Workshop A - Session 1

Title: Employability and Competitiveness - European and National Perspectives Chair: Lindsay Jackson, European Training Federation, Italy Paolo Orefice, University of Florence, Italy

Translated from French

I would like to talk to you about my experience in Italy and our participation in the various projects at the University of Florence where I am a Professor for Adult Education. I am in fact the Dean of the University for the Science of Education.

First of all we can start thinking in terms of strategies theoretically or in terms of policies for training in our country, but it is not a uniquely Italian problem. We are experiencing a crisis and a questioning of these strategic models for the development of systems for training and adaptation to the world of work. Training and vocational training, as the Hamburg Conference expressed, must be integrated within lifelong learning. It is not just a question of technical development but development of the whole human person in the world of work.

Of course central to the whole question is the world of work, the working environment. We are talking about the world of knowledge and we cannot distinguish between manual and intellectual work in that respect. Any work, even executive work, is always part of work. Even in research activities at the University, we do experience a very deep crisis between the development of theories and the practical use of those theories in the practical world. Therefore, a strategy for developing that theme of invariability and competitivity is on the one hand questioning each of the systems - training, work and research - but it also means establishing a link between those three factors and those three systems of education, training and research.

We are beginning to benefit from the networking strategy which we have started establishing in Italy, and we are very interested in following the path that is being looked at within the discussions of the autonomy legislation. In other words we know that we have to establish such networks. Work must be centred on the subject, on the individual and, in terms of training methods, participation is being underlined specifically.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

We have already talked about the need to develop an entrepreneurial spirit. The autonomy of the individual being trained poses the problem of knowledge. If we come back to the autonomy of the individual, the worker, then you must think in terms of developing the level of knowledge, developing the level of skills and competencies, be they at a general level or at a more specific level. Then we have to ask ourselves which knowledge, which skills and which competencies.

In the university world or in the research world, we are experiencing a crisis of legitimised knowledge, especially scientific knowledge in the level of human sciences or natural sciences and life sciences (which are called exact sciences). Knowledge, self reference knowledge, which develops within a system of knowledge separate from other systems, is a type of knowledge which is at the basis of the crisis, the work crisis that we are experiencing.

Our social crisis, our civilisation crisis, and the society of knowledge means developing knowledge as an introduction to all our thoughts. We must specify which type of knowledge in terms of legitimised knowledge in the world of research. For example, the training system must contribute to that awareness that has evolved in the world of research. And even the legitimised knowledge in the work place which is a type of knowledge which splits, isolates and gives a technology which is soulless, even that type of knowledge must really be thought about.

Diversity

You cannot think in terms of technological knowledge in a global world of technology without trying to see how, within that communication unit, you can develop diversity, cultural diversity, using it to go beyond or eliminate the barriers to learning and develop the kind of work which is not based only on the development of our advanced countries. The development of knowledge is linked to the development of the human individual or the worker and his self fulfilment, so it is not just vocational training we are talking about, but training of the man, the individual.

As a conclusion between the basic or core competencies that we have to think about, of course one very important element is the management of the process. I think we need to develop the possibility of knowing your own type of knowledge, your type of training process. It must be known and analysed, so that it can be developed within a wider relationship; that capacity to establish such links is a general core competence which allows us to transfer one experience to another one, and gives us an opportunity to go beyond a system or work experience, which is focused on specialisation and separation which cannot establish a link with other human problems and really hinders development even in our advanced countries.

Other reflections - we do have cultural particularities as Italians. I know that we have our problems, but it is necessary to establish a link between the working environment and the research environment. Of course, new barriers come up, new sectors. We talk about knowledge workers; there are also the operators of training and especially lifelong learning who are not only teachers in technical terms, but are operators, specialists who adapt to the demand and contribute to the self development and self management of such training. In our universities, which are preparing for new jobs, new professions, we need a framework which must be established at the national level of course, but also at the European level, so that we respect standards of quality and regulation, in terms of access to work, by using also links between the various types of education and training, and by establishing links between competencies and skills.

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