Randolph Preisinger-Kleine

Following new lifelong learning policies through the past years there's a rapid growing of VET networks throughout Europe, with a strong tendency to interlocking educational activities across organisations and sectors. Apparently this shift towards multilateral and transversal cooperation in VET calls for new and innovative approaches to joint decision making, shared planning, coordinated implementation and quality control of educational provision.

The Handbook describes the SPEAK approach, which can be used to develop a common quality culture within local learning networks.

Comparative study on "System innovation and evolution in European Vocational Education & Training",

Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Nationale a Romaniei
System innovation and evolution in European VET:
          comparisons over time and state: final report / prof.
          dr. N. Patiniotis, prof. D. Stavroulakis, prof. dr. E.
          Figueira, ... - Buzau: Alpha MDN, 2009
          Bibliogr.
          ISBN 978-973-139-099-4
I. Patiniotis, N.
II. Stavroulakis, D.
III. Figueira, E.
37(4)

National Reports from the R3L+ project on the state of the art in Learning Cities in Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Romania, Scotland and Sweden, together with regional/city reports from Germany, Bucharest, Dundee, Kaunas. Limerick, Lundaland and Pecs.

L'organisation individuelle empetree dans la logique de minimisation des couts est incapable, tant qu'elle reste isolee, de mener d'autre strategie d'apprentissage qu'a court terme et donc de viser autre chose que des «optimums» partiels. Elle est incapable d'apprendre a apprendre. En revanche, la participation a des reseaux informels, generateurs d'une surabondance d'informations, limite les risques lies a l'investissement individuel dans les processus d'apprentissage et permet de collectiviser les avantages de l'innovation. La participation a de tels reseaux est alors le moyen pour une organisation de mener des strategies de formation, y compris parmi les plus risquees, sans que cela contredise le principe d'efficience.

Der Beitrag gibt einen Uberblick zur Entwicklung der Bildungsprogramme in Europa. Eingebunden ist ein Vergleich der Strukturen der europaischen Bildungsprogramme (2001-2006) mit denen der seitens der Europaischen Kommission empfohlenen Programmstruktur fur 2007-2013. Es werden spezifische Ziele des neuen, integrierten Programms herausgestellt und erlautert, dass das Aktionsprogramm "Lebenslanges Lernen" in einer Art Querschnittsaktivitat allen Programmen integriert sein soll. (DIPF/Mar.)

"There is broad agreement that innovation, knowledge and learning have become the main source of wealth, employment and economic development of cities, regions and nations. Over the past two decades, the number of European cities and regions which label themselves as “learning city” or “learning region” has constantly grown.

However, there are also pitfalls and constraints which not only hinder them in unlocking their full potential, but also significantly narrow their effects and their wider impact on society. Most prominently, learning cities and regions manifest serious difficulties in rendering transparent the surplus value they generate, which is vital for attracting investment into lifelong learning. While evaluation and quality management are still perceived as being a bureaucratic necessity rather than a lesson one could learn from or an investment in the future, it is also true that without evaluation and quality assurance local networks do not have the means to examine their strengths and weaknesses. In order to design strategies to maximise the strengths and effectively address the weaknesses it is necessary to understand the factors that contribute to success and those that pose challenges.

This article proposes an analytical quality framework which is generic and can be used to promote a culture of quality in learning cities and regions. The proposed framework builds on the findings and results of the R3L+ project, part-funded by the European Commission under the Grundtvig (adult education) strand of the Lifelong Learning programme 2007–2013."

Published in: UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning | Springer: International Review of Education

http://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11159-013-9364-2

A major characteristic of European societies might be seen in the rapidly growing differentiation of educational pathways, opportunities and biographies. This increase in complexity from learners requires great effort into initiative taking, creativity, problem solving, risk assessment and decision taking. G8WAY builds on the concept of web 2.0 and develops learner centered and connective approaches, in order to effectively manage educational transition. Web 2.0 refers to a new understanding of the internet as a means of distributed and self-organized vs. centrally and linear organized processes of content production, editing and delivery.

