Competence-based vocational education and training and its cultural context sensitivity. A case study of an educational transfer from Switzerland to India.
This project addresses the question of whether the concept of competence-based vocational education and training, as it is defined in Western Europe, is transferable from one cultural context to another ˗ precisely, from Switzerland to India.
First of all, the topic of international policy borrowing and lending in the field of education is introduced with reference to the concept of translation. Then the concept of competence-based education is defined as a new educational paradigm and situated within its cultural context. Next, a case study of an educational transfer from Switzerland to India is introduced. Detailed insight into translation processes are given on the basis of interviews with main translation actors. The conclusion identifies pitfalls that arose and translations that occurred when transferring the pedagogical orientation of competence-based education from the Switzerland to India.
Document analysis, qualitative interviews.