VOCATIONAL T R A I N I N G - Cedefop

ISSN 0378-5068

V O C A T I O N A L

T R A I N I N GE u r o p e a n J o u r n a l

No 23 May – August 2001/II

The European Journal Vocational Training is published three times a year in four languages (DE,EN, ES, FR). The annual subscription covers all issues of theEuropean Journal Vocational Training published in thecourse of the calendar year (January to December).Unless notice of cancellation is given by 30 November,the subscription will be extended automatically for afurther calendar year. The European Journal Vocational Training will be sent to you by the Office for Official Publications of the EC,Luxembourg. The invoice will be sent to you by theresponsible EU distributor. The subscription price does not include VAT. Please donot pay the amount due until you have received theinvoice.

CEDEFOP

Europe 123, GR-570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea)Postal address: PO Box 22427, GR-551 02 ThessalonikiTel. (30-31) 490 111 Fax (30-31) 490 020E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive: www.trainingvillage.gr

European Centre for theDevelopment of V ocational Training

European Journal Vocational Training


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VOCATIONAL TRAINING NO. 23 EUROPEAN JOURNAL

Editorial committee:

Chairman:Jordi Planas Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Sergio Bruno Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, ItalyÉric Fries Guggenheim Cedefop, GreeceUlrich Hillenkamp European Training Foundation, ItalyTadeusz Kozek Task Force for Training and Human Resources, PolandMartin Mulder Wageningen University, The NetherlandsLise Skanting Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DenmarkHilary Steedman London School of Economics and Political Science,

Centre for Economic Performance, United KingdomManfred Tessaring Cedefop, GreeceEric Verdier Laboratoire LEST/CNRS, France

Editorial Secretariat:

Erika Ekström Institutet För Arbetsmarknadspolitisk Utvärdering(IFAU), Sweden

Jean-François Giret CEREQ, FranceGisela Schürings European Training Foundation, Italy

Editor in chief:

Steve Bainbridge Cedefop, Greece

CedefopEuropean Centre

for the Developmentof Vocational Training

Europe 123GR-570 01 THESSALONIKI

(Pylea)

Postal address:PO Box 22427

GR-551 02 THESSALONIKI

Tel. (30) 310 490 111Fax (30) 310 490 020

E-mail:[email protected]

Homepage:www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive website:

www.trainingvillage.gr

Interested in writing an article ... see page 90

Cedefop assists the EuropeanCommission in encouraging, atCommunity level, the promotionand development of vocationaleducation and training, throughexchanges of information and thecomparison of experience on is-sues of common interest to theMember States.

Cedefop is a link between re-search, policy and practice byhelping policy-makers and practi-tioners, at all levels in the Euro-pean Union, to have a clearer un-derstanding of developments invocational education and trainingand so help them draw conclu-sions for future action. It stimu-lates scientists and researchers toidentify trends and future ques-tions.

Cedefop’s Management Board hasagreed a set of medium-term pri-orities for the period 2000-2003.They outline four themes that pro-vide the focus of Cedefop’s activi-ties:

❏ promoting competences andlifelong learning;❏ facilitating new ways of learn-ing for a changing society;❏ supporting employment andcompetitiveness;❏ improving European under-standing and transparency.

Published under the responsibility of:Johan van Rens, DirectorStavros Stavrou, Deputy Director

Technical production, coordination:Bernd Möhlmann

Responsible for translation: David Crabbe

Layout: Werbeagentur Zühlke Scholz &Partner GmbH, Berlin

Cover: Rudolf J. Schmitt, BerlinFoto: Jens Neumann, Berlin

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The contributions were received onor before 1.7.2001

Reproduction is authorized, except forcommercial purposes, provided that thesource is indicated

Catalogue number:TI-AA-01-002-EN-C

Printed in Belgium, 2001

This publication appears three times ayear in Spanish, German, English andFrench

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect theposition of Cedefop. The European Vocational Training Journal givesprotagonists the opportunity to present analyses and various, at times,contradictory points of view. The Journal wishes to contribute to criticaldebate on the future of vocational training at a European level.


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Kindly allow us to supplement MarkBlaug’s excellent article on school leavers(EJVT,No. 22) with some observationsbased on evidence from our related re-search. Mr Blaugh’s comment on “Whatare we going to do about school leavers?”covered mostly the preventive side of theissue and left some room for discussingthe question “What do we do once non-completers have left school?”

The “Transition Observatory” of the Peda-gogical Institute (Greek Ministry of Edu-cation) has been conducting school drop-out surveys for the past ten years and hasaccumulated valuable qualitative data oncompulsory education leavers. In 1995,ninety interviewers (all experiencedschool teachers) asked a nationwide rep-resentative sample of 1,450 dropouts,aged 15-17 years old, a variety of ques-tions concerning school attendance, edu-cational attainment, work involvementwhile in school and after dropping out,occupational aspirations and plans, andtraining needs. These questions led tosome interesting findings. Among them,we selected the following critical charac-teristics for discussing the therapy issue:

❏ Low socio-economic and educa-tional levels. Some dropouts faced ad-ditional problems related to sickness, di-vorced parents, parents’ death etc.

❏ Diversity in knowledge and skillbackground with varied basic knowledgedeficits, relative to vocational trainingprerequisites.

❏ Diversity in work experience. Thelarge majority of school leavers wereworking after leaving school as low-skilllabourers in construction, agriculture, au-tomobile maintenance and other services.

❏ Negative educational experiencesaccumulated while in school attributedmainly to marginal or sub par achieve-ment levels. Failure in mathematics, phys-ics and foreign language was the primaryincentive to leave school.

❏ Realistic occupational aspirations(relative to self awareness and labour mar-ket demand) were manifested in theirdeclared interest to overcome their seri-ous educational deficit, because a com-pulsory education leaving certificate isprerequisite to all formal training.

❏ Strong motivation to attend specialtraining courses was reinforced retroac-tively (following their low-level occupa-tional tenure) by the realization of theimportance of formal qualifications in theworld of work.

Based on these findings we concludedthat the design of special training coursesfor school leavers should seek the serv-ices and cooperation of several expertsexperienced in addressing such specialneeds as youth counseling, vocationalorientation and guidance, modularizedcurriculum development and local labourmarket analysis. In this framework, weproposed the following curriculum designprinciples (Paleocrassas et al, 1997):

❏ The structure of training courses mustbe modular. Open-learning, individual-ized instruction and tutoring schemesshould be considered as alternative deliv-ery methodologies or as components of acomposite didactic design, in order to facesuccessfully the diversified knowledge andskill background of the trainees.

❏ The structure of training courses mustbe transitional. Curriculum designs mustfacilitate interfacing with existing continu-ing training schemes (preferably thosewhich lead to formal qualification),thereby broadening the prospects ofschool leavers for further professionaldevelopment.

❏ Training courses must be integrated.As a result of the low self-esteem of thetrainees, because of school failure, thecourses must be comprehensive, integrat-ing remedial education, counseling, vo-cational skills and motivation developingcomponents.

Dear Editor,


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❏ Training courses must be contextua-lized. It is not wise to select school-based training and assessment schemesfor trainees who carry many negative ex-periences from formal schools. Com-mence the training with an apprentice-ship experience. This would contextual-ize learning in an authentic work envi-ronment, which will put the trainees ini-tially at ease and will motivate them forconsequent learning of theoretical con-cepts.

❏ Training courses must be tripartite-driven. Courses with low employmentprospects would undermine their effec-tiveness and credibility with schoolleavers. To minimize unemploymentrisks following graduation, local socialpartners must be involved with all aspectsof the design and delivery of training pro-grammes.

❏ Training programmes must be institu-tionalized. Informal and occasionaltraining provisions for school leavers arepseudo solutions, eventually leading todegeneration. Only institutionalization,in the framework of tripartite planning andcost sharing, will assure continuity andstability for such socially critical youthtargeting policies.

In conclusion, we subscribe to MarkBlaug’s final statement in his article:

“Once non-completers have left school,we need to draw them into vocationaltraining programmes that result in certifi-cates of competence.” And we add: Theseprogrammes must be carefully designedif they are to be effective in attracting andretaining school leavers and, most impor-tantly, in protecting them from social ex-clusion. Our research evidence also re-inforces Dr. Blaug’s concern that the is-sue of certification needs to be exploredfurther, if it is to facilitate rather than im-pede a solution for the problem “Whatare we going to do with school leavers?”

Stamatis Paleocrassas

Senior Researcher“Transition Observatory”Pedagogical [email protected]

(Paleocrassas, S. N., Rousseas, P. andVretakou, V. (1997). “Designing SpecialVocational Training Courses for SchoolDropouts: The Case of Greece”, Interna-tional Journal of Vocational Educationand Training, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 57-64.)


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Table of contentsThe Leonardo da Vinci programme (1995-1999) in Spain:Results of an evaluation report .............................................................................. 5Lorenzo Cachón RodríguezThe Leonardo da Vinci programme has had some impact on vocationaleducation and training in Spain

Training in the context of a reduction in working hours .............................. 17Jacques TrautmannThe idea that training time in itself amounts to a reduction in working time isnow a thing of the past.

Vocational education in the United States: reforms and results .................... 27Matthias KreysingWhile the latest attempt to establish one vocational training system has failed,the openness of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act implies a great chance forthe US to have many different regional and local models of vocational training.

Developing transnational placements as a didactic tool ................................ 36Søren KristensenThe present article tries to give an overview of the “state of the art” and toindicate pathways for future action in the field.

What can we learn from the use of qualificationswith a dual orientation across Europe? ............................................................. 45Sabine ManningCollaborative investigation of two European Leonardo da Vinci projectsidentifies some of the key lessons to be drawn from different schemes for andapproaches to qualifications with a dual orientation.

Towards learning for the future: some practical experiences ....................... 53Klaus HalfpapThree pilot projects lead to some key considerations for the development ofschools as ‘learning centres’

Virtual enterprises and vocational training ...................................................... 60Stefan KreherThe experience of the Leonardo da Vinci project ‘Virtual Enterprises in InitialVocational Training (ISIS)’ suggest that the innovative concept of virtualenterprises can be successfully implemented in vocational education andtraining.

Vocational training for professionalsin the field of equal opportunities for women ................................................. 68Julio Fernández Garrido, Luis Aramburu-Zabala HigueraIn 1990, the status of those responsible for equal opportunities was quiteprecarious. A decade later, the situation has changed significantly.

Reading

Reading selection .................................................................................................. 75


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LorenzoCachónRodríguezProfessor of SociologyUniversidadComplutensede Madrid

The Leonardo da Vinciprogramme (1995-1999)in Spain:Results of an evaluationreport

Introduction

Since the 1970s, the European Union hastaken a lead in vocational education. TheLeonardo da Vinci programme is part ofthis scenario, and has built on the vari-ous programmes carried out since themid-1980s (such as PETRA, Comett,FORCE, Eurotecnet, Lingua, etc.) underthe influence of the EU Treaty and the1993 white paper, Growth, Competitive-ness, Employment. In the Spanish con-text, the Leonardo programme was im-plemented at a time of far-reachingchanges in the vocational education sys-tem, brought about by adoption of the1990 Education Law (LOGSE), when Span-ish society was starting to pay increasingattention to the European dimension ofeducation and training.

The Leonardo da Vinciprogramme

On 6 December 1994, the Council of Min-isters adopted the Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme for the five-year period 1995-1999(Decision 94/819/EC, OJ L 340, 29 De-cember 1994). The programme set out topromote projects for the improvement ofquality and innovation in vocational train-ing in Europe. Among its aims were thefollowing:

a) improving the quality and capacity forinnovation of vocational training systems;

b) promoting lifelong learning in order tomeet the needs of workers and employ-ers;

c) promoting the learning of key skills andlanguage skills;

d) updating training to keep pace withsocial and technological changes;

e) using information technologies foropen and distance learning;

f) providing training for young peopleand adults who lacked education or wereat risk of social exclusion;

g) making qualifications transparent.

These broad aims were crystallised intofive programme priorities, which MemberStates applied in practical form withintheir respective territories:

a) learning of new skills;

b) closer collaboration between educationand training centres, and employers;

c) combating exclusion;

d) investment in human resources, and

e) widening access to knowledge by us-ing the tools of the information society inthe context of lifelong learning.

To apply these aims and priorities, theprogramme covered 23 types of action,grouped into three strands relating to bothinitial and continuing vocational training:

a) Strand 1: Supporting improved voca-tional training systems and measures inMember States.

The Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme was implementedin the period 1995-1999against a background of far-reaching changes in theSpanish vocational trainingsystem. This article looks atthe conclusions and recom-mendations of a reportcommissioned by the Span-ish authorities on theLeonardo da Vinci pro-gramme in Spain


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b) Strand 2: Supporting improved voca-tional training schemes of interest to bothemployers and workers, including coop-eration between universities and enter-prises.

c) Strand 3: Supporting the developmentof language skills and knowledge, and thedissemination of innovations in the fieldof vocational training.

To carry out the programme, each Mem-ber State set up its own institutions tocomplement those created at EuropeanCommunity level. In Spain, a steeringcommittee was established (the ‘LeonardoSteering Committee’) as was a nationalcoordinating body (the ‘Spanish Leonardoda Vinci Agency’). Members of the com-mittee were drawn from three sources:central government, the autonomous com-munities with competence for vocationaltraining, and the social partners. Duringthe final phase of the programme, it had25 members: two chairmen, one from theMinistry of Education and Culture, and theother from the Ministry of Labour andSocial Affairs; eight representatives of vari-ous decision-making agencies of the Min-istries of Labour and Social Affairs, andEducation and Culture; seven representa-tives of the Autonomous Communities;four representatives of employers’ organi-sations; and four representatives of tradeunion organisations). The most importantfunctions of the Steering Committee wereto approve and publicise at national levelinvitations to submit proposals under cer-tain schemes (specified in Decision 94/819/EC), and to act as a point of contactfor the Commission for consultation andinformation.

For the day-to-day management of theprogramme, the Steering Committee wasassisted by the Spanish Leonardo da VinciAgency. In response to a proposal madeby the Spanish Government, the Commis-sion appointed the company Tecnologíay Gestión de la Innovación S.A. (TGI) todischarge the responsibilities of thatagency. The company started working asthe Spanish Leonardo Agency in April1995, and retained that position through-out the first phase of the programme. Itsfunctions were laid down contractually bythe European Commission, and related es-sentially to operations, facilitation, dis-semination and publicity.

Vocational trainingin Spain

For an understanding of the changes thathave occurred in vocational education andtraining in Spain in recent years, someattention should be paid to the profoundtransformation of industry and the labourmarket over the last twenty years. The cri-sis experienced by Western economiesthat began in the mid-1970s, the economicgrowth in times of expansion, the open-ing-up of the market and the internalchanges within enterprises, both techno-logical and organisational, produced far-reaching changes in the commercialeconomy and in the qualifications andskills of the labour force. The demandsmade on the education system by indus-try have changed radically during this pe-riod.

The educational reforms undertaken inSpain in recent years need to be seen fromtwo angles: firstly, as a process of evolu-tion within the education system itself, inresponse to the inclusion in the Constitu-tion of the right to education and in rec-ognition of the shortcomings which hadbeen holding the system back, especiallyin the fields of vocational training anduniversity education; and secondly, as anattempt to respond to the new and press-ing demands being made on the educa-tion system by industry. The EducationLaw (LOGSE) 1990, which laid down ageneral framework for the education sys-tem, preceded by the University ReformLaw (LRU) 1983, played a fundamentalpart in this restructuring of the Spanisheducation system.

LOGSE embodied the broad consensusreached through wide public debate onthe new shape to be taken by the Span-ish education system. The law sought toremedy a number of structural problemsand shortcomings in the education sys-tem then in force (which had been laiddown in the General Education Law 1970),such as the lack of educational provisionbefore the age of compulsory schooling;the misfit between the end of compul-sory schooling (14 years) and the mini-mum age of legal responsibility (16 years);the existence of two forms of certifica-tion at the end of general basic educa-tion; the general perception of vocational


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education as an excessively school-basedalternative type of education disconnectedand far removed from the world of work;the design of the bachillerato secondaryleaving certificate as a first step towardsuniversity; and the mismatch between thedemand for intermediate-level specialisttechnicians from industry and the supplyof graduates leaving universities.

LOGSE therefore split education into fourmajor stages: 1) pre-school education; 2)compulsory primary and secondary edu-cation (both compulsory and free); 3)post-compulsory secondary education:bachillerato and intermediate vocationaltraining; and 4) higher education: univer-sity and higher vocational training (seetable).

Before LOGSE, vocational education andtraining (VET) in the school context suf-fered in Spain from a failure to meet therequirements of industry, from thecompartmentalisation of the various VETsystems, from want of labour recognition,and from a certain lack of social prestige.LOGSE ‘ushers in a far-reaching reformof vocational education and training …in the knowledge that this is one of theproblems of the current education systemwhich require thorough-going and urgentresolution, and that this is an area of theutmost importance for the future of oureconomy’.

LOGSE set up a single vocational educa-tion and training system comprising regu-lated or initial VET within the educationsystem, occupational VET and continuingVET. It therefore stipulated (in Article 30)that ‘vocational education and trainingshall comprise all those courses which,within the education system and governedby this Law, provide training for the com-petent performance of the various occu-pations. It shall also include those otheroccupational vocational training activitieswhich, being directed at continuing train-ing in enterprises and at entry or re-entryto the labour market by workers, are pro-vided through occupational vocationaltraining governed by its own system ofstandards. The public authorities shallensure coordination between both typesof vocational education and training’.

Box 1.LOGSE introduced the principle of edu-cation and training throughout life, i.e.

lifelong learning. It states in the pream-ble that ‘the rapid pace of cultural, tech-nological and economic change faces uswith the need for frequent realignmentand updating, and for new skills. Educa-tion and training will acquire a fuller di-mension than they have had in the past,

Table

Structure of the Spanish education system since 1990and its relationship with the labour market

6

12

1

13

14

15

16

17

18

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Pre-school education(2 three-year-cycles)

Primary education(3 two-year-cycles)

Compulsory secondary education

(2 two-year-cycles that include curricula of basic vocational training)

Bachillerato“Social guarantee

programmes”

Intermediatevocational training

University

1st cycle

2nd cycle

3rd cycle

Higher vocational training

Lab

ou

r m

ark

et

*

*

*

*

(*) Entrance exam or exam to obtain diploma


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will extend beyond the period of life towhich they have been restricted until now,will embrace those with previous workexperience, and will alternate with em-ployment. Education will be lifelong, andthe Law therefore proclaims it so to be,stipulating that it shall be the basic prin-ciple of the education system’. The Lawthen states (in Article 2.1) that ‘the edu-cation system shall have lifelong educa-tion as its basic principle. To this end, itshall prepare pupils to learn for them-selves and shall assist adults to take partin different forms of learning’.

LOGSE set out to foster the involvementof the social actors in the design and plan-ning and in the evaluation of courses, es-pecially in the field of vocational educa-tion and practical training at the work-place. Besides ensuring continuity fromthe discussions held before the Law wasadopted, this stimulated the active par-ticipation of all social actors in all fieldsof VET.

One of the major challenges posed byLOGSE was the renewal of the content oftraining. Following a methodology newto Spain, occupational areas of industrywere defined from sectoral studies, andthe various occupational profiles weregrouped into 20 families. These occupa-tional profiles were collated in a ‘List ofJob Titles’, comprising 135 titles, 74 ofwhich are at higher technician level, and61 at technician level. Specific skill unitsand associated training models were iden-tified for each job title. This list of jobtitles needs to be revised periodically tokeep abreast of changes in the world ofwork. In parallel, the Ministry of Labourand Social Affairs, through the NationalInstitute of Employment, drew up an ‘In-dex of Vocational Certificates’, which liststhe certificates awarded at the end of oc-cupational VET (it currently contains 110vocational certificates).

The current challenge facing governmentbodies and the social partners in this fieldis to construct a ‘national system of voca-tional qualifications’, as can be seen inthe 2nd National Vocational Training pro-gramme.

The consultative instrument for the insti-tutions involved in VET, which advises thegovernment, is the General Council for

Vocational Training. This was set up in1986 and comprises the autonomous com-munities and the social partners, as wellas central government.

Matching VET to the needs and demandsof the labour market, from the perspec-tive of both employers and workers, hasbeen a concern of growing importancebetween the social partners. The 1984‘Economic and Social Agreement’ (ESA)referred already to the ‘remoteness of VETfrom the genuine needs of the workforce’in Spain. The last pact signed in this field,on 19 December 1996, stressed that ‘vo-cational training is a key factor both forthe proper functioning of the labour mar-ket and the creation of employment, andfor the social and occupational advance-ment of workers and the effective devel-opment of equal opportunities. It is alsoan essential factor in the competitivenessof business and the quality of services andproducts.’ The signing of the ESA wasfollowed by the establishment of the Gen-eral Council for Vocational Training andthe drafting of the 1st national programmefor occupational training and employment(FIP Plan) a few months before Spainjoined the European Community. Anumber of agreements reached in the1990s under the auspices of LOGSE madeit possible to exploit the benefits of thatlaw by involving the social actors fully inthe field of vocational training at variouslevels, and ensuring that it is they thatmanage continuing vocational trainingthrough FORCEM (Fundación para laFormación Continuada en la Empresa –foundation for in-company continuingtraining).

The Leonardo da Vinci programme wasimplemented in the period 1995-1999against this background of far-reachingchanges in the Spanish vocational train-ing system.

