Tag Archives: Multidisciplinary

Latest Insights: Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transition project

Michaela Brockmann

Latest Insights into the Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transition project by Michaela Brockmann.

 

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Funded through SIRDF (Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund), our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions. The project runs from February to December 2013.

In the context of rapid technological innovation, it is understood that digital skills are of increasing significance in education and employment and, in turn, for national economic performance (e.g. BIS 2009).

 

Digital TechnologiesDespite this, there is a debate about how to educate a digitally literate workforce. The British government has announced a thorough overhaul of the secondary school curriculum for IT, whilst there is concern across Europe (and beyond) that school leavers do not have the appropriate skills either for paid work or higher education. Many countries report shortages of highly skilled IT professionals.

Attention to this area has been divided between those who focus on how digital technologies are (or are not) used to deliver education and those concerned with the content of secondary school education for digital skills. There is a gap between our understanding of how students learn with digital technologies and what they learn about these technologies. This project aims to begin a dialogue to overcome this separation.

 

The project has an international perspective, focussing initially on Germany and the UK. These countries provide an excellent point of comparison, as they face seemingly similar issues but are different in context and structure, particularly regarding vocational education.

Questions include:

  • How does digital technology (inside and outside school) shape young people’s learning, their learner dispositions and identities?
  • How does the students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context (is it encouraged or impeded)?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

The Association for Information Technology in Teacher EducationAs part of the project, we are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research. Details on the seminar series can be found here http://blog.soton.ac.uk/wfrc/

 

The working group is composed of academics from a range of disciplines, including members of the Education School (Dr Michaela Brockmann, Professor Alison Fuller), the School of Social Sciences (Professors Susan Halford and Pauline Leonard), and the School of Health Sciences (Professor Catherine Pope). The members are all part of the Work Futures Research Centre (WFRC), which draws itself on a range of disciplines including Sociology, Psychology and Physical and Applied Sciences and already has a large portfolio of research on the digital economy.

The research focus requires an interdisciplinary approach, concerned as it is with identity formation and learning careers, and the role of class, gender and ethnicity (sociology/sociology of education); with the structure and content of education and further education settings and the teaching and learning within these (education); and, in particular, the role of digital technology in learning.

Recognising the role and contribution of the intermediate level workforce in healthcare

In the wake of the scandal about healthcare standards at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust laid out in the Francis Report , the debate about the regulation and registration of the healthcare support workforce has been ratcheted up. The Times journalist Camilla Cavendish has been asked to undertake an independent review  in to the training and support of healthcare assistants, reporting to Government by the end of May 2013.

 

In this context a new report by members of the Work Futures Research Centre undertaken in collaboration with colleagues at the ESRC LLAKES Centre at the Institute of Education, London argues that the binary division between so called ‘qualified’ staff such as nurses, midwives, radiographers and healthcare scientists and ‘unqualified’ support staff is unhelpful and inaccurate.

Instead it reveals the increasingly important contribution being made to patient care by ‘intermediate’ level staff positioned between ‘registered professional’ and ‘semi-skilled’ grades. It concludes that policy has been silent on the role of intermediate level workers in relation to patient safety, and asks whether there could be distinctive expectations about their contribution. It is clear that all healthcare staff have a role to play in patient safety and high standards of care.

The project, commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation has recently been completed and the final report is available to download here.

Key Findings

The research looked at intermediate level work in a range of occupational fields including midwifery support, radiography support, dental technicians, and healthcare science. Of special interest was the education and training of different professional groups and the thorny issue of registration.  The project explored the views of a wide range of stakeholders and found that more accurate data on and better understanding of the roles undertaken by the intermediate workforce across the healthcare is needed to:

  • Help raise its profile and visibility
  • Help policy-making bodies monitor and plan for the size and development of this group
  • Provide the basis for developing a clearer relationship and alignment between qualification pathway and occupational level
  • Review the impact of the decline in the work-based education and training route for the availability of intermediate level posts and how and by whom they are accessed
  • Capture the contribution of intermediate level staff to patient care and safety
  • Explore how the regulation and registration of intermediate workers in specific occupational areas could better support and recognise their expertise

 

Full details:

Final report: ‘Technician and Intermediate Roles in the Healthcare Sector’, Alison Fuller, Jill Turbin, Lorna Unwin, David Guile and Julie Wintrup. The Gatsby Foundation, University of Southampton and the Institute of Education, London, 2013.