Educational transitions are biographical key passages that have significant impact on future live paths. The transition to employment is one of the main tasks in youth life and places high demands on the young learners. In the past there have been enormous efforts in European countries to build up complex support structures for the needs of young people entering employment. However, individual learning experiences and new opportunities of technology enhanced learning still are neglected.

G8WAY aimed at making use of the web 2.0 in favour of successful transitions of youngsters, following a learner-centered and connective approach. The main product will be a platform that combines different methods and tools, allowing users to follow their preferred learning ways. During the first phase of the project, partners exchanged, discussed and produced a joint perspective on the key issues of educational transition in the participating countries. The main conclusions of this phase are compiled in this report, which has particular regard to the different options emerging from ICT, web 2.0 and social software to making visible and supporting the development of transitional skills. Thus, in order to have a common theoretical framework for the project, a wiki and e-glossary were developed on the crucial issues and topics: these tools allow the sharing of our knowledge and continuous update of our understanding of the key issues of the project, and offer a set of definitions and standards in a searchable format. With the joint report at hand, partners examined key issues of transitions and the national contexts as well as central questions regarding the links to learning and ICT.

G8WAY examined three 'transition scenarios': school to work, general to higher education and higher education to work. For each of the scenarios a problem oriented concept and case based reasoning method was developed and embedded into a web 2.0 learning environment. The project capitalized on the work of previous projects, which developed e-tools to make visible informal learning through media such as digital video and photography, digital cartoons, assessment tools and e-portfolios. Rather than another example of technology advancement, G8WAY in our understanding was defined a means towards a pedagogy meaningful use of web 2.0. An essential aim of the project therefore was to build a pedagogy framework, to provide us with the theories, models, methods and instruments to reflect web 2.0 in the light of learning theory and practice and, from which informed decisions and criteria at the design and use of web 2.0 can be derived.

In order to explore and take further the idea, the research team during the second phase of the project analysed a range of similar approaches, with particular regard to pedagogy frameworks and tools developed in order to map new learning technologies against pedagogy principles and learning characteristics. Through our discussion of the results it showed that the pedagogy frameworks proposed could serve as a baseline for our development process, however with some gaps to bridge. One of the main limitations might be seen in the fact that pedagogy frameworks often are bound up with the context they were designed for, and don’t easily transfer to a different setting. Thus, the majority – if not all – of the pedagogy frameworks and mapping tools concerned are designed to function within a certain instructional design and curriculum, usually characterized by a highly formalized and well organized learning situation, such as a course structure or learning unit.

Consequently, the focus was on the technological enhancement of a given learning process and foundation of a new course (model). The major task then was iterated media comparisons to establish possible replacements or additions to the learning situations in a course and enhanced course models to establish which should be adopted, covering different criteria, as well as enablers and constraints. Last but not least, current pedagogy frameworks are designed to inform curriculum design and teaching didactics as well as reflecting educators’ roles within the parameters of a formal education programme, rather than self-organized and distributed learning in open learning situations. Pedagogy frameworks so far imply a clear distinction of roles and functions related to a learning situation, which in the case of transitional learning can be rarely found. To the contrary transition processes are highly diverse and complex, and above all open. That is why the wider context (social experiences, educational pathways, institutional contexts etc.) needs to be taken in account as well as personal strategies and motivations as they are mainly influencing the progress of young people on their way to employment. In particular, it is important to find out about the support needs of young people in transitions.

Therefore, a persona method was developed to be able to capture real life experiences, learning ways, challenges and needs in transitions. The method comprises the conduction of interviews with the target group in the partner´s countries. The case studies produced by partners served as ad hoc learning scenarios. Moreover, they allowed an insight into ICT usage and further needs which is valuable information for the platform to be developed. Through this method, it was possible to enrich theoretical findings with empirical data, finding out about key conditions for successful learning and about boundaries young people meet. It is apparent that there is not any one right pedagogic approach to learning for transitions, just as there is not any one right web 2.0 tool or environment. The background on different individual undertaking transitions will vary considerably, the context and environment in which the transition takes place will also vary and different Web 2.0 tools can be used in different ways.