An assessment of theLeonardo da Vinciprogramme (1995-1999)in Spain

Decision 94/819/EC provided that beforethe first phase of the programme expiredon 31␣ December 1999, the national au-thorities should deliver a report to the


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Commission on how the programme hadbeen implemented and evaluating its im-pact in a number of areas. In October,the Spanish authorities commissioned ateam of sociologists at the UniversidadComplutense de Madrid to draw up thisreport on the Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme in Spain according to a set ofrequirements and a scheme laid down bythe offices of the European Commission.1

The remarks that follow give a fair im-pression of the conclusions and recom-mendations reached in that report.

Conclusions on general aspects of theprogramme

The Leonardo da Vinci programme, likeother Community programmes and initia-tives, may be important for the part theyplay in building Europe, as well as forthe results achieved in terms of their spe-cific objectives. In the case of Leonardoda Vinci, despite the limited resources al-located to the programme, it can be statedthat it has made an effective contributionto this process of ‘creating Europe’. It hasdone so in at least three ways: firstly,through the direct effects of the objec-tives of the programme itself; secondly,through the indirect impact of such meas-ures as placements and exchanges, whichact as a sounding board for the pro-gramme; and thirdly, because the pro-gramme has revealed current obstacles tothe building of Europe (such as the lackof recognition of qualifications across theEU), and has served as a stimulus to over-coming these.

The Leonardo da Vinci programme hasbeen well received in Spanish society.This is evident from the fact that some800 promoters put forward 3,098 projectsin the five-year period 1995-1998. It is thuswell established, but among a limitedgroup of promoters (as is demonstratedby the fact that only just over 200 pro-moters did not have any of their projectsapproved). The following factors havecontributed to the establishment of theprogramme:

a) Experience of previous Communityprogrammes (such as Comett, Eurotecnet,FORCE, PETRA, Lingua);

b) The role played by the authorities inpublicising the programme;

c) Growing awareness among the socialpartners and the actors involved in VETin Spain; and

d) The development of a large networkof technical support services (in institu-tions, trade unions and employers’ or-ganisations), and of specialised consul-tancies.

Twelve per cent of the 7 054 projects ap-proved under the programme throughoutEurope between 1995 and 1998 were pro-posed by Spain; in terms of resources, thisaccounted for 10% of the total (EUR 52million out of EUR 513 million). Over thewhole period 1995-1999, Spain put for-ward 3 098 projects, of which 1 023 wereapproved, i.e. 33% of those proposed.Sixty-one per cent of the projects ap-proved fell under placements and ex-changes under strand I, followed by pilotprojects under the same chapter (12%),placements and exchanges (11%) and pi-lot projects (10%) under strand II, andsurveys and analyses under strand III(3%). Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia and theCommunity of Valencia accounted for overhalf of the projects approved. A total of 9143 persons benefited from placementsand exchanges under Strand I, and 3 129persons under strand II. Andalusia, Cata-lonia and Madrid accounted for half ofthe beneficiaries under strand I, andCastille and León and the Community ofValencia for the majority of beneficiariesunder strand II.

The fact that the programme built on ex-perience of the main action lines underprogrammes such as Comett, Eurotecnet,Force, Petra and Lingua, and set out todraw these together, meant that Leonardowas extremely complex and rigid in itsobjectives.2

The experiences of mobility (placementsand exchanges) which the programme en-couraged throughout the five-year periodshowed up a number of institutional fac-tors which require further attention withinthe EU, such as inadequate recognitionof qualifications, the need to simplify for-malities hampering the free movement ofworkers (e.g. the need to apply for a resi-dency permit if the intended visit is longerthan three months), and insufficient har-monisation of legislation on security ofemployment.

(1) In the preparation of the report,besides a review of the documenta-tion available from various sources, apostal survey (UCM-LdV-99 Survey)was conducted among all the promot-ers with projects approved during thefive-year period (599) and a selectionof promoters whose projects had notbeen approved (224). A total of 173replies were received from promot-ers with projects (these had run a to-tal of 545 of the 1,023 projects ap-proved in Spain over this period).Forty personal interviews were alsoconducted with experts who had beeninvolved in the programme (from vari-ous government departments, tradeunions, employers’ organisations, spe-cialists, promoters, etc.).Work in progress was presented inNovember to a meet ing of theLeonardo Steering Committee inSpain. The first draft of the report wasdiscussed with the authorities at theMinistries of Education and Cultture,and Labour and Social Affairs, and asecond draft was presented at a meet-ing of a working group of the Steer-ing committee before the final versionwas submitted to the national authori-ties and the European Commission.The report will be published shortlyby the Ministry of Labour and SocialAffairs: L. Cachón (ed.), Informe sobreel Programa Leonardo da Vinci (1995-1999) en España, Madrid, 30 Decem-ber 1999.

(2) The Council Decision of 26 April1999 setting up the second phase ofthe Leonardo da Vinci programmesimplifed these objectives.

“In the case of Leonardo daVinci, despite the limited re-sources allocated to theprogramme, it can be statedthat it has made an effec-tive contribution to thisprocess of ‘creating Eu-rope’.”


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In the case of pilot projects3 and surveysand analyses, satisfactory formal comple-tion was often not accompanied by sub-sequent follow-up, which would haveenabled the results to be disseminatedadequately and would have created a‘Leonardo effect’ on VET in Spain andEurope.

Conclusions on the functioning of theprogramme

The UCM-LdV-99 Survey4 asked promot-ers to evaluate the three levels of gov-ernment responsible for implementing theprogramme (the European Commission,and the national and autonomous gov-ernments), and the two agencies respon-sible for administering the programme(the Technical Assistance Office (TAO)and the Spanish Agency) under five dif-ferent headings: information, evaluationand selection of projects, technical sup-port, reasons given for decisions, andmanagement. They were asked to describethe performance of each institution in thefields for which it had some responsibil-ity on a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best).Hence, the mid-point (3) could be said tomean ‘satisfactory’. The average scoresacross all the functions surveyed gave thefollowing results: the best score (3.7) wasachieved by the Spanish Agency, followedby the national government (3.1), theCommission and the autonomous govern-ments (2.9), and finally the TAO (2.8).

The overall administration of the pro-gramme scored a ‘fail’ (2.7) in the periodcovered, and a bare ‘satisfactory’ (3) in thereasons given for selection. There was re-peated criticism of excessive bureaucracyand ‘paperwork’. In this area, a distinctioncan be made between the performance ofthe Spanish Agency, which was seen tobe better, and that of ‘Brussels’. The dan-ger that arose from these excessive bureau-cratic demands was that promoters of goodprojects would lose faith in the programmeand not take part in it.

With reference to the functioning of theprogramme at Community level, thoseinterviewed stated that the Commissionsurrendered too much responsibility to theTAO (until 1998), and that Spain had lit-tle presence in the Community LeonardodaVinci Committee. The TAO, for its part,was failed by the promoters in the UCM-

LdV-99 Survey and was much criticisedfor excessive bureaucracy, lack of trans-parency in its management, lack of sup-port for projects, lack of coordination be-tween its departments, lack of informa-tion about its functions and structures,excessive centralisation in its managementof projects, lack of communication withpromoters, and lack of clarity about qual-ity criteria in the selection of projects.

There was some confusion about certainresponsibilities and functions of the in-stitutions set up in Spain, on account ofthe ‘appropriation’ of the Leonardo daVinci ‘brand name’ by the Spanish Agencyand the identification of this brand namewith (the name of) the company manag-ing the programme. The Leonardo daVinci Steering Committee did act as a use-ful platform for dialogue, even though itwas highly centralised because of the rela-tive predominance of the Ministries ofEducation and Culture, and of Labour andSocial Affairs, over the autonomous com-munities and the social actors. The Span-ish Agency received a good score fromthe promoters, but much more criticismfrom the decision-makers and experts in-terviewed, who pointed, for example, toa lack of transparency in the appointmentof the company TGI in this capacity, theassumption by the agency of functionsproper to the steering committee, and theremoteness of the agency from govern-ment bodies with responsibility for VET.

Many of those interviewed suggestedchanges in three aspects of the manage-ment model for the programme in Spain:

a) there were varied opinions as towhether the management should still bein the hands of a private company orshould pass to a public or tripartite body.

b) possible decentralisation of the man-agement of the programme in Spain tothe autonomous communities: while therewere two main positions, those who pre-ferred the centralised model, and thosewho preferred decentralisation, an opin-ion shared quite widely was that the au-tonomous communities should play amore active part in the management ofthe programme.

c) greater clarity in the relations betweenthe agency and the committee, whereby

(3) There is no definition properlyspeaking of pilot projects. The con-cept of pilot projects appears for thefirst time in the annex to the CouncilDecision of 6 December 1994 estab-lishing an action programme for theimplementation of a European Com-munity vocational training policy (94/819/EC). The text of the Decision canbe found at: http://europa.eu.int/c o m m / e d u c a t i o n / l e o n a r d o /94819en.doc. For general informationconsult the site of the DG for Educa-tion and Culture for Leonardo I: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/leonardo_old.html.

(4) See note 1.

“The overall administrationof the programme scored a‘fail’ (…) in the period cov-ered, and a bare ‘satisfac-tory’ (…) in the reasonsgiven for selection. Therewas repeated criticism ofexcessive bureaucracy and‘paperwork’.”


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the latter should be more involved in thedevelopment of the programme: the pro-posals made about management by thoseinterviewed generally tended in one di-rection – less bureaucracy and more re-sources.

There were (and these are indicated inthe UCM-LdV-99 Survey and in the inter-views) some problems with the function-ing of the agency:

a) interviewees stated management hadimproved over the years but there werecurrently a number of problems relatingto shortage of staff, staff rotation and lackof staff training;

b) the overall picture of dissemination andpublic relations was positive in relationto information about the programme, butnegative in relation to dissemination ofthe results of projects;

c) in respect of support for promoters, itwas stated that too much emphasis wasplaced on formal matters, with a lack ofattention to the aims of projects and thequality of their outcomes; and

d) those interviewed stated that in theevaluation of projects, the selection andtraining of evaluators was good but notentirely satisfactory; that the criteria ap-plied in evaluation left evaluators toomuch room for subjective discretion; andthat there were problems in the relation-ship between the form and content ofprojects. This last point hinted at the ma-jor problem of projects which were wellpresented formally because they had beenprepared by outside consultants, but saidnothing about the willingness of the or-ganisation in question to carry suchprojects through.

The visibility of the programme – giventhe volume of resources devoted to it –was acceptable and growing, but was farfrom providing a clear image of its aims.People who were well-informed knewthat there was a Community programmecalled Leonardo, but most of them couldnot define its objectives. In the world ofeducation, it was well-known at an insti-tutional level, but in grassroots educa-tional establishments it was only wellenough known among professionals whotook part in specific information networks.

It was not known in the world of busi-ness.

The programme was poorly representedon the Internet in Spain. The web pagefor the programme in Spain did nothingto aid the visibility of the programme orthe dissemination of the results. It did nothelp to increase visibility because its ad-dress did not contain the name ‘Leonardoda Vinci’, merely that of the companymanaging the Spanish Agency; it did notindicate the relationship between theagency and the steering committee; it wasdifficult to find; the information which itcontained was fragmented; some informa-tion was not updated; and it did not fa-cilitate contact with and between projects.Further, neither the ministries responsi-ble nor most of the autonomous commu-nities gave information about the pro-gramme on their websites. Moreover, itwas pointed out that the electronic ad-dresses of the agency were personalnames, which equally did little to improvethe institutional image of the programme.

Conclusions on the impact of the pro-gramme

Because of the complexity of the aims ofthe Leonardo da Vinci programme, andthe facts that the first phase only ran forfive years, many of its projects (especially,but not solely, those of 1999) were still inthe development stage when the evalua-tion of the programme was carried out,and no specific analysis had been doneon the results and impacts of the projects(no ex-post evaluation), it was difficult,on the basis of documentary evidence, toreach an assessment of the possible im-pact of the programme on VET in Spainand in Europe. All the decision-makersand experts interviewed agreed on this.However, from their skilled opinions andthose of the promoters of the projects,some indication can be found of the in-fluence of Leonardo da Vinci on VET inSpain.

The Leonardo da Vinci programme wasdesigned as a tool for preparation for the21st century, by way of raising the qualityand innovative capacity of vocationaltraining systems, since both quality andinnovation are factors essential to themanagement of change in technology andthe economy, and of their repercussions

“The visibility of the pro-gramme – given the volumeof resources devoted to it –was acceptable and grow-ing, but was far from pro-viding a clear image of itsaims.”

“The programme waspoorly represented on theInternet in Spain. The webpage for the programme inSpain did nothing to aid thevisibility of the programmeor the dissemination of theresults.”


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on the organisation of work and the com-petitiveness of business in our age. Its aimwas to promote projects to improve thequality and innovativeness of vocationaltraining in Europe, adding value to na-tional training systems, and guaranteeingpromotion and dissemination of what isbest in each system. One promotersummed this up forcefully as follows:

‘I believe that Leonardo only needs tofulfil one objective: to be a laboratoryof innovation in VET; if it achieves thisone goal, then it will be meaningfulto call it the Leonardo programme’(C162).

Hence, investigation of the impact on thequality of training systems is an essentialrequirement. The programme may be help-ing to enhance the quality of the contentof VET along the lines which this has beenfollowing in Spain since the adoption ofLOGSE. Seventy per cent of the promotersof projects mentioned various fields of VETin which quality might be raised by devel-opment of materials, exchange of experi-ences, inclusion of the European dimen-sion in the content of training, creation ofnetworks, or improvement of relationsbetween training centres and enterprises.The majority of the decision-makers andexperts interviewed stated that the pro-gramme was having a positive impact, al-though this was limited in the area of qual-ity of training. It would have more posi-tive effects if government bodies made useof and publicised the results of the projects.One aspect on which there was unanimousagreement was the positive impact ofplacements and exchanges projects on thequality of VET. Under these schemes, theimmediate benefits accrue to the peopletaking part in the projects, but these ben-efits are multiplied by dissemination of theexperiences of the participants themselves,with the result that a ‘knock-on effect’ isachieved in the VET system.

The programme set out to help to enhancethe economic competitiveness of the EUin the context of the information society,to foster growth that would produce moreemployment, to keep pace with changesin the economy, to support Communityaction in favour of small and medium-sized enterprises, and to strengthen re-search and development skills. The im-pact of the programme on the relation-

ship between training and enterprisesstarted from a varied situation: while 18%of promoters of pilot projects consideredthat the relationship between enterprisesand the training centres in their vicinitywas good before they took part in theprogramme, 24% indicated that this rela-tionship was non-existent, and the remain-der took a view somewhere in between.The UCM-LdV-99 Survey provided someclear results in this field: 33% of promot-ers felt that the programme had had a‘very positive’ effect on this relationship,and another 40% judged it ‘positive’, ei-ther because of the exchanges which ithad encouraged or because of innovationin methodologies and content of training.Three quarters of the promoters stated thatthey had concrete information derivedfrom their projects which allowed themto state that the programme had a posi-tive influence on the relationship betweentraining and enterprises. Although the pro-gramme was far from having achieved aninfluence on the world of business, itcould be said that it contributed tostrengthening the links between thatworld and the world of training. Therewas broad agreement that the programmehad also helped to exploit the presenceof the social partners in VET and had en-couraged the involvement of new actors.Among the persons interviewed there wasfierce disagreement about the role playedby consultants in the preparation and im-plementation of projects. The majorityagreed that this should be limited to sup-port and technical assessment, and thatconsultants should not replace promot-ers in the management and implementa-tion of projects.

The Leonardo da Vinci programme aimedto strengthen economic and social cohe-sion in the EU, to promote equality ofopportunities, and to encourage activecitizenship. One promoter pointed to thepotential of one of the dimensions ofLeonardo da Vinci for a particular targetgroup (not the most usual) with specialneeds:

‘The Leonardo programme can providesupport which complements VET sincein most cases it helps the beneficiar-ies to take a more practical view ofthe situation in which they are work-ing or studying. This effect is greatestif the group to which the project is

“The majority of the deci-sion-makers and expertsinterviewed stated that theprogramme was having apositive impact, althoughthis was limited in the areaof quality of training.”

“Three quarters of the pro-moters stated that they hadconcrete information de-rived from their projectswhich allowed them to statethat the programme had apositive influence on the re-lationship between trainingand enterprises.”


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addressed has special needs for entryinto employment, which is the caseamong the disabled’ (C176).

The largest target groups to which projectswere addressed were workers (in gen-eral), educators, VET students, universitystudents, young people (in general), de-cision-makers and managers of human re-sources, and groups suffering from ex-clusion. Other far less common targetgroups were women and workers with in-adequate qualifications. Such widely vary-ing groups had different gaps in theireducation and training. The programmehad a limited impact on access to train-ing, and on improving access among thesespecific target groups. This impact wasproduced above all through the develop-ment of tools and methodologies andthrough the planning of specific trainingactivities. A few promoters and interview-ees pointed to a positive influence of theprogramme on equality between womenand men in the field of VET.

The programme aimed to give addedvalue through transnational cooperationbetween actors and operators in MemberStates, and to contribute to the develop-ment of a policy of cooperation with thirdcountries, particularly the countries ofcentral and eastern Europe, Cyprus andMalta. Transnational cooperation and theEuropean dimension formed one of thebasic features of the programme, beingboth one of its preconditions and one ofits most visible consequences. Over 90%of promoters stated that the programmehad enabled them to learn more aboutthe situation of VET in the rest of the EU,and had helped to improve the bases formutual recognition of qualifications andskills throughout the Community. Thepromoters regarded the experience of co-operation with partners in other countriesas clearly beneficial because it contrib-uted to the creation or strengthening ofstable networks in the field of VET atCommunity level. The small promoters –especially those taking part in the pro-gramme for the first time – found it diffi-cult to find partners with whom to putforward their projects.

The experience of transnational mobilitygained through the arrangements forplacements and exchanges within the pro-gramme deserved very positive comment.

These schemes gave participants new so-cial skills for their personal and workinglives, raised their self-esteem, assistedthem to find work, and helped them toget to know new types of work and topractise the occupational and languageskills which they acquired. Many promot-ers not only stated that placements andexchanges had improved participants’chances of finding work, but also that theprogramme was helping to raise the de-mand for mobility and the importancegiven in the selection of staff to experi-ences of this type. This positive assess-ment was moderated by the budgetary re-strictions of the programme and the lackof recognition of non-university qualifi-cations across the EU.

While the basic goal of the Leonardo daVinci programme was innovation in thefield of vocational training, what givesmeaning to such innovation is the dissemi-nation of its results so that it can spreadthroughout the training network, multi-plying its effects both in vocational train-ing systems and in the world of business.One expert summed up as follows theneed for dissemination in the programme:

‘Leonardo is as though you said: I carryout an experiment and discover amiracle drug, but it is useless unless Ihave a laboratory from which to manu-facture and market it’ (E2).

Dissemination of results was probably theworst aspect of the programme. It is acrucial issue because, since the pro-gramme aimed to encourage innovationin the field of VET in Europe, the dis-semination if its results should have beenone of its key elements. The results havein fact been disseminated: most of thepromoters stated they were doing so, andthat activities had been carried out to thatend, but this dissemination was generallyconsidered poor and ineffective. The ex-planation for this lack of effectiveness iscomplicated. In the case of the bodiesresponsible, it may range from a lack ofthe requisite professional and organisa-tional ability, among the national agen-cies, to the want of an appropriate strat-egy and a lack of interest in the questionon the part of the Spanish Agency. In thecase of the promoters, the reasons for lim-ited dissemination may have been thefollowing:

“The programme had a lim-ited impact on access totraining, and on improvingaccess among these spe-cific target groups. Thisimpact was producedabove all through the devel-opment of tools and meth-odologies and through theplanning of specific train-ing activities.”

“(…) promoters regardedthe experience of coopera-tion with partners in othercountries as clearly benefi-cial because it contributedto the creation or strength-ening of stable networks inthe field of VET at Commu-nity level.”


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❏ Financial problems: when promotersare obliged to make cuts because of budg-etary constraints, they do so in the areaof dissemination. As the interim NationalReport stated, ‘very few projects havedefined a clear strategy and set asidefunds specifically for dissemination. It isalso likely that, because of budget cuts,the promoters of projects will spend lesson this type of activity’.

❏ Administrative obstacles: when promot-ers wish to disseminate their results, theyencounter administrative obstacles whichmake this more difficult. Disseminationfaces problems of copyright, since co-funding complicates the ownership ofpublished outcomes, and this affects howthey will be used. One person statedroundly that ‘there is great stress on in-tellectual property rights. But since it ispublic institutions which are involved,intellectual property should be shared’(E34).

❏ Difficulties with partners: these arisein some cases, either in the implementa-tion of the project or in the subsequentuse of its outcomes.

❏ Difficulties in making contact withchannels of publication (such as the pressand specialist journals).

❏ Lack of motivation for finalising theproject: it should be borne in mind thatdissemination takes place at the end of aproject, when there may be some loss ofmotivation. This can add to problems as-sociated with inadequate funding andadministrative and legal difficulties, lead-ing to inadequate dissemination of out-comes by promoters, so that the resultsremain on a shelf or in a box.

❏ The problem of transferability of re-sults, because of the particular nature ofthe outcomes.

The consequences of this poor dissemi-nation were harmful to the programme.Its results did not become sufficiently wellknown, and projects were in danger ofduplicating one another. There is littleexcuse for poor dissemination in the ageof the Internet: the limited use made ofthis medium is extraordinary in a pro-gramme of which one of the principalaims was innovation.

