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CEDEFOPEuropean Centre for the

Development of Vocational Training

V O C A T I O N A L

T R A I N I N GE u r o p e a n J o u r n a l

No 27 September – December 2002/III

European Journal Vocational Training

No 27 September–December 2002/III

V O C A T I O N A L


ISSN 0378-5068

Europe 123, GR-570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea)Postal address: PO Box 22427, GR-551 02 ThessalonikiTel. (30) 23 10 49 01 11 Fax (30) 23 10 49 00 99E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive: www.trainingvillage.gr

Distance andeLearning

Cedefop

VOCATIONAL TRAINING NO. 27 EUROPEAN JOURNAL

CedefopEuropean Centre

for the Developmentof Vocational Training

Europe 123GR-570 01 THESSALONIKI

(Pylea)

Postal address:PO Box 22427

GR-551 02 THESSALONIKI

Tel. (30) 23 10 49 01 11Fax (30) 23 10 49 00 99

E-mail:[email protected]

Homepage:www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive website:

www.trainingvillage.gr

Interested in writing an article ... see page 88

Cedefop assists the EuropeanCommission in encouraging, atCommunity level, the promotionand development of vocationaleducation and training, throughexchanges of information and thecomparison of experience on is-sues of common interest to theMember States.

Cedefop is a link between re-search, policy and practice byhelping policy-makers and practi-tioners, at all levels in the Euro-pean Union, to have a clearer un-derstanding of developments invocational education and trainingand so help them draw conclu-sions for future action. It stimu-lates scientists and researchers toidentify trends and future ques-tions.

Cedefop’s Management Board hasagreed a set of medium-term pri-orities for the period 2000-2003.They outline four themes that pro-vide the focus of Cedefop’s activi-ties:

❏ promoting competences andlifelong learning;❏ facilitating new ways of learn-ing for a changing society;❏ supporting employment andcompetitiveness;❏ improving European under-standing and transparency.

Editorial committee:

Chairman:Martin Mulder Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Steve Bainbridge Cedefop, GreeceAviana Bulgarelli Isfol, ItalyJuan José Castillo Universitad Complutense de Madrid, SpainUlrich Hillenkamp European Training Foundation, ItalyTeresa Oliveira Universidade Nova de Lisboa, PortugalLise Skanting Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DenmarkHilary Steedman London School of Economics and Political Science,

Centre for Economic Performance, United KingdomIvan Svetlik University of Ljubljana, SloveniaManfred Tessaring Cedefop, GreeceÉric Verdier Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),

LEST/CNRS, France

Editorial Secretariat:

Erika Ekström Institutet För Arbetsmarknadspolitisk Utvärdering(IFAU), Sweden

Jean-François Giret CEREQ, FranceGisela Schürings European Training Foundation, Italy

Editor in chief:

Éric Fries Guggenheim Cedefop, Greece

Published under the responsibility of:Johan van Rens, DirectorStavros Stavrou, Deputy Director

Responsible for translation:David Crabbe

Layout: Werbeagentur Zühlke Scholz & PartnerGmbH, Berlin

Cover: Rudolf J. Schmitt, Berlin

Technical production on DTP:Axel Hunstock, Berlin

The contributions were received onor before 18.10.2002

Reproduction is authorized, except for com-mercial purposes, provided that the source isindicated

Catalogue number: TI-AA-03-027-EN-C

Printed in Belgium, 2003

This publication appears three times a yearin Spanish, German, English and French.

A Portuguese version is also published by,and is available directly fromCIDESMinistério do Trabalho e da SolidariedadePraça de Londres 2-2°P - 1049-056 LisboaTel. (351-21) 843 10 36Fax (351-21) 840 61 71E-mail: [email protected]

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect theposition of Cedefop. The European Journal Vocational Training givesprotagonists the opportunity to present analyses and various, at timescontradictory, points of view. The Journal wishes to contribute to criticaldebate on the future of vocational training at European level.


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Table of contentsResearch

Bridging to the future of education ...................................................................... 3Friedrich ScheuermannThis article explores pedagogical implications relating to the integration of ICTin education. Frequently, a positive view is held which pushes the discussion ofproblematic areas of on-line offers into the background. Effective and efficientdelivery of instruction in educational settings must consider the whole contextand process from course development, organisation, delivery and evaluation.

Collective learning: Theoretical perspectives and ways to supportnetworked learning .............................................................................................. 13Maarten de Laat, Robert-Jan SimonsLearning in communities is a powerful way to stimulate collective learningprocesses and shared collective learning outcomes. ICT creates possibilities fornetworked learning, however it is also important to focus on group dynamics.

Can organisations learn to learn? ....................................................................... 25Randolph Preisinger-KleineThe efficiency principle prevents organisations from learning to learn.Participation in informal networks is an effective way of overcoming thisprinciple and opens the path to daring learning policies.

Vocational training policy analysis

Learning through ‘e-resources’: the experience of SMEs ............................... 30David GuileDeveloping ICTs and the Internet is not enough to guarantee the survival ofSMEs in the new digital economy. They still have to learn to integrate these e-resources in their every day work and training processes.

Young women in initial training in the new informationand communications technology occupations in Germany ........................... 47Agnes DietzenThe new professions in the information and communication technologiescannot escape the fate of a representation and value rating of occupationalprofiles differentiated according to gender: a description and explanation of thephenomenon and some recommendations which will help to change it.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),e-learning and local and regional development

ICTs, e-learning and community development ................................................. 58Brian DillonICTs are a valuable aid for local development as they can be integrated in aprocess which starts at the base and has the aim of finding local solutions forproblems which have been collectively identified.


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E-learning as a strategy for creation of regional partnerships ..................... 63Hanne ShapiroThe role of ICTs in the development of regional partnerships and knowledgenetworks: a role which is still limited and has a traditional bias. Presentation ofa summary of the results of projects developed as the outcome of a Danish callfor tender.

Reading

Reading selection .................................................................................................. 71


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FriedrichScheuermannZukunftszentrumTirol (Centre forFuture Studies),Innsbruck, Austria

Bridging to the futureof education

The context of discussionon teaching and learningin Virtual Learning envi-ronments

There are various aspects to how infor-mation technology is used in education:as a platform for the development anddelivery of products for teaching andlearning and as a tool for the organisa-tion of the learning contents and resourcesas well. This covers relevant aspects ofboth environments and courses; the lat-ter cannot be analysed separately owingto their interdependence. The questionarises as to whether open and flexiblelearning environments built on informa-tion technology will lead us to qualita-tively better, more effective and more ef-ficient education and how these new edu-cational models are to be brought about.

The rising acceptance of online coursessuggests that people value the advantagesof studying independently of time andplace. Experience shows that they appre-ciate more communication-oriented ap-proaches where participants have to beactively involved and are taken care ofdaily.

But there are new requirements if prior-ity is given to high quality on the stimu-lation of learning processes and outcomes:

(a) the development and implementationof a course with a specific didactic con-cept is usually more work-intensive thanin ordinary courses. Details have to beprepared before the course, the sequenceand interaction have to be planned com-pletely;

(b) the teaching concept has to come witha technical realisation concept, whichmakes forward planning and test runsnecessary;

(c) the organisation is extensive: process-ing of requests, collection of participantdata, log-in and user identification distri-bution and updating data require muchmore time.

(d) the support of participants is requiredaround the clock (usually even at week-ends) and cannot be seen to be an inad-equate relation to that of conventionalseminars. Reading and answering the ex-tensive number of messages exceeds thetime available for conventional coursesincluding office hours. It is noticeable thatstudents have higher expectation of sup-port than usual; the reasons still have tobe researched empirically.

(e) technical, didactic, and content devel-opments require teamwork and the del-egation of assignments, creating new de-pendencies and requiring much coordi-nation.

Instructional methods and the quality ofcourses within the different environmentscannot realistically be compared, since thewhole context of educational activitiesmust also be considered. Some environ-ments are fully based on the virtual mode,others are linked to traditional coursestaking place on a local university cam-pus. Some are taught to an internationalaudience, others to a local community.Some course topics need different peda-gogical features and, finally, the appliedhardware and software technology alsodetermines some of the key indicators ofthe context. This influences the structureof the virtual environment as well as themethods being applied.

A reasonable conclusion of this is thatthere is currently a need for integrativeconcepts for the implementation of openand flexible learning via IT in educationthat can demonstrate a methodology ofgood practice for educational needs. Prob-

This article explores peda-gogical implications relat-ing to the integration of ICTin education. Whereas it isbecoming more popular touse the Internet as the tech-nical platform for the dis-tribution of on-line courses,a lot of literature promotesthe thesis of almost unlimi-ted possibilities in educa-tion that just have to be im-plemented. Frequently, apositive view is held whichpushes the discussion ofproblematic areas of on-line offers into the back-ground. Effective and effi-cient delivery of instructionin educational settings mustconsider the whole contextand process ranging fromcourse development, or-ganisation and delivery toevaluation. Furthermore,new competences relatingto the application of newpedagogical strategies andmethods are required inorder to achieve betterlearning outcomes. Staffdevelopment and teachertraining are crucial issuesfor successfully approach-ing the new potential pro-vided by information andcommunication technologyin education.


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lems relating to this lack of a full andencompassing concept have to be seenfrom different perspectives and withindifferent contexts of education. Imple-mentation, therefore, depends on peda-gogical, sociological, legal, technologicaland organisational reasons as well as otherfactors.

In their study on the evaluation of envi-ronments, Britain and Liber (1999) definetwo crucial issues for work with VirtualLearning Environments:

❏ VLEs should provide opportunities toimprove the quality and variety of teach-ing and learning that are not beingachieved using current methods;

❏ VLEs should reduce administrative bur-den on teachers, thus allowing them tomanage their workload more efficientlyand to be able to give more time to indi-vidual students educational needs.

Considering these requirements as thebases for study of teaching and learningit becomes obvious that the approach foranalysing the process must reflect vari-ous other aspects too, not just the discus-sion of didactical techniques within Vir-tual Learning Environments.

Below is an unsorted list of issues andexamples for the design and developmentof a course:

List 1

Key issues for pedagogicaldesign in VLEs

Wilson (1996) has described the relation-ship between ideas of knowledge and theconsequences for the nature of the learn-ing environment (author’s comments inparentheses):

Table 1.All the types of learning environmentmentioned can be found by analysing theconcepts of environments and courseswhere information is provided on theInternet. ICT, therefore, does not tend tosupport one particular type of learningenvironment. On the contrary, in the de-sign of ICT-based educational innovations,the technology will have to be introducedin such a way as to create and supportthe learning environment desired. How-

ever, in practice we notice that the devel-opment of a virtual learning environmentcan be a result of a pragmatic decision atthe institution, as indicated in some ofthe cases. This can also be used as a stepfor introducing the evolutionary transitionfrom traditional teaching environmentstowards settings related to ideas of socialconstructivism. The evolution of learningenvironment is a complicated process,where the cultural and historical situationrelating to practical arrangements in aninstitution is often the critical factor, notlearning theory (see Bourdieu & Passeron,1977).

Taking a closer look at the internationalcourses given in Virtual Learning Environ-ments we observe that, in practical teach-ing situations, the methodology used incomputer assisted instruction is movingmore and more into ICT-assisted knowl-edge construction, distributed expertiseand collaborative learning. Hyper- andmultimedia-based sources of knowledgehave, in many cases, replaced traditionalstudy books with electronic books. ICTand networking can make the learningenvironment more open in terms ofknowledge acquisition in all phases ofeducation.

To analyse key issues in the implementa-tion of teaching and learning in VLEs, wecan refer to pedagogical functions as be-ing the practical activities and methodsin the learning environment that makelearning possible.

When teaching and learning take placein virtual environments it should be keptin mind that there is already a didacticalconcept incorporated within this environ-ment determining the scale of pedagogi-cal functions made available for thecourses. In the context of the Internet,first the technology itself limits the rangeof possibilities (dominance of texts dueto bandwidth restrictions). Then comesthe environment, based on the function-ality of the technology, containing a cer-tain design with a set of tools, functions,bars, fixed hierarchies and positions -again with some kind of pedagogical limi-tations provided at the final stage of thepedagogical design of courses.

This is less problematic if the environ-ment can always be adapted to the spe-


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List 1

Issues and examples for the design and development of a course (unsorted)

Requirements (objectives)Using the potential of the Internet forteaching and learning

Public conferences

Internal discussions

Stimulation of a lively environment

Allowing different forms ofcommunication(Flexible learning: time)

Transparency

Open, easy and free access

Allowing participation from differentlocal, regional, national and internationalplacesProviding access to learning material

Providing language assistance

Enhance motivation and interaction

Using synergies

Encouraging group activities

Low administrative efforts

GoalsInformation exchange betweenparticipants and experts

Information exchange between studentsand experts/publicEnsuring a protected and opencommunicationProviding rich and varied learning space

Allowing participation at different timesto reduce participation barriersconcerning time schedules andgeographically different time zones;respect user communication preferencesAllowing public evaluation of activities

No exclusion of interested persons forfinancial or technical reasons; respectinglegal regulations in some partnercountriesEnsuring that an access from all placeswith different technical infrastructures ispossibleProviding relevant informationsupporting the student in learningReducing fears and uncertainties inapplying English language for writingand communicationCutting back of anonymity andencouraging community building;encouraging competition

Managing limited personal resources forrunning courses

Guiding positive outcomes of groupdiscussions and avoidingmisunderstandings and mistakes;encouraging communicationReducing technical prerequisites foradministration

Implementation• Integrating different synchronous and

asynchronous media• Expanding education to other

regional areas• Implementing institutional and

personal co-operation andcollaboration

• Conference• Café• Login/password-identification

• Weekly quizzes• Modular organisation of work

and phases• Communication based approach• Tools for synchronous

communication: chat, desktop-videoconferencing (optional use)

• Asynchronous discussion boards asmain communication channel

• Anonymisation at the end of courseand open,

• Public access to previous courses• No fee• Minimum technical requirements

• Web-based• Easy access (low technical barriers in

accessing pages)• Online link library

• Language support

• Access to compare standings(Online activities, grading)

• Permanent user support andmoderation

• Personal homepages• Competitions• Multiple activities during course• Sending reminders when absence• E-Mail forwarding of Web-messages• ‘Who-is-online’ module• Self-assessment of work in addition

to teacher gradingConnecting with other (e.g. presence)courses• Team training• Moderation of discussions by

instructors• Implementation tools for

collaborative work on documentsForms for web-based grading• Automatisation of actions

(presentation of standings, activities)• Tools for grouping• Software for upload seminar pages


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cific needs as can happen with (oftenhandmade) modularised developments,flexible and open from their technicalconcept. But there are pedagogical barri-ers to overcome and compromises to bemade when standard software applica-tions are chosen which are increasinglyavailable in the commercial market. Theseenvironments (sometimes called ‘Inte-grated Distributed Learning Environments– IDLE’ [see McGreal, 1999]) are becom-ing increasingly popular, especially whenteachers can run and easily administercourses without the full set of actionsnormally associated with implementing aVirtual Learning Environment. The vari-ety of pedagogical functions is then re-duced to the tools, which are offered bythe pre-defined and standardised environ-ment.

Principles forthe pedagogical design

As a consequence of this shift towards astudent-centred approach the building of‘learning communities’ and ‘collaboration’plays a crucial issue in instructional de-

sign of (social constructivist) learningenvironments.

General principles for such environmentsare cited by Chickering and Gamson in arecent report by the University of Illinois(1999):

(a) good practice encourages student-fac-ulty contact;(b) good practice encourages cooperationamong students;(c) good practice encourages active learn-ing;(d) good practice gives prompt feedback;(e) good practice emphasises time on task;(f) good practice communicates high ex-pectations;(g) good practice respects diverse talentsand ways of learning.

This leads to several other principles forthe design of a learning environment aslisted by Cunningham, Duffy, & Knuth(1993):

(a) provide experience with the knowl-edge construction process;(b) Provide experience in, and apprecia-tion of, multiple perspectives;(c) embed learning in realistic and rele-vant contexts;(d) encourage ownership of, and inputto, the learning process;(e) embed learning in social experience;(f) encourage the use of multiple modesof representation;(g) encourage self-awareness in theknowledge construction process.

The listing becomes more concrete whenrelating it to Xiadong‘s (1995) presenta-tion of a typical instruction design proc-ess:

(a) identify objectives (e.g., what do youwant students to be able to do when theyhave completed the instruction?);(b) assess students’ prior knowledge andskills (e.g., determine whether the stu-dents in question have the prerequisitesto benefit from the instruction);(c) specify the content to be taught;(d) identify instructional strategies;(e) develop instruction (e.g., a learner’smanual, instruction materials, tests, andan instructor’s guide);(f) test, evaluate, and revise (e.g. howshould students be evaluated to determine

Consequence for the learningenvironmentProducts that can be distributed viadifferent methods, media. (Electronicself-study materials)Combination of teaching strategies,goals and means to change theschemes of thought in the individual.(Teaching programme)The student acting and working in anenvironment with plenty of resourcesand stimuli. (Collection of tools andresources)Participation in the everyday life andactivities of the community.(Collaborative working environment;can also include the above-mentioned items)

Table 1

Relationship between the ideas of knowledge and thenature of the learning environment (Wilson,1996)

Metaphor about knowledge,knowingKnowledge is a quantity or packet ofcontent waiting to be transmitted

Knowledge is a cognitive state asreflected in a person’s schema andprocedural skills

Knowledge is a person’s meaningsconstructed in interaction with one’senvironment

Knowledge is enculturation oradoption of a group’s ways of seeingand acting


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the degree to which students have metthe performance objectives?).

Planning and developmentissues in VLE

Important issues relating to the design andplanning of Virtual Learning Environmentsand courses taught within become cleareras a consequence of such considerations.However, the lists show that providingeducation in virtual learning environmentsrequires many more aspects to be con-sidered.

It should be kept in mind that teachingand learning always take place in a spe-cific context. On the one hand this con-text is drawn by the infrastructure avail-able in terms of manpower and compet-ences, budgets and technologies. On theother hand the context is society, includ-ing teachers and learners formulatingneeds in regard to the environment andcourses. Therefore an environment andits concepts are based on a certain levelof needs, requirements and facilities.

Several stages of course design must beconsidered:

(a) analysis of basic conditions (e.g. in-frastructure, resources);(b) planning;(c) development;(d) course execution;(e) evaluation.

The analysis stage can be characterisedby examination of the contextual condi-tions mentioned above. Who is the usergroup, what is the technological environ-ment, what is needed, what resources areavailable?

Conceptualisation can then be performedduring the planning phase. Here variouscomponents have to be taken into accountfor the development of the environmentand course delivery:(a) information selection and design (e.g.,learning material, guidance);(b) communication (e.g., language, syn-chronous/asynchronous, channels: text,audio, video);(c) organisation, management: (e.g., cer-tification, scheduling, user administration,agreements on inter-disciplinary/interna-tional collaborations, fees);

(d) technological realisation (e.g., e-mail,chat-tools, video-/desktop-conferences);(e) pedagogical issues (e.g. how to raise/maintain/increase motivation, how to im-plement/hold/ improve interact ion(teacher-learner, learner-learner, teacher/learner-environment) considering learn-ing-cultures, design of assignments andcontrol units);(f) evaluation issues: (e.g. learning proc-ess and outcomes, deficiencies etc.).

During planning, development and exe-cution, the Virtual Learning Environmentdemands many other important aspectsto be considered in relation to pedagogi-cal techniques. Teaching in VLEs alsomeans numerous organisational aspectsto consider. This point increases dynami-cally in inter-cultural settings and evenmore when the benefits of technologiesare applied in the context of local, re-gional, national or international collabo-ration. So, being a good teacher alsomeans being a good organiser and de-signer of information, communication,didactical implementation and media in-tegration. Ideally the course concept var-ies according to cultures integrated, avail-able infrastructure concerning technol-ogy and networks. This demonstrates toothat, at times, teaching becomes a com-plex process to a higher degree than itis usual in traditional educational situa-tions.

Although there are no limitations givenconcerning the number of students par-ticipating in typical Internet-based learn-ing environments, it is obvious that, asmore students participate, more organi-sational and administrative work is re-quired. If education takes place on aninternational and inter-cultural level thereare even more aspects to be consideredrelated with the organisation of commu-nication, the basic language to be usedand taking into account cultural charac-teristics. Cooperation at international levelis accompanied by more barriers thancharacterised by curricula differences be-tween the higher education institutions.Organising inter-cultural cooperationwould mean agreeing on the schedule ofthe course, which can become quite acomplex process.

Closely related to these issues of teachingand learning is evaluation, which must be


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carried out to determine the success of theenvironment and online teaching. Eco-nomic factors (cost of staff and technol-ogy) have to be assessed as well as peda-gogic (quality of teaching, outcomes) ones.Evaluation activities consist of validationof knowledge as well as assessment of thestudents. According to a constructivist ap-proach, it is essential to involve studentsin validating the information produced onthe course. This will lead to more criticaland reflective discussions (Gokhale, 1995)of the course contents and can make meta-cognition possible in students’ learningprocesses. Special discussion forums fordebates, criticism and collective comment-ing on written materials are good tools forassessment of students in the open learn-ing environment.

So far, it is evident that teaching issues invirtual environments are multi-dimen-sional and directly inter-linked with othercrucial aspects of activities both withinand outside of the environment. This alsoexplains why there is such a variety ofenvironments and courses in the market.

Most of the learning environments stud-ied allow open and independent learn-ing, including methods that involve indi-vidual search for information and investi-gation. Education is offered in a flexibleand open learning environment, takinginto account important aspects of aca-demic education: access to high qualityinformation, of communication betweenstudents and teachers, among studentsand also with the outside world.

Although ‘transparency’ of technology isone of the most important goals in thelearning environment, special technicaltutoring might become necessary in openlearning environments to prevent studentfrustration. It can help learners to get toknow the technical equipment and soft-ware used, and so take charge of the toolsin their learning environment. Multi-func-tion learning environments built, for in-stance, on Web-based technology only re-quire students to use a single application,a Web browser. Students need only mini-mum knowledge of information technol-ogy. Tutors can use an increased rangeof alternative channels to provide efficienttutoring (telephone, e-mail, tutorials, etc.)either at a distance or in a face-to-facecontext.

New pedagogical Strategiesand Methods

What methods can be applied to onlineeducation? In his study of teaching tech-niques for computer-mediated communi-cation published in 1998, Morten Paulseninterviewed 150 teachers and identified24 techniques applied in virtual learningenvironments: project groups, discussiongroups, case studies, online journals, de-bates, internships, nominal group tech-niques, learning contracts, apprentice-ships, simulations or games, software li-braries, online applications, forums, roleplays, brainstorming, online databases,online interest groups, correspondencestudies, symposiums, transcript based as-signments, Delphi techniques, skits, in-terviews, and lectures (Paulsen, 1998).

In an open learning environment, learn-ing can be largely directed by the learn-ers themselves. Therefore the meaning ofmentoring and tutoring, a system for sup-porting learning and study guidance, isparticularly important. Tutoring can meansupport related to the learning process,study contents, tasks or technical prob-lems. According to Daloz (1990, p 223)effective mentorship is akin to ‘guidingthe student on a journey at the end ofwhich the student is a different and moreaccomplished person. In a formal learn-ing situation, mentoring functions can beunderstood as variously providing sup-port, challenge and vision’. Tools for pro-viding both tutoring and mentoringshould, therefore, be adaptable for eachpurpose in Virtual Learning Environments.

In an online environment, you can ex-pect mentoring to take on a new dimen-sion. Here we are challenged to mentorin ways that Feuerstein (1980) and othersdefine as mediation. Dialogue and inquirybecome a powerful medium for collabo-rative learning. Discussion begins to carrya flow, a meaning. Threads of conversa-tion can be woven together. Opinions andpoints of view become circulated as ob-servations, assumptions and interpreta-tions become visible. Effective guidanceand mentoring can be achieved throughselective intervention. A skilled modera-tor is a mentor who can keep the fragilebalance between advocacy and inquiry.The moderator must facilitate rather than


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dominate the discussion. When we focuson Vygotsky‘s (1987, 1986) idea of thelearner’s zone of proximal development,scaffolding, and dialogue, we have to turnour attention to fostering learning via vir-tual discussions, using strategies that in-clude ‘voice’, address learning and writ-ing styles, and utilise Socratic dialogue.These ideas require us to tend to boththe individual and group learning proc-ess. If we want to further online discourse,it is important not to forget that this learn-ing process is complex, social and inter-active. Research in social collaborationand negotiation in the vein of Slavin(1987) and others, calls attention to thedesign and support of what these learn-ing environments require. Responsibilitiesfor discussion become shared, feedbackbecomes integral, and all participants,including the moderator, are equal. Bothinstructor and learner are challenged togrow and develop in this environment.Instructors grow to become moderatorsand guides and students grow as learn-ers.

Online collaboration and effective mod-erating must be designed if they are tohave comparable impact to face-to-faceinstruction. Through conscious effort andapplication, ‘virtual’ moderators can bringvoice and tone into an otherwise sterileand distant environment, accompanyingthe learner as a reflective guide or, per-haps, much like a personal muse. Mod-erators are mediators and facilitators; gen-erative guides and conceptual facilitators.The same issues that can be a weaknessin a virtual learning environment can beexploited creatively to make learningcome alive. Active learning is at the heartof the design of collaborative courses.Designing activities that ensure activeparticipation is part of the moderation anddiscussion process. Facilitating the discus-sion is one aspect; another is making theparticipants responsible for their ownlearning by sharing the responsibility forleading group discussion and work. Allparticipants in a course can be given theopportunity to experience being facilita-tors in discussion, team leaders, present-ers of information, observers, and all areresponsible for providing feedback andinput into the learning process. However,for any of this to occur, a certain amountof control needs to be relinquished andturned over to the group. Moderators must

stay in the shadows allowing the learnerto shine.

However, perhaps at the heart of designis the feedback that the moderator needsto provide in order to support the learn-ing process. Such feedback promotes andencourages continued growth as a learnerand encourages collaboration. Substantivefeedback not only needs to be built intothe course design, it also needs to bemodelled by the facilitators if we are toexpect quality feedback from students.Feedback needs to be constructive. Par-ticipants need to connect; points of agree-ment as well as differences need to bediscussed. A shared interdependence cre-ates a collaborative environment.

Facilitation of student learning needs tobe a scaffolded process – especially giventhe obstacles of a virtual learning envi-ronment. These are some of the obsta-cles that need to be considered and over-come by the moderation and mentoringprocess. Individuals may not be familiaror experienced with technology. Learn-ing in a virtual environment is very dif-ferent from face-to-face learning – thereis the potential isolation of the student,the unfamiliarity of the electronic class-room, and the challenge of communica-tion in an international environment in atext-based medium. Concerns for guide-lines can be centred around the need tobring relative novices up to speed ratherquickly – but concerns focus on skills thatwill provide a quality experience for theparticipants.

Specific considerations for the moderatorsinclude how to scaffold this learning proc-ess in order to guide and enhance thequality of the discussion. Issues currentlydiscussed include:

❏ the moderation required;

❏ course organisation must define theroles and goals of moderation;

❏ how specifically to scaffold the learn-ing process;

❏ how to distribute the responsibilitybetween moderators and learners.

For example, if part of the learning ob-jectives for the students is to learn how


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to collaborate and engage in group col-laboration, part of the objectives for thecourse must be for the moderators to ex-plain and scaffold those activities throughthe course. The participation and influ-ence of moderators as the courseprogresses changes as the students be-come more self-sufficient. Research withweb-based discussion and collaborationtools support this position.

Supporting learners to create sharedknowledge is not always an easy task. Ittakes a blend of skill on the part of themoderator, clearly stated goals and ob-jectives, appropriately designed tasks andquestions, and the tasks, technical ‘tools’,and access through which these activitiescan be effectively engaged. Two issuescome to light. First, are the issues relatedto supporting and maintaining quality dis-cussion; and second, the issue of sharedknowledge in a distributed or social learn-ing environment. Related to the construc-tion of knowledge and creating a sharedknowledge base for the participants,Bellamy (1998) asks should this knowl-edge base be totally constructed or shouldthere be a common knowledge base onwhich to build the collaborative process.Part of the argument here may be deter-mined by the construction and parametersof the course, how much time the stu-dents have, and the level and knowledgeof the learners coming into the course.Experience has led us to observe that acommon ground needs to be established,and encouraging communication and in-teraction is critical to the discussion. How-ever, the biggest challenge lies in gettingthe learner to engage deeply and reflec-tively with the information. This observa-tion is not uncommon. Guzdial in his re-search on online discussion forums, hasfound student participation and engage-ment with the information tends to bebroad rather than deep (Guzdial, 1997).How do we better support reflected chat?

Supporting improvedTeacher Competence

Within the context of new educationalparadigms the role of the teacher can becharacterised by the shift from acting asa content provider and ‘transmitter’ tobeing a mentor guiding and supporting

learners through the process of knowl-edge acquisition.

Whatever kind of techniques are beingused, pedagogues need special trainingfor online-education. They must especiallybe qualified in knowing:

❏ how to reduce anonymity and to es-tablish the atmosphere of a learning com-munity;

❏ how to motivate and keep the motiva-tion of learners high; how to avoid stu-dent frustrations;

❏ how to establish and maintain interac-tion among students, between teacher andstudents and between the user and thesystem;

❏ how to moderate discussions.

There is a set of tools, techniques andtricks which can be learned for applica-tion in virtual pedagogical settings. Nev-ertheless these must be taught to the staffconcerned to avoid any repetition of mis-takes, explorations and even in order toimprove the applied methods in detail.

But there is a new burden that cannot beignored - new task areas have to be cov-ered by the teacher as well. Implement-ing teaching in Virtual Learning Environ-ments requires competence in technologi-cal and organisational aspects, plus newqual i f icat ions in applying relevantdidactical methods within this context.Even if several steps are covered by thetechnology and software tools - for in-stance, user administration - there remainsmuch to be done within the process ofdesign, implementation and evaluation ofVirtual Learning Environments.

Many case studies report a high level ofenthusiasm among teachers working insuch environments (Berge & Collins,1995). Nevertheless there should be somekind of justification for the time andmoney invested in today’s education, ifapplied concepts good practice in Euro-pean Higher Education. Since virtualteaching cannot be left only to enthusi-asts and third-party funded projects, newqualifications for teachers are needed. Itis important that teacher training is up-dated with these new forms of education


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reflecting all crucial aspects already dis-covered and identified available literature.Future teachers must be introduced totechnology and its educational applica-tion in order to be enabled to measurethe whole range of possibilities availablefor organising education and teaching inthis virtual context. Even when a sharingof work takes place within a team of spe-cialists a minimum competence of know-ing what others do is required. Some softskills, such as working in interdisciplinaryteams, become more important in thiscontext and should be considered inteacher training.

Conclusion

Activities are needed relating to research,implementation and training. The speedof technological innovation forces policyto react immediately and to stimulate thespeed of educational innovation for ade-quate application of ICT. Without doubteducation is already changing with theincreasing availability and implementa-t ion of ICT in educational sett ings(schools, universities, home, workplace,etc.). However, the current situation inusing ICT for teaching and learning atEuropean level is not sat is factory.Whereas the speed of technological in-novations is increasing rapidly, adequateconcepts are still needed for educationaluse. Further research will contribute toa better integration of ICT in educationand training, supporting more effectivelearning. However, in order to ensurehighest impact future actions should bedirected towards either solving specificproblems or improving the situation oftraditional education (with ICT). Further-more, investigation is needed into thepotential of pedagogical concepts andtechnologies of new educational ap-proaches, which might better contributeto meeting the needs of current and fu-ture education. This includes explorationof scenarios and experimentation in or-

der to verify the effects of different con-texts for learning.

With respect to new pedagogical ap-proaches, collaborative learning remainsa crucial issue to be explored in the fu-ture from different perspectives, takinginto account organisational aspects of co-operation and collaboration as well aspedagogical ones, including staff devel-opment and pedagogical work in net-worked educational settings. Experiencesare needed that demonstrate sustainableresults and concepts of good practice, ana-lysed in multi-cultural/European educa-tional settings and based on different tech-nological approaches.

It is still not clear yet to what extent theuse of ICT and virtual learning environ-ments will affect the daily life of teachersand learners. Since educational activitiestake place in varying settings, the organi-sational structure of educational institu-tions and units has to be adapted ade-quately in order to allow effective teach-ing and learning. Presuming that pessi-mistic statements which refer to an incom-patibility of ICT use with traditional edu-cation are wrong, there is still more con-sensus needed on how learning can beadequately supported in order to findsound strategies for ICT-implementationand for providing effective education inVirtual Learning Environment settings.

As many cases show, use of informationtechnology in education and training canresult in increased flexibility betweenworking life and study by bringing learn-ing opportunities to the work place andby bringing working life closer to school.A prerequisite of open learning systemsis, however, that educational policy andstakeholders such as educational institu-tions, libraries and other informationsources, as well as industry and com-merce, begin to perceive education fromthe viewpoint of lifelong learning. Thisrequires collaboration and networkingbetween the various parties.


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Bannan, B. Teaching Instructional Design: An Ac-tion Learning Approach, 1999.http://mason.gmu.edu/~bbannan/research/ITFORUM.html.

Bellamy, R.; Woolsey, K. Learning conversations.SIGCHI, Vol.30, No.2, April 1998.http://www.acm.org/sigchi/bulletin/1998.2/bellamy.htm

Berge, Z.; Collins, M. (Ed.). Computer MediatedCommunication and the Online Classroom: Over-view and Perspectives, 1995.

Bourdieu, B.; Passeron, J.-C. Reproduction inEducation, Society and Culture. London: Sage, 1977.

Britain, S.; Liber, O. A Framework for Pedagogi-cal Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments.JTAP reports, 1999.http://www.jtap.ac.uk/reports/htm/jtap-041.html

Cunningham, D.; Duffy, T.M.; Knuth, R. Text-books of the future. In C. McKnight (Ed.), Hypertext:A psychological perspective. London: Ellis HorwoodPublishing, 1993.

