A month or so ago, I posted a message on this website that the LinkedIn Group Competence Studies had grown over 100 members, and that I therefore was going to hold a meeting via Teams.
The theme of the meeting will be ‘Corona Coping Competence.’ With the outbreak of highly contagious COVID-mutants, this theme seems to be even more relevant than I thought it would be; Corona virus generations with their many mutants may disrupt our societies even further and longer than we had hoped for.
For different people, Corona Coping Competence is something different. What is it for children and adolescents in schools and colleges, for the workforce in various jobs and professions, for patients, elderly and people at risk? What for politicians, law enforcement, shop holders, employers, and critical citizens?
The theme Corona Coping Competence is close to themes like Learning in Crisis, Pandemic response, Emergency Learning and Dealing with Securization.
During the last couple of weeks I have been inviting a couple of highly esteemed colleagues, who all have an excellent reputation in the field of competence studies. The invitation was to contribute to a flash meeting, and to share thoughts about the consequences of living and working in times of a global crisis with all shades of physical distancing, protective measures and regulations.
Five esteemed colleagues reacted positively on my request. I am very delighted they did. Let me introduce them to you a bit.
- Aimé Heene, honorary professor at Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organisation in Belgium, co-author with Gary Hamel of the work ‘Competence-based competition’. In my work, I have been citing publications of Hamel and Heene many times. So, I am very excited about Aimé participating in our meeting.
- Eric Verduyn, Director of Education at the NCOI Group, a group of 23 training and education companies in the Netherlands, including the NCOI Education, the Netherlands Languages Institute (NTI), and the Leiden Educational Institutes (LOI). My excellent relationship with Eric goes back to the early 1990s.
- Annalisa Schnitzler staff member of the renown German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Bibb). With several colleagues, she recently completed a study on work and competence requirements of healthcare workers during the Corona pandemic.
- Eveline Wuttke, who is Chair of Business Education, especially of Research in Teaching and Learning at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. Eveline has been active in the field of competence studies and teacher education for years. Also good to see Eveline back.
- Jack Elliott, who was Head of Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication of Texas A&M University in College Station, USA, and Past President of the Association for Career and Technical Education Research (ACTER). Currently, Jack is Regional Director for Africa, at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and Development. I look forward to see Jack back after my various visits to College Station.
All speakers will get a short time slot to share their views on the overarching theme. That is why we call the meeting a flash meeting. It is all about getting to know ones work, and liaise to be able to communicate further on a bilateral level. Myself, I will review the avalanche of papers that has been and still is appearing on Corona and Learning and Development.
The tentative programme is:
1. Review of literature on Learning and Development in Times of Corona.
Martin Mulder, Professor Emeritus Wageningen University
2. Corona Core Competence. How to Strategically Navigate Organizations during a Pandemic?
Aimé Heene, honorary professor at Ghent University
3. Resilience in the Education and Training Business in Times of Disruptive Change.
Eric Verduyn, Director of Education at the NCOI Group
4. Teacher Transformation in Corona-hit Education.
Eveline Wuttke, Chair of Business Education, University of Frankfurt
5. Working and Competence Requirements of Medical Assistants during COVID 19.
Annalisa Schnitzler, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Bonn.
6. Corona and Rural Competence Development in Africa.
Jack Elliott, Regional Director for Africa, Norman Borlaug Institute, Texas A&M University.
7. Discussion
The meeting will take place on March 22, 2021, 19:00 – 20:00 CET (Central European Time). You are invited to join the meeting, which will be facilitated via MS Teams.
If you would want to participate, send me an email on martin.mulder@wur.nl. If you are not yet a member of the Group, you can apply via LinkedIn. Search for the group, and apply for membership (for free).
Looking forward to the 22nd of March 2021, and for now: stay healthy and safe.
With warm wishes,
Martin
