Europe

Citation

(2009), "Europe", Education + Training, Vol. 51 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2009.00451bab.002

Europe

Article Type: Research news From: Education + Training, Volume 51, Issue 2

VET in Europe

The latest Newsletter for European Research in Learning and Work (L&W) reports as follows.

The ECER VETNET Proceedings have been published, including the papers submitted at the European Conference on Educational Research in Gothenburg (September 2008), at: www.ecer-vetnet.wifo-gate.org/. The Proceedings 2008 have been produced in collaboration between the European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training (VETNET), with Ludger Deitmer and Pekka Kämäräinen as co-editors, and the Research Forum WIFO. As in previous years, the paper proceedings are linked to the conference programme and resources available on the VETNET site: www.vet-research.net/

In addition to the annual lists of papers, the ECER VETNET Proceedings on the WIFO site offer an Index of papers covering the whole period of 1998 to 2008. This index arranges the papers by author, country and keyword. At the same time, the index serves as an overview of outcomes. In particular, it presents the thematic profile of papers, defined by the most important ’keyword’ in its immediate context, the ’core topic’: www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/p-index3.htm

This year’s input of papers includes several new keywords (presented in italics as part of the core topic concerned):

• •

  enterprise providing qualifications (EU);

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  European core profile/occupational core profile (EU);

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  monitoring VET systems (EU);

• •

  permeability from VET to HE (AT);

• •

  personal professional theories (NL);

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  planning in vocational education and training (DK);

• •

  recognition of prior learning (IE; SE);

• •

  validation of experiential learning (FR); and

• •

  vocational and higher education modules (DE).

New in this year’s edition is a map showing the most frequent keywords, arranged by paper and year, from 1998 to 2008.

Map of top keywords 1998 to 2008: www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/p-map3.htm (Map for downloading/printing:) www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/p-MAP3.pdf

This map highlights thematic trends of papers over the 11-year period. Most striking is the top position of learning as the dominating theme. This and other frequent keywords, such as VET and training, mark thematic continuity of research during the whole period. More specific time spans indicate thematic changes. While there are several newly arising themes, such as learning & work, competence and evaluation, other themes disappear after an initial period, for instance HRD (probably with the emergence of the parallel European HRD conferences!). A few keywords turn up for brief time spans only, for instance identity, producing a thematic highlight related to a specific European project.

A complete list of papers (1998 to 2008) is available on the WIFO proceedings page: www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/vet/ECER98-08.pdf

Use of the internet – educational level still makes a difference

In recent years, the share of the European Union population that access the internet at least once a week has grown continuously, from 36 per cent in 2004 to 56 per cent in 2008 (see Figure 1). But the disparity between lower- and higher-educated users remains unchanged. In 2008, only one third of the lower educated – compared to a little over four-fifths of the higher educated – accessed the internet.

The lower-educated are also less likely to participate in further education or training, more inclined to lose their job, and less likely afford technical equipment. In the end, such information deficits lead to greater exclusion. Not having access to information today means permanent social exclusion tomorrow.

In an age where the internet has become the most powerful source of information, society should not only provide the technology for limitless access to information – it should also make it possible for everyone to access the internet. This means raising the knowledge and skills of the lower educated, and offering them a place to go and use the Internet at low cost.

In the southern and few New Member States, there is a pronounced gap in Internet use between lower- and higher-educated people. In Greece, only 9 out of every 100 lower-educated people access the internet; for the higher educated it is at least 65, but this is still the second lowest share in the EU. Denmark, registers the highest participation of the lower educated: 68 per cent access the Internet at least once a week. Here, as in the other Nordic countries and other Member States such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany, it becomes clear that using the internet does not have to be the privilege of the higher educated.

Outside the EU, Iceland tops the league, and here, too, the difference due to educational attainment is negligible: in 2007, 77 per cent of the lower-educated and almost all higher- educated Icelanders access the internet at least once a week (no 2008 data yet).

The report and further information is available at: www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/projects_networks/Statistics/news.asp?idnews=4017

Conference highlights, 2009

Three major conferences related to VET and HRD research will be held in 2009.

HRD Conference

The 10th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice Across Europe will be held at Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) from 10 to 12 June 2009. The programme, focusing on the theme “HRD: Complexity and Imperfection in Practice”, involves ten thematic streams and a Doctoral Workshop. The deadline for abstracts and proposals is 16 January 2009. More details will soon be available on the conference web site (www.newcastlebusinessschool.co.uk/hrd.aspx).

Further information on HRD research and practice, including previous conference papers, can be obtained from the home page of the University Forum for HRD (www.ufhrd.co.uk/).

RWL6

The University of Roskilde (Denmark) will host the 6th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning, from 28 June to 1 July 2009. All potential contributors are encouraged to submit proposals, preferably for a symposium of their choice or for the open paper section, the deadline being 15 December 2008. Brief outlines of the 14 symposia on offer, and further information on the conference, are provided on the web site: (http://rwl6.ruc.dk/). Alongside the general call, the following special announcements for individual symposia have been received: integrating workplace learning and institutional learning (symposium 2) and vocational education and training – new models of apprenticeship (symposium 6).

ECER/VETNET

The European Conference on Educational Research, including the programme of the European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training, will take place at the University of Vienna, 28-30 September 2009, addressing the theme “Theory and evidence in European educational research”. The call for proposals and further details are available on the conference web site (http://ecer2009.univie.ac.at/).

The VETNET programme within ECER will appear on its home page in the course of 2009 (www.vet-research.net/). This web site also offers full information on the previous ECER VETNET programmes, alongside the proceedings and index of papers (1998 to 2008) published on the WIFO site (www.ecer-vetnet.wifo-gate.org).