Daloz, I .A. (1986) . Ef fect ive Teaching andMentoring. Josey-Bass publishers.

Feuerstein, R.; Jensen, M.R. Instrumental enrich-ment: Theoretical basis, goals, and instruments. TheEducational Forum, 46, pp. 401-423, 1998.

Gokhale, A. A. Collaborative learning enhancescritical thinking. Journal of Technology Education,7(1), 1995.http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/jte-v7n1/gokhale.jte-v7n1.html

Guzdial, M. Information Ecology of Collaborationsin Educational Settings: Influence of Tool. Paperpresented at the CSCL ’97, Toronto, 1997.

Hoda, S. Technology refusal and the organizationalculture of schools v. 2.3. The Princeton Review, 1997.ht tp ://www.review.com/steven/techrefusa l/techrefusef.html

Mason, R. Moderating educational computerconferencing. DEOSNEWS, 1(19), Archived asDEOSNEWS 91-00011 on PSUVM.PSU.EDU, 1992.

McGreal, R. Integrated distributed learning envi-ronments (IDLEs) on the Internet: A survey. Edu-cational Technology Review, p.25, 1999.

Paulsen, M. F. Moderating Educational ComputerConferences. In Z. L. a. C. Berg, M. P. (Ed.), Com-puter-mediated communication and the on-lineclassroom in Distance Education. Cresskill, N.J.:Hampton Press, 1995.h t tp : / /www.emodera to r s . com/modera to r s /morten.html

Paulsen, M.F. Teaching Techniques for Computer-mediated Communication, Ann Arbor, Mi, UMI Dis-sertation Services, 1998.

Slavin, R.E. Cooperative learning and the coopera-tive school. Educatinal Leadership, 45(3), pp. 7-13,1987.

University of Illinois Teaching at an Internet Dis-tance: the Pedagogy of Online Teaching and Learn-ing - The report of a 1998 - 1999 University of Illi-nois Faculty Seminar, 1999.h t tp : / /www.vpaa .u i l l i no i s . edu/ t i d / r epo r t /tid_report.html

Vygotsky, L.S. Mind in society. M.Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.). Cam-bridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Vygotsky, L.S. Thought and language (rev. ed.). AKozulin (Ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1986.

Wilson, B. What Is a Constructivist Learning Envi-ronment?. In: Wilson, B. (Ed) Constructivist learn-ing environments: Case studies in instructional de-sign; Educational Technologies Publications, pp. 3-8, 1996.

Xiaodong, et.al. Instructional design and develop-ment of learning communities: An invitation to adialogue. In: B. G. Wilson (ed),. ConstructivistLearning Environments. Case Studies in Instruc-tional Design. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Edu-cational, pp. 203-222, 1995.

References


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Maartende LaatUniversity ofNijmegen, Depart-ment of EducationUtrecht University,Centre for ICT inEducation

Collective learning:Theoretical perspec-tives and ways to sup-port networked learn-ing

Robert-JanSimonsUtrecht University,Centre for ICT inEducation

In this paper we draw atten-tion to collective learningin the workplace. We focuson social learning fromvarious theoretical perspec-tives, and discuss differentforms of collective learningprocesses and outcomes.We argue that it is impor-tant to consider these dif-ferences when thinking ofcreating possibilities forgroups to learn in organisa-tions. Three types of collec-tive learning (networks,teams, and communities)will be reviewed. We con-clude that learning in com-munities is a powerful wayto stimulate collectivelearning processes andshared collective learningoutcomes. Finally we arguethat workers in organisa-tions are more and morestimulated to share and de-velop knowledge togetherwith the use of ICT. ICT cre-ates possibilities for net-worked learning, howeverwe stress that it is also im-portant to focus on groupdynamics. They are crucialto coordinate and structurenetworked learning; twomodels to support this willbe presented.

Social and cultural aspectsof learning

Increasing access to computers as com-munication tools means they play an im-portant role in restructuring and advanc-ing our current perspectives on learningand instruction, knowledge managementand creation, etc. In society, schools andorganisations, people are increasinglysharing, discussing, and negotiatingknowledge through computer networks,therefore stressing the social nature oflearning.

When we study learning at interpersonallevel we look at social forms of learning.Social and cultural aspects of learninghave, therefore, become important tounderstanding and fostering learning. In-fluenced principally by the work ofVygotsky (1962; 1978) many authors(Goldstein, 1999; Lave, 1988; Lave, 1996;Lave & Wenger, 1991; Levine, Resnick, &Higgins, 1996; Moll, Tapia, & Whitmore,1993; Resnick, 1991; Salomon & Perkins,1998; Simons, Van der Linden & Duffy,2000; Smith, 1994; Wegerif, Mercer, &Dawes, 1999; Wertsch, 1991), in attempt-ing to define cognition in groups, havesuggested that, in a group meeting, thesituation itself may exert a strong mediat-ing effect on individual cognitive andconceptual processes. The thinking ofindividuals is influenced by the group inwhich they are working. The merger ofintellectual and social processes may bea fundamental feature of group mediatedcognition.

Introduction

Looking at Vocational Education andTraining (VET), it seems that much atten-tion is given to educational issues. In ourview, more attention should be paid tothe learning that goes on in the work-place. Traditionally, vocational educationand training curricula and processes havebeen based on imparting a fixed body ofknowledge and skills required for identi-fied tasks within occupational roles. Withthe rapid rate of change in today’sworkplace, these roles and tasks are nolonger fixed and predictable. Workersneed to be able to adapt to new skillsand processes and to update their knowl-edge on a regular basis (Attwell & East,2000).

Organisations, therefore, are increasinglyconfronted with the problem of manag-ing and creating knowledge in order torespond flexibly to changes in their work-ing environment. They are becominglearning organisations and expect theirworkers to become lifelong learners. In alearning organisation, workers are stimu-lated to share and develop knowledgetogether in or about their workplace.

The learning potential of these groups hasbecome a matter of interest, and socialand cultural aspects of learning have be-come important to understanding and fos-tering the process. In this article we fo-cus on social learning from various theo-retical perspectives and describe ways ofsupporting collective learning in a net-worked environment.


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A second key feature is the tension be-tween the conceptual structure or under-standing (of the problem or ideas underdiscussion) of the group and that of theindividuals within it. Understanding mayvary among individuals and also betweenindividuals and the group. This tension isthe driving force for the collective process-ing of the group. So, for example, whenan individual member of the group ex-presses an opinion in relation to theshared public understanding of the group,this will be based on an attempt to syn-thesise personal understanding with thepublic one. The other members of thegroup will compare this new synthesiswith their individual understanding of thegroup-accepted version and their indi-vidual disagreement with it.

Depending on the outcome of this proc-ess, there may be further interaction andnegotiation until a new meaning or un-derstanding is accepted by the group. Inthis process, interaction between individu-als, as well as their shared and individualcognitions, are the key aspects of jointconstruction of knowledge, meaning andunderstanding.

This article accepts the premise of thissocial-constructivist view of learning:learners linking new knowledge to theirprior knowledge (i.e. learning as a cu-mulative process) and learners construct-ing new internal representations of theinformation being presented (Boekaerts& Simons, 1995). Learning is a processby which the learner personalises newinformation by giving meaning to it, basedon earlier experiences. Meaning is seenas rooted in, and indexed by, experience(Brown, et al., 1989). Each experiencewith an idea, and the environment ofwhich that idea is part, becomes part ofthe meaning of that idea (Duffy &Jonassen, 1992). Learning is, therefore,understood as situated in the activity inwhich it takes place (Brown, et al. 1989;Lave & Wenger, 1991).

Whereas social-constructivist perspectivesmake a distinction between individualcognitive activities and the environmentin which the individual is present, thesocio-cultural perspective regards the in-dividual as being part of that environment.Its supporters point out that learning can-not be understood as a process that is

solely in the mind of the learner (VanBoxtel, 2000). Knowledge is distributedover mind, body, and its surroundings(Hewitt & Scardamalia, 1998) and is con-structed in settings of joint activity(Koschmann, 2000). Learning is a proc-ess of participating in cultural practices,a process that structures and shapes cog-nitive activity (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Thesocio-cultural perspective gives promi-nence to the aspect of mutuality of therelations between members and empha-sises the dialectic nature of the learninginteraction (Sfard, 1998). Construction ofknowledge takes place in a social con-text, such as might be found in collectiveactivities.

In addition, Lethinen et al. (1999) arguethat conceptual understanding is fosteredthrough explaining a problem to otherstudents. Therefore, in collaborative learn-ing it is necessary to formulate learningobjectives together, to make learningplans, to share information, to negotiateabout knowledge and to take decisions(Veldhuis-Diermanse & Biemans, 2000).In a setting of collaborative learning, stu-dents can criticize their own and otherstudents’ contributions, they can ask forexplanations, they can give counter ar-guments and, in this way, they will stimu-late themselves and the other students.Additionally, they can motivate and helpeach other to finish the task.

These various perspectives on sociallearning and coming from differentorientations such as psychology, sociol-ogy and anthropology, are present in dif-ferent social configurations, in which col-lectives learn.

In our practice, we found that it is veryuseful to distinguish different variants ofcollective learning, because the collectiveones especially are difficult for people toconceptualise. They think, for instance,that they are learning collectively whenthey are involved in teamwork or a net-work. When this occurs, people fail toorganise the possible, more explicit col-lective outcomes. Sometimes people un-dergo or undertake learning together butwithout any actual or intended collectiveoutcomes. Then the learning processes arecollective, but the learning outcomes maybe only individual ones. In other cases,however, actual or intended outcomes of


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learning (in terms of learning and/or interms of changes in work processes oroutcomes) are collective.

Thus there is a distinction between learn-ing in social interactions (with and fromothers) and collective learning (where themembers consciously strive for common(learning and/or working) outcomes).These forms of collective learning are alsocalled group learning and organisationallearning. We prefer to use the term ‘col-lective learning’ for systems where theintended outcomes (and perhaps, but notnecessarily, the processes of learning) arecollective.

Table 1 shows the four possibilities, ofwhich three are collective: individuallearning processes leading to collectiveoutcomes, collective processes with indi-vidual outcomes, and collective processeswith collective outcomes. How can onemake the step from individual outcomesto collective outcomes? We think that thereare three answers to this question:

❏ when groups or organisations reflectupon the common implicit outcomes oflearning;

❏ when they reflect on or plan commonexplicit learning outcomes;

❏ when they define common plans forexternalisation in the group or the organi-sation.

Table 1:Forms of collective learning

Collective learning is gaining importance.The accelerating developments in oursociety make it necessary, but not suffi-cient, to have excellent groups of indi-viduals in a workforce. Increasingly, peo-ple need to be able to work together insolving problems and innovating moreaccurately and more quickly. To highlightthe different compositions of collectivelearning we propose roughly (read broad)three types of collective learning: learn-ing in networks, learning in teams andlearning in communities (de Laat, 2001).

These types share common elements, butalso harbour distinct differences. The simi-larities let us think about social learningperspectives and contexts for learning.The differences make us realise how the

intentions and outcomes of the collectiveaffect learning practices within the group.The main difference is the learning in-tention of the groups. In this respect twoperspectives on collective learning can bedistinguished: organisation-related collec-tive learning and profession-related col-lective learning.

Organisation-related collective learningrefers to the processes and intended out-comes of learning at the workplace orwithin an organisation. Groups decide tocollaborate in learning, focusing on com-mon learning activities and processes oron common outcomes related to theirwork. In ‘communit ies of pract ice’(Wenger, 1998), people, within an organi-sation, who decide to learn from theirwork, come together to discuss theirshared practice. The collective learningoutcomes are strongly related to the workcontext. Their interest is in improving theirwork.

Profession-related collective learning con-sists of professionals working in differentorganisations, but sharing the same pro-fession, who decide to learn together fromtheir different practices. They do not havea common interest in one organisation;they may even be competing for the sameclients. Their interest is in learning. There-fore, we call this communities of learnersand not communities of practice.

Table 1

Individual and collective learning processes and out-comes

Outcomes

Processes

Individual

Collective

Individual

Individuallearning

Learning in social

interaction

Collective

Individual learningprocesses

with collectiveoutcomes

Collective learning


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Collective outcomes can be partly thesame as those of communities of prac-tice, but collective professional outcomesrelate to contributions to the professionalfield. In a community of learners (com-pared to communities of practice) thereis a weak relationship between collectivelearning outcomes and work context. Eachindividual member has to ‘translate/con-vert’ the collective professional outcomesto their own work context.

In many cases, however, teams do nothave explicitly intended (collective) out-comes. The outcomes are then either in-dividual ones only (learning team) or theyremain tacit for the group members (work-ing team). Then the concepts of commu-nities of practice and communities oflearners do not apply at all. Table 2presents the possibilities.

Table 2:Next we will discuss each type of collec-tive learning more in detail. First we de-scribe learning in networks, then learn-ing in teams and, finally, learning in com-munities.

Learning in networksLearning in (social) networks is the mostloose form of collective learning. Peoplein a network share a common interest,exchange ideas, and help each other. Theycall on each other when they have a prob-lem to solve or something to offer (Dekker& Kingma, 1999). They participate volun-tarily and have a great deal of personalfreedom. Although individuals within the

network frequently meet person-to-per-son, the whole network rarely meets(McDermott, 1999).

Networks facilitate individual collabora-tion and leave it to the individuals to de-termine the content and form of knowl-edge-sharing (Walton, 1999). In such anetwork, according to Walton, power isdistributed; everyone owns their own situ-ation. Those who can make continuousadaptations to discontinuous change sur-vive and flourish. People create throughtheir network new shared meaning. Theylegitimise new ways of behaving. Theyprovide systemic (as opposed to program-matic) solutions and they provide a frame-work in which focused improvement ef-forts can be launched. Walton points outcompetences people must have to be ableto learn and participate in a set of rela-tionships in order to operate within anetwork.

Several relevant competences are (seeWalton, 1999, p. 541):

(a) spanning structural boundaries: estab-lish broad networks across existing hier-archy and work them directly, makingopportunistic use of meetings;

(b) making transitions: use transitions asopportunities to learn new skills, look foralternatives/role models, tend to dive inand enter quickly, stay focused on needsbeing served, facilitate major changethrough communication, set new expec-tations, and build trust;

(c) communication skills: engage in build-ing shared meaning, focus on the needof others and anticipate questions, the realcommunication tends to go on outsidemeetings;

(d) problem solving: look at the wholesituation (out of boundary or lateral think-ing) or the big picture, and coaching oth-ers;

(e) power relationships: treat bosses ascoaches or mentors, as supporters or aspeople who could add value to an idea.Play leadership roles without authority.

Learning in teamsWhere networks are loosely coupled,teams have a more structured pattern.

Table 2

Different types of collective learning

Individualoutcomes

Collectiveorganisational

outcomes

Implicit

Networking

Workingteam

Explicit

Learningteam

Community of practice

Collectiveprofesionaloutcomes

Workingteam

Community of learners


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Collective learning in teams is task-ori-ented. Where people in a network contacteach other to solve a work-related prob-lem, teams are initiated or created arounda certain task or problem that has to besolved. Characteristic of learning in teamsis the temporary nature of teams. They areestablished for a certain task; when this iscompleted the team breaks up.

When thinking of learning in teams, adistinction must be made between work-ing teams (organisation-related collectivelearning) and learning teams (professionalrelated collective learning). The learningthat goes on in working teams is implicitbut increasingly recognised as an impor-tant asset for the organisation (Nonaka &Takeuchi, 1997; 2001; Engeström, 1999a;1999b; Eraut, 1998).

An example of learning in working teamsis drawn from the work done by Enge-ström. He uses the activity theory to ana-lyse work practices, also called activitysystems. Activity systems are social struc-tures in which people learn and worktogether. Learning outcomes can be im-plicit and a side effect that remains un-noticed. Activity theory provides threecharacteristics for analysing learning inwork teams (Engeström, 1999a):

(a) activity theory is deeply contextual andoriented at understanding historically spe-cific local practices, their objects, medi-ating artefacts, and social organisation;

(b) activity theory is based on a dialogicaltheory of knowledge and thinking, fo-cused on the creative potential in humancognition;

(c) activity theory is a developmentaltheory that seeks to explain and influencequalitative changes in human practicesover time.

Collective activity is driven by a commu-nal interest. This communal interest formsthe object of the activity. The object inturn is to be understood as a project un-der construction, moving from potential‘raw material’ to a meaningful shape andto a result or an outcome (Engeström,1999c). During this process, expansivelearning may occur.

Expansive learning is a dialectical proc-ess by which contradictions lead to ten-

sions in the activity system and enabletransformation. Contradictions act as start-ing points and energy sources for devel-opment. Expansive learning begins withindividual subjects questioning acceptedpractice, and it gradually expands into acollective movement (Engeström, 1999c).The activity system model developed byEngeström (1987) provides a way to de-scribe the actions that take place withinthe working team. The model provides aholistic picture of a collaborative knowl-edge construct ion process and i tsinterdependences, and can help to organ-ise thorough description of such systems(Hansen, et al., 1999,). Human activity canbe described as an interdependent sys-tem of several components, namely: sub-jects, tools, rules, community and divisionof labour (see Engeström, 1987 for a de-tailed description).

Learning in working teams is not onlyimplicit but – as with the working teamitself - can also be temporary. Instead ofbeing part of a stable working team, thecombinations of people collaborating toperform a task may change constantly. Yetin their basic pattern, they are continu-ously repeated (Engeström, 1999b).

Engeström recognizes the temporary no-tion of working teams and suggests theconcept of knotworking to capture theinnovative and creative nature of teamlearning. Knotworking is related to therise of temporary groups (Meyerson,Weick & Kramer, 1996). However teamsare understood as one-time formationscreated for the purpose of completing atask with a clear deadline. Knotworkingsuggests a longitudinal process in whichknots are formed, dissolved, and re-formed. The notion of a knot refers torapidly pulsating, distributed and partiallyimprovised orchestration of collaborativeperformance. Engeström therefore sug-gests that the knot itself should be thefocus of attention.

The intention to learn within a learningteam is different from a working team. Alearning team is formed to explicitly studya certain task or problem. The membersof a learning team organise meetings andmake agreements on how to complete thetask. Huczynski & Buchanan (2001) speakin this context about project teams. Ac-cording to them, a project team consists


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of individuals who have been broughttogether for a limited period of time (fromdifferent parts of the organisation) to con-tribute towards a specified task. Once thishas been completed, the team is eitherdisbanded or else its members are givennew assignments.

Project teams are created when:

❏ creative problem solving is required in-volving the application of different typesof specialised knowledge;

❏ there is a need to coordinate closelythe work on a specific project.

The project teams are overlaid upon theexisting functional structure of the organi-sation, and hence are an addition to it.

Learning teams, in summary, have thefollowing characteristics:

(a) representative: they are representativein that their individual members usuallyretain their position their ‘home’ func-tional department;

(b) temporary: they have a finite life, evenif their end is years in the future;

(c) innovation: they are established tosolve non-conventional problems andmeet challenging performance standards.

An example of team learning is actionlearning, a term introduced by Revans.With it he meant creating learning teamsto work on real organisational problemsand to structure experiences in such a waythat both useful solutions to these prob-lems emerge and substantial learning oc-curs for participants. This offers learningthat goes on beyond the technical detailsof the particular problem (Vaill, 1996).Within those learning teams people cometogether to discuss their own real work-related problem and share this projectwith the other members.

Although action learning can be trans-ferred to a wider scope, its focus wasmainly on management education. Someelements of action learning are relevanthere (see Mumford, 1999 for a moreelaborate description). First, the learningprocess is social; people learn best withand from one another, but the members

are responsible for their own achieve-ments in their own project. Next, the so-cial process is achieved and managedthrough regular meetings in which indi-vidual projects are discussed. The groupis usually called a set. The members arecomrades in adversity (Mumford, 1999).Third, the role of people providing helpfor members of the set is essentially andcrucially different from that of a normalteacher. Their role is not to teach but tohelp to learn from exposure to problemsand to one another.

Learning in communitiesTeams are as we just mentioned createdto solve a predefined problem. Commu-nities are emergent (Brown & Duguid,1991). Their shape and membershipemerges in the process of activity, as op-posed to being created to carry out a task.Communities emerge around a topic ofinterest shared by voluntary members.They can be characterized as an informalgroup that emerges from spontaneousinteraction between persons as they talk,joke and associate with one another(Huczynski & Buchanan, 2001) .Huczynski and Buchanan define informalgroups as a collection of individuals whobecome a group when members developinterdependences, influence one anoth-er’s behaviour and contribute to mutualneeds satisfaction.

According to Ackroyd and Thompson(1999) groups organise themselves aroundshared interests, through establishing au-tonomy by defining what their commu-nity is about and creating boundaries, andby establishing identities (individual iden-tities through group membership andgroup identity by which groups can bedistinct from each other). Barth (1981)argues that a group can be described interms of how members imagine the com-munity’s boundaries. Some are core mem-bers; others participate more peripherally(Wenger, 1999).

In communities the intention to learn isbased upon individuals who have a cer-tain learning goal for themselves but cometogether to learn as a group to help outeach other. They share insights and ne-gotiate and create knowledge together.Over time a sense of belonging arisesbetween the participants. Membership toa community is voluntary and people stay


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a member as long as they are interestedin the theme that is discussed within thecommunity. In this article we focus onthe emergence of communities in two dif-ferent contexts mentioned earlier. One issituated in a professional context; theother draws its attention on an organisa-tional setting. When we speak of the pro-fessional context we refer to communi-ties of learners. In work settings we referto communities of practice.

First we will discuss communities of learn-ers. Here we draw inspiration from Brownand Campione, who introduced the con-cept of communities of learners, and fromScardamalia and Bereiter, who introducedthe concept of the knowledge-buildingcommunity.

The approach of communities of learnersdeveloped by Brown and Campione(1994) is a pedagogical model that is de-signed to take advantage of the distrib-uted expertise and cognitive diversity. Theapproach is focused on adopting thegoals, values, beliefs, and forms of dis-course characteristic to scientific practice.Conceptual advancement is made by cul-tivating each members’ own expertise.The participants engage in self-regulatedand collaborative enquiry, being respon-sible for the task as a group (Lehtinen etal., 1999).

The participants are apprentice learners,learning how to think and reason in avariety of domains (Brown et al., 1997).In a community of learners they try tofoster supporting and overlapping zonesof proximal development that stimulategrowth through mutual appropriation andnegotiated meaning.

Scardamalia and Bereiter (1994) speak ofa knowledge-building community whenthere is a culture of learning that seeksto advance collective knowledge and inconsequently supports the growth ofeach of the individuals in the commu-nity. Organisations that adopt the knowl-edge-building approach have to shiftfrom learning to construction of collec-tive knowledge (Scardamalia & Bereiter,1999).

This shift involves treating students asparticipants in a learning organisation in-stead of as clients that receive knowledge.

The students are, therefore, engaged inproducing knowledge objects that alsolend themselves to being discussed,tested, and so forth without particularreference to the mental states of thoseinvolved, and where the students see theirmain job as producing and improvingthose objects (Scardamalia & Bereiter,1996).

By introducing the concept of knowl-edge-building Scardamalia and Bereitergive form to the socio-constructivist per-spective of learning, in which knowl-edge is situated and distributed, and thatlearning must be seen as a process ofparticipating in various communities inwhich knowledge is being shared, ne-gotiated, and advanced. They let go ofthe idea that knowledge is solely anasset residing in people’s mind. Theconception of knowledge as a resourceor knowledge as a product, as some-thing that can be created and improvedor found to have new uses, is put touse in knowledge-building communities.The knowledge-building process can becharacterised as follows (Scardamaliaand Bereiter, 1994):

❏ focus on problems and depth of un-derstanding – the focus is on problems,and engaging community members in pro-ducing and advancing theories to explainincreasingly diverse and seemingly con-trary ideas, that come to light trying tosolve these problems;

❏ decentralising, open knowledge build-ing communities focusing on collectiveknowledge – social interactions are ex-pected to realize constructive responsesto one another’s work to ensure that thecommunity is working at the forefront oftheir collective understanding.

In a context of learning in work practicespeople refer to the term communities ofpractice (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Wenger,1998; 1999). This is based on the notionof Lave and Wenger (1990) who describelearning as legitimate peripheral partici-pation in various communities. Accord-ing to Brown and Duguid (1991) work-place learning can best be understood interms of the communities being formedor joined and personal identities beingchanged. Their central issue in learningis becoming a practitioner, not learning


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about practice. In a community of prac-tice, participants, who share a commoninterest in the field in which they work,come together to help each other, solveproblems, and share and create knowl-edge collaboratively.

A community of practice, therefore, is agroup of people informally bound by ashared practice related to a set of prob-lems. They typically solve problems, dis-cuss insights, share information, talk abouttheir lives, and ambitions, mentor andcoach each other, make plans for com-munity activities, and develop tools andframeworks that become part of the com-mon knowledge of the community. Overtime these mutual interactions and rela-tionships build up a shared body ofknowledge and a sense of identity. Theyconstitute an informal, social structureinitiated by members and reflecting ontheir collective learning (Wenger, 1999, p.4).

A community of practice defines itselfalong three dimensions (Wenger, 1998;1999):

(a) what it is about – a joint enterprise asunderstood and continually renegotiatedby its members;

(b) how it functions- mutual engagementthat binds members together into a socialentity;

(c) what capability it has produced - theshared repertoire of communal recourses(routines, sensibilities, artefacts, vocabu-lary, styles, etc.) that members have de-veloped over time.

All these different forms of collectivelearning can be present in an organisa-tion at the same time. An employer caneven be part of various collectives bothas a worker and as a learner. But howcan this collective learning be stimulatedand supported within organisations?

At the beginning of this article we saidthat ICT plays an important role in creat-ing possibilities for communication be-tween people. ICT has an advantage inbringing people together without time andplace constraints. Organisations nowadaysmake use of knowledge management sys-tems, stimulating workers to share and

create knowledge. These systems are be-ing used with some enthusiasm, but out-comes do not always meet expectations.Brown & Duguid (2000) argue in theirbook The social life of information formore attention to the contextual and so-cial processes that are present while us-ing certain ICT-tools. In our view (de Laat,De Jong & Ter Huurne, 2000; de Laat, DeJong & Simons, 2001) it is important tosupport collective learning through ICTby focussing on the group dynamics thatare needed to organise and coordinatelearning and to support the clarificationand the aim of the discourse by provid-ing insight into how knowledge is cre-ated.

Supporting collectivelearning in ICT networks

ICT tools such as groupware applicationsplay an important role in bringing peo-ple together and offer a platform throughwhich collectives communicate, share in-formation and learn. Organisations areincreasingly making use of knowledgemanagement systems, which are designednot only to retrieve knowledge fromdatabases, but also offer possibilities todiscuss and update this knowledge basedupon new experiences of their employ-ers. In modern organisations, workers arestimulated to share and develop knowl-edge together.

There are many different ICT tools avail-able for this purpose. We argue, however,that for learning it is important to focusattention on how to organise and supportlearning independent of which tool isbeing used. Groupware applications of-fer the possibility for shared workspace,but do not seem to provide enough sup-port for the group to regulate their ownlearning activities. Hakkarainen et al. (inpress) argue that members in a networkedenvironment are not able to work pro-ductively with knowledge alone, but needconsiderable pedagogical guidance andexpert modelling.

This is especially true for collaborativelearning in an organisation. In a class-room setting there is always the teacherwho can regulate the learning activities


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of the group. Communities of practice,in contrast, have to be self-regulative tobe constructive learners. This involvesbeing able to apply cognitive, meta-cognitive and affective learning activitiesto regulate the discourse (Boekaerts &Simons, 1995; Van Hout-Wolters, Simons& Volet, 2000; Vermunt, 1992; De Jong,1992).

For online communities of practice tobecome used to sharing knowledge, deep-ening their own and common understand-ing and creating further insights, it seemsto be crucial for them to be able to coor-dinate, clarify and regulate the discoursethemselves. A study with a centre for ex-pertise in the Dutch police force indicatedthat members of an online communitydesire more structure and support to guidethe learning activities of the communityas a whole (de Laat, De Jong & TerHuurne, 2000). This community had dif-ficulties in coordinating discussion andclarifying the goals and direction of thediscussion.

The two kinds of support introduced inthis article are two possible ways, in ourview, of addressing this problem. The firsttype of support derives from a content-driven perspective by introducing a dis-course model; the second from a groupdynamics perspective by assigning rolesto the members of the community. Thesetwo kinds of support can be used sepa-rately but, in combination, they canstrengthen each other.

Progressive enquiryThe model of progressive enquiry canbe introduced to assist clarification of thecontent and the aim of the discourse en-qui ry . This model , deve loped byHakkarainen (1998), addresses the wayknowledge is created in scientific com-munities. Progressive enquiry engagesmembers of the community in a step-by-step process of question- and explana-tion—driven enquiry (Hakkarainen &Muukonen, 1999). An important distinc-tion (or addition) with reference to otherproblem-solving cycles is the emphasison development of shared expertise.Making use of the distributed expertiseof the community members, the aim ofthis model is to support the collabora-tive problem-solving process resulting ina shared understanding.

The successive elements of progressiveenquiry are discussed below.

Creating the context

To be able to explore the problem moredeeply, members have to become famil-iar with it. A context needs to be createdto clarify why the issues in question arerelevant and worth invest igat ing(Hakkarainen, 1998). This way the com-munity develops a body of understand-ing that serves as an anchor for the for-mulation of the problem statement or re-search question.

Setting up research questions

The next step is to set up questions thatguide the process of enquiry. Scientificenquiry can be seen as a problem-solv-ing process. Initial questions guide anddirect the search for information.

Constructing working theories

Once the community has agreed on aninitial research question, the members areinvited to construct their own interpreta-tion. Construction of personal workingtheories guides the participants to usetheir background knowledge to offer anexplanation for the problem. A firstknowledge base of the communities’ un-derstanding of the problem is being cre-ated.

Critical evaluation

This knowledge base or inventory of dis-tributed expertise needs to be evaluated.Critical evaluation is important to assessadvancement in the theories or explana-tions being offered. Through evaluatingwhether, and how well, the working theo-ries explain the chosen problems, thecommunity seeks to assess strengths andweaknesses of different explanations andidentify contradictory explanations, gapsin knowledge.

Searching deepening knowledge

Considerable advancement of enquirycannot be made without obtaining newinformation. By examining prior problemstatements or working theories with thehelp of new information, the communitymay become aware of their inadequate


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presuppositions. New information mayhelp them to reconstruct their conceptualunderstanding of the problem.

Engagement in deepening enquiry

Progressive enquiry is a process of fur-ther refinement. At first the communityhas a broad conception of the problemthat leads to general questions. After in-ventory of prior knowledge and search-ing for new information, more specificquestions emerge. Advancement in en-quiry is captured by examining a chainof (ever-deeper) questions.

Constructing new working theories

By finding answers to subordinate ques-tions, the community comes closer, step-by-step, to answering the initial questionor problem statement.

Shared expertise

All the above mentioned elements of thismodel will be performed and shared byall the community members. Cognitiveresearch indicates that advancement ofenquiry can be substantially elicited byrelying on socially distributed cognitiveresources, and collaborative efforts toadvance shared understanding and exper-tise (Hakkarainen, 1998).

Introducing this model of progressive en-quiry offers support in structuring andregulating the learning activities of par-ticipants.

RolesIn the second type of support, severalroles are introduced to stimulate interde-pendence and collaboration (Johnson &Johnson, 1999; Forsyth, 1999). Theseroles are chairman, process evaluator,content evaluator, log keeper, and tech-nical support.

To stimulate interdependence, each mem-ber must have a unique contribution tomake to the community. Therefore thecommunity must consist of members whodeal with the work-related problem fromdifferent perspectives, which creates aheterogeneous community that can ac-complish something an individual couldnot alone (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). Toaccomplish this, someone has to play the

role of a chairman, who will be responsi-ble for overall coordination.

Specific tasks of the chairman are to:

(a) invite people into the community ac-cording to their expertise;

(b) provide an introduction to the work-related problem;

(c) make sure that the members give anintroduction to the others, about whattheir expertise is, why they join this com-munity and what they expect both forthemselves and for the community;

(d) suggest a learning agenda, in whichthe learning goals will be clarified, andthe roles will be assigned.

Effective collaboration is influenced bywhether or not the community reflects onits own learning activities. To foster col-laboration is to structure the communityprocesses. The purpose of communityprocessing is to clarify and improve theeffectiveness of the members in contrib-uting to the collaborative efforts neces-sary to achieve their goals (Johnson &Johnson, 1999).

A number of roles are identified to stimu-late this, the first of which is the processevaluator, responsible for evaluation ofthe activities of the participants. The spe-cific tasks of process evaluator are to:

❏ Maintain contact with all the membersto stimulate their engagement and to pro-mote active participation. In order to con-tribute to each other’s learning partici-pants need to attend, be prepared andcontribute to the community efforts;

❏ assess the quality of the interaction, byapplying to the individual’s expertise.Stimulate the cohesion of the community,and ask for suggestions on how commu-nity efforts can be improved.

A second role is that of content evalua-tor. Participation needs more than juststimulation; the content of contributionsneeds to be evaluated and structured.When members of a community becomeinvolved, their different expertise, percep-tions, opinions, reasoning processes, theo-ries and conclusions will result in intel-


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lectual disagreement and conflict (Johnson& Johnson, 1999). Specific tasks of thecontent evaluator are to:

❏ structure the contributions in theknowledge base. When managed con-structively, an active search for more in-formation, a reconceptualisation of con-tributed knowledge and conclusions willlead to knowledge building activities;

❏ assess the quality of the written con-tributions in the knowledge base. For allthese contributions to be managed prop-erly, the knowledge base that has beenbuilt needs to be reflected upon. The com-munity must reflect on whether or notthey are working towards the goals thatare being set in the learning agenda. Theyneed to assess the quality of their work,conclusions and summaries have to bemade to be able to engage in a deeperanalysis of the problem.

