Transcript Document

Welcome
to
IN SEARCH OF THE MISSING LINK
IN
VET DELIVERY
The University of Adelaide – Faculty of Professions
7/07/2015
1
Presenter: Homi Azemikhah
Objectives of Lisbon strategy

The objectives of the strategy were defined
by the European Council for Europe to
become the most dynamic and competitive
knowledge-based economy in the world by
2010
7/07/2015
2
In 2003 - EU called for comprehensive approaches
for VET delivery based on Lisbon Strategy

The multi-dimensional character of the Lisbon
strategy calls for comprehensive approaches in
which lifelong learning and competence
development should be integral elements of a
wider policy (EU, 2003).
7/07/2015
3
Lifelong Learning (LLL)

An overview of the international trends by Dr George
Papadopoulos, former OECD Deputy Director, has
revealed that major international agencies have given
top priority to LLL (Kearns, McDonald, Candy,
Knights and Papadopoulos, 1999).
 As Bradley(2008:10) has hinted: in order to take
account of training for those who are already in the
workplace, it is necessary to turn the rhetoric of
lifelong learning into a reality.
7/07/2015
4
what is meant by lifelong learning

Lifelong learning is a continuously
supportive process which stimulates and
empowers individuals to acquire all the
knowledge, values, skills and
understanding they will require throughout
their lifetimes and to applying them with
confidence, creativity and enjoyment in all
roles, circumstances and environments
(Kearns et al, 1999).
7/07/2015
5
Competent for life

both the teaching and learning in 21st
century are going through transformation by
integrating Lifelong Learning and
competency development as the integral
elements of the holistic approach for VET
resulting in the concept of competence for
life
7/07/2015
6
Widening the concept of
competence

where the competencies that need to be initially
developed by learners are also required to be
maintained throughout learners’ life.
 Therefore, the two emerging concepts of
competency development and LLL are interrelated which have been labeled as Initial
Vocational Education and Training (IVET) and
Continuing Vocational Education and Training
(CVET) (CEDEFOP, 2008).
7/07/2015
7
Initial Vocational Education and
Training (IVET)

Cedefop (2010:14) has defined IVET “as
training undertaken typically after full-time
compulsory education to promote the
acquisition of the necessary knowledge,
skills and competences for entry to an
occupation or group of occupations”.
7/07/2015
8
Continuing vocational education and
training (CVET)

Professionals need to also engage in CVET
defined as “professional or vocational
development through education and training
undertaken typically after one has
completed initial vocational education and
training (IVET)” .
7/07/2015
9
Competence for life

Hence, both the teaching and learning in
21st century are going through
transformation by integrating Lifelong
Learning and competency development as
the integral elements of the holistic
approach for VET resulting in the concept
of competence for life as illustrated in the
following Figure.
7/07/2015
10
7/07/2015
11
Pedagogical strategies are
needed

It is argued that facilitating learners to develop
competencies in both IVET and CVET systems
require pedagogical strategies. Cedefop (2008)
has pointed out that pedagogical knowledge is
the important component of VET teacher
training. Pedagogical knowledge enables
teachers to convey the knowledge that is
pertinent to their field of expertise.
7/07/2015
12
Sustainable employment

This means that both IVET and CVET
systems are constructed in various countries
on the assumption that these systems are
capable of such task leading to sustainable
employment.
7/07/2015
13
Continuous Reforming

Both IVET and CVET systems that are
constructed in various countries have
undergone a period of continuous reforming
in the last decade to deal with these
challenges.
7/07/2015
14
The Why question?

Despite this, Cedefop (2008) has elaborated
that VET systems, globally, are still at the
moot point and is not clear as to whether or
not they have delivered sustainable
employment to their participants even if
they have undergone a period of continuous
reform. The question is WHY?
7/07/2015
15
The importance of
Communicating that Knowledge
This answer can be found in the Tomlinson Inquiry
(2010) that was undertaken in the UK. One of the
most significant findings that emerged from
Tomlinson Inquiry (2010) was the importance of
pedagogy in VET and that to simply deliver
vocational education and training,
 knowledge, per se, is not sufficient. Rather,
 the teacher must be adept in how they
communicate that knowledge.
7/07/2015
16
Closing the large gulf between
learning and work

The pedagogical understanding of
communicating that knowledge, in
competency development, according to
OECD (2009), should aim at closing the
large gulf between learning and work
(OECD, 2009).
7/07/2015
17
Learning as abstract
work as concrete

the difficulty of closing the gap between
learning and work, as OECD (2009) has
pointed out, is that while Learning is
often seen as abstract, classroom-based
and academic, the world of work is seen
as concrete, with bosses and customers,
profits and machinery (OECD, 2009:10).
7/07/2015
18
VET is to provide learning for
jobs

OECD (2009) has pointed out that the
task of VET is to provide learning for
jobs, despite the fact that institutions
providing VET have quite a different
style from the world of work, (OECD,
2009:10).
7/07/2015
19
The two distinctive and broad
ethoses

This suggests two distinctive and broad
ethoses (the World of work and the world
of learning), and it is necessary for the
VET pedagogy to function within these
two ethoses in order to connect the
abstract, which deals with the mind, to
the concrete, that deals with the hands, in
the context of competency development
(IVET) and lifelong learning (CVET).
7/07/2015
20
Two Broad Ethoses

On this basis, it is argued that these are two
different ethoses: there is the world of work as
distinct from the world of learning.
7/07/2015
21
Where is the starting point

