Informal Learning and the Links between Formal and Informal
The international debate finds the clearest interfaces in the more directly firm/company-related sectors of German vocational training and adult education. Here, a plurality of approaches and a connection between learning and working have long been urged, and also practised more than in the context of school. In large and medium-sized firms, at least, qualification periods at the workplace have been increased and forms of learning that integrate working and learning, such as the quality circle or the “Lernstatt” (BMW) have been created.
In order to cope with this increasing complexity, decentralisation is becoming ever more common within forms of learning that stress the importance of learning by experience and informal learning within the working process. Within the firm, forms of learning such as “islands of learning”, “stations of learning”, or “tasks of working and learning” are becoming more widespread.
Where is the bridge to the Ethiopian reality of vocational education?
More and more countries are adopting a National Qualification Framework as a way of systematizing the relationship between learning venues, qualifications and certificates. This provides a record of skills and facilitates uniformity and comparability. It also formulates criteria, standards and an orientation framework. The main interest is in outcomes, in skills acquired, rather than the place where they are acquired. A standardization process of this kind is currently underway in the European Union. Some emerging and developing countries such as South Africa and now Ethiopia have already created such a framework or are in the process of doing so. In future this will allow informal learning to be translated into formal education requirements via the recognition of informally acquired skills.
Potentially there is a high demand for formal recognition of skills and know-how in the informal sector, a sector in which there are many “broken careers” on one side, but creativity on the other. The informal sector – with its productive parts – has potentials which are not widely seen. The creativity and the competences of the people can make an important contribution to social development, especially for cities. Therefore it is important both for the individual and equally for the economy to document available competencies at the point where the informal and formal economy connect.
Profile of Speaker – Prof. Dr. Bernd Overwien
Prof. Dr. Bernd Overwien (born 1953) has been Senior Lecturer at Technical University of Berlin since 1995 and Visiting Professor since 2005.
His main fields of experience include Vocational Training and Employment Promotion; Informal Learning; Recognition of Informal Learning, Vocational Training and Education in Developing Countries; Small Enterprise Development.
He received his PhD in Education Science at Technical University of Berlin, Germany, with a dissertation on Vocational Training and Livelihood in the Informal Sector of Managua/Nicaragua. His Habilitation concerned Informal Learning and Education in North and South.
Work history (selected)
2005 TVET Investment Programme Ethiopia (KFW/Planco): working on development plans of 7 institutions
2004/5 Research about attitudes if youth in Berlin, Germany
2003 Paper: Education, vocational training and poverty reduction for GTZ
2002 Paper and lecture at a GTZ- conference in Malawi: Cross-cutting function of basic education in Development Cooperation
2001 Evaluation of the EU financed project: Global Learning in vocational education
Publications (English, Spanish and French)
Overwien, Bernd: La larga marcha hacia el pequeño empresariado. Capacitación profesional en el sector informal de Managua. In: Educación de Adultos y Desarrollo, 42 (1994), pp. 93-111
Overwien, Bernd: Micro-enterprise in the Informal Sector of Managua and the long road to vocational Competence. In: Adult Education and Development, Nr. 42 (1994), pp. 91-108
Karcher, Wolfgang; Overwien, Bernd: On the Significance of General Competences in the Urban Informal Sector and Conditions for their Acquisition. In: Education 55/56 (1997), pp. 43-55
Karcher, Wolfgang; Overwien, Bernd: Sobre el significado - de las competencias generales en el sector informal urbano, y condiciones para su acquisición. In: Educación 57/58 (1998), pp. 41-55
Overwien, Bernd: Employment-Oriented Non-Formal Training for Young People in the Informal Sector in Latin America. In: Education 55/56 (1997), pp. 146-157
Overwien, Bernd: Educación no-formal orientada hacia el empleo para jóvenes en el sector informal de América Latina. In: Educación 57/58 (1998), pp. 175-188
Overwien, Bernd: Adult Learning and Vocational Training in the Informal Sector in Developing Countries. In: Singh, Madhu (Ed.): Fifth International Conference on Adult Education. Adult Learning and the Changing World of Work. Report of Theme V. Hamburg: UNESCO - Institute for Education 1998, pp. 89-102
Overwien, Bernd (et al): Informal Learning and Popular Education. In: Adult Education and Development, Nr. 52 (1999), pp. 165-178
Overwien, Bernd: Aprendizaje informal y educación popular. In: Educación de Adultos y Desarrollo, Nr. 52 (1999), pp. 177-192
Overwien, Bernd: Apprentissage informel et "educación popular". In: Éducaction Des Adultes Et Dévelopment, Nr. 52 (1999), pp. 175-190
Overwien, Bernd: Informal Learning and the Role of Social Movements. In: International Review of Education, Vol. 46, 6, November 2000, pp. 621-640
Overwien, Bernd: Informal Learning, Social Movements and Acquisition of Competences for Self-determined Working and Living. In: Liebel, Manfred;
Overwien, Bernd; Recknagel, Albert (Ed.): Working Children´s Protagonism. Social Movements and Empowerment in Latin America, Africa and India. Frankfurt/Main, London 2001, pp. 247-267
Overwien, Bernd: The cross-cutting function of basic education in Development Cooperation (DC). Eschborn: GTZ 2001
Overwien, Bernd: Proyectos de formación profesional para adolescentes a partir de una aprendizaje informal: ejemplos de Nicaragua. Berlin 2004 (Folleto)
Dehnbostel, Peter; Molzberger, Gabriele; Overwien, Bernd: New Forms of Learning and Work Organization in the IT Industry: A German Perspective on Informal Learning. In: Bascia, Cumming, Datnow, Leithwood, Livingstone (Ed.): International Handbook of Educational Policy. New York 2005
Overwien, Bernd: Informal Learning and the Role of Social Movements. In: Singh, Madhu: Meeting Basic Learning Needs in the Informal Sector: Integrating Education and Training for Decent Work, Empowerment and Citizenship. Amsterdam 2005, S. 43-60
Overwien, Bernd: Education and training in the context of poverty reduction. In: Chinien, Chris; Singh, Madhu (eds.): International Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Toronto 2006 (forthcoming)