Digitalisation and Inequality in the Context of Vocational Education and Training in the State of Bremen

Background and Problem

In the project ‘Digitalisation and Inequality in the Context of Vocational Education and Training’, vocational education and training (VET) is used as a ‘magnifying glass’ through which the inequalities arising from digitalisation processes become visible simultaneously at different levels of society, in order to clarify questions about the emergence and shape of these very inequalities and to develop recommendations for action. Digitalisation processes represent a valuable addition to learning and work processes, while at the same time contributing to an exacerbation of inequalities at various levels (society, the labour market, education, everyday life and others). A systematic exploration of the inequalities fostered by digitalisation is still largely lacking. The field of VET proves particularly fruitful for such an undertaking, since it overlaps both with general education and with the changed work processes of skilled work in companies. Moreover, disadvantaged young people predominantly enter vocational training. The aim of the project ‘Digitalisation and Inequality in the Context of Vocational Education and Training in the State of Bremen’ (DUBB) is therefore to explore the current situation at the level of companies, vocational schools and the professionalisation of teachers, as well as with regard to the existing knowledge and starting conditions of students.

Research question

• To what extent do digitalisation processes have a reinforcing effect on social inequalities and the digital divide?

• To what extent do they contribute to compensating for inequalities?

Approach

In a fully integrated mixed design, quantitative questionnaire surveys were conducted at all four of the levels mentioned in vocational schools and companies in Bremen and Bremerhaven, and were supplemented by qualitative interviews with the above-mentioned groups of people and by exemplary work process analyses in selected companies. After an initial survey, the central problem areas were identified and, in a second step, at least one problem area at each level was examined in greater depth.

Results

The results of the analysis provided insights into how vocational school students, vocational school teachers and trainers perceived digitalisation processes, as well as into the question of the extent to which digitalisation processes had a reinforcing effect on social inequalities and the digital divide, or the extent to which they contributed to compensating for inequalities. The statements of the study participants were structured in a category system that revealed the complexity and ambivalences of the opportunities and limits of digitalisation processes for breaking with social inequalities. Among other things, two findings emerged: (1) Vocational school teachers and trainers emphasised that the socio-economic starting position of vocational school students – i.e. the availability of financial resources, the level of education and the support options available within families – fundamentally structured social inequalities in the context of digitalisation processes. Although equipping all vocational school students in Bremen with an iPad in 2020 was a first necessary step towards countering a digital divide, it was not sufficient to compensate for structural social inequalities. (2) Digitalisation offered particularly high potential for reducing social inequalities for people who experienced disadvantage in everyday training due to a disability/impairment. Overall, the study results made clear that what was needed above all was training in critical and diversity-sensitive media literacy on the part of students as well as teachers, the strengthening of exchange between teachers and trainers, and the provision of the resources required for this.

Recommendations for action that could counteract the production of inequality were developed from the results. The final report also provided a helpful data basis that made it possible to place education policy and company decisions on an informed footing.

Dissemination and Transfer Activities

Conference contributions

Honkomp-Wilkens, V.; Petersen, M. (2023): Digitalisierung und soziale Ungleichheit im Kontext der beruflichen Bildung; 17. Ingenieurpädagogische Jahrestagung 2023, Herausforderungen zeitgemäßer Technikbildung im akademischen und berufsbildenden Sektor, Wege zu technischer Bildung; 15.-17. Juni 2023, Dresden.

Honkomp-Wilkens, V.; Heinemann, A.; Petersen, M. (2023): Digitalisierung und soziale Ungleichheit im Kontext der beruflichen Bildung; Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Medienpädagogik (DGfE), Medienpädagogik und (Medien-)Sozialisation im Spiegel zentraler gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen des 21. Jahrhunderts; 30.-31. März 2023, Lüneburg.

Contribution to an edited volume

Honkomp-Wilkens, V.; Heinemann, A.; Petersen, M. (2024): Soziale Ungleichheit und digitale Spaltung aus der Perspektive von Auszubildenden im Land Bremen. In: Ingenieur-Pädagogische Wissenschaftsgesellschaft (Hg.): Herausforderungen zeitgemäßer Technikbildung im akademischen und berufsbildenden Sektor - Wege zu technischer Bildung -. an der Technischen Universität Dresden und der Hochschule für Wirtschaft Dresden. Dresden, 15.06. - 17.06.2023. Berlin: IPW, S. 177–184.

Master's thesis

Friesen, Stenly (2023): Digitalisierung und Ungleichheit aufgrund der sozio-ökonomischen Herkunft im Kontext von beruflicher Bildung. Master's thesis