Forum 2
Initial and continuing vocational training - new structural concepts and innovative developments
This forum will take a comprehensive look at the latest VET developments with respect to the updating of initial and continuing vocational education and training. In its plenary session, Forum 2 will seek to identify new paths to a modern 'occupation principle' (in other words, the principle of tailoring vocational training to specific, recognised skilled occupations) and will present and discuss current concepts in this connection. This forum will in particular point out and examine the actual implications of a European Education Area and the effects that the initial findings arising from the overhaul of Germany's Vocational Training Act will have on the regulatory work involved in the updating of 'training occupations' (occupations that require completion of formal vocational training).
Forum 2's working groups will focus extensively on identifying fundamentals and their relevance for regulatory activities, directing particular attention to examples from actual research, industry-specific VET circles and specialist occupational groups.
One of the working groups in this forum will examine the extent to which new technologies and organisation models provide impetus for occupations and occupational content. This will include a look at the interplay between change in the working world and innovation in individual occupations. In addition to considering the overall context, Forum 2 will illustrate the differences in the content of these developments using concrete examples from the call centre field, logistics, sport, banking, the media industry, the construction and real estate sectors, the automobile industry, and engineering and plant construction fields.
The working group on "structural development in vocational education and training" will discuss a new model for vocational training for commercial/business occupations in the Austrian and Swiss vocational education and training systems and examine new approaches being used in VET (for office and retail occupations).
Participants in the segment "Europeanisation/internationalisation/transparency" will examine the implications that current European developments have for German vocational education and training. Expert reports and examples provided by current projects will be used to examine the various dimensions of topics such as the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), European modules, credit point systems (ECVET) and cross-border cooperative training. These aspects will be then discussed by a group of national education experts.
The "process orientation in training and examinations" segment will address the subjects of process-oriented training, examination structures and methods, and skill standards and diagnostics.
A further segment will deal with occupations for instruction personnel, the requirements for these occupations, the various occupation-based approaches to initial and continuing vocational training, and internationalisation in this area.
