During the whole October and the beginning of November I have been hearing German broadcasts and watching German TV documents that revisit the historical events thirty years ago. Altogether these revisit the turning points – die Wende – in the history of the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik – DDR) and in the whole German history. To my mind these documents bring very personal memories – during those weeks I was on a study visit in Germany. Yes, to be precise, I was on a study visit in the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland – BRD). So, I was not directly witnessing the dramatic events in the East but receiving the fresh news in the West. Also, during my one month’s study visit (my first visit to Germany) I tried to concentrate on my meetings at the research institutes.

I was travelling through West Germany visiting institutes with focus on the field of vocational education and training (VET) and on innovations in working life. But by the time I got to my final station, the insular West-Berlin, the processes of change had gone that far that I was equally interested in what is happening in the East and what is coming out of all this. Strangely enough, I travelled back to Finland on the 6th and 7th of November, just before the Berlin wall was opened. This summer I found the hand-written diary in which I had written my notes on the meetings. There is very little about the the stunning historical events, but I do have my memories. So, with this blog post I want to share some of the memories.

Travelling in West-Germany – Signs of change are coming up

I arrived in Germany on the 4th of October and then started my Interrail 26+ tour in West-Germany, covering Bremen, Hamburg, Kassel, Göttingen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt am Main in three weeks. Looking back, it was a fully packed program, but I didn’t regret. I had the chance to get acquainted with researchers of whom I knew by literature and got to know several others. Bremen was my first station and became the most important contact point in my future career, no question. I learned a lot of the role of ITB in specific field projects, in the Bremer Landesprogramm Arbeit und Technik (innovation programme for Work & Technology) and in particular of the guiding principle “Gestaltung” (social shaping of work and technology). This idea was prominently present in the scenario project “Berufsbilder 2000” and in the ITB contribution to the Bundestag Enquete-Kommission “Bildung 2000”. And during most of that time I had the chance to enjoy the golden October weather.

The dramatic events started to reach me little by little. The celebrations of the 40th anniversary of DDR didn’t leave strong memories, I was too exited about my trip. Also, I have only vague memories of the mass demonstrations in East German cities that marked a turning point. But then,  the rush of refugees to the Wets-German embassies in Prague and Warsaw and the agreement to let the refugees to travel to West-Germany – that was big news. And shortly after that the first signs of the collapse of the old regime made headlines – the party leader and president Erich Honecker was pushed to step down. At that point the ruling party tried to keep the change in its control, but the clock had struck.

The week in München (Munich) – More signs of change

The next last week I spent in München (Munich, if you insist) at Institut für Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung (ISF), of which also knew quite a lot via literature. Now I had a chance to inform myself of their different projects and of their participation in different expert commissions both concerning the innovation programmes in working life and in strengthening research in the field of VET. Also, thanks to the support from Burkart Lutz (the director of ISF and a key player in European VET research), I got appointments to visit Cedefop (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) which at that time was located in Berlin.

During that week more news came fro East that indicated that something was changing – some representatives of the old guard were stepping down, but no radical change was (yet) to be seen. This atmosphere of uncertainties and anxieties was reflected in ISF by the fact that they had a visiting scholar from East-Berlin . With her the ISF colleagues had started a comparative project in the field of industrial sociology. Given the situation in the East, she had decided, not to return to DDR. During the week when I was there, she gave a public lecture on sociological research in DDR at the Volkshochschule (civic academy). The discussion on her lecture took a dramatic turn when she announced her decision publicly. (Later on she continued to work as a prominent sociologist in München and as a professor in Giessen as well as in many prominent expert commissions.)

The week in Berlin – just before the peak point of the change

The last week in Berlin was exiting both in terms of my study visit and being a nearby witness of changes on the other side of the border. From the perspective of VET research the most inspiring discussions I had in several departments of the  Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BiBB) and in Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung (in particular during my breakfast meetings with Wolfgang Lempert). From the perspective of European cooperation I was privileged to have talks in Cedefop with Deputy Director Enrique Retuerto and with Peter Grootings. (Little could I anticipate that some years later Retuerto would be my immediate boss in Cedefop and that I would be quasi the successor of Grootings when he chose to leave Cedefop.) From the perspective of innovations in working life the highlight was the meeting in Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin with professor Frieder Naschold.

