Vakmanschap | Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship has different meanings. For one person, the development of well-trained people who are flexible, have '21st century skills' and can contribute to a 'learning economy'. For the other, craftsmanship stands for the development of specialist knowledge and a related professional identity. In this vision, the innovative strength and growth of the economy depend heavily on people who are highly specialized. Yet another view emphasizes the practical nature of craftsmanship. The focus here is on students at the bottom of the educational system who make a choice with a professional route that suits their practical orientation and talents. As a result, they also have a comparative advantage on the labor market compared to general educated students.

The different views on craftsmanship each refer to another function of vocational education and have important consequences for the design, and management of vocational education. In this project we will make the different visions on craftsmanship explicit and elaborate on different future scenarios (subproject 1). These will be related to the way in which the structure of education develops certain forms of craftsmanship (sub-project 2), the demand on the labor market for different types of craftsmanship (sub-project 3), and the relationship between the interpretation of craftsmanship and the institutional design of the vocational system (subproject 4). At the end of the project, the results are presented in the form of various future scenarios and discussed with policy makers and relevant stakeholders (sub-project 1)
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