Educational Reform in Vocational Education and Training in Germany, England, and Austria

1. Implications for developing innovative teaching and learning practices Educational Reform in Vocational Education and Training in Germany, England, and Austria Florian Friedrich

2. Research Questions • Overarching Question across several projects: How do policies change processes of teaching and learning in a general way that have an effect on the developing the general qualities, knowledge, skills and understanding that relate to an economic development trajectory? • Specific question of my research: To what extent do policy changes make a difference at the level of teaching and learning practices?

3. Project Background • Part of a larger series of activities within SKOPE that look at innovation in VET. • Builds on research principally by Hubert Ertl and Hugo Kremer (Paderborn), and adds Austria • Trade and technical vocational schools (BHS/BMS) have long tradition of school-based high-status vocational training (Matura, i.e. university qualifications) • New challenges through changes in school autonomy and centralised assessment (Zentralmatura). • Continues to look at innovation in the context of (or resulting from) curricular and structural reforms, but asks about implementation, at motivations at the street level (Lipsky,1980) • Focus on practitioner perceptions

4. Main Themes (1/3) • Perceptions and Concepts • What are practitioners’ conceptions of teaching practice, and how do they relate to pedagogy? • What are practitioners' conceptions of innovation? • Who are the relevant actors in the operationalisation of innovative change? • What role do practitioners’ self-perceptions and notions of professionalism play in the implementation of innovative change? • How do practitioners perceive changes in students and societal expectations in relation to innovation processes?

5. Main Themes (2/3) • Documentation of Practice [tentative] • What are concrete examples of innovative pedagogy, and how were they generated and implemented? • How do regulatory change, policy reforms, new qualification frameworks, and modifications in assessment regimes affect the design and/or implementation of innovative pedagogies? • How does the work situation of practitioners, including their initial and continued training, affect their role as generators and/or implementers of pedagogic innovation?

6. Main Themes (3/3) • Analytical Perspectives [tentative] • How are regulatory (top-down) changes received and interpreted (bottom-up) in VET contexts, and what are the roles of different actors in this process? • Which factors support or hinder the development of innovative teaching designs? • How do key concepts (“innovation”, “pedagogy”) differ in the three countries concerned? • How do educational reforms need to be formulated in order to result in more innovative teaching practices?

7. Methodology • 10 Expert interviews to develop themes, questions, focus • Semi-structured interviews with teachers, teacher-admins, and college managers; 35-75 minutes • Mostly preceded by classroom observation • England: 8 FE Colleges, 25 interviews • Germany: 6 Berufskollegs, 20 interviews • Austria: 6 BHS/BMS, 17 interviews • Analysis based on grounded theory: building categories and questions inductively from data • Analysis in original language, with English coding construct • Validity of generalisation based on ‘critical case’ (Flyvbjerg, 2006)

8. Analytical Levels and Framework reform perspective actors perspective System levels Educational reforms ‘political’ actors ministries of education, agencies, social partners (national + regional level) new/changed qualifications and transitions between vocational and HE political level College implementation vocational colleges College based work groups, restructuring of qualifications, curricular change, … Berufsbildende Schulen, FE Colleges, Handelsakademien, HE Institutions organisational level Pedagogic innovation teachers, lecturers teaching staff at college level, lecturers in HE institutions, students Reception of the reform agenda, development of innovative teaching and learning arrangements instructional level

9. General Observations (expert interviews) • Being larger than the academic school sector, VET constitutes a very significant and complex part of 16-19 education, featuring both a great variety of school types, and schools with highly individual profiles. • Public perceptions of VET are limited or skewed both in terms of the quality and pervasiveness of the system. • Politics and VET policy is often pursued by people with little first-hand experience in sector, and frequently dominated by academic preconceptions. • In each case experts reported little evidence of instilling “innovation competence” in teacher training.

10. Findings from Teacher Interviews (1/3) • Teachers less concerned than managers with definitions • Often not clear about ‘pedagogy’, ‘innovation’, but offer practical definitions linked to individual aims, overall purpose of teaching, and teachers’ job roles. • Agreement that ‘pedagogy is relative’: in E, focus on individual learners needs; A&G: focus in categories of learners (by vocation, or social environment) • Teachers see themselves as crucial actors and originators of innovation • Important role of teams • Importance of informal communications • Expectation of school leaders as facilitators • E: used to bureaucratic hurdles, but seen as problem

11. Findings from Teacher Interviews (2/3) • Significant differences in teacher autonomy: all feel relatively free compared to other professions, but ... • England: “We are very free in the way we plan, very free to use any innovative technique. On and individual basis that means looking at content, and working out individually how to do it. [...] [D]uring each year we are all observed, and there is an expectation by the college what should be seen. The quality team evolves the quality of what should be going on, and monitors it quite closely” • Austria: “Theoretically the work groups and subject teams should meet regularly; […] Te German teachers meet in the smokers’ room.” • Germany: “I close the door, and I am king. That’s how it is. Definitely.”

12. Findings from Teacher Interviews (3/3) • Innovation seen closely linked to technology • More awareness in A&G of non-tech innovation • Critical of shortcomings of tech, including perception of students as superficially ‘tech savy’ but lacking skills • Teacher training widely seen as inadequate, but potentially crucial for innovation • Driven by subject matter; often bad on methodology • E: more pressure to attend training; higher expectation for training to be easily accessible • Most significant innovative pressures on pedagogy come from changing nature of students • Competition with media and distractions • Greater emphasis on individual care

13. More quotes from teacher interviews • England: “Innovation” is often understood to mean “Technology” Q: Would you call your school innovative? A: Well, yes, we have introduced a lot of new technology […] just last year we started an initiative to put all teaching content online. • Germany: important distinction between “Didactics” and “Pedagogy” Q: What's your take on the term “pedagogy”, and how does it relate to what you do as a teacher? A: One must distinguish “didactics” which is specific to the subject matter, and “pedagogy”, which refers to how to relate to the learner. • Austria: distinctive distrust of authority Q: To what extent do school administrators evaluate your teaching? A: […] Not at all, of course, and it should better stay that way.

14. An Overall Impression • Teachers at English FE Colleges are much more tightly managed and strictly controlled than their colleagues in Austria and Germany. • In Austria and Germany teachers enjoy great freedoms in how to design their teaching. • In Austria and Germany it is possible to be a bad teacher for an entire career … • … but the teachers I talked to (i.e. clearly a particularly engaged and enthusiastic sub-set of teachers) are more willing (and able?) than their English counterparts to invest spare time and private financial resources into improving their work. • Have not yet found obvious differences between Austria and Germany.

15. Questions and Answers ? Florian Friedrich Linacre College Oxford OX1 3JA florian.friedrich@linacre.ox.ac.uk