During that week it became clear that a major change will take place in East Germany – the economy was collapsing, the ancien regime had lost the control and the new leaders were not in the position to regain the trust of people. The question was not, whether there will be a change, but what kind of change. The opinion leaders of the new opposition in the East expressed their hopes to bring their country to an alternative path – to develop their ideas of democracy and open society without introducing the aggressive competitive economy of western capitalism. The West-Berlin taxi-driver had another view: “After 40 years of economic mismanagement and no free elections the people in the East will vote for unification with the West.” I had just left Germany when the wave of change reached its peak point and the wall was opened. Later on I came to see numerous documentary films of those days – it seems to me as if I had also been there.

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I guess this is enough of my memories of zhe year 1989. In my next post I will have a look at October 1990. At that time I was again in Germany when the process of change – die Wende – was completed by the German unification.

More blogs to come …

Yesterday I got the message from my Dutch blogger-colleague Wilfred Rubens that he has a special working anniversary: He wrote his first blog exactly sixteen years ago (here the link to Wilfred’s blog post announcing the anniversary). I immediately congratulated him on his Facebook account, where he had shared his blog post. But this incident also triggered quite a lot of thoughts about the sense of ‘history’ in blogging, on learning by logging, learning from others’ blogs and on networking via blogs and social media. Moreover, it triggered thoughts about my path to become a blogger and what role Wilfred (whom I have never met in person) has been an important reference person. This is related to my rocky road to learning more about technology-enhanced learning. And finally, it is the magic, how to become an internationally well-known blogger when using Dutch as the main communication language (quite fascinating for a native Finn, who has learned also Dutch). So, here we go with all these thoughts that can be brought together with the headings ‘searching’, ‘lurking’ and ‘working the way through’.

Searching: How it all started long ago (and before we had the blogs)

Here I need to go back to end of 1990s when I was working with a temporary contract as a project manager at Cedefop (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) in Thessaloniki. At that time I was working closely with a number of European research cooperation projects in the field of vocational education and training (VET). I and my colleagues among the project promoters tried to develop patterns of ‘networking the networks’. This included joint seminars for parallel projects with common interests, joint symposia in European conferences and joint initiatives to promote knowledge sharing with the help of ICT resources. Here Graham Attwell and his friends in Wales played a pioneering role. There was a great enthusiasm of knowledge sharing, active interactivity and expectation to get powerful platforms to be used for community development and learning from each other. Indeed, something was reached, but it was ahead of its time and technically fragile. So, the enthusiasm started to fade away. Yet, already at that time I was trying to learn from ‘neighbouring’ intiiatives. So, I was also a subscriber of the weekly updates of the Dutch BVE-net (where Wilfred was working at that time) and of the German innovation programme “kolibri” (with a similar approach as the BVE-net).

However, very soon the winds of European policies changed. The European intergovernmental frameworks emerged as the main thrust of cooperation. Based on the model of the Bologna process (and the European mobility in Higher Education) a similar solution was sought for the field of VET with the Copenhagen process (and the European Qualification Framework). Also, there were expectations to find alternative educational initiatives with commercial eLearning providers and with the company-led “Career space” initiatives of ICT industries. And finally, the idea of ‘networking the networks’ was brought down to hosting ‘virtual communities’ that were supposed to be self-movers.

All this led to the phase in which my time in Cedefop was over and I had to look for a new start back in Finland. Now, after all these years, It is difficult to find traces of many of those initiatives and activities that I have mentioned. Some of them had their time. Some of them never really took off.

Lurking: Becoming aware of new ideas, networks and community-building processes

In the next phase I was back in Finland and had a temporary contract as a visiting researcher attached to the Vocational Teacher Education College of the Jyväskylä Polytechnic (latterly Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences). During that period I was trying to get my feet back on the ground in my home country and also trying to find new ways to contribute to European cooperation in VET research. It wasn’t a very easy period. The European cooperation was overshadowed by the new framework processes (EQF, ECVET, setting up new units for monitoring quality assurance …). Experienced researchers were allocated to evaluation projects rather than invited to promote new initiatives.