A further role is that of log keeper. Inaddition to structuring the content of thecontributions, the discussion processneeds guidance. A logbook helps the com-munity to clarify or reread various stepsthat have been taken during the discus-sion process. This can be understood asa learning agenda in which the learninggoals are expressed. Other functions areto keep track of the decisions that havebeen taken, clarify what kinds of arrange-ments have been made, etc. This will pro-vide insight into how the discussion hastaken place and can help newcomers tofollow the discussion so far.

Finally there is the role of technical sup-port. This covers actions such as provid-ing information about how to work withthe programme, finding solutions for tech-nical problems (gett ing logged on,uploading files, etc.).

These roles offer the community supportin organising collaborative learning. Theperson who is assigned to a certain roledoes not necessarily have to carry out allthe tasks alone; tasks can be delegated toother members in the community. Whatis most important is that people feel (or

can be addressed to) a responsibility forkeeping the discussion alive and movingin the desired direction.

Conclusionand Discussion

In this article we discussed the variousforms of collective learning and tried toconceptualise them. We think it is impor-tant to consider that people undergo orundertake learning together, that some-times they learn without any actual orintended collective outcomes, and thatsometimes learning goals are made ex-plicit in advance. This is important to re-alise when thinking of creating possibili-ties for groups to learn in organisations.

By conceptualising different forms of col-lective learning we provide an overviewof what collective learning is and how itcan be organised. When people are fos-tering collective learning in organisations,it is important to take into account thatdifferent forms of collective learning re-sult in different learning outcomes. In ourview, fostering participation in commu-nities of practice and communities oflearners is a powerful way to stimulatepeople to learn collectively because col-lective learning is manifested most in thisform of social learning.

The distinctions we offered also help inconsidering what kind of ICT tools arehelpful to stimulate learning. We areaware that there are numerous differenttypes of ICT tools, all with their strengthsand weaknesses, but in our view the mostimportant thing in supporting group learn-ing in a networked environment is to fo-cus on the learning processes that areneeded to foster collaborative learning.In this article we proposed two kinds ofsupport for fostering collective learningby focussing on the social and contentaspects of learning. At the moment thesemodels are the subject of research. Pre-liminary results, however, indicate thatthese models support participants in regu-lating and structuring discourse.


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RandolphPreisinger-KleineP&W ProjektGesellschaft mbH,Germany

Nowadays nearly all material published byapplied organisational research makessome reference to ‘the learning organisa-tion’ as a new model for holistic, sustain-able organisational development. ‘Manage-ment of change’ is intended to providethe key, i.e. the means and the aims offorward-looking learning organisation.

However, if we look more closely at theproposed concepts, we can see that inmost cases organisational learning isequated with individual learning proc-esses. As if that were not enough, the con-fusion is exacerbated by the tendency tounthinkingly apply subject-specific, reflex-ive learning concepts such as ‘lifelonglearning’ or ‘social learning’ to organisa-tions, or vice versa␣ (1).

But simple examples have already provedthat an analytical distinction must be madebetween the organisation as a learning unitand its personnel or members. A compa-ny’s employees can engage in additionaltraining without the knowledge they ac-quire necessarily having a positive effecton the company. This is particularly truewhen acquisition of new skills promptsemployees to transfer to another company.On the other hand, strategic measuressuch as increasing the division of labourcan provide companies with skills advan-tages, while at the same time dequalifyingtheir staff.

If we take the claim of the ‘organisationallearning’ programme seriously and vieworganisations as collective entities of learn-ing processes, existing findings give causefor concern, since up to now we only haveevidence of ‘simple’ learning processes␣ (2).Organisations overwhelmingly tend to fo-cus on acquisition and development ofrule-based knowledge instead of on glo-bal skills and complex learning. ‘The pri-

Can organisationslearn to learn?

mary learning result is stricter conformityof activity and, consequently, predictabil-ity of organisational processes in formallyregimented categories’␣ (3). The instrumen-tal rationality model steers learning proc-esses using the minimum location princi-ple, but this by definition excludes recur-sive and reflexive concepts such as inno-vation or management of change, sincethey logically contradict the economydrive and do not naturally fit into the co-ordinate system of regular structures␣ (4).

This blindness towards new learning de-mands is to some extent rational since,particularly ‘under conditions of extremeuncertainty ... ‘stubbornly’ applying a pre-ordained set of rules results in a higheraverage success rate than that of experi-ments with strategies lacking sufficientinformation. The maximum attainable ra-tionality level is that of local optimi-sation’␣ (5). Organisations also behave ra-tionally on another level in cases wheresimple learning structures are retained.Since an unbridgeable gulf in complexityexists between the organisation and itsenvironment, learning structures must re-main revocable, should new decisionsentail this␣ (6). Paradoxically, it is learningstructures based on instrumental rational-ity which seem to guarantee this kind ofreversibility, since the comparatively long-term learning cycles and the general re-duction in learning speed allow scope fordecisions on changes in the target system’sdecision-making process. However, regi-mented organisations cannot exploit theseredundancies, since they are bound toabide by regulations which prohibit theacquisition of reflexive skills, i.e. complexlearning, at the risk of performative self-contradiction.

Organisations focusing on simple learn-ing thus face two fundamental difficulties.

Although the concept of the‘learning organisation’ hasacquired paradigmatic sta-tus in recent years, thereare very few approacheswhich help us to have a bet-ter understanding of howorganisations learn. If wetake a look at the few avail-able diagnoses, the picturetends to be rather dismal.Quite in contrast to rhetori-cal proclamations, thelearning behaviour of realorganisations consists ofabstinence. By restrictinglearning to an increase inknowledge of rules, organi-sations relinquish the pos-sibility of acquiring addi-tional flexibility and au-tonomy and of getting a bet-ter understanding of theirown learning behaviour. Itis true that some unconven-tional forms of the learningrequired develop in niches,but precisely for that rea-son they lack relevance forthe average organisation.The aim of the followingarticle is to discuss possiblegaps in this issue and topropose solutions. The ap-proach is an ecologicalbroadening of perspectivesas a background for theemergence of additionallearning option for organi-sations.


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On the one hand, in the case of simplelearning, material success depends exclu-sively on the appropriateness of the situ-ation. Hence learning triggers and goalsare determined by catalyst events in theorganisational environment and cannot bedictated by the organisation itself. On theother hand, complex environmental con-siderations necessarily make simple learn-ing tautological, since newly emergingproblems can only be tackled either bytemporary adjustment of rules or viastricter enforcement of regulations, evenif those applied prove to be obviouslyinadequate.

In recent years several concepts have beennegotiated to break this cycle␣ (7). The firstproposal was the ‘complex learning’model. This focuses on encouraging thegrowth of organisational learning by in-creasing behavioural variability, i.e. de-veloping flexibility and environmental in-dependence. In contrast to the simplelearning model, which is always condi-tioned by the environment, in this modellearning is initiated by the individual,based on changes in behaviour. The pos-sibility of alteration to the operational,normative and cognitive conditions of or-ganisations’ knowledge systems seemsdirectly proportional to the increase incontingency between the organisation andits environment. Ideally and typically, or-ganisations gain ‘new knowledge’ duringthe course of complex learning processes.This organisational knowledge, whichtakes the form of accepted causal rela-tionships and context variables within therelevant situation, can be updated com-municatively through interaction withother organisations or the environment␣ (8).

Although empirical evidence of complexsystems does exist within learning organi-sations, it shows that the formation ofstructures of this kind depends on verydifferent factors that lie partially beyondthe influence of the organisation and itsmembers. Therefore, in turbulent environ-mental conditions, active, explorativelearning strategies for the acquisition ofnew knowledge can only result from pro-spective action based on highly selectiveinformation, whereas analytical and sus-tainable knowledge-boosting strategiesrequire relatively stable environmentalconditions. In contrast to the simple learn-ing process, organisations must also ex-

pect repercussions on the organisationalconditions themselves, particularly theredistribution of skill structures and theresulting (negative) reactions from theindividuals and groups affected.

Ideally, ‘complex learning’ permits a quan-titative increase in interpretations of real-ity, but does not yet allow for the forma-tion of reflexive learning strategies alongthe lines of double-loop learning or themore complex ‘cognitive strategies andattitudes’␣ (9).

If we follow current debate, we can con-firm that there is a clear tendency to exer-cise restraint on the reflexive capabilitiesof organisations. Neither empirical find-ings for the second level of organisationallearning, nor theoretical-analytical inter-pretations of collective assets are avail-able. In other words, organisations seemunable to refer to their own learning proc-esses, to assess the success or failure oflearning experiences, or to draw conclu-sions for future action. One might almostsay that organisations are ‘blind’ to theirown learning situation. Self-determined,reflexive learning thus remains the respon-sibility of individual organisation mem-bers. The disadvantage of this is that al-though they have a clear picture of thecognitive requirements of their own learn-ing, they cannot appreciate the learningparameters underlying the entire organi-sational process.

Nevertheless, in the reality of everydayorganisational life, cases of non-linear and‘far-reaching’ learning do emerge. How-ever, these are not usually planned, norare they consciously recognised for whatthey are. On the contrary, exceptional situ-ations, where organisations have to copewith a partial loss of control in some pe-ripheral areas, can become potential learn-ing situations, in which even the identityof authenticated assumptions becomesambiguous. Sometimes organisations arecompelled to face unexpected environ-mental occurrences, for example, in thecase of intrusions. These can take the formof invasion (loss of control in regard tomembership), dissidence (loss of controlwith regard to deviating interpretations ofreality and ‘rationality references’) andintersection (loss of control with regardto the inter-penetrative, redirecting effectof external knowledge systems). These

(1) Cf. for example: Meinolf D. et al.The Annotated Bibliography of Or-ganisational Learning. Berlin, 2000.

(2) Wiesenthal, H. Konventionelles undunkonventionelles Organisations-lernen. Literatur- und Ergänzungsvor-schlag. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 1995,Vol. 24, No 4, p. 138.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Of course, this can also trigger or-ganisational transformation. However,organisational learning differs fromsimple ‘preservation of existence’ inthe sense that it characterises the‘process of intended, enforced changeof structural and cognitive organisa-tion variables’. Wiesenthal, H. NeunThesen zur theoretischen Konzi-pierung tiefgreifenden Organisa-tionslernens. Contribution to the work-shop ‘Lernende Organisation: Wie istLernen in Organisationen möglich?Was zeichnet eine lernende Organi-sation aus?’ at the colloquium ‘Inno-vation von und in Organisationen’held by the Hans-Böckler Stiftung ander Ruhr at the University of Bochum(chairman Prof. Heiner Minssen) on17 May 2000.

(5) Ibid.

(6) On ‘the concept of limited ration-ality’, cf. March, J.G.; Olsen, J.P. Am-biguity and Choice in Organisations.Bergen, 1976.

(7) Cf. also Dierkes, Meinolf, CamillaKrebsbach-Gnath. Organisationslernen- Ansätze zum Veränderungsmanage-ment in kleinen und mittleren Unter-nehmen’. In Folker Schmidt (ed.).Methodische Probleme der empi-rischen Erziehungswissenschaft, Balt-mannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohen-gehren, 1997, p. 63-76.

(8) On aspects of knowledge manage-ment cf. Pawlowsky, P. Wissensmana-gement in der lernenden Organisa-tion, post-doctoral thesis. Universityof Paderborn, 1994.

(9)Wiesenthal, H., op. cit., p. 144.


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unconventional learning alternatives eludethe grasp of organisations and, more sig-nificantly, the organisations are then in-capable of determining their own learn-ing objectives and content.

We can thus see that organisational learn-ing basically has a bipolar structure. Gen-erally, organisations adhere to conven-tional learning strategies, which reproducemembers’ ruled-based knowledge. In con-trast to qualitative and holistic improve-ments to learning processes, organisationallearning is, in practice, primarily steeredby stochastic principles of local optimi-sation. The lack of empirical evidence forcomplex learning is unsurprising, givenits highly selective conditions of a rela-tively stable environment on the one handand a need for an active learning disposi-tion on the other. No empirical evidencewhatsoever exists for reflexive learning orlearning from previous learning processes.Although existing research results dem-onstrate exemplary qualitative leaps in or-ganisations’ learning behaviour, these are,paradoxically, not controlled by the or-ganisations themselves. Reflexive learningtriggers and programme structures areusually ‘imported’ from outside, against abackdrop of organisational existential cri-ses. Self-dictated learning therefore doesnot seem to be a viable form of organisa-tional learning, despite rhetorical attemptsto prove the opposite.

Organisational learningoutside anomie and de-in-stitutionalisation

Nevertheless, we can confirm that the re-search programme under considerationcontains gaps in the system, which mayprompt consideration of new concepts. If,for example, we recall the progression ofunconventional learning processes, it isclear that they can be interpreted as theindirect result of a blurring of boundaries,indeed, as de-institutionalisation withinorganisations. However, this might notoffer a full explanation, as crossing bor-ders does not automatically imply a lossof control. Network research findingsshow that in loosely connected organisa-tion networks, knowledge can be adaptedto the rationality parameters embedded inthe organisation without posing any threat.

A loose partnership between organisationscreates ‘... a generally much broader in-formation horizon and frame of refer-ence... . Communication within loosely as-sociated networks serves to roughly struc-ture and prioritise information by increas-ing the possibility of association, with thefocus on applicable knowledge, but thelack of hard and fast criteria renders itunsuitable for rigorous selection. Thus, ina certain sense, loose partnerships over-come the limitations of organisations. Al-though these limits, which take the formof binding codes and precise informationchannels, do improve the efficiency ofinternal communications, they also nec-essarily restrict the creativity and behav-iour of organisation members.’(10) Thiskind of loose partnership in intermediarynetworks is characterised by the capacityto combine various organisational formswith heterogeneous routines and rationalprocedures. This maintains the develop-ment and adaptation potential of both theindividual organisation and the networkas a whole. Furthermore, inter-organisa-tional cooperation permits different typesof organisation to reap mutual benefit fromcomplementary learning processes. ‘Loosepartnership between networks allowsmany different business routines to coex-ist, whereby local convention governs itsextent. Moreover, it does not place highdemands on the organisational compat-ibility of the networked organisations’␣ (11).

Contrary to the irrevocable limits conceptof non-conventional learning, we assumethat cognitive redundancies arise in aninter-organisational context. The lack ofcorrelation between learning objectivesand content (priorities, scheduling, etc.)allows these redundancies to exploit theway organisational limits can be perme-ated by ‘weak signals’. They are thus po-tential learning triggers. In other words,environmental communication imbuesorganisations with constructive tension,without jeopardising their existence␣ (12).

The possibility of redundancy results fromorganisations’ differentiation processes,i.e., the formulation of specific semantics,which identify an organisation as an ac-tive and communicating entity, i.e. self-defining. This allows conscious operationsand attribution processes to define them-selves independently of and in relation toothers and thus make themselves avail-

(10) Grabher, G. Lob der Verschwen-dung. Redundanz in der Regional-entwicklung: Ein sozioökonomischesPlädoyer. Berlin, 1994, p. 77.

(11) Grabher, G., op. cit., 1994, p. 74-75.

(12) On pertinent knowledge manage-ment: Pawlowsky, P.; Seifert, M.;Reinhardt, R. InterorganisationalesLern- und Wissensmanagement :Ansätze für Klein- und Mittelstän-dische Unternehmen. In Pawlowsky(ed.). Wissensmanagement – Erfah-rungen und Perspektiven, Wiesbaden,1998, p. 225-254.


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able as a unit for establishing relationships.Self-definition guarantees that ‘unlikeritualisation of communication processes,the process can monitor itself, even whenit does not take place’␣ (13). This is a re-flexive process. ‘Self-observation is firstand foremost one moment in the internalinformation processing sequence. In ad-dition, it permits self-definition by estab-lishing which topics a system communi-cates when it communicates somethingabout itself. Self-observation facilitates, ormaybe even forces, reflection, in the senseof determining the identity (in relation toothers) that the self-observing area pro-vides as a unit for establishing relation-ship’␣ (14). Seen in that way, redundancy-based system behaviour represents one ofmany alternatives.

However, the condition of enabling anorganisation to define itself using seman-tics is heavily dependent on creating re-dundant information and communicationstructures. This finding is initially para-doxical. After all, this would be accompa-nied by a plethora of non-utilisable infor-mation. But it shows us that this superflu-ity is useful in practice because it makesthe system more independent of certainrelationships and protects it from risk ofloss. This alone creates the impression ofobjectivity and of normative or cognitivecorrectness and establishes a correspond-ingly secure behavioural basis. Redun-dancy also helps to ‘filter out’ those ele-ments that have proved themselves inmany forms of communication, thus form-ing a structure.

For its part, this structure formation facili-tates information processing procedures(internal and external observation anddefinition) because it allows elementaryobservations to be abstracted from spe-cific situations. Variety in the form of in-formation redundancy is a central condi-tion for the reversibility of self-definition.‘At the core of a social system lies its abil-ity to make itself a unit for establishingrelationship.’ Admittedly, this implies thatself-definition and hence system and en-vironmental restrictions must adapt tocurrent activities and communication sys-tems. In this way, redundancies providethe superfluity of possible data combina-

tions into which self-definition can mergeagain and again, only to re-materialise inanother communication system immedi-ately afterwards. Intelligent action withinthe social system therefore demands anability which forms the basis of initiativeat individual level: reversible gestalt for-mation and the capacity to ‘glide’ fromone idea to another.

However, using redundancies as learningresources will, by definition, involve leav-ing the level of organisational learning.Collective and co-evolutionary learningprocesses at meso-level will replace thequasi-solipsistic act of knowledge and skillenhancement.

Additional learning triggers in the contextof environmental communication some-times result from relationship redundancyfollowing creation of a loose partner-ship␣ (16) of organisations. This ensures‘ambiguity tolerance’ through the result-ing co-existence of different forms of logi-cal action and rationalities or rationalityconditions, which can be found in a con-tinuum of competition and cooperation.This generates the advantages of the ‘thick-ening of information’ found in strategicnetworks␣ (17). Precisely this constitutiveblurring of loosely married systems, whichensures that objectives, priorities and time-scales remain vague and unclear␣ (18), fa-vours competing development perspec-tives and the regional permeability of‘weak signals’. It is a kind of ‘... wastefulcreation of development paths’␣ (19).

Furthermore, an ecologically broader per-spective of organisation, featuring func-tional-spatial angles, could use examplessuch as the ‘industrial districts’ to showthat in cases where an organisation, theorganisation network and the region␣ (20)share a mutually dependent learning proc-ess individual investment risks are mini-mised␣ (21), and at the same time gather-ing and sharing the advantages of inno-vation is facilitated. This would obviatethe need to optimise learning processeslocally at organisational level. It wouldalso be possible to consider incorporat-ing risky learning strategies within an or-ganisation, without compromising effi-ciency criteria␣ (22).

(13) Luhmann, Niklas Soziale Systeme.Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie.Frankfurt am Main, 1987, p. 612.

(14) Luhmann, N., op. cit., p. 234.

(15) Grabher, G., op. cit., 1994, pp. 24-25.

(16) On the system theory implicationsof partnership mechanisms, cf. Bühl,Walter L. Die dunkle Seite der Sozio-logie. Zum Problem gesellschaftlicherFluktuationen. Soziale Welt, 1985, No4, p. 21.

(17) ‘Networks are particularly apt forcircumstances in which there is a needfor efficient reliable information ... thatwhich is obtained from someonewhom you have dealt with in the pastand found to be reliable ... informa-tion passed through networks is‘thicker’ than information obtained bythe market, and ‘freer’ than that com-municated in a hierarchy.’ Powell W.Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Net-work Forms of Organisation. Researchin Organisational Behaviour, 1990,No 12, p. 299.

(18) Bühl, W. L., op. cit., 1985, p. 22.

(19) Grabher, G., op. cit., 1994, p. 37.

(20) Becattini, G., n. p., n. d., quotedin Fielding, A. J. Industrial Change andRegional Development in WesternEurope. Urban Studies, 1994, Vol. 31,Nos 4/5, p. 697.

(21) Piore, M. J.; Sabel, C. F. Das Endeder Massenproduktion. Studie über dieRequalifizierung der Arbeit und dieRückkehr der Ökonomie in die Gesell-schaft. Frankfurt, 1989, p. 302; Lorenz,Edward H. Trust, Community, andCooperation. Toward a Theory of In-dustrial Districts. In Storper, Michael;Scott, Allen J. (ed.). Pathways to In-dustrialisation and Regional Develop-ment, London/New York, 1992, p. 195and 203.

(22) Preisinger-Kleine, R. Zwischen-betriebliche Rationalisierung undRegionalentwicklung, Munich, 1998.


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Bühl, Walter L. Die dunkle Seite der Soziologie.Zum Problem gesellschaftlicher Fluktuationen.Soziale Welt, 4/85.

Fielding, A. J. Industrial Change and Regional De-velopment in Western Europe. Urban Studies, 1994,Vol. 31, Nos 4/5.

Grabher, G. Lob der Verschwendung. Redundanzin der Regionalentwicklung: Ein sozioökonomischesPlädoyer. Berlin, 1994.

Lorenz, Edward H. Trust, Community, and Coop-eration. Toward a Theory of Industrial Districts. InStorper, Michael; Scott, Allen J. (ed.). Pathways toIndustrialisation and Regional Development. Lon-don/New York, 1992, p. 195-204.

Luhmann, Niklas. Soziale Systeme. Grundriß einerallgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt am Main, 1987.

March, J.G.; Olsen, J.P. Ambiguity and Choice inOrganisations. Bergen, 1976.

Meinolf, D. et al. The Annotated Bibliography ofOrganisational Learning. Berlin, 2000.

Meinolf, D.; Krebsbach-Gnath C. Organisa-tionslernen - Ansätze zum Veränderungsmanagementin kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen. In FolkerSchmidt (ed.). Methodische Probleme der empi-rischen Erziehungswissenschaft, BaltmannsweilerSchneider Verlag Hohengehren, 1997, p. 63-76.

Pawlowsky, P.; Seifert, M.; Reinhardt, R.Interorganisationales Lern- und Wissensmanagement:

Ansätze für Klein- und Mittelständische Unter-nehmen. In Pawlowsky (ed.). Wissensmanagement– Erfahrungen und Perspektiven, Wiesbaden, 1998,pp. 225-254.

Pawlowsky, P. Wissensmanagement in der lernen-den Organisation, post-doctoral thesis. Universityof Paderborn, 1994.

Piore, M. J.; Sabel, C. F. Das Ende der Massen-produktion. Studie über die Requalifizierung derArbeit und die Rückkehr der Ökonomie in dieGesellschaft. Frankfurt, 1989.

Powell, W. Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: NetworkForms of Organisation. Research in OrganisationalBehaviour, 1990, No 12, p. 285-302.

Preisinger-Kleine, R. ZwischenbetrieblicheRatonalisierung und Regionalentwicklung. Munich,1998.

Wiesenthal, H. Konventionelles und unkonven-tionelles Organisationslernen. Literatur- und Ergän-zungsvorschlag. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 1995, Vol.24, No 4, p. 137-155.

Wiesenthal, H. Neun Thesen zur theoretischenKonzipierung tiefgreifenden Organisationslernens.Contribution to the workshop ‘Lernende Organisa-tion: Wie ist Lernen in Organisationen möglich? Waszeichnet eine lernende Organisation aus?’ in thecolloquium ‘Innovation von und in Organisationen’held by the Hans-Böckler Stiftung an der Ruhr atthe University of Bochum (chairman Prof. HeinerMinssen) on 17 May 2000.

Bibliography


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Learning through‘e-resources’:the experience of SMEs

1. Introduction

EU policies have emphasised since themid 1990s (EU 1996) the tremendous po-tential that Information and Communica-tion Technology (ICT) has for extendingaccess to learning in workplaces, homesand communities. These claims have beenbased on a number of assumptions aboutlearning with ICT. First, that it is fairlyun-problematic to transfer existing cur-riculum materials into a digital form(Webb, 2001). Second, that the emergingemphasis on self-directed on-line learn-ing negates any considerations aboutpedagogy (Guile and Hayton, 1999).Third, that the chief value of ICT is toprovide access to learning materials thatwill, ultimately, enable individuals to ac-quire some form of recognised qualifica-tion and companies to boost the qualifi-cation profile of their workforce.

One consequence of these assumptionshas been that EU policy has primarily fo-cused on establishing electronic connec-tivity, rather than considering the formsof pedagogic support required to learneffectively with ICT. Another consequencehas been a tendency to view ICT as of-fering separate resources to support busi-ness development and individual learn-ing, rather than as conceiving of them astwo strands of a single integrated proc-ess. It is the contention of this paper how-ever that, until policymakers recognisethat ICT offers organisations common re-sources for supporting business develop-ment and individual and organisationallearning, policy will continually misun-derstand the significance of ICT for allorganisations. Moreover, policymakerswill also fail to address the actual issuesthat shape and determine working andlearning with ICT; namely developing an

integrated organisational framework forwork, technology and learning.

The paper explores how ‘e-resources’ cansupport working and learning in SMEs torespond to the challenge of competingsuccessfully in the ‘digital economy’(Tapscott, 1997). It employs the term e-resources rather than the more commonterm ICT to encapsulate the two strandsof ICT described above. It starts by ana-lysing the new economic context that allorganisations confront: increasing pres-sure to respond to rising customer expec-tations. It identifies three main ways thatSMES, are responding. They are to:

• introduce a range of new strategies tomanage their business more effectively;

• consider how to deploy e-resources tofacilitate business development and indi-vidual and organisational learning;

• create environments, which supportknowledge management and organisa-tional learning.

The paper then proceeds to outline arange of emerging practices as regards theuse of e-resources to support working andlearning inside the SMEs. In doing so, ithighlights that the effective deploymentof e-resources in SMEs presupposes formsof ‘knowledge-based’ consultancy that arerarely acknowledged by policymakers.The paper concludes by outlining twomodels that capture and explain how toassist SMEs to:

• learn through ‘e-resources (i.e. re-sources that allow the creation, storage,processing and transmission of informa-tion and access to and communication ofinformation);

EU policy for ‘e-learning’has focused on connectivityrather than pedagogy forlearning; and viewed ‘e-re-sources’ dualistically ratherthan appreciating they aretwo strands of a single inte-grated process. The paperargues policy will continu-ally misunderstand the sig-nificance of ‘e-resources’for organisations and indi-viduals until it encouragesthe development of inte-grated frameworks forwork, technology andlearning. The paper ex-plores how ‘e-resources’can support working andlearning in SMEs by: identi-fying the connections be-tween management strat-egy, technology deploy-ment and knowledge crea-tion environments; outlin-ing a range of emergingpractices as regards the useof ‘e-resources’ to supportworking and learning in-side the SMEs; and introduc-ing two new models thatcapture and explain how toassist SMEs to learn through‘e-resources’ and supportknowledge managementand business development.

David GuileSchool of Lifelong Educationand International Develop-

ment. Institute of Education.University of London.


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• support knowledge management andbusiness development.

2. Backgroundto the research

This paper is based on research under-taken as part of the ‘Learning Support forSmall Businesses’ (LSSB) Adapt project.LSSB was a large multi-partner project1,led by Birmingham City Council as onepart of its strategy to project led by Bir-mingham City Council as one part of itsstrategy to confront structural change inthe city economy and to find ways of ef-fectively supporting SMEs to remain com-petitive in the global economy.

Its original primary objective was to pilotthe provision of training to SMEs to evalu-ate the effectiveness of various media.This involved an ambitious programme ofInformation and Communication Technol-ogy (ICT) infrastructure development, in-cluding the provision of Personal Com-puters (PCs) where appropriate and someexperimentation with broadband. Thisprogramme was to be supported throughthe development of a range of materialson a number of platforms (ATM, ISDN,CDROM, video/audio and paper) andthrough the provision of on-site consul-tancy support for SMEs.

When the project specification was writ-ten in 1996, the project team had viewedthe Internet primarily in ‘educational’terms and treated it as though it was asimple and effective way to access edu-cation and training materials to SMEs. Themain intention was to support SMEs’ spe-cific training needs through the ‘conver-sion of existing materials’ from the part-ner universities to ensure that a stock ofbusiness and technology related learningmaterials were available. It was envisagedthat these materials would provide SMEs’employees with access to National Voca-tional Qualifications (NVQ) accreditationand/or other relevant qualifications inkeeping with the UK’s national educationand training targets. Once this stock ofmaterials had been established, the sec-ond phase was supposed to be primarilyconcerned with recruiting and engagingSMEs to participate in the project as wellas with the on-going monitoring of the

efficacy of the various platforms and ma-terials.

During the life of the project, however,an exponential change occurred as re-gards the global use of the Internet. Pre-viously it had been viewed primarily as asimple and effective way to access infor-mation or exchange files. Increasinglyduring the late 1990s, more and morebusinesses recognised that the Internetconstituted a tool which could be used tofacilitate business-to-business, business-to-customer and customer-to-customerinteraction and collaboration as well asto support individual and organisationallearning. One of the consequences hasbeen that many ‘leading’ global corpora-tions decided to restructure in order totake advantage of the cost differentials theInternet offers, and to develop a ‘dot-com’strategy in order to offer new and moreintegrated services to customers(Venkatraman, 2000).

The rapid development of the Internet asa critical backbone for the economy, cou-pled with the emerging debate about ‘e-business’ and ‘e-learning’ (Venkatraman,2000), alerted the Project Management(PM) Team to the necessity of re-position-ing and re-balancing the project. Theydecided that, in addition to providing ac-cess to education and training materials,LSSB also had to help those SME ownerswho were keen to try to develop a morestrategic ‘dot-com’ vision for their com-pany. Another development that furtherconfirmed to the PM Team the importanceof moving away from a narrow focus onencouraging SMEs to access education andtraining materials was the early experi-ences of working with SMEs. The PMTeam received clear messages from anumber of sources, such as the SMEfacilitators, external evaluators, that sup-ply-side courses were not the only typeof ‘performance support’ resource thatSMEs wanted (Webb, 2001).

Taken in combination, both developmentsled the LSSB Project Team to re-focus theproject’s approach in a number of ways.This process of re-positioning and re-bal-ancing involved subtle, but significant,changes in the roles of the PM Team aswell as the SME facilitators. The projectteam adopted a more strategic stance asregards SMEs’ business development.

(1) The partners were BirminghamUniversity, the Open University, Uni-versity of Central England and Wol-verhampton University.


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Regular meetings and workshops wereconvened for SME owners in an attemptto raise owners’ consciousness about thepotential significance of viewing e-busi-ness and e-learning as two strands of asingle integrated process, rather than asconceiving of them as functionally sepa-rate. In other words, to recognise that theInternet constituted a vital resource, whichcould be used to reconfigure working andlearning practices in all their differentguises. The SME facilitators assumed re-sponsibility for certain aspects of the re-search process. Instead of only being re-quired to pass on information about busi-ness strategy and technological options,the facilitators were asked to act as ‘first-line’ gathers of information about thebusiness challenges SMEs participating inthe LSSB project confronted and the con-tribution that e-resources might make toovercoming these challenges. The ap-proach adopted is described in greaterdetail below.

3. A brief noteabout methodology

Conducting research in SMEs is notori-ously tricky, especially in the UK, for thefollowing reasons: tight staffing and shortdeadlines means it is difficult to releasepeople from their work roles; lack ofspace means that it is difficult to convenemeetings; and the lack of a ‘learning cul-ture’ means that SME owners are oftenreluctant to give up their time and that oftheir workforce to participate in a researchactivity.

In an attempt to overcome some of thesedifficulties, the research team formulateda methodology that reflected some of theprinciples of the ‘boundary crossing labo-ratory’ methodology pioneered YrjöEngeström (1996). This methodology isbased on an agreement between a uni-versity department and a workplace abouttheir respective roles and responsibilitieswithin the research. Organisations haveto ensure that their staff participate inregular discussions, which occur withinthe ‘boundary crossing laboratory’ whichis set-up inside the organisation. This‘space’ provides people with opportuni-ties to articulate the ‘contradictions’(Engestrom, 1996) between existing work-ing and learning practices in relation to

organisational goals and work collabora-tively to resolve them.

The research team recognised the diffi-culties associated with trying to set up aboundary crossing laboratory in SMEs.They felt, however, that they could takethe concept of contradiction as a startingpoint and use this to identify the tensionsowners were experiencing with their ex-isting business strategies. The researchteam also recognised that the facilitatorswould require some additional resources,see Diagram 1 and 2, to identify the im-plications of the business and technologycontradictions that they encountered. Inorder to fulfil this role, the SME facilitatorswere supported through a series of work-shops led by the research team, to iden-tify how to use the concept of contradic-tion to identify a number of SMEs whowere committed to re-thinking their work-ing and learning practices.

In order to reflect the diversity of startingpoints of SMEs, the facilitators used theconcept of contradiction as an orientatingprinciple in two senses. First, it helpedthem to identify in their initial discussionswith SMEs’ owners the new business chal-lenges owners felt that they confronted,and that warranted the introduction of newworking and learning practices. Thefacilitators and the research team then usedquestionnaires, interviews and on-site ob-servations to build up a more detailed pic-ture of each SME. Second, it helped theSME facilitators to identify ‘secondary con-tradictions’ (Engestrom, 2001), which oc-cur when organisations, that is SMEs, adopta new element from outside. In this case,the introduction of ICT led SME owners tohave to re-think working and learning prac-tices throughout their company, and notjust treat ICT as a technical resource thatgave the workforce access to education andtraining materials.

4. Competing in theDigital Economy:the challenge for SMEs

4.1 Responding to rising customer ex-pectations

SMEs in most sectors in Birmingham andthe West Midlands have been confront-


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ing a very turbulent and volatile environ-ment for some time. This is due to therapid changes occurring in the differentindustrial sectors they serve as well as inthe operational strategies and methods ofthe large companies who dominate thosesectors and who determine the type ofwork offered to SMEs operating in theirsupply chains. At a national level, this hasbeen well illustrated by the BMW deci-sion with respect to Rover and the con-tinuing impact this is having on the 30␣ 000employees that make up the manufactur-ing supply chain to the automotive indus-try. At a local level, the continuing turbu-lence is evident from the high level ofbusiness start-ups and the number of busi-ness that have ceased trading (Burfitt, etal., 2001).