Some tentativerecommendations

On the basis of the First Leonardo pro-gramme in Spain and the interviews con-ducted with decision-makers and experts,the team which produced the Spanish re-port made a series of recommendationsto the Commission as possible areas forreflection by the authorities and the agen-cies responsible for the programme. Theserecommendations were arranged in fiveblocks, each of which was headed by apair of key words: 1) ‘resources and ob-jectives’; 2) ‘agencies and functions’; 3)‘functioning and transparency’; 4) ‘pro-moters and partners’ and 5) ‘dissemina-tion and the Internet’.

Resources and objectives

❏ Increase the funding for the pro-gramme.

❏ Increase the funding for the projectsapproved under the programme in orderto improve its implementation, and thequality of projects.

❏ Raise the budget precepts for some as-pects of projects (e.g. to facilitate visitsby teachers and tutors to countries wherework placements are arranged).

❏ Stress improvement of equality of op-portunities between women and men inthe field of VET.

❏ Give greater attention to those projectswhich, while meeting the aims of the pro-gramme, are addressed to groups at a par-ticular disadvantage in the labour market,and move away from the tendency to fo-cus on the less disadvantaged (such asthose with a university education).

Agencies and functions

❏ Decentralise all possible functions tonational institutions by applying the prin-ciple of subsidiarity to management. Thiswould mean passing responsibility formanagement from ‘Brussels’ to nationalinstitutions so that projects can be fol-lowed up and supported more closely andmore easily. The Commission would re-tain, in addition to its other functions, theability (and the obligation) to supervise

“The consequences of (…)poor dissemination wereharmful to the programme.Its results did not becomesufficiently well known, andprojects were in danger ofduplicating one another.”


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the overall conduct of the programme andprojects.

❏ Improve the coordination between theinstitutions managing the programme inBrussels and Spain.

❏ The management model adopted at na-tional level should be discussed andagreed within the Leonardo da Vinci com-mittee (and, where relevant, within thegeneral council for vocational training) be-tween central government (the ministriesof labour and social affairs, and educa-tion and culture), the autonomous com-munities, and the social partners.

❏ Maintain the two levels of steeringcommittee and national agency which ob-tained in the first phase of the programme,but with a more clearly established rela-tionship between them in everyday mat-ters as well as broader issues.

❏ There is no wish to pronounce on thepublic versus private nature of the na-tional agency because this depends onfactors which are not strictly technical innature. However, it is proper to recom-mend that when the national agency isappointed, it should have clear functions,which should be associated with day-to-day management. The formulation ofpolicy and strategies should be a matterfor the steering committee. Similarly, itshould be established clearly that theagency is subject to the decisions andguidance of the Committee.

❏ Make greater use of the regional levelthroughout the management of the pro-gramme. Ways should be found to enableregional management structures to be cre-ated with the participation of the autono-mous governments, subject to coordina-tion by the steering committee (in the caseof guidelines for the programme in Spain)and of the national agency (in that of day-to-day management). If management can-not be regionalised in this manner, waysshould be found to enable the Autono-mous Communities to play a more effec-tive part in the implementation of the pro-gramme.

Functioning and transparency

❏ Make the institutions of the pro-gramme, at both Community and national

level and, where relevant, regional level,more transparent for promoters and us-ers: who’s who, who does what in whichbody, and contact addresses, should beclearly shown and regularly updated onthe Internet.

❏ Make the administration of the pro-gramme more flexible.

❏ Increase contacts and communicationbetween the agencies responsible andpromoters, once projects are approved.

❏ Improve the evaluation of projects pro-posed, both in Brussels and in Spain, withthe aim of reducing subjectivity and giv-ing priority to the substance of projectsand the characteristics of the promotersrather than to formal presentation.

❏ Improve the information distributedabout the quality criteria required ofprojects.

❏ Require agencies which reject projectproposals to give fuller reasons.

❏ Improve the mechanisms for selectionand training of evaluators, both in Brus-sels and in Spain, so that only those per-sons are appointed who have adequateknowledge of vocational training systemsand some experience in the field.

❏ Permit the submission of pre-projectsso that the entire negotation procedurefor project selection is more flexible forpromoters, even though selection has tobe organised in ‘two rounds’.

❏ Reduce bureaucratic procedures to theindispensable minimum administrativesteps.

❏ Reduce the number of instalments inwhich payments are made to promoters.

Promoters and partners

❏ Improve the arrangements for findingpartners, at both Community and nationallevel.

❏ Open special lines of support for smallpromoters and organisations, coveringvarious aspects: how to find partners,project implementation, and accountingfor expenditure.


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❏ Make greater use of, or establish,transnational networks for cooperationbetween employers and training centres.

❏ Foster the creation and strengtheningof networks of partners in specific areas.

❏ Introduce flexible arrangements to re-move a partner if it is hindering the im-plementation of the project or if it is notplaying an active part in it.

Dissemination and the Internet

❏ Make the Internet a real means of man-aging and publicising the programme, andof disseminating programme and projectoutcomes.

❏ Create a ‘virtual Leonardo da Vinci mu-seum’ for the entire programme accessi-ble via the Internet, and linked with ‘vir-tual Leonardo da Vinci museums’ in eachMember State (and, where relevant, eachEuropean region). This museum shouldmake it possible to give a well-structuredaccount, based on clear descriptors, of theoutcomes of the Pilot Projects, of the Sur-veys and Analyses, and of the otherLeonardo schemes, with the possibility ofdirect links to promoters and their projects.

❏ Create a Leonardo da Vinci website inSpain directly dependent on the steeringcommittee, with links from and to the min-istries involved, the competent autono-mous governments, the training agenciesrun by the social partners, and the Na-tional Agency.

❏ Contractually oblige all promoters (ofpilot projects and surveys and analyses)to publish at least basic information abouttheir projects and about the results ofthose projects on the Internet, and if itshould not prove feasible to impose thisrequirement, the authorities should pub-lish this information automatically.

❏ Establish links between the web pagesof the Community programmes, and be-tween these and national and independ-ent programmes of VET.

❏ Establish as the e-mail address of theprogramme in Spain one single addressidentifiable from the name, with the pro-gramme including official references tothis address only or to the various func-tions.

❏ Hold meetings on the programme inthe various autonomous communities(with the participation of experts fromthroughout the state and from other coun-tries), and set up forums to discuss keyissues relating to the programme.

❏ Create a ‘Leonardo da Vinci Library’bringing together the documents and thebest reports prepared under the pro-gramme. This collection could be pub-lished by some of the ministries involvedin the programme under the auspices ofthe Steering Committee. This ‘Leonardoda Vinci Library’ could be the product ofcompetitions arranged by the committeeto disseminate the best practice of the pro-gramme itself.

❏ Publish a Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme journal in Spain, to appear at leastat six-monthly intervals, open to all pro-moters, to report on the experiences ofthe activit ies carried out under theprojects, and to facilitate exchanges ofideas, information and contacts betweenpromoters. The journal should be pub-lished on the Internet, as well as in paperform.

❏ Set up arrangements, in cooperationwith the employers’ and trade union or-ganisations in the sector, to publicise theresults of the programme among enter-prises.

❏ Establish a scheme to follow up projectoutcomes within the National Qualifica-tions Institute to examine the uses whichmight be made of the various VET sub-systems in Spain, and to link those re-sponsible for administering each sub-sys-tem directly with those running projects.

❏ Make greater use of the media to pub-licise the programme and the projects.


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JacquesTrautmannLecturer at BETACéreq, UniversitéLouis Pasteur deStrasbourg

Introduction

The interest being shown in training timein France has been particularly topicalsince recent legislation reopened the is-sue of a reduction in weekly workinghours. The second Aubry Act, promul-gated in January 2000, laid the basis for anew relationship between working timeand the time devoted to continuing voca-tional training, some of which may hence-forward be expected to take place during“leisure” time. But the issue of the bal-ance between training time and workingtime has been around for a long time.Thirty years ago it was the subject of ne-gotiations between the social partners,and between them and government. Ouraim is to show, through a sociologicalexamination of the way in which time isstructured for different social purposes,that training time was at first part of anattempt to reduce working time, but thatthis may now be giving way to an attemptto manage the social uses of time in or-der to make more hours available fortraining1.

It is impossible to talk about the timeavailable for training the active popula-tion, i.e. those in the labour market (ei-ther employed or unemployed), withoutconsidering working time, which is thispopulation’s central activity. Training isan occasional and indeed an exceptionalevent, which is not usually part of peo-ple’s everyday activities, or in otherwords, the time devoted to training mustbe taken away from their other activities.It upsets the usual arrangement of time,especially during working hours, becauseof the proximity between the purpose ofwork and that of vocational training. In

Trainingin the contextof a reductionin working hours

this respect, time appears to be a relevantindicator of the social value accorded toan activity, in this case, training; it pointsto the social meaning accorded to thatactivity both in terms of duration (muchor little time being devoted to it), and interms of the choices implied in the socialuses made of time.

It should be stressed, however, that thisproblem of managing time presupposes aconcept of training according to whichtraining is an activity identifiable by thetime devoted to it; this seems peculiarlyFrench. The vague, generic term “training”covers what was in the 1970s referred toas adult education, continuing vocationaltraining, social advancement, popular edu-cation, lifelong education, recurrent edu-cation, etc. Its aims generally relate towork: work done or work aspired to, inthe hope of occupational advancement.Hence, it is commonly held that the train-ing of the active population should be car-ried out during working time, which is inbroad terms the view taken by the tradeunions. In France, therefore, where thefield of training is largely governed by leg-islation (the right to training, and the obli-gation to provide training), the amount oftime devoted to it is a key factor.

What should be the balance betweenworking time, which continues to accountfor most social time among the activepopulation, and training time, especiallyif this is understood to include all aspectsof education and training? The way inwhich this question is answered haschanged greatly since the 1960s, largelybecause of the increasing trend towardsreduced working hours, and the agree-ments reached have not proved sustain-able.

This article will show,through a sociological ex-amination of the way inwhich time is structured fordifferent social purposes,that training time was atfirst part of an attempt toreduce working time, butthat this may now be givingway to an attempt to man-age the social uses of timein order to make morehours available for training.

(1) This article is based on a papersubmitted to Agora VII, organised onthis topic by CEDEFOP on 7 and 8October 1999.


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The first observation that I shall make isthat the negotiations that led to the 1971Act in fact treated training time as a re-duction in working time. That being so,it is logical that the demand for a majorcut in working hours as such calls intoquestion the principle that training shouldbe given during working time.

My second observation will be that theincreased significance given by employ-ers to training their employees has usu-ally led them to try to manage more effi-ciently the time which employees spendin training, to want to check how it isused, and to outsource at least some ofthe more lengthy courses.

My third observation will concern, bycontrast with the first two points, the placeof training in non-working time, princi-pally in leisure time, but also in time spentin unemployment.

In this context, will the reduction in work-ing hours lead to training time beingshifted from working time to leisure time?In my fourth point I shall stress the limitsto this displacement of training time, andthe inescapable need for a new agreementto be negotiated between the social part-ners.

And finally, I shall look at the implica-tions of a possible shift of training to lei-sure time, a shift that cannot be expectedto happen spontaneously. This is a fieldof public action which I regard as impor-tant but which government does not yetseem to have taken on board. This ap-plies especially to the regional bodieswhich are now responsible for the mat-ter, education and training being one ofthe decentralised responsibilities whichthe state has devolved on to them.

The right to training leave

It was thought in the 1950s and ’60s thatit was right to allocate training time toworking time, i.e., to grant training leave,and this led to the 1971 Vocational Train-ing Act, within the concept of lifelongeducation. The term “training leave” firstappeared in the form of workers’ trainingleave (in the 1957 Act), which meant train-ing time spent on trade union business,

and in that of leave for the training ofyouth workers (1961).2 It acquired its trueimportance with the 1971 Act, which gavegeneral effect to the inter-industry agree-ment of 1970. The emergence of theFrench notion of a right to training musttherefore be seen as a right to claim thetime to be devoted to training.

The only thing I shall say about the basicagreement between the social partners of1970 is that it laid down the principle ofthe lawfulness of absence from work fortraining purposes (the word “leave” notbeing mentioned), and that it set quanti-tative goals for the number of hours ofabsence from work in enterprises whichwere to be devoted to training. It shouldalso be pointed out that no distinction wasmade between training pursued at theinstigation of the employee and that im-posed by the employer. This obviouslyderived from a perception of training asconsisting essentially of one-off or ex-tended courses outside the place of work.This ambiguity, which lumped togetherthe possibility for employees to absentthemselves while being paid in order totake a course of their choice, whethervocational or not, and the potential obli-gation on them to take part in a retrain-ing or updating course for the purpose oftheir work, made it possible for the agree-ment to be signed on the basis that anyeducation or training was definitively inthe interest of both the employee and theenterprise.

Subsequently, in actual practice, it wasleft to employers either to arrange train-ing serving the interests of their enterprisefor all or part of the number of hours tobe devoted to training, or to leave em-ployees to use these as they saw fit. Thekey thing to be borne in mind here is thattraining that was useful for work, or evenindispensable, was regarded as a reduc-tion in working time.

It was not until 1982 that a clear distinc-tion was made between time for trainingthat was pursued at the instigation of theemployee, which deserved to be re-garded truly as leave, and time for train-ing arranged by the employer as part ofan enterprise training scheme.3 Theagreement between the social partnerswhich created individual training leave,enshrined in legislation in 1984, now

“The emergence of theFrench notion of a right totraining must therefore beseen as a right to claim thetime to be devoted to train-ing.”

“(…)the basic agreementbetween the social partnersof 1970 (…) laid down theprinciple of the lawfulnessof absence from work fortraining purposes and(…)set quantitative goalsfor the number of hours ofabsence from work in enter-prises which were to be de-voted to training..”

“It was not until 1982 thata clear distinction wasmade between time fortraining that was pursuedat the instigation of theemployee, which deservedto be regarded truly asleave, and time for trainingarranged by the employeras part of an enterprisetraining scheme. The agree-ment between the socialpartners which created in-dividual training leave, en-shrined in legislation in1984, now clearly recog-nised a right to a reductionin working time (…) in or-der to pursue education ortraining (…).”

(2) In the mid-1950s, a number of pro-posals for legislation were made inParliament to introduce educationalleave. See Y. Palazzeschi (1998).

(3) The need to make such a distinc-tion arose out of a 1974 ruling by theCouncil of State. It took another 8years before the social partnersreached a new agreement (P.Guilloux, 1998).


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clearly recognised a right to a reductionin working time, over a given period, inorder to pursue education or training foranything up to 1,200 hours, while stillbeing paid. That does not mean, how-ever, that time spent in training under atraining scheme was regarded as work-ing time. Both employers and employ-ees still perceived training time whichwas necessary to the enterprise as ab-sence from work.

It should be pointed out as well that thisright to training leave, to time for edu-cation and training to be taken out ofworking time, was a principle that wasapplied infrequently in practice: even inthe best years, there were no more than34,000 beneficiaries of individual train-ing leave (in 1994)4, compared with themore than 3 million employees trainedunder enterprise training schemes. Nodoubt some employers left it up to em-ployees whether they wished to takeadvantage of training opportunities. In-dividual training leave nonetheless pro-vided the best safeguard for employeesto train on their own initiative. I shallnot go here into the detailed reasonswhich led to employers and governmentto restrict access to it.5 The most impor-tant point was that even where an em-ployee’s training did not directly benefitthe employer, it was accepted that thetime devoted to it might be taken fromworking hours. Hence, training leave ac-quired a symbolic value in the Frenchsystem of continuing vocational training.

The predominant perception that trainingtime should be taken out of working timeeven where the subject-matter was notimmediately occupational, was reflectedparticularly in the spread of legal recog-nition of training leave for specific pur-poses (sabbatical leave, examination leaveor skills assessment leave, leave forelected representatives, voluntary firemen,etc.); although this leave was not alwayspaid, the employer had nonetheless togrant it. It should also be recognised thatthe scale of education and training pur-sued outside working time is difficult toevaluate because few studies or surveysof it were conducted; it was merely foundthat the funds which the Regional Coun-cils devoted to social advancement train-ing, and evening and Saturday courses,declined sharply.

Towards the reclassifica-tion of training as work

Changing practice

The 1971 Act did not lay down any targetor threshold number of working hours tobe devoted to training, while the inter-industry agreement of 9 July 1970, onwhich it was based, had set a ceiling,which was also taken to be a target, of2% of staff in an establishment undergo-ing training at any one time (Article 27). 6

with allowance for this figure to rise to3% in the case of induction.7 This provi-sion implied an attempt to train somethinglike 4 to 4.5% of all wage-earners, accord-ing to Raymond Vatier (1978). This initialtarget set by the social partners was soonreduced under the 1971 Act, which merelyset a spending target limited to 1% of thewage and salary bill.

What was actually happening in enter-prises should also be borne in mind. Fortheir own internal purposes, was therereally any need to devote part of work-ing time to training employees, or evento satisfy their demand for training? Didemployers simply agree because they hadto comply with the obligations imposedon them? Some enterprises, notably largecompanies, did not wait for the 1971 Actbefore realising that training was one ofthe tools necessary for the managementof their human resources. But the major-ity only took an interest once they foundthemselves obliged to apply the regula-tion introducing so-called compulsoryparticipation in continuing training, whichimposed on them a minimum expendi-ture on training, initially 0.8% of the totalwage and salary bill, a figure that has nowrisen to 1.5%.

In practice, the average level of this ex-penditure by all enterprises with morethan 10 employees was more than dou-ble the legal minimum. But that statementhides two contrasting attitudes, accord-ing to the size of enterprise: only thoseemploying more than 500 staff exceededa figure of 3%,8 while those with between10 and 49 employees remained very closeto the legal minimum. It can be said thatmost of the former group at least believedhenceforward that such expenditure pri-marily met an internal need. This was

(4) This figure fell to less than 25,000in 1996: cf. the vocational trainingannexes to the draft Finance Acts.

(5) Patrick Guilloux (1998) has ex-plored these fully in date order.

(6) Only half of the number of em-ployees undergoing training purely attheir employer’s behest were takeninto account in this calculation (Arti-cle 30).

(7) Supplementary agreement of 30April 1971, Article 5.

(8) These enterprises cover 44% of theFrench employees concerned (i.e.excluding public bodies and enter-prises with fewer than 10 employees),and 63% of employees trained in 1996(Péry, 1999).


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confirmed by a Céreq survey carried outin 1993 under the FORCE programme oncontinuing vocational training in Euro-pean enterprises.9 The training which wasarranged as a result was generally short-term; more than three quarters of courseswere of less than 40 hours’ duration (Péry,1999).

In this context, training situations shouldnot be limited to courses giving rise toexpenditure shown under the heading ofcompulsory participation in training; so-called workplace training should also betaken into account. It is only recently thatattention has been given to this in France,although it may be supposed that it hasbeen carried out for far longer. It has beenclosely defined as: “any planned periodof staff training aimed at the acquisitionof knowledge or practical experience ina working situation, with the help of thetools normally used” (Aventur, 1998), andit is subject to precise criteria: the timedevoted to it has to be limited, for exam-ple. The Céreq survey mentioned abovesets the average time spent on this typeof training at one and a half days permonth. It is obvious in this case that train-ing time is only a particular way of usingworking time. But as a consequence, itmay be thought that courses which servesome purpose necessary to the properfunctioning of the enterprise are increas-ingly often arranged in this way. In otherwords, they no longer require absencefrom work or the occasional reduction inworking hours.

Changes in the rules governing themanagement of employment

While it is now taken for granted thatsome training courses should take placeduring working time because they servethe interests of the enterprise and aretherefore planned and organised by theemployer, there are others which are onlyheld during working hours because ofrules that leave employers no choice.

This is primarily the case with individualwork contracts permitting the beneficiar-ies to acquire both training and vocationalexperience, which are often used as thefirst step towards more permanent em-ployment. These contracts are largely foryoung people and offer apprenticeship,orientation, skills training or updating.10

They contain a compulsory element oftraining for a given period. There are alsojob scheme contracts and consolidated jobcontracts, which may include trainingduring working time, the content andduration of which are then laid downcontractually from the outset. In all indi-vidual contracts, the rule is that trainingtime must be incorporated into workingtime.

Another form of obligatory inclusion oftraining time in working time results fromchanges in court rulings on employmentcontracts. The courts may now find that adismissal is unlawful if it follows a changeof position which is not accompanied bytraining to enable an employee to fulfilhis or her new duties, basing such a find-ing on a judgment given by the FrenchSupreme Court (Cour de cassation) in1992.11 This represented a major change,deriving a duty of loyalty on the part ofthe employer from the general principlesof the law of contract (Willems, 1996).While training which is the employer’sresponsibility must obviously take placeduring working time, the employee, inreturn, has the obligation not only to takethe course and to complete it successfullybut also, when he or she returns to work,to demonstrate a greater ability to fulfilhis ore her duties. Training may thus re-inforce the subordination of employee toemployer (Etiennot, 1998).

However, since the adoption of the sec-ond Act on the negotiated reduction inworking hours, this principle is now tobe found in the Employment Code (L. 932-2): “The employer has the obligation toensure that his employees receive train-ing updating their skills in accordancewith changes in their jobs”, and the arti-cle lays down, among other things, that“any training pursued by an employeeunder this obligation shall be regardedas amounting to working time.” This strictrule reflects provisions contained in theagreements negotiated by the various in-dustries following the first Aubry Act. Theengineering industry (28 July 1998) hadshown itself particularly radical, all train-ing being excluded from the calculationof actual working time. This did not meanthat employers completely withdrew fromany financial involvement, but it was con-firmation of the notion that training timeis not working time, As a consequence,

“(…)training situationsshould not be limited tocourses giving rise to ex-penditure shown under theheading of compulsory par-ticipation in training; so-called workplace trainingshould also be taken intoaccount.”