In the light of the above it was important that the theme ‘technology-enhanced learning’ provided a creative niche that soon generated creative spaces and provided the basis for genuine community-building processes. Here it is worthwhile to note that this creative movement was opposing the one-sided commercial eLearning approaches and the ICT industries’ efforts to monopolize technology-enhanced learning for their products. In this context the early applications of social media became important. Powerful bloggers and community blogs emerged and achieved high popularity. Critical studies on the use of ICT for learning in SMEs showed that the ready-made solutions are not taken up. New solutions were sought with Open Source software and OSS communities. To some extent this radiated to the field of VET with emphasis on new portfolio concepts in order to empower learners. Yet, the community processes were more looking to conferences like OEB, Alt-C and the events of JISC and SURF.

During this period I was clearly a lurker, trying to get a picture, what is going on and trying find my way to participate. My key informer was Graham Attwell, who was already fully engaged in these processes and debates. And thanks to Graham’s recommendation I started following Wilfred’s blogs on technology-enhanced learning as best I could. To Wilfred’s style in blogging was (and has always been) something special – he is carrying out mini-studies, presenting explorations, providing overviews on debates and making reflective commentaries. They are contributions to knowledge sharing and knowledge development – not primarily engagement in debates between opposite opinions. This was very valuable for me at that time and has been since then.

Working the way forward: The rocky road to become a blogger (who is working & learning via blogging)

The crucial turn for me was the new start as a project-based researcher at ITB, University of Bremen – the institute that I had known for many years (and with which I had mostly cooperated during my years in Cedefop). I was a team member in a major institute that was highly respected and a strong player in the European cooperation. Yet, it is worthwhile to note that many of the projects were overshadowed by pressure to provide a basis for standards or regulative frameworks, whilst the projects were more interested in promoting ‘learning from each other’. This was clearly the case with projects on teachers and trainers in VET, but also with projects on workplace learning partnerships and practice-based learning in higher education. We also had some ‘niche projects’ that were not so centrally involved in VET issues but provided opportunities to pilot with new platforms and with blogging.

Concerning my own development as a blogger, this phase was characterised by a strange contradiction. In some projects I managed to work with a project blog and contribute regularly. BUT this was all about working issues, progress and achievements of the said progress – without really reaching out to wider discussion. At the same time my efforts to start a personal blog never got further than sketching some general ideas for the European VET research community  – without providing a real perspective, how to work with those ideas. As a consequence, I had lengthy gaps in my personal blogging history. And my contributions to blogs on project websites tended to get lost in cyberspace once the domain names got outdated and were not renewed.

Gradually, the themes ‘digitization in education and training’  and ‘digital transformation’ in working life and through the society became central issues for all innovation programmes. For us in ITB the decisive step forward was the beginning of the Learning Layers project and our entry to the project consortium as late newcomers (with the construction sector partners). Our role was somewhat unspecific and we had to work ourselves into the project idea while working with the practitioners alongside us. For me this provided the critical challenge for using the blog as a creative space for working and learning (and for reflecting what has been achieved). Also, the Europe-wide project consortium was a clear audience to be addressed and the process dynamic brought into picture new issues to be shared. Once I had got the habit of blogging regularly, I understood that the blogs laid foundation for the reporting in the project and for my further conceptual work. And alongside this, I found it appropriate to blog on historical events or on other interesting themes (such as music) but yet keeping the main focus on innovations in vocational and workplace learning. And with the Learning Layers project we were there – with the challenge to work with shaping appropriate digital toolsets to support learning in the context of work. And with the Learning Toolbox we are now promoting an innovation that has been shaped for the practitioners, with the practitioners and by the practitioners.

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I guess I have said enough of my rock yroad to become a blogger. During this latest intensive phase I couldn’t follow that closely the work of Wilfred Rubens. Yet, being a subscriber to his blog I have been bombarded with news feeds that inform, what he is up to. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed of his productivity and sad that I cannot follow all what I am getting from him. But even if my following is at a superficial level, I have some glimpses of that richness of knowledge that he is sharing. And therefore, with my background development that I have described above, I feel that I am in a position to congratulate Wilfred as a “Klassiker-Blogger” and celebrate his anniversary: Years and more, blogs an more – we are with you!