Irrespective as to the sector in which theyare working, Birmingham City Council’sEconomic Development (BCCED) Depart-ment has acknowledged that all SMEs areunder intense pressure to be sufficientlyalert, agile and anticipatory to respond totheir customers (Spooner, 2000). This ispartly because customers are getting moredemanding and partly because their ex-pectations are rising and customers aremore fickle (Guile and Fonda, 1997). In-creasingly, customers will look elsewhereif they are dissatisfied with the productor service they receive. There is, there-fore, a growing consensus in Birminghamand the West Midlands that SMEs, willhave to try harder to establish and main-tain a lifetime relationship with custom-ers, to remain their preferred suppliersand, as a result, reduce the cost of get-ting new business (Spooner, 2000).

Implied in such relationships is, in manycases, a change of traditional businesspractices towards customers and theworkforce. SMEs are being actively en-couraged by BCCED to replace adversarialattitudes with partnership and collabora-tion (Spooner, 2000). The developmentsdescribed above are ushering in a newchallenge for SMEs. They have to succeedin two kinds of performance. Apart fromremaining solvent and hopefully increas-ing profit margins, they also have to buildand sustain a reputation with their cus-tomers for competing on the basis of costand quality and a reputation with theworkforce for active involvement in plan-ning business processes and supporting

human resource development. One con-sequence of this new business climate isthat many SMEs have gradually recognisedthat although they will always be besetby forces and events for which they donot have adequate responses, ad hocmeasures will not plug holes quicklyenough nor well enough nor guaranteesurvival. Clearly, the solution is not to tryand to ‘do better’ what they have alwaysdone.

4.2 Introducing new business andmanagement strategies in SMEs

An interesting parallel can be drawn be-tween the experience of many of today’s‘leading’ organisations and SMEs in Bir-mingham. Over the last decade, most ofthese organisations have gone through aprocess of evolution, which often has in-cluded revolutionary episodes, provokedby dire threats to their survival. The proc-ess of evolution has involved ‘leading’organisations passing through three sig-nificant stages in the development of theirbusiness and management strategies andwith a further stage on the horizon (Guileand Fonda, 1999). These stages can bedefined as: the task management stage;the workflow management stage; thevalue-added management stage; and theknowledge-management stage. Diagram 1.identifies the relationship between differ-ent business principles and their likelyrelationship to management strategies.

One common issue at each stage of de-velopment, however, is that the processof introducing new working and learningpractices stems from having to addressqualitatively different business challenges.Furthermore, the introduction of newworking and learning practices presup-poses distinctly different contributionfrom the workforce and the managementto the success of the business (Guile andFonda, 1997).

Diagram 1There are many affinities between thesestages of business and management de-velopment and the experience of the SMEswho participated in the LSSB Project. Thiscan be seen in a number of ways. For SMEswhose current business and managementstrategy could be characterised as taskmanagement, the imperative for changeappeared to stem from owner managerstrying to move beyond: (i) a command and


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control management style (i.e. ownerdominated and directed); and (ii) a reac-tive approach to quality control (i.e. waitfor complaints). The experience of theLSSB project indicated that SMEs’ typicalresponse is to reconfigure work processesand devolve some responsibility to workteams for monitoring work flow. The im-perative for SMEs to introduce furtherchange usually comes from one of twosources: rising expectations from custom-ers, or the recruitment of someone whohas acquired business expertise outside ofSMEs and the industrial sector(s) they serveand who can initiate and support changemanagement processes.

Furthermore, evidence from the LSSBproject indicated that the tensions expe-rienced by SMEs, who are trying to movefrom workflow management in order tooffer high added-value products and serv-ices for customers, is rather different. Theyare usually concerned with identifyinghow to re-organise work around the flowacross physical and departmental bounda-ries. As a result, SMEs encounter internaland external tensions. Owner managershave to be prepared to include suppliersand customers in the ‘workflow’ by cre-ating self-managing teams, who are re-sponsible for their own performance, in-

cluding quality. Although the main chal-lenges of added value management arenow widely accepted, the responses arejust beginning to settle into generic andrecognisable patterns (Edvinson andMalone, 1997). In the case of SMEs, it ap-pears to entail introducing new divisionsof labour, establishing new ‘rules’ for dia-logue between different sections of theworkforce and creating new organisa-tional ‘communities of practice (see sec-tion 5).

Some ‘leading’ companies have recog-nised that, in the advanced stages, value-added management introduces a new ten-sion; since it begins to include featuresof a new business and organisational strat-egy. It is centred round the managementof knowledge within organisations. As yet,however, this knowledge management isstill in its infancy and this presents realdifficulties in generalising business andmanagement strategies. The emergingcharacteristics of those organisations whoare experimenting with knowledge man-agement appear to be a desire to co-optcustomer capability, to develop a ‘dot-com’ strategy, and to be willing to sharelearning experiences with internal andexternal stakeholders (Prahalad andRamaswamy, 2000).

Diagram 1

Business Development and Management Strategies: implications for SMEs(Based on the work of Guile and Fonda 1999)

Highoutput

TASKMANAGEMENT

Production model

Command andcontrol

Tasks

Highproductivity

WORK FLOWMANAGEMENT

Accountancy model+

Business processre-engineering

Supply chainsOutsourcing

Stakeholdervalue

VALUE-ADDEDMANAGEMENT

Investment model+

Balancedscorecards

Value-basedmanagement

Positioningfor uncertainty

KNOWLEDGEMANAGEMENT

Sustainability model+

Co-opt customer capability /co-produce with customers

Conduct riskassessment


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4.3 The challenge of deploying e-re-sources in SMEs

In addition to responding to customers’demands for lower prices and higher qual-ity, SMEs have also experienced in thelast few years growing demands for cus-tomers to use intranets to monitor workflow of products and services and fromsuppliers to track and process orders.Coming to terms with different technol-ogy platforms and software and hardwaresystems has been a particularly dauntingchallenge for a number of reasons.

Throughout the 1980s, the role of e-re-sources had typically been viewed in mul-tinational companies (MNCs) as an efficientway to provide the required level of infor-mation support for management (Keen,1993). From this perspective, the key is-sue was whether a company was eitherprepared to or could afford to invest in e-resources. From the early 1990s onwards,however, multinational companies startedto explore how to use e-resources to helpthem to redefine the boundaries of mar-kets, alter the fundamental rules and basisof competition, redefine business scopeand reorganise work design (Castells, 1995;Scott Morten, 1991; Tapscott, 1997). Oneof the spins-offs of growing interest in com-puter supported collaborative work inMNCs in the 1990s was an awareness that,depending on how it was deployed, e-re-sources could support organisational learn-ing and human resource developmentwithin companies (Orlikowski. 2000).

Responding to the evolving potential of e-resources has proved to be an extremelysteep ‘learning curve’ even for multina-tional companies who had access to ex-tensive financial and consultancy resources(Scott Morten, 1991). The experience ofsupporting multinationals to use e-re-sources to reconfigure their working andlearning practices, led researchers at theMassachusetts Institute for Technology(MIT) to suggest that there is a trajectoryof development that companies movethrough before they maximise the fullrange of benefits e-resources offer. Thistrajectory of development can be charac-terised as movement through the follow-ing five phases (Venkatraman, 1991).

The first phase - localised exploitation -is concerned with the exploitation of e-

resources within business functions suchas manufacturing, marketing or workflowmanagement or even isolated businessactivities within those functions (see 5.2.).This involves deploying technologicalapplications that improve task efficiencyof operations, thereby achieving somefunction-specific goals (i.e. localised with-out necessarily influencing related areasof operations).

The second phase - internal integration- is a logical extension of the first in thesense that e-resources are exploited in allpossible activities within the businessprocess (see 5.3.). Two types of integra-tion are critical here: technical integration,namely the integration of different sys-tems and applications using a common‘e-platform’; and organisational integrationof business processes to enhance effi-ciency and effectiveness.

The first two levels can be viewed as ‘evo-lutionary’ since they require relatively in-cremental changes in existing organisa-tional processes. In contrast, the otherthree levels imply a more ‘revolutionary’approach since they require fundamentalchanges in the nature of business proc-esses (Venkatraman, 1991). This distinc-tion becomes clearer when consideringthe ‘jump’ between the second and thirdstage of implementing e-resources.

The third phase - business process rede-sign - involves the reconfiguration of thebusiness using ‘e-resources’ as a centrallever (see 5.4.). Therefore, instead of treat-ing the existing business processes as aconstraint in the design of an optimum‘e’ infrastructure, a conscious effort ismade to align the ‘e-infrastructure’ andthe business proceses.

The next phase - business network rede-sign - is concerned with the reconfigu-ration of the scope and tasks of the busi-ness network involved in the creation anddelivery of the products and services (see5.5.). This includes both the tasks withinand outside an organisations’ formalboundaries and the consequent redesignof this ‘virtual’ network to integrate keypartners in the changed business network.

The final phase - business scope redefi-nition - is concerned with the raisond’être of a company (see 5.6.), pertain-


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Degree of changeand development

Working Practices

localisedexploitation

set-up PC / email /link to Internet

access PC/ emailand Internet indi-vidually

internalintegration

use PC to:

• monitor stock,cash-flow, etc.

• exchange infor-mation

• support discus-sion & businessplanning

business processre-engineering

re-design processof working andlearning and use‘e-resources’ to:

• monitorworkflow

• develop newcompetences

businessnetwork redesign

create a ‘networked’organisation anduse ‘e-resources’ to:

• support internaldialogue andcollaborationwith existingcustomers

• support knowl-edge creationand sharing

businessscope redefinition

transform the scopeof the business anduse ‘e-resources’ to:

• co-opt customercapability

• manage cus-tomer diversity

• co-create newproducts & serv-ices with cus-tomers

ing to the possibilities of enlarging thebusiness mission and scope (through theco-opting of customers’ capabilities andthe co-creation of products and serviceswith customers) as well as shifting thebusiness scope (through the transforma-tion of traditional capabilities with ‘e-skills’).

DIAGRAM 2The experience of deploying e-resourcehas also been very steep learning curvefor those SMEs who participated in LSSB,many of whom are still in the ‘foothills ofe-commerce’, compared with multina-tional companies (Webb, 2001). It initiallyappeared as though its imply involveddeciding what level of investment in e-resources the SME could afford, and de-ciding learning how to deploy those newresources to support the changes that theywanted to achieve in their business andmanagement strategies. This proved to bea slightly optimistic view, since there wasan additional challenge that had to befaced.

4.4 An additional challenge

The original assumption that had informedthe LSSB project, in common with manyother ADAPT Projects, was that the pro-

vision of Internet access to SMEs and theiremployees would to increase the up-takeof learning. At the time, this had appearedto be a fairly revolutionary step in numberof ways. On the one hand, the provisionof the Internet connections and a PC pro-vided a sector which had traditionallybeen perceived as under-investing in hu-man resource development with greateraccess to, and a greater range of, learn-ing resources. On the other hand, theeducation and training resources couldsupport learning in different contextssince they could, in theory, be accessedin the workplace and at home. The ques-tion of using e-resources to support learn-ing, however, has to be considered along-side the question of introducing new busi-ness and management strategies and de-ploying e-resources to support businessdevelopment, discussed in the previoussections.

There are two main types of types of e-resources that can support learning: com-puter-accessed resources (e.g. CD-Roms,databases or web sites) and computermediated communication resources (e.g.audio, textual and video conferencing)(Bates, 1995). These two types of re-sources, however, offer quite different

Diagram 2

Types of Business Transformations Supported by E-Resources(Based on the work of Venkatraman, 1991)


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possibilities for working and learning(Guile, 1998). The former are primarilyeither interactive teaching and learningmaterials or sources of data, while thelatter support collaboration and commu-nication across networks. The LSSBProject provided SMEs with access to avaried range of computer-accessed re-sources, for example Directors Briefings,‘converted’ education and training mate-rials, on-line libraries, and computer me-diated communication resources (e.g. e-mail) as well as access to search enginesto help them to refine their on-line in-quiries.

The provision of these two slightly dif-ferent types of e-learning materials pre-sented the SMEs and the facilitators, whowere supporting them, with an additionalchallenge. Apart from supporting ownersto re-think their strategy for business andmanagement development, and the de-ployment of e-resources, they also hadto assist them to utilise e-resources to sup-port learning in the workplace. Insteadof only encouraging SMEs’ owners to en-sure that employees could access the edu-cation and training resources that hadbeen made available, the facilitators hadto introduce a more strategic dimensioninto their work. They had to assist own-ers to identify:

❏ how to use e-resources to develop on-line relationships with customers;

❏ the competences their business wouldneed in order to enable the workforce touse the e-resources that were availableto them;

❏ how to act as change agents in theirown company and identify how to use e-resources to transform business and man-agement strategies.

Motivating owners in any type of organi-sation to develop their strategic vision,however, is primarily a social and culturalissue concerned with changing mindsetsrather than a matter of offering technicaladvice (Argyris, 1991). Consequently, itrequired the SME facilitators to ‘provoke’the owner into addressing the followingquestion:

❏ ‘how can we use e-resources to sup-port working and learning?’

4.5 What does it mean to learnthrough e-resources?

Treating learning in the workplace asthough learning itself was a generic ac-tivity is not particularly constructive for anumber of reasons. First, the contextwhere learning occurs influences throughopportunities to participate in ‘communi-ties of practice’ not only what skills arelearn, but also how identify changes as aresult of such learning (Lave and Wenger,1991). Second, there are different typesof learning and they serve different pur-poses (Engestrom, 1995).

One way of highlighting this issue aboutdifferent types of learning is to distinguishbetween the following types of learning:

❏ adaptive learning (i.e. acquiring infor-mation or knowledge);

❏ collaborative learning (i.e. workingwith others to discuss/solve problems andchanging current practice);

❏ reflexive learning (i.e. conceiving ofnew ways of working and learning).

These distinctions represent a continuumreflecting the extent to which learning isrelated to but separate from discovery(Guile and Hayton, 1999). Furthermore,they also reveal that each type of learn-ing has a different type of outcome. Adap-tive learning is valuable but it does notlead to new knowledge since it takes con-texts as given and unchangeable. Investi-gative learning does generate discover-ies, but only if it occurs in a communityof practice. In other words, it is not merelyan issue of acquiring information from theInternet; individuals need opportunitiesto transform that information into worth-while knowledge by clarifying thoughts,ideas and opinions in discussion withother people. In contrast to the otherforms of learning, reflexive learning im-plies that individuals sometimes need tobe able to think about how to go beyondthe immediate context because they en-counter contradictions that cannot besolved within existing working and learn-ing arrangements.

The challenge SMEs confronted, therefore,was how to re-design work to take ac-count of the possibilities different e-re-


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sources offered and to foster differenttypes of learning amongst their workforce.

5. Emerging practiceas regards the useof e-resources in SMEs

5.1 Introduction

This section of the paper explores theimplications of the issues raised in 4.2 to4.5 It has used the frameworks outlinedin Diagram 1 and Diagram 2 as a tem-plate to interpret the very markedly dif-ferent patterns of and the distinctionsbetween different types of learning toanalyse the emerging practices as regardsthe use of e-resources in SMEs to sup-port: (i) business and management devel-opment; (ii) the transformation of busi-ness activity; and (iii) the introduction ofnew working and learning practices.

5.2 Localised exploitation of e-re-sources: the experience of Manufac-turing Company A (MCA)

MCA specialises in producing readycooked Indian cuisine for independentretailers and wholesalers. The companyemploys five full-time staff and a part-timesales manager. The management style isbased on the ethos of the ‘extended fam-ily’. The owner, in collaboration with thesales manager, makes all the primary busi-ness decisions and each employee is re-sponsible for performing a designatedrole. At the point MCA joined the LSSBproject, the company was not using anye-resources in any area of its business.

Supported by the SME facilitator, theowner recognised that in order to expandhis business he would have to exploit e-resources in two stages. The first stageinvolved expanding the company’s cus-tomer base via use of the LSSB website;implementing a ‘credit screening’ checkto ensure that the company minimisesbusiness risks by attracting ‘credit wor-thy’ clients; and accessing learning re-sources to develop the level of the own-ers’ computer literacy skills. These devel-opments enabled MCA has to improve itsbusiness and management efficiency inthe following ways. The owner now usese-resources to monitor customer orders

and receipt of customer payment. MCAhave also transformed their marketingstrategy. By advertising via the web thecompany can provide potential custom-ers with a profile of the company’s prod-ucts and services. Although early days,marketing the company via the web hasalready led MCA to receive orders fromnew clients in the UK and Europe.

The second stage will involve MCA usee-resources to put a just-in-time inven-tory in place to monitor the procurementand use of essential ingredients. Theowner recognises that, at this point, morestaff will need to acquire basic computerliteracy skills.

5.3 The integration e-resources withinan SME: the experience of EngineringCompany A (ECA)

ECA is a family engineering business,employing 11 people. The company spe-cialises in the production of springs andcirclips for the manufacturing industry andcustomised spring products for the leisureindustry. Its customer base has beeneroded in recent years because ECA hasa fairly restricted product range, faces stiffcompetition from overseas and is operat-ing in a shrinking market. Furthermore,the company has an ageing workforce,which has specialist skills that it will notbe easy to replace.

In response to these challenges, theowner, working in collaboration with theSME facilitator, initially attempted to ad-dress his business challenges by estab-lishing an on-line training centre. Thisprovides all employees, including theowner, two Modern Apprentices and theremainder of the staff, with access toweb-based learning resources. In addi-tion, access to on-line learning materialsare being used to improve the skills ofstaff who are responsible for managingfinancial systems, data processing sys-tems and marketing products and serv-ices on-line, as well as helping the ap-prentices gain a Modern Apprenticeshipat NVQ Level 3.

During subsequent meetings with thefacilitator, through attendance at projectnetwork meetings and in discussion withthe researcher, the owner identified ten-sion in his business strategy and manage-


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ment style. He has been hoping that hisbusiness could survive by competing onthe basis of price and by overseeing everyaspect of the production process himself.He has gradually recognised that this busi-ness strategy and management style willnot enable his company to either improvetheir efficiency and effectiveness or re-tain existing customers.

The owner has decided that business sur-vival depends upon the re-organisationof work and the creation a ‘knowledgecreation’ culture within the company. Thefirst step is that ECA has started to estab-lish self-managing teams who have re-sponsibility for project management inrelation to the functional area, for exam-ple administration, spring manufacture, ofthe company in which they work. One ofthe main features of this development isan expectation that relatively junior andinexperienced staff will accept responsi-bility for circulating information that theyhold about aspects of the production proc-ess to one another to ensure that custom-ers order are delivered on time.

New CAD programmes have also beenpurchased to enable the company to im-prove the quality of the springs and clipsthey manufacture and appeal to a widerrange of customers. In order to maximisethe benefits of this purchase the owner istrying to evolve a ‘inquiry-based’ cultureamongst design and production staff. Heis encouraging them to talk to one an-other about the problems they respec-tively experience when basic designs haveto be changed to meet customer’s require-ments, and, how through sharing thisknowledge, they can anticipate potentialproblems and work in advance to addressthem.

Another development underway at ECBis to diversify the range of services thecompany can offer customers. ‘E-re-sources’ are being using to monitorworkflow across functions and identifyproduction hold-ups at an early stage intheir development. Furthermore, staff arealso being encouraged to liaise by emailand through using the Electronic DataExchange systems to provide customerswith information about progress with or-ders, to elicit swift responses as regardscustomer satisfaction with products andto identify new requirements by inquir-

ing about their emerging business require-ments and offering to prove costings forthem.

5.4 On the threshold of business proc-ess redesign: the experience of Jewel-lery Company A (JEC)

JEC is a one-person company which de-signs and makes specialist silver table-ware, deskware and coasters. The com-pany has a burgeoning customer baseamongst prestigious organisations, wherethe need for excellence transcends costconsiderations. The company also under-takes commissions for individual clients.The owner is very conscious that the Bir-mingham jewellery industry is subject tointense competition from overseas as wellas ever rising customer expectations. Forthis reason, he has worked closely withan SME facilitator to redesign his busi-ness processes rather than simply over-lay ‘e-resources’ on top of his existingbusiness practices.

This objective has been tackled in twomain ways. By exploiting the potential ofthe Internet, JEC has created a ‘virtual’shopping arena which comprises ten dif-ferent sites, which are linked ‘thematically’and through shared ‘imagery’. Each siteprovides details about and illustrations ofdifferent aspects of the standard productand service range. Customers can, there-fore, not only enjoy a very rich and var-ied ‘browsing’ experience, but also inquireabout commissioning special designs. Thisstrategy allows the owner to respond im-mediately to inquiries for different prod-ucts or services without overly disruptinghis own work process.

A further development has been to usethe access to training that LSSB has pro-vided to help the owner to develop newskills, which will enlarge the product andservice range offered by his company. Byacquiring more knowledge about CAD/CAM, 3D Imaging and Digital Photogra-phy, the owner will be able to enhancethe design and delivery of current andfuture products and services.

‘E-resources’ have, therefore, been de-ployed very creatively to support strat-egy development, portfolio constructionand delivery, trading and account admin-istration. To avoid Internet ‘free-raiders’


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from stealing JEC real ‘intellectual capi-tal’, the owner does not advertise hishighly personalised designs via the web.Business is still conducted face-to-face.

5.5 Moving from business process re-design to business networks: the ex-perience of Engineering CompanyB and C (ECB & ECC)

ECB is a small light engineering companyspecialising in presswork and toolmakingand employs over 100 people. Currently,in order to maintain its existing contracts,the company uses electronic data inter-change (EDI) to provide customers withup-to-date information about progresswith their orders. Increasingly, however,ECB’s customers are operating just-in-timeinventories and, therefore, ECB want todeliver short-term orders, such as fivedays notice or less, for products and re-ceive regular feedback about when ordersare likely to be delivered.

One of the major problems that ECB facesis that its major customers dictate the type,form and deadline by when they requireinformation about their orders. This meansthat ECB are considering up-grading theirinterorganisational information systems(IOIS), in other words, the systems thatthey employ to process inputs/outputsand the protocols they use to support thetransmission of data, so that their IOISsystems can easily accommodate custom-ers’ diverse demands as well as the tech-nical features of customers’ own IOIS sys-tems.

By participating in LSSB led ECB to rec-ognise that their EDI systems will have tobe supplemented by the more consistentuse of the company-wide email system.This will ensure that staff can communi-cate with one another about the precisedetails of orders; share and exchange files;and monitor the sequencing of differentaspects of the production process so thatall orders are delivered on time. This de-velopment implies a shift towards a morede-centralised management system com-mitted to identifying how ECB can addvalue in comparison with its competitors.To facilitate this change in work practices,ECB have provided IT training for staff.

ECC, in contrast to ECB, specialises in theproduction of powder coatings for the

automotive industry and also employsover 100 people. Both companies, how-ever, are currently experiencing similarbusiness challenges. ECC are also underintense pressure to use their EDI systemto provide customers with up-to-date in-formation about progress with their or-ders. The owner is aware that sustainingcompetitive performance in the globaleconomy depends crucially on striking theright balance between exploiting e-re-sources and developing a new strategicdirection for the company.

One part of CCC’s response has been toimprove the performance of their IOISsystem, so that, in addition to accommo-dating customers’ current requirements,they can also promote new supplier serv-ices on-line to existing customers andpotential new customers. In order to at-tract new business ECC have formed asmall intermediary network with fourother companies and the University ofWolverhampton. Members of the networkbroker new business and whoever se-cures the business acts as a managingagent and allocates contracts to networkmembers.

Another part of ECC’s response has beento offer all staff access to training anddevelopment by encouraging them tomake use of the learning resources LSSBhas made available. ECC have ‘custom-ised’ existing training engineering mod-ules since they are considered to be toogeneric and do not help to develop theknowledge and skil ls the companyneeds.

Finally, ECC and ECB have both begunto grasp that the next stage of develop-ment might be to electronically integrate(EI) their business systems with their cus-tomers systems. This would add-value forcustomers in the following ways: the com-panies might develop EDI systems whichautomatically pass data, for example dateof order entry, order progress and pay-ment progress, between companies. Theymight also share inventories betweencompanies in the manufacturing industryso that it was possible to ascertain the‘status’ of an inventory and to ‘trigger’ themovement of goods. Such developmentsdo not just rely on the use of sophisti-cated e-resources; they also call for a com-mitment to value-added management.


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5.6 Redefining the scope of the busi-ness: the experience of EngineeringCompany D (ECD)

ECD is a split-site forging company whichworks with brass, copper and aluminiumand, therefore, is subject to intense pres-sure from low-cost overseas competitorswho are increasingly winning contractsfrom its existing UK customer base. Thecompany re-engineered work processessome time ago and established self-man-aging teams to empower employees totake responsibility for adding value bymanaging work processes, resources andrelationships with suppliers more effi-ciently and effectively. Moreover, itbenchmarked its current use of ‘e-re-source’ against competitor companies.One result was that ECD have developeda more strategic approach to the use ofe-resources. They are now used to sup-port data exchange and communicationnetworks with its customers, to enable thelocal FE college to provide customised‘virtual’ training for engineers and to sup-port greater dialogue and the sharing ofknowledge between both work sites.

Participation in LSSB has led ECD to joinseveral local and European ‘knowledgemanagement’ networks and to recognisethat, in order to prosper in future, thecompany will have to redefine the scopeof their business. At present, ECD are tack-ling this challenge in two main ways. First,they are using ‘search engines’ to iden-tify market intelligence which they lack,to gain technical information which mayhelp them to enhance their ‘risk-manage-ment’ strategies and minimise the riskswhich may be associated with future busi-ness ventures, and to identify patentswhich the company may need to buy tosupport improvements in product andservice delivery. Second, ECD are devel-oping communities of practice inside thecompany who are exploring how ECD canco-opt customer and competitor capabili-ties and use e-resources to draw the newproduct and service range to customers’attention.

6. Working and learningwith ‘e-resources’ in SMEs

6.1 Towards a model of learningthrough ‘e-resources’

The diffusion of e-resources throughoutSMEs to support business redesign andknowledge sharing, described in the pre-vious section highlights is a radical de-parture from previous technological revo-lutions (Castells, 1996). In the past, com-puters were primarily used as a substi-tute for, or supplement to workplace ac-tivity. For example, telecommunicationscompanies replaced mechanical tel-ephone exchanges by computerised te-lephony systems, and used Computer-Based-Training (CBT) systems to offertechnical training to staff.

Depending on how they are used, there-fore, e-resources have the potential totransform the way people work and learn.They can be used to: (i) process, store,retrieve and communicate information andexperience in whatever form it may take -oral, written or visual - to be unconstrainedby distance, time and volume and site; (ii)reconfigure the business by helping toenlarge and shift the scope of the busi-ness thereby helping companies to developthe products and services that they offerto customers; and (iii)providing on-lineform it may take – oral, visual, written – tobe unconstrained by time, distance andvolume; (ii) reconfigure the business byhelping to enlarge and shift the scope ofthe business thereby helping SMEs to de-velop products and services that they of-fer to customers: (iii) provide on-line ac-cess to subject specialists, mentors andtutorial support, and ‘communities of prac-tice’ (i.e. clusters of people with commoninterests).

E-resources, however, are not by them-selves a vehicle for assisting people toadopt new business practices, improveproductivity, become acquainted withnew ideas, or to think more strategically.As the emerging practices presented inthis paper indicate, in common with anyother learning resources, their true valueis only realised when there is clarity aboutthe goals of learning so that they can ac-tually enhance the process of working andlearning. This requires, as the experience


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of the LSSB project indicates, some formof human intervention within companiesand from outside companies.

Based on the experience of the LSSBproject, Diagram 3 below is an attempt toconceptualise the relationship betweendifferent e-resources, different types oflearning and the resulting different out-comes for individuals and SMEs. It out-lines the relationship between:

❏ the three different types of learning;

❏ the human resource management anddevelopment practices that support par-ticular learning goals;

❏ the contributions that different certaine-resources (i.e. computer-accessed re-sources and computer-mediated commu-nication) make to this process.

Diagram 3.In many respects exploiting the potentialof e-resources to support working andlearning is quite different from the waythese activities have traditionally beenundertaken. For example these activities:

❏ do not rely upon synchronous and dis-crete working and learning experiencesthat are time-dependent interactions;

❏ do not rely upon the delivery of seg-mented ‘blocks’ of information;

❏ can provide continuous linked commu-nication, interaction and opportunities forlearning that occurs synchronously orasynchronously.

Nonetheless, as the experiences describedin the previous section indicate, in otherimportant respects working and learningthrough e-resources’ is not dissimilar fromtraditional forms of working and learn-ing. It still requires SMEs to have:

❏ a common business purpose which isunderstood by all employees;

❏ a strategy for achieving that businesspurpose and for developing the new ca-pabilities that are needed;

❏ taken account of how organisationalmindsets may inhibit and constrain theimplementation of new process of work-ing and learning.

Furthermore, SMEs also have to recognisethat for learning to take place, learnersrequire:

❏ opportunities to reflect on experienceand to try out new ideas in practice;

❏ opportunities to participate in and dis-cern the rules and protocols of the ‘com-munity’ who have produced the ideas theycome across;

❏ the opportunity to use new ideas asframeworks to reflect on practice, and theopportunity to undertake activities to as-sist them to develop new knowledge;

❏ performance challenges which allowthem to develop appropriate habits of be-haviour.

This suggests that in order for individualsand SMEs to develop the potential of e-resources, they need opportunities totransform their understanding, beliefs, be-haviours and actions on the basis of for-mal (i.e. planned and managed) and in-formal (i.e. incidental and contingent)interaction and discussion with a rangeof other parties.

6.2 Supporting SMEs to use e-re-sources: the process of knowledge-based consultancy

One of the greatest challenges in support-ing people who have little time and anendless concern for the bottom line, toinitially understand and subsequently ex-ploit the value of e-resources is to builda relationship based on a firm understand-ing of the needs of the business. The ex-perience of the LSSB project suggests thatone of the main reasons why SMEs feltconfident about using e-resources to trans-form working and learning practices was,in part, due to the face-to-face consul-tancy support owners received,

Although each SME facilitator operated inaccordance with their own personal style,the methodological approach, describedin Section 3., enabled them to understandthe interrelationships between the follow-ing three factors. The are the businesscontext and management strategies, thedifference between evolutionary and revo-lutionary deployment of e-resources andthe different styles of working and learn-


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Diagram 3

A framework for using ‘e-resources’ to support knowledge creation and competi-tive advantage in SMEs

Types of learning

Adaptive learning.

For example, accessing in-formation or knowledge

Collaborative learning.

For example working withothers to:

• discuss / solve problems

• change current practice

Reflexive learning.

For example, conceiving ofnew ways of working andlearning

Computer-accessedresources

(CD Rom, Directors Brief-ings, on-line Library,Websites etc)

e.g. fulfil set ‘learning’ tasks/ tasks ‘posted’ on Web/tasks built into CD Rom

eg. retrieve information fromcompany databases, remotedatabases, Web Sites

e.g. re-think tasks, identifysolutions for set tasks

e.g. discuss information re-trieved / feedback received

e.g. question set tasks / in-formation accessed

e.g. search for additional in-formation

e.g. introduce new workingand learning practices

Computer-mediated com-munication

(Email, file exchange, videoconferencing etc)

e.g. acquire informationfrom expert(s)

e.g. focus on pre-set task(s)

e.g. participate in an on-line‘community of practice’

e.g. develop new ideasabout work practices

e.g. share new ideas andchange practice

e.g. identify new issues thatneed to be addressed

e.g. work with other ‘com-munities of practice’ to co-construct solutions, to prob-lems

e.g. introduce new workingand learning practices andshare knowledge aboutthem

Implications for SMEsand Individuals

facilitate employees’ accessto learning resources

encourage employees to use‘e-resources’ to addressknown problems

encourage employees toform ‘communities of prac-tice’

provide opportunities foremployees to:• participate in discussions• solve problems• change current practice• develop knowledge and

skill

provide opportunities foremployees to:

• develop new knowledgeand new skill

• relate their knowledgeand skill to other ‘com-munities of practice’knowledge and skill

Types of ‘e-resources’ for SMEs


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ing with e-resources. On the basis of thisunderstanding, the facilitators were ableto call upon and use four different typesof knowledge to help the SMEs to addressthe following two issues. The first issueis to identify their business challenges, thedouble binds between their business as-pirations and their current managementpractices. The second issue is to identifythe potential of e-resources to supporttheir aspirations and the implications dif-ferent patterns of deppoyment present fortheir current working and learning prac-tices.

This process of ‘knowledge-based consul-tancy’ involved the facilitators supportingSMEs by using undertaking four key ac-tivities. These activities can be helpfullydescribed as:

❏ using ‘personal knowledge’ of the busi-ness context to capture the hearts andminds of SME owners;

❏ applying ‘professional knowledge’about business development and manage-ment strategies and the potential of e-re-sources to offer business and technicaladvice and facilitating change and devel-opment;

❏ calling upon ‘business developmentalknowledge’ to identify how to overcomethe double binds that threatened to in-hibit the development of an organisationalculture that would contribute to improv-ing business-to-consumer, business-to-business and consumer-to-consumer re-lationships;

❏ utilising ‘people development knowl-edge’ to assist SME owners to enhancework roles and opportunities for knowl-edge creation and knowledge sharing.

Diagram 4.Diagram 4 above is an attempt to con-ceptualise the relationship between thesefour roles. This model of knowledge-

Diagram 4

A knowledge-based model of consultancy

‘personal knowledge’(ie capturing the hearts

and minds of SME owners;persuading them to move

forward)

‘business developmental knowledge’(ie identification of double binds;

supporting SMEs to improve business-to-consumer, business-to-business andconsumer-to-consumer relationships)

‘profesional knowledge’(ie offering business & technicaladvice & facilitating change &

development)

Theknowledge-

basedconsultancy

process

‘people developmentknowledge’ (ie supportingSMEs to enhance work roles

and opportunities forknowledge creation and

knowledge sharing)


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based consultancy reflects one of themain conclusions presented in the finalLSSB evaluation report (Webb, 2001)namely that face-to-face relationshipbuilding is central to persuading andsupporting SME owners to align ‘e-re-sources’ to support business and peopledevelopment.