(9) The results for French enterprisesshow (Aventur, 1998) that among theaims pursued by those which haveorganised training, 4 purposes ac-count for 85% of replies: facilitatingtechnical change, improving productquality, inducting new staff, and de-veloping multi-skills; helping careerdevelopment and assisting outsideresettlement only account for 2% ofthe primary purposes stated, and 4%of the secondary purposes.

(10) It is also possible to take on per-sons over 26 years of age under train-ing contracts, but this is still in theexperimental stage; the initial trial wasscheduled to last until 31 December2000, but this has been extended inthe 2001 Finance Act until 30 June2002.

(11) Social Division, 25 Feb. 1992,Société Expovit v. Mme Dehaymin.


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“the organisation of training thus escapedthe rules on working hours: maximumdaily and weekly hours, overtime, varia-tions...” (Luttringer, 2000).

Although the practical provisions layingdown how the costs were to be sharedbetween engineering employers and em-ployees have not been made redundantby the second Act, the principle that wasassumed to underlie them has been in-validated by the new legislation. Wherethe purpose of training paid for by theemployer is to update staff, this states thatsuch training should be incorporated intoactual work.12

The question of the length of updatingtraining remains open, however. Accord-ing to Nicole Maggi-Germain (2000), itmay include long training courses in spe-cific skills. It seems nonetheless to bemore commonly accepted that if theyopen the way to new skills, these coursescease to constitute updating and fall un-der different rules. Whereas certaincourses are classified as work, paragraph2 of the same article of the Code permits“employees’ skills development” to takeplace partly outside working hours. Itspurpose is then “the acquisition of a newskil l or occupational advancement”(which includes retraining for new occu-pations). In this case, employees areclearly asked to accept that it is worthdevoting some of their own time to de-veloping their careers by renewing theirskills.

It is changes in both the way in whichtraining is managed in enterprises, whichis henceforward incorporated into theorganisation of work, and in the ruleswhich training has to follow, which haveled to the view that training time is nolonger a time of absence from work or ofapproved leave, and is therefore a de factoreduction in working hours.

Towards a stricter management oftraining during working time

This redesignation of training as effec-tively part of work where it is prescribedor approved by the employer has notcome about without a stricter check inreturn on its costs, and therefore on thetime devoted to it. The overall number ofhours of training in enterprises has not

fallen but has in fact continued to riseover the years, according to figures pub-lished by the Ministry of Labour in theannexes to the Finance Acts. But that isthe result of a growth in the number ofemployees benefiting from training. Theaverage duration of training courses hasfallen from 60 hours in the 1980s to lessthan 40 hours, reflecting an obvious de-sire to control more rigorously the pro-portion of working time allotted to train-ing. The upshot has been a stabilisationsince 1993 of the total rate of participa-tion in training by enterprises, but a no-ticeable downward trend, especiallyamong major companies.13

This same trend towards reducing the timeallocated to training can be seen in theintroduction of a training time pool un-der a 1993 Act. For our purposes it isenough to say that this measure allows,under certain conditions, half the fundsset aside for individual training leave tobe shifted to the general training scheme.A major consequence of this is a substan-tial drop in the duration of trainingcourses per beneficiary.

The most remarkable current developmentin the management of training time is,however, what can be called the notion ofco-investment. By this is meant an agree-ment between an employer and an em-ployee that a training course for which thefee is paid by the enterprise should takeplace partly in the employee’s leisure time.An industry agreement and a 1991 Act laiddown the framework for this. This princi-ple has not been widely applied to date,but the 35-hour Act henceforth providesfurther encouragement for its wider use.It can be seen, in fact, that some industryand enterprise agreements have explicitlyincorporated it: as a counterpart to thereduction in working time, some of thehours released may be devoted to trainingpaid for by the enterprise.

However, agreements signed on reduc-ing working hours which include provi-sions for co-investment in training fre-quently bend the law considerably(Besson, 2000; Luttringer 2000). Thesepurely concern the use of the hours re-leased for training, amounting to a ceil-ing of between 3 and 5 days per annum,and often provide for an equal amountof working time to be devoted to train-

“It is changes in both theway in which training ismanaged in enterprises,which is henceforward in-corporated into the organi-sation of work, and in therules which training has tofollow, which have led tothe view that training timeis no longer a time of ab-sence from work or of ap-proved leave, and is there-fore a de facto reduction inworking hours..”

“The most remarkable cur-rent development in themanagement of trainingtime is, however, what canbe called the notion of co-investment. By this is meantan agreement between anemployer and an employeethat a training course forwhich the fee is paid by theenterprise should takeplace partly during the em-ployee’s leisure time.”

(12) In January 2001 the engineeringand mining confederation (Union desindustries métallurgiques et minières)submitted to the trade unions the textof a supplementary agreement amend-ing the provisions that infringe thesecond Act.

(13) The average fell from 3.29 in 1993to 3.24 in 1997, which indicates a fallof 2.8% in enterprises with between500 and 1,999 employees, and 7.97%in those with 2,000 and more employ-ees, while participation among smallenterpr ises cont inued to r i se(Bentabet, 2000).


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ing; in some cases, however, they merelyprovide for the employer to cover the costof training. This is far different from theprovisions of the Employment Code (L.932-1), which restrict the time for train-ing outside working hours to 25% and laydown the condition that the purposeshould be occupational skills trainingleading to priority access to appropriatejobs. This instance too demonstrates thepreference given to short training coursesover those that take up too much work-ing time.

Training in non-workingtime

As a result of the heavy emphasis inFrance on the right to training duringworking time, there appears to be lessinterest in education and training duringleisure time than in other countries in theEuropean Union. Some commentators seethis as the result of irresistible social de-velopments. D. Mothé, for example, statesthat “nobody has forced anyone. Simply,in order to fill their free time, employeeshave chosen entertainment productswhich let them dream rather than prod-ucts which increase their knowledge andgive them the desire to take part in crea-tive activities of a cultural or political na-ture, or in debates on major philosophi-cal questions”. The INSEE survey on useof time (Dumontier and Pan Ké Shon,1999) confirms this by showing that,among the employed active population,the average weekly time devoted to studyand training outside work is three min-utes, and that the participation rate is 2%.

More optimistically, N. Terrot estimatesthat around 500,000 people have enrolledin so-called “social advancement” courses,generally evening courses, at the CNAM,at schools, colleges and universities, atthe National Distance Education Centre,and in centres preparing candidates forcivil service examinations. He adds to thisfigure between 300,000 and 400,000 adultstudents enrolled in regular universitycourses. But in the absence of exact re-search, this number of enrolments maybe over-estimated.

I shall limit myself to remarking that train-ing provided in response to individual

demand is regarded as uneconomic, andthat training organisations prefer to seekfunding for their activities from privatecompanies and public institutions, whilethe latter are gradually refusing to pay foreducation and training aiming at socialadvancement or general culture. The Re-gional Councils, which have responsibil-ity in this field, seem inclined to forgetthat there can be no demand for trainingin leisure time unless there is a supply oftraining to guide and structure such de-mand, and unless consideration is givento the costs which arise when individualstake part in a programme of training.

It must also be remembered that the stateand the Regional Councils have had adifferent priority for twenty years, namelythe fight against unemployment, particu-larly among young people. The publicsupply of training in this area, which isgenerally provided by private bodies us-ing public funding, has been and remainsquite large. But in this case, it is not somuch a question of encouraging train-ing in leisure time but rather of findingways to fill empty time under the guiseof employment promotion measures. Itmay also be thought that some of thesetraining schemes, by meeting employers’requirements for trained potential re-cruits, allow enterprises to avoid takingresponsibility for some of their trainingneeds. It should be noted also that a per-son seeking work who attends a train-ing course risks losing unemploymentbenefit unless the course is approved bygovernment, and such approval is onlygiven if the course is aimed at finding ajob.14 It is only in this case that unem-ployed persons in receipt of benefit areallowed not to spend all their time try-ing to find work.

While public funds for training are thusfocused on the unemployed, it should beadded that they do not benefit those whoare in between unemployment and em-ployment, occupying jobs which are tem-porary or part-time. Although they maybe assumed to have more leisure time thanother workers, such people have no op-portunities to train because there are veryfew ways of covering the costs of train-ing, they are not well informed, and ex-isting provision is poorly suited to theirflexible hours and chance periods in andout of work.

“(…) a different priority[is] the fight against unem-ployment, particularlyamong young people. Thepublic supply of training inthis area, which is gener-ally provided by privatebodies using public funding(…) is not so much a ques-tion of encouraging train-ing in leisure time butrather of finding ways tofill empty time under theguise of employment pro-motion measures.”

(14) More specifically, a job-seeker isstill free to pursue personal trainingof his or her own choice if it lasts forless than 40 hours a month, includ-ing evenings.


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It is no doubt right to treat with somescepticism the notion that training duringleisure time will expand because peoplewill spontaneously recognise the ration-ale of learning throughout life. The factthat a growing number will be in jobs thatare at best temporary, and will have in-creasingly flexible work patterns as a re-sult of the general adoption of shorterworking hours under the 35-hour week,does not mean that people will managetheir own time any better, devoting partof it to training. Yet the idea that we havereached a dead end perhaps results fromlooking at working time and leisure timeas two entirely separate entities.

Alain Supiot (1995), in the article wherehe suggests that working time is part ofa broader issue of balancing time, ob-serves that, “leisure time is coming toform part of paid working time” while“paid employment casts its shadow overleisure time.” A number of different rightsto leave or absence from work have beenintroduced, which today seem clearly tohave been an expression of the attemptto balance working time against privateconcerns (children’s education, caring forfriends and family, etc.) and socially le-gitimate public activities (voluntary as-sociations, politics, etc.). If there is infact a move towards a realignment oftime, the requirements of which are ex-plored in the report Au-delà de l’emploi(“Beyond employment”) (Supiot, 1999),it would seem indispensable to givegreater attention and prominence to thetime which is associated with work, notonly journeys between home and work,but also time set aside to work at home,and personal time which may be devotedto training.

Can we look forward to a move towardsa more coherent treatment of the legal,conventional and regulatory provisionsgoverning the various times associatedwith work? A. Supiot suggests that it willbe necessary to establish “general princi-ples for a harmonious balance betweendifferent types of time, which only leg-islation can determine” before that canhappen. Otherwise, the loss of directionwhich has accompanied the reduction inworking hours since the 1980s will con-tinue, according to J.-Y. Boulin (1992), theonly aim being to reorganise working timeso as to enhance competitiveness.

Limitations to the shiftfrom training in workingtime to training in non-working time

The general trend towards rationalisationof the costs of training on the part of en-terprises, and hence particularly towardstighter control of the working time allot-ted to training, takes very different forms,and the 35-hour legislation will only ac-celerate this process. Above all it obligesthe social partners in an enterprise tonegotiate on what they regard as actualwork. It is not only break times that areat issue, but anything which is not directlyproductive work: preparation time, repairof breakdowns, etc. From this point ofview, training, even where imposed bymanagement, represents non-productivework. Training time may no longer beregarded as absence from work, but it ispart of the time where cuts have to bemade.

Perhaps the solution may be to negotiatea compromise whereby training time istaken from employees’ leisure time. How-ever, that idea could only apply to someforms of training and could not be envis-aged as a general principle. By its nature,workplace training could not be included.It seems equally questionable to supposethat short compulsory training coursescould be taken outside working hours,this time for legal reasons connected withemployment law. In the case of updatingcourses training newly appointed personsto carry out their jobs or supporting tech-nical or organisational change, the sec-ond Act on the reduction of working hourshas introduced one essential clarification:updating training is in effect part of work-ing time. It may not be given in leisuretime.

On the other hand, in at least some en-terprises, especially major companies,some of the activities carried out under atraining scheme are provided on the ba-sis of voluntary enrolment. This is par-ticularly the case with activities pursuedunder the training time pool. In suchcases, it may well be that an enterpriseagreement will lay down rules by whichall or some courses take place in the timefreed by the reduction in working hours.

“A number of differentrights to leave or absencefrom work have been intro-duced, which today seemclearly to have been an ex-pression of the attempt tobalance working timeagainst private concerns(…) and socially legitimatepublic activities (…).”


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In the 35-hour agreements reached un-der the first Act by Danone, Renault andPeugeot, training credits are to be givento employees, giving them access to train-ing courses organised and funded by theenterprise but pursued in their leisuretime.15

This particular example does not, how-ever, mean that an employer can requireits employees to acquire new skills but tomake their own arrangements to pursuethe necessary training during their leisuretime.16 Trade unions and works councilswould necessarily oppose such a sugges-tion, which would eventually deprivethem of any right of negotiation on anenterprise’s training policy.17 It can thusbe seen that the opportunities for shift-ing training time to outside working hoursare still clearly limited.

One question remains in relation to thelink between working time and trainingtime, namely the legitimacy of absencefrom work for the purpose of training.Can the reduction in working hours jus-tify abandoning the principle of trainingleave, whether individual training leave,sabbatical leave, or leave for special pur-poses? This is a real danger, given theconsiderable decline in the funding of in-dividual training leave. Even if these formsof leave only involve a minority of em-ployees, they constitute rights for work-ers, and to call them into question wouldbe a definite step backwards, an abdica-tion on the part of government.18

A policy for trainingin leisure time

We certainly have to beware of the temp-tations which there may be to shift train-ing time from collective working time toindividual leisure time. But it would bejust as foolish to refuse out of hand allforms of encouragement to pursue train-ing in non-working time, provided thatemployers continue to accept responsi-bility for improving the skills of their em-ployees, particularly by funding training,abide by the rule that such training shouldbe voluntary, and recognise the role ofrepresentative staff bodies in deciding onthe direction and implementation of theirtraining schemes.

However, the increase in leisure timeamong the active population, because ofthe general introduction of the 35-hourweek and an expansion in voluntary part-time working, is not just another oppor-tunity for employers to find new ways ofmanaging their employees’ training time.It also presents a challenge to govern-ment’s proclaimed intention of promot-ing lifelong learning.

The reasons why the active populationseeks training, which vary according topeople’s occupational circumstances, thestage they have reached in their careers,their age and their participation in sociallife, deserve to be examined more closelyand become better known if people’sneeds and aspirations are to be met. Thisis too vast a subject to be explored here,but let us say simply that training appearsuseful and desirable for any activity. Thismeans that it may extend beyond the oc-cupational field but this will remain itschief concern as long as work remainsthe principal social activity. We like tothink today that training for occupationalpurposes should be seen as part of em-ployment and that it is essentially the re-sponsibility of employers. In so doing weforget that the vocational training aspira-tions of employees may go well beyondthe training imposed or provided withina given enterprise.

Can we, then, rely on the responsibilityand perspicacity of the individual so thata demand for training is created to whichthe market will respond by eventuallymaking appropriate provision? Demandfor training does not generally precedesupply, through which it is structured andexpressed. Central and decentralised gov-ernment thus has a responsibility for or-ganising, selecting and developing, andhence also for funding, the education andtraining schemes which may be proposed.

It is the job of government, particularlyat regional level, to foster new forms oftraining which take into account the prob-lems of balancing individuals’ time thatarise especially from the increased vari-ety and flexibility of working hours. Whatmakes training attractive and valuable isnot only its subject matter and purpose,but also its accessibility, which must takeaccount of constraints of time. Informa-tion and communication technologies may

“(…) the increase in leisuretime among the activepopulation, because of thegeneral introduction of the35-hour week and an ex-pansion in voluntary part-time working, is not justanother opportunity foremployers to find new waysof controlling their employ-ees’ training time. It alsopresents a challenge to gov-ernment’s proclaimed inten-tion of promoting lifelonglearning..”

(15) The definition of actual work inthe previous Act did not make a cleardistinction between training coursesduring working hours and those out-side. The Paris district court (Tribu-nal de grande instance), to which theagreement signed in January 1999 bythe French banking confederation wasreferred, held that the provisions al-lowing employees to train in the timefreed by the reduction in workinghours were illegal where the trainingformed part of a training plan, find-ing that employees were in such casesst i l l available to their employer(Maggi-Germain, 2000).

(16) Jean-Marie Luttringer (1999) re-marks that if employers shift trainingoutside actual working time, “they willnotice that shifting training into thesphere of private life will take awaytheir power to control training, whichis an essential element of their abilityto manage.” (Négocier de nouveauxéquilibres entre temps de travail ettemps de formation (1998, p. 198).

(17) J-M Luttringer: “If training isshifted into the private sphere, it willescape collective bargaining andhence the influence of the trade un-ions. If it remains within the sphereof work, even if its costs are reduced,it will remain subject to collective bar-gaining. Its nature and legal safe-guards will differ from those of ac-tual work, although it will remain inthe same sphere. Training will becomea kind of sub-system of work, pro-viding benefits like unemployment orhealth insurance and not paid for byemployees”, ibid.

(18) To counter such a development,the Supiot report (1999) suggests that,in common European policy, “theentitlement to vocational training im-plies making allowance for trainingin the regulations governing workingtime” (p. 129).


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help if proper use is made of them ingroup teaching.

However, it is not only training provisionwhich should reflect the new way inwhich time is broken down. The pursuitof training as an activity among the ac-tive population also presupposes regula-tion and management of social time, inwhich national and local public agencieswill play a key role – the former by lay-ing down the principles by which experi-ments in time management should servethe general interest (Supiot 1999) andthe latter by finding how time can bemanaged coherently at local level (Gauvinand Jacot, 1999).

To sum up, it has to be admitted that thereduction in working hours has not had anoticeable effect among the significantchanges which have altered the contextof adult education and training over thelast 30 years in France. Until now it hasnot automatically led to a growth in thetime which people spend in training ontheir own account, with the possible ex-ception of job-seekers. On the other hand,the gap between training and work hasconsiderably narrowed, to the point whereit is thought reasonable for training to beincorporated in working time. The ideathat training time in itself amounts to areduction in working time is now a thingof the past.

However, training is not productive work:employers now seek to make savings intraining time by reducing the proportionof collective work devoted to it, shorten-ing individual courses, and possibly let-ting more employees benefit from train-ing. However, the demand for rationali-sation should not lead to an actual shiftfrom training during working time to train-ing during employees’ leisure time. Thequestion of training outside working hoursshould now concern mainly new invest-ment in individuals’ training on their owntime.

It is however obvious that any further ex-pansion in training among the active popu-lation, particularly outside working hours,will not occur spontaneously through theinterplay of supply and demand in the lei-sure market. This is a challenge for gov-ernment and social partners alike. Whatthe former will have to do is foster andpromote good-quality training which meetsthe expectations, time constraints and re-sources of those sections of the popula-tion who are in greatest need of it in orderto get jobs. Social partners, on the otherhand, will have to acknowledge the im-portance of co-investment in training, witha focus not on reducing cost to employersbut rather on encouraging employees toenter into more training projects in agree-ment with their employers. Such a devel-opment would serve the interests of em-ployers, employees and society in general.

This assumes that principles and rules areto be laid down to provide for a right totraining time that is applicable in practice;this right must therefore be general, sim-ple and easy to understand and use. Pro-visions do currently exist, but as they havebuilt up over the years and are specific toparticular occupations, they have becomeomplicated to understand. For this reasonthey are frequently off-putting, so that thepeople concerned have to turn to special-ists who can explain to them the rights towhich they are entitled – on condition thatthey already have a training project inmind. Draft legislation redefining a gen-eral individual right to training, which istransferable when people change em-ployer, is still under discussion. It is im-possible to predict whether it will beadopted since the social partners seem toprefer to leave the initiative in this area togovernment rather than to put forward ascheme which allows employees to pur-sue a training programme by combiningworking time with their own leisure time,and which includes arrangements for man-aging work, covering costs, and guaran-teeing recognition of the skills acquired.

“The idea that training timein itself amounts to a reduc-tion in working time is nowa thing of the past.”

“Draft legislation redefin-ing a general individualright to training, which istransferable when peoplechange employer, is stillunder discussion.”


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Maggi-Germain N. (2000), L’articulation temps detravail/formation professionnelle continue après laloi Aubry II, Droit social No. 9/10.

Mothé D. (1999), Le temps libre contre la société,Desclée de Brouwer.

Palazzeschi Y. (1998) Introduction à une sociologiede la formation, Anthologie de textes français,L’Harmattan.

Péry N. (1999), La Formation professionnelle : di-agnostics, défis et enjeux, Secretariat of State forthe Rights of Women and Vocational Training.

Supiot A. (1995), Temps de travail : pour une con-cordance des temps, Droit social No. 12.

Supiot A. (ed.) (1999), Au-delà de l’emploi, Trans-formations du travail et devenir du droit du travailen Europe, Report to the European Commission,Flammarion.

Terrot N. (1997), Histoire de l’éducation des adultesen France, L’Harmattan.

Vatier R. (1982), Loi de 1971 : genèse et premierseffets, Actualité de la formation permanente No.33, Centre Inffo.

Willems J.P. (1996), Le droit du travail à l’épreuvede la compétence, Actualité de la formationpermanente No. 145, Centre Inffo.

Aventur F. et al. (1998), La formation profession-nelle continue dans les entreprises françaises en1993 - Résultats d’une enquête européenne, Mar-seille, Céreq, Documents 133.

Bentabet E. et al. (2000), La formation profession-nelle continue financée par les entreprises, Marseille,Céreq, Documents 147.

Besson V. (2000), Bilan de la négociation collec-tive en 1999 : la formation au cœur de l’activitéconventionnelle, Inffo Flash n° 547, 16 July, CentreInffo.

