Vocational education has come under criticism in recent years. LVI-Tekniset Urakoitsijat LVI-TU has investigated the reasons for the weak work-life compatibility together with the educational institutions of the LVI-Työelämäpättiner network. At the same time, solutions have been sought to improve the quality of degrees.
Are more resources really needed?
Deterioration in quality is often justified by insufficient resources, and the solution is to increase funding. Not all employers consider this to be a sufficient explanation.
"If you compare the situation to, say, the mid-1990s, resources do not seem to have decreased. Currently, there are more support services for progress and guidance in studies than ever before. Would it be more about choices and directing resources than just the amount of money", special expert Juha-Ville Mäkinen LVI-Tekniset Urakoitsijat LVI-TU ry asks.
What factors affect the quality of degrees?
The law requires cooperation with the working world during the planning and implementation of education. In order to ensure the skills needed in working life, the regulations oblige to organize demonstrations in real workplaces. In addition, it was stipulated that a representative of working life must be involved in the evaluation.
"Things that are at the core of professional skills, such as managing genuine work processes, cannot be learned only in an educational institution. It is absolutely essential that some of the studies are completed and that the skills related to them are evaluated at workplaces. The teaching in the educational institution must produce competence, which can be used to transfer to workplaces to learn how to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in theory and on-the-job training in real work situations," Mäkinen states.
What is currently the biggest obstacle to quality?
LVI-Tekniset Urakoitsijat LVI-TU has now found out which issues affecting quality are considered difficult to implement. For this purpose, dozens of people responsible for teaching in the field have been interviewed, from teachers to the directors of the municipal association. Problems can be found in many ways, but the common challenge for all is the organization of workplace learning and displays in workplaces to the extent required by the regulation.
"At the moment, the regulations require that all parts of the degree be screened at the workplace. It is easy to support this idea when you remember its goals. In real life, however, it is very difficult to arrange jobs and tasks for everyone," Mäkinen admits.
"This seems to lead to special solutions and explanations. Teachers and educational institution management have to focus on complying with the letter of the regulations instead of striving for what the regulations are intended to achieve."
What should the new government do?
The new government program will soon begin to be put together. In connection with that, there will be a clear request for legal changes from the HVAC sector.
"It is not necessary to organize the displays of all parts of the degree at workplaces. It is enough that the key, often mandatory parts of the degree in the field of expertise are evaluated at the workplace. Also, representatives of the working life are not needed in all displays. They are needed in workplace displays. The law on vocational education should be changed at least so that the tests and evaluators could be decided on in the regulations of the Board of Education's qualification criteria, in the preparation of which the needs of the sector-specific working life must be carefully listened to," sums up Mäkinen.
"Unless these changes can be made, it is difficult to see how the quality of degrees and the effectiveness of education could be improved."
More information
LVI-Technical Contractors LVI-TU ry
Special expert Juha-Ville Mäkinen phone 045 899 9388, juha-ville.makinen@lvi-tu.fi
Communications manager Pipsa Hiltunen phone 0400 287 939, pipsa.hiltunen@lvi-tu.fi