7. Conclusions

The ‘e’ revolution poses enormous chal-lenges for business, education and forevery member of society. The drive to getcloser to customers become knowledgecreating organisations and optimise thevalue e-resources can offer has meant thatall types of organisation as well as inter-mediary agencies increasingly require newcapabilities.

Yet, paradoxically, while there is a grow-ing acceptance about the importance ofsuch capabilities, there is far less clarityabout how to develop them. Certainly, theidea that e-resources will provide ‘learn-ing on demand’ or ‘just in time learning’has captured the hearts and minds ofmany educationalists, business leadersand politicians; however, converting thisrhetoric into a reality is still at an earlystage of development. Nevertheless, asthis paper has argued, e-resources do notconstitute, by themselves, a vehicle forlearning. Putting people ‘on-line’ is animportant step, but in itself does not au-tomatically guarantee the creation oflearning networks, learning cultures,knowledge creation and knowledge shar-ing.

Despite the daunting nature of this chal-lenge, the paper has highlighted that ifSMEs want to support their own growthand survival and their employees employ-ability, they will, in future, increasinglyhave to re-think their business develop-ment and management strategies. Other-wise they will run the risk of being ex-cluded from supply and value chains assectors restructure to respond to the de-mands of the digital economy and, thus,miss the opportunity to extend their mar-ket reach and presence.

Those SMEs who have grasped this con-nection between business development

and management strategy have recognisedthat it can only be tackled effectively byalso re-thinking their strategy for deploy-ing e-resources. Consequently, it has re-sulted in SMEs not only beginning to:

❏ move away from task management to-wards added-value management andknowledge management;

but also to begin to:

❏ move beyond localised exploitation of‘e-resources’ towards the creation of busi-ness networks and a redefinition of thescope of their business.

By making this step-change, the SMEsdescribed in this paper have had to learnhow to develop new core capabilities inorder to use e-resources to:

❏ develop more collaborative and reflex-ive ways of working and learning whichallow them to continuously improve ex-isting work processes and find solutionsto their own business challenges;

❏ support business t ransformat ionthrough introducing knowledge manage-ment processes which involve thebenchmarking, data collection, participa-tion in networks and the creation of ‘com-munities of practice’ within the companyitself.

If the momentum generated by Europeanfunded projects, such as LSSB, to supportSMEs in playing a key part in restoringregional dynamism is to be sustainedregionally, it will be necessary to ensurethat future EU projects:

❏ identify how to support SMEs to growbeyond their first stage of their ‘innova-tion’;

❏ ensure SMEs’ investment in and use ofe-resources ideally favours ‘added-value’and ‘longer life’ products and services;

❏ motivate SMEs to join existing networksand build new networks in order to rede-fine the scope of their business to helpthem respond to rising customer expec-tations;

❏ develop greater knowledge about howto use the consultancy practices, described


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in 6.2., to support e-resourced businessdevelopment.

Achieving these goals regionally, nation-ally and more widely throughout Europewill involve regional agencies:

❏ designing a ‘locally configured’ inwardinvestment strategy which seeks to sup-port SMEs move from ‘evolutionary’ tomore ‘revolutionary’ uses of ‘e-resources’;

❏ developing a bespoke knowledge-based consultancy strategy to support in-novation and knowledge management inSMEs;

❏ establishing closer links betweenhigher education, SMEs and intermediaryagencies to help to spread ‘best practices’more widely within the region and inter-nationally.

References

Learning in Further Education in Green, A. andLucas, N. (ed) FE and Lifelong Learning: Realign-ing the Sector for the Twentieth First Century Lon-don: Bedford Way Papers, Institute of Education,1999.

Keen, P. Shaping the Future, HBS Press, Harvard,USA, 1993.

Prahalad, C.K. Ramaswamy, V. Co-Opting Cus-tomer Capability, Harvard Business Press, Spring,Harvard, USA, 2000.

Scott Morton, M. (ed) The Corporation of the Fu-ture, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, USA.

Spooner, P. Keynote Address Learning City Confer-ence, Birmingham, 2000.

Tapscott, D. The Digital Economy, McGraw Hill,New York. 1995.

Venkatraman, N. Five Steps To A Dot-Com Strat-egy: How to Find Your Footing On The Web SloanManagement Review, Spring, University of Califor-nia, 2000.

Venkatraman, N. ‘IT-Induced Business Reconfigu-ration’, in Scott Morton, M. (ed) The Corporation ofthe Future, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, USA, 1991.

Webb, C. LSSB Final Evaluation Report, BCC, 2001.

Argyris, C. ‘Teaching Smart People how to Learn’Harvard Business Review Vol 69. (3) pp. 99-109,1991.

Bates, A.W. Distance Learning and TechnologySRHE/OU, Buckingham, UK, 1993.

Burfitt, A. et al. A study of Information and Com-munication Technology Industries in Birming-ham and Solihull, Birmingham University, 2001.

Castells, M. The Networked Society Vol 1. Oxford:Blackwell, 1996.

Edvinson, L., Malone, A Intellectual Capital,Harper, New York, 1997.

Engestrom, Y. Training for Change, ILO, Geneva,Switzerland, 1993.

Engeström, Y., Virkkunen, J., Helle, M., Pihlaja,J. and Poikela, R. ‘Change laboratory as a tool fortransforming work’, Lifelong Learning in Europe,Vol 1 No 2, pp. 10-17, 1996.

Guile, D. Education and Information and Commu-nication Technology, Bedford Way Press, Instituteof Education, London, 1998.

Guile, D. Fonda,N. Managing Learning for AddedValue CIPD, London, 1999.

Guile, D. and Hayton, A. Information and Learn-ing Technology: The Implications for Teaching and


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Agnes DietzenFederal Institutefor Vocational Edu-cationand Training(BIBB), Bonn

Young women in initialtraining in the newinformation andcommunicationtechnology occupationsin Germany

Introduction

Access of young women to training fornew areas of employment in the infor-mation, communication technologies(ICT) and related services is gaining in-creasing attention in Germany. This isrelated to interest in the fast developmentand expanding innovation in ICT and ICTapplications. As information and knowl-edge are seen as the new resource at thecentre of economic growth and develop-ment (OECD, 2000), ICT is one of the mostimportant future areas for increasing in-novation, profit and employment.

The ways in which new technology haschanged the working lives of individualsand transformed industrial sectors andwork organisation has been described andanalysed in many publications over thepast decade. In discussion on the emerg-ing knowledge economy (OECD, 2000)there is a new focus on the role of ICTfor supporting learning and innovation.‘Knowledge services’ are keywords; theyimply ideas around knowledge manage-ment, marketing and consultancy servicesseen as integral to many core activities inmodern enterprises.

There is growing demand for skilled work-ers from the ICT industry and other re-lated sectors, which increasingly dependon applying ICT technologies(1). At thesame time there is a lack of qualifiedworkers on the labour market. Thenumber of new job profiles within ICTand ICT application services have in-

creased substantially during the last dec-ade. Although the German VET systemwas slow to react, since 1997 training infour new ICT occupations has been im-plemented to bridge the gap between la-bour market demand and lack of quali-fied workers. A new programme, initiatedby the Alliance of Labour, Vocational Edu-cation and Training and Competitive-ness(2) in 1999, aims to support trainingon ICT-related competences and skills.The objectives of the programme includeincreasing initial training provision for ICToccupations, providing continuous train-ing programmes for different groups onthe labour market, developing practicaltraining pathways from apprenticeshiptraining to higher education, and devel-oping ICT-based continuous training.

Are there reasons to assume that the ICTeconomy and other occupational fieldsusing ICT will increase employing womenin skilled work? Recent evidence does notbear this out. In Germany, only 14% ofthose undertaking initial training in newICT occupations are young women. Al-though the total number of training placeshas almost doubled during recent years,the number of young women participat-ing in initial training in new ICT occupa-tions is decreasing. What are the reasonsand what can be done to bring morewomen into skilled jobs in new employ-ment areas? These questions have beenthe focus of recent policy discussions,both for developing VET and for strate-gies for labour market intervention inGermany.

Although one could havehoped that, in a profes-sional field which is of re-cent origin and in full evo-lution such as that of infor-mation and communicationtechnology (ICT) occupa-tions, equal opportunitybetween the genders wouldhave had some prospects ofdeveloping, it is seen thatold models of gender repre-sentation in work continueto persist. Fewer younggirls go in for training inICT occupations than youngmen, and if they do, theirchoice tends to turn moretowards relational and com-mercial options than to pre-dominantly technical areas.This article shows why andhow gender-based discrimi-nation is getting a footholdin this sector. The authorcalls for quick interventionbefore gender-oriented oc-cupational identities be-come firmly rooted. Thiscalls for political commit-ment on the part of all con-cerned, first and foremostthe enterprises, in order toestablish some simple prin-ciples which will make itpossible to curb this eco-nomically and socially un-justified development.


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This paper reflects on the reasons andeffects of underrepresentation of womenin initial training in the new ICT occupa-tions in Germany. The results of evalua-tions and other empirical studies, includ-ing information on access of youngwomen to training and their experienceof training processes, are analysed with areflection on the different views of train-ing providers and female apprentices.

Initial findings suggest that new gendersegregation in these new fields of employ-ment is emerging.

Arguments are based on several differentsources of empirical data, including:

❏ A survey of 758 companies, either pro-viding training in the new occupations orintending to soon. This survey was un-dertaken by an author of the Federal In-stitute for Vocational Training and Edu-cation (BIBB) during 2000 and 2001. Itaimed to explore why the number of fe-male apprentices in the new occupationsremains rather small compared to maleapprentices(3).

❏ An evaluation on acceptance and im-plementation of the new ICT occupationsby companies and apprentices. This studyis based on a survey of 569 enterprisesand 1 100 trainees started in 1999 by theBerufsbildungsinstitut Arbeit und Technik(Biat) at the University of Flensburg, andcommissioned by the BIBB. Empiricalevidence taken from this study is basedon the final report of the first section ofthe study(4).

In the first section of this paper the Ger-man context for institutionalising andimplementing new ICT occupations is in-troduced from a gender perspective. Thepaper goes on to analyse empirical evi-dence of gender segregation including:

❏ participation rates of women in thenew occupations;

❏ occupational orientation and choicesof young women;

❏ relevance of companies’ organisationalsetting for supporting women;

❏ gender-related quality aspects of train-ing;

❏ gender images of occupational profiles.

Thirdly, these results are discussed toexamine in what way they point to gen-der segregation. The final section putsforward recommendations for policy-mak-ers and practitioners.

Institutionalising the newICT occupations and itsimportance from a genderperspective

The dynamics of the ICT economy andthe effects of ICT on other sectors is abig challenge for VET systems. Firstly,there is an increasing shortage of quali-fied workers in these fields of employ-ment. Surveys suggest there is a shortageof between 70 000 and 150 000 ICT spe-cialists in Germany, a figure which couldincrease to 300 000 if enough training isnot provided. A similar situation exists inthe European Community. Recent esti-mates point to a shortage of 600 000 ICTspecialists in Member States. Forecasts for2002 estimate a shortage of 1.6 million, ifVET systems are not able to provide train-ing (Petersen, Wehmeyer, 2001, p. 3).

Secondly, not only has introducing ICTled to new occupational profiles, but alsoto changed skills needs in other occupa-tional fields and a blurring of occupationalboundaries, as the same skil ls andcompetences are required in different oc-cupations. Defining ICT-related tasks andskill needs at vertical and horizontal lev-els is increasingly problematic within ex-isting occupational structures.

The new ICT skill needs do not fit exist-ing occupational structures and cannoteasily be related to training profiles andprogrammes. This may be one reasoncompanies are failing to supply enoughapprenticeship places, as existing train-ing profiles become outdated so quickly.Companies have problems in accessingskilled workers from the labour marketbecause qualifications no longer matchthe work and competence needs of com-panies. A large number of employees inthe ICT economy have no formal qualifi-cations or certificates, but have a highlevel of expertise based on their personalcompetence and experience.

(1) Different definitions of ICT-corebranch appear in publications. We usethe definition of the Employers Asso-ciation, where the information andcommunication economy includes: in-formation technology, telecommuni-cation, production of electronic com-ponent parts, consumer electronics,commerce and distribution of media(Bitkom, 2000, p.18). It is importantto recognise that employment inten-sive fields of the ICT economy arefound in non-ICT branches as well,as application and services are impor-tant factors in almost any other occu-pational and employment field.

(2) Offensive zum Abbau des IT-Fachkräftemangels. Beschluss desBündnisses für Arbeit, Ausbildungund Wettbewerbsfähigkeit vom 6. Juli1999.

(3) See: Brandes, H., Dietzen A.,Westhoff, G. (2001).

(4) See, Petersen, W.; Wehmeyer, C.(2001).


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These factors have profound conse-quences for the existing qualificationssystem and structure. They provide a chal-lenge to the VET system and practice inits capacity for modernisation and reform.

Different approaches and policies havebeen put forward for the German VETsystem to respond to these challenges.One priority is to develop and implementnew occupational profiles. Since 1997 fournew ICT occupational profiles have beenintroduced. These are information tech-nology specialist, IT electronic technician,IT support specialist, and informationtechnology officer(5). Each of the new pro-files involves three years training. Train-ing is provided through the Dual Systemvenues at companies and vocationalschools.

It is based on a common core qualifica-tion amounting to 50% of the course withthe other 50% focused on specialised skillsand knowledge for each different occu-pation.

Two of the four profiles, ‘IT system sup-port specialist’ and ‘information technol-ogy officer’ could be characterised asmore commercially-oriented occupations.IT system support specialists provide cus-tomers with solutions for information andtelecommunication systems, primarily inmarketing and consultancy, providingservices and acting as central contacts forcustomers. Information technology offic-ers are employed in commercial and busi-ness management in different sectors.They link the needs of specialist depart-ments to appropriate information andcommunication technology.

The two other IT profiles, ‘IT system elec-tronic technician’ and ‘information tech-nology specialist’ are more technicallyoriented. ‘IT system electronic technicians’plan and install ICT systems and developcustomised solutions by modifying hard-ware and software. ‘Information technol-ogy specialists’ translate specialist needsinto complex hardware and software sys-tems, providing customers and users withtechnical advice, support and training.

Institutionalising these new occupationalprofiles represents a new approach todesigning occupational profiles and pro-viding training pathways and will extend

to other occupational fields (Lennartz,1997). In that sense the new IT occupa-tions represent a milestone in modernis-ing of the German VET system. The fea-tures of the new IT occupational profileswhich will be transferred to other sectorsinclude:

❏ flexible apprenticeships;

❏ work process-orientation;

❏ regulated training pathways to continu-ous training and higher education;

❏ a comprehensive training approach,including technical, business, economicand management qualifications, compet-ences and skills;

❏ new assessment procedures;

❏ new contents – for skills and knowl-edge - which better address changingworking environments and needs.

Gender is an important issue. New occu-pations and employment areas appear tobe more open to people, who, in the past,for different reasons, had problems inentering the labour market. Previous pi-lot projects which aimed to promotewomen in technical occupations havebeen largely unsuccessful, because of thedifficulty in opening and changing alreadyestablished and traditional male-structuredoccupations.

Another reason gender is important isproviding equal opportunities to take partin the ‘knowledge society’. If women donot have access to ICT-based informationand knowledge, they will not be able toenter future labour markets and more fun-damentally, culturally, they will be ex-cluded from the resources on which fu-ture society will be based.

The new ICT profiles were seen as anopportunity to break from traditional gen-der stereotypes, where technical skillswere associated with male occupationsand communication, organisation andcommercial skills with typically female oc-cupations in health, care, services, andbusiness administration. More comprehen-sive integration of these skills into the newICT occupational profiles was intendedto provide a role model for other occu-

(5) New occupational profiles in mul-timedia have also been developed andimplemented. This paper focuses onlyon the evaluation of the four ICT oc-cupational profiles.


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pations, in blurring traditional boundariesbetween gender-typed occupations andemployment fields.

A further issue is the concept of Beruf.The new ICT occupational profiles arebased on a new conceptual approach, as‘supply differentiated’ apprenticeships.They involve common core qualificationsand differentiated special qualifications,a client, business and service orientation,and a work process orientation. There areopportunities for recognising continuoustraining occupations through modularprogrammes, additional qualifications andnew regulated, training occupations.

Given the potential for transfer to otheroccupational fields, the opportunity todevelop a new concept of Beruflichkeithas arisen. Of course, this is not onlylinked to ICT occupations, but they arethe first where a new approach to Berufis going to be proved. The gender aspectof this theme is a complex question, andnot especially linked to ICT, so it can onlybe touched upon here. It involves ques-tions of how the societal and cultural in-stitution of Beruf should be constructedin a new framework, considering thatgender plays an important role in build-ing occupational identities.

We have inadequate understanding ofhow gender segregation is constituted andrenewed within occupations and howgender-based definitions of occupations,skills and competences are constructed ata cultural level. Existing research is mostlybased on a historical perspective (see, forexample, Cockburn, 1983) on technicaloccupations or Rabe-Kleberg (1993) onhealth and caring professions). To pre-vent new gender segregation in the ICTeconomy and other occupational fields

being transformed by ICTs, it is impor-tant to introduce a gender perspectivefrom the start in designing and institu-tionalising new qualificational and occu-pational profiles.

Training young women innew ICT occupations

In this section the results of differentempirical studies are introduced and ex-amined for emerging trends of gender seg-regation.

Women taking part in ICT occupations

Since initial training courses in ICT occu-pations started in 1997, women have madeup 14% of total trainees. The followingfigures show the distribution of womenbetween the new ICT occupations in 1999.The figures compare to the 40% averageof women taking part in all trainingcourses. Where women apply for initialtraining in ICT occupations, they are morelikely to choose more commercially-ori-ented occupations than technical ones.

Figure 1Comparing distribution rates of womenin the new ICT occupations with corre-sponding rates in previous ‘outdated’ ICToccupational profiles reveals a continua-tion of the gendered occupational struc-ture of t ra ining in ICT (Petersen,Wehmeyer, 2001, p. 177). There are nobenefits from the pilot programmes andinitiatives in the1980s and 1990s to opentraditional, technical male-dominated oc-cupations to women. The number ofwomen remains low and is even decreas-ing. Although each new ICT occupationintegrates technical, commercial andmanagerial skills more comprehensively,introducing the new profiles has had noobvious effect on changing young wo-men’s choice of career to more commer-cially or technically oriented occupations.

As total numbers of trainees in the fournew occupations have nearly doubledsince 1997, the trend of young womenmoving away from ICT occupations iseven more strongly highlighted. This trendmay have several negative effects. Largegender differences in numbers alwaysproduce ‘majorities’ and ‘minorities’ in anyfield of action. Not only does it affect the

Figure 1

Distribution rates of women in ICT occupations

Information technology specialist 12%IT system electronic technician 4%IT system support specialist 28%Information technology officer 23%All training profiles 40%

(Source: Federal Office of Statistics)


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social interaction between men andwomen on the shop floor, but it also in-fluences societal and cultural ideas andvalues linked to occupations and occu-pational images (Dietzen, 1993, p. 83 ff.,Althoff, 1992). Gendered occupations alsoinfluence occupational choice and moti-vation of companies to organise trainingcourses.

Company strategies and behaviour tohire trainees

Young women are less successful thanyoung men in being accepted for train-ing places in the new occupations. Thepercentage of women applying for ap-prenticeships in the four new occupationsis 17% (Petersen, Wehmeyer, 2001, p.178)(6). As the rate of female trainees isonly slightly lower – 16% - this suggestscompanies neither discriminate in favouror against women.

More revealing is the gender differencein numbers of applicants and apprenticesby each occupation. There is a substan-tial difference between the number ofapplicants and the number of trainees forthe more technically-oriented occupationof IT systems electronics technician. Dou-ble the number of women apply for atraining place than are accepted. Compa-nies appear to prefer male applicants.

In the more commercially-oriented occu-pation of IT systems support specialistfirms appear to prefer female trainees. Thefemale rate of applicants is slightly lowerthan the rate of trainees. For the profileof the information technology specialist/application development(7), the rate of fe-male applicants and trainees is more orless identical.

Companies seem to follow existing gen-der stereotypes deciding whom to acceptas a trainee. They prefer women for morecommercially-oriented occupations anddiscriminate against women applicants inmore technically-oriented occupations.

We know that gender stereotypes mostlywork implicitly and tacitly by influencingperceptions and interaction. This is onereason it is so difficult to change stere-otypes. Therefore it is important enter-prises become aware of gender issues inassessing and hiring personnel.

As the findings of the enterprise panelsurvey (Brandes, Dietzen, Westhoff, 2001)underline, enterprises rarely reflect criti-cally on their strategies for hiring train-ees. Only 8% of companies are ready toreflect critically on procedures for assess-ing and hiring personnel, and are willingto review procedures to address genderissues (Figure 2, in annex).

Occupational orientation and choicesof young women

Discussions on the reasons for youngwomen being underrepresented in newICT occupations have focused on moti-vation and choice in applying for train-ing places. It is said that women still pre-fer to choose traditionally female occu-pations. In reality, little is known aboutgender-related choice and orientation,beyond traditional stereotypes. In theenterprise panel survey (Brandes, Dietzen,Westhoff, 2001), respondents were askedhow to increase the training rates ofwomen in ICT occupations. Most pro-posed strategies to interest and motivateyoung women to apply for training in newICT occupations. Of respondents, 64%proposed more technically-oriented workplacements in occupations oriented to-wards young women. Of the enterprises,61% suggested more contact and bettercooperation between enterprises, schoolsand institutions of vocational guidance arenecessary to support women in their oc-cupational choice (see Figure 2).

But what are the experiences of youngwomen compared with those of youngmen during periods of orientation and oc-cupational choice? According to Petersenand Wehmeyer (2001, p. 180), 75% of alltrainees on initial training courses in oneof the new ICT occupations stated theyhad found an apprenticeship in their first-choice occupation. But distribution be-tween men and women is interesting.Only 50% of women were successful intheir preferred occupation – that meansevery second woman has chosen an oc-cupation which was only her second orthird preference. Individual choice fortraining within an occupation is depend-ent on the supply of apprenticeshipplaces. Women are more likely to acceptan apprenticeship in another occupationif the enterprise is not able to provide atraining place in their first preference.

(6) This rate differs from the resultsof the enterprise panel study, whereit lies at 20%. (Brandes, H., Dietzen,A. Westhoff, G. 2001).

(7) This occupational profile of the in-formation technology specialist hastwo specialist areas: system integra-tion and applications development.


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Women appear to be more flexible in ac-cepting alternatives – or descriptions oftraining profiles are so open that they offeroccupational alternatives for female ap-plicants. Occupational choices of youngwomen are obviously more dependent onthe supply of training places and alterna-tives than those of young men. This mightbe one explanation for the fact that thepercentage of female trainees increaseswhen the number of apprenticeshipplaces increases. (Petersen, Wehmeyer,2001, p. 180).

When asked what influenced their occu-pational choice, 90% of female and maletrainees said it was their ‘interest in work-ing with computers’. For 75% of youngwomen this was also the most importantfirst motivation. The influence of familyand friends was also decisive for youngwomen. Only one in four women saidcomputer courses at school were influ-ential. This might suggest the enterprisestrategy of promoting work placementsand improving vocational guidance islargely ineffective in influencing youngpeople.

Relevance of company structure forsupporting women

Enterprises place little attention on in-ternal processes for promoting femaletrainees in ICT occupations (see Figure2). Their major focus is motivatingwomen to enter existing training places.However, 32% of companies state thatimproving the gender awareness of lead-ing staff and managers could help de-velop a ‘working culture’, which mightin the long run result in a gender bal-ance within companies. Only 20% thinkemploying more women in leading po-sitions would result in more women en-tering ICT occupations - either becausewomen in leading positions are moreaware of gender issues or that they pro-vide role models for young women. Ofcompanies, 20% recognise that action topromote gender equality in the work-place would motivate young women toapply for training in IT.

Gender-related quality aspects oftraining

The survey investigated several issuesrelated to quality. One question was

whether employing female trainers wouldimprove training courses for women andwhether companies should provide addi-tional support for female trainees. Of thecompanies surveyed, 90% did not believethese measures would improve in-com-pany training or increase the number ofwomen in ICT training (Figure 2).

Of both male and female trainees, 90%are content with their training in the newICT occupations. Positive points werethe variety of tasks and learning con-tent, the need to be independent andorganised, responsibility, communica-tion with customers, work-based learn-ing and project work. Trainees were in-terested in applications and softwaredevelopment, PC techniques, and sup-port and marketing. The high rates ofsatisfaction among young women wasdespite only 50% following training intheir first-choice occupation and thelower prior motivation than young mento work with computers (Petersen,Wehmeyer, 2001 p.182).

While general satisfaction with the train-ing courses showed little gender differ-ence, there were significant differencesbetween male and female trainees in in-formation technology specialist - appli-cations development. More female thanmale trainees found the standards of train-ing contents too low. In following up thisresponse it appeared that female traineesare rarely trained in writing software orsystems development despite this beinga core, and demanding, component oftraining and work-based learning in thisoccupation. Women are less often given‘difficult’ learning and training tasks dur-ing in-company training than male train-ees and therefore feel not sufficiently chal-lenged (Petersen, Wehmeyer, 2001, p.183).

There are remarkable gender differencesbetween trainees’ views on contents andtasks in intermediate and final examina-tions. Three out of four female appren-tices found the examinations too diffi-cult(8), especially the new holistic exami-nation tasks. To interpret these results itis important to consider how trainees aresupported and prepared by in-companytraining for their final exams. Female train-ees argued they had received inadequateor no support.

(8) The content and tasks of examina-tions in the new ICT profiles are or-ganised according to a new approach,which includes, for example, moreholistic tasks.


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Gender images of occupational pro-files

Companies, especially large enterprises(between 50 and 499 employees) believeICT occupational profiles display a ‘malebias’. Of companies surveyed, 35% said itwas important to change the image of ICToccupations. They say the technical as-pects are too heavily emphasised in pre-senting the occupational profiles, com-pared to other skills needs such as cus-tomer service and managerial and com-municative skills, which tend to be ne-glected (Figure 2).

How big a role images of occupationalprofiles play in reconstructing and rein-forcing gender stereotypes is shown inreplacing the profile of ‘mathematics-tech-nical assistant’ with ‘information technol-ogy specialist’. The 50% participation rateof young women in the former trainingprogrammes for mathematician–technicalassistant decreased rapidly to 20% whenreplaced by the new profile, even thoughthe technical training content remainedbasically unchanged. The major changewas in providing supplementary elementsfor non-technical competences (Borch &Weissmann, 2000, p. 10).

Changing the designation of the occupa-tion must have something to do with thedecreasing numbers of women in the newoccupation. We know from other occu-pational profiles termed ‘assistants’ thatwomen are more likely to identify them-selves with the occupational role of ‘as-sistant’ than - in this case - informationtechnology specialist.

Emerging trends of newgender segregation in thenew ICT occupations?

Institutionalising new occupational pro-files must integrate the gender issue as abasic approach. The survey results andempirical evidence describe only certainaspects of how gender typing in occupa-tion is socially constructed. Our analysesexamine the following dimensions of gen-der typing:

(a) motivation, orientation and occupa-tional choices of young women;

(b) training cultures and companies or-ganisation;

(c) the cultural and symbolic constitutionof gendered occupations.

The reason young women are under-represented in training for new ICT oc-cupations is often attributed to lack ofmotivation and interest in technical oc-cupations. We do not know enough aboutthe motivation, strategies and processesof occupational choice of young people.Studies in this area are increasingly outof date. The processes of individualisa-tion, indicated by rates of divorce, singleparents and single person households willaffect more societal concepts of workinglife and occupational identity towardsother aspects of life. Patterns of occupa-tional orientation and criteria for occupa-tional choice have changed as culturalvalues, attitudes, commitments and gen-der roles have changed during the pastdecade. Work-related life concepts of menand women are more and more similar(Baethge et al., 1989).

During the 1970s, a large VET pilot pro-gramme was launched to open tradition-ally male occupations to young women.One main objective was to supportwomen choosing an occupation to basetheir decision for training on a broaderspectrum of different occupations(9). Ourrecent research suggests the positive ef-fects of this programme are limited. Offemale apprentices in Germany, 54% stillselect a training profile in one of the 10most preferred female occupations.Althoff (forthcoming) analysed longitudi-nal data from official statistics for voca-tional education and training and foundthat female rates of concentration in a lim-ited number of occupations are muchhigher than for men from 1975 to 1999.Althoff shows the percentage rate of con-centration is dependent on the rate ofsupply of apprenticeship places. In timesof shortage of apprenticeship places therate of concentration is lower, as appli-cants decide on training in an alternativeoccupation if they are not successful intheir first choice. In times of high avail-ability of apprenticeship places, concen-tration on a limited number of occupa-tions is high because enterprises are ableto offer more apprenticeships to matchapplicants’ first choices.

(9) Pilot program to test industrial/technical training occupations for girlsof the German Ministry of Educationand Science of 9 March 1978.


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By analysing the different rates of con-centration of young women and youngmen, Althoff found the rates of concen-tration of men tend to decrease more - ifthe supply of apprenticeship places islow - than of women. If young men arenot successful in gaining a first-choicetraining place, they more easily choosealternatives in other occupations. In thesame situation, women tend to chooseschool-based training, rather than apply-ing for alternative in-company trainingin another occupat ion. In Germanschool-based vocational training there isan above average concentration of tra-di t ional female occupat ions in thehealthcare sector. Obviously, in-companytraining is responsive to the demand fortraining places for young men - but notfor young women.

This causes different effects on the train-ing system. Althoff points out that theeducational level required for entrance topopular occupations becomes higher intimes of limited training places. Traineeswho choose to apply for training in alter-native occupations are more successful infinal examinations than trainees who un-dertake training in their first-choice oc-cupation. And finally, if women decideon training in a ‘male occupation’ becausethey fail to gain their first choice appren-ticeship, they more easily leave beforefinishing.

Althoff found a high rate of failure to com-plete training for those minority gendergroups in an occupation. To explain this,it is worthwhile examining the social in-teractions which take place in groups ofapprentices with large differences in num-bers of male and female trainees. Theminority are forced to adapt to the rules,expectations, behaviour and social settingof the majority (Kanter, 1977). This couldlead to conflicts and pressures on indi-viduals, leading to them leaving beforefinishing training.

These findings provide a basis for ana-lysing persisting gender-specific occupa-tional choices and the results of continu-ing gender division of occupations. Sec-ondly, it suggests a need to analyse so-cial situations and training conditions incompanies, considering the social effectsof unbalanced numbers of men andwomen in training and at the workplace.

Results of the enterprise survey (Figure2) are unhelpful. Most companies statethe problem of lack of female apprenticesin the new ICT occupations is solely be-cause of the occupational choice of youngwomen. There is little consideration of in-company training conditions or sensitiv-ity to gender issues in organisations. Toconsider why the traditional gender typ-ing in occupations is so persistent, it isimportant to analyse the complex way inwhich gender is socially constructed atthe workplace and within organisations.

Quantitative data are limited and empiri-cal surveys into differences between fe-male and male participation rates are of-ten difficult to interpret. Further studiesneed to undertake qualitative research andexamine experiences of companies andtrainees(10). Also we need to know moreabout examples of best practice – of com-panies which integrate gender-related is-sues into a more holistic approach. Par-ticularly interesting are companies work-ing with new management concepts suchas ‘total e-quality management’, or moreintegrated policy measures such as the‘gender mainstreaming approach’ to or-ganisational and personnel developmentstrategies.

On the symbolic and cultural impact ofoccupational images, it is important toremember the new ICT occupations arestrongly linked to computers which areculturally accepted as ‘male occupations’.Although training profiles of new ICToccupations try to overcome existingstereotypes of technical skills for men andcommunicative, social and service-ori-ented skills for women, they fail to de-velop new occupational images allowingwomen and men to identity equally withICT occupations.

Some closing recommen-dations

Gender issues have been debated for 25years in German vocational educationaltraining and labour market policy. Fromthe outset, one focus was the problem offemale underrepresentation in traditionalmale-dominated occupations and thenegative effects of gender division in oc-cupations, between occupations and dif-

(10) Another research project at BIBBwhich is interesting for gender issues,aims to explore new fields of employ-ment in the service sector and theirpotential to supply initial training, seeWesthoff, 2001, and Westhoff, (forth-coming).


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ferent fields of employment. There hasbeen little obvious progress.

The gender-based division of labour mar-kets and VET results in serious limitations.It implies that human resources areunderutilised, with men and women be-ing channelled into VET and the labourmarket according to their gender ratherthan their capabilities. Empirical surveyssuggest that at a fairly early stage of insti-tutionalising the new ICT occupations, thetrend of gender division both limits op-portunities for individuals and creates la-bour market rigidity in recruitment, jobperformance, and mobility on the labour-market. We know from other occupationsand employment fields that gender seg-regation is a major source of inflexibilityin individuals’ pathways into and throughVET, and in their entry, performance andprogression on the labour market. With-out intervention the negative effects willbecome even stronger.

The situation requires political commit-ment to focus discussion on how gendertyping can be stopped, and how VETpolicy and practice can reverse the trend.The following recommendations are start-ing points for such a debate.

Occupational orientation and choicepose big challenges for providing flex-ible pathways for women and men intoVET and the labour market. It is notenough to think how young womencould be better motivated to select tech-nically-oriented training profiles. Youngmen also select a training profile accord-ing to existing gender stereotypes in oneof the 10 most preferred male occupa-tions. This raises questions on how gen-der preferences for entrance into occu-pations come about and continue andwhat role existing gender division be-tween and in occupations and occupa-tional fields has. Obviously, images ofoccupations as ‘male’ or ‘female’ havean important effect on individual deci-sions. Both men and women avoidchoosing a training profile in an occu-pation where they have the ‘wrong’ gen-der. Secondly, the differences betweenfemale-dominated and male-dominatedoccupations in terms of occupationalstandards, occupational perspectives andcareer opportunities influence the attrac-tiveness of occupations.