More blogs to come … (also on my side)

I guess it is no secret that Pontydysgu staff are not great fans of Brexit. Given that much of our work is undertaken in partnership with organisations from across Europe, Brexit is a threat to our future. That is one reason we have set up Pontydysgu SL, a Spanish registered SME.

Anyway – to get to the point – people have been asking what will happen to Erasmus Plus projects in the event that the UK leaves the EU -with or without a deal. This is the latest UK government position:

Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK would continue to take part in current EU programmes, including Erasmus+, for the duration of the transition period. Any participation beyond this would be a matter for upcoming negotiations on our future relationship with the EU. While the regulations for future EU programmes are still in the process of being developed, the Political Declaration envisages the possibility of UK participation in EU programmes like Erasmus+ and the negotiation of general terms of participation.

In the event that the UK leaves the EU with no agreement in place, the Government’s guarantee will cover the payment of awards to UK applicants for all successful Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps bids submitted before the end of 2020. This means UK Erasmus+ students already abroad will be able to complete their study placements.

It is far from ideal but better than nothing.

In two hours I will be off to join the students striking over climate change in Valencia. One of the schools which are taking part is in my street. Wednesday lunchtime I was sitting on the terrace opposite the school for an aperitif prior to lunch. Suddenly the street became chaotic, jammed with parents in cars and on motorbikes waiting to pick up their children. I suspect the same school students will be walking to the city centre for today’s demonstration. The school run seems an international phenomenon and one which putting a stop to is long overdue.

Ok if the school is in the middle of a rural area – although most countries seem to operate bus services for rural schools. But in a dense urban setting where most of the students live in easy walking distance and where there are good public transport services there really si no need to perpetuate this old fashioned tradition.

Pontydysgu staff will be supporting the climate strike on Friday 20 September. And later this year we will be launching a new project, CEYOU, aiming to support young people in developing the circular economy .

I have often written about the problems in interpreting and making sense of data. I very much like an article ‘What drives anti-migrant attitudes‘ by Vera Messing and Bence Ságvári and published on the Social Europe Site yesterday.

They analysed data from the European Social Survey (ESS)—a biannual survey of Europe’s societies and people’s attitudes since 2002and looking at how people think about migration and migrants. They say: “It is not the presence of migrants as such that generates anti-migrant sentiments: these are strongest in countries with very few migrants. Similarly, on an individual level there is a strong negative correlation between personal contact with migrants and attitudes.”

“The analysis of the data showed that more general societal processes are more likely to shape attitudes: the level of trust in one another and in state institutions, the perception of social cohesion and the feeling of safety in a direct (physical) and indirect (existential) sense. We found that individuals who rejected migrants, extremely and homogeneously, did not differ in demographic characteristics from the rest of the population. Where they did differ was in their subjective perceptions of control: to a much greater extent, they feel they have financial difficulties, are alienated from politics, lack trust and hold security-focused, individualistic values. All in all, people who feel politically disempowered, financially insecure and without social support are the most likely to become extremely negative towards migrants.”

The European Social survey is a time series survey. This allows comparison with earlier results. Messing and Sagvari found a similar pattern in looking at changing attitudes over time. Those countries in which people are more trusting of public institutions, and more satisfied with the performance of their governments, democratic institutions and national economies, are the most likely to be more accepting of migrants.

I started a series of blog posts by mentioning that we celebrated the Europe-Day on Thursday, the 9th of May, here in Bremen. Then, In my first post I explained the background of the Europe-Day and then reflected on two periods of my career as a European researcher in vocational education and training (VET). In my second post I reflected on my encounters with expatriate communities and/or European initiatives in Thessaloniki (1995-2002) and Bremen (from 2005 on). Now it is time to get back to the celebration of the Europe-Day. Below I have selected some photos of the Europa-Fete at the central sqare (Marktplaz) of Bremen, surrounded by the old City Hall (Rathaus), the new City hall (Bürgerschaft), the churches and old buildungs.