The question is where is the starting
point of VET pedagogy for the teachers
to teach and the learners to begin their
learning journey? The answer is provided
by NQC (2011:6) that asserts:
7/07/2015
22
Natural Styles of learning

“… work based learning caters for all those
whose natural learning style is to learn from
the concrete to the abstract (and to the theory),
rather than the reverse. Such people are a
significant proportion of learners, who are not
well catered for in traditional teaching settings:
schools and higher education tend to teach
from the abstract to the concrete” (NQC,
2011:6).
7/07/2015
23
The two distinctive pedagogical
approaches

Those in schools and universities whose
starting point for learning is the abstract
and working their way to the concrete
and that
 Those mainly in VET whose starting
point for learning is the concrete (the
Hands) and working their way to the
abstract (the Mind).
7/07/2015
24
Classified Pedagogies

Therefore, pedagogies in this manner can
be broadly classified in two distinctive
types which seem to be moving in the
opposite direction. These two pedagogies
may be called the Mind to Hands (M to H)
pedagogy and the Hands to Mind (H to M)
pedagogy.
7/07/2015
25
Questions to be answered

In such a context the following questions need to
be answered.
 How to connect concrete (hands) to abstract (Mind)
and theorizing the interplay of the two?
 How these pedagogies can be framed by a theory
to facilitate learning in the context of these two
ethoses?
 It is argued that the answers to these questions
lead to the theory of applied learning.
7/07/2015
26
Pedagogical Congruence

The NQC (2011:6) has pointed out that
VET learners’ natural learning style is to
learn from the concrete to the abstract (and
to the theory). On this basis, VET
pedagogy becomes congruent with the
learners’ learning style.
7/07/2015
27

This approach to pedagogy suggests two
pedagogic cycles of learning, HMH and
MHM, as the following diagram
illustrates.
7/07/2015
28
Figure 3 – MHM and HMH
pedagogies
7/07/2015
29
HMH Pedagogy
Stage 1 (H stage) – In stage 1 of HMH the
learners are involved in some activities that are
practically done.
 Stage 2 – (M stage) – At this stage what the
learners have been practicing is linked by the
teacher to relevant theory or relevant content.
Stage 3 – (H stage) – At this stage the students
return to the practice in a more refined way.

7/07/2015
30
MHM Pedagogy

Stage 1 (M stage) - The teaching and learning
start from the theory and content that the learners
learn at this stage. No practical involvement at this
stage. This sets the process of learning in motion.
 Stage 2 (H stage) - The next stage is to engage in
practical steps that are required to emphasize what
was covered in the previous (M) stage.
 Stage 3 (M stage) – In this stage the learners are
revisiting the M stage to confirm what they have
initially learned in the classroom.
7/07/2015
31

Whether HMH or MHM approach in
pedagogy is used, it is important that the
learning cycle is repeated more than once to
assist learners to master the tasks.
7/07/2015
32
Parallel learning in multiple
settings
7/07/2015
33
Communicating knowledge

Given that the teacher must be adept at how
they communicate the knowledge of a given
topic and its application (Tomlinson, 2010), the
pedagogical complexity of VET delivery is
simplified by the interplay of the abstract (the
Mind) and the concrete (the Hands) in the
course of communicating such knowledge
(OECD, 2009:10).
7/07/2015
34
Communication by DHM

Hence, Azemikhah (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
and 2009) concludes that such
communication has become possible in
VET delivery by Double Heuristic Method
(DHM).
7/07/2015
35
7/07/2015
36
Gowin ‘V’ and DHM
Azemikhah (2006) has argued that while “‘V’
diagrams that were designed by Gowin (Gowin
and Alvarez, 2005) to decipher the complexities of
construction of knowledge and knowledge
making”,
 the DHM was designed to assist teachers to
decipher the complexities of competencies and
competency development in VET delivery. In this
way the DHM has become a pedagogic knowledge
communication device.

7/07/2015
37
Purpose of the two Heuristics

The purpose of the first heuristic is to map
the components of that knowledge in a ‘V’
shape in terms of the concrete (Hands) and
the abstract (the Mind)
 The teachers, then, decide how to
pedagogically communicate the above to
the learners in the second heuristic of DHM.
7/07/2015
38
Facilitative teaching and the
shift in learning theory

Given that facilitative teaching, as opposed
to instructive teaching, is a concept
resulting from the shift of emphasis in the
learning theory, it is now widely recognised
that teachers and trainers should become
learning facilitators (Cedefop Synthesis,
2009:120).
7/07/2015
39
Conclusion-So, what is the
missing link in VET delivery?



Two trends of IVET and CVET have
emerged from competency development and
lifelong learning (LLL).
IVET and CVET are interconnected
yielding competence for life.
To develop and maintain competence a
theoretical framework utilizing the HMH
and MHM pedagogies is required
7/07/2015
40
Dr Bousted, General Secretary of the
Association of Teachers and Lecturers in
the UK who has stated:

“There is a clear need to develop a theory of
applied learning…we do not yet have
one…Pedagogy is the most important thing
for a teacher to understand, it is much easier
to develop subject knowledge than it is to
develop pedagogical understanding”
(Tomlinson, 2010:42).
7/07/2015
41
The theory of Competencivism

This research is proposing the theory of
Competencivism on the basis of the above
arguments as the theory of applied learning
for VET both in Australia and globally.
7/07/2015
42
Four facilitative levels of
the learning theory of Competencivism
7/07/2015
43
Question
Time
Thank YOU for
Listening, any
questions??
7/07/2015
44