JVET - DAY THREE

 Notes from day 3 of the conference.

I chair one of the first sessions of the day in the stream - social role of colleges. There are two papers, so each has more time to present and a longer Q & A session.

First up is Naomi Alphonsus (University of West Cape), who presents on 'a community for expertise development- South African vocational colleges and their internal and external social characteristics'. Covered the rational for the topic of the project. South Africa had undertaken a change in qualifications, and several community colleges had undertaken to begin using the new curriculum. The study sought to find out what colleges undertook to enact the new qualifications.

Some aspects were that teaching and learning processes are connected to social characteristics within the college community. Expertise helps to broaden the preparation of work beyond qualification, curriculum and assessments. Institutional capacity is also important so that the behaviours, attitudes and 'ways of being' that support institutes to shift practice, can be better understood.

Shared the occupational conceptual model - occupational capacity requires specialised knowledge (systematic, occupational practice, skill, autonomy) and social organisation of work (professional bodies, institutions, state regulation). The model is based on notions of occupational capacity and scholarship across different disciplines. There is a relationship between training and practice in occupations. 

Defined the social characteristics of colleges revolve around curriculum delivery on necessary expertise development. Also include deliberately build collaborative relationships internally through teamwork; resolve conflicts amongst their disciplinary experts and externally through partnerships; successfully mediate external company skill expectation of students and with translating the curriculum internally.

Provided a series of examples between two colleges, one which was able to interpret and translate the new qualifications into the curriculum and another which struggled (and where their first cohort of learners did not pass the new qualification. 

Second with Gavin Moodie on 'colleges' roles in reconstructing social construction of their communities' education, workforce, and economic development. Covered the context, community service, anchor, collective capacity, social institutions and colleges' capacity.

Discussion based on article 'Colleges as anchors of their communities: emergence and agglomeration' (special issue). Understanding of the roles of colleges is diverse, with many requirements placed on them through governmental, societal or community requirements along with an update on thinking on the topic.

Defined and discussed community service (as this is a focus of community colleges) to include teaching (service learning and citizenship education; disseminate ideas through consultancies, knowledge transfer (on legs), research co-production and service through open days and meeting community needs. Used the anchor as a metaphor to think of community colleges anchoring to compensate for the withdrawal of the government services, Some provide a network to bring the community services together, be a hub to support the agglomeration of industry or services and help their communities thrive. College also contribute to collective capacity through learning networks, networks of civic engagement helping to contribute to the knowledge ecosystem and social capital (synergy and emergence are part of these processes).  The role of colleges as social institutions which can be envisaged as learning cities/regions, with enlightened attitudes, (re)forming beliefs and social institutions, and transform social policies and institutions (Bovin and Laruffa, 2024 - organisations need to support individuals' capacity to act and transform themselves and the society they live in). College capacity - what do we do recruit to move towards colleges being transformational organisations - through their ability to localise and draw on their communities to bring about change. 

After morning tea, I attend the sessions in the stream for 'social, economic and technological change.

Dr. Anthony Perry (University of North Dakota) presents on 'creating new pathways into emerging technology occupations'. Need to define emerging technologies so that students are able to plan career pathways. Finding indicates that students interested in trying to solve future wicked problems and see learning about emerging technologies as one way to gain the skills.

Emerging technology includes advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, AI and machine learning, AR/VR/XR. It is transdisciplinary /multidisciplinary. Emerging career pathways - lifetime value of skills in the labour market is decreasing, high pay high demand STEM-related emerging tech occupations require some post secondary education but not a bachelor's degree. It is rapidly disrupting traditional STEM careers. 

The typical primary/seconday math/science to post secondary to STEM occupation pipeline is unlikely to be sustainable. The study asks STEM students about their academic and career plans. Based on theoretical framework (Situated expectancy value theory - SEVT) - expectancy of success + subjective task value = achievement-based task choice (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020). 

Shared the rationale and details of the study carried out using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Then discussed the various data and themes. Selection of emerging tech pathways draws on identity, utility value, not intrinsic value and expectancy of success. Therefore students see emergent tech as an integrator for transdisciplinary learning; the SEVT framework works, emergent skills is best learnt through experiential learning. 

Followed by Professor Michael Gessler (University of Bremen) on 'national hydrogen workforce and 'just transition: an international comparative conceptual review'. Many countries have hydrogen national strategies, but few have connected these to workforce studies. Some countries have done these but not all. These studies generally try to find out what skills and occupations will a hydrogen economy need, in what volumes and timelines? What can existing education, training and labour market systems mobilise? There is a International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Hydrogen is already used in cleaning petrol and in fertilisers. Hydrogen's newer function is a an energy carrier. Renewable electricity capacity is mainly through hydro and solar. Solar creates the highest employment possibilities. 

Summarised study methodology - descriptive data extraction and qualitative data analysis. All predict workforce increase. Shared the work on skills analysis depth - skills demand, skills need, quantified skills qualifications, pathways etc. The 'just transition' analysis carrier out to look into action https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0361476X20300242, resources, timelines, monitoring, risk assessments etc. and also for implementation. Rated the various categories that were identified. Sorted the various countries into 'maturity model' - most countries at levels 1 -2 of a 4 level - strategic policy framer, technical skill maximizer, regional transition facilitator, or integrated just transitional planner. Good explantion of an interesting methodology and discussion was around the validity of it.

Then Professor Presha Ramsarup (University of Witwatersrand) presents on the topic of 'occupations in transition and VET. Occupations is a complex link between education and work. Occupations are not merely affected by sustainability transitions - they are agents and within them. If we integrate 'green skills' into the curriculum then occupations will put into practice, the precepts of sustainability.

Thinking of occupations as a 'regime' helps to understand the shifts in occupations, required to transform work. Green skills is shaped by a range of complex drivers and 'or 'underlying mechanisms' - political, economic, social, enviromental, justice and long-term ethics. Understanding skills formation to support green transition is a complex set of moving parts.

Greening occupations are not homogenous concept - Greening occupations require field of knowledge, materials worked on or with, kind of goods and services produced and tools and machinery. Has a larger project that are being carried out on the macro/economic and social-ecological drivers of demands, sector/systems and landscape level, occupations, skills, status of occupation etc. 

Introduced and discussed  framework how occupations transition  - political economy/ecoloty of the transitioning occupation, scope and change in operational tasks, field of knowledge, materials/tools, good and services produces and occupational change. Used the occupational change for electricians in the solar sector. Instead of shifting people who lose their work (e.g. miners) to another occupation (e.g. agriculture) it is better to provide them with a more generalisable skills (e.g. as 'artisans' able to move into a range of trades). Need to drill down to the skills in the occupation at risks and see what skills need to be moved towards 'new' occupations.

Important to find out what work is actually done as 'occupational titles' and 'qualifications' can be misleading. Work tasks and how they are coordinated and organised have to be better understood. So occupations may not be the best approach, however, it is how we understand occupations and the transition between occupations is perhaps the way to go. Therefore if occupations are 'regimes' are not only technical but political - shaped by power struggles, lock in effects  and selective inclusion/exclusion of knowledge and actors. 

The conference closes after lunch.

This conference is perhaps the most well-attended on vocational education research. Many of the participations focus solely on VET research. This inspires me to continue with my work, especially given that there is so little done in Aotearoa NZ, The recent changes in structures for NZVET means external funding for VET research will be hard to come by. We will need to lobby for better recognition and funding.