Читать книгу Economics and Governance of Vocational and Professional Education and Training (including Apprenticeship) (E-Book) - Uschi Backes-Gellner - Страница 23

Luhmann pointed out that the relationality of fundamental relationships is always contingent and connected to a temporal and factual aspect (Luhmann, 2010). Therefore, the functional equivalent examples of external examinations and accreditation of prior learning by Backes-Gellner (1996) can be interpreted differently today because the education systems have been functionally differentiated.

The UK has often changed its NVQ system. The last substantial reform occurred in 2017 (Powell, 2019); the NVQ system is replaced by an apprenticeship system that offers level 2–7 programs that are equivalent to the education level. These programs are available in 1,500 occupations across more than 170 industries (Powell, 2019). Apart from that apprenticeship system, England has an education system offering Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) programs, which are type FE2 of the classification in Table 2. Hence, it appears that the UK has two parallel systems, which is the case in the US, and has given up the accreditation of prior learning in the NVQ system. Because the NVQ degree does not exist, Backes-Gellner’s (1996) example can no longer be used in 2019. Now, it looks as if the new apprenticeship system in the UK could be a functional equivalent to the US registered apprenticeship (Lerman, 2010; Powell, 2019). However, an in-depth analysis would be required to confirm such an assumption.

Figure 3: Socially Constructed Conceptual Equivalent and the Influence of Change in Society

To capture changes over time, socially constructed equivalent concepts must first be analyzed with cross-sectional analysis. On the right side, Figure 3 shows where the influence of society comes from. We have seen that socially constructed concepts are constantly exposed to sociocultural and socioeconomic changes. The previous case of the UK developing its NVQ system into an apprenticeship system is just one example. Taking again the selection as a function developed in Figure 2 and imagining that many countries change their curriculum development approach to be in line with competence-based standards in which soft skills are becoming highly relevant, we can derive another example that is reflected in the selection function and illustrated in Figure 3. While the socially constructed concept No. 2 is still the same as in Figure 2 because nothing has changed in that jurisdiction, No. 1 and 3 have changed treatments and names over time. If two cross-sectional comparisons are carried out for the two static moments as represented in Figures 2 and 3, then it must be determined how the variation is explained over time. What were the major social changes that happened in between?

In summary, a function can serve different traits or treatments across time. As was discussed in the statements in the section on definitions, a clear demarcation criterion is a conditio sine qua non to compare functions in VET programs. However, to identify the number of necessary functions that are sufficient for the functionality of an entire program, some theoretical and conceptual preliminary work must be performed. The field-specific theoretical framework for the VET program developed by Renold et al. (2019) may serve as a model. Only the robustness of all single social institutions as well as the configuration of various functional equivalents can ultimately make statements about VET program performance. Comparing whole VET systems presupposes that the architecture of functional equivalences and their interdependencies can be decoded; empirical research is still a long way from being able to demonstrate this. That said, it may become clear why it is so difficult to help other countries improve their VET system.