WLP Germany Case story 1 The GOLO project as a pioneering case for partnershipbased curriculum devel

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WLP Germany Case story 1 The GOLO project
as a pioneering case for partnership-based
curriculum development Pekka Kämäräinen
interviews Peter Gerds

• German case stories for the WLP project
• Bremen 9.6.2006

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Contents

• Introduction GoLo as a pioneering WLP project
• Item 1 The regional cooperation takes shape
• Item 2 Teachers and trainers work together
• Item 3 Designing joint working and learning
  tasks
• Concluding remarks

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Introductory remarks

• This document is the first one in a series of
  case stories on projects that have developed
  the German concept for workplace learning
  partnerships. In many respects the GOLO project
  that was implemented in the Wilhelmshaven region
  in 1994-1999 merits to be revisited as the
  pioneering case in Germany.
• The process and the results have been documented
  by extensive reports that have been prepared by
  accompanying research team from ITB. However,
  after many years it appears that documentation of
  innovation processes and way forward has not
  conveyed the innovative spirit and that the
  results have been taken as local applications
  and as children of their time.
• From this perspective these case stories try to
  open a more living perspective to the work of
  the GOLO project (even after many years). The
  stories are based on interviews of the promoters
  of the project and the accompanying researchers.
  The first case story is based on the interview of
  Peter Gerds.
• The story consists of three items that are linked
  to each other by hyperlinks. Within each item
  there are commentary spaces for questions,
  remarks and tasks that support further studies.
  The hyperlinks make it possible to move across
  the document and between the document and
  external sources.

• Links to relevant websites
• Own website
• Partner links

• Move to next item
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 1

• Looking back at the process that led to the GoLo
  project it appears to impossible to identify one
  definitive moment from which the history of
  partnership creation starts. Instead, the
  critical problem-awareness and movement towards
  partnership cooperation were already there. Yet,
  some new opportunities for cooperation were
  needed to bring the process further.
• In this case the necessary external intervention
  was the possibility to apply for a pilot project
  to tackle the problem of declining participation
  in apprentice training and the declining number
  of training opportunities. In this context it is
  worthwhile that the enterprises and the VET
  college did not try to put the blame on each
  other but asked the question What could we do
  together to make the apprentice training more
  attractive and effective?
• From this perspective the local actors joined
  their forces in a combined pilot project that
  consisted of a school-related and
  workplace-related project component. However, in
  the case of GoLo these two project components
  were not developed into separate strands of work.
  Instead, as the subsequent items demonstrate, the
  project tried to bring the regional into common
  effort.

Case stories 1.0.

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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 1

• Commentary space 1
• In order to understand the collaborative spirit
  in Wilhelmshaven it would be helpful to know more
  of the cooperation between VET college and the
  local enterprises (already before the project
  started). Also, it would be useful to know
  whether the Wilhelmshaven region had some special
  advantages that helped the project set of. The
  questions are raised here but the answers are to
  be obtained from other actors who were more
  closely involved in the initiation process.

Commentary space 1
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Current situation
Context
Case stories 1.1.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 1

• Commentary space 2
• In this context it is worthwhile to pay attention
  on the German way of promoting innovation
  projects (Modellversuch) from different funds for
  school-based projects (joint commission of the
  federal states and of the federal government) and
  for the workplace-based (BiBB). However, in a
  combined pilot project it was possible to set up
  joint accompanying research (Begleitforschung)
  team that studied the development on both sides
  of the project.

Commentary space 2
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Case stories 1.2.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 1

• Commentary space 3
• In this context it is worthwhile to note that the
  piloting strategy in Wilhelmshaven emphasised
  collaboration between teachers and trainers and
  pedagogic redesign of working and learning tasks.
  Thus, both learning venues were challenged to
  develop such learning designs that emphasise
  social shaping of work, technology and work
  organisation.
• The subsequent items of the story will inform
  more of the efforts to develop the
  teaching-learning processes on the basis of the
  leading idea social shaping.

Commentary space 3
Instruments
Strategic issues
Current situation
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Case stories 1.3.

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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 1

• Commentary space 4
• In this context is necessary to raise the issue
  on the sustainability of the pedagogic and
  organisational innovations after the funding
  period was over. This question will be taken up
  in the subsequent interviews with the project
  promoters and the accompanying researchers who
  were involved in the concluding phase.

Commentary space 4
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Case stories 1.4.

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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 2

• Peter Gerds participated n the GoLo project as a
  coordinator of the domain-specific working group
  for curriculum redesign (and for the development
  teaching/ learning arrangements) in the field of
  metal working and in related occupations.
• From his point of view the main achievement of
  GoLo was to bring vocational teachers (from the
  VET college) and trainers (from the enterprises)
  into joint working groups to discuss how to
  reshape the curricula in order to make the
  learning process more relevant for all parties
  involved. Furthermore, he emphasised that the
  work in the working groups was promoted as a
  process of shared learning.
• It is worthwhile to note that the GoLo project
  made use of an earlier version of the Learning
  Potential Analysis (LPA) in order to specify the
  areas of relative strength and of relative
  weakness regarding workplace learning. However,
  from the perspective of common curriculum
  development processes the use of these
  instruments was not critical. Instead, the
  analyses with the instruments confirmed the
  picture that had already emerged in the common
  discussions.

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Case stories 2.0.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 2

• Commentary space 1
• In this context it is essential to consider
  whether there were specific (e.g. local or
  sectoral) factors that made it easier for VET
  teachers and in-company trainers to start working
  together in the area of metal working. Secondly,
  it is worthwhile to consider in what way prior
  examples of cooperation between learning venues
  have been used as reference points for developing
  a broader and more comprehensive cooperation
  platform.