This we see a common pedagogic framework as an approach to understanding the context in which transitions take place and the potential pedagogic affordances of web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning. In this paper we have sought to explore such pedagogic affordances both from the point of learning and pedagogy theory and from the direction of designing learning activities. Rather than prescribing a particularpedagogy, tool or platform, we have sought to illustrate processes of designing learning to provide a framework for the G8WAY project.
However the results allow for a comprehensive reflection of e-tools regarding their relevance in learning processes in transitions: Are they appropriate to the learning ways and strategies of young people? Do they address the needs the young people have? Do they address the gaining of competencies that are crucial to succeed with the labour market entrance? The G8WAY project employed a set of basic concepts available through existing pedagogy frameworks, which however were further developed to meet the specific requirements of learning processes taking place during educational transition.

The G8WAY pedagogy framework consists of:

a. Pedagogic theories and approaches, which allow us to reflect learning in transitions and its implications for the design of web 2.0 powerered learning environments.

b. A methodology to reflect learning technology in the light of pedagogy theories and models as well as analyse and categorize learning technology with relation to its learning characteristics. Moreover the methodology serves as a basis against which to benchmark pedagogical principles for any particular learning scenario developed within the G8WAY project.

c. Pedagogical classification is understood here as tagging the learning tools and objects with schemes that characterize them according to the pedagogical standpoint that was used to create them, or to the actual pedagogical orientation of their constituent learning contents and activities.

d. Persona method, which will allow us to identify trends or patterns in user behaviours, expectations, motivations and experienced support in transitions in order to develop learning scenarios into educational transition.

The pedagogy framework informed the building of learning scenarios, which describe learning activities in more depth with regard to the dimensions: context (aims, learning outcomes, pre-requisites, skills, subject, environment, time, difficulty or complexity), learning approach (theories and models) and tasks related (type, technique, interaction, roles, resources, tools, assessment etc.). As for a) we will employ Conole’s initial set of learning theories, and will explore in more depth the ideas of Vygotsky and how his educational theories can assist us in developing learning scenarios for educational transition. Within b) Grainne Conole’s (UK Open University) recent work on pedagogy toolkits provides the baseline for further investigations into both, the pedagogy characteristics of new learning technology as well as the pedagogy implications of the learning activities, described with the help of learning scenarios. The function of c) is to check how coherent a given learning resource is with each of the elements in a set of guidelines for a concrete pedagogical standpoint. Each scenario can be described in terms of core learning activities, and the dynamic relations between its different elements.

Pedagogical classification then enables us to reflect and tagging learning resources applied during a scenario context. As a matter of fact the G8WAY approach rather than instructional design, is concerned with open learning situations occuring along young people’s transition pathways, within which different types of learning might come and go. In order to understand the variety of transition processes and experiences of young Europeans d) a story telling approach will be adopted to provide us with a richer background enabling us to develop scenarios and provide social software to support the transition process.

Enquanto a organização individual, enredada na lógica da minimização dos custos, se mantiver isolada, será incapaz de adoptar uma estratégia de aprendizagem que não seja a curto prazo e, portanto, de ambicionar mais do que "optimizações" parciais. É incapaz de aprender a aprender. Em compensação, a participação em redes informais, geradoras de uma superabundância de informações, limita os riscos associados ao investimento individual nos processos de aprendizagem e permite pôr em comum as vantagens da inovação.

A participação em redes deste tipo será, pois, para qualquer organização, o melhor meio de adoptar estratégias de formação, mesmo as que comportam mais riscos, sem contradizer o critério da eficácia.

Through the past decade the Learning Region has become a widely adopted concept in European education policies as well as on the national level. However if one looks closer it becomes immediately clear that the concept took different notions and has been reflected in a variety of figurations. For example a differentiation might be seen among Learning Regions, which developed in an explicitly European setting (R3L) and their national counterparts. Obviously there is only limited exchange among the different levels and thus, little chance to capitalize on experience gained from LR implementations on both sides. That is particularly true where LR programmes were implemented with regard to posing problems of national education systems and therefore took specific pathways of learning.

