How are digitalisation and artificial intelligence changing skilled work in industrial and technical occupations? How can sustainability and democracy education be embedded in vocational education and training? And how will teachers for vocational schools be trained in the future?
These questions were at the heart of the 24th autumn conference of the Working Group for Industrial-Technical Sciences and their Didactics (gtw) at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). Around 110 participants from universities, vocational schools and companies came together for two days on the campus in Harburg. In 42 contributions, they presented current research findings, development projects and practical experience. The conference was held under the title “Structural Changes in the Field of Industrial-Technical Sciences: Vocational Science – Teacher Education – Didactics”.
The conference was opened by the President of TU Hamburg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Timm-Giel. Further words of welcome were given by Prof. Dr. Sönke Knutzen, Dean of Studies of the study programme “Technology and Innovation in Education”, and gtw spokesperson Prof. Dr. Lars Windelband.
How much technology does teaching need?
The keynote by Dr. Andreas Schubiger (i-k-t GmbH, Switzerland) provided an impressive start. Using Swiss vocational education and training as an example, he showed how technology-neutral regulatory instruments – such as curricula and regulations – enable a dynamic response to technological change. Vocational teaching practice is changing rapidly as a result of AI and digitalisation. From this, he derived the question of how much openness a system can tolerate that must at the same time ensure comparability and quality.
The subsequent symposia and presentations addressed, among other things, the guiding principle of “sustainable core occupational competence”. Further topics included AI and virtual reality in training, dual study models for industrial-technical teacher education, and vocational science research in construction technology. There was intensive discussion of how vocational education for sustainable development and democracy education can succeed at vocational schools and in companies. The future of teacher education and new forms of learning were also on the programme.
Future prospects for vocational education
The second day opened with a panel discussion on the question “How is vocational education changing?”. Moderated by Prof. Dr. Henning Klaffke (Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg), Stephanie Anders (Hamburg Chamber of Crafts), Jonas Schustereit (Continental) and Fabienne Seyd (Hamburg Port Authority) discussed the topic. They contributed the perspectives of the skilled trades, industry and public enterprises, as well as the current challenges they face in vocational training.
“Vocational education is facing profound changes. That is precisely why we need forums in which science, vocational schools and companies work together on viable answers,” says Prof. Dr. Lars Windelband, spokesperson of the gtw.
The conference was hosted by the four vocational education institutes of TU Hamburg: the Institute of Applied Building Technology, the Institute of Vocational Science in Metal Technology, the Institute of Technical Education and University Didactics, and the Institute of Vocational Education and Digitalisation.
About the gtw
The Working Group for Industrial-Technical Sciences and their Didactics (gtw) is an association of members of the Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft e. V. (GfA, German Society for Ergonomics). Its members are active in teaching, research and development in an industrial-technical science and its didactics. www.gtw-ag.de
