Mathematics in an engineering's setting: a real challenge

In The Netherlands a curriculum project is carried out in which a new mathematics program is developed for vocational education (engineering, age group 16-20). Because mathematics should really support the vocational courses, it was decided to develop mathematical concepts starting in the context of engineering. Many mathematical issues that are taken for granted in general education are of no use in vocational settings, while other aspects of mathematics turn out to be very important. Another important issue of the project was the integration of the graphing calculator in the learning process as an alternative tool for algebraically poor students. Vocational education in The Netherlands In The Netherlands students can choose for vocational training at the age of 13. In lower secondary education there are general and vocational streams. In upper secondary school (age 16-20) students can continue vocational training or can choose it after ending the general stream in lower secondary school. Until some years ago these upper vocational training programs were built of more or less isolated, separately taught subjects in which merely technical knowledge of facts was the goal. Nowadays the goals for this kind of training are defined in terms of competencies and qualifications for the workplace: future workers should be able to handle complex problems in the workplace. More important than technical knowledge is flexibility, problem solving skills, communicative and cooperative skills (Onstenk, 2000). In the former set up, the learning of mathematics still was a goal in itself. Nobody did really care about the usefulness of the learned mathematics for vocational practice. In contrast, the current mathematics program, in the definition of competencies, asks for the application of knowledge, but at the expense of explicit formulation of any mathematical content. As a consequence, the traditional programs for mathematics were doomed to disappear from these training programs: they cost a lot of money and time and they don't add anything valuable to the training. For that reason, a curriculum project was initiated to redefine the needed mathematics for vocational education. The focus of the project was on engineering, because the expected problems of leaving out all mathematical training was the biggest in that area.