PLOTTING A BETTER COURSE

Cooperation with the world of work is one of the most universally agreed needs in education. And yet, it is also one of the hardest to satisfy. For decades, the two parties that ought to collaborate to prepare people for life and career have been kept apart by mutual suspicion. Employers accuse the education sector of not keeping pace with developments in the real world. Schools argue that education is more than just a production line for workers.

Both have a point. But can we not find some middle ground? Can cooperation be implemented effectively to the satisfaction of all stakeholders involved? The European Training Foundation is joining the ranks of organisations that have contributed to the ongoing debate by preparing a study that maps the current status of cooperation among business and education in its partner countries. From this, it hopes to distil recommendations that can take such cooperation a step forward.

Finding common vocabulary

A launch event for the study in Turin on 29 and 30 March suggested that one important reason why it is difficult to get structured cooperation off the ground is that the worlds of education and work are just so different.

“Although much progress has been made in recent years, we still do not talk the same language,” said Olga Oleynikova, Vice-President of the International Vocational Education and Training Organisation.

She was backed up by Mohamed Slassi Sennou, Vice-President of the Moroccan General Federation of Enterprises, who said that the suggestion that cooperation was a matter of getting the two parties to sit at the same table is rather oversimplified.

“However much the worlds of business and education depend on each other, they are both extremely different. And not only that – each of the two is extremely diverse in itself,” he said.

This makes speaking the same language difficult and some might suggest that finding a common vocabulary, rather than speaking the same language, should be the aim of any efforts to bring education and business closer together.

Speaking from a policy-making perspective, Sjur Bergan of the Council of Europe said that “education must take in the needs of the market but cannot be entirely market-led. While education must improve employability it should also prepare for democratic citizenship and promote personal development.”

Intermediary role

These things do not necessarily contradict each other. But despite plenty of European experience proving the opposite there remains a stubborn fear among many educationalists that employers’ influence on curricula will degrade these to mere preparation for employment. And there remains a stubborn prejudice among many employers that the education sector has no real desire to meet current labour market needs. This deadlock calls for an intermediary to play a role in facilitating discussions between what should be natural partners.

In countries that have found successful formulae for forging the qualities of industry and education into stronger matter, this lead role has often been taken by the authorities. A practical example from Spain showed how contracts between all parties involved could oblige partners to cooperate while leaving them sufficient independence to creatively and flexibly steer their own course.

Countries following a dual system where internships take a prominent role in regular education have found that making students commute between education and work benefits all: the students, their schools, their teachers and companies. But in dual system countries, once again it is the authorities who play a leading role as mediators between education and business.

This led a number of participants at the launch event to conclude that regulation and legislation are needed in order to make cooperation work. While this seems applicable – at least for the moment – in countries that have a history of strong central command, such as those that have emerged from the former Soviet Union, in other regions a key factor is the extent to which employers are organised.

Where small and medium-sized enterprises are responsible for the bulk of economic activity but are not able to negotiate with one voice, collaborating with employers can be extremely difficult.

Good practice

In many of the ETF’s partner countries, education and business cooperation is still in its infancy and repeated calls were therefore made to include ample good practice in the final documents. This can be found in education sectors that have traditionally had strong links with their counterparts in the world of work, such as tourism, agriculture, medicine and engineering.

ETF director Madlen Serban confirmed that good practice must be shown in the study, but also pointed out that its main perspective will look to the future.

“This means that there may not always be good practice to draw from,” she said.

The study is likely to show diversity more than anything else and, according to the ETF’s Ulrike Damyanovic, the key challenge will be to synthesise individual country reports due this summer into four regional studies in the autumn and a cross-country overview that is scheduled for publication in early 2011.

“We are sure to encounter incredible diversity and finding common denominators may not be an easy task,” she said.

The project has been designed so as to allow each country to write its own overview, with the ETF providing a critical review of these. The final product can then be fed back to each country to serve as a basis for improvements.

The country reports will be drawn up with the help of focus groups representing as broad an array of stakeholders as possible.

“Partnership is key in this exercise,” said Madlen Serban, also replying to the many calls for government regulation.

“Such partnership cannot be bought with legislation,” she said, “what is needed is a change of culture and mindset. This can only be achieved if all stakeholders work together and acknowledge the urgency of the matter.”