Continuous training is difficult for those who are constantly travelling. This situation is typical for young showmen, not only regarding general education but also vocational training. According to a resolution of the Council of Europe their training situation across the EU is considered to be very poor. European education systems are designed for residents. Young showmen are early integrated into their family business. Their professional training is based on the principle of "learning by doing". But even in the fairground business technical and commercial know-how will determine whether an enterprise is successful or not. Thus, national authorities, health departments, trade associations or festival organizers often ask for qualifications or certificates for running fairground rides and shops that the showmen are not able to present. The starting point of the INVET project (Informal Vocational Education of Travellers) are the so called “BeKoSch” courses ("BeKoSch" –Developing Vocational Skills for Occupational Travellers) specifically aimed at young showmen at the vocational colleges in Herne/GER. However, young showmen obtain informal and non-formal vocational qualifications when they are working in the family business. In Germany there is no tradition for assessing and recognizing such informal skills. In the Netherlands, however, a vocational training program for showmen does not exist yet. But here the EVC method (Erkenning Verworven Competenties) for validation of informally acquired professional skills has been successfully used for a long time, although the EVC method has not been used for the training of young showman so far. Therefore, it is the aim of the INVET project to adapt the EVC method to the requirements of vocational training for young showmen so that the informal and non-formal competences which these young people have obtained are acknowledged. The vocational colleges in Herne and the Dutch vocational school in Nijmegen which will participate in this project will prove the adapted method using recognized training modules. Sustainable dissemination and application by other European institutions will be provided by a clear concept and a practice-oriented manual.
The vocational training situation of young showmen is the starting point of the Invet project. Training is difficult for those who are always traveling. That is evident not only in case of young showmen´s school education but also in their vocational training. According to a resolution of the Council of Europe, throughout the EU this training situation is perceived as inadequate. Young people usually see their professional future in the fairground business and their professional training is traditionally based on the principle "learning by doing" in the family business. Their professional skills are not questioned; however, they are not recognized as professional qualifications. This was the starting point of the project. It was the specific objective of the project to enable young showmen to get their professional skills - acquired outside the formal education system in the family business - identified and recognized. This should have been realized by using the RPL method that is performed in the Netherlands. In Germany there does not exist a tradition of recognizing those informal professional skills. In the Netherlands there is a well-established procedure for the recognition of informally acquired professional skills, the RPL method, although it has not yet applied for the training of young showmen. During this project 11 partners from the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Dutch region of Gelderland, among them educational authorities, vocational colleges and showmen associations, have developed an adapted "RPL competence assessment process for showmen" based on the Dutch RPL method. This has been successfully tested with young showmen from Germany and the Netherlands. During the trial stage with specific training modules of the German Federal Institute für Berufsbildung BIBB (Federal Institute for Vocational Training and Education) an assessor team, which had been qualified in the Netherland and that is entitled to carry out exams in the initial vocational training in Germany, identified, recorded and assessed the skills of the participants. Then the young showmen got a certificate of experience including information about the identified competencies, which is recognized by all project partners. Summarizing the pilot activities showed that young showmen have significant informally acquired, professional skills and relevant experience. But often these skills have to be completed and extended in short customized training activities. Based on this experience, during the project period we have offered and implemented such a customized course for electronics technician for building and energy technology. This combination of the RPL method and customized training seems to give the best results in the future. In a manual these and all other experiences and project results have been summarized to make them useable for other projects, regions and target groups.