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Completed project · 2020–2023

‘Development of innovative and attractive continuing professional development programmes in industrial footwear manufacturing’

In many countries, such as Romania (RO) or Portugal (PT), vocational education and training (VET) is regarded as a second-best option; an educational pathway for those who have not managed to gain access to higher education (HE). One of the main reasons for this rather poor image of vocational education and training is that it is often seen as a ‘dead end’; once you have started a ‘blue-collar’ job, there are few or no options for career progression through continuing vocational education and training (CVET). Consequently, roles in more demanding areas of business – such as work in ‘Quality Assurance (QA)’, ‘Design’ or ‘Production Planning’ departments – are reserved for colleagues with a higher education background. But even in countries with established further training programmes such as Germany (DE), where the qualifications of an industrial or craft master or technician are recognised nationwide and enjoy a very good reputation, the trend towards academic qualifications is evident. One worrying indicator for our sector (industrial footwear production) is that, over the last two years, the only industrial foreman training courses in Germany for this profession (IHK Pfalz) could not be held – because not enough participants (only six were needed nationwide!) had applied.

Background and Problem

In many countries, such as Romania (RO) or Portugal (PT), vocational education and training (VET) is regarded as a second choice – an educational pathway for those who have not managed to gain access to higher, university-level education (HE). One of the main reasons for this rather poor image of VET is that it often has to be regarded as a ‘dead end’: once someone has started a ‘blue-collar’ job, there are few or no options for career progression through continuing vocational education and training (CVET). As a result, work in the more demanding fields of activity within companies, such as the ‘quality assurance (QA)’, ‘design’ or ‘production planning’ departments, is reserved for colleagues with a higher education background. But even in countries with established continuing training programmes such as Germany (DE), where the qualifications of a certified industrial or craft master (Industriemeister/Handwerksmeister) or technician are recognised nationwide and enjoy a very good image, the academic drift is evident. A worrying indicator for our sector (industrial footwear production): in the last two years before the coronavirus pandemic, the only Industriemeister courses for this occupation in the whole of Germany (IHK Pfalz) could not be run – because not enough participants (only six needed nationwide!) applied.

Strengthening continuing vocational training is therefore a decisive element in increasing the attractiveness of VET and in recruiting the next generation of skilled workers. The target group is colleagues who have already qualified through initial vocational training in industrial footwear manufacturing. The partners in the project ‘Development of innovative and attractive continuing training programmes in industrial footwear production’ (DIA-CVET) selected ten fields of activity in industrial footwear production, such as ‘company organisation’ or ‘footwear materials’, in which autonomous work goes beyond the competences of skilled workers (referring to skilled work at level 3 or 4 of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF)). Our aim was to develop, pilot and implement comprehensive courses at European level for each of these fields of activity, available in English (EN) as well as in DE, RO and PT. It was not our aim to develop a uniform European continuing training profile (such as an ‘EU Industriemeister’), as we respect the principle of subsidiarity in education and are aware of the differing prerequisites and needs regarding qualifications in our three countries.

Research question

  • What fields of activity exist for master craftspeople (Meister) or comparable roles in industrial footwear manufacturing?

  • How do learners evaluate continuing vocational training courses developed according to vocational-scientific principles?

  • Can a sectoral qualifications framework (SQF) for EQF levels 5–7 be developed as a continuation of the one implemented for levels 2–4 in the predecessor project ICSAS?

Methods

Vocational-scientific methods: work process analyses, interviews, expert skilled-worker workshops.

Results

Dissemination and Transfer Activities

All publications were available for download on the project website https://dia-cvet.eu/de/ergebnisse/. (Partial) results were presented and discussed at the following conferences:

  • Crossing Boundaries in VET (Kaunas, 2023)

  • ECER/VETNET 2022 (Yerevan)

  • ECER/VETNET 2023 (Glasgow)

In addition: ‘good practice’ example in the BIBB/NA Annual Report 2022/23 (p. 17): https://www.na-bibb.de/fileadmin/user_upload/na-bibb.de/Dokumente/06_Metanavigation/02_Service/Publikationen_Warenkorb/Jahresberichte/NA_Jahresbericht_2022_2023.pdf

Links to the DIA-CVET website, the SQF and the ICSAS project description can be found in the blue box.

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