As female-dominated occupations havelower social prestige, lack career and oc-cupational perspectives and work is com-parably lower paid, young men selectinga training profile in a ‘female’ occupationlose prestige and social recognition. Weknow from historical studies, that menonly enter typical female employmentareas, if they have no chance of employ-ment in their preferred job or if they ex-pect to get a higher position in a ‘female’occupation.

To break gender segregation between dif-ferent occupations and employment fields,it is important to change the existing scaleof values and social prestige which influ-ence definitions of occupational standardsfor training profiles, competences andqualifications, and continuous trainingand lifelong learning11. An important chal-lenge is upgrading ‘female’ occupations,especially those dealing with personalservices, such as nursing and other careoccupations in Germany.

For individuals and their occupationalchoice, it is necessary to consider system-atically their personal orientations, abili-ties, competences as well as genderedcultural and societal values attributed towork, competences and occupational pro-files and their influence on personal de-cisions. This cannot be limited to a cer-tain transition period from school to ini-tial training or work, it requires monitor-ing individual development over a longerperiod. It raises a need for new, innova-tive approaches to occupational guidancewhich introduce a more developmentalperspective for young people in findingtheir way to training and work. It alsorequires better cooperation between in-dividuals, families, schools, companiesand occupational guidance organisations.

A second challenge is the symbolic andcultural impact of ICT occupational pro-files. ICT profiles include commercial,project-oriented, electronic and compu-ter skills. All profiles have a strong serv-ice orientation. Customers expect indi-vidual, company-specific services andproblem-solving. The needs and expec-tations of customers are central to ICTwork profiles. Consulting is another largework requirement in ICT occupations. Butstill, the technical needs of ICT occupa-tional profiles are recognised as dominant.

(11) For an historical analysis of defi-cits of professionalisation in the fieldof nursing in Germany, see Mayer,Ch., 2001.


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To change existing images of ICT occu-pations, service and person oriented ele-ments linked to technical requirementshave to be highlighted.

The public image of the ICT economy islinked to individualism, competition,working around the clock and constantavailability – the so-called 24/7 society.This may not be attractive to either menor women – but may be less so forwomen. To be more attractive to women,the ICT economy and related areas ofemployment within non-ICT specific oc-cupations have to change their image.

Individuals have different ideas, methodsand strategies of learning and of handlingtechnical tools and instruments. Learningand training courses have to be sensitiveto individual learning styles, and recog-nise different approaches for women toacquire technical skills and knowledge.We have gained much experience fromwomen in project networks for use indeveloping better target-oriented and in-dividual training measures and learningsupplies. Until now, this experience hasnot been used enough in ICT initial andfurther training. Quality assurance instru-ments for women’s training courses couldalso be of use in ICT training. These aregood ideas for creating suitable learningframeworks and environments for the

successful training of women. They stressholistic training concepts, which promotepersonal and professional development bylinking cognitive, social and emotionallearning. They also recognise typicallyfemale organisational needs, such as childcaring and limited mobility.

A major challenge is to motivate compa-nies to improve their personnel recruit-ment strategies. Total e-quality and gen-der-mainstreaming are examples of ap-proaches which link the economic inter-ests of companies with promoting women.Total e-quality companies stress variousadvantages of gender balances within or-ganisations. For example, teamworking ismuch more successful if the number ofmen and women are balanced within theteam. Companies continuously promotingwomen is an important strategy for creat-ing a stable and skilled staff unaffectedby a changing labour market. Total e-qual-ity enterprises are more flexible in pro-viding part-time positions and ways to linkparental breaks and return to work peri-ods with training and learning. They showthat different career planning, based ontypical female approach does not neces-sarily contradict the economic interests ofcompanies. Companies need to developdifferent work and organisational culturesand integrate gender issues into the over-all organisation.

Annex Figure 2

Figure 2

Figure 2 represents the answers of enterprises,asked for good strategies to support women train-ing in the new ICT occupations.

Additional technically oriented work placements 64%Improved strategies of occupational orientationand vocational guidance 61%Changing the male bias in occupational profiles 35%Improving gender sensibility of leading staff and managers 32%Promoting women for leading positions 20%Institutionalising gender mainstreaming within enterprises 20%Gender equality as leading concept of enterprises 11%Additional female trainers 11%Additional support for female trainees on training courses 9%Improved strategies of personnel assessment 8%

(Brandes, Dietzen, Westhoff, 2001)


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Althoff, H. Frauen in Männer-, Männer in Frauen-berufen-Weibliche und männliche Jugendliche alsMinderheiten in Ausbildungsberufen. In: Berufsbil-dung in Wissen schaft und Praxis, 21., No 4, 1992.

Althoff, H. Geschlechtsspezifische Entwicklungender Konzentration in der betrieblichen Berufsaus-bildung, (forthcoming).

Baethge, M. et. al. Jugend: Arbeit und Identität.Lebensperspektiven und Interessenorientierung vonJugendlichen, Opladen, 1989.

Bitkom Wege in die Informationsgesellschaft – Sta-tus quo und Perspektiven Deutschlands im inter-nationalen Vergleich. Bundesverband Informations-wirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien,Berlin/Frankfurt, 2000.

Borch, H. and Weissmann, H. ErfolgsgeschichteIT-Berufe. In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft undPraxis (BWP), 29, No 6, pp. 9-12, 2000.

Brandes, H., Dietzen, A., Westhoff, G. Ausbildungjunger Frauen in IT-Berufen. Referenz-Betriebs-Sy-stem, Information No 19, April, Bonn, 2001.

Cockburn, C. Brothers: Male dominance andtechnological change. London, Pluto, 1983.

Dietzen, A. Soziales Geschlecht. Dimensionen desGender-Konzeptes. Opladen, Westdeutscher Verlag,1993.

Kanter, R. M. Men and women of the corporation,New York, Basic Books, 1977.

Lennartz, D. Neue Strukturmodelle für beruflichesAus- und Weiterbilden. In: Berufsbildung in Wis-senschaft und Praxis 26, 6, pp. 13-19, 1997.

References

Mayer, Ch. Deficits of professionalisation in thefield of nursing in Germany In: Gender perspectiveson vocational education. Edited by, Ph. Gonon, K.Haefeli, A. Heikkinen, I. Ludwig, pp.125-145, 2001.

Modellversuchsprogramm zur Erschließung gewerb-licher/technischer Ausbildungsberufe für Mädchendes Bundesministers für Bildung und Wissenschaftof 9 March 1978.

OECD Competences for the knowledge economy.DEELSA/ED/CERI/CD (2000)12/Part4/REV1 forofficial use, 2000.

Offensive zum Abbau des IT-Fachkräftemangels.Beschluss des Bündnisses für Arbeit, Ausbildungund Wettbewerbsfähigkeit of 6 July 1999.

Petersen, W.,Wehmeyer, C. Die neuen IT-Berufeauf dem Prüfstand. Ergebnisse der schriftlichenBefragung von Betrieben in den neuen IT-Berufen.Teilprojekt 1, Abschlussbericht. Vorabdruck, 2001.

Rabe-Kleberg, U. Verantwortlichkeit und Macht. EinBeitrag zum Verhältnis von Geschlecht und Berufangesichts der Krise traditioneller Frauenberufe.Bielefeld: Kleine, 1993.

Westhoff, G. Junge Dienstleistungsunternehmenbilden aus, wünschen sich aber mehr Beratung undInformation. In: Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft undPraxis No 5, (forthcoming).

Westhoff, G. Mehr Ausbildungsplätze in wachsen-den Dienstleistungsbereichen. Kann Forschung hier-zu einen Beitrag leisten? In: Berufsbildung in Wis-senschaft und Praxis, No 4, 2001.

Wetterer, A. Soziale Konstruktion von Geschlechtin Professionalisierungsprozessen.Frankfurt amMain, Campus, 1995.


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ICTs, e-learning andcommunity develop-mentNEXUS has implemented a number ofprojects involving distance learning andthe use of ICTs, but with a focus on com-munity development and empowerment.In the course of this work, a number ofprinciples became clear.

The deployment of ICTs in distance learn-ing has not in any significant way changedthe content and approach to teaching andlearning per se. Rather, existing modes aresimply transposed into electronic form.Thus the medium changes, from face-to-face or television/video, to multi-media,computers and the internet; but little else.This approach has a number of shortcom-ings.

❏ It fails to address some of the short-comings of conventional approaches toeducation and learning, as they relate todisadvantaged communities and to em-powerment.

❏ It fails to take advantage of certain as-pects of ICTs that render them particu-larly useful in this context.

Working in a development context, forinstance in less industrialised countries,or in disadvantaged communities here inIreland, training and education may of-ten take place in far more informal andaction oriented settings than that of theformal classroom or workplace. The mainactors in these areas are often commu-nity based organisations (CBOs) of onekind or another, generally set up by andemploying local people and acting as acentre of advocacy, action for change,research and/or learning. Whether inPakistan or Plymouth, Togo or Tallaght,groups of people organising for socialchange tend to have similar needs andevolve and apply the same principles.

These needs include learning and educa-tion – but very often not the kind avail-able in institutional contexts and official

curricula,. Although many of the sametags can be attached – training of train-ers, lifelong learning, work-based earn-ing – they simply mean something elsefor these CBOs. Here it is not a questionof looking to the outside, and selectingfrom a range of available courses suitablefor individual (or even group) education.It is a case of looking to the inside andasking: what kind of learning and edu-cation can make a difference to us?

Furthermore, with the use of ICTs, theirapproach is also different. The questionis not how to deliver what exists to awider audience, more efficiently; nor ofdisseminating supposed ‘excellence’ ineducation to those where such facilitiesare presumed needed but not to be avail-able. Rather it is a question of asking:How can ICTs be used to deliver thekind of learning and education thatwill make a difference to us here?

It is the bottom-up and needs driven ap-proach that is different in each case.Community and collective developmentis not about matching existing courses andfacilities to individuals seeking personaleducation. It is about how communitiescan educate themselves, using tools andresources available to them, to enablethem to overcome the obstacles they con-front, and empower themselves. This isnot achieved through delivery of exter-nal courses and curricula. It does not be-gin by seeking out what is available outthere. It begins from where people areat, the problems they face, the resourcesthey can build on.

Understanding Motivation

The key difference, therefore, is one ofmotivation – expressed most clearly in thedistinction that needs to be made betweenindividual and collective motivation. Peo-

Brian DillonResearch Director,

Nexus Research Co-operative, Dublin

ICTs are a valuable id forlocal development both be-cause of their educationalqualities and because oftheir effectiveness in col-lecting data and analysingsolutions, two indispensa-ble pre-requisites for strate-gic planning. However, oneshould not forget that localdevelopment is a processwhich cannot be under-taken effectively unless it isbased on the grass-rootsand takes the real needs ofthe developing communi-ties into consideration. Itwould also be expedient tomake use of locally avail-able resources. Under theseconditions, ICTs prove to bea great help because theysupport, accelerate, rein-force and disseminate prac-tices rooted in the local con-text and contribute to theattainment of collectivelyfixed objectives.


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ple who come together in locally estab-lished structures – or in issue-based as-sociations – do so as a response to par-ticular development challenges. Wherethe communities or groups have a his-tory of exclusion from mainstream oppor-tunities, the challenges are about identi-fying and removing the causes of exclu-sion. Low individual attainment levels, asmeasured by formally recognised achieve-ments in education and training, are fre-quently identified as the most formidablebarriers in this respect; and many localresponses designed and delivered byCBOs have training and educational ac-tivities at their core.

An ideal context, one would imaginetherefore, to successfully introduce andexploit the opportunities afforded by de-velopment in ICT. After all:

❏ These CBOs are ideally placed to de-liver appropriate courses to the most ex-cluded and marginalised members of thecommunity – those for whom the moreformal or mainstream education or train-ing system may not have been appropri-ate.

❏ ICT offers the opportunity to bridgegaps.

While these are important starting points,the most significant contribution ICT canmake to tackling social exclusion is missed– essentially because the motivationalbase or raison d’etre of CBOs is missed.Expressed in its most simple terms, CBOsbecome involved in training and educa-tional initiatives as a way of strengthen-ing community capacity. Individual pro-gression through education and trainingis, therefore, a means to an end, and notan end in itself.

The distinction with formal providers be-comes more apparent when questions ofevaluation are raised. For example, a CBOmay be able to demonstrate considerableand very worthwhile outputs or results intraining terms – measured typically bynumbers of people participating success-fully, numbers accessing further educa-tional or employment opportunities etc.However, these opportunities may existoutside the community in question, re-sulting in participants leaving the area toaccess them. The CBO may (typically) be

working towards the longer-term devel-opment of sustainable development andorganisational infrastructure within theircommunity. In this case, where the or-ganisation may have trained potentialleaders to leave, shorter term successesmay in fact contribute to longer-term fail-ures.

If this motivational distinction isn’t drawn,then the introduction of ICT is likely tocontribute positively to short-term indi-vidual progression objectives; at the riskof damaging longer-term communitysustainability goals. The effect can thenbe seen as successful in terms of dealingwith the individual effects of social ex-clusion, while at the same time re-enfor-cing its underlying causes.

With this in mind, much of the work ofNexus at this interface has been in assist-ing groups and organisations in clarify-ing objectives, assessing needs and iden-tifying barriers. In this way, ICT is intro-duced because it is seen as a way of meet-ing particular challenges encountered;and not because it is necessarily the wayin which all challenges should be met.Details from the two projects cited belowhelp to illustrate this key difference.

The CEDIS Project

CEDIS (Community Empower mentthrough Distance Training in the Infor-mation Society) was an EU funded Projectinitiated in 1997. It was applied in Greece,where it linked up environmental NGOsinto a network, providing the support andtraining needed; in Rome, where immi-grant workers were provided with thefacilities and resources to develop relevantinternet applications; and in Ireland,where it worked with community devel-opment projects to explore learning andnetworking needs. NEXUS led the projectoverall and ran the work in Ireland withCommunity Media Network.

Community Development Projects in Ire-land (CDPs) comprise a distinct set of in-dependent local initiatives set up to ad-dress issues of exclusion and empower-ment. They each receive funding fromthe government under the CommunityDevelopment Support Programme (CDSP)


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which is run by the Department of So-cial, Community and Family Affairs. Theirlearning needs are practical. They relateto the specific objectives of each organi-sation, and to ensuring that their activi-ties are effective and having an impact.As such, this Programme represents oneof the most important vehicles for thedelivery of training and educational re-sponses in the most economically de-prived areas of the country, to some ofthe most socially excluded members ofthe community.

The CEDIS project worked with aboutthirty of these (there are over two hun-dred in total spread throughout the coun-try). Each was provided, as required, withequipment, internet addresses and ISPaccess. Most of the effort, however, wentinto assessing needs based on their ex-perience. Participative workshops wererun, and in the end a limited number ofprojects went forward with practical ap-plications, such as developing databasesto be shared by all of external expertiserequired; setting up discussion groups,Websites and so forth. In short, the proc-ess was about jointly determining needs,and then building capacity in the effec-tive use of ICT to meet these needs. Sub-sequent success in delivering training andeducational initiatives was influenced bya number of factors in this context:

❏ Firstly, it became evident that using ICTto address specific development chal-lenges had a ‘knock-on’ effect that ulti-mately embedded the effective and fo-cused use of technology in all develop-ment activities – including the design anddelivery of training, education and socialawareness courses. What began with avery limited application to assist with apractical task(1) often ended with the suc-cessful embodiment of ICT in every as-pect of project activity. Several of thesewent on to establish their own internalICT department – securing resources forequipment, staff and training. In a cou-ple of the most successful cases, theseprojects are now delivering training on avariety of themes to people in their com-munities.

❏ Secondly, the real benefit – or ‘differ-ence’ – afforded by ICT options was verymuch linked to the increased capacity forflexibility and responsiveness created as

a result. Successful ICT introduction to theproject was based on matching projectneeds or challenges to possible ICT solu-tions or applications in the first place. Soalso was subsequent design and deliveryof training and educational courses basedupon matching specific target group needswith available and appropriate trainers,modules, course delivery methods etc.This was an essential and fundamentalpre-requisite, and one that serves to il-lustrate one of the most successful facetsof ICT application to socially excludedareas and groups. The community devel-opment process or approach – as followedby all these projects – dictates that localresponses or initiatives should be basedfirmly upon an understanding of local cir-cumstances, strengths, weaknesses andopportunities. This in effect translated intoa very wide range of development activ-ity and development themes(2) – andtherefore very particular inputs in VETterms. Access to on-line databases of train-ers, and to the facility for ongoing col-laboration with them, greatly increases thecapacity of projects to identify, design anddeliver appropriate training and educa-tional responses to address identified lo-cal needs.

Self-Evaluation and Strate-gic Planning in the Com-munity Development Pro-gramme

NEXUS subsequently worked with all thecommunity development projects (CDPs)in the Community Development SupportProgramme (referred to above) to developbottom-up monitoring and evaluation sys-tems. Using a model already tried in sev-eral community development contexts,NEXUS and the CDPs worked hand-in-hand to devise a system whereby projectscould, all over the country, monitor theirown progress and the impact of their workbased on criteria developed in consulta-tion with all stakeholders. This work wasundertaken as part of an overall evalua-tion of the Community Development Sup-port Programme undertaken by Nexus in1999 and formally published by the De-partment of Social Community and Fam-ily Affairs in 2002. However, the processof self-evaluation has continued beyondthe external evaluation period and is now

(1) One notable example of this waswhere a project wanted to connectwith others – through basic informa-tion retrieval and active discussionand sharing of experiences – on theissue of urban regeneration and com-munity development.

(2) Development challenges faced bythese projects, for example, rangedfrom co-operative shellfish productionin the West of Ireland, to housing es-tate management or drug addictioncounselling in some of the larger ur-ban communities.


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being built upon and consolidated to al-low for ongoing project and programmereview.

As a result of the process of assistance inself-evaluation, a number of evaluationinstruments were developed. Using pa-per-based forms, both quantitative andqualitative information is collected in astructured fashion. This information al-lows individual projects, or their spon-sors or evaluators, to gain an understand-ing of their project, its activities, and thebroader impact of those activities. Becausethe data is structured, and to a large ex-tent quantitative, cumulative data inter-rogation and presentation is possible. Forexample, it is possible to build an under-standing of all the projects in a particularregion, or those who are, say, particularlyconcerned with persons from the Travel-ler community. This facilitates pro-gramme-level understanding, evaluationand management.

Projects underwent an intensive period oflearning as the evaluation and monitor-ing system became a part of their every-day management and operational activi-ties, using the paper-based instrumentswhich were developed. However, itquickly became apparent that the proc-ess was one which could be facilitatedthrough the use of ICT.

NEXUS is currently working with theprojects to develop software which willtrain them in the use of the evaluationtools and assist them in their application.The software is being built using stand-ard office software database and presen-tation packages, but will be migrated to aweb-based platform in the future. This willbe distributed to CDP projects nationallyto help them in their work.

The CDP case is a good example of ICTbeing utilised in the context of commu-nity development and empowerment.There are a number of main reasons forits success:

❏ A process had already been developedwithout using (or even considering) ICTs.This process had proved useful to, andwas ‘owned’ by, the projects involved.

❏ The process was amenable to imple-mentation using ICTs. As noted, it in-

volves the collection of structured infor-mation, much of it numeric. Therefore, itwas possible to implement the existingprocess without losing, or diluting beyondrecognition, any aspects that had made itacceptable to projects in the first place.This will not always be the case, and it isimportant to understand what may be lostwhen considering the use of ICTs in acommunity development context.

❏ The process was amenable to augmen-tation using ICTs. In particular, it is pos-sible to add items such as help systemsor background information which are notpossible using paper-based forms. Also,of course, it facilitates the disseminationof material among projects.

❏ Critically, use of ICTs (and the processthey are supporting) makes the work ofthe programme funders and administra-tors easier, therefore ensuring their sup-port and encouragement. The use of ICTsconsiderably eases programme manage-ment and evaluation tasks. The structur-ing and population of a programme data-base, which can be interrogated and ana-lysed, is central to this. This database is anatural outcome of ICTs activity at projectlevel.

❏ The networks of actors which ICTs maybe used to support are already in place.There are already regional and nationalforums in which they participate.

❏ The technology used is available andfamiliar to the projects. Therefore, no sub-stantial investment in either technologyor training is required. This is very im-portant, in the context of projects whichare operating with finite, and often over-stretched, budgets.

❏ The available infrastructure is morethan adequate. High speed connectionsare not required. Were this the case, manyprojects in more rural areas of Ireland mayhave been excluded from full participa-tion.

Evaluation and strategic planning func-tions are therefore being successfully up-graded at both local project and nationalprogramme level. As with the CEDIS Pro-gramme, building ICT into the culture andeveryday operations of projects will in-evitably impact positively upon the way


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in which training and educational initia-tives are implemented. The significanceof training and education to the CDPs isevident from the information already col-lected by the projects as part of theirevaluation work. For example, between1996 and 1999 38 projects (out of a totalof 83) had provided training courses, 25had provided courses on self awarenessand self development and 27 had pro-vided educational courses. A total of morethan 7500 people had participated onthese courses. With regard to training, themost common course content coveredestate management, health and commu-nity development. Education courses in-cluded literacy and health and social care.Social awareness course content includedcommunity arts, communication and lo-cal democracy.

There is already evidence of an increasedtendency towards projects exploiting theobvious potential for peer learning withinthis context. The programme database –to date only piloted in one region – hasallowed projects to identify particularlyrelevant skills and experiences residentin other projects in the region; and toactively collaborate with these in design-ing training responses in their own com-munities(3).

Policy Influence

There is also early evidence of an evenmore significant and longer-term contri-bution to be made to the design and de-livery of successful training and educa-tional initiatives within more excludedcommunities and groups. The communitydevelopment sector in Ireland generally(and the Community Development Pro-gramme in particular) is going throughan important transition in its relationshipwith the statutory sector. Marked by re-cent national legislation redefining thisrelationship, change is most evident in theinteraction between local experience andmainstream public service policy andpractice. In the area of education and

training for example, three CDPs havealready noted changes in statutory policyregarding the provision of communitybased education as a direct result of suc-cessful CDP-led educational programmes.Two of these were cases where the localVocational Education Committee made anongoing commitment to replicating theeducational programme delivered; in theother the Local Authority provided physi-cal space and resources to assist withcontinuation.

The intention, at national level, is to makemaximum use of the experiences and les-sons emerging from ongoing work withdisadvantaged areas and communities:with a particular focus on how the de-sign and delivery of mainstream servicescan be improved. The instigation of ICT-supported planning, evaluation and net-working has allowed projects to explorecommon experiences and lessons and tocommunicate these externally as well aswithin the Community Development Pro-gramme.. With the establishment of re-gional policy Committees (just put in placethis year) the possibilities for linking onthe ground learning into mainstream pro-vision is likely to improve, as there is nowa forum through which particular lessonsrelating to educational and training pro-vision nationally can be identified andtaken up.

This benefit, together with the othersnoted in relation to the CEDIS and Com-munity Development Programmes, wouldnot have been possible had a ‘technol-ogy driven’ or ‘technology push’ approachbeen adopted. On the contrary, they ac-crue from an approach that marries themost inherently beneficial aspects of com-munity development (collectively design-ing appropriate responses to locally iden-tified need) with the most inherently ben-eficial aspects of ICT (the capacity toquickly and effectively match challengeswith potential responses – in a way thatremoves rather than imposes limits on thesearch for these).

(3) Two cases where this has alreadybegun are in relation to training incommunity childcare managementand to training in anti-racism andequality promotion.


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HanneShapiroTeknologisk Institut,Kompetence & ITTeknologiparken,Århus, Denmark

Introduction

In 1995, the Danish Ministry of Educationfounded the National Centre for Technol-ogy Supported Education as an independ-ent unit with its own board of govern-ance. The aim of the centre was to initi-ate and promote institutional and educa-tional change through the application ofInformation and Communication Tech-nologies (ICT). This included inter-insti-tutional collaboration, the design anddelivery of education, and the design andimplementation new skill initiatives. Theintention was that an increasing numberof the Danish government supported in-stitutions would offer dual mode learn-ing – face-to-face learning and ICT sup-ported distance learning.

The Ministry had previously formed anexpert group to investigate different sce-narios for the integration of technology-supported provision within mainstreameducation and training programmes andto look at the pedagogical, curricular, or-ganisational and economic implications.The study showed that in the early 1990’sDenmark was lagging behind other coun-tries and was still at a pilot stage in inte-grating technology in the education andtraining system. Given the growing na-tional focus on life long learning for eco-nomic development and social sustain-ability, technology-supported educationwas deemed a priority area leading to thelegislation to establish the Nation Centre.

The Centre has supported and co-ordinated a series of research and devel-opment projects and programmes. It has

In 1999 18 projects involv-ing 102 partners and cover-ing ten of the fourteen re-gions in Denmark were se-lected following a call fortender entitled ‘The re-gional challenge – educa-tion in technology innova-tion perspective’. Theseprojects dealt with:– regional partnerships,– the organisation of part-nerships and innovationwithin the institutional andeducational framework,– ICTs as the lever forchange.

This article reviews the re-sults of these projects andshows that, although com-panies and organisationsagree that partnership andinteraction are essential forthe production, collection,distribution and renewal ofmost types of knowledgeand information, they havedifficulties in getting awayfrom the traditional patternfor the transfer of codifiedinformation characteristicof the institutional class-room whether it is conven-tional or electronic.

E-learning as a strategyfor creation of regionalpartnerships

also undertaken evaluations of differentinitiatives in ICT and education and train-ing. One of the most recent of these stud-ies was a survey of projects on ICT andinstitutional innovation.

This paper looks at some of the outcomesof that survey and in particular at projectsdeveloping public-private partnerships forregional innovation. These projects mainlyfocus on adult education and trainingthrough enterprises and regional resourcecentres. The paper looks at the issues ofproject design and the multidimensionalnature of institutional innovation.

Regional Innovation - Background tothe call for proposals

In 1997, the Centre for Technology Sup-ported Education published a report en-titled ‘Borderless Education’(1) based oninterviews with policy makers on the chal-lenges for the education system of thefuture. The main conclusion was that inthe future the Danish education systemwould face demands for major innovationfrom the knowledge based, networkedsociety.

The following year the Centre organiseda series of regional round table debateson how such change should be organ-ised and how to involve both public andprivate actors. In spite of Denmark’s smallsize and relative homogeneity, the re-gional debates highlighted the differencesbetween the regions in terms of educa-tion levels, knowledge intensity in manu-facturing and service industries, and tra-ditions in collaboration between the pub-lic and private sector. There were also

(1) Center for Teknologis tø t te tUdannelse ”Grænseløs Udannelse- etdebatoplæg om fremtidens uddan-nelse i et teknologisk udviklings-perspektiv”- 1997.


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considerable differences in the uses of ICTto support collaboration and educationand training.

The round table debates also stressed aninterest in opening up the ‘educationalmonopoly’ so it would not only be withinthe educational system where people ac-quire skills and learn. Both public andprivate participants demonstrated an in-terest in rethinking approaches to skillsand knowledge acquisition and to open-ing up the educational monopoly to newproviders to promote increased participa-tion in lifelong learning including fromthose presently outside the education sys-tem.(2)

Local partnerships and commitment wereseen as essential elements in mapping outa new regional knowledge based land-scape. ICT was seen as a lever of changefor inter-institutional collaboration and theflexible organisation and delivery of edu-cation, resources and materials. Therewere already a number of existing part-nerships focused on education and learn-ing to provide the basis for ICT basedregional learning partnerships.

The 1999 Call for Applications on themeof ‘The Regional Challenge – educationin technology innovation perspective’(3)resulted in support for 18 projects with102 partners in 10 of the 14 Danish countyregions. This paper reports on an evalua-tion survey on the outcomes of theseprojects.

Main Survey Themes

The survey into the project impact andoutcomes was undertaken by the DanishTechnological Institute. The followingwere the main issues to be looked at:

❏ The partnership in a regional context;

❏ The organisation of the partnership andinnovation in the institutional and learn-ing setting;

❏ ICT as a lever of change.

Project managers and 20% of the partnerswere interviewed and asked a series ofquestions regarding their perceptions of

the project. The following section sum-marises the replies.

Reasons for collaborating

The project managers were positive intheir assessment of the regional dimen-sion and focus of the projects. This ismirrored in the wide participation by edu-cational providers in the regions. Themain motivation for the education pro-viders was:

❏ To create economies of scale in the de-velopment of materials, infrastructuresand local resources centres;

❏ Because of demand from potential us-ers – mostly enterprises - to create greatertransparency and increased supply;

❏ To enable small institutions to competewith providers from larger cities – and toprevent unnecessary competition betweeneach other.

Many of the projects built on previousrelationships between the providers, manyof who saw the project as a step in a di-rection of more inter-institutional collabo-ration, between similar institutions andalso between different types of educa-tional institutions. In a long term thiscould result in easier pathways andbridges for individuals in the context oflifelong learning

One of the projects had tried to developmore flexible arrangements between dif-ferent education providers but had faceddifficulties in providing transparent entrypoints to network provision and accessto resources.

There were some interesting variationsproject managers and project partners inperception of the extent to which a projecthad addressed the objectives. Threeproject managers pointed to only limitedprogress. All were from projects in coun-ties with a high rate of educational at-tainment, a high population density andwith good access to education and knowl-edge resources at all levels. These projectsaimed to co-ordinate educational re-sources and create a shared infrastructurethrough a common ICT platform. Thecreation of common platforms is still at aprototype phase and has not yet been

(2) “Rapporter fra de r egionaleRundbordssamtaler” – Center forTeknologistøttet Uddannelse, 1997.

(3) “Support Material for the Call fotApplications”- 1999, Center for Tech-nology Supported Education, basedon material from Shapiro and Såby,Center for Competence & IT, Tech-nological Institute.


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used for the delivery of education. It couldbe argued that the problem is relevant toonly a few regions and it is debatable ifsuch a broad approach is adequate tomeeting the specialised needs of knowl-edge intensive firms and sectors who typi-cally utilise multiple education and train-ing providers.

Although most partners were enthusias-tic about the project objectives, some feltthe outcomes to be unfocussed and vague.This was especially so of the small andmedium enterprises. Companies in themetal industries had expected the projectwould help them with the use of ICT forinnovation. However these enterprises,which operate as sub-contractors, are la-bour intensive, with low levels of ICTskills level and an underdeveloped ICTinfrastructure. Most managerial attentionis taken up with day-to-day operationsand there is little time for broader strate-gic thinking. The interviews reveal thatmanagers expected that participation inthe project would assist them in develop-ing flexibility through the use of ICT ap-plications.

Other participants saw little advance inexisting collaboration and partnershipsfrom the project. Whilst new providershad joined the networks and they hadprofited from infrastructure development,there had been little operational change.This was particularly so for projects seek-ing to develop on-line access to databasesof educational providers.

Those partners most positive about theprojects were involved in the joint devel-opment of digital resource materials, thedevelopment of open access resourcecentres, or projects targeting medium andlarge enterprises, sometimes also involv-ing their suppliers.

The projects developing materials andresource centres were of high qualitywith considerable institutional learningin the design and implementation of ICTsupported learning. The institutionswould not have been able to afford toundertake this work without the projectsupport. It is also notable that theprojects were integrated in institutionalinnovation strategies for the developmentof multiple modes of education provi-sion.

Those projects working with medium andlarge enterprises were mainly workingwith manufacturing companies in regionssuffering from a shortage of skilled la-bour and problems with retaining skilledworkers, partly due to the developmentof ICT based economy. Whilst largercompanies often have an internal HumanResource Management department, facili-tating collaboration with local educa-tional institutions, and consciously in-vesting in human resources as part oftheir strategic development, this is notalways so for smaller enterprises. Thisis especially so in periods of skills short-ages when companies are forced to relyon flexibility for growth.(4)

Project outcomes in relation to origi-nal program objectives

The original call for proposals had recog-nised the major differences between thecounties in Denmark, despite the rela-tively small size of the country and thehigh density of educational institutions.

These differences are related to theknowledge intensity in products and proc-esses between industrial clusters, such asthe electronics cluster in Northern Jutlandor the biotech cluster in Frederiksborgcounty, as compared to the cluster oftextile and furniture industries in Mid andWest Jutland. Differences also includeaccess to and collaboration with research-based institutions, average educationalattainment and ICT skills level and theuse of ICT as part of the overall innova-tion strategy.(5)

From an institutional point of view mostof the projects are well defined in a spa-tial context and with their broad institu-tional coverage. Seen from an industrialinnovation perspective this is probablyless so - most of the projects are so broadin their objectives and target groups thatit is difficult to see what the value addedis from a specific regional perspective,whatever merits the projects might other-wise have. It might be suggested that aregional problem and network has beenconstructed or extended to obtain fund-ing for existing collaboration, particularlyin the regions around the larger cities. Anumber of the projects had already se-cured regional funding or support fromthe Digital Denmark initiative.

(4) “Den flexible virksomhed – Diskoprojektet” Gjerding m.f l . ÅlborgUniversitet. 1997.

(5) “Competitiveness, Localised Learn-ing and Regional Development”Maskel l , Eskel in Hannibalsson,Malberg and Vatne. Routledge Fron-tiers of Political Economy, 1998.


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Another group of projects focus on struc-tural problems in remote regions withrelatively low levels of educational attain-ment and low population density. Theseprojects aim to raise the general skills levelin the region to maintain or attract invest-ment from companies, and to guaranteethe future of existing educational institu-tions through the development of special-ised and flexible networks of providers.

The regional aspect of the projects has adual dimension. The networks are at-tempting to create transparency and co-herency in education and training provi-sion within a spatially defined area, al-though ICT applications are at times usedto gain access to specialised research in-stitutions outside the region. The secondregional dimension is the industrial de-velopment context involving clusters ofindustries, for example the harbour indus-tries in West Zealand or the iron indus-tries in West Jutland. The evaluation datasuggests the latter approach is more suc-cessful. The companies participating in theproject feel the work is meeting well-de-fined needs. The regional networks ofinstitutions have been attempting to meetmuch broader needs with diverse groupsof companies. The needs are less welldefined and companies were less satis-fied with the project outcome, despite theflexibility of ICT based education andtraining provision. Furthermore the ICTinfrastructure was poorly designed interms of how the companies use ICT andfailed to match their expectations for a‘one-stop’ education and training service.This problem may be more organisationaland conceptual, rather than an issue ofthe use of ICT, although the ICT was theproblem companies raised in the inter-views.

