WORK IN PROGRESS
How Do We Put Lifelong Development into Practice?
Lifelong Learning (LLO) is set to play a key role in facilitating the labor market. But what is the current state of LLO? What are the obstacles on the path to maturity? At the end of March, ten vocational education administrators and directors gathered at Turner’s invitation to discuss the future of LLO in vocational education.
Who better to shed light on LLO’s strategic position than the experienced administrator Jan Jacob van Dijk, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Christian Education Group Vallei & Gelderland-Midden (COG)? Ever since Bert Beun announced his plans to step down, Van Dijk has temporarily included LLO in his responsibilities on the MBO Council. He could hardly refuse: in the coming years, LLO will be indispensable as a catalyst for the labor market. Technological developments are advancing at a remarkable pace, creating a constant need for continuing education, refresher training, and retraining. In addition, there is a severe shortage of skilled workers in the labor market. Employers face a few major challenges: how do they retain their employees? And how selective can they be when evaluating job applicants? “Even the ‘three-legged sheep’ is attractive now,” says Van Dijk.
A Matter of Principle
Van Dijk notes that policymakers are also interested in developments surrounding LLO, as evidenced by the approval of the growth fund application for the National LLO Catalyst. But he would actually like to have a more principled discussion.
If all activities related to continuing education, retraining, and reskilling are so important to the labor market, shouldn’t LLO then become a public responsibility? And a statutory responsibility? With the corresponding funding?
Currently, LLO is partly owned by private institutions and is partly provided by existing educational institutions, though often through organizations that have been sidelined. For example, the website mbo.nl is operated by a consortium of several ROCs and a number of private institutions. And yet the knowledge being taught has always been developed in the public domain.
That raises several questions, says Van Dijk. Shouldn’t vocational schools better align their LLO activities with their regular activities? Should vocational schools perhaps adopt an open-source approach so they can more easily share their knowledge? Should vocational schools perhaps ask themselves more explicitly what their actual role is in LLO?
Van Dijk is not interested in competing with private providers. In his view, vocational schools would be better off focusing on collaboration with the business community, such as through the Industry Coalition. This partnership, which represents 27,000 companies with 600,000 employees, already presented an action plan last summer in which LLO plays a role. That plan devotes considerable attention to the role of vocational education (MBO), though the group did not consult with MBO institutions directly. Van Dijk believes there are opportunities there, but politicians must also take action. “If you believe that LLO is crucial to the smooth functioning of a labor market region, there’s only one possible conclusion: it’s a public responsibility,” says Van Dijk.
“If you believe that LLO is crucial to the smooth functioning of a labor market region, there’s only one possible conclusion: it’s a public responsibility.”
Challenges in Implementation
The fundamental debate over the role of LLO may not be immediately apparent in day-to-day practice, but the impact of the relationship between MBO schools and the professional field certainly is. This became clear from the discussion among the ten MBO administrators and directors that followed Van Dijk’s presentation. It is clear that LLO is firmly established in certain sectors, such as Healthcare, technology, and green education—specifically for the agricultural sector. Some institutions have also classified language and integration courses under LLO. These are programs that sell themselves.
Other LLO programs require more hard work. One of the administrators simply describes his team for continuing education, professional development, and retraining as a sales organization. They approach companies, assess demand, and, upon request, provide regular education, customized programs, courses, or training—in groups or individually—with the proceeds flowing back to the education institution.
Implementation presents vocational schools with various challenges. Seemingly simple questions—such as when, where, and who—often cause headaches.
Vocational schools aren’t big fans of freelancers, but without a flexible workforce, LLO programs are extremely difficult to implement. “It often comes down to a real balancing act to organize everything,” says one of the administrators. Another factor is that LLO activities aren’t always permanent: for example, if an institution loses a contract for integration courses, an entire department could suddenly become redundant. “That’s a dilemma,” one of the administrators notes. “You actually need teachers from the regular education system because the market isn’t stable.”
