"I want to do something for the world. Getting out of school with other students, learning with each other in practice at cool companies and thinking about their challenges. The Real Thing!" With these words, Laura Leo (marketing communications student at Albeda College) perfectly summed up what it was all about during the national mbo day of Economy Education Week: building future-oriented economy education together.
On this day, teachers, practitioners, program managers and students from mbo institutions from all over the country came together at DCTerra, Zadkine and PRICE to give themes such as sustainability, circular economy and impact entrepreneurship a place in mbo education.
During the concluding feedback session, which included representatives of the trade and business services industry groups of the MBO Council, a clear message resonated: if we want to integrate new economic thinking, it is essential to:
- Connect to students' perceptions and actively engage them.
- Collaborate with (regional) companies so that they can provide direction for this renewed education.
Connecting with other layers of education
The national MBO Day as part of the Week of Economics Education made it clear that integrating new economic thinking is not just an issue for the MBO. In the transition to future-oriented economics education, cross-educational cooperation is necessary.
During the national MBO Day, we saw examples of this. For example, when associate degrees were discussed in which MBO and HBO work together. But also in the way ROC van Amsterdam College ZuidOost focuses on economic, social and ecological values under the banner Impact Economy. This focus on broad prosperity is in line with developments in higher economic education. Finally, we saw collaborations in regional learning ecosystems. For example, those of Zadkine, Albeda, Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam, Hogeschool Rotterdam, vmbo teachers, the Rotterdam Port Authority, Water Boards and the Municipality of Rotterdam.
Below you can read a review of the afternoon at Zadkine, DC Terra and PRICE. You will also find the presentations that emerged on the day.
Zadkine
The well-attended program held at Zadkine in Rotterdam began with a welcome and plenary kickoff by Yvonne Eijkenaar, director of Zadkine Business and Logistics College.
Next, her colleague Maria Teresa Snelders presented the Fieldlab hands-on education program. In the Fieldlab, students are prepared for a broader professional context in which they not only learn their trade, but also understand their role as professionals in a complex society. The program has cognitive goals (subject knowledge and skills from the qualification files) as well as goals on personal development of the students and goals aimed at understanding the dynamics between employee and employer. View here the presentation on Fieldlab.
This was followed by a field perspective from Renée Rotmans of the Rotterdam Port Authority. She stressed the importance of social innovations to anticipate the "4th industrial revolution". This requires business education to pay more attention to learning to work together.
After this plenary opening, participants dispersed into two different parallel sessions. One of these sessions was organized by the Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam on the "GLRXTRA: testing ground of entrepreneurship education. This shared how GLRXTRA prepares graduate designers, photographers, videographers and website builders to start their own businesses.
The other session was organized by Albeda and Masterpiece on the Module of the Future. The main message from this session: listen to students, connect with their world and let them work - together - on current challenges from professional practice. Remove organizational barriers and pressure on students by, for example, working with learning to qualify. You can download the presentation of this session here REVIEW.
Looking back on the afternoon at Zadkine, it became clear that there is an ambition to create more meaningful education by connecting the qualifications with personal formation and socialization (citizenship). This requires, among other things, creating space for educational development and professionalization.
DC Terra
The afternoon at DC Terra was designed in collaboration with Noorderpoort and Alfa College. Teachers from these three mbo institutions, under the guidance of Rob van Haren and Irmgard Starmann (Hanze), came up with ideas for teaching (new) economics and bringing entrepreneurial learning into their educational practice. They used the method of the COCD box.
The teachers worked out three concepts that allow them to teach (new economy) and put entrepreneurial learning into practice. The Synovia concept revolves around cohabitation between different generations in a self-sufficient community in their own region. The goal is to create awareness through generations: then, now, future and is focused on learning by doing.
Another concept Vinted Concept Store (VCS) is linked to the vocational practice assignments. It revolves around working with existing businesses in the region to develop a business plan for a recycling and repair center.
The latest concept Gold Genog is all about 'inside out' thinking. Students learn to think from themselves to "us" by inspiring and activating them economically, ecologically and socially.
Read here a more detailed report of the workshop.
Circular Economy Practice and Innovation Center
The afternoon at PRICE started with a presentation by Els Zijlstra (material matchmaker). She took the visitors to the MBO day into the world of renewable and biobased raw materials and materials made from residual waste.