Although the projects in the remoter re-gions most nearly met the objectives ofthe call for proposals, most had failed toinvolve micro enterprises despite theiroriginal interest in the proposals. Therewould appear to be several reasons forthis. The companies were not activelyinvolved in the development of the projectproposals and were essentially passivepartners. Secondly many of the projectshad such a broad focus that the enter-prises were unable to perceive how theiractive participation could contribute toimproved performance by the company,

which had been their prime concern andmotivation for participating in the firstplace. Finally, the organisational andlearning models developed by several ofthe projects did not advance beyond theidea of an electronic classroom. In termsof content, delivery, organisational mod-els and technology platforms, theseprojects failed to meet the needs of thesmall companies. These issues will bediscussed further in the following section.

Evaluation Theme 2: Content and or-ganisation of the collaboration

A number of the project managers inter-viewed were interested in innovation inbuilding infrastructures and partnershipsbetween local education institutions andfirms. They expected that in the mediumterm this could lead to business-basedlearning partnerships. The projects hadsome impact in terms of providing a bet-ter common understanding and trust thatcould serve as a platform for new formsof networked collaboration with enter-prises. Previous studies have suggestedthat, especially in ICT based educationand training for managers in small firms,there is a lack of transparent, coherentand flexible provision and a failure tobridge and certify formal and informallearning.(6) The Danish Ministry of Indus-try has recently launched a major initia-tive to establish local competence cen-tres to support knowledge-based businessdevelopment in regional clusters and net-works or assist in new cluster formation.

Firm assessment

There is a clear division between the waythe small enterprises and the larger com-panies viewed the outcomes of theprojects. The small firms had expected animmediate response to their education andtraining needs, and for them participatingin the projects seemed a waste of time andeffort. Nevertheless, they did value beingable to discuss problems of the use of ICTwith other small firms, though this moreinformal learning was not part of the origi-nal proposal. The larger firms were muchmore positive in their assessment. Theyparticularly emphasised the importance ofhaving built relationships with local groupsof educational providers, and saw the mostimportant contribution of the project in theuse of ICT for flexibility and the develop-

(6) Vejle County, “Behovet for ITkvalifikationer,” Teknologisk Institut,Kompetnce & IT og Arbejdsliv, 2000.Nordjyllands County ,“Behovet for ITkvalifikationer”. Teknologisk Institut,Kompetence og IT og Arbejdsliv,2000.“Ledelse og Vækst”. For Erhvervs-fremme Styrelsen. Teknologisk Insti-tut, Erhvervsanalyser og Kompetence& IT, 1995.


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ment of the one-stop-shop concept. Thequestion is raised as to whether the projectsdealing with small enterprises would havebeen more successful if they had taken atwo-step approach.

The first phase of the projects could, forexample, have organised a learning net-work among a group of small firms withsimilar business problems in relation toICT and logistics - or focused other is-sues close to their immediate needs.Consultants could have facilitated thisprocess. Much of the learning takes placethrough interchange of experience be-tween the enterprises participating.(7) Thesecond stage could then develop the in-terest in partnerships with the local edu-cation and training institutions and focuson more long-term issues. Several com-munity colleges in the rural south of theUnited States have had a positive experi-ence in working with micro enterprisesin regional modernisation programmesand in using ICT to simulate differentbusiness problems.(8)

Future plans

Some of the projects had plans to furtherdevelop collaboration. One of the projectsfrom Southern Jutland working with anumber of production companies wereplanning an initiative targeted at lowskilled workers with little or no ICT skillsworking on night shifts in an on-the- job,on-line training model. Another project,also from Southern Jutland, planned toestablish an ICT based peer group net-work to supplement more formalisedlearning provision.

In spite the fact that relatively simple tech-nology has been used in most of theprojects, both project managers andproject participants are generally positiveabout this. They point out that projectcollaboration has led to a general raise inICT skills and to a more positive outlookon the possibilities for using ICT. Thisapplies to both the educational institutionsand the firms. Some of the small firms inparticular point to the value of meetingwith other small firms to see how theyadopt ICT in their business and how theyhandle the ICT skills issue.

Both the project managers and partnerorganisations were positive over the value

of collaboration in developing education,learning and Human Resource Manage-ment through the projects.

60% of the project managers believed thatthe projects and networks would be es-sential to their future organisational strat-egy. All associate project participationwith a business development strategy.However, few of the enterprises see adirect correlation between investment inHuman Resource Management and theirbusiness strategy, though they are awareof the need to invest in HRM to developgreater flexibility because of skills short-ages in certain areas. One reason for thiscould be that the firms have not beenactively engaged in the project formula-tion. Another is that the time span fromproject submission to approval and fund-ing is far too long to play a key role incompany development strategies. This isalso a problem in EC funded programmes.

Evaluation theme 3: Usage of ICT forregional and institutional innovation

A little over half of the project managersand half of the project partners believethat the ICT has been a lever in regionaland institutional change. Technologieshave been applied for the following pur-poses:

❏ The development of informationservices (on-line databases and intranetsor extranets as part of a regional infra-structure);

❏ The production of digital materials(Internet, CD-ROM and database services);

❏ The exchange of information andcollaboration between partners (inter-net and computer conferencing, conferen-cing);

❏ The delivery of education (Internet).

The technologies used have been rela-tively simple. Some planned develop-ments were dropped for economic anduser reasons. Despite this there were anumber of problems in the applications.Some of these problems could easily havebeen avoided with a prior assessment ofICT platforms and infrastructures in theparticipating enterprises, and an assess-ment of ICT skill levels and attitudes

(7) Technological Institute has a vastexperience with facilitating such busi-ness networks in many different tech-nological or more managerial areas asa successful outreach instrument to-wards micro firms.

(8) Stu Rosenfeld, regional Technol-ogy Strategies, North Carolina. (vari-ous non-published papers).


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among the participants. Surprisingly thishad not taken place in any of the projects.

The information services have been lit-tle, if at all, used so far. There are severalreasons for this. Firstly, many of theprojects have had financial problems be-cause of cuts in the project funding. Moreimportantly, they have been developedwithout involving potential users in thedesign process, in terms of technical func-tionality, navigation and functional serv-ices. The enterprises have found the in-formation services difficult to use, if theyhave been able to access them, difficultto navigate, and time consuming.

The projects developing digital materialshad not been been tested in a deliverysetting at the time of the evaluation. It istherefore too early to say if they will besuccessful in creating distributed virtualresources and learning centres for firmsand individuals.

Attitudes to ICT

Project managers and project partners arepositive about using ICT for communica-tion purposes, though some of the smallenterprises were only just starting. Someof the project managers also reported re-sistance to using ICT from first time usersin the educational institutions. Systemshave been used more for sharing infor-mation than for communication. Commu-nication tended to take place in face-to-face meetings. This may partly be due tolack of experience in on-line collabora-tion, but it may also reflect patterns ofproject design and delivery with projectmanagers driving development and part-ners acting as passive recipients of infor-mation.

The larger firms are very positive over thepotential of on-line education. Typically,this has been developed through the elec-tronic classroom in an on the job setting.For some of the larger firms there havebeen problems with access to computersin their premises, as well as problemsconcerning platform compatibility forcomputer conferencing. Small enterprisesare far more negative. Even if the deliv-ery has formally lived up to their demandsfor flexibility and for on the job learning,the concept of the electronic classroomhas failed to integrate daily business and

work in the learning process, especiallyin terms of content, which the enterprisessee as too broad and unfocussed. Therehas been a failure to develop processesand platforms for the enterprises to shareknowledge and experience with eachother. Finally, insufficient attention hasbeen paid to the fact that many of thefirms are new users of ICT.

Summary and Conclusions

The regional context

In the original Call for Proposals a regionwas understood as a spatial entity for aset of educational challenges linked toindustr ial , demographic or culturalchanges in a particular region.

Conceptually, the regional call was situ-ated in the 1990’s discussions of clustersfor specialisation and innovation basedon socio economic theories of industrialdistricts.

Interactions within and between enter-prises and other organisations(9) are cen-tral to the production, accumulation, dis-tribution and renewal of most types ofknowledge and information. In this con-text information and knowledge is highlytacit in nature. Such tacit knowledge andthe learning processes that sustain it, to-gether constitute key components of ‘so-cial capital’ as the source of product andservice innovation. As such, these areproperties of collective systems, ratherthan single enterprises, individuals orphysical entities. Social Capital can takeon a wide variety of forms, from the cor-porate culture within individual firms, tothe ‘culture’ and practices which prevailin regional economies.

Newer research in this area talks about a“global knowledge topography” withknowledge corridors such as Silicon Val-ley, the research triangle in North Caro-lina, the Ransted Corridor in the Nether-lands, the Paris Axe South, and the trans-border Oresound region between Swedenand Denmark(10). One common charac-teristic of these regions is their access toregionally situated specialised core com-petencies. Through this they are able toexploit a global demand and supply forknowledge.(11)

(9) Universities, research centres, in-vestment banks, schools, governmentministries etc. These organisations canbe public, private, governed prima-rily by profit seeking motivations ornon profit-oriented ones.

(10) The Futures Project, Knowledgeand Learning; Major Challenges forEurope, 1999.Matthiessen, C.W & Å.E. Andersson(1993): “Øresundsregionen – Kreati-vitet, Integration, Vækst”. Endvidere:Berg, P.O. m.fl., Handelshøjskolen/SAMS (1998): Science Region Øre-sund: “Vetenskab, innovation ochnäringsliv i Øresundsområdets ut-veckling till ny modellregion i Eu-ropa”.

(11) Professor Martin Kenny, Univer-sity of California- Research on SiliconValley.


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However, many of the projects that weresupported under the regional call for pro-posals are much wider in their aims. Theytarget general structural problems that arecommon to several regions or to a par-ticular institutional setting across severalregions - for example the role of the adultlearning centres as virtual resource cen-tres in a knowledge economy.

One way or another, most of the projectshave aimed at more efficient and ad-vanced match of demand and supplythrough network collaboration.

One of the positive effects of the projectsis an increased interest in and focus onthe potential of collaboration as a way tocreate quality, scale and coherence in theeducational supply. Many of the educa-tional institutions feel that participationin the project has provided them with abetter understanding and acceptance ofthe role of different educational actors intheir region and has clarified the role theyplay in the overall local education sys-tem. One of the limits in all of the projectsseems to be that they have not involvedinstitutions at the industrial interface,which typically have a much broader con-tact to and knowledge about business is-sues. Their lack of involvement seems tohave limited enterprise involvement to theoriginal pilot firms. Their participationcould also have been a lever in variousforms of dissemination activities in a laterstage of the project. The focus there wouldhave been to develop the networks fur-ther, for example by creating a broaderset of integrated on-line services to in-crease the innovation capacity and knowl-edge base in firms.

The networking value added

Many of the projects have an added valuein creating a greater transparency andcoherence in educational provision. Thisis important for smaller firms and indi-viduals, and for larger firms, which oftenuse local educational suppliers for thetraining of their semi -skilled and skilledlabour. However it is not necessarily thecase when it comes to a specialised la-bour force or managerial staff or individu-als with a high skills profile, especiallygiven the global expansion of advancedon-line university courses and pro-grammes.(12)

For the learning networks to be of realvalue regionally, it will require active col-laboration following the project, closelyintegrated with a regional modernisationstrategy for the ICT based knowledgeeconomy.(13) This does not seem likelyto happen with many of the projectsfunded under the regional round of pro-posals. Some of the projects did haveideas for specific activities to continuetheir collaboration beyond the funding pe-riod, and some of the projects do havestrong potentials to develop the networksas a business venture. Many of theprojects have given little thought to is-sues of complementarity in the networksthat could form a basis for a businessmodel and a branding strategy for themutual benefit to the individual institu-tions.

The issues that need to be consideredinclude which services should be part ofthe institutional network and which serv-ices should still remain at an individualinstitutional level? Would the regionalnetwork benefit from a virtual collabora-tion with specialised national or interna-tional research institutions, to give addedbranding value and credibility? Whatcould be the governance structure andwhat type of integrated services shouldbe offered and to whom? With increasedspeed in knowledge processes how - andshould - users be involved in the knowl-edge formation processes in new ways?

Whereas partners from the educationalinstitutions seem to have been broughttogether to consciously reflect on issuesof complementarity or the added valuethey could bring to the delivery of edu-cational services, this does not seem tobe so for many of the enterprises.

Inter-organisation co-operation takesplace when organisations pool some oftheir capabilities or resources (financial,technological, information, or other) ina formal or informal manner. A numberof different dimensions on which such co-operative networks or clusters form havebeen identified in other studies: (14)

❏ Geographical: the spatial clusteringof economic webs from local (e.g. craftindustries) to regional (surface transpor-tation, & haulage), to global (telecommu-nications, shipping, music industry);

(12) See Boston Globe July 17, 2001.

(13) Jeremy Millard, Technological In-stitute, SIBIS and other Support meas-ures under the 5th framework, the ISTprogramme.

(14) Unpublished paper Platforms forNew Combinations within the 5th

Framework Programme, 1998, by D.Jacobs , TSM Business School ,Enschede and Eindhoven Universityof Technology, the Netherlands.


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❏ Horizontal: the classical grouping ofeconomic activity into sectors;

❏ Vertical: adjacent phases of the pro-duction process - value chains, filières,supplier networks;

❏ Lateral: different sectors with whichcertain capabilities can be shared andeconomies of scope achieved leading tonew clusters (multimedia);

❏ Technological: A collection of organi-sations which share a basic technology(the biotechnology cluster);

❏ Focal : a cluster of organisationsaround a central actor - a firm, an ex-tended family, a research institution, aneducational institute.

Different groups of enterprises have beeninvolved in the projects, but the charac-ter of these groups and the challengesthey face in a knowledge economy doesnot seem to have formed the basis oflearning activities and learning strategies.

ICT as a means to create shared con-texts

In the call for proposals ICT was seen asa method to create local identity andshared contexts and as a knowledge le-ver through network collaboration andthrough the flexible delivery of education.

Digital communication - synchronous orasynchronous – has a dual character. Byits nature, it is borderless and fleeting andas such holds the risk of “detribali-sation”(15). But it can also transcend theimmediate surrounding space of the indi-vidual. In that sense it can be argued thatit is cortex to the creation of regional so-cial capital. In that sense, ICT based com-munication can evoke a ”synchronicity inrhythm” through virtually shared contextswhich some anthropologists see as a pre-requisite to genuine interaction and com-mon identity formation and permanencein relations - also in forming a regionalidentity.(16) The rites in a religious societyhave precisely that very same function.(17)

Beyond the electronic classroom –new metaphors for a knowledgeeconomy?

The actual application of ICT by theprojects was relatively simple. In terms of

interaction, it was mainly used to supple-ment face-to-face meetings and for theexchange of information. It has not beenused as a collaborative tool in the moregenuine sense. One of the most likely rea-sons is that most of the networks do notseem to have been formed and shaped bya common purpose and a long-term vision.Projects were developed by promoters andthe enterprises were not involved untilacceptance phase. This was partially dueto the application procedure. Many of thenetworks were constituted as simple one-way knowledge transfer organisations. Theproject promoter is the developer (holderof knowledge), and the partners typicallyplay a much more passive role as recipi-ents. It is questionable if that form ofknowledge transmission is viable.(18)

The ways in which the ICT have been ap-plied remains within traditions of networkproject management and the electronicclassroom aiming at the flexible deliveryof education and training (and codifiedknowledge). Most of the projects have notmanaged to develop networks for sharedcollaborative learning and knowledge for-mation and knowledge creation spaces.

There is a question as to whether the meta-phor of the electronic classroom is a suffi-cient to meet the demand for newer formsof knowledge creation and collaboration.We are confronted with an emerging andincreasingly internationalised and special-ised knowledge industry(19). More compa-nies are demanding a better match betweenformal and informal situated learning ar-rangements in supplier networks, withcustomers or clients or in value chains. Atthe same time, the nature of skills demandis changing (20) in firms with closely inte-grated business strategies. Business andservices are in a process of continuousrenewal. Learning is not only a process ofthe acquisition of codified knowledge, butalso a process of creating, recreating anddiscovering new knowledge for the as yetunknown and unimagined business of to-morrow.(21)(22)

The institutional classroom, whether elec-tronic or not, cannot cope with that newlearning and knowledge scenario. Futurescenarios point towards situated learningcommunities (23) – about which there hasbeen considerable research but little de-velopmental and operational experiments.

(15) Term used by McLuhan- in “theMedia is the Message”.

(16) “The Dance of Life” – Edwin Hall.

(17) PO Berg- “Envocation of a Me-tropolis- The Birth of the OresoundRegion” Studentlitteratur 2000.

(18) Peter Maskell mfl “Competitive-ness, localised learning and Regionaldevelopment” Routledge, frontiers Po-litical Economy, 1999.

(19) Etienne Wenger “IT – and changesin th global Education Market” Un-published working paper, 2000.

(20) Michel Andre ….. HRM director,Skandia, Sweden. Paper presented atHOT SPOT Øresund, June 2001.

(21) Hanne Shapiro, Finn Christensen,“Pædagogisk Grundlagsnotat”Erhversuddannelsesreform, 2000,Undervisningsministeriet, 1999.

(22) Nonaka, “The knowledge creatingcompany” Harvard Business Review,1991.

(23) Wenger Etienne, Lave Jean, “Situ-ated learning, Legitimate perihpheralpractice” Cambridge University Press,1991.


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Information, comparativestudies

A new economy the changing role ofinnovation and information technol-ogy in growth.Organisation for Economic Cooperationand Development - OECDParis: OECD, 2002, 92 p.(Information society)ISBN 92-64-17694-2 (EN)

What is driving recent growth in OECDcountries? Why is it that their levels ofGDP per capita are no longer converg-ing? Why is it that some countries, oper-ating at the technological frontier, whereadvances are difficult, appear to be wid-ening the gap? Whether or not it is ap-propriate to speak of a ‘new economy’,innovation and technology play crucialroles. This study shows that success re-quires not some silver bullet, but a rangeof complementary factors that support theinnovation-intensive growth exemplifiedby new information and communicationtechnologies such as the Internet andInternet applications like electronic com-merce. Supportive policies include thosefavourable to innovative start-ups and tofinancial systems able to support them,those that facilitate the reorganisation re-quired to reap the full benefits of ICT,regulatory and institutional frameworksthat facilitate links between science andindustry, and efforts to train and obtainthe necessary human capital, as well aspublic support for basic scientific re-search. While this study is far from ex-haustive, it represents an important stepin understanding the conditions underwhich economies flourish.

Development of a joint model for theaccreditation and /or certification ofprior learning: model and methods.European Vocational Training Association- EVTABrussels: EVTA, 2001, 36 p.EVTA,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.evta.net/index.html

Reading

Europe International

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din

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lect

ion This section has been

prepared by

Anne Waniart,and the DocumentationService with the help ofmembers of the nationaldocumentation network

This section lists the most im-portant and recent publica-tions on developments in train-ing and qualifications at aninternational and Europeanlevel. Giving preference tocomparative works, it also listsnational studies carried out aspart of international and Eu-ropean programmes, analysesof the impact of Communityaction on the Member Statesand national studies seen froman external perspective.

The subject of the present work is to de-vise a methodological model of assess-ment, accreditation, and/or certificationof prior learning in conformity with theLeonardo project ‘Development of a jointmodel for the accreditation of prior learn-ing’, which was put forward by the Euro-pean Vocational Training Association. Thisproject aims at working out a joint methodwith a view to furthering the accredita-tion of prior learning through experienceand transparency of professional skills,through the conception and experimen-tation of a joint model for the accredita-tion and certification of prior learning ata national level and at the level of theMember States that are partners in theproject. It will make it possible to enhancelife-long training, by fostering the perma-nent adjustment of workers to companies’needs and to create the conditions of ad-mission of unqualified adults to continu-ous training, through the accreditation ofprior learning outside the formal educa-tional and training systems. The methodo-logical approach must rest on principleswhich, related to national procedures, willmake it possible to take into account theassessment of prior learning through ex-perience in national accreditation or cer-tification systems. This project aims atunifying these procedures and their clar-ity from one Member State to another. Itaims, in the long term, at facilitating pro-fessional and geographic mobility insidethe European Union. The model mustconsider the statutory problems in thefield of informal apprenticeship, by de-veloping a strict and shared methodologi-cal framework allowing for the inclusionof the national procedures of the partnercountries so that attempts at legitimacycan materialise in the value of accredita-tion or certification granted by each ofthem. In the rather near future, clarity ofaccreditation in partner Member States,seen as the result of the implementationof a joint procedure, will have to be addedto this.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/euorg/EVTA_2002_0002.pdf


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European Union: policies,programmes, participants

Access to employment for vulnerablegroups.European Foundation for the Improve-ment of Living and Working Conditions -EFILWCDublin: EFILWC, 2002, 40 p.(Foundation paper)

The objective of the papers is to makepast, present and future work of the Foun-dation relevant and accessible in a syn-thesised format. This second Foundationpaper focuses on improving access toemployment, specifically for groups whoare disadvantaged in the labour market.http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/files/EF0246EN.pdf

A general vision of the information so-ciety.European Economic and Social Commit-tee - CESBrussels: Economic and Social Commit-tee, 2001, 110 p.Cat.No. ESC-2000-020

The information society is currently gen-erating high expectations in the EuropeanUnion. The information society is neces-sarily a global society. Globalisation is not,however, solely a process of economicintegration, but also a process which af-fects culture and technology and whichmust preserve European cultural plural-ism in order to prevent the developmentof a ‘monocultural’ world. Informationtechnologies can help renew urban andregional development and activate eco-logically clean technologies in other fields.Their structural impact on the Commu-nity economy is fundamental, as theymobilise a major ‘brain power’ compo-nent, thus creating an intelligence soci-ety. This is why the Economic and SocialCommittee (ESC) has participated from theoutset in the debate launched by the con-struction of the information society inEurope and the world.

Erasmus world: a European highereducation scheme to attract more stu-dents from third countries and enableEuropean students to study in othercountries.European Commission, Directorate-Gen-eral for Education and CultureLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2002, 30 p.

Erasmus World is the instrument that Eu-rope needs, both internally and in rela-tion to the outside world, to be a winnerin the globalisation of education. By open-ing our universities to the world, we alsoopen them to Europe. Erasmus Worldseeks to meet the aims set by the LisbonEuropean Council. This programme doesnot replace, but complements in an inno-vative way, existing regional programmessuch as TEMPUS (mainly with countriesfrom the former USSR, the Western Bal-kans and the Mediterranean Basin), agree-ments with the United States and Canada,ALFA and ALBAN (for Latin America),Asia-Link, pilot projects with Australia, etc.Compared with these programmes andwith national initiatives on cooperationwith third countries, Erasmus World willoffer third-country students and teachersa greater opportunity for mobility and anenhanced European added value. It willalso enable universities in all the Mem-ber States to take part in a Europe-wideproject, whereas at present over three-quarters of the 400 000 students from thirdcountries who come to the EuropeanUnion are concentrated in a few coun-tries.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/eu/pub/commission/dgeac/2002_0026_en.pdf

Candidate countries Eurobarometer.European CommissionBrussels: EUR-OP, 2002ISSN 1683-5042

The first wave of the Candidate countriesEurobarometer was carried out in Octo-ber 2001 in all the 13 countries applyingfor membership. Its methodology is al-most identical to that of the StandardEurobarometer. One report is publishedeach year, excluding the special reports.It replaces the Central and Eastern Euro-barometer (CEEB).


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European basic skills network.London: European Basic Skills Network,2002

EBSN is a partnership of national agen-cies with a responsibility for basic skillsin member countries. Through this projectit aims to: share information about inno-vative approaches which combat socialexclusion and promote inclusion by im-proving levels of basic skills; establish anetwork of national organisations work-ing in this area which are in a position todevelop and promote effective basic skillsstrategies; influence national and Euro-pean Union policy and funding priorities.The United Kingdom (including agenciesin England, Scotland and Wales), France,Denmark, Spain, Belgium (Flanders), Ire-land and Latvia are members.http://www.eurobasicskills.org/

Presidency Conclusions: Seville Euro-pean Council, 21-22 June 2002.Council of the European Union.Brussels: General Secretariat of the Coun-cil of the European Union, 2002, 42 p.

The European Council which met in Se-ville on 21 and 22 June 2002 welcomedthe considerable momentum that hadbeen given to the dialogue between theParliament, the Council and the Commis-sion in the new partnership referred toIn the conclusions of the Barcelona Eu-ropean Council, and gave a favourablereception to the setting up of the High-Level Technical Group for Interinsti-tutional Cooperation. Among the issuesdiscussed were: 1) the future of the Eu-ropean Union; 2) enlargement; 3) asylumand immigration issues; 4) sustainabledevelopment; 5) growth and competitive-ness leading to full employment; and 6)external relations.http://europa.eu.int/council/off/conclu/index.htm

Quality of work and employment inEurope.European Foundation for the Improve-ment of Living and Working Conditions -EFILWCDublin: EFILWC, 2002, 36 p.(Foundation paper)ISBN 92-897-0156-0

Foundation papers aim to highlightknowledge and analysis emanating fromthe Foundation’s research themes: em-ployment, equal opportunities, social in-clusion, time use and diversity. The ob-jective of the papers is to make past,present and future work of the Founda-tion relevant and accessible in a synthe-sised format. The subject of each paperwill be linked to current social policy is-sues and thus offers a timely contribu-tion to the debate at European level.http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/files/EF0212EN.pdf

Report on the Commission communi-cation on making a European area oflifelong learning a reality:(COM(2002) 678 - C5-0165/2002 -2002/2073(COS)). C5-0165/2002.European Parliament - Committee on Cul-ture, Youth, Education, the Media andSportSession document, A5-0224/2002Luxembourg: European Parliament, 2002,29 p.

With the purpose of improving the pros-pects for lifelong learning in the Euro-pean Union in November 2000 the Euro-pean Commission began a consultationprocess through the publication of its‘Memorandum on Lifelong Learning’which set Europe the ambitious target ofbecoming the most competitive and dy-namic knowledge-based economy in theworld. Education and training play a keyrole in the realisation of this goal. Thecommunication notes that a knowledge-based economy offers European citizensa number of opportunities. These oppor-tunities, however, can only be fully ex-ploited if individuals are sufficiently welltrained and educated to embrace the ad-vantages of modern technology. In termsof definitions, the Communication pro-poses that the following four objectives/definitions should be presented when dis-cussing lifelong learning: 1. Personal ful-filment; 2. Active citizenship; 3. Socialinclusion and 4. Employability /adaptabil-ity. These objectives have been estab-lished to highlight that lifelong learningis important not only in terms of fillinggaps in the labour market but also in termsof the value it offers for a more inclusive,tolerant and democratic society. A furtherstrategy for the fostering of lifelong learn-


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ing is improving access to learning op-portunities. The Commission urges greatervisibility, integration and targeting of life-long learning processes. This could beachieved through: 1) Removing social,geographical, psychological and otherbarriers; 2) Adapting entry, progressionand recognition requirements to take ac-count of non-formal and informal learn-ing; 3) Tailoring measures and offeringspecialist provisions to meet any unmetdemand; 4) Securing adequate investmentby employers in their workforce. Lastly,a further plank in this strategy is the needto foster excellence in lifelong learningin terms of quality assurance, evaluationand assessment and/or revision of strate-gies.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/eu/leg/eprep/2002_0224_en.doc

The Europe of coal and steel througheducation and culture.European Commission - Directorate-Gen-eral for Education and CultureLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2002, 18 p.EUR-OP,2 rue Mercier,L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales offices,Tel.: (352-29) 2942118,Fax: (352-29) 2942709,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.eur-op.eu.int/

The Economic Coal and Steel Treaty wasconcluded in 1951 for a term of 50 yearsby Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Lux-embourg and the Netherlands and is seenas the first mainstay of European integra-tion. The treaty officially expires on 23rdJuly 2002. On that date, a symposium en-titled ‘Past and Future of the EuropeanUnion’ is to be held in Brussels in the pres-ence of Mr Romano Prodi, President of theEuropean Commission. For this specialanniversary of the ECSC, the Directorate-General for Education and Culture has pro-duced a press pack entitled: The Europe

of coal and steel through education andculture. This pack puts together theprojects supported by the Directorate-Gen-eral for Education and Culture.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/eu/pub/commission/dgeac/2002_0020_en.pdf

Working conditions in candidatecountries and the European Union /Paoli Pascal, Parent-Thirion Agnès andPersson, Ola.European Foundation for the Improve-ment of Living and Working Conditions -EFILWCDublin: EFILWC, 2002, 8 p.

In 2001, the Foundation carried out a sur-vey on working conditions in 12 candi-date countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, theCzech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,Li thuania, Malta, Poland, Romania,Slovakia, Slovenia. The questionnaire-based survey is identical to the threeworking conditions surveys carried out inthe EU Member States in 1990, 1995 and2000, allowing for comparisons to bedrawn between these two groups of coun-tries. This leaflet presents the main find-ings of the candidate countries’ survey.http://www.eurofound.eu.int/publications/files/EF0246EN.pdf

Women and technical professions.European Commission - Directorate-Gen-eral for Education and Culture.Luxembourg: EUR-OP, 2002, 18 p.(Leonardo da Vinci Series: Good Practices,1)Cat.No. NC-41-01-050-EN-C

Access of women to the technical profes-sions is still very restricted. While equal-ity between men and women in access tovocational training is enshrined in Com-munity texts, the fact remains that scien-tific and technical careers are still a malepreserve.


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Bildungsinformation:Sektion Berufsbildung.

[Educational information: focus on vo-cational education.]Bundesministerium für Unterricht undkulturelle Angelegenheiten - BMUKVienna: BMUK, 2002, various paginationBMBWK,Minoritenplatz 5,A-1014 Vienna,Tel.: (43-1) 531200,Fax: (43-1) 531204499,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.bmbwk.gv.at/

General information about the Austrianvocational training system provided by theFederal Ministry of Education and CulturalAffairs: charts of the training system, vo-cational schools, colleges, training firms,further education, glossary.

Efit Austria: Willkomen in der Wis-sensgesellschaft.[Efit Austria: welcome to the knowl-edge society.]Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wis-senschaft und Kultur - BMBMKVienna: BMBWK, 2002

The EU’s Action Plan ‘eEurope 2002’ aimsto teach all EU citizens the skills for liv-ing and working in the information soci-ety. Austria implements the educationalobjectives of the EU Action Plan underthe eFit Austria programme, targeted atsupporting and promoting the optimumuse of modern information and commu-nication technologies in education, sci-ence and culture. eFit Austria sees itselfas a progress platform for the numerousinitiatives and projects dealing with theseissues of the future. The ‘Computer-milliarde’ (1 billion schilling computer lit-eracy plan) of the Austrian Federal Gov-ernment for education provides the basisfor these activities, amongst others. Evi-dently, eFit Austria also aims at improv-ing infrastructural conditions.http://www.efit.at

Politique de l’emploi etconcertation sociale

(1999-2002) / Étienne Arcq.[Employment and social concertationpolicy (1999-2002)]Courrier hebdomadaire, 1744Brussels: CRISP, 2002, 46 p.ISSN 0008-9664CRISP,Rue du Congrès 35,B-1000 Brussels,Tel.: (32-2) 2183226

The author examines the dynamic ele-ments of intersectoral agreements againstthe background of overall governmentpolicy and analyses the positions of thesocial partners. The different points of the2001-02 intersectoral agreement whichdeal directly or indirectly with employ-ment are analysed in terms of their con-text, their content and their implementa-tion; through this it is possible to showthe practices (bipartism or tripartism)underlying each measure. In conclusion,the author evaluates how much autonomythe social partners have in the field ofcollective bargaining and the status ofcoordination between the different bar-gaining levels.

E-Commerce / E-Business -eine neue Qualifizierungs-

lücke?: Qualifikationsnachfrage undWeiterbildungsangebot / Peter Bottund Hans-Joachim Schade.[E-commerce/e-business - a new skillsdeficit?: skill requirements and theprovision of continuing training.]Berufsbildung in Wissenschaft und Praxis,Vol 31, No 1, p. 29-31Bielefeld: Bertelsmann Verlag, 2002ISSN 0341-4515

The authors present the results of a studyof skill requirements and the provisionof continuing training in the area of e-commerce/e-business. The study wasbased on a job announcement analysisusing the tools provided by the FederalInstitute for Vocational Training’s (BIBB)early recognition system for detecting skilldevelopments as well as the further train-

From the Member States

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ing databank KURS. The analysis of theprovision of continuing training corrobo-rates the results of the job announcementanalyses. Both suggest that the demandfor training in this area is still in its earlystages. Skills in e-commerce/e-businesscan currently be met by participating inspecialised continuing training measures.No pressing need for new federally regu-lated occupations and training pro-grammes for e-commerce/e-business iscurrently discernable.

E-Learning: Erfolgsfaktoren und Ein-satzkonzepte mit interaktiven Medien/ Ullrich Dittler et al.[E-learning: success factors and imple-mentation concepts using interactivemedia.]Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 2002, 318 p.ISBN 3-486-25807-9

With the help of numerous examples, theauthors show how e-learning measuresmay be successfully designed and intro-duced in enterprises. The report coversbasic implementation concepts and suc-cess factors relating to training coursesusing traditional computer-based trainingas well as cooperative learning with web-based training. Instruction in the contextof virtual seminars and approaches todesigning e-learning portals are also de-scribed. Practical examples from compa-nies illuminate the discussion.

