testing/adjustment.

7 A tentative model of development

The following presents a four-stage model for interaction, development, and innovation in relation

to learning through working life.

Authentic problem complexes from workplaces give participants in a simulated ―factory‖ the

opportunity to consider user/ market needs through games or real interaction in quite different

locations with quite different demands and capacities. The factory model builds on ideas of ―design

for the real world- and design to cost‖ – and is as such also essential to developing key

competences such as entrepreneurship, problem solving, ICT and communication and cultural

understanding. A key feature of the factory model is that it provides an environment for prototyping

artefacts from a user- and market perspective, for testing artefacts and solutions. The factory

model can also support that student in real life of simulated environments in a practical way learn to

address a range of challenges in a mode of learning that builds on doing, using, and interacting (

DUI). As previously discussed, Lundvall has documented how such a model of learning mirrors the

incremental innovation processes at the firm level. that have to do with broader occupational

competences such as building market relations, quality control, ways to cut costs in the production

of the core product or service, and way to get more customers for example through service

differentiation around a core product or service.

Explicit feed-back from the market and users can be captured and structured through ICT-based

knowledge management practices, or through learning processes emulating communities of

practice. 16

In an I-VET context companies can support VET excellence by offering students and

VET schools opportunities to work on authentic problems and challenges. The Dutch Centra voor

Innovatief Vakmanschap present an innovative approach to furthering VET excellence They build

on a strong direct involvement of enterprises at the local level with a sectoral focus that mirror

regional strengths. Partnerships may involve educational institutions across VET and HE. Typically

they do not only collaborate on education matters, but also on tech- trans issues, applied R&D and

innovation and incubation activities. This means that students have rich opportunities to learn by

working on authentic problems to solve real production and service challenges. (Feijen 2011).

Emulating communities of practice is also a way that students can work with authentic problems. It could be the design and construction of an energy passive house, which will for example involve a community of practitioners such as a bricklayer, a carpenter, an electrician, and a plumber – and maybe an architect and the coming house owner). The technical vocational college EUC Nord in Denmark has implemented both an energy passive demo site and a robotics center in collaboration with local enterprises that have made the technologies available to the school for teaching and learning processes. The energy site is used so that students work with design, renovation and construction of demo energy passive houses in a community of practice. In this community of practice they may be confronted with how to handle regulations in practice, how to cut costs in the renovation process and so forth. Communities develop their practice through a variety of activities. The following table provides a few typical examples that may also be features of an innovative learning environment in I-Vet and in C-VET:

Problem solving "Can we work on this design and brainstorm some ideas; I‘m stuck."

Requests for information "Where can I find the code to connect to the server?"

Seeking experience "Has anyone dealt with a customer in this situation?"

Reusing assets "I have a proposal for a local area network I wrote for a client last year. I can

16

Def: Communities of Practice (CoP) are ―groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.‖ This learning that takes place is not necessarily intentional. Three components are required in order to be a CoP: (1) the domain, (2) the community, and (3) the practice. http://www.learning-theories.com/communities-of-practice-lave-and-wenger.html

send it to you and you can easily tweak it for this new client."

Coordination and synergy "Can we combine our purchases of solvent to achieve bulk discounts?"

Discussing developments "What do you think of the new CAD system? Does it really help?"

Documentation projects "We have faced this problem five times now. Let us write it down once and for all."

Visits "Can we come and see your after-school program? We need to establish one in our city."

Mapping knowledge and identifying gaps

"Who knows what, and what are we missing? What other groups should we connect with?"

Wenger Etienne (2006)

7.1.1 Ways forward -

In each VET system and at each institution the specific approaches will vary depending upon the

occupational context, the experiences of the learners, the nature of relationships with the labour

market and the economy as a whole, and the workshops and tools available. Teacher qualifications

and competences remain a major issue. Only if they are trained and retrained taking the point of

departure in authentic problem complexes- and the underlying theories will they be able to facilitate

authentic learning processes However, the approach is not primarily about having access to the

latest technologies, but can be designed for very different contexts, provided that the curriculum is

not so detailed in nature that it does not allow for adaptation to the ―learning scenario‖; the move

toward competence and outcome based standards is step in the right direction. It is also important

that schools can freely network with local/global partners, to provide authentic learning cases or

with a view to working with technology solutions for markets and user groups where ―fit for

purpose‖ may have an entirely different meaning than the ways curriculum for VET are often been

developed. This requires the development of quite different accountability models and quality

models than we currently use.

In policy terms it implies that teachers should only not be able to demonstrate excellence in terms

of their ability to design and support these emerging forms of work based learning. Teachers must

also have insights in the broader drivers of economic and technological and non-technological

change, and the role that VET excellence can play in fostering innovation and quality in jobs and

working conditions.

7.1.2 Food for thought

One of the key opportunities for the VET system is situating VET at the centre of policy debates

regarding sustainable growth, and what that could imply for developing and developed economies

alike. We cannot close in on our national and local systems and design solutions on that basis. For

a world that is increasingly connected that will not suffice. The great global challenges such as

access to clean water, healthy food, energy resources that are not polluting our air and water are

challenges we share across the global. They can only be addressed if issues of scale, technology

diffusion and solutions for highly different user contexts are taken into account. Entrepreneurial

TVET competences and collective, creative an experiential learning processes, where students

solve complex challenges for the real world could constitute one of the cores for such a strategy.

User centred design and technology diffusion for a connected world and a productive sustainable

economy could be the vision for transforming our VET systems. CREST Global Challenge within

the framework of Practical Action17

or Young Foresight18

can act as sources of inspiration to how 17

http://practicalaction.org/who-we-are

this in practice can be done in different VET contexts. Collaborations between university students,

scientist, Innovative and dynamic partnerships across traditional boundaries, innovations in

teaching and learning processes can drive such changes that can lead to more relevant and higher

quality VET provision. Still, VET students across the world need to have better opportunities to

have rich access to ICT usage appropriate to different contexts. Right now the OER movement is

growing broad forward by some of the leading universities of the world. We need more and better

OER materials, and teachers and trainers trained to use these in ways that support experiential,

problem and project based vocational training for a productive and sustainable world. Only then

can we enable scale, quality, and relevance to local contexts whilst building on collective and

shared insights globally.

Hanne Shapiro

Danish Technological Institute

Centre for Policy and Business Analysis

Hsh@teknologisk.dk

Shapiro@gmail.com

18

http://www.iteaconnect.org/Conference/PATT11/Barlex2def.pdf

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Arundel A. Cordoy C Kanerva M. (2008) Neglected innovators: How do innovative firms that do not

perform R&D innovate. Uni MERIT INNO Metrics

Bonin, Holger; Holzl Werner (2010); The link between job creation, innovation, education and

training: an assessment of policies pursued at EU level. Directorate General for Internal Policies.

Department A. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/20110718ATT24276EN.pdf

Buchanan, J., Schofield, K., Briggs, C., Considine, G., Hager, P., Hawke, G., Kitay, J., Meagher, J.,

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