Boulin J.-Y. (1992), Les politiques du temps de tra-vail en France : la perte de sens, Futuribles No.165-166, special issue on working time.

Dumontier F. and Pan Ké Shon J.-L. (1999),Enquête emploi du temps 1998-1999, Descriptiondes activités quotidiennes, INSEE.

Etiennot P. (1998), Formation professionnelle etcontrat de travail, Droit social No. 2.

Gauvin A. and Jacot H. (eds.) (1999), Temps detravail, temps sociaux, pour une approche globale,Editions liaisons.

Guilloux P. (1998), Le congé individuel de forma-tion, L’Harmattan.

Luttringer J.M. (1999), Négocier de nouveauxéquilibres entre temps de travail et temps de for-mation, Pour No. 162 - June.

Luttringer J.M. (2000), Vers de nouveaux équilibresentre temps de travail et temps de formation ?, Letemps après la loi Aubry II, Droit social No. 3.

Bibliography


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MatthiasKreysingUniversity ofGoettingen,Germany

Introduction

“In studying foreign systems of educationwe should not forget that the things out-side the schools matter even more thanthe things inside the schools, and governand interpret the things inside. We can-not wander at pleasure among the edu-cational systems of the world, like a childstrolling through a garden, and pick off aflower from one bush and some leavesfrom another, and then expect that if westick what we have gathered into the soilat home, we shall have a living plant. Anational system of education is a livingthing, the outcome of forgotten strugglesand ‘of battles long ago’. It has in it someof the secret workings of national life.”

(Sadler, in: Phillips 1993, p. 15)

One would think that this quote camefrom the early nineties when there was avivid discussion on education reform inthe United States. Interest in Europeaneducational systems, especially the Ger-man ‘dual system’, was one common as-pect in the debate on the loss of a skilledlabour force. However this quote was byMichael Sadler, a member of the EnglishBoard of Education from 1895 to 1903. Atthe end of the 19th century and the be-ginning of the 20th, interest in the Ger-man education system was very high, notonly in Britain but also in the UnitedStates. This interest was influenced byGerman immigrants who knew the Ger-man apprenticeship system and tried torevitalise a structured apprenticeship pro-gramme. Supported by employer organi-sations, unions and representatives of theeducation system, these efforts resultedin the National Apprenticeship Act of1937, often called the Fitzgerald Act. Af-ter the Second World War there was the

Vocational educationin the United States:reforms and results

need to integrate veterans into the workforce and society. Thus new federal pro-grammes were set up to invest moremoney in vocational education and newlegislation was established to open ap-prenticeship programmes for adults. Un-til the early 1970s there was only littleinterest by policy-makers and research-ers in vocational education. However, thegrowing problem of youth unemploymentattracted national interest in vocationaleducation. In 1973 Congress passed theComprehensive Employment and Train-ing Act (CETA) which was succeeded bythe Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).

The 1983 publication of ‘A Nation at Risk’focused on the effects of inadequate edu-cation of US workers on the nation’seconomy and can be seen as the startingpoint of the current debate on educationreform. The proponents of a change inthe education system looked to the Ger-man and Japanese system where theworkplace plays a crucial role in voca-tional education. After the inaugurationof President Clinton his secretary of labor,Robert Reich, endeavoured to establish acomprehensive school-to-work system soas to improve the occupational qualifica-tion of young people. His efforts resultedin the School-to-Work Opportunities Actof 1994.

This article examines the history of voca-tional education in the United States andits impact on recent reforms.

History of vocationaleducation

Vocational education and training in theUnited States is a highly fragmented and

In the early 1990s there wasa shift in the attention ofthe education reform move-ment in the United States.Because of the economicsituation the focus was di-rected towards vocationaltraining and the connectionbetween education and eco-nomic competitiveness.Employers needed a skilledworkforce for their restruc-turing processes. Instead ofdesigning a new job train-ing programme reform-ori-ented politicians, educatorsand employers demanded anew systemic approach tothe whole complex of voca-tional education.


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complex system which one can divide intofour main areas where it takes place:

a) high schoolsb) two-year collegesc) on-the-job trainingd) apprenticeship

In all of these areas one can find differ-ent forms of vocational education regard-ing the learning situation, specialisationand organisation.

High School

The high school system was set up at theend of the 18th century and the begin-ning of the 19th century. In the first pe-riod the efforts of the colonial states werefocused on the establishment of a com-prehensive elementary school system.After the Civil War there was a movementto build a system of “free public second-ary schools supported by public taxation,publicly controlled, open to all” (Barlow,in: Münch 1989). However, some opposedpaying taxes for free public schooling.This opposition was overcome by a deci-sion of the Michigan Supreme Court in1874.

Vocational education was first establishedin private high schools in the second halfof the 19th century. These schools offeredvocational courses like accounting, ste-nography and machine typing. One couldsay that the first high schools were set upto prepare their students for a businesslife. It was only later that the priorityshifted to the preparation for college.Nonetheless many high schools retainedtheir business programmes, for examplehigh schools in Boston, Philadelphia, St.Louis, Washington DC and New Haven.After the introduction of compulsoryschool attendance for older students inmany states, the percentage of high schoolgraduates going to college was diminish-ing. Therefore, the curriculum had tochange to take the new situation of a greatnumber of non college-bound graduatesinto account.

In 1917 Congress passed the Smith-Hughes Act which promoted vocationaleducation in high schools. The federalgovernment offered financial incentivesfor setting up vocational programmes.Most courses were related to agriculture

and home economics. However, voca-tional education played only a minor rolein high schools until the beginning of the1960s.

Two-year colleges

One can draw a clear line between four-year and two-year colleges regarding theirmain purposes. The first has an academicorientation, the latter focuses on occupa-tional qualifications. On the other hand,the distinction between the two institu-tions is blurred since two-year collegestudents can easily continue their educa-tion in a four-year college and get creditsfor their courses. Therefore, enrolment ina two-year college does not mean that oneis committed to end one’s studies aftertwo years.

The development of two-year collegescannot be distinguished from the historyof the American university system. Theyare only one variant of this system devel-oped from an identical historical process.Their roots can be traced back to the jun-ior colleges which prepared their studentsfor academic studies at university. Thus,the purpose and content of their pro-grammes were directed towards deepen-ing and broadening students’ general edu-cation. The Morrill Act 1862 was an im-portant precondition for the establishmentof new colleges offering programmes inagricultural and technical studies. In 1900there were only eight private two-year col-leges. The first public junior college wasset up in 1902.

During the following years, junior collegesgradually extended their curricula by in-troducing occupational qualification pro-grammes, whereas the newly establishedcommunity and technical colleges focusedon these programmes right from the be-ginning. However, there was always acombination of occupational and aca-demic orientation which is mirrored inspecial transfer courses for students want-ing to continue their education. This mightbe an aspect of the American belief inequality of opportunity where an opensystem theoretically offers the chance foreveryone to develop their individual per-sonality.

The number of students enrolled in two-year colleges increased after Congress

“Vocational education wasfirst established in privatehigh schools in the secondhalf of the 19th century.(…)However, vocational educa-tion played only a minorrole in high schools untilthe beginning of the 1960s.”

“(…) two-year colleges (…)focus on occupationalqualifications.(…) At theend of the 1970s there weremore than four million two-year college students. Thissuccess was due to two-year colleges filling the gapbetween increasing demandfor skilled labour and alack of sufficient appren-ticeship programmes.”


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passed the Vocational Education Act 1963which offered matching funds to improvevocational education programmes in thestates. At the end of the 1970s there weremore than four million two-year collegestudents. This success was due to two-year colleges filling the gap between in-creasing demand for skilled labour and alack of sufficient apprenticeship pro-grammes.

On-the-job training

“Employee training is an amorphous func-tion. It is conducted and managed andaccounted for in many different ways, bymany different kinds of organizations.”(Feuer, in: Münch 1989) Because this kindof vocational education is done in a highlyinformal way it is very difficult to classifycertain characteristics. Furthermore, dueto this diverse structure there is a lack ofcomprehensive research on this topic.At the beginning of this century Taylorinvented his scientific management ap-proach to organising work, inspired byindustrial needs of efficiency and the ideaof analysing work into its simplest ele-ments. By organising work in this wayindustry did not need a broadly skilledlabour force, but workers trained in onespecific function. Furthermore, the costsfor on-the-job training were much lowerthan the investment in an apprenticeshipprogramme. Therefore, on-the-job train-ing developed out of the industrial organi-sation of mass production and became themost important kind of initial vocationaleducation for the non college-boundyoung people.

Apprenticeship programmes

The idea of apprenticeship programmeswere brought to the United States by Brit-ish and German immigrants. During thetime of British America, apprenticeshipwas mandated by the Statute of Artificersof 1563 which stipulated an apprentice-ship term of seven years or longer andestablished guilds to administer and en-force the law. By contrast to the Britishexperience, guilds could never reach thesame importance in the American colo-nies since ongoing immigration, skilledlabour scarcity and the rural character ofthe economy inhibited their full develop-ment. The absence of an appropriate in-stitution to regulate apprenticeship pro-

grammes might be one reason for its de-cline in the United States. Moreover, therewas a significant runaway problem incolonial times which intensified after in-dependence. Between 1783 and 1799, 12states passed new apprenticeship lawsfocusing on the runaway problem. De-spite such measures, the market and in-stitutional environment did not promoteapprenticeship programmes because geo-graphic mobility, especially the opportu-nity of western settlement, and the spreadof an ideology of personal liberty madeenforcement of indenture commitmentsmore difficult. The laws had no practicalimpact since they did not apply acrossthe states, thus apprentices could escapeby crossing state borders. Additionally,employers showed little interest in legallyenforcing an unwilling apprentice to serveout a full term. Therefore, US firms em-ploying apprentices changed the systemby introducing special payment schemeswith bonds and bonuses ranged from $100to $200. This practice was an alternativemeans for employers to secure traininginvestments and minimise risk. Further-more, the new arrangements shifted theinvestment risks from employer to em-ployee. However, the money was insuffi-cient to deter runaways effectively; “abonus of one to two hundred dollars atthe end of an apprenticeship ...is too faraway, and figures out but insignificantlywhen reduced to the hour basis.” (Becker,in: Elbaum 1989) In addition, the incen-tive for employers to find an effectivesolution to the runaway problem was di-minished by the fact that the demand forskilled labour could be met by well-trained immigrants. With growing indus-trialisation the demand for a system ofapprenticeship training including bothclassroom and on-the-job training in-creased. The Commission on IndustrialEducation of the National Association ofManufacturers (NAM) recommended sucha system in 1910. The large number ofGerman immigrants in Wisconsin led toan early interest in a comprehensive ap-prenticeship system. In 1911 the Compre-hensive Apprenticeship Law was passed,establishing a compulsory trade schoolattendance. Critics argued that public lawswould eliminate existing apprenticeshipprogrammes because employers did notlike to be bound by state regulation, andif one looks at the number of apprenticesin Wisconsin in 1931, when only 73 ap-

“(…) on-the-job training de-veloped out of the indus-trial organisation of massproduction and became themost important kind of ini-tial vocational educationfor the non college-boundyoung people.”

“(…) apprenticeship pro-grammes were brought tothe United States by Britishand German immigrants.(…) guilds could neverreach the same importancein the American coloniessince ongoing immigration,skilled labour scarcity andthe rural character of theeconomy inhibited their fulldevelopment. The absenceof an appropriate institu-tion to regulate apprentice-ship programmes might beone reason for its decline inthe United States. Moreover,there was a significantrunaway problem (…)which intensified after in-dependence.”


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prentices were still employed, they mighthave been right.

After the First World War the US economyexperienced a boom period with grow-ing demand for skilled labour which hadto be met by own sources as immigrationfell. A coalition of employer organisations,trade unions, representatives of the edu-cation system and government agenciesforced the federal government to augmentefforts to improve vocational education.One result was the National Apprentice-ship Act 1937, a model of brevity sincethe law contains just five paragraphs. Theprescribed government role includes thedevelopment of apprenticeship standardswith industry. These standards relate toequal employment opportunities require-ments, wage rates to be paid to appren-tices, and ratios of apprentices to jour-neymen at the worksite. During that pe-riod the basic structure of the apprentice-ship system shifted from protection of theemployer’s investment to protection of theemployee. The system was now domi-nated by trade unions, and for most em-ployers apprenticeship was more costlythan its alternatives, not because of train-ing expenditures but the legal obligationsto honour contracts while economic cir-cumstances had become unfavourable.

Instead of investing money in apprentice-ship programmes employers used publicand private trade schools for gainingskilled labour and by doing so transferredthe involved investment risks to traineesand the general public. After World WarII vocational education and apprentice-ship were opened for veterans by pas-sage of new laws. Due to this institutionalchange the apprenticeship system wasgradually transformed from a youth-basedinto an adult-based training system. Ac-cording to the US Department of Labor’sBureau of Apprenticeship, only about 2million people have completed appren-ticeship since 1950.

To categorise the four different strandsof vocational education one has to lookat their specific learning structure. Voca-tional education in high schools and two-year colleges is mainly school-basedwhereas on-the-job training and appren-t iceship programmes focus on theworkplace. However, work-based learn-ing as part of vocational education pro-

grammes can be found in high school andtwo-year college courses, even thoughwork-based learning is generally less im-portant than classroom teaching and thereare no comprehensive concepts of alter-nating learning. By contrast, on-the-jobtraining contains no classroom teaching.The apprenticeship system is the approachin which the concept of alternating learn-ing is best established. However, this sys-tem remains the smallest form of trainingin the US.

Recent developmentsin vocational education

In 1983 the National Commission on Ex-cellence in Education published its report‘A Nation at Risk’, which had a profoundinfluence on the general public regard-ing education reform, “Our Nation is atrisk. Our once unchallenged pre-emi-nence in commerce, industry, science, andtechnological innovation is being over-taken by competitors throughout theworld (...) We report to the American peo-ple that while we can take justifiable pridein what our schools and colleges have his-torically accomplished and contributed tothe United States and the well-being ofits people, the educational foundations ofour society are presently being eroded bya rising tide of mediocrity that threatensour very future as a Nation and a people.What was unimaginable a generation agohas begun to occur - others are matchingand surpassing our educational attain-ments.”

While the initial focus of the educationreform movement was on secondary edu-cation and the traditional American highschool with its curriculum preparing stu-dents for a college career, attention shiftedto vocational education in the early 1990s,when the connection between educationand economic competitiveness becameclearer. Employers argued that the schoolsystem failed to provide high school gradu-ates with the skil ls needed for theworkplace. The underlying argument wasthat business needs flexible workers withanalytical and basic skills to remain com-petitive. Moreover, there was a change inthe attitude to education reform, namely,a growing demand for a new systematicapproach instead of adding a new job train-ing programme to the existing bundle.

“After World War II voca-tional education and ap-prenticeship were openedfor veterans by passage ofnew laws. Due to this insti-tutional change the appren-ticeship system was gradu-ally transformed from ayouth-based into an adult-based training system. Ac-cording to the US Depart-ment of Labor’s Bureau ofApprenticeship, only about2 million people have com-pleted apprenticeship since1950.”

“In 1983 the National Com-mission on Excellence inEducation published its re-port ‘A Nation at Risk’,which had a profound in-fluence on the general pub-lic regarding education re-form (…). While the initialfocus of the education re-form movement was on sec-ondary education and thetraditional American highschool with its curriculumpreparing students for acollege career, attentionshifted to vocational educa-tion in the early 1990s,when the connection be-tween education and eco-nomic competitiveness be-came clearer.”


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In searching for a systems model, reform-ers looked to the education systems oftheir economic competitors, especiallyGermany. “Just as Germany had been heldup as the ‘best model’ at the beginning ofthis century it once again became the pri-mary standard bearer for possible repli-cation in the United States.” (Wills, 1997)The German ‘dual system’ with its inte-gration of work-based and school-basedlearning seemed to provide the Germaneconomy with a pool of high-skilled work-ers. The concept of institutional linkagebetween school and workplace was seento be the solution so as to motivate noncollege-bound young people to stay inschool and hence decrease the drop-outrate. Furthermore, the alternating ap-proach to learning should enhance thematurity of the students by exposing themto the ‘real world of work’. However, thequestion is whether the institutions, ormaybe the culture for establishing such aformalised vocational education system asthe German ‘dual system’, can be devel-oped in the United States. Referring toSadler and his quote at the turn of thiscentury one should not forget, that “instudying foreign systems of education…the things outside the schools matter evenmore than the things inside the schools…”(Phillips, 1993).

The German ‘dual system’ is based on aset of unique features: centralised em-ployer associations and unions, mandateof the federal government to regulate vo-cational education, existence of manda-tory training standards, and a consensuson the need of a high-quality training sys-tem among all stakeholders. The US lacksall of these features, except the last one,although the consensus is more about theneed for a skilled labour force rather thanthe way to achieve it. Probably the keyproblem in establishing a comprehensivesystem is the non-existence of a man-date of the US federal government re-garding vocational education. By con-trast, the German federal governmentassumed responsibility for the companytraining of apprenticeships in 1969. Inthe US all states have constitutional au-thority to fund and provide education incooperation with the local communities.The federal government can set policyfor the states to follow, but states havetremendous flexibility in operating pro-grammes.

School-to-Work Opportunities Act1994

The same idea is mirrored in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act 1994, the lat-est attempt to establish a comprehensivetraining system as part of a work forcedevelopment strategy. This federal legis-lation was supplemented by two othermajor laws: Goals 2000: Educate AmericaAct and National Skills Standard Act. Thekey linkage between a strategy of chang-ing the system and different institutionsat federal, state and local levels was thedevelopment of skill and academic stand-ards. Those standards should ensure qual-ity, indicate goals and promote change.Standards so important in a decentralisedsystem because they can build on the re-spective strength of all institutions - pub-lic and private - engaged in the educa-tion and training system and combine dif-ferent efforts to achieve a common out-come. Moreover, a system of skill stand-ards is the basis for portable credentialsrecognised by employers. To facilitateemployer recognition, however, skillstandards have to be nationally manda-tory to ensure that a certificate from Cali-fornia can be equally compared with onefrom Maine. If skill standards are volun-tary and each state can set up its own,employers cannot easily compare differ-ent state credentials and hence will onlypartially take training credentials into con-sideration in their decision to hire a per-son. This would diminish the value offurther education and vocational training.However, that is only important for inter-state labour mobility since a state-centredsystem of skill standards could providesecurity for employers’ recruitment deci-sions within the state and the local com-munity.

To establish portable, industry-recog-n ised credent ia l s a l l the d i f fe rentstakeholders, like employer associations,trade unions, education institutions, andgovernmental agencies have to take partin this process. The National Skill Stand-ards Act established a National SkillStandards Board (NSSB) to construct avoluntary system of skill standards effect-ing all institutions concerned with workerskills. Firstly the board had to identifybroad occupational clusters where skillstandards could be adopted. The majorproblem of the NSSB is that it does not

“In searching for a systemsmodel, reformers looked tothe education systems oftheir economic competi-tors, especially Germany.(…) The German ‘dual sys-tem’ is based on a set ofunique features: central-ised employer associationsand unions, mandate of thefederal government to regu-late vocational education,existence of mandatorytraining standards, and aconsensus on the need of ahigh-quality training sys-tem among all stakehol-ders. The US lacks all ofthese features, except thelast one, although the con-sensus is more about theneed for a skilled labourforce rather than the wayto achieve it.”


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have the authority to issue mandatoryskill standards, but only recommenda-tions which can be used by institutionsof higher education, employers, trade as-sociations and trade unions.

Despite the fact that skill standards havea critical role in changing the system, theconstitutional authority of the states re-garding education makes it difficult to es-tablish a nationwide system of skill stand-ards which allows employers to use rec-ognised credentials as a key element inthe recruitment decision process and pro-vide an incentive for young people toobtain them.

Without portable, recognised credentialsthere is no incentive for many high schooldrop-outs to continue education and getsome kind of skill certificate as often itdoes not increase their employability.“Employers rarely consider the highschool records of applicants (...) And highschool students’ awareness that they willend up initially in the same type of jobs(often the same job) that they have hadbefore graduation stifles incentives towork hard in school.” (Bailey, 1995a).

National Skill Standards Act

The National Skill Standards Act is to sup-plement the School-to-Work Opportuni-ties Act that establishes a framework basedon three main components within whicheach state can develop its own school-to-work transition programme that is bestsuited to its local needs. These compo-nents are: school-based learning, work-based learning and activities that connectboth concepts to a comprehensive strat-egy for all students, not just those in vo-cational education. Due to the broad defi-nition of how the programmes should bedesigned this legislation is not to estab-lish one ‘best practice’, but rather pro-motes a variety of different school-to-workapproaches, for example tech-prep pro-grammes, cooperative education, andyouth apprenticeship. All of these pro-grammes link academic and vocationalcontent, and sometimes secondary andpost-secondary education. New coopera-tion between high schools and commu-nity colleges is to be encouraged to pro-mote continuing learning. Furthermore,the idea of work-based learning forcesschools to seek links with employers to

set up planned workplace training. Thisgives students the chance to build a rela-tionship with an employer and motivatesthem to stay in school since they perceivethe importance of academic learning forthe workplace. The risk of dropping outof high school is further reduced by of-fering a recognised credential that im-proves the employability.

