A high-priority goal of the European Union is to make work-based learning one of the basic pillars of European VET systems. The labour market relevance of vocational education and training must be enhanced in order to prevent the lack of skilled labour from holding back economic growth.
Work-based Learing for Adults
Also acting as an employment agency, the Government Office of Békés County, too, is facing the challenge of managing the labour shortage arising in more and more fields, because currently, the VET system does not always respond effectively and quickly enough to the needs of economy. In order to manage the issue, the Government Office of Békés County implemented its Erasmus+ strategic partnership project called Work-based Learning in CVET in a consortium consisting of two Hungarian, a Finnish, an Italian and a German partners between 1 December 2015 and 30 November 2017.
The partnership relied on Finnish, German and Italian models to develop the complex methodology of the work-based training suitable for use in adult vocational training even at a European level - the complex methodology of work-based training. The manual provides process descriptions to organising work-based learning, recommendations about applicable best practices, the related sample documents, as well as the duties of those involved in the training. Within the work-based learning process used in adult vocational training, the publication also gives a detailed description of the process elements and methods, crucial from the point of view of quality assurance, which are in line with the building blocks of the high-quality organisation of work-based training (by applying EQUAVET guidelines).
The key elements include, among others, learning outcome based course planning, the trilateral agreement to be concluded between the training location and training institution involved in the training and the participants of the training, the ongoing communication between the parties concerned, ensuring the necessary human resources (e.g. instructor at the training facility, the mentor teacher at the training institution), assessing existing knowledge and planning the individual learning paths accordingly, the ongoing assessment of the learning outcomes achieved (including students' self-assessment) and intervening into training processes.
Within the project, the methodology was also tested in practice with the involvement of employed, unskilled adult employees threatened by unemployment and students in school-based education.
Using the complex methodology can make the transition from learning to work smoother, and make it easier for the participants to find employment. Developed as part of the project and first tested in Békés County, Hungary, the methodology can be used all over Europe by organisations and employers engaged in VET who wish to introduce work-based learning, as well as by those who want to improve their work-based learning systems.
The Hungarian, English, German, Italian and Finnish versions of the methodology handbook, as well as the web-based and mobile applications supporting the documentation of work-based learning are available on the project website: https://wbl.hu/wbl.
István Szabó
Training Administrator
Government Office of Békés County, Division of Social Insurance and Employment, Labour Market Department
Last modified: 18-04-2019
