QUALITY THROUGH SELF-EVALUATION AND REFLECTION -MODULARIZATION The Greek case Copenhagen workshop 9-10/3/06 NIKITAS PATINIOTIS THEODORA ASIMAKOU

Greek context  Very high numbers of Higher Education graduates–educational fetishism or reaching the EU goals???  Employers: predominantly SME which prefer low-skilled cheap labour  Broad Public Sector as the main employer of individuals with formal qualifications – i.e. coming from the formal VET structure  Labour market (in a “not Knowledge based economy): highly unstable, hetero- employment, unstratified employment and multi-employment  De-industrialization

VET system  Formal VET provides training at second, post-second and third level, asserting equality in education, however, following cost-cutting policies  Non-formal VET developed in response to EU mandates and funds: numerous private-owned foundations, unco-ordinated, with overlapping responsibilities,  No provision of formal qualification, subsidies for participating, and trainers’ low financial status are current issues for its negative image among businesses and participants, and for its ineffectiveness in improving employability

Key-Concepts  Quality: vaguely defined term, often referred to through its web of concepts, practices and tools, which are devised for its control/management  Evaluation/self-evaluation: a turn taken in quality assurance, in order to address soft issues, commonly neglected by the dominant engineering logic  Empowerment: a change in education practices, aiming at supporting people developing first themselves and their ability to learn.

Quality Management in Greek VET  A wider culture of reluctance to any form of evaluation in the education system based on recent political history  In response to EU regulations, systems of accreditations have been developed  EKEPIS regulates the quality of infrastructures and facilities, and trainers’ qualifications, in non-formal VET  The method, content and quality of the offered courses rely on each organization

The need for a self- evaluation tool  Dominant evaluation tools come from a functionalist rationale: are non-political, goal- oriented, and perform an instrumental function  However they become subjects of political power, and instruments for top-down and centre-periphery control  Need for evaluation systems, which will support workers by promoting bottom-up control –hence, need for self-evaluation tool

Concepts and Structures of Modularization  3 concepts:  Expansion (Consecutive and Integrative)  Differentiation  Fragmentation –max flexibility  4 possible structures and functions:  System-Wide,  Course or Sector specific,  Project-related modular training,  Stand Alone modules

Main Challenges of Modularization  The new role of trainers as facilitators rather than teachers -adoption of new pedagogic methods  The new role of trainees as active learners –a change in the power equilibrium in classrooms  Quality Assurance procedures need to address risks of fragmentation and incoherence of programs, without risking flexibility, student choice and individual