Work-based learning plays a key part of many reforms to the school curriculum in most EU countries. It helps students connect their learning with the world of work, develop the employability skills that employers look for and appreciate in new employees. The experience helps students to build their entrepreneurial abilities and make more informed choices about their career options. According to the EU Quality Assurance Framework, the quality of the apprenticeship programmes are considered as one of the most important types of vocational education and training. Two main issues in relation to the quality of apprenticeship programmes are linked to the quality of workplace learning and to the quality of the connection between workplace and school-based learning. Cooperation between the stakeholders and especially between the schools and the companies is considered as the quality area with the highest room for improvement. Students mention the lack of coordination between what is learned in the school and what they really need when participating to the training activities in the companies. They do not need just to spend an amount of hours in a company, but they also need to live a fruitful experience for their career development. Schools play different roles in apprenticeship programmes. The activities range from being responsible for the quality to being a part of the assessment process. The starting point of the project idea is that there are three main actors involved in the work-based learning landscape - teachers, students and company staff- that often are not able to communicate and collaborate efficiently. Often work-based learning experiences fail to reach their objectives as the traineeships are not connected with the school curricula or do not develop a range of non-technical competencies useful for future placement. According to ET 2020 Working Group on VET (2016-2018) the member states have no systematic analysis of existing governance frameworks and professional practices in WBL. There is a lack of teacher/trainer qualification and a continous professional development for school staff involved in WBL. Only few countries have formulated necessary competences and minimal requirements for VET teachers in WBL specifically; most of the competences are general requirements applicable to all (VET) and there are specific programmes with a specific focus on teaching in WBL paths. The objective of the project is to create an open source online platform containing e-learning modules, the Work-Based Learning Teacher Training Model and other educational and policy framework resources that support school staff (teachers, school directors, trainers) in gaining professional knowledge to create their schools' career and WBL training path, use non-formal educational methodologies, increase their knowledge and connection with the world of work. To reach this objective, 7 partners (Headmasters Trade Union, training providers, school representatives, university, chamber of commerce) coming from 6 EU countries (Italy, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria) set up a specific partnership in order to produce an innovative Output, a collaborative e-learning platform that will host the Work-Based Learning Teacher Training Model with other resources that every school in EU could use to ensure high-quality work-based learning activities, being them school-based system and dual-systems. The project is thought to have a multi-level impact: -the partner organizations will increase their EU dimension and their own networks, the professional development of their educators and trainers. They will also increase efficiency in supporting work-based learning in other sectors and cooperation with schools and companies. - Schools will see an improvement of their curriculum and consequently an increased level of attainment thanks to the fact that school staff will have concrete experience in seeing how the taught subjects are applied and valued in a workplace. They will also increase their sense of initiatives and entrepreneurship, understanding of interconnections between formal, non-formal education, vocational training and labour market. In a medium term, after the schools implemented the training within their staff, we expect positive incomes for for students as well whih are indirect target group of the project. Students could benefit from an enrichment of their educational path at school, they could gain a greater understanding of the ‘world of work’ which lies ahead of them. Experience suggests that students taking part of quality traineeships are likely to be recruited in the future by employers they come into contact with (there have been numerous cases of students accepting job offers from employers they met through work-based learning). They will also increase awareness on learning and career choices.
Work-based learning plays a key part in many reforms to the school curriculum in most EU countries. It helps students connect their learning with the world of work, develop the employability skills that employers look for and appreciate in new employees. The experience helps students to build their entrepreneurial abilities and make more informed choices about their career options. According to the EU Quality Assurance Framework, the quality of the apprenticeship programmes is considered as one of the most important types of education and training. Two main issues in relation to the quality of apprenticeship programmes are linked to the quality of workplace learning and to the quality of the connection between the workplace and school-based learning. Cooperation between the schools and the companies is considered as the quality area with the highest room for improvement. Students mention the lack of coordination between what is learned in the school and what they really need when participating in the training activities in the companies. They do not need just to spend a number of hours in a company, but they also need to live a fruitful experience for their career development. Schools play different roles in apprenticeship programmes. The activities range from being responsible for the quality to being a part of the assessment process. The starting point of the project idea is that often work-based learning experiences fail to reach their objectives as the traineeships are not connected with the school curricula or do not develop a range of non-technical competencies useful for future placement. According to ET 2020 Working Group on VET (2016-2018) the member states have no systematic analysis of existing governance frameworks and professional practices in WBL. There is a lack of teacher/trainer qualification and continuous professional development for school staff involved in WBL. Only a few countries formulated necessary competencies and minimal requirements for teachers in WBL and most of the competencies are general requirements. There are no specific programmes with a focus on teaching in WBL paths and transversal skills. The project's objective was to create an open-source online training course and other educational, policy framework resources that could support school staff (teachers, school directors, trainers) in gaining professional knowledge to improve their schools' WBL training, get to know non-formal educational methodologies and, consequently increase their knowledge (and connection) with the world of work. To reach this objective, 7 partners (a headmasters Trade Union, training providers, teachers training associations, a university and a company trade union) coming from 6 EU countries (Italy, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria) set up a specific partnership in order to produce a Moodle-based e-learning platform with learning modules concerning subjects and topics every school in EU could use to increase high-quality work-based learning activities, being them school-based system and dual-systems. Dissemination and communication events were organized to further promote the training course and thus widening the potential users/learners of the e-learning. The project had a multi-level impact: - the piloting teachers had the opportunity to improve their curriculum, understand better the world of work their students need to face, gain knowledge and practices non-formal teaching methods in soft skills development, coaching and mentoring techniques.They also increased their sense of initiatives and entrepreneurship, understanding of interconnections between formal, non-formal education, vocational training and the labour market. - the partner organizations, their teachers, headmasters increased their EU dimension, their own networks and their professional development. They also increased their efficiency in supporting work-based learning in other sectors and cooperation with stakeholders dealing with the subject. In a medium-term, after the schools implement the training within their staff, we expect positive impacts for students as well which are the indirect target group of the project. Students could benefit from the enrichment of their educational path at school, they could gain a greater understanding of the ‘world of work’ which lies ahead of them. Experience suggests that students taking part in quality traineeships are likely to be recruited in the future by employers they come into contact with (there have been numerous cases of students accepting job offers from employers they met through work-based learning). They will also increase awareness of learning and career choices.