Reflective practice-based learning in further technical education

The current digitalisation taking place in the industry, often referred to as Industry 4.0, alters the traditional job functions. Industrial employees, therefore, need to update theirskills and competence to fit the future need of the industry. However, to fully exploit thenew possibilities embedded in digitalisation, industrial employees require skills and competencies beyond the technical domain, e.g., collaboration, communication, creativity,and critical thinking, also known as 21st century contextual skills. Due to this, the educational practice within the technical fields need to adapt to a broader learning output beyond traditionally technical skills and competences (core skills). One way to increase andbroaden the learning output, emphasising the contextual 21st century skills, is to adoptreflective practice-based learning (RPL).This study investigates the adoption of RPL in further education, focusing on the upskilling of employees in the industry. The study is empirically based on the analysis of twoeducational designs (pilots) for further education, and for future implementation. The twopilots are developed as a proposal for industrial upskilling at respectively UCN and UCL,as part of a joined research and development project. The development of the pilotstakes a point of departure in a setting inspired by the Learning Factory approach. Buildingon the concept of Learning Factory enables the learning activities to have a strong link tothe industry workplace practice, creating a setting for practice-based reflection. This studyreports the opportunities, integrating the principles of RPL into a setting inspired bythe Learning Factory approach, developing educational design aimed at a further education.The results of the study indicate that the adoption of RPL in a Learning Factory settingimprove the maturity level of a Learning Factory, hence strengthens the students’ learning. Thus, RPL can be regarded as a tool to further operationalise the didactics of theLearning Factory concept. On the other side, a Learning Factory setting creates a goodindustry workplace example for practice-based reflection.