Professional and Vocational Education  [20.10.22]

Top-qualified skilled workers are the backbone of the economy. In order to secure the next generation, vocational training is considered a central system. This is the focus of Prof. Dr. Julia Warwas.

 

Since October 2020, she has been Director of the Department of Business and Economics Education: Theory and Didactics of Professional Education at the University of Hohenheim. Her field of work is very broad - with one restriction: As the name of her department already reveals, she has her sights set primarily on business-vocational education.

 

Ms. Warwas, you've been at Hohenheim for quite a long time, since October 2020. How was your start at Hohenheim back then, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Building a team at the department and collegial relationships at the faculty only via video conference was, of course, challenging. I would also have preferred to interact with the students in person during my first semester. But in the meantime, we've all settled down to a good balance of face-to-face and home-based work.

 

Your department is Business and Economics Education: Theory and Didactics of Professional Education. What exactly do you mean by that?

We teach and research vocational education. Compared to other fields of educational science, this is a broad field, because it encompasses career orientation, vocational training, and continuing professional education - and this in schools, companies, and potentially also inter-company organizations.

There is, however, one limitation: According to their designation, business educators are primarily interested in vocational business education.

 

What fascinates you about it?

Vocational education is a central and, in my opinion, sometimes underestimated system for securing our next generation of highly qualified specialists.

 

What was your personal path to becoming a professor at Hohenheim?

I did my doctorate and habilitation at my "alma mater," the University of Bamberg. I also took on teaching assignments at the universities of Turku (Finland) and Linz (Austria). I first worked as a professor at the University of Göttingen before moving to the University of Hohenheim.

 

What research topics are you currently working on?

Together with my team, we are working on such diverse research topics as teaching professionalism, cooperation and communication in teams of teachers, psychological stress in learning and working, digitally supported competence measurement in educational and work settings, personnel management in schools, and learning-accompanying diagnostics and its technological support.

We address some of these topics in interdisciplinary teams, such as in a current research project investigating competencies for IT-safe behavior in the workplace. Here we are working closely with business informatics specialists.

Students can participate in gaining scientific knowledge, for example as assistants, but of course also in thematic focus seminars and theses in the sense of research-based teaching.

 

What does good teaching mean to you?

You can hardly describe a teaching concept in three sentences. But one of the things I try to do is offer good "mixes," such as a successful mix of classroom and digital teaching, of theoretical fundamentals and practice-oriented application, of personal responsibility and supervision.

 

Do you have any tips for successfully studying?

Keep an open mind, be enthusiastic, and read a lot.

 

And what do you do when you're not working?

I spend time with my family.

 

Thank you very much, Ms. Warwas!

 

Interview: Elsner / Translation: Neudorfer