The participation of low-skilled employees in continuing vocational training throughout the whole of Europe remains far below average. The risk of unemployment is high. In the last ten years, these employees have increasingly become an endogenous potential to secure competitiveness. As a means of accessing low-skilled target groups for lifelong learning, companies are becoming increasingly important. Work-based basic skills training as an offer of further education proves itself to be a significant way in Europe to reach employees without a professional qualification, with an immigration background and refugees employed in the host country for a further development of their basic competences. A wide range of national and European projects and implementation strategies have generated empirical findings on this innovative training field on how to access companies and employees, how work-based learning and competence development can be designed and which organizational conditions promote this business field. It has been shown that if strategies for vocational education are to be successful for this employees, work-based learning must be professionally designed. PROFI-TRAIN uses the knowledge base to provide work-based basic skills training and makes a central contribution to professionalization through a transferable training concept focused on teaching and disposing professionals in further education. PROFI-TRAIN stands for an innovative understanding of work-based basic skills training, the realization of which has proven to be particularly successful: the offers are tailored to the needs, individualized and oriented on changing requirements to the basic competencies of the workforce. The learning offers are derived from concrete work and aim at the improvement of labor action. Learning takes place at work, within the company. For the professionals, work-based basic skills training presents a tremendous challenge, because the reference point for organization, contents, use and realization of learning opportunities is the lifeworld "work" with its complex acting situations. The workplace becomes an opportunity for learning. The professionals in this field need systemic knowledge and consultancy skills in contact with company representatives and employees, high flexibility and the results must show a development of competent work action of the participants. It requires competences that extend beyond the pedagogical, didactic-methodical and dispensing competences of classical institutional planning and design of measures and courses. PROFI-TRAIN aims at - a flexible training concept for the professionalization of work-based basic skills which has been tested in six countries - pedagogical and planning staff in the partner countries to further develop their skills in order to professionally realize work-oriented basic education. - continuing education and training institutions to set up work-based basic skills training, the higher education institutions and the relevant training providers to integrate further training ‘Competent for work-based basic skills trainings’ into their curricula and their performance spectrum, thus contributing to sustainable use. - political decision makers and stakeholders at national and European level to use of the results of the project work programs and strategies to increase participation in continuing education and to strengthen work-based learning.
Why: Across Europe, the participation of low-skilled workers in continuing vocational training remains far below average, and their risk of unemployment high. In the debate on skilled workers, these employees are increasingly coming under scrutiny throughout Europe as endogenous potential for securing competitiveness. As a consequence, companies are becoming increasingly important as a means of gaining access to low-qualified target groups for lifelong learning. Work-based basic skills training - WBBS for short - as a continuing education offering is proving to be an important way of reaching employees with no or no recognised vocational qualification for the further development of their basic skills in Europe. A wide range of national and European projects and implementation strategies have generated empirically sound findings on how access to companies and employees can be designed, how learning and competence development close to the workplace can be initiated and realised and which organisational conditions promote this educational service as a business field. It has been shown: If strategies of further training for semi-skilled and unskilled workers are to be successful, work-based learning - as close to the workplace as possible - must be professionally organised. Due to the diverse specifics of WBBS training in companies, this training service represents a challenge for adult educators. This is where the Profi-Train project with its professionalisation approach comes in. Who: Partners of the project are: bbb Büro für berufliche Bildungsplanung, R. Klein & Partner GbR, Dortmund; Dipl. Päd. Rosemarie Klein Managing Director (Koordinatorin) & Dipl. Päd. Gerhard Reutter, Dipl. Päd., Senior Researcher. BEST Institut für berufsbezogene Weiterbildung und Personaltraining GmbH, Wien; Helmut Kronika, Managing Director ERGANI Center for Support and Advancement of Employment for women in Thessaloniki; Parthenopi Sourmaidou, Managing Director; Anna ERUDICIO nadacni fond, Plzen; Jarmila Modra, researcher; Vlastimil Outly, Senior Expert, Jana Vanova, Researcher, Vera Komerova, researcher MEDE Ministry for Education and Employment. Directories for Lifelong Learning, Malta; Christianne Fenech, Project Manager, Mandy Mifsud, researcher SIAE Slovenian Institut for Adult Education, Lubljana; Estera Mozin, Researcher and Project Leader; Petra Javrh, ResearcherWhat: PROFI-TRAIN builds on the existing knowledge of WBBS training and presents a transferable and flexible further training concept for teaching, scheduling and process support staff in further training. The further training concept "Acquiring competencies for work-based basic skills" consists of three components: - IO 1 "Self-Study-Manual. Acquiring Competencies for Work-Based Basic Skills Training (WBBS) - IO 2 "Guide with six training modules for attendance seminars - IO 4 "European Roadmap for Stakeholders", who can implement sustainable professionalisation strategies The products are based on initially prepared country reports, which were published in a compiled version as specialist article. For the qualitative and country-specific contextualised completion of the products, national pilot seminars lasting several days were planned, implemented and evaluated by each partner (IO 3). The results of the pilot seminars were documented in a report (IO 3) and were used in particular for the qualitative further development of IO 2 and for the development of IO 4. The modules in IO 1 and IO 2 run close to the action process of WBBS trainings and thematise the topic: Module 1: Basic knowledge of Work-Based Basic Skills Module 2: Approaches to companies Module 3: Appeal to employees Module 4: Developing an Operational Training Programme for Work-Based Basic Skills Module 5: Realisation of Work-Based Basic Skills Training Module 6: Finalisation and Evaluation of WBBS-Training How: The Profi-Train partnership produced the products in a division of labour and were subject to a structured feedback process and a thorough peer review process. The partners took the opportunity to develop a detailed analysis of the educational system, the degree of innovation, etc. based on country-specific characteristics of the educational system. criteria to contextualize and then translate the English-language versions that were initially developed. This was particularly relevant to ensure the connectivity of the products, to make the wording more precise and to increase the chances of implementation in the country. Result: Due to the innovative content of the professionalization concept, the products IO 1 and IO 2 in particular have become much more differentiated, in-depth and thus more comprehensive than expected. The results of the pilot seminars indicate that it has been possible both to comprehensively secure the knowledge base on WBBS and to present guidelines for planning attendance seminars with lively learning methods and opportunities for biographical career development.