Barriers to change

However, what are the barriers that im-pede a systemic change? What are theweaknesses of the School-to-Work Act?There are three major institutional com-ponents which have an impact on educa-tion reform, especially vocational train-ing. Firstly, employer and trade unioncooperation is crucial for the implemen-tation and success of new training pro-grammes and change in the educationsystem. Second, government institutionsand the relation of federal, state and lo-cal authorities determine the administra-tion and organisation of training pro-grammes. Finally, teachers and parentsinfluence the practice of education pro-grammes, for example courses offered,teaching and student participation.

To establish a large scale school-to-worksystem, the participation of a majority ofemployers is a key factor for successsince employers have to offer workplacetraining places for a large number of highschool students. There are three incen-tives for an employer to take part in sucha training system: philanthropic, indi-vidual and collective motivation. A phil-anthropic motivation implies employersprovide training places because they seeit as a commitment to helping their com-munities and as a corporate responsibil-ity. Despite its importance at an earlystage of employer involvement, a purelyphilanthropic motivation would not beadequate to sustain a large and intensework-based education system. Employerparticipation in work-based training pro-grammes might be driven by an indi-vidual motivation since employers couldbenefit from better public relations, asource of low-cost labour and future re-cruitment. Public relations benefits canbe achieved with a small number ofplacements which do not necessarily re-quire well established training arrange-ments. The special wage for participat-

“Despite the fact that skillstandards have a criticalrole in changing the system,the constitutional authorityof the states regarding edu-cation makes it difficult toestablish a nationwide sys-tem of skill standards (…)”

“The National Skill Stand-ards Act is to supplementthe School-to-Work Oppor-tunities Act that establishesa framework based onthree main componentswithin which each state candevelop its own school-to-work transition pro-gramme that is best suitedto its local needs. Thesecomponents are: school-based learning, work-basedlearning and activities thatconnect both concepts to acomprehensive strategy forall students, not just thosein vocational education.”


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ing students might be an important in-centive for smaller businesses to fill part-time positions with students instead ofemploying a higher paid adult worker.Some US employers said they saw school-to-work programmes as “a good way toget good, lower-paid part-time help.”(Lynn/Wills, in: Bailey, 1995b) However,in youth apprenticeships which requiremuch more employer involvement thanother cooperative education program-mes, the high supervisory cost for ap-prentices is a greater barrier to par-ticipation than the cost of the traineewages. Therefore, the significance of su-pervisory costs cannot be overestimatedfor the establishment of professionalworkplace training places.

The third motivation for an employer toparticipate in work-based education is theopportunity to recruit future workers.Certain features of the US youth labourmarket, such as the high turnover amongyoung workers, discourage employers toinvest in training for students. In addi-tion, since the school-to-work pro-grammes should avoid establishing atracking-system where good students pre-pare for college and less successful stu-dents join vocational programmes, em-ployers do not have a guarantee thattrained students will stay in the firm andnot continue further education at a col-lege. Moreover, employers have differentoptions for recruiting and screening ap-plicants and thus do not rely on work-based education in this respect.

Finally, the common argument for reform-ing the education system is the lack ofskilled workers. It is in the interest of in-dustries to promote the development ofa skilled labour force. Whereas individualemployers are reluctant to invest in train-ing of young people, this could be thearea of a collective action. However, therehas to be an appropriate institutionalframework through which collective in-terests can be articulated and regulated.Otherwise, individual firms could benefitfrom a pool of qualified skilled workerseven if they did not participate in the sys-tem. Therefore each collective action hasto overcome the ‘free rider’ problem. Asin the German apprenticeship system oneneeds to have strong intermediary organi-sations to force individual firms to takepart in training programmes.

To sum up, strong employer participationin a large scale school-to-work systemcannot be attained since neither individualnor collective motivation can overcomethe problems of training cost - especiallysupervisory costs, ‘free rider’ behaviourand the lack of an institutional frameworkto regulate collective interests. Further-more, employers can fall back on alter-native options to solve their skilled la-bour demand by employing trained adultworkers and upgrading the skills of theiremployees.

A second impediment to establishing alarge scale school-to-work system is thereserved position of trade unions. Theyare concerned with the employment ef-fects of work-based education systems.Especially in industries with declining orstagnant employment, providing workplacements for young people may seemto threaten adult jobs. Furthermore, thedevelopment of widespread youth ap-prenticeship programmes could under-mine the apprenticeship programmes runby unions, especially in the constructionindustry. Those programmes are domi-nated and controlled by unions which usethem to monopolise the labour market ofskilled workers. In addition, the averageage of apprentices in union apprentice-ship programmes is around 26 years, sothis is not a school-to-work system sincethey were usually employed before.

The third difficulty in establishing a largescale school-to-work system is the roleof the different governmental levels: fed-eral, state and local. The School-to-WorkOpportunities Act mandates the states todevelop and implement such an educa-tion system. Here, the states can custom-ise a system to their regional and localneeds since there are only broad criteriaset up in the legislation. Thus, the domi-nant actor behind the programmes is thestates which build on their earlier effortsof providing training and education op-portunities for non college-bound youth.By doing so, they keep the school-to-worksystem highly fragmented and reduce thechance of building a coherent work-basededucation system. Furthermore, the sizeof the federal funds for school-to-workprogrammes is much too small to achievea nationwide change in the educationsystem. In 1995, 27 states received a totalof $204 million in implementation grants

“(…) what are the barriersthat impede a systemicchange? (…) To sum up,strong employer participa-tion in a large scale school-to-work system cannot beattained since neither indi-vidual nor collective moti-vation can overcome theproblems of training cost -especially supervisorycosts, ‘free rider’ behaviourand the lack of an institu-tional framework to regu-late collective interests.

A second impediment (…)is the reserved position oftrade unions (…) con-cerned with the employ-ment effects of work-basededucation systems (…) pro-viding work placements foryoung people may seem tothreaten adult jobs.

The third difficulty (…) isthe role of the different gov-ernmental levels: federal,state and local. (…) thedominant actor behind theprogrammes is the stateswhich build on their earlierefforts of providing train-ing and education opportu-nities (…). By doing so, theykeep the school-to-worksystem highly fragmentedand reduce the chance ofbuilding a coherent work-based education system.”


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compared to a total of around $4 billionfor other federal youth training pro-grammes. Those millions of federal dol-lars have established a powerful politicalconstituency that cannot be overthrown‘overnight’. As the School-to-Work Oppor-tunities Act ends in 2001, there is the ques-tion of whether implemented school-to-work programmes can be sustained with-out federal grants beyond that date.

Finally, the last group that has an impor-tant impact on education reforms is theteachers. They are the ‘street-level bureau-crats’ implementing new policies. How-ever, their discretion allows them to op-pose or even change the idea of a newpolicy. To establish a comprehensive andhigh-quality school-to-work system teach-ers have to be willing to work with com-panies and build a partnership betweenschool and business, classroom and work-based learning. Staff development mustbe an important feature of school-to-workprogrammes. Teachers have to be edu-cated in ‘new’ methods of teaching byintegrating vocational and academic sub-jects. There might be an opposition ofsome teachers who view vocational edu-cation as an option for low-achieving stu-dents and who focus on college prepara-tion as the only option of further educa-tion. In addition, cooperation betweenacademic and vocational teachers to in-tegrate their specific curricula into a sin-gle work- and school-based curriculummight be problematic since the differentgroups of teachers have not worked to-gether and developed their own occupa-tional status.

Academic teachers involved in collegepreparation are supported by some par-ents, especially middle-class ones, forwhom vocational education has a lowsocial prestige and who want their chil-dren prepared for a college career. Sincehigh school vocational education coursesare often preferred by low-achieving andminorities’ students, vocational educationleads to a high school diploma which doesnot increase employability and is usuallyviewed as a minor high school diploma.

There is some resistance of parents whosee school-to-work as an instrument ofthe federal government to intervene intotheir parents’ rights and to limit personalfreedom by ‘totalitarian’ state coercion.

“But many parents are angry about theseefforts and the $2.3 billion Federal planthat helps support them. Instead of fo-cusing on students in vocational educa-tion, these parents point out, school-to-work programs, by law, include all stu-dents. And in practice, the programs as-sume unwarranted authority over theirchildren’s lives.” (Cheney, 1998) All gov-ernment intervention into education isviewed as a threat to the American dreamof equality of opportunity, although thisis a fiction in reality every attempt to re-form the education system which mightestablish a formalised ‘tracking system’will meet strong opposition.

Conclusion

In the early 1990s there was a shift in theattention of the education reform move-ment. Because of the economic situationthe focus was directed towards vocationaltraining and the connection between edu-cation and economic competitiveness.Employers needed a skilled workforce fortheir restructuring processes. Instead ofdesigning a new job training programmereform-oriented politicians, educators andemployers demanded a new systemic ap-proach to the whole complex of voca-tional education. They looked to the Ger-man education system since Germany isa main economic competitor. The German‘dual system’ of vocational training com-bines work-based and school-based learn-ing in a highly structured way. It is em-bedded in an institutional setting wherecentralised employer associations andunions work together with the federalgovernment which has a legislative man-date to regulate vocational training. As allof these institutional preconditions aremissing in the US it was obvious that onecould not replicate the German system ofvocational training. Therefore, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act 1994 was de-signed to take the specific conditions inthe US into account and open the wayfor state-centred solutions. In this regardthe School-to-Work Opportunities Act fol-lows the tradition of education policy inthe US.

While the latest attempt to establish onevocational training system has failed, theopenness of the School-to-Work Oppor-tunities Act implies a great chance for the

“Finally, the last group thathas an important impact oneducation reforms is theteachers. (…) To establisha comprehensive and high-quality school-to-work sys-tem teachers have to bewilling to work with compa-nies and build a partner-ship between school andbusiness, classroom andwork-based learning.”


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US to have many different regional andlocal models of vocational training. Byhaving different approaches to vocationaltraining they can learn from each otherand adapt the various ideas to their localneeds. Tech-prep is a very good examplefor adjusting the traditional school-basedvocational education to the changing con-ditions of a globalised economy. By com-bining high school and community col-

lege courses students are prepared to sat-isfy the growing demand for a broaderknowledge base and problem-solvingqualifications. Since the economy is be-coming ever more fragmented and thecycle of technological change is short-ened, the idea of a single vocational train-ing system might be overhauled and flex-ible solutions within a general frameworkmight be a more appropriate approach.

Bailey, Thomas R. (1995a): Introduction, in:Thomas R. Bailey (Hg.), Learning to Work. EmployerInvolvement in School-to-Work Transition Programs,Washington, DC, S. 1-13.

Bailey, Thomas R. (1995b): Incentives for EmployerParticipation in School-to-Work Programs, in:Thomas R. Bailey (Hg.), Learning to Work. EmployerInvolvement in School-to-Work Transition Programs,Washington, DC, S. 14-25.

Cheney, Lynne (1998): Limited Horizons, in: TheNew York Times, 3. February, S. A23.

Elbaum, Bernard (1989): Why Apprenticeship Per-sisted in Britain But Not in the United States, in:The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 49, Nr. 2, S.337- 349.

Münch, Joachim (1989): Berufsbildung undBildung in den USA. Bedingungen, Strukturen,

References

Entwicklungen und Probleme. Ausbi ldung,Fortbildung, Personalentwicklung 28, Hg.: JoachimMünch, Berlin.

Phillips, David (1993): Borrowing EducationalPolicy, in: David Finegold/Laurel McFarland/Wil-liam Richardson (Hg.), Something Borrowed, Some-thing Learned? The Transatlantic Market in Educa-tion and Training Reform, Washington, DC, S. 13-20.

Reich, Robert (1992): The Work of Nations. Pre-paring Ourselves for 21st-Century Capitalism, NewYork.

Wills, Joan L. (1997): The Emerging Workforce De-velopment System in the United States, Washing-ton, DC.


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Introduction

The use of transnational mobility in thecontext of vocational education and train-ing (VET) is a widespread phenomenonin all EU Member States. Moreover, it isgrowing rapidly due to a large extent tofunding made available over the past 10years through the European programmesand the regional and social funds. Underthe Leonardo da Vinci II programme(2000-06), the total number of young peo-ple (and trainers) expected to participatein programme-funded mobility activitiesis 230,000 - an increase of 100,000 in com-parison with the first programme (1995-99).

In addition to the European programmesthere is a great variety of mobility pro-grammes that operate through funding atnational, bi-national or even regionallevel. Examples of these are the activitiesof the Franco-German Youth Office, theSwedish InterPraktik-programme, theDanish PIU-programme and the Dutch“Onbegrensd Talent”-initiative. At thepresent time there is no precise overviewof the total numbers involved at Europeanlevel, but a well-informed estimate indi-cates that around 200,000 people annu-ally participate in transnational mobilityschemes in a VET context. This figuredoes not include young people who or-ganise a stay abroad in a VET-context ontheir own initiative, funded by themselves,by their training centres and/or localgrants. The overwhelming majority ofthese mobility activities are carried outas placements in public or private com-panies.

In a previous article in the European Jour-nal on “Mobility as a learning process”,

Developing trans-national placementsas a didactic tool

(April 1999), the form and purpose of thistype of mobility was described more indetail and contrasted with other forms of(transnational) mobility. In summary, thearticle identified four different discourseson the reason for mobility in the contextof VET: the discourse on mobility for la-bour market purposes; the discourse onmobility as a means for the promotion ofintercultural understanding; the discourseon mobility as a vehicle for the transferof technology; and finally the one that ispertinent in this context, namely the dis-course on mobility as a learning process.It demonstrated how transnational mobil-ity projects are used in the context of VETto promote the acquisition of two spe-cific sets of skills, which may may be re-ferred to as international skills (foreignlanguage and intercultural skills) and per-sonal skills (entrepreneurial skills, inter-personal skills, communicative skills etc.).Many transnational placement projectsalso have as an aim the acquisition ofparticular vocational skills not availablein the home country. This article seeks todevelop further the notion of the learn-ing process in transnational mobility(placement) projects, with special empha-sis on the translation of these into didac-tic practices.

Mobility as a timelyphenomenon

The use of transnational mobility in thecontext of VET is a fairly recent occur-rence heralded on the European scenewith the creation of the Petra II-pro-gramme (1992-95). The emergence oftransnational mobility as a didactic toolespecially at this junction in time may beexplained by globalisation and the rapid

Transnational placementsare increasingly being usedin vocational trainingcourses to foster the acqui-sition of foreign languageproficiency, interculturalcompetence, personal (key)skills as well as specific vo-cational skills. As a didactictool, however, it is still in itsinfancy. Further researchand development activitiesare needed in order to en-sure the quality of thelearning process and to in-crease the sophistication ofthe tool for diverse targetgroups. The present articletries to give an overview ofthe “state of the art” and toindicate pathways for fu-ture action in the field.

SørenKristensen

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development of technology. “Globali-sation” denotes an increase in import/ex-port-relations, constant acquisitions, merg-ers and joint ventures across borders, andthe expansion in to international markets.This is a reality that affects most compa-nies, and consequently the competencesthey demand of the labour force. Foreignlanguage skills are necessary for an in-creasing number of employees, as is theability to interact constructively with peo-ple of another cultural background, onthe basis of a perception of differencesin attitudes and values (intercultural com-petence). The accelerating rate of changein technology means technical skills maybecome rapidly obsolete, which in turnpleas more emphasis on the so-called“personal skills”, i.e those not linked toany particular profession or work organi-sation, but which can be applied in any(vocational) context. For this reason, theseskills are also known as “transversal skills”(or “key skills, “generic skills” or “bound-ary crossing skills”).

“Immersion” and“responsibilisation”

Such elusive concepts as intercultural andpersonal skills are difficult to “teach” inthe traditional sense, in a classroom set-ting with an omniscient teacher lecturingfrom a podium to a class of pupils. Rather,they have to be learned within a frame-work especially conducive towards theiracquisition. There is not a great deal ofknowledge on how this takes place withinthe learning framework of a transnationalmobility project. At a general level, how-ever, it has been suggested that they aremediated through two different processes,which we may cal l immersion andresponsibilisation (Kristensen, 2001). Thefirst is defined as the degree of proximityto and interaction with another cultureand mentality. In essence this means themore the participant is exposed to theforeign environment, the more he is likelyto acquire in terms of foreign languageskills and intercultural competence. If he,conversely, stays mostly with his fellowcountrymen and is not properly integratedin the work processes at the company inwhich he is doing his placement, his learn-ing outcome will be limited. The secondprocess - responsibilisation - denotes the

space is available to the participant forautonomous decision making. This is, ofcourse, not a process specific to trans-national placements. Transnationality isused here to create some specific condi-tions that may be difficult to reproducein the usual surroundings of the trainee.For many participants, the placement willbe the first time they are away from theirown environment. They will not have theirusual network of family, friends andteachers to give instruction and exampleson how to solve the many smaller or largerproblems of everyday life their placementpresents. They will have to devise waysand means of doing this themselves. Atthe same time, many of the challengeshave cultural causes and are of a naturewhere they cannot draw on past modelsfor their solution. On the other hand, thefact that he is alone in this new environ-ment also means that he can act in anatmosphere where he is free from theexpectations of others and can experimentwith aspects of his personality that arenormally not activated. In this process hewill become adaptable, enterprising, opento new influences etc.

It may be argued that the two processesare in fact one, as immersion into workprocesses in many cases will entail res-ponsibilisation. It is possible, however,to imagine one without the other - tohave immersion without responsibili-sation (or with only limited responsibili-sation) and vice versa. For the placementorganiser planning a project, it is help-ful to consider both these processes sepa-rately.

Distinctive featuresof mobility projects

The twin processes of immersion andresponsibilisation are at work both in thecontext of the work placement and out-side. Joining a football club and negotiat-ing with the landlord about a broken win-dow may be actions which, for all theirsimplicity, provide important contribu-tions to the learning process. But there isno doubt that it is the workplace, wherethe participant spends 7-8 hours or more5 days a week, that constitutes the mainarena of learning. The main distinguish-ing feature of transnational work place-

“The emergence of trans-national mobility as a di-dactic tool especially at thisjunction in time may be ex-plained by globalisationand the rapid developmentof technology.”


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ments vis-à-vis other types of placementsis, of course, their transnationality: the factthat the activity takes place in a differentgeographical, cultural, and linguistic con-text. Moreover, in comparison with mostother work placement models (in particu-lar the traditional apprenticeship model),transnational placements are, with somenotable exceptions, limited in time. Sta-tistics for the Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme show clearly that most place-ments last 3-4 weeks only. Placement or-ganisers give various reasons for this, butfor young people in initial vocationaltraining the most frequently cited is thedifficulties of having projects longer thanthis recognised by the competent authori-ties (ministries, chambers of commerce orindustry etc.) as an integral part of thetraining curriculum.

Whatever the reason, this short durationmeans every day counts in the placement,and there is very little time for the par-ticipant - and the host company - to adaptand integrate.

A second complication of the trans-national context is that the host companyis under no legal obligation to give theparticipant the required amount of train-ing, since the education laws of the send-ing country are not applicable in the hostcountry. Even though it is usual to con-clude “contracts” and “training agree-ments”, these cannot be legally enforcedand the delivery of training is entirely upto the goodwill of the host company.

Thirdly, differences between VET systemsand traditions of the sending and hostcountries in most cases mean the absenceof a shared framework of reference forthe learning process between host com-pany and trainee/placement organiser.The host company will have very littleidea of the formal and informal compet-ences of the trainee or his training require-ments, and the lack of a common con-ceptual basis makes it difficult for thetrainee/project organiser to explain this.Finally, one very strong incentive for thehost company to provide training - namelythat the trainee may later return and workfor the company if both parties deem theplacement succesful - is only rarelypresent in transnational projects, wherethe participant returns to his country oforigin after completing the project.

Placements as “legitimateperipheral participation”

There is at present no theory concernedexpressly with the learning process intransnational placement projects. Thetheme does, however, have a lot in com-mon with theories that deal with “theworkplace as a field of learning”, despitethe fact that none specifically take intoaccount transnationality. Some can, how-ever, offer new perspectives and insightswhen applied to this context.

Of particular interest are the theories ofJean Lave and Etienne Wenger (1999)about “situated learning” (i.e. learning inthe context of the workplace) as an actof “legitimate peripheral participation”,stressing the quintessentially social char-acter of this type of learning process.

It makes a lot of sense to stress the socialaspects of learning in transnational place-ments rather than the cognitive processes,as learning occurs primarily in the inter-action with others in the host company.Through involvement in work processes(“participation”), the trainee graduallymoves from a position at the rim of thecircle (“peripheral”) towards a positioncloser to the centre as learning developsthrough association with more skilledcolleagues (whom Lave and Wenger call“the community of practice”) and is en-trusted with more demanding tasks. Theword “legitimate” denotes the general ac-ceptance of his position as a learner bythe community of practice, and their will-ingness to integrate him into the learningprocesses.

The concept of learning at the workplaceas “legitimate peripheral participation” isa fruitful one to apply to the context oftransnational placements, in that it allowsus to pinpoint the dangers to the learn-ing process. A trainee on a transnationalplacement will a priori always be in a pe-ripheral position as his personal, culturaland professional background is differentfrom that of his peer group from the hostcountry. Thus there is always a very realrisk that the trainee will stay on the pe-riphery - either because there is too big amismatch between the skills of the traineeand those required by the placement, orbecause the community of practice does

“There is at present notheory concerned expresslywith the learning process intransnational placementprojects. The theme does,however, have a lot in com-mon with theories that dealwith ‘the workplace as afield of learning’, despitethe fact that none specifi-cally take into accounttransnationality.”


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not accept his position as a learner (inother words, his “legitimacy”), or both.In that sense, “legitimate peripheral par-ticipation” becomes a synonym for thetwin processes of “immersion” (i.e. par-ticipation) and “responsibilisation” (i.e.the legitimacy of the learner and thegradual movement from the peripherytowards the centre and to a better inte-gration in work processes).