Healthcare is an example of a sector that defies this trend: the influx of new students is stable, and there are enough large healthcare institutions with professional HR departments that send their staff to the ROCs. This ensures a workable scale. However, companies active in the energy transition, for example—where a great deal of continuing education is also needed—are less straightforward to work with: they are often small businesses, which means demand is not constant.
Each sector therefore requires a specific approach, depending on the sector’s level of organization, experience with LLO, and coverage in the region. Support services must also recognize that LLO is an integral part of vocational schools. This applies not least to the IT departments, which will need to set up new systems. To ensure everyone is on the same page, a precise implementation of the strategic decisions is needed, with clear and well-defined objectives. Finally, the vocational schools themselves will also need to offer LLO training to their own staff, taking into account all the upcoming Renewals.
Jan Jacob van Dijk
Chair of the Board of Directors of the Christian Education Group Vallei & Gelderland-Midden (COG)
Challenges in Implementation
The fundamental debate over the role of LLO may not be immediately apparent in day-to-day practice, but the impact of the relationship between vocational schools and the professional field certainly is. This became clear during the discussion among the ten vocational school administrators and directors that followed Van Dijk’s presentation. It is clear that LLO is firmly established in certain sectors, such as Healthcare, technology, and green education—specifically for the agricultural sector. Some institutions have also classified language and integration courses under LLO. These are programs that market themselves well.
Other LLO programs require more hard work. One of the administrators simply describes his team for continuing education, professional development, and retraining as a sales organization. They approach companies, assess demand, and—upon request—provide standard education, customized programs, courses, or training, either in groups or individually, with the proceeds flowing back to the education institution.
Implementation presents vocational schools with various challenges. Seemingly simple questions—such as when, where, and who—often cause headaches.
Vocational schools aren’t big fans of freelancers, but without a flexible workforce, LLO programs are extremely difficult to implement. “It often comes down to a real juggling act to organize everything,” says one of the administrators. Another factor is that LLO activities aren’t always structural: for example, if an institution loses a contract for integration courses, an entire department can suddenly become redundant. “That’s a dilemma,” one of the administrators notes. “You actually need teachers from the regular education system because the market isn’t stable.”
Healthcare is an example of a sector that defies this trend: the influx of new students is stable, and there are enough large healthcare institutions with professional HR departments that send their employees to the ROCs. This ensures a workable scale. However, companies active in the energy transition, for example—where a great deal of continuing education is also needed—are less straightforward to work with: they are often small businesses, which means demand is not constant.
Each sector therefore requires a specific approach, depending on the level of organization within that sector, experience with LLO, and coverage in the region. Support services must also recognize that LLO is an integral part of vocational schools. This applies not least to the IT departments, which will need to set up new systems. To ensure everyone is on the same page, a precise implementation of the strategic decisions is needed, with clear and well-defined objectives. Finally, the vocational schools themselves will also need to offer LLO training to their own staff, incorporating all the upcoming Renewals.
Collaboration
All the day-to-day challenges make it difficult to establish partnerships with other organizations. This is also because LLO isn’t exactly rolling in money. “You can’t make much money from it, but you can lose a lot,” as one of the board members puts it. Not that the board members advocate a hyper-commercial approach like that of well-known organizations: they identify with the social mission, as articulated by Van Dijk’s point has been emphasized. LLO should not be seen as a response to the decline in student enrollment; the administrators agree on that. But which stance should a school choose? That is a discussion that is also taking place within the MBO Council.
The general consensus is that greater collaboration could be beneficial. The administrators share a common ambition, and that fosters a sense of connection. That is why it would be beneficial for vocational schools to focus on exchanging knowledge and ideas. “There is potential for more learning from each other.” But how far should that collaboration go? Should you also start sharing your course offerings?
Whether vocational schools are leading the way with LLO isn’t that important to them: “We want to provide an important service; we have a social mission.” That’s why it’s important not to get in each other’s way too much. “Competition is good—it keeps everyone on their toes—but we need to avoid rivalry.”
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