Here the stage for performers (in front of the new City hall, to the left the St. Pete’s Cathedral)

Here cheerful and active expatriate Finns and Finland-friends with a Finnish flag …

… but representing the Bremen Lapland-initiative that focuses mainly on the Sami people on Russian territory.

And last but not least: The stand of the “Pulse of Europe” movement that has been active during the last few years. It has kept our European spirits up whatever has happened in the European politics.

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I guess this is enough of this reporting. The next Pulse of Europe event will start in two hours. I need to get there in good time. But I will keep the European themes up while working and learning for Europe.

More blogs to come ...

Last week I spoke at a meeting – Circular Economy Competences Making the Case for Lifelong Learning – at the European Parliament in Brussels. The meeting was hosted by MEP Silvia Costa and organised by ACR+ as part of the Erasmus+ CYCLE project, brought together key actors working on incorporating circular economy competences in education and lifelong learning. Pontydysgu are partners in the project and I introduced briefly what we are doing.

The press release below gives a good summary of the event. But the main lesson for me was that there are a lot of people doing practical things (and policy initiatives) around the circular economy. And there are a lot of people in the education sector (not least of all students) wanting to do things around the environment and climate change.

The problem is that for some reason there is not a lot of communication going on between the two communities. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has produced some excellent and there have been a number of MOOCs, hosted mainly by Dutch and French organisations. But a lot of the learning materials available are focused on particular technical areas, rather than looking at the Circular Economy as a whole.

The CYCLE project is a start – aiming to develop an online competence centre for learning materials. But in reality the project is really too small when compared to what is needed.

I think the next step should be to attempt to develop a European Special Interest Group (SIG) on the circular economy and Education. Anyone interested?

Press Release

Brussels, Belgium. The event “Circular Economy Competences Making the Case for Lifelong Learning”, hosted on 19 February at the European Parliament by MEP Silvia Costa and organised by ACR+ in the framework of the Erasmus+ CYCLE project, brought together key actors working on incorporating circular economy competences in education and lifelong learning.

The fully booked event was opened by MEP Silvia Costa, who stressed the importance of mainstreaming circular thinking in lifelong learning policies. The MEP also reported on the dialogue between the Parliament and the European Commission aimed at introducing recitals on climate change and sustainable development goals in the text of the next Erasmus+ 2021/2027 programme. Afterwards, Callum Blackburn from Zero Waste Scotland gave an introductory speech calling for international cooperation for circular economy education based on strategic partnerships that facilitate mutual learning.

The first thematic panel tackled the issue of circular thinking in education. Graham Atwell from Pontydysgu presented the e-learning platform that is currently being developed within the CYCLE project. The platform, which will be launched in May 2019, aims to collect training material on circular economy for adult educators. Sander Bos and Heleentje Swart from the Dutch Fryslan Region showed how governments and schools are already working together within the regional SPARK initiative to achieve a circular change in educational methods, practices and tools.

The second panel focused on how to upskill waste, repair and reuse industries. Fiona Craigintroduced the audience to the SWITCH Forum, a multi-partnership forum made up of organisations active across all the sub-sectors of resource management . The SWITCH Forum aims to support continuous improvement in education and training and in health and safety in this sector. Roberto Cerqueira from LIPOR presented the training programmes of the LIPOR Academy, which include circular economy as an area of knowledge.

The speakers of the last panel discussed the evolution of the labour market related to the circular economy and the skills that will be increasingly required for circular jobs. Lorenzo Barucca from Legambiente presented the key outcomes of a study carried out together with the University of Padova, about the main connections between innovative industries (Industry 4.0) and circular economy. Joke Dufourmont from Circle Economy presented the mapping of core and enabling circular jobs in the city of Amsterdam, reflecting on the technical and transversal competencies that underlie them.

The slides of the presentations made at the event are available on the ACR+ website.

Brexit is not much fun (in fact its causing me a lot of stress. But at least here is something genuinely funny – with a fair bit of truth thrown in.

This poem by Matt Sowerby was the first prize winner in the  16-18 age category in the End Hunger UK challenge on Young Poets Network.