TY - JOUR
T1 - Overcoming diverse approaches to vocational education and training to combat climate change
T2 - the case of low energy construction in Europe
AU - Winch, Christopher
AU - Clarke, Linda
AU - Sahin-Dikmen, Melahat
PY - 2020/9/2
Y1 - 2020/9/2
N2 - Vocational education and training (VET) can play a transformative role in reducing CO
2 emissions and improving the energy efficiency of buildings across Europe. Nearly zero energy building (NZEB) requires an energy literate workforce, with broader and deeper theoretical knowledge, higher technical and precision skills, interdisciplinary understanding, and a wide range of transversal competences. Through an investigation into VET for low energy construction (LEC) in 10 European countries, the article identifies a range of different strategies advanced under constraints imposed by the VET systems and construction labour markets. At one extreme, representing the ‘high road’, LEC elements are mainstreamed into broad-based occupational profiles, curricula and qualifications, whilst at the other, the ‘low’ road, short, specific and one-off LEC courses simply aim to plug existing ‘skills’ gaps. It is argued that the ‘high road’ approach, in encompassing a broad concept of agency, successfully addresses NZEB requirements whereas the ‘low road’ represents an instrumentalist approach to labour that jeopardises the achievement of higher energy efficiency standards. The article concludes by presenting a transparency tool set within the European Qualifications Framework, against which different VET for LEC programmes can be assessed.
AB - Vocational education and training (VET) can play a transformative role in reducing CO
2 emissions and improving the energy efficiency of buildings across Europe. Nearly zero energy building (NZEB) requires an energy literate workforce, with broader and deeper theoretical knowledge, higher technical and precision skills, interdisciplinary understanding, and a wide range of transversal competences. Through an investigation into VET for low energy construction (LEC) in 10 European countries, the article identifies a range of different strategies advanced under constraints imposed by the VET systems and construction labour markets. At one extreme, representing the ‘high road’, LEC elements are mainstreamed into broad-based occupational profiles, curricula and qualifications, whilst at the other, the ‘low’ road, short, specific and one-off LEC courses simply aim to plug existing ‘skills’ gaps. It is argued that the ‘high road’ approach, in encompassing a broad concept of agency, successfully addresses NZEB requirements whereas the ‘low road’ represents an instrumentalist approach to labour that jeopardises the achievement of higher energy efficiency standards. The article concludes by presenting a transparency tool set within the European Qualifications Framework, against which different VET for LEC programmes can be assessed.
KW - European Union
KW - Vocational education and training
KW - climate change
KW - low energy construction
KW - qualification frameworks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087020954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03054985.2020.1745167
DO - 10.1080/03054985.2020.1745167
M3 - Article
SN - 0305-4985
VL - 46
SP - 619
EP - 636
JO - Oxford Review of Education
JF - Oxford Review of Education
IS - 5
ER -
