Competence orientation in vocational schools – the case of industrial information technology in Austria

Abstract

As part of the project “Educational standards in vocational schools” the responsible Federal Ministry compiled competence models, descriptors and didactic examples for Informatics in technical high schools (HTL). The implementation of this project implies a paradigm shift for the vocational school system, which requires a new pedagogic foundation. This paper presents a didactical concept, that meets the requirements of the educational standards in general and competence orientation in particular. A proposal for the implementation of these educational standards in the competence area industrial information technology (INIT) is presented. The specification is based on selected teaching sessions for micro controller technique. Learner-oriented teaching methods are applied, along with procedures to promote the learners’ intrinsic motivation and creativity in general. It became apparent that the competence area INIT conveys remarkably demanding learning outcomes and its implementation proved challenging on multiple levels.