Workforce Skill Formation and Innovation at the Shop-Floor Level in China

The project will conduct internationally explorative research on VET that goes beyond the boundaries of the familiar national and European context and inquires into the as yet unresearched practice of “skill formation” in German firms at the “shop-floor level” in the international context of firms operating outside Europe.

1 Project Idea

Within the discipline of Vocational Education and Training (VET) there is a lack of knowledge about how companies solve abroad on the shop-floor level in a different socio-cultural and political framing the problem of competence development and qualification in relation to the demands of the production system, the possibilities of work organisation and the purpose of innovation; as theories from the german-centered VET-Approach are suitable only to a very limited extent, this international study goes beyond the disciplinary and national boundaries on a search for an international applicable access named Workforce Skill Formation.

2 Summary

German companies becoming more internationalised, but research into vocational education and training in Germany has remained largely national or, if necessary, has focused on the European context. The proposed project would conduct internationally explorative research on vocational education and training that goes beyond the boundaries of the familiar national and European context and inquires into the as yet unresearched practice of “skill formation” in German firms at the “shop-floor level” in the international context of firms operating outside Europe. The study will be, in a sense, broader than national and European studies, because it will be conducted in a foreign cultural context, but at the same time, it will be deeper than international comparative studies, because the study will not be confined to the systems level but will examine on-site production practices – the shop-floor level. The question to be probed by this study is also more extensive than typical international comparative studies, as it will go beyond production practices to investigate the innovation process in its connection to the process of skill formation. The combination of these three factors requires that the proposed exploratory project go on the one hand beyond the traditional framework of vocational education and training research in Germany and, accordingly, is on the other hand innovative but also risky. The study site will be German companies and their suppliers operating in the booming region of Shanghai. The province of Shanghai is a suitable region to study as there are almost 40 % of all German firms in China located there. Field access will be assured through the participation of Chinese vocational education researchers as well as support from the German Chamber of Commerce for Greater China (AHK).