On September 6, 2024, the Edu4Standards.eu team of the University of Graz organised a one-day workshop as part of the Edu4Standards.eu project in Graz, Austria.
The aim of the workshop was to gather feedback from the internal Advisory Board (HFDT-E4S-AB) on the value-based Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) related to standardization, developed in WP2/T2.1.
The workshop consisted of three parts:
- In the first, two-hour session, the preliminary results of the ILOs framework were presented by the University of Graz team and discussed with the workshop participants to provide a basic understanding of our work.
- In the second, central part of the workshop, we delved into the details of the ILOs framework with the participants, step by step, and asked for specific feedback. This led to an intensive discussion lasting several hours.
- The third part of the workshop consisted of an online session where the University of Graz team reported on the workshop results to the Edu4Standards.eu partners.
The key recommendations and results from this discussion:
- Based on the Austrian government’s standardisation initiative from June 2024, which calls for the integration of standardisation into the national education system, it was recommended in the workshop to align the European Qualification Framework (EQF), which has been used so far in WP2/T2.1 focusing on the labor market, with the so-called ISCED levels, an international standard for categorizing education systems.
This allows the age-independent levels (EQF) to be intertwined with the general education system based on age (ISCED); this represents a high standard, but rightly so, as it aligns with the goals of our initiative and the ITCoS. - In terms of terminology, it was suggested to use "students" instead of "learners"; as the designation is indeed more appropriate for the project. After internal discussion, however, we decided to retain "learners" because this term is also used in the terminology recommended by CEDEFOP. We will incorporate the essential content of the suggestion, treating the instructed people as "students."
- It was recommended to refer to existing curricula to ensure that the requirements defined for each level are realistic and align with real-world situations. Immediately after the workshop, examples were already provided.
- The distinction of 9 levels (Level 0 – Level 8) was generally welcomed. According to ISCED, Levels 0 to 3 are considered basic education and that differentiation starts from the age group of 14-year-olds. Level 4 represents general school education, while Level 5 reflects Vocational Education and Training (VET according to the OECD). This differentiation aligns with the Austrian standardization strategy, which explicitly calls for the inclusion of standardisation education in (vocational) schools; we have gladly taken up this clarifying point and will reflect it in the ILOs.
- Detailed recommendations were also provided for further developing the example of "Electricity," in which the ILOs are applied. Particularly intensive feedback was given on refining or HFDT-E4S-AB workshop 2040906, Graz 2
expanding the examples, such as e-cars, smartphones, plugs, etc. The variety of suggestions regarding possible applications led us to retain the example of "Electricity" as a fundamental infrastructure of human (co-)existence. - Inclusion: The topic of inclusion took on a new dimension due to the participation of a wheelchair user in the workshop. We will ensure to systematically pursue the involvement and active inclusion of persons with disabilities in the ILOs and ITCoS, in line with the EU Regulation 1025/20121, specifically Recital 24 of the Regulation, which calls for active consideration of the Council Decision 2010/48/EC of November 26, 2009, concerning the conclusion of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the European Community.
Personnel
The workshop was organized as an internal event by the E4S team of the University of Graz. The members of the advisory board (HFDT-E4S-AB), consisting of invited experts, contributors to previous projects, and members of the interdisciplinary research network HFDT (Human Factor in Digital Transformation) and the accompanying HFDT doctoral program at the University of Graz, were invited.
The event was attended by 18 participants, including standardization experts, civil society representatives, industry representatives, as well as doctoral students and professors from various fields such as law, philosophy, education, economics, psychology, and standardisation.
