LabOdoo at the Walloon Parliament!

I had another restless night over the weekend!

Minister of Education Caroline Désir (PS) has initiated legal action against LabOdoo for commercial interference. Oh, the ever-supportive atmosphere in Belgium :(

LabOdoo is truly impressive. We're extremely proud of the project and its tangible effects on education. Thus, it's disheartening to see it labeled as "advertising or commercial." It feels as though being a private initiative is automatically perceived as negative, and that public-private partnerships are to be shunned.

In context, LabOdoo serves as an educational facility to enhance learning. Essentially, it's a semi-trailer equipped with 9 workshops designed for hands-on exploration of various business functions. These include a mini-store (to learn cash management), stock management (using barcodes), an HR recruitment process, commercial management (from quoting to invoicing), a website creation workshop, invoice encoding and auditing in accounting, and more.

LabOdoo responds to requests from teachers in economics, management, accounting, logistics, and other fields to complement their theoretical lessons with practical activities. The session lasts for 90 minutes, during which a group of up to 27 students can participate in four workshops, gaining insights into the functioning of a business.

The support provided to teachers is remarkable: we come to the school, offer our services completely free of charge, and our coaches handle the preparation and supervision of the session alongside the responsible teacher. But most importantly, the feedback from students speaks for itself; I'll leave it to you to assess based on the feedback provided at the end of the article.

Parliamentary intervention

It's crucial to ensure that any external involvement in courses adheres to the frameworks established within the programs, aligning with the school's educational objectives. While understandable, I would have preferred to be informed directly rather than discovering through the press that a commission had been initiated.

What struck me was the characterization assigned to us due to the private nature of the initiative. To cite MP Jean-Pierre Kerckhofs (PTB), who raised the parliamentary question:

Is it typical for a private company to promote its services on school premises? By entrusting a portion of their students' education to employees of a private company who are solely answerable to their employer.

Clearly, he hasn't engaged in a LabOdoo session. If he had, he'd understand that our involvement is solely at the invitation of the teachers, working alongside them to enrich their curriculum with hands-on activities. He would have witnessed coaches, often former educators, driven by the educational mission rather than being perceived as "salespeople," as though we were pitching to students aged 17-20.

It's nonsensical to suggest that we would engage in this for publicity. This project entails a one-million-euro investment! Consider this: for €4,000, you could procure a 20m² advertising panel on a national road frequented by 13,000 cars per day for a year. Spending one million euros just to plaster a large Odoo logo on a truck that visits schools would be the most illogical marketing move in Odoo's history.

LabOdoo doesn't aim to deliver Odoo software training; rather, it serves to demonstrate the operations of various departments within a company. Each session spans 17 minutes. For instance, in the cash register management session, participants learn about store management tasks such as opening and closing registers, recording sales, and interpreting reports. Even though we utilize the Odoo point-of-sale application during the workshop, envision covering all of this within 17 minutes—clearly, it's not Odoo training.

Rather than criticizing us solely because we're a private company, he should assess the merits or seek feedback from the professors who have utilized LabOdoo. It's as though teachers are incapable of determining what's beneficial for their courses. The fact that LabOdoo is consistently fully booked every day of the year, without exception, speaks volumes.

The professor whose ideas provoke fear

The parliamentary inquiry stems from an article penned by secondary school teacher Roman Wittebroodt in La Libre Belgique. Here are some of my preferred excerpts:

For certain students, the daunting prospect of demotivation arises when faced with tasks lacking significance—the well-known "Brown-out." Not all our youth are easily deceived. Despite our efforts to portray a glamorous image of a technologically advanced company, convincing them that work is enjoyable remains a challenge. [...] Students come to realize one fundamental truth: personal growth is not prioritized in corporate job descriptions.

And to wrap up, he concludes:

We need to delve into the fundamental concepts of the two conflicting terms in this ethical dilemma: "school" and "work." Etymologically, "school" (from the Greek "scholè") refers to leisure, free time, detached from the mundane demands of life. It's a moment of detachment wherein the learner can disconnect from the world, focus on intellectual growth, and strive towards acquiring cultural knowledge. From this viewpoint, the teacher's role is to prioritize relationships over competition, spiritual development over material gain, and cultural enrichment over financial concerns. On the contrary, "work" (derived from the Latin "tripalium") connotes hardship and torment. Salary alienation serves as its contemporary interpretation. The substitute term, "employment," offers little solace.