E-Learning: Märkte, Geschäftsmodelle,Perspektiven / Ulrike Bentlage et al.[E-learning: markets, business models,prospects for the future.]Bielefeld: Bertelsmann Verlag,2002, 166 p.ISBN 3-89204-574-7

The authors study and compare the de-velopment of the e-learning market inGermany and the USA and presentWINFOLine, a virtual course of study inbusiness computing that is guided by fouruniversities. The International CertificateProgram for New Media (ICPNM), an in-ternationally recognised university-levelfurther training program is also described.According to the authors’ predictions, e-learning in Germany will increasingly takeplace in the context of corporate learn-ing in combination with presence courses.

The report concludes with a discussionof the future prospects for e-learning andits likely impact on a mobile and globallyactive society.

E-Learning für KMU (Kleine undmittlere Unternehmen): neue Medienin der betrieblichen Aus- und Weiter-bildung / Andreas Kuhlenkamp.[E-learning for small and medium en-terprises: new media in in-companytraining and continuing vocationaltraining]Wiesbaden: Hessisches Ministerium fürWirtschaft, Verkehr undLandesentwicklung, 2002, 56 p.ISBN 3-933732-31-X

The brochure provides an overview ofexisting vocational training, continuingvocational training, and teaching andtraining provision on the Internet de-signed specifically for small and mediumenterprises. Given the rapid change andexpansion of training offered on theInternet, the listed training portals onlyreflect a snapshot of what is currentlyavailable. The Internet training offered bythe various Chambers of Industry andCommerce and the e-learning offered bythe Central Agency for Continuing Train-ing in the Crafts Sector are of particularinterest.

Erfolgsintelligenz: die acht Wege zurberuflichen Karriere / ThomasEckardt.[Intelligence for success: eight pathsto a professional career.]Renningen-Malmsheim: Expert,2002, 86 p.ISBN 3-8169-1986-3

The author offers a variety of ideas forimproving personal ‘intelligence for suc-cess’ and makes practical suggestions forthe everyday work situation. The eightintelligence factors that play a role in suc-cessful career development are describedin detail: the willingness to innovate, asense of responsibility, self-motivationand the ability to motivate others, theability to process information, a height-ened awareness of cost-benefit factors, theinitiation of organisational improvements,flexibility and client orientation.


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Handbuch E-Learning: Experten-wissen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis /Andreas Hohenstein und Karl Wilbers.[E-learning handbook: expert reportson theory and practice.]Cologne: Deutscher Wirtschaftsdienst,2002, various paginationISBN 3-87156-298-X

In the form of articles, checklists and re-ports from the field, this loose-leaf col-lection contains expert reports that sys-tematically cover the field of e-learning.The authors report on experience gainedin the implementation of e-learning withthe focus on didactic design. Issues per-taining to the analysis of the personal andcultural conditions of e-learning as wellas individual learning environments areconsidered. The development of e-learn-ing strategies and the didactic design ofe-learning require the integration ofknowledge management, e-managementof human resources (E-HRM) and e-busi-ness. The broad spectrum of themes andthe different types of contributions offera valuable source of e-learning know-how.

Helhedsvurdering afelever: efter grund-

forløbet / Ole Dibbern Andersen,Albert Christensen og Torben Størner.[Generel assessment of trainees: afterthe basic course.]Danmarks Erhvervspædagogiske Lærer-uddannelse - DELFrederiksberg: DEL, 2002, 44 p.DEL,Rosenørns Allé 31,DK-1970 Frederiksberg C.,Tel.: (45-35) 247900,Fax: (45-35) 247910,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.delud.dk/

In this publication, the assessment meth-ods in use after completion of the basicVET course are described. The assessmentis to clarify whether the student is readyto continue on a main programme or spe-cial consideration should be shown in or-der to ease the transition from the basiccourse to the main programme. The as-sessment includes both summative andformative elements. The student is to par-ticipate actively in the overall assessmentand be able to evaluate own strengths and

weaknesses. The overall aim is howeverto ensure that the students have acquiredthe vocational, general and personalcompetences described in the regulationfor the VET programme. The publicationincludes a number of case studies inwhich different student types and assess-ment and guidance methods are de-scribed.

Multikulturel vejledning / KarinJakobsen og Per S. Søndergaard.[Multicultural educational guidance.]Undervisningsministeriet - UVM,UddannelsesstyrelsenCopenhagen: UVM, 2002, 68 p.(Uddannelsesstyrelsens temahæfteserie,nr.2-2002)ISBN 87-603-2143-1Undervisningsministeriets forlag,Strandgade 100 D,DK-1401 Copenhagen K,Tel.: (45-33) 925220,Fax: (45-33) 925219,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.uvm.dk

Today, guidance counsellors have to beable to offer relevant and targeted guid-ance to people with many different cul-tural backgrounds. This calls for furthereducation and training of the guidancecounsellors to develop their interculturalcompetences and ability to reflect on howdifferent cultural backgrounds influencehuman interaction. Furthermore, there isa need for developing new guidancemethods and tools which can support theguidance counsellors in meeting the de-mands of new target groups. This publi-cation describes how guidance counsel-lors need to train themselves to become‘culturally reflective guidance counsellors’.The publication is based on experiencesfrom local innovation and developmentprojects and offers a number of methodsand tools which guidance counsellors canuse in their own development process.Apart from Danish experiences, the pub-lication also draws on experiences fromthe USA, the UK and Canada.http://pub.uvm.dk/2002/multikulturelvejledning/

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Uddannelse, læring og IT: 26 forskereog praktikere gør status på området /[Education, learning and informationtechnology: state of the art from theperspective of 26 researchers andpractitioners.]Undervisningministeriet, Uddannelses-styrelsenCopenhagen: UVM, 2002, 250 p.ISBN 87-603-2121-0Undervisningsministeriets forlag,Strandgade 100 D,DK-1401 Copenhagen K,Tel.: (45-33) 925220,Fax: (45-33) 925219,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.uvm.dk

In 2001, the Danish Ministry of Educationlaunched a new strategy for education,learning and IT in which emphasis wasput on content, knowledge sharing andthe development of educational ITcompetences. An important aim of thestrategy is to analyse how teaching, learn-ing and IT can be combined in a fruitfulway that exploits the vast opportunitiesoffered by IT. Prior to the launch of thenew strategy, the Ministry of Educationhad asked researchers and practitionerswithin the Danish education system todescribe the state of the art within thecross-sectoral field of education, learningand IT. 26 contributions were submittedoffering various perspectives on the maintheme. This publication contains all 26contributions and they are further subdi-vided into the themes of; qualificationsand competences in a network and knowl-edge society; open learning centres andflexible learning environments; virtuallearning environments; IT integration inclass-room teaching; children, media andIT; and teacher culture, organisational cul-ture and knowledge sharing.

El sistema de formaciónprofesional en España:

breve descripción / Carlos OteroHidalgo, Andrés Muñoz Machado,Aitor Marcos Sánchez.[Vocational education and training inSpain: short description.]Luxembourg: EUR-OP, 2001, 46 p.(Cedefop Panorama, 13)ISBN 92-896-0082-9ISSN 1562-6180Cat.No. TI-41-01-389-ES-C

CEDEFOP,P.O. Box 22427 - Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,Tel.: (30) 23 10 49 01 11,Fax: (30) 23 10 49 01 02,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.cedefop.eu.int/

This document gives a short descriptionof the vocational training system in Spainwhich has undergone a complete reformsince the early 1990s. Special attention isdevoted to each one of the sub-systems:regulated training, where the progressiveimplementation of the system created byLOGSE is stressed; occupational training;and the training of persons in employ-ment marked by the recent adoption ofthe III National and Tripartite Agreementson Continuing Training. Other aspectssuch as financing, the teaching staff invocational training, and the informationand vocational guidance system, are alsodealt with. There is also a brief chapteron the on-going decentralisation processin the vocational training system which isviewed as a further step in the transfer ofcompetence from the State to the Autono-mous Communities. Finally, we have in-cluded a chapter on trends and perspec-tives. Throughout the work, we have triedto show how the Spanish vocational train-ing system is adapting to the new eco-nomic and social context in Europe.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/eu/pub/cedefop/pan/2001_5122_es.pdf

La formation ouverteet à distance:

l’heure des solutions mixtes.[Open and distance learning: the timehas come for combined solutions.]Forum Français pour la Formation Ouverteet à Distance - FFFOD3èmes rencontres du Forum français pourla formation ouverte et à distance.Paris. 2002Paris: FFFOD, 2002

Combined solutions turn e-learning intoan innovative technique of classical train-ing methods, or they bring about an en-richment or improvement of pure e-learn-ing measures through the addition of thetime needed for face-to-face instructionin order to improve overall effectivenessand in order to reach a sufficiently largetarget group. Combined solutions retain

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the two principal strong points of e-learn-ing: full use of information and commu-nication technologies, but only to theextent needed by the learners, and asmuch customisation of training as neces-sary.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/nat/fra/ngo/2002_0004.pdf

La validation des acquis profession-nels: bilan des pratiques actuelles,enjeux pour les dispositifs futurs /Chantal Labruyère, Bernadine Rivoireet Josiane Tessier.[Validation of professional prior learn-ing: review of current practices, thecrucial elements of future measures.]Marseilles: CEREQ, 2002, p. 1 - 4(Bref CEREQ, 185)ISSN 0758-1858

With the adoption last January of the sec-tion on ‘validation of prior learning’ (vali-dation des acquis de l’expérience - VAE)in the law on social modernisation, themeasures for the validation of acquiredprofessional competence (validation desacquis professionnels - VAP) introducedsince 1985 have undergone a major de-velopment. A review of these practices,of the demand for certification expressedby individuals and enterprises and thebuild up of provision in line with thisdemand, makes it possible to have a bet-ter understanding of the crucial factorswhich will in future play a leading role inthe validation of prior learning.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/nat/fra/ngo/2002_0006.pdf

L’Europe de la formation tout au longde la vie reste à construire / MichelThéry, Patrick Rousset et ChristianZygmunt.[The Europe of lifelong learning re-mains to be constructed]Marseilles: CEREQ, 2002, p. 1 - 4(Bref CEREQ, 187)ISSN 0758-1858

In the last few years, the European Un-ion has launched a debate on ‘lifelonglearning’. This ambitious venture, some-times controversial, should however takeaccount of the specific traits of each coun-try to be found today. A comparison ofthe measures undertaken in companies for

the continuing training of their employ-ees, shows that there is much diversity inthis field in the Europe of the Fifteen.http://libserver.cedefop.eu.int/vetelib/nat/fra/ngo/2002_0007.pdf

La construction de la certification:quelles méthodes, pour quels usages?/ Yves Clot et al.[The construction of certification:what methods, for what uses?]Documents CEREQ série séminaires, No161 (Février 2002), 151 p.Marseilles: CEREQ, 2002ISSN 1249-5107CEREQ,10 place de la Joliette,BP 21321,F-13567 Marseilles cedex 02,Tel.: (33-4) 91132828,Fax: (33-4) 9113288,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.cereq.fr/

In the course of the meetings on 13 and14 September 2001, the participating ex-perts examined methods for the construc-tion and, above all, the use of referenceframeworks for occupational activities:what do these reference frameworks state,who makes use of them, how and why?The recently reformed validation of ac-quired professional experience makesthese questions a crucial issue. How canthe professional experience acquired bythe individual be ‘translated’ into a di-ploma?

Frameworks ofqualifications:

a review of developments outside theState / National Qualifications Author-ity of Ireland.Dublin: NQAI, 2002, 55 p.NQAI,4th Floor,6-9 Trinity Street,IRL-Dublin 2,Tel.: (353-1) 6127080,Fax: (353-1) 6127095,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.nqai.ie/

This paper reviews approaches to the taskof developing frameworks of qualifica-tions. It presents current internationalpolicy developments and summarises and

IRL


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compares the existing frameworks intwelve jurisdictions in Europe, Common-wealth countries and the USA. The ap-proach to framework development thathas been most comprehensive in ambi-tion i.e. including all sectors of educa-tion and training is that associated withthe Commonwealth countries, which allhave, in the last decade, developed a na-tional system of qualifications. Many Con-tinental European countries have tradi-tionally differentiated between differentsectors of education and training andmaintained parallel frameworks for voca-tional or professional education and train-ing and academic education and training.Qualifications in these countries have astrong legal base. The system in theUnited States, on the other hand, is un-derpinned by a strong principle ofvoluntarism, with qualifications affordedminimum public legal protection. A frame-work of sorts exists based around a se-ries of ‘portal’ qualifications - high schooldiploma, associate degree, bachelors de-gree and graduate degree which allow forprogression. There are also programmeswhich result in certificates. These arelargely vocationally oriented and are de-livered though community colleges.

Statement of strategy, 2002-2005 /Irish Business and Employers’ Confed-eration – IBEC.Dublin: IBEC, 2002, 36 p.IBEC,Confederation House,84/86 Lower Baggot Street,IRL-Dublin 2,Tel.: (353-1) 6601011,Fax: (353-1) 6601717,URL: http://www.ibec.ie

IBEC represents the interests of businessand employers in Ireland. Their strategydocument has been produced followingextensive consultation within the organi-sation. It focuses on eight policy priori-ties: measured global competitiveness; in-frastructure; education and training; liber-alisation; information and communicationtechnology; labour market and human re-sources development; responsible businessand quality in our public sector. Under the‘Education and training’ goal, it says thatIBEC has an important contribution tomake in the formulation of an educationpolicy and measures to reflect the full spec-

trum of skills that will be required in busi-ness in the future. The aim is to preparethe Irish skills base to be attractive to for-eign investment in the future in the lightof EU enlargement and World Trade Or-ganisation developments. The ‘Labourmarket and HRD’ goal focuses on achiev-ing an appropriate balance in the labourmarket supply, maximising workforce flex-ibility and promoting best practice in HRD.There will be an annual review of progressin implementing the strategy.

Attraktiv læringsarena /Kjetil Taraldsen.

[Attractive learning arena.]Oslo: Aftenposten, 2002Aftenposten,P.O.Box 1178 Sentrum,N-0107 OSLO,Tel.: (47-22)863000,Fax: (47-22)426325,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.aftenposten.no

A variety of institutions are offering serv-ices related to e-learning in Norway. Amarket of more than NOK 500 million isan attraction to approximately 40 compa-nies competing in this market. The arti-cle focuses on the e-learning and presentsthe main sectors in which e-learning isbeing used to day. It was thought the largeinternational chains for development ofsoftware would dominate the e-learningmarket. This, however, has not happened.The present trend is that companies fo-cusing on pedagogical method, organisa-tion and implementation are doing wellin the e-learning market and there is novisible relation between success and com-pany size according to IKT Norge, an or-ganisation representing 355 companiesworking on development, distribution,sales and counselling of ICT services andproducts. According to IKT Norge thequality of e-learning software depends onthe amount of intelligence. Pedagogicaluse of e-learning may provide quality in-structions on how to perform a task. Ap-proximately 60 per cent of the compa-nies using e learning are applying e-learn-ing to train the staff on how to use soft-ware. Technology, however, will neverreplace teachers. Likewise the pedagogi-cal method behind the e-learning systemis developed by teaching staff and is de-pendent on the quality of this work.

NO


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Læring 2000: internettbasert teori-læring i elektrikerfaget / edited byElbus.[Learning 2000: inernet-based learn-ing of theoretical subjects for electri-cians.]Oslo: Elbus, 2002, 112 p.Elbus,P.O.Box 23 Blindern, N-0313 Oslo,Tel.: (47-22)955650,Fax: (47-22)605001,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.elbus.no

This report is an evaluation of an e-learn-ing project trying out new learning are-nas among adults. The target group waselectricians with a minimum of six yearsof work experience. The need for updatedknowledge was important in this groupas the profession is characterised by rapidchange. The updating of competenceshould be based on a flexible but struc-tured learning environment so that par-ticipants are able to study when it suitsthem best. It was intended that each indi-vidual would reach the level of theory ofupper secondary school for electricians.The objective of the project was to iden-tify success factors for vocational net-based learning. The project decided on amodel of combined learning with net-based learning accompanied by classroomlearning. The project outcome will be aguide to net-based learning for in-servicetraining of electricians. Electro-entrepre-neurial professions had no prior experi-ence with net-based learning. One impor-tant issue for the participants was the factthat they had little knowledge and skillsin using computers and due to this theyhad problems getting started. Thus theparticipant not only got an update in

themes relevant to their profession, butthey also acquired computer skills.http://www.elbus.no/

Sluttrapport Kongsbergpiloten: Utvik-ling og test av nettbasert læringsarenafor kunnskapsområdet prosjektstart /Anne, Swanberg.[Final report from the Kongsberg pi-lot project: development of net-basedlearning arena for project start-up.]Handelshøyskolen - BIAsker: BI, 2002, 35 p.ISBN 82-7042-521-4BI,Elias Smiths vei 14,N-1302 Sandvika,Tel.: (47-67) 557560,Fax: (47-67) 557570,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://nettstudier.bi.no/

Just - in- t ime onl ine learning in theworkplace has been the focus of this pi-lot study ‘the Kongsberg pilot’. The pilotproject is one of seven organised underthe Norwegian research project NEMLIGwhich is examining how online learningcan support the continuously learningemployee at his or her workplace. Thepilot took place in a Norwegian technol-ogy company and was limited to focuson project managers’ learning needs. 5employees tested the Internet based learn-ing arena, which the pilot group devel-oped, over a period of 12 days. The ideaof building an online site for knowledgesharing between project managers in thecompany was raised, but the employeesadmitted that the culture for sharing isnot yet there. The pilot was conductedfrom January to July 2001.


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CEDEFOP

European Centre for theDevelopment of Vocational TrainingP.O. Box 22427GR-55102 THESSALONIKITel. (30) 23 10 49 01 11 GeneralTel. (30) 23 10 49 00 79 SecretariatFax (30) 23 10 49 00 43 SecretariatMarc Willem, Head of Library &Documentation ServiceE-mail: [email protected] Information NetworkSecretariatE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.cedefop.eu.intWeb address:http://www.trainingvillage.gr

VDAB/ICODOC

Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeids-bemiddeling en BeroepsopleidingIntercommunautair documentatie-centrum voor beroepsopleidingKeizerlaan 11B-1000 BRUSSELTel. (32-2) 50 61 321 R. VanWeydeveldtFax (32-2) 50 61 561Reinald Van Weydeveldt, Documen-tationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.vdab.be

CIRIUS

Center for Information og Rådgiv-ning om International Uddannelses-og SamarbejdsaktiviteterMobility in Education and TrainingFiolstræde 44DK-1171 KØBENHAVN KTel. (45-33) 95 70 00Fax (45-33) 95 70 01Mr. Benny Dylander, DirectorE-mail: [email protected] PovelsenE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ciriusonline.dk/

ReferNet – European network of reference and expertise

BIBB

Bundesinstitut für BerufsbildungFriedrich-Ebert-Allee 38D-53113 BONNTel. (49-228) 10 71 602 Dr. G. HanfTel. (49-228) 10 72 131 M. KrauseFax (49-228) 10 72 974Dr. G. HanfE-mail: [email protected] KrauseE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.bibb.de

OEEK

Organisation for Vocational Educa-tion and TrainingEthnikis Antistatis 41 &KaramanoglouGR-14234 ATHENSTel. (30) 21 02 70 91 44 E. BarkabaFax (30) 21 02 70 91 72Ermioni Barkaba, Head ofDocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.forthnet.gr/oeek/

INEM

Instituto Nacional de EmpleoMinisterio de Trabajo y SeguridadSocialCondesa de Venadito 9E-28027 MADRIDTel. (34-91) 58 59 582 GeneralTel. (34-91) 58 59 834 M. Luz de lasCuevas TorresanoFax (34-91) 37 75 881Fax (34-91) 37 75 887Ana Maria Martin Arahuetes, DeputyDirector General of Technical Servi-cesMaria Luz de las Cuevas TorresanoInformation/DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.inem.es

Centre INFFO

Centre pour le développement del’information sur la formation per-manente4, avenue du Stade de FranceF-93218 SAINT DENIS LA PLAINECedexTel. (33-1) 55 93 91 91Fax (33-1) 55 93 17 28Patrick Kessel, DirectorE-mail: [email protected] PerkerE-mail: [email protected]éphane HéroultDocumentation DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.centre-inffo.fr

FAS

The Training and EmploymentAuthorityP.O. Box 45627-33 Upper Baggot StreetDUBLIN 4, IrelandTel. (353-1) 60 70 536Fax (353-1) 60 70 634Margaret Carey, Head of Library &Technical InformationE-mail: [email protected] Wrigley, LibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.fas.ie

ISFOL

Istituto per lo sviluppo dellaformazione professionale deilavoratoriVia Morgagni 33I-00161 ROMATel. (39-06) 44 59 01Fax (39-06) 44 29 18 71Enrico Ceccotti, General DirectorColombo Conti, Head of Documen-tationE-mail: [email protected] Elena MoroE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.isfol.it

ETUDES ET FORMATION S.A

335 route de LongwyL-1941 LUXEMBOURGTel. (352) 44 91 99Fax (352) 44 92 08Marc Ant, DirectorE-mail: [email protected] CornéliusE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.etform.lu/

CINOP

Centrum voor Innovatie vanOpleidingenThe Dutch Centre for the Innovationof Education and TrainingPettelaarpark 1, Postbus 15855200 BP’s-HERTOGENBOSCHThe NetherlandsTel. (31-73) 68 00 800Tel. (31-73) 68 00 619 M. MaesFax (31-73) 61 23 425Martine MaesE-mail: [email protected] CoxE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinop.nl/internationaal

abf-Austria

Austrian Institute for Research onVocational TrainingWipplingerstraße 35/4A-1010 WIENTel. (43-1) 31 03 334 P. SchlöglFax (43-1) 31 97 772Peter SchlöglE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.oeibf.at


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Associated organisations

INOFOR

Instituto para a Inovação naFormaçãoRua Soeiro Pereira Gomes n.° 7,P-1600-196 LISBOA CodexTel. (351-21) 794 62 00Fax (351-21) 794 62 01Margarida Abecasis, PresidentMarta AlvesE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.inofor.pt/

NBE

OpetushallitusNational Board of EducationHakaniemenkatu 2P.O. Box 380FIN-00531 HELSINKITel. (358-9) 77 47 71 24 M. KyröTel. (358-9) 77 47 72 43 A. MannilaTel. (358-9) 77 47 78 19 K. NyyssöläFax (358-9) 77 47 78 65 or 69Matti KyröE-mail: [email protected] MannilaE-mail: [email protected] NyyssöläE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.oph.fi

Statens Skolverket

National Agency for EducationKungsgatan 53SE-106 20 STOCKHOLMTel. (46-8) 72 33 200Fax (46-8) 24 44 20Annika Andrae Thelin, Director ofResearchE-mail: [email protected] ÖjbornE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.skolverket.se/

QCA

Qualifications and CurriculumAuthority83 PiccadillyLONDONW1J 8QAUnited KingdomTel. (44-20) 75 09 55 55 DavidHandleyFax (44-20) 75 09 66 66David HandleyE-mail: [email protected] CuddyE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.qca.org.uk/

MENNT

samstarfsvettvangur atvinnulífs ogskólaEDUCATE - IcelandLaugavegi 51IS-101 REYKJAVIKTel. (354) 51 12 660Fax (354) 51 12 661Thóra Stefánsdóttir, General DirectorE-mail: [email protected] Jónsdóttir, ProjectManagerE-mail: [email protected]ára Stefánsdóttir, [email protected] address: http://www.mennt.is

Teknologisk Norge

P.O. Box 2608St. HanshaugenN-0131 OSLOTel. (47-22) 86 50 00Fax (47-22) 20 18 01Aagot van ElslandeE-mail:[email protected] address: http://www.teknologisk.no/leonardo/

DGEAC

European CommissionDG Education and CultureRue de la Loi 200B-1049 BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 29 57 562 E. SpachisTel. (32-2) 29 55 981 D. MarchalantFax (32-2) 29 55 723Fax (32-2) 29 64 259Eleni SpachisE-mail: [email protected] MarchalantE-mail:[email protected] address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/index_en.htm

EURYDICE

the Education Information Networkin EuropeLe réseau d’information sur l’éduca-tion en EuropeAvenue Louise 240B-1050 BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 60 05 353Fax (32-2) 60 05 363Patricia Wastiau-Schlüter, DirectorE-mail:[email protected] DelhaxheE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.eurydice.org

FVET

Foundation for Vocational Educationand Training ReformLiivalaia 2EE-10118 TALLINNTel. (372) 63 14 420Fax (372) 63 14 421Lea Orro, Managing DirectorE-mail: [email protected] KirsipuuE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.sekr.ee/eng/index.html

ETF

European Training FoundationVilla GualinoViale Settimio Severo 65I-10133 TORINOTel. (39-011) 63 02 222Fax (39-011) 63 02 200Gisela Schüring, Information andPublications DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.etf.eu.int/etfweb.nsf/

OIT

Centre international de formation deL’OITViale Maestri del Lavoro, 10I-10127 TORINOTel. (39-011) 69 36 510Fax (39-011) 69 36 535Catherine Krouch, DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.itcilo.org

ILO/BIT

International Labour OfficeBureau International du Travail4 Route des MorillonsCH-1211 GENEVE 22Tel. (41-22) 79 96 955Fax (41-22) 79 97 650Pierrette DunandEmployment & Training DepartmentDocumentalistE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ilo.org

DfES

Department for Education and SkillsRoom E3, MoorfootSHEFFIELD S1 4PQUnited KingdomTel. (44-114) 25 93 339Fax (44-114) 25 93 564Amanda Campbell, LibrarianE-mail:[email protected] address: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/index.htm

CINTERFOR/OIT

Centro Interamericano deInvestigación y Documentación so-bre Formación ProfesionalAvenida Uruguay 1238Casilla de correo 176111000 MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAYTel. (598-2) 92 05 57Tel. (598-2) 92 00 63Fax (598-2) 92 13 05Pedro Daniel Weinberg, DirectorE-mail: [email protected] Andres Tellagorry␣DocumentalistE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinterfor.org.uy


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Issues recently

published in

EnglishNo 24/2001

• Introducing the Jobrotation dossier (Eric Fries-Guggenheim)

• Jobrotation (Athanasios Papathanasiou)

• Jobrotation in France: a pioneering measure (Patrick Guilloux)

• Jobrotation – expectations and results: a case study from the Bremen region(Hubertus Schick)

• Jobrotation – report on practice: sks (Monika Kammeier)

• Jobrotation – a unique success which has outlived its future?(Jørgen Mørk, Thomas Braun)

• Danish experience of Jobrotation: a case study (Ghita Vejlebo, Thomas Braun)

• Jobrotation as a new concept combining learning and workGerman and Danish experience (Uwe Grünewald, John Houman Sørensen)

• Conclusion (Eric Fries-Guggenheim)

No 25/2002

Homage

• Ettore Gelpi, Citizen of the world, international educationalist, human rights advocateand modern anarchist. In grateful acknowledgement (Norbert Wollschläger)

• New paradigms for training and communication (Ettore Gelpi)

Research

• Changes in education and in education systems (Jean Vincens)

• The contrast between modular and occupational approaches to modernising vocationaltraining (Matthias Pilz)

• Bridging the gap between theory and practice in Dutch vocational education(Gäby Lutgens, Martin Mulder)


• Work experience and the curriculum: illustrations from Spain (Fernando Marhuenda)

• The design and evaluation of in-company training programmes: Profile of the supportteam (Miguel Aurelio Alonso García)

• Education under pressure to modernise. The challenges of structural change, neweducational ambitions and globalisation (Arthur Schneeberger)

• Developments in the Irish education and training system: the case of the LeavingCertificate Applied (Jim Gleeson)


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Please cut out or copy the order form and send it in a window envelope to CEDEFOP

No 26/2002

Research on guidance – Contributions presented in Thessalonikion 19 and 20 October 2000 during Cedefop’s Agora 10on ‘Social and vocational guidance’

• Researching guidance: Cedefop’s Agora X on social and vocational guidance(Eric Fries Guggenheim)

• Aims and issues in guidance counselling(Jean Guichard)

• Vocational guidance, training and employment: Training for a specific occupation or toadapt to market changes? (Jean-François Germe)

Research

• Human resource development in Europe - at the crossroads (Barry Nyhan)

• Computer-supported collaborative learning: an inducement to deep learning?(An Verburgh, Martin Mulder)

• Mobility in Europe (EU and EEA) with particular reference to health care occupationsand recognition of the relevant vocational qualifications (Burkart Sellin)

• Having a low level of education in Europe: an at-risk situation (Pascaline Descy)


• Assistant training: Safety net or labour market preparation? (Jittie Brandsma)

• Moving learning venues abroad – a pilot scheme in Germany(Wolfgang-Dieter Gehrke, Peter-Jörg Alexander)

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CEDEFOPEuropean Centre for the Development of Vocational TrainingPO Box 22427

GR-55102 Thessaloniki

Please send me a copy free of charge

Yes, I would like to subscribe to the European Journal Vocational Training(3 issues, EUR 20 plus VAT and postage)

Please send me the following issues of the European Journal Vocational Training(EUR 10 per issue plus VAT and postage)

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Dirección

Juan José Castillo,Santiago Castillo

Consejo de Redacción

Arnaldo Bagnasco,Dipartamento di Sociologia,Universidad de Turín

Juan José Castillo,Dpto. de Sociología III, UCM

Santiago Castillo,Dpto. de Ciencia Política y de laAdmón. III, UCM

Daniel Cornfield,Word and Occupations, VanderbiltUniversity (Estados Unidos)

Michel Freyssenet,CSU-IRESCO, CNRS, París

Enrique de la Garza,UAM, Iztapalapa, México

Juan Manuel Iranzo,Dpto. de Sociología, Univ. PúblicaNavarra

Ilona Kovács,Istituto Superior de Economia eGestão, Lisboa

Marcia de Paula Leite,Universidades de Campinas, Brasil

Ruth Milkman,Department of Sociology, UCLA,Estados Unidos

Alfonso Ortí,Dpto. de Sociología UAM

Andrés Pedreño,Dpto. de Sociología, Universidad deMurcia

Ludger Pries,Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Alemania

Helen Rainbird,Faculty of Humanities and SocialSciencies, Northampton, RU.

José Mª Sierra,Dpto. Geografía, Urbanismo y O. delTerritorio, Univ. Cantabria

Agnes Simony,Lorand Eotvos University, Hungría

Jorge Uria,Dpto. de Historia Contemporánea,Universidad de Oviedo

Fernando Valdés Dal-Re,Departamento de Derecho del Trabajo,

UCMInmanol Zubero,

Departamento de Sociología I,Universidad del País Vasco, Bilbao

Revista cuatrimestral de empleo, trabajo y sociedad

Expulsados del trabajo

• La forma más sencilla de equivocarse en ciencias sociales• Expulsados del trabajo… y más. Un estudio de la salida anticipada del mercado

de trabajo de los trabajadores mayores• ¿La pérdida de la época dorada? La terciarización y el trabajo en las sociedades

postindustriales• “Flexeguridad”: tiempo de trabajo y empleo en los pactos de empresa• El Ejido, entre la política y la sociología


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A los colaboradores

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Cedefop

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The European Journalfor Vocational TrainingA call for articlesThe European Journal for Vocational Training journal is looking to publish articlesfrom researchers and specialists in vocational education and training and employ-ment. Researchers and specialists who want to bring the results of high-quality re-search, in particular comparative transnational research, to the attention of a wideaudience of policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in many different countries.

The European Journal is an independent and refereed publication. It is publishedthree times a year in English, French, German and Spanish and enjoys a wide circu-lation throughout Europe both within the Member States of the European Union andbeyond.

The journal is published by Cedefop (the European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training) and aims to contribute to debate on the development of voca-tional education and training, in particular by introducing a European perspective.

The journal is looking to publish articles which set out ideas, report on researchresults, and which report on experience at national and European level. It also pub-lishes position papers and reaction statements on issues in the field of vocationaleducation and training.

Articles submitted to the journal must be exact, yet accessible to a wide and diversereadership. They must be clear in order to be understood by readers from differentbackgrounds and cultures, not necessarily familiar with the vocational education andtraining systems of different countries. They should be able to understand clearly thecontext and consider the arguments put forward in the light of their own traditionsand experience.

In addition to being published, extracts of the journal are placed on the Internet.Extracts from past issues can be viewed on http:/www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/edito-rial/journal/journalarc.asp

Articles can be written either in a personal capacity, or as the representative of anorganisation. They should be around 2500 to 3000 words in length and can be writ-ten in either Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Nor-wegian, Portuguese, Finnish or Swedish.

Once written, articles should be sent to Cedefop in hard copy and on a disketteformatted for Word or Word Perfect, or as a Word or Word Perfect attachment by e-mail, accompanied by brief biographical details of the author outlining the currentposition held. All articles are reviewed by the Journal’s Editorial Committee whichreserves the right to decide on publication. Authors will be informed of its decision.Articles do not have to reflect the position of Cedefop. Rather, the Journal providesthe opportunity to present different analyses and various – even contradictory –points of view.

If you would like to submit an article the editor Éric Fries Guggenheim can be con-tacted by telephone on (30) 23 10 49 01 11, fax on (30) 23 10 49 00 99, or e-mail on:[email protected]

The European Journal Vocational Training is published three times a year in five languages (DE, EN, ES, FR, PT). The annual subscription covers all issues of theEuropean Journal Vocational Training published in thecourse of the calendar year (January to December).Unless notice of cancellation is given by 30 November,the subscription will be extended automatically for afurther calendar year. The European Journal Vocational Training will be sent to you by the Office for Official Publications of the EC,Luxembourg. The invoice will be sent to you by theresponsible EU distributor. The subscription price does not include VAT. Please donot pay the amount due until you have received theinvoice.

CEDEFOPEuropean Centre for the

Development of Vocational Training

V O C A T I O N A L


No 27 September – December 2002/III

European Journal Vocational Training

No 27 September–December 2002/III

V O C A T I O N A L


ISSN 0378-5068

Europe 123, GR-570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea)Postal address: PO Box 22427, GR-551 02 ThessalonikiTel. (30) 23 10 49 01 11 Fax (30) 23 10 49 00 99E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive: www.trainingvillage.gr

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