Commentary space 1
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Case stories 2.1.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 2

• Commentary space 2
• In this context it is worthwhile to consider how
  the informal exchanges of information and the use
  of analytical or developmental tools were linked
  to the process dynamic of the working group.
  Also, it is worthwhile to consider how the use of
  the LPA instrument can support such processes or
  preparatory measures that aim to support such
  collaborative work.

Commentary space 2
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Case stories 2.2.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 2

• Commentary space 3
• In this context it is essential to consider what
  kind of strategic issues have been discussed
  concerning
• combination of working and learning tasks at
  different phases of vocational learning process
• the relevance of integrative working and learning
  tasks for the enterprises,
• quality issues and compatibility with formal
  qualification requirements and related assessment
  patterns.

Commentary space 3
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Case stories 2.3.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 2

• Commentary space 4
• In this context it is essential to discuss more
  closely the factors in the actual group process
  that can have prepared the grounds for
  sustainable cooperation after the project period.
  Parallel to this it is worthwhile to consider
  what intervening factors may have caused
  difficulties for continuing similar cooperation
  without the support from the pilot project. After
  these preliminary considerations (with a focus on
  the domain-specific working group) it is
  necessary o try to find evidence of the
  sustainability of the cooperation between
  teachers and trainers after the project period.

Commentary space 4
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Case stories 2.4.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 3

• In order to have a proper understanding on the
  way on the way that the working group actually
  worked (and contributed to the pilot project) it
  is necessary to have a closer look at the social
  shaping of working and learning tasks.
• In this context it is only possible to give a
  rough outline with a characteristic example. One
  of the jointly planned working and learning tasks
  was the production of a prototype of a hydraulic
  press. The idea came from the participating
  enterprises who needed such equipment but did not
  find suitable models from the market. For the VET
  college and for the participating enterprises the
  design and preparation of the prototype was a
  maturity test in practical cooperation.
• In this case the challenge was taken in such a
  phase that all parties had sufficient confidence
  and they could rely on each other. Moreover, the
  group process had already led to a readiness to
  discuss openly on the availability vs. lack of
  competences for certain tasks in the
  participating enterprises. Therefore, it was
  relatively easy for partners to join forces and
  to agree on mutually complementing contributions.

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Case stories 3.0.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 3

• Commentary space 1
• In this context it is essential to find out how
  the ideas of integrative working and learning
  tasks could be incorporated into the curriculum
  framework and what kind of spin-off effects they
  may have had. Furthermore, it is essential to
  find out how such activities could be adjusted to
  the neighbouring activities and to the day-to-day
  practice at the VET college and in the
  enterprises.

Commentary space 1
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Case stories 3.1.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 3

• Commentary space 2
• In this context it is worthwhile to consider how
  the pedagogic innovations were prepared,
  implemented and documented without the current
  richness of web-based tools and instruments.
  Equally, it is worthwhile to note the gaps in
  documenting and presenting the learning gains in
  workplace-based learning. Therefore, there is a
  case t revisit the GoLo heritage from the
  perspective of using web-based facilities as
  support for pedagogic and curricular innovations.

Commentary space 2
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Case stories 3.2.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 3

• Commentary space 3
• In this context it is worthwhile to consider the
  strategic importance of the GoLo as a pioneer
  project that paved the way for rethinking certain
  educationaland curricular concepts (e.g.
  Lernfeld Learning arena or Lernraum
  Learning space or Networked learning
  concepts). In this respect it is worthwhile to
  consider what kind of chain of pedagogic
  influence could be reconstructed between the
  earlier GoLo pilot and the later innovation
  concepts. Equally, it is worthwhile to consider
  what kind of support the later conceptual changes
  have provided for dissemination of such
  innovations that were initially piloted in the
  GoLo project.

Commentary space 3
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Case stories 3.3.
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Case stories - Partnership Contexts - Item 3

• Commentary space 4
• In this context it is worthwhile to come back to
  the question of transferability and
  sustainability of the ideas and working concepts
  that were piloted in GoLo. In this respect it is
  useful to distinguish between
• a) immediate sustainability (in the local
  environment) and direct transferability (at the
  given point of time) and
• b) long-term sustainability (via subsequent
  support measures) and indirect transferability
  (at a later point of time and in the light of
  subsequent policy development and related
  conceptual changes.

Commentary space 4
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Case stories 3.4.
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Concluding remarks

• This case story document s been composed on the
  basis of a brief conversation with Peter Gerds
  who volunteered to cooperate with a very short
  notice and without advance preparation.
• Therefore, the narrative spaces give only a rough
  outline of the GoLo project. Likewise, the
  commentary spaces are filled with remarks on the
  necessity to obtain more information (rather than
  with the respective pieces of information).
• The main handicap of this case story (and of the
  underlying conversation) was that we were not in
  the position to specify whether (and to what
  extent) we try to cover the whole GoLo project
  history or whether (and to what extent) we try to
  focus on the domain-specific group process in
  metal working occupations
• However, given the pilot test character of this
  exercise, it appears that it was possible to use
  the given template to compose a case story on the
  basis of a brief conversation. Furthermore, it
  became clear that there is a case to have a
  further discussion to complement the story in the
  light of the questions that have been raised in
  the commentary spaces. Furthermore, it has become
  clear how to related this case story to parallel
  stories to be obtained by other interviews.

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