What a regressive perspective on the realm of education, which ought to remain distinct from the realm of business—a dichotomy often portrayed as opposing forces, akin to good versus evil. Additionally, what a pessimistic outlook on labor and the corporate environment, portraying the primary goal as profitability achieved through employee exploitation.

Initially, I chuckled at the thought (with a hint of irony, envisioning this teacher educating students). Little did I anticipate that anyone would take it seriously... let alone the FW-B Parliament

It may sound absurd to spell it out, but businesses consist of individuals. Just like everyone else, they strive to be productive, to contribute to meaningful endeavors, and to add value to their collaborators. Employers aren't merely exploiters of labor; they're individuals who, like everyone else, endeavor to make positive contributions to their surroundings.

Evidence

Following every LabOdoo session, we request feedback from both the teacher and the students.. (By the way, Caroline, when is the evaluation for education teachers scheduled?)

Out of 121 outings during the 2022/2023 period, we received feedback from 97 teachers (48 in Dutch and 49 in French).

  • Ninety-five out of the 97 respondents (i.e., 97%) found the LabOdoo activity appropriate for their students, as it enables them to apply theoretical concepts learned in class.
  • Ninety-four out of the 97 respondents (or 96%) would recommend it to their colleagues.

We've already secured over 137 bookings for the 2023-2024 period.

All the teachers are in agreement: LabOdoo is a significant enhancement to their curriculum. We'll include all survey results in the comments section of this article; such positive feedback from both teachers and students is truly heartening.

In order to align the workshop with the teacher's curriculum, we supply an educational document.

Below is a compilation of testimonials endorsed by external sources (schools or educators):

In conclusion

My sole wish is for the commission to assess us based on the quality of the educational content, its alignment with the curriculum, and the service provided to teachers. Furthermore, I hope the proposed decree won't culminate in a Belgian-style compromise where "public-private partnership is permitted within program boundaries, but the private sector must remove its logo from all engagements."

LabOdoo's drive isn't financial; it's about our sense of pride. We aim to make a positive impact on our surroundings through meaningful initiatives. Contributing to education holds significance for us - we take pride in it and wish to showcase our commitment. However, if we were to operate anonymously, it would strip away yet another incentive for our involvement

As an example, I participated in various economics/management courses upon professors' invitations to share my expertise. Often, I agreed because, back then, my motivation was student recruitment. (Although this is less applicable to LabOdoo, which targets a different audience.)

This doesn't imply that I adopted a sales-oriented approach during the sessions. I consistently aimed to deliver high-quality educational content, never indulging in lengthy "About us" introductions. Should we then mandate that all speakers remove their company logos from slides and refrain from mentioning them? Personally, I doubt I would have participated if anonymity was required. (Technically, I couldn't have participated—I only own shoes with the Odoo logo, no other pairs :)

Taking it to the extreme and demanding that private stakeholders refrain from promoting their companies would be an error. The most successful partnerships thrive on mutual benefit, a concept that would be challenging to justify under such circumstances.

In conclusion, my children encounter the Google logo daily due to their school's use of Google Classroom (they attend school in India). While incredibly beneficial for teachers and students, should we then revert to traditional paper-based methods, like Clairefontaine notebooks, simply because Google's motives may involve marketing? Personally, I cherished my Autocad and Mathlab classes during university because they provided valuable insight into the industry-standard tools.

Caroline Désir, we are relying on your support for public-private collaborations! We're here to assist you in ensuring that LabOdoo provides excellent educational content, delivers top-notch service to teachers, and aligns with the frameworks outlined in school programs. Moreover, if you have any suggestions for enhancement, we're eager to hear them.

Lastly, I want to reiterate the context: we offer courses in management, economics, and accounting. Odoo stands as the most prevalent management software in Belgium. How can we rationalize prohibiting the mention of the brand in these courses or denying teachers the opportunity to invite experts from the same company to enrich practical case studies?

Managing Receipts in Odoo 17's Point of Sale