Climate targets? Without the MBO it will be nothing
More and more households, municipalities and companies are switching to green energy. MBO students must be trained or retrained at lightning speed. “Even as a teacher you can no longer stand by and watch. Before you know it, you are hugely behind.”
photo: Angeliek de Jonge
Jan Lauwerijssen is a teacher at the ROC Central Netherlands. A few times a week, not yet in an electric car, he drives up and down from the Noordoostpolder, where he lives, to Nieuwegein to teach technology. “Developments in our profession are moving so fast,” he says. “If you don't watch out, you will fall behind enormously as a school.”
The Netherlands wants to have a completely sustainable energy supply by 2050. That means 100 percent energy from wind, sun, water and biomass. Existing homes, offices and other buildings must be made more sustainable. Solar panels must be installed, windmills built, charging stations for electric cars constructed. Mechanics are needed for the new installations and the conversion of existing ones. Relatively new professions that mainly have to be filled by MBO students.
How do schools ensure that their curriculum is up to standard?
That means many opportunities for MBO students. But it also means pressure on the ROCs, which have to find answers to recurring questions: How do we ensure that there are sufficient qualified personnel to realize the energy transition? And how do schools ensure that their curriculum is up to standard so that MBO students with the most accurate knowledge and skills graduate.
Lauwerijssen: “To find out what is happening now, as a school you have to follow companies and work together.” Then, he says, ROCs should share their knowledge with each other. That is why the De Uitdaging project was set up in 2019, a national program to accelerate cooperation between ROCs in the field of energy transition. Lauwerijssen has recently become the head of De Uitdaging. “Fortunately, ROCs have not been sitting still during corona,” he says. “Now that everything is open again, it is high time to visit each other's educational institutions and show each other what we are doing.” He will take care of that personally, he says.
You can't get it more current
His own ROC in Nieuwegein has mainly focused on expanding cooperation with companies. Companies in the area assign assignments to the students. Pupils and teachers are thus on top of the latest developments, both in practice and in theory. “You can't get it more up-to-date,” he says. A nice order came from a company that specializes in climate control systems in apartment buildings. A group of students started redesigning the technical installation to save energy. “The company is so happy with the students that they were immediately offered a holiday and Saturday job.”
According to Lauwerijssen, all ROCs are aware of the fact that they have to make considerable progress in the technical field. The figures of the UWV in the third quarter of 2021 underline this: almost 46 thousand vacancies for professions in the Technology and built environment sector, necessary for the climate goals. Making progress means that education must be organized differently. “You should take a look at the Koning Willem I College in 's-Hertogenbosch”, he recommends. This school is a real pioneer in the field of energy transition. “And don't forget Scalda in Zeeland either,” he adds.
Too often we approach technology too masculine
Sustainability coordinator Rob de Vrind has been working at Koning Willem 1 College in Den Bosch for forty years. For twenty years he has been trying to make the school building more sustainable with a view to the climate and to set an example. Much has been achieved in the meantime. The school building is the most sustainable educational institution in the Netherlands. “The building is a showcase for the energy transition,” he says. All technology has been made visible, not hidden behind a wall. For example, the air handling unit has been placed in the display window at the reception and the climate ceilings can be seen everywhere. It's part of "telling a different story," he says. In order to interest more young people in technology, a story must be told that fits in with today's world. “Too often we approach technology too masculine. With new techniques we can save the earth. Caring for the earth appeals more to women. If you tell the story of saving the earth, more people become interested in technology.”
Wiki houses
According to De Vrind, working in technology has also changed. “Many people think that technology is dirty work in cold workplaces. In many cases, that is no longer the case at all.” The technology is also becoming simpler, he says. “It has to be, because there are too few mechanics.” You should be able to do more work with fewer people. Simpler systems are being devised for this. “Wiki houses already exist, you design your own house, everything is supplied and you put it together in no time. Heating systems and the meter box are clicked together.” Instead of twenty specialists who install and install everything, you will soon only need six, he knows.
With an MBO partial certificate, someone can immediately carry out a specific activity
But before that happens, MBO students must immediately be trained to relieve the pressure on the labor market. The Koning Willem I College has also thought about this. From this school year, the school will start working with partial certificates. Thomas van Doremalen, Technology Education Manager, explains: “With an MBO partial certificate, someone can immediately carry out a specific activity.” Such as making a meter cupboard heavier. Or laying heavier cables. If you are going to drive electrically or use a heat pump, you will need a different content in the meter cupboard, he explains. “These actions are not mega-complex,” he says. “After a short training of a few months in practice, someone can already start working for that job.” According to him, this helps to reduce the pressure in the field. Students can get started quickly, and if they want, they can continue their studies at the same time and obtain several certificates and also complete their entire MBO course. “If someone is not interested in the entire MBO course, but is happy with a specific task - for example, installing charging stations for electric cars - then that is already a win.”
abseiling
Because they train in 's-Hertogenbosch, just like in Nieuwegein, in close cooperation with companies, the courses immediately get a lot of information about the latest developments. Education manager Van Doremalen: “We stay up-to-date as a school in this way.” Lecturers walk and observe the companies, lecturers have a compulsory internship to update their knowledge and lecturers go to the workplace for the practical exam. “During a practical exam, for example, I saw a student at a hockey club climb into a light pole to hang up a lamp. Then you realize how big such a thing is, and how strong it must be to get that up.” He also discovered that an electrician must be able to abseil in a windmill. “If a fire breaks out, he is instructed to abseil. There is a harness in the mill that they have to put on.” As a school you must therefore also provide a course in abseiling. “You won’t find that out until you get there on the floor.”
Education and the professional field need each other more and more
“This is exactly the intention,” adds Hans de Jong, Director of Technology Education at Koning Willem I College. “Education and the professional field need each other more and more. People on the work floor sometimes have skills that our teachers do not have, they are also used as teachers in education.”
According to De Jong, education will become more variable and flexible in this way. “Look, it is clear from the business community: we are looking for someone who installs solar panels. But young people just want to study something fun. It is up to us to make that link, with the energy transition as the spearhead.”
Daredevils
At the Scalda MBO course in Zeeland, they know how to attract a new group of students with more adventure. “With the arrival of the wind farm in Borselle off the coast of Zeeland, the question arose of how we train people for this,” says Veronique van de Reijt, director of Technology & Maritime. The Wind op Zee educational center was founded four years ago, an intermediate vocational training course for wind technology with its own wind lab. “This is for the daredevils. You have to go to sea to assemble and maintain the windmills. Very different from the standard mechanic.” The ROC will soon be building a lab for sustainable hydrogen together with Zeeland University of Applied Sciences. For example, you can run a city bus on green hydrogen. “Each time we investigate what the latest developments in the energy transition mean for our study programme. We already see our students working in the new professions everywhere.”
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