However due to the different departures each of the learning regions has developed domain specific knowledge, for example in areas like social capital building, good governance and institution building, stakeholder collaboration, public-private partnerships and cross-sectoral cooperations. The basic intention is to capitalize on this diversity in order to learn from each other and jointly elaborate a common framework for quality good practice in the management of cooperative learning arrangements among educational providers, SMEs and public agencies.

This report in particular refer to the quality issue and pick up current lines of discussion in learning regions. The purpose of the reports is to a) assist a common understanding of cooperation patterns and the quality issue in learning regions, b) identifying key areas of quality with regard to their strategic relevance for cooperations among educational providers, c) making visible domain specific competences in quality , and d) build a common ground for subsequent developmental activities. Each country report has 4 main chapters, that is about a) functioning of educational networks within the broader context of educational systems, b) collaborative patterns, c) assets and delivery of educational goods and services with special regard to d) quality issues concerned.

The EU project “Educational strategies and counselling interventions for the parents of children and teenagers with difficulties: good practices” focused on helping the parents with difficulties of building their own trajectory and sustaining their children. In recent years, a challenge to the counselling profession is to develop and apply collaborative approach to solve the complex problems of the society. Parents of children and teenagers having difficulties are an example of a major societal concern requiring cooperative, professional interventions.

This guide comprises the national reports about counselling sessions in each country, a set of case studies about the parents having children with emotional, educational, behavioural, physical or associated difficulties, some instruments and references. This materials are meant as a support for professionals in their daily work, starting from the idea that an European experience and exchange of good practices can help them in this field to realize a better job, giving, at the same time, better results on families.

Although the concept of the ‘learning organisation’ has acquired paradigmatic status in recent years, there are very few approaches which help us to have a better understanding of how organisations learn. If we take a look at the few available diagnoses, the picture tends to be rather dismal.

Quite in contrast to rhetorical proclamations, the learning behaviour of real organisations consists of abstinence. By restricting learning to an increase in knowledge of rules, organisations relinquish the possibility of acquiring additional flexibility and autonomy and of getting a better understanding of their own learning behaviour. It is true that some unconventional forms of the learning required develop in niches, but precisely for that reason they lack relevance for the average organisation.

The aim of this article is to discuss possible gaps in this issue and to propose solutions. The approach is an ecological broadening of perspectives as a background for the emergence of additional learning option for organisations.

Wenngleich das Konzept der „lernenden Organisation“ in den letzten Jahren paradigmatischen Stellenwert erhalten hat, so gibt es doch kaum Ansätze, die dazu beiträgen könnten, besser zu verstehen, wie Organisationen lernen. Folgt man den wenigen verfügbaren Diagnosen, so zeichnet sich ein eher düsteres Bild ab. Ganz im Gegensatz zu den rhetorischen Beschwörungen verhalten sich wirkliche Organisationen lernabstinent.

Indem Lernen auf Zuwächse an Regelwissen beschränkt wird, verzichten sie auf mögliche Flexibilitäts- und Autonomiegewinne ebenso wie auf die Möglichkeit, das eigene Lernverhalten besser zu verstehen. Hierfür notwendige unkonventionelle Formen des Lernens entwickeln sich in bestimmten Nischen, sind aber eben deswegen für die durchschnittliche Organisation ohne Relevanz.

Im Rahmen des Beitrags werden mögliche Leerstellen dieser Problematik diskutiert und Auswege vorgeschlagen. Ansatzpunkt hierfür ist eine ökologische Erweiterung der Perspektive, vor deren Hintergrund zusätzliche Lernoptionen für Organisationen sichtbar werden.

L’organisation individuelle empêtrée dans la logique de minimisation des coûts est incapable, tant qu’elle reste isolée, de mener d’autre stratégie d’apprentissage qu’à court terme et donc de viser autre chose que des «optimums» partiels. Elle est incapable d’apprendre à apprendre. En revanche, la participation à des réseaux informels, générateurs d’une surabondance d’informations, limite les risques liés à ’investissement individuel dans les processus d’apprentissage et permet de collectiviser les avantages de l’innovation.

La participation à de tels réseaux est alors le moyen pour une organisation de mener des stratégies de formation, y compris parmi les plus risquées, sans que cela contredise le principe d’efficience.