Lave and Wenger’s work on situated learn-ing as legitimate peripheral participationin communities of practice was developedto describe apprenticeship learning, andis well suited to young people in initialvocational training. There are other as-pects of transnational placements, how-ever, which it does not take into account.

The “connective model”of work experience

A recent project under the aegis of theEU fourth framework programme for Tar-geted Socio-Economic Research (TSER)was concerned with the theme of “workexperience”. “Work experience” is inmany ways an apt description for whatgoes on in a transnational placement, asthe term encapsulates the temporal aspect(the limited duration) and the “one-off”character of the event. Setting up a typol-ogy of work experience according to pur-poses, the authors of the report describea “connective model” which holds someinteresting perspectives for transnationalplacement projects as it is especially con-cerned with the development of transver-sal skills. In summary, the connectivemodel sees the work placement neitherin terms of the training course of the par-ticipant, nor of the immediate needs ofthe company. The placement is describedas a negotiated piece of “resituated learn-ing”, where the two parties define anddevelop a “shared object” which mayoriginate outside of the context of com-pany needs and the learning requirementsof the trainees as defined in the curricu-lum.

Transposed to real-life situations, this rep-resents an approach that experiencedplacement organisers have been using toidentify high-quality transnational place-ments. Their focus is on identifying and/

or developing, in partnership with thehost company, a framework for learningin the shape of one or more joint projects(or “shared objects”) - tasks that thetrainee can do and which are of relevanceto the company. Projects that are unilat-erally defined on the basis of the learn-ing requirements of the trainee are sel-dom acceptable to the company, andprojects defined unilaterally on the basisof the immediate needs of the company(using trainees as “cheap labour” ) areseldom acceptable to project organisers.Failure to negotiate the content of thelearning process will in most cases havegrave consequences for the learning out-come, due to the absence of a commonconceptual framework between the hostcompany from one country and theproject organiser/trainee from the other.Neither will know what to expect fromthe other, and the processes of immer-sion and responsibilisation are impaired.

Box 1

A typology accordingto target groups

As a didactic activity, transnational mo-bility projects vary considerably in length,target group, host country, whether theyare organised for groups or individuals

Negotiating learning in placement projects

Within the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci pilot project (DK/981/59005/pI/I.1.1.a./FPI) “Quality assurance and certification of work placements abroad” amethodology for facilitating the negotiation of training in a transnational workplacement was developed. When negotiating the placement, a three-step proce-dure is involved; each of which is supported by specific information material inthe shape of leaflets. The first leaflet gives the general conditions for the place-ment: remuneration, working hours, health and safety, industrial injuries’ insur-ance etc., all of the practical conditions that must be fulfilled to comply with legaland administrative obligations. The second explains the background for the place-ment: which part of the VET-system the trainee comes from, the overall aim of theplacement, and the types of tasks and the level of responsibility expected, and ageneral description of the relevant sector. The third leaflet contains a long list ofall the practical tasks involved in the profession the young person is training in.The host company must tick off the tasks they can offer during the placement, and(in certain cases) at what level. This list serves both as information, as a basis forthe negotiation of the training contents of the placement, and as an instrument forrecognising it as an integral part of the curriculum of the trainee. The host com-pany must subsequently sign a contract on the basis of this agreement.

The project involved partners from Denmark, Germany, France and the UK.

“Projects that are unilater-ally defined on the basis ofthe learning requirementsof the trainee are seldomacceptable to the company,and projects defined unilat-erally on the basis of theimmediate needs of thecompany (using trainees as“cheap labour”) are seldomacceptable to project or-ganisers.”


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etc. This has implications both for theevaluation methodologies and the natureof the learning process. To come to gripswith this, it is helpful to try and makesome kind of distinction between them.In the context of the learning process, themost obvious one is a division accordingto pedagogical aim, i.e. the type of skillsacquisition that carries most weight in aspecific project.

The most straightforward projects arethose with a clear vocational aim. Exam-ples are the many projects where partici-pants learn about specific technologies orworking methods that do not exist at na-tional level. Other examples are affordedby projects that target people who havebecome unemployed recently as a resultof structural changes in the labour mar-ket. These projects seek to equip partici-pants with very precise skills (defined in-dividually) of an international or voca-tional nature, to help them find new em-ployment and a transnational placementis integrated in the process as a tool toacquire them. Quite a few of these place-ments can be found in the context of theEuropean Social Fund and its Communityinitiatives (Adapt, Youthstart etc.). In bothcases it is possible to assess the impact ofthe placement in a relatively short periodof time after the return, as the results canbe measured in either employment or im-provement in working situation.

Another type of project involves disad-vantaged groups of (young) people. Theterm “disadvantaged” is very flexible, butin this context concerns social disadvan-tage and/or educational shortcomings.Here we are faced with a completely dif-ferent type of pedagogy and success cri-teria, where concrete results in terms ofemployment are very difficult to realisein the short and medium term. The ben-efits of this form of mobility are mainlypsychological. Firstly, by spending timein another country and surviving, the par-ticipant is encouraged to break other bar-riers he is surrounded with. He discoversnew strengths and possibilities, and isencouraged to improve his situation athome. Secondly, he is placed in an envi-ronment which is not predisposed nega-tively towards him. He can start with a“clean slate” and has a possibility to re-define himself and develop other aspectsof his personality or vocational orienta-

tion. The placement project becomes thestart of a process that may take many yearsto accomplish.

Finally, there is a large group of projectsinvolving a variety of target groups wherethe placement primarily serves to developskills not included or insufficiently cov-ered in the curriculum of the VET-coursethe participant is (or has been) attend-ing. The main aim here is to develop thelinguistic, intercultural and personal skillsof the participant as “additional” qualifi-cations (“Zusatzqualifikationen”) to thoseacquired (or will be acquired) in the setcurriculum.

Preparation and debriefing of partici-pants

Another characteristic of transnationalmobility is that the learning process can-not be controlled through daily interac-tion in a classroom or the regulated envi-ronment in a workshop in a company inthe host country. The participant must,to a large extent, assume responsibilityfor his own learning process and to thisend, must be adequately equipped totackle and overcome the challenges en-countered during and after the placement.A transnational placement project, there-fore, is more than the placement period.It also contains briefing (preparation) anddebriefing. These are, or should be, inte-gral to any project and constitute impor-tant quality indicators. The preparationprocess itself encompasses three phases:motivation (particularly important forthose groups to whom a transnationalexperience does not suggest itself imme-diately), selection (for a good match be-tween the challenges in the project andthe personalities of the participants), andfinally the actual preparation.

This last phase consists of 5 elements: lin-guistic, cultural, vocational, practical andpersonal/psychological preparation.Whereas linguistic, cultural and practicalpreparation (travel, social security, accom-modation, dealing with authorities etc.)are self-evident, many projects seem toneglect vocational preparation. Vocationalpreparation consists of raising the aware-ness of the participant of the differencesin training courses and work organisationin the chosen vocational field betweenhome and host country. A bricklayer in

“Another characteristic oftransnational mobility isthat the learning processcannot be controlledthrough daily interaction ina classroom or the regu-lated environment in aworkshop in a company inthe host country. The par-ticipant must, to a largeextent, assume responsibil-ity for his own learningprocess (…)”


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Denmark, for instance, is trained to doother things than a bricklayer in the UK,and a bricklayer in Germany organises hiswork differently than a bricklayer inGreece. Such information is important forthe proper integration in the placementand to avoid frustration. The personal/psychological preparation is intended tohelp the participant cope with crises ex-perienced by nearly all in a transnationalmobility project: loneliness, inadequacy,homesickness etc.

Debriefing of participants in a mobilityproject may assume many forms and cantake place either in groups or individu-ally, written or orally. The important thingis to give participants the possibility toformulate and discuss their experienceswith others, to put things in perspectiveand clear up misunderstandings. Guid-ance and counselling on how participantscan capitalise on their new competencesare also an integral part of this.

The art and skill of projectengineering

Although there are no indications of thenumber of trainees that find a work place-ment for themselves without a placementorganiser, their number is in all likelihoodvery limited and a placement organiserfigures in practically all contexts. Theplacement organiser is, in most cases, thevocational school or training centre, al-though private placement organisations,enterprises, and the social partners areseen in this role. If the trainee is placedat one end of the spectrum, and the hostcompany at the other, the placement or-ganiser occupies a position somewherein between - usually, however, closer tothe trainee than the host company andplays a crucial role. The placement or-ganiser need not have in-depth knowl-edge of learning theories, but must havea firm grasp of the practical issues in-volved in creating the proper learning en-vironment in a placement - in other words,skilled in project engineering.

The foremost requirement of a placementorganiser is to find host companies andnegotiate worthwhile placements for train-ees. This is by no means easy. In long-term placement projects, the trainee and

host company will often have time toreach some form of mutual understand-ing of learning requirements and theirinteraction with the environment in thecompany, but often only after severalmonths of painful adaptation and missedlearning opportunities. In short-termplacement projects, the time for such aprocess of adaptation and rapprochementis simply not available. Here the role ofthe placement organiser as the mediator(as implied in the “connective” model de-scribed above) of the trainee on the oneside, and the opportunities and the needsof the host company on the other, is cru-cial. The project organiser must be ableto carry out (or at least organise) the nec-essary preparation and debriefing of theparticipants. Three more distinct areas ofexpertise also come under the headingof project engineering, funding, partnerfunding and handling, and managing prac-ticalities.

Funding usually involves transnational(European) and national perspectives. Inmany Member States, European pro-grammes are the only source of externalfunding. Others have their own pro-grammes that either provide full fundingor national co-finance for European pro-grammes. Many projects report inordinateamounts of time spent on finding the nec-essary funding for the activity (compli-cated application procedures etc.); and,once secured, of much time being spentputting together the necessary financialreports afterwards.

Partner finding and handling is centralto mobility projects. Although someplacement projects do not operate withone central partner and deal directly withhost companies, most are organised in apartnership involving organisations insending and hosting countries. In mostcases, both partners are vocationalschools or training centres, but there arealso organisations specialised in mobil-ity projects for various target groups (no-tably young workers) operating inde-pendently or in partnership with train-ing organisations. Some operate at a com-mercial level. Many projects encounterproblems in identifying a suitable part-ner and developing the project together.Cultural differences run very deep andare reflected in management styles andmisunderstandings easily occur. Other

“The placement organiserneed not have in-depthknowledge of learning theo-ries, but must have a firmgrasp of the practical is-sues involved in creatingthe proper learning envi-ronment in a placement - inother words, skil led inproject engineering.”


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Role of host companies

Enterprises play a crucial role in trans-national placement projects by provid-ing the physical location and vocationalenvironment for the learning process ofthe trainees. They also form a seriousbottleneck in the process, as the diffi-culty of finding of good quality host en-terprises is seen as the most formidableobstacle to the expansion of transnationalplacement schemes. It is curious, giventhis important role, that little is knownabout companies and their reasons foraccepting trainees from abroad. Whichtype of companies accept trainees? Arethey large companies? Multinational com-panies? Companies with very strong im-port/export relations? Are there certainsectors particularly propitious for place-ment seekers? Is it goodwill, altruism ora belief in the European idea that pro-vides the impetus for accepting a trainee?Are there tangible or intangible benefitsfor the company? What are they? Is itmerely a wish to obtain cheap (and insome cases even free) labour? In theprocess of negotiating the content oftransnational placements, it would bevery helpful to have information on what“makes the company tick” when theyagree to accept trainees from abroad sothat adequate strategies can be devel-oped. Similarly, there is only anecdotalinformation on why companies refuse totake trainees. Some companies, whichwould otherwise be positive towards re-ceiving a young person from abroad,might refuse because they are unsure ofwhat this might entail in terms of time-consuming monitoring and other obliga-tions. What does the role of “mentor”mentioned in the Europass1, actually im-ply?

Research and development projects onaspects of the learning process seen fromthe perspective of the host company (asopposed to the trainee or placement or-ganiser) are few and far between. Re-cently, national guides for companies ac-cepting trainees from abroad have ap-peared in two countries (Austria and Den-mark). These focus mainly on aspects oflaw and social security, but are muchappreciated by companies and havehelped clear many uncertainties and mis-understandings.

Box 2

Implementing quality controland supporting host companiesThe PEGASE-project, a 1996 Leonardo da Vinci Pilot project (F/96/1/05350/PI/I.1.1.a/FPI) developed a comprehensive system of quality control for the prepara-tion, supervision and evaluation of transnational placements. The system addressesitself to all involved actors (i.e. the trainee him- or herself, the project organiser,public authorities and the host company. The project defined and analysed allsteps in a placement projects and developed material that could accompany andsupport these for each type of actor. When implemented, the system allows eachactor to know exactly what to expect from the others, and when to expect it. Also,comprehensive checklists identify the various tasks to be performed as well as theappropriate time for performing them. The use of ICT-tools makes it possible tomonitor the placements ongoingly and to detect problems early on. The method-ology ensures that it is possible to explain to companies exactly what it implies toaccept a trainee from abroad, and to give them material that in a systematic andsimple way underpins the administrative procedures.

The project involved partners from Germany, France, Ireland, the UK and Hun-gary.

problems have linguistic causes. Theprocess of finding a partner and devel-oping the partnership is a valuable learn-ing process for many project organisers,but should not overshadow the “corebusiness” of the activity - namely thelearning process of the participants.Analyses of successful projects often re-veal they are carried out in partnershipswhere placement activities are either re-ciprocal (i.e. both partners both host andsend) or in partnerships that have servedas the framework for several projects, andwhere the partners have developed amutual knowledge and trust.

Managing practicalities can take up a lotof time for a project organiser, especiallyin dealing directly with host companiesor where the partner plays a limited role.Even where issues like the provision ofaccommodation and work placementshave been taken care of by the partner,the project organiser must still possess agood knowledge of these fields in theconception and planning phase of theproject. The project organiser should alsobe aware of the administrative implica-tions arising in connection with work andresidence, in particular with respect tosocial security, as young people on (un-paid) placements often are not coveredagainst industrial injuries, due to the lackof a properly defined legal status.

“Research and developmentprojects on aspects of thelearning process seen fromthe perspective of the hostcompany (as opposed tothe trainee or placement or-ganiser) are few and farbetween.”

(1) Council Decision of 21 December1998 on the promotion of Europeanpathways in work-linked training, in-cluding apprenticeship


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Transnational mobilityas an investment

Initially this article looked at the num-bers involved in transnational mobilityprojects. Quantity is often brought forwardin connection with mobility almost as asuccess criterion in its own right. It isclear, however, that numbers alone can-not be used as a success criterion forplacements. In the context of VET, the“products” of mobility schemes are quali-fications and competences that can im-prove the employability of those partici-pating. It has been widely acknowledgedthat participation in a mobility project canfoster vocational, linguistic, interculturaland transversal (personal) skills in indi-viduals - skills increasingly in demand ona labour market constantly changing un-der the combined influences of rapid tech-nological development and globalisation.The mere fact that 100, 1,000 or even10,000 young people have participated ina transnational placement scheme is notin itself of any significance. The impor-tant thing is not that they went, but whatthey brought back in terms of skills andqualifications that can improve their em-ployability.

Another way of measuring the scope ofthis type of mobility is by looking at costs.In the Leonardo da Vinci II programme,an estimated figure of 600 million Eurosis earmarked for mobility (40% of theoverall budget). As the programme grantsoffer a financial incentive, but do notcover costs, to this figure must be addeda national co-financing of at least a simi-lar amount. Adding financing from otherEuropean, bi-national national and re-gional programmes and initiatives, theamount is quite substantial. It is temptingto question whether there are appropri-ate returns on this investment in terms ofcompetences that increase the quality oflife of the participants, as well as the com-petitiveness of Europe as a global player.Anecdotal evidence of the beneficial ef-fects of participation in a placement pe-riod abroad is often cited as irrefutableproof of its value, evidenced most fre-quently by the token “young person” ap-pearing at conferences on mobility, testi-fying to its merits and the positive changesfour weeks in a company abroad hasbrought into his life. The danger of this is

that it is equally feasible to find and fea-ture at such an event a young person forwhom the transnational experience wasnegative. Neither can claim to representthe “truth”, without supporting these state-ments with reliable and valid findingsfrom extensive evaluations of mobilityprojects or programmes. Such evaluationsare exceedingly difficult to undertake and,at the present time, there are not adequatemethodologies to serve the purpose.There have been attempts at regional andnational level that contain promising leadsthat can be further developed into usefulmethodologies. The need for evaluationdoes not only concern the overall learn-ing process itself, but also the individualdidactic practices, which need to be con-stantly assessed and improved, or, if nec-essary, replaced.

The challenge ahead

The central problem in connection withtransnational mobility is the overall lackof established didactic practice and pro-fessionalism in the field. Despite trans-national mobility for over 10 years beingan important element in European VETpolicies, the level of knowledge on thevarious aspects of “project engineering”has arguably hardly improved since thePetra II programme, despite the signifi-cant increase in quantity. Part of the ex-planation, it has been suggested, lies inthe fact that the theme of “transnationalmobility as a didactic practice” still hasnot been recognised by many central ac-tors at local and regional level (schooldirectors, curriculum developers etc.) whotend to view it more as some sort of ex-otic school outing rather than a pedagogicactivity, and who allocate esteem and re-sources to it accordingly. There is, how-ever, an even more pertinent explanationthat arises out of the very transnationalnature of the activities.

Going back to Lave and Wenger’s idea ofknowledge development arising in “com-munities of practice”, it is clear that sucha community (or communities) has neverreally existed for placement organisers inthe sphere of transnational mobility. De-spite the many people involved, mostplacement organisers remain isolated intheir vocational colleges, with little con-tact between them. Newcomers to the

“The mere fact that 100,1,000 or even 10,000 youngpeople have participated ina transnational placementscheme is not in itself ofany significance. The im-portant thing is not thatthey went, but what theybrought back in terms ofskills and qualificationsthat can improve their em-ployability.”


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scene, instead of capitalising on the ex-perience of others, are to a large extentforced to “reinvent the wheel” and learnfrom their own mistakes. The knowledgebase they build up is in most cases, lostagain when they move on as there is nocommunity to pass it on to. Some nationalcoordination units (NCUs) of the Leonardoda Vinci programme have tried at nationallevel to organise annual meetings of place-ment organisers, but problems lie in largetravel and accommodation costs and thedifficulties of elaborating an agenda thatcaters for a very heterogenous group.Another problem with these strictly na-tional communities is that they do notinvolve the practitioners responsible fororganising the project in the host coun-try. There is a strong case for making com-munities of practice in this field - like theprojects themselves - transnational. A simi-lar plight exists in the field of researchand development on mobility. Researchand development activities are importantto deepen our insight and knowledge of

the learning process, and, on the basis ofthis, develop tools and procedures toprofessionalise and alleviate the tasks ofthose involved. The research and devel-opment community on mobility as a di-dactic tool is at best a very narrow oneand is widely dispersed in terms of geog-raphy and disciplines. The challenge isto find ways of setting up suitable plat-forms, be they “traditional” (conferencesand seminars) or based on the new infor-mation and communication technologies,for such communities to form and growto create the proper receptacles for knowl-edge and vehicles for its transfer. Theseplatforms must also ensure the cross-fer-tilisation between practitioners and theresearch and development community,and must, necessarily, be transnational innature. This is the first prerequisite for adevelopment in the direct ion of aprofessionalision of the use of the tool.The raw material is already there, frommore than 10 years of intensive practicalexperience.

CEDEFOP (1998). Werner, Tassinopoulos andKristensen: Mobility and migration in the Euro-pean Union and their specific implications for youngpeople.

CEDEFOP (1998) Kristensen, Søren : Trans-national mobility in the context of vocational edu-cation and training in Europe. In “Vocational edu-cation and training - the European research field”Background report, Vol. 2.

CEDEFOP (2001) Kristensen, Søren: “Makingsense of mobility projects - a knowledge develop-ment issue for practitioners” in Building blocks forthe knowledge society - reflections on knowledgedevelopment processes. Ed. Barry Nyhan (forthcom-ing).

Chaiklin, Seth and Lave, Jean (eds.): Understand-ing practice - perspectives on activity and context.Cambridge University Press 1996

Colin, Lucette and Müller, Burkhard (eds.):Europäische Nachbarn - vertraut und fremd.Pädagogik interkultureller Begegnungen. CampusVerlag 1998

European Communities (1998). Report of theHigh Level Panel on the free movement of persons.

Hofstede, Geert: Cultures and organisations - soft-ware of the mind. McGraw-Hill 1997

Kristensen, Søren: Mobility as a learning proc-ess. European Journal of Vocational Training No.16, January - April 1999/I

Kristensen, Søren and Schultz-Hansen, Anne:Forberedelse til praktikophold i udlandet. Ringsted,1998

Lave, Jean and Wenger, Etienne: Situated learn-ing - legitimate peripheral participation. CambridgeUniversity Press 1999

Miller, A., Watts, A.G. and Jamieson I. (eds.):Rethinking work experience. Falmer Press 1991

Wenger, Etienne: Communities of practice. Cam-bridge University Press 1998.

Wordelmann, Peter (ed): Internationale Qualifika-t ionen. Inhalte, Bedarf und Vermitt lung. W.Bertelsmann Verlag, 1995

Reports and printed material from:

Leonardo da Vinci project DK/981/59005/pI/I.1.1.a/FPI: Quality assurance and certification of workplacements abroad.