Contact: Professor Alison Fuller, University of Southampton

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers

Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Thursday, 11th July, 4 to 6pm| Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

This 3rd seminar in our series will explore the   ‘perspectives of employers in the field of IT’.

When?Thursday, 11th July, 4 to 6pm.

Where? Building 32, Room 2097, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton.

Presentations:

Confirmed speakers:

Julie Feest, Customer Director, e-skills UK

Bob Paton, Managing Director, Accenture

Oliver Pope & Hayley James, Apprentices, IBM

 

Tea & coffee will be served. There will be wine and nibbles after the seminar.

Background:

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions. We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

Questions that are of particular interest include:

  • How is digital technology used to deliver education?
  • How are digital skills taught in schools?
  • How does digital technology shape young people’s learning?
  • How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

Please note that spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in participating, please register with Torhild Hearn via email T.Hearn@soton.ac.uk and let her know of any special dietary or other requirements.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

Seminar 2:‘Practitioner Perspectives’ – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 2 ‘Practitioner Perspectives’ | Digital technologies and school-to-work transition | Tuesday, 28th May, 4 to 6pm | Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

 

 

This second seminar ‘Practitioner Perspectives’ will focus on IT practice in schools, the new ICT curriculum, and young people’s informal learning of IT.

When? Tuesday, 28th May, 4 to 6pm.

Where? Building 32, Room 2097, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton.


Presentations:

Cythia Selby- Subject Leader, ICT and Computing, Bay House School Sixth Form College: ‘Digital Technologies: A Post- 16 Perspective’

Phil Bagge- Hampshire County Council Lead Computing/ICT teacher, CAS Primary Facilitator: ‘How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?’

Tea & coffee will be served. There will be wine and nibbles after the seminar.

Questions that are of particular interest include:

  • How is digital technology used to deliver education?
  • How are digital skills taught in schools?
  • How does digital technology shape young people’s learning?
  • How does students’ informal learning of technology feed into the formal school context?
  • How does digital technology translate into post-compulsory education career choices?

Please note that spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in participating, please register with Torhild Hearn via email T.Hearn@soton.ac.uk and let her know of any special dietary or other requirements.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

 

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

 

 

Seminar 1:‘Introductory Session’ – Digital technologies and school-to-work transition

Seminar 1 ‘Introductory Session’ | Digital technologies and school-to-work transition | Monday, 25th March, 3 to 5pm | Building 32, Room 2097

We are an interdisciplinary working group at the Work Futures Research Centre at Southampton University. Our aim is to explore the role of digital technology in the formation of learner identities and in school-to-work transitions.

We are hosting a series of seminars, each on a particular theme, with invited scholars and practitioners in order to explore relevant issues and concepts in this area of research.

 

 

This first seminar ‘Introductory Session’ will provide an overview of the project and introduce the wide context of introducing ICT into our curriculum.

If you would like more information about the seminar series, do not hesitate to contact me at M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk

We hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to a stimulating discussion.

Further details about the project can be found on the WFRC Blog Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.

 

 

Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions

A new interdisciplinary project aims to help young people with the transition from school to work.

The project entitled Digital technology, learner identities and school-to-work transitions in England and Germany, will run from February to October 2013.

An interdisciplinary working group will explore the role of the digital technology in the formation of learner identities, learning cultures and in school-to-work transitions and a series of seminars with national and international speakers are planned. The ultimate aim remains to develop a research proposal to the Economic and Social Research Council.

Southampton Education School’s Dr Michaela Brockmann and Professor Alison Fuller, alongside Professor Susan Halford and Professor Pauline Leonard in Social Sciences, have received an award from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences’ Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund.

Dr Michaela Brockmann is also the English partner in the large EU Leonardo-da-Vinci Project, ‘Retail Sector Competencies’ (ReSeCo): Developing self and social competencies in vocational training for the retail sector, co-ordinated by Professor Matthias Pilz at the University of Cologne and involving partners in Germany, England, Poland and Italy.

This project aims to develop the personal and social competencies of young people and to help facilitate transition from school to work. One of the key outcomes will be a module handbook for use in colleges across Europe.

 

Contact Details:

Further details can be found on the WFRC website: www.southampton.ac.uk/wfrc/

Please contact Dr Michaela Brockmann M.Brockmann@soton.ac.uk for full details of all events.

 

Useful DOWNLOADS:

Seminar 1: Introductory Session

Seminar 2: Practitioner Perspectives

Seminar 3: Perspectives of Employers in the Field of IT

Project details available here.