Digital transformations – future of vocational education and training and work

Projects in this topic cluster investigate causes and effects of ongoing digitalisation for occupational qualification, the world of work and employment. On these grounds we seek to develop their sustainable shaping.

Ongoing digitalisation is the main reason why the future world of work will look different to that of today. New technologies are changing the world of work at different levels. They influence work organisation and process structuring, the quantitative requirement for skilled workers, the task profiles of skilled workers and the demands made of employability and thus also impact initial and continuing vocational education and training. Curricular shifts, possible alterations to the weightings of initial and continuing vocational education and training programmes and potential changes to the work tasks performed by employees can all be traced back to the introduction of new technologies. However, the new technologies also open up fresh opportunities for the structuring of initial and continuing vocational education and training in respect of learning materials, learning methods and learning organisation as well as in terms of the training of teachers and the role played by trainers in the vocational education and training process.

Sample key questions

• Which developments are conceivable and discernible as a result of technological change or increased deployment of new technologies, and how should these possible developments be evaluated?
• How are occupations changing?
• What influence is technological development having on the initial and continuing vocational education and training system?
• Which new methodical options and tasks for structuring occupational education and training arise through digitalisation?
• What developments will arise with regard to opportunities to help determine and shape a “digital transformation” of work?