Leonardo da Vinci project F/96/1/o5350/PI/I.1.1.a/FPI: Pedagogy and quality of transnational place-ments

EU fourth framework programme/Targeted Socio-Economic Research SOE2-CT97-2025: Work experi-ence as an education and training strategy: newapproaches for the 21st century

Bibliography

“The research and develop-ment community on mobil-ity as a didactic tool is atbest a very narrow one andis widely dispersed interms of geography anddisciplines.”


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SabineManningWIFO (Research Fo-rum Education andSociety), Berlin

What can we learnfrom the useof qualificationswith a dual orientationacross Europe?

The focus of this article is ‘lessons of mu-tual learning’, drawn from these schemesin a collaborative process. This approachof collaborative investigation and mutuallearning has been developed in a groupof Leonardo da Vinci projects, supportedby accompanying measures on behalf ofCedefop. As put forward in the Europeanvocational training conference in Viennain 1998, “the emerging culture of mutuallearning is emphasising the role of ‘com-plementary areas of policy-development’or ‘reshaping existing structures to incor-porate new transitional models’ or ‘crea-tion of comparable circumstance forpiloting similar ideas within different sys-temic environments’” (Kämäräinen, 1998).

Among the projects piloting this approachas a joint objective have been EUROPROF,POST-16 STRATEGIES/SPES-NET (see listof projects), and INTEQUAL/DUOQUAL.The concept of mutual learning and thepractical experience gained in this proc-ess have been reflected in several studies(Attwell 1997; Heidegger 1996, 2000;Kämäräinen 2000; Lasonen 1998; Lasonen& Manning 1998; Stenström 2000). Theprocedure and outcome of mutual learn-ing in the projects INTEQUAL/DUOQUALis investigated below, including the meth-odological approach, the analysis of evi-dence and conclusions.

Approach

The partnership carried out severalroundtable sessions to discuss what can

Introduction

European partners in two Leonardo daVinci projects (INTEQUAL and DUOQUAL- see list of projects) have analysed quali-fications with a dual orientation. Theseare qualifications at secondary educationlevel which combine vocational and gen-eral education and provide a dual orien-tation towards employment and highereducation. The schemes of qualificationswith a dual orientation (or Doppelqualifi-kation) analysed by the partnership areschemes which:

a) extend over an integral part of thewhole education sector, such as the studybranches in the Czech Republic, voca-tional courses in Portugal and vocationalprogrammes or streams within the com-prehensive school systems of Norway andSweden;

b) refer to individual courses or qualifi-cations, e.g. the Vocational Baccalauréatin France, the Advanced General NationalVocational Qualification (GNVQ) in Eng-land, the Integrated Multivalent Lyceum(IML) in Greece, the senior secondaryvocational education (MBO/BOL4) in theNetherlands and the WIFI Academycourses in Austria;

c) represent pilot projects within estab-lished systems of vocational educationand training, including the experimentalreform in Finland and individual projectsin Germany (Bavaria/Brandenburg).

This article focuses uponlessons of mutual learning.It uses an approach of col-laborative investigation andmutual learning to analysethe results of two EuropeanLeonardo da Vinci projectsin qualifications with a dualorientation. It identifiessome of the key lessons tobe drawn from differentschemes for qualificationswith a dual orientation.


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we learn from one another. Each partnerassessed the strong and weak points oftheir scheme and considered lessons fromothers in the national context. The dis-cussions among the partnership werebased on a conceptual approach of shar-ing knowledge for mutual learning(Brown & Manning 1998; Manning 1997).The starting point of this approach is thatthere are no general lessons in their ownright: lessons are always contextual, re-lated to the schemes providing and re-ceiving them. The lessons in general arerelated to specific schemes, ie a lesson isnormally drawn from a given scheme Ato feed into one’s own scheme B. In thisprocess, the lesson is determined by as-pects of both the scheme A (e.g. goodexample) and the scheme B (e.g. prob-lem requiring a solution). This interrela-tion is of course further influenced by fac-tors such as the perception and experi-ence of the partner drawing the lesson(see table 1).

Table 1Following the guiding question (what les-sons can we learn from one another?) thefocus is on the lessons rather than theschemes themselves. The aim is to iden-tify stimulating lessons, including goodpractice, not to evaluate the schemes.

In the final discussion among the part-ners, project experience was related tothe potential of qualifications with a dualorientation set out in a model (Lasonen& Manning 1999). This model combinesthree criteria relevant for the quality ofvocational education and its standing vis-à-vis general education: providing per-sonal competence and facilitating mobil-ity both in the education system and thelabour market (see table 2).

Table 2

The lessons of mutual learning drawn bythe partners across various countries im-plicitly take account of national contexts.For the comparative analysis of these les-sons, however, the contextual frameworkof qualifications with a dual orientationhas to be made more explicit. Drawingon parallel research (Lasonen & Manning1999), a typology of national settings hasbeen applied identifying the basic rela-tionship between education and work.The following three types of national set-tings are distinguished (see table 3):

a) type I: a predominantly close relation-ship between the education system andthe labour market, based on a tracked sys-tem of education and a qualification struc-ture which has direct relevance for occu-pational entry;

b) type II: a predominantly loose relation-ship between the education system andthe labour market, characterised by a largeproportion of school-based vocationaleducation with broad specialisation andsubsequent on-the-job training;

c) type III: a varied relationship betweenthe education system and the labour mar-ket, featuring both school-based/broadlyspecialised vocational education andwork-based/apprenticeship-type educa-tion with different occupational patterns.

Table 3The typology of national settings

Analysis

The results of the roundtable discussionson lessons of mutual learning are ana-lysed according to four questions:

a) to what extent do the schemes of quali-fications with a dual orientation meet thethree quality criteria (personal compe-tence, educational mobility, occupationalmobility)?

b) which problems are shared among theschemes of qualifications with a dual ori-entation?

c) which lessons are drawn acrossschemes of qualifications with a dual ori-entation?

d) what examples of good practice areidentified in schemes of qualificationswith a dual orientation?

Table 1

Comparative approach to mutual learning

LessonScheme A Scheme B

“The lessons of mutuallearning drawn by the part-ners across various coun-tries implicitly take accountof national contexts. Forthe comparative analysis ofthese lessons, however, thecontextual framework ofqualifications with a dualorientation has to be mademore explicit. (…) a typol-ogy of national settings hasbeen applied identifying thebasic relationship betweeneducation and work.”


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The evidence is assessed, for each ques-tion, according to the national settings ofthe schemes concerned.

Quality criteria of qualifications witha dual orientation

In the roundtable discussion, partnerswere asked: how successful are theschemes in achieving quality accordingto the three criteria (personal competence,educational mobility, occupational mobil-ity)? Each partner considered this ques-tion with regard to their specific schemeand not in comparison to the otherschemes. For the assessment, the partnerssuggested three options: achieving qual-ity; not achieving quality; no change.

The roundtable discussion arrived at analtogether positive assessment of the qual-ity of qualifications with a dual orienta-tion according to the three criteria (withregard to nine schemes involved, qualitymarks were given seven times each forcompetence and educational mobility andsix times for occupational mobility). Com-parisons between the schemes, however,should be made with caution. Since thequestion focused on the individualschemes, the partners assessed these intheir national contexts and not in com-parative perspective. Their judgements,therefore, reflected national standards andexpectations, which may differ consider-ably between the countries and schemesconcerned. If, for instance, the Dutchexpert regards the competence develop-ment in the MBO/BOL4 scheme, viewedfrom high requirements, as not success-ful, this in no way suggests that thisscheme has ‘lower quality’ in competencedevelopment than the rest of the schemeswhich are marked as successful.

Nevertheless, the overall positive assess-ment corresponds to the outcome of thecomparative analysis in the DUOQUALSurvey (Manning 1998). Altogether, quali-fications with a dual orientation poten-tially live up to the criteria identified forhigh quality and standing of vocationaleducation and training, providing per-sonal competence and facilitating mobil-ity both in the education system and thelabour market (Lasonen & Manning 1999).The assessment against the quality crite-ria also suggests, at least from the indi-vidual partners’ perspectives, that there

is no general distinction between ‘strong’and ‘weak’ schemes or between ‘provid-ers’ and receivers’ of lessons. The proc-ess of mutual learning is related to a muchmore differentiated analysis and percep-tion of the strong and weak points of theschemes, which will be taken up in thefollowing two sections.

Problems of qualifications with a dualorientation

After assessing the success of theirschemes, the partners were asked aboutthe problems in the scheme of qualifica-tions with a dual orientation? This ques-tion again focuses on the individualscheme, but opens up the debate aboutspecific as well as common issues.

The concerns addressed by the partnersreveal a striking similarity across schemesand national settings. They focus, aboveall, on the problem of how to achieve a

Table 2

The quality criteria of vocational education

vocational education

and trainingOccupational mobility(Labour market level)

Educational mobility(Educ. system level)

Personal competence(Curriculum level)

Table 3

The typology of national settings

Relation between education andworkType I = predominantly close

Type II = predominantly loose

Type III = varied

Country

Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark,Germany, NetherlandsSweden

England, Finland, France, Greece,Norway, Portugal

“Altogether, qualificationswith a dual orientation po-tentially live up to the cri-teria identified for highquality and standing of vo-cational education andtraining, providing per-sonal competence and fa-cilitating mobility both inthe education system andthe labour market (…)”


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genuine integration of vocational andgeneral subjects in the curriculum and thelearning process. In particular there is atension, perceived in several schemes(Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, theNetherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden),between pedagogic innovation on the onehand and the traditional divide betweenthe academic and vocational ‘worlds’ (interms of institutions, administration, quali-fication structures, teaching staff) on theother. Lack of work-place training (out-side schools) has also been identified asa major drawback (Czech Republic, Nor-way, Portugal, Sweden). The integrationbetween theory and practice in everydayclassroom and workshop activities is con-sidered a challenge (Norway). Commit-ment to self-directed learning may behampered by atomistic assessment (Eng-land).

Several schemes (Austria, Germany andFinland), while being considered success-ful in terms of quality criteria, turn out tobe restrictive in access. This draws atten-tion to a general concern which has beenraised about qualifications with a dualorientation. In a context of wide-rangingproblems of transition from education towork, with a large section of young peo-ple being at risk, pathways with a dualqualification are in effect selective, leav-ing those perceived as ‘low-achievers‘behind. The challenge for educationalpolicy is to ensure that schemes of quali-fications with a dual orientation are partof transparent and flexible systems, ac-cessible from any point and linking up toother parts of education and training (seeLasonen & Manning 1999).

Learning across schemesof qualifications with adual orientation

The discussion of problems encounteredby individual partners gave way to a jointlearning process. This was carried furtherby addressing the question: of which ap-proaches from other schemes may beworth considering. Altogether, 29 lessonshave been drawn for 11 schemes (requir-ing or welcoming approach), with 44 ref-erences being made to 11 schemes (pro-viding approach). Certain points are worthnoting.

Mutual learning among partners has beenconcerned, most of all, with curricularissues (26 lessons), hardly at all with edu-cational and occupational mobility. Thismay be partly due to the focus set in thepartnership project on issues related tocurriculum and learning. There are, how-ever, more fundamental reasons. The col-laborative analysis of qualifications witha dual orientation has shown that curricu-lum and learning processes are central tothe reforms and pilot projects. These com-ponents are also essential for the successof the schemes, including the educationaland occupational mobility of the students.Furthermore, curricular issues tend to beless determined by the national setting ofthe scheme than mobility issues which aretied up with the education system and thelabour market respectively.

Most of the lessons drawn from otherschemes are related to the problemswhich have been identified in the origi-nal schemes. While the matching of en-countered problems and envisaged les-sons is hardly surprising, the exceptionsare also illuminating. On the one hand,some problems may be specific to thenational setting or just identified in thenational context. In any case, answers toproblems are sought first of all in the na-tional environment. On the other hand,some lessons may have been inspired bynoting advantages of other schemes andrelating these to limits and weaknessesor orientations of one’s own scheme.

Lessons are drawn both across schemesof different types of national settings (27references) and between schemes of thesame type (17 references). This diversepattern supports the assumption thatmutual learning, in particular on curricu-lar issues, is not limited by systemic dif-ferences.

References are made to schemes of allthree types, in most cases to the schemesof Germany, Norway, England and Aus-tria. This choice may be partly explainedby innovative approaches taken in theseschemes which have attracted attention.However, another reason is likely to bethe implicit direction of the learning proc-ess in the partnership: the first project(INTEQUAL) has provided the basis forthe multiplier project (DUOQUAL), offer-ing rich experience (including the four

“(…) concerns (…) focus,above all, on the problem ofhow to achieve a genuineintegration of vocationaland general subjects in thecurriculum and the learn-ing process. In particularthere is a tension, (…) be-tween pedagogic innova-tion on the one hand andthe traditional divide be-tween the academic and vo-cational ‘worlds’ (…) on theother.”

“In a context of wide-rang-ing problems of transitionfrom education to work,with a large section ofyoung people being at risk,pathways with a dualqualification are in effectselective, leaving those per-ceived as ‘low-achievers‘(…). The challenge for edu-cational policy is to ensurethat schemes of qualifica-tions with a dual orienta-tion are part of transparentand flexible systems, acces-sible from any point andlinking up to other parts ofeducation and training(…).”


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schemes above!) for the enlarged partner-ship.

A closer look at the content of the les-sons reveals that approaches to integrat-ing vocational and general education, toassessing competences and to improvingthe cooperation between institutions ofeducation and work are in the centre ofjoint interest. These curricular issues maybe regarded as central to qualificationswith a dual orientation, also providing thebasis for educational and occupationalmobility. The major approaches consid-ered as ‘lessons’ in individual schemes areset out in table 4.

Table 4These approaches are of course integralpart of the individual schemes and theirnational contexts. They could not be‘transferred’ to any other scheme or puttogether as ‘ingredients’ for improving orrecreating it. However, the conceptualideas behind them and the practice theyembody in each case may promote freshthinking about related concerns in otherschemes.

‘Good practice’ in schemes of qualifi-cations with a dual orientation

The references to interesting approachesobserved in other schemes are also anindicator of the success of qualificationswith a dual orientation, even if relative tothe specific starting point of the learningprocess. To get a broader picture of suc-cessful experience, partners were askedabout what works well in their schemesof qualifications with a dual orientation.Their assessment not only complementsthe previous look for approaches by otherschemes, but also serves as a presenta-tion of ‘good practice’ which may offerfurther stimulus to other schemes.

This assessment of what works well in agiven scheme mostly relates to the na-tional context, contrasting the qualifica-tions with a dual orientation with con-ventional patterns of vocational and gen-eral education at upper secondary levelin the country concerned. The evidenceof ‘good practice’, therefore, is specificto the individual scheme and internal na-tional debate. This distinguishes ‘goodpractice’ from the ‘lessons’ (table 4) whichare related to perceived issues or prob-lems of other schemes. Furthermore,

‘good practice’ is more focused on whatactually works well, based on internalenquiry and evaluation, while ‘lessons’might refer to both practical experienceand conceptual approaches.

The major output of ‘good practice’ es-tablished in schemes of qualifications witha dual orientation is summed up in table5, grouped according to the three aspectsof quality, (see the countries noted inbrackets).

Table 5The above mapping of ‘good practice’partly corresponds to the evidence whichhas been reported in the lessons (see ta-ble 4), but it opens up a wider spectrumof positive experience. Evidence of ‘goodpractice’ refers to all aspects of quality:both competence and educational/occu-pational mobility. This is important forunderpinning the assumption about the

Table 4

Lessons from schemes of qualifications with a dualorientation

❏ combining technical and general contents in the curriculum (Germany, the Neth-erlands);

❏ integrating general and vocational subjects (Greece);❏ providing practical work and work life learning as a base for theory learning

(Germany);❏ arranging for an apprenticeship as optional period of work-based training (Nor-

way);❏ offering a gradual access to specialisation according to a tree-like pattern (Nor-

way);❏ preparing for social participation and citizenship (Germany, France, Norway,

Sweden);❏ flexibility in planning students’ curricula (Sweden);❏ allowing for a variety of learning styles (England);❏ oral exams facilitating synoptic assessment (Czech Republic);❏ giving a certain leeway with training time (England, the Netherlands);❏ providing a flexible modular system (England);❏ cooperation between institutions of general and vocational education (Finland);❏ providing general and vocational programmes in one institution (England; Nor-

way);❏ providing different levels of vocational programmes in one institution (the Neth-

erlands);❏ developing vocational programmes at advanced level for those who possess

lower level vocational qualifications (Austria, France);❏ offering higher education of dual character for students with apprenticeship

background (Austria, Germany);❏ trainer coaching for integrated courses (Norway);❏ supplying financial aid to the firms for work based training (Norway).


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potential of qualifications with a dual ori-entation in meeting the quality criteria ofvocational education and training. Fur-thermore, ‘good practice’ is reportedacross the whole range of schemes in-volved in the project. In particular theevidence of the newly included schemes(Czech Republic, Greece, Finland andPortugal) enriches the partnership expe-rience about qualifications with a dual ori-entation.

Presentation

The process and outcome of mutual learn-ing in the partnership have been pre-sented in a knowledge base available onthe home page of the Research ForumWIFO Berlin (http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/duoqual/=base.htm). The electronicbase has emerged in the course of projectwork, serving both as common resourcefor the partners and as dissemination sitefor the wider public. Particular effort wentinto finding ways of how to make thelearning process ‘visible’. The particularsection on ‘lessons of mutual learning’starts out from the methodology adoptedin the roundtable sessions, provides struc-tured assessments of individual schemes(see table 6) and sums up the results ofthe roundtable discussion.

Table 6

Conclusion

The results of mutual learning back uphypotheses put forward in earlier phasesof the partnership project, in particularthat

a) qualifications with a dual orientationpotentially live up to the criteria identi-fied for high standing of vocational edu-cation and training: providing personalcompetence and facilitating mobility bothin the education system and the labourmarket. Both the assessment put forwardby partners at the roundtable and the evi-dence from the detailed comparative sur-vey of the schemes (Manning 1998) sup-port this hypothesis. To a considerableextent, qualifications with a dual orienta-tion meet the quality criteria not only ‘po-tentially’ but in real terms; at the sametime they show a significant potential foradvance and improvement.

b) there is considerable opportunity forthe exchange and transfer of experienceacross schemes and national systems. Thefinal roundtable discussion provides richevidence for this hypothesis. More spe-cifically it suggests that curricular ap-proaches, in particular competence devel-opment, are more open for mutual learn-ing across schemes than issues of educa-tional pathways and of occupational ca-reers (which are more firmly embedded

Table 5

‘Good practice’ in schemes of qualificationswith a dual orientation

Curriculum/competence development

❏ broad general and basic vocational content in educational programmes(Czech Republic);

❏ integration of vocational and general learning objectives/subjects(Germany, Greece);

❏ flexibility concerning study times (Finland);❏ focus on everyday work in classes and pedagogy for new competences

(Norway);❏ dynamics and innovation in schools (Portugal);

Education system/educational mobility

❏ participation of large age group (Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden);❏ attractiveness for high-achievers (Germany, Finland);❏ common certification for various dually qualifying pathways (Austria);❏ enhancement of educational mobility between general and vocational lines

(Finland);❏ progression route into higher education (England);

Labour market/occupational mobility

❏ close cooperation with industry (Germany);❏ social promotion and employability through professional diploma (Portugal);❏ work-place training as factor for gaining employment (Sweden);

Both educational and occupational mobility

❏ combination of different types of qualifications with a dual orientation for indi-vidual target groups (Czech Republic);

❏ both access to higher education and entry to occupational practice(Greece, Finland, The Netherlands);

❏ shared responsibility of school authorities and working life organisations(Norway).


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in national settings). It should be noted,though, that the ‘exchange and transferof experience’ as practised in the processof ‘mutual learning’ within the partner-ship is confined to the conceptual level,while the practical implications are leftopen.

The lessons identified by the partnershipare to be taken up at national and Euro-pean level for detailed discussion withpolicy makers, practitioners and research-ers in education. The rich evidence dis-played in the DUOQUAL Knowledge Base(Manning 1999) can support this processof continued learning.

Table 6

Assessment of schemes

In preparation for the roundtable on mutual learning, the partners have assessedtheir schemes of qualifications with a dual orientation in the following countries:

Each partner answers three questions:1. What works well in this scheme?␣2. What are the problems with this scheme?␣3. What can be learned from other schemes?

<http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/duoqual/less-ass.htm>

CZ D EL

EN

FIN

NLNP

S

A

References

Attwell, G. (1997). Towards a community of prac-tice for vocational education and training profes-sionals. In: A. Brown, Promoting vocational edu-cation and training: European perspectives .Hämeenlinna: University of Tampere (pp. 3-11).

Brown, A. & Manning, S. (Eds.) (1998). Qualifi-cations for employment and higher education: a col-laborative investigation across Europe. Hämeen-linna: University of Tampere (Ammattikasvatussarja;18).

Heidegger, G. (1996). New forms of basic and fur-ther education of professionals for vocational edu-cation and training, EUROPROF working paper.Bremen: Institut Technik und Bildung.

Heidegger, G. (2000). Future trends in Europeanvocational education. In: In: M.-L. Stenström & J.Lasonen, Strategies for reforming inital vocationaleducation and training in Europe. Jyväskylä: Insti-tute for Educational Research, University ofJyväskylä (pp. 266-279).

Kämäräinen, P. (1998). What kind of key qualifi-cations should be integrated to curricula in the nearfuture according to a “horizontal approach”? In: De-velopment of vocational qualifications and compe-tencies, European Vocational Training Conference,Basic Documents, 3 and 4 July 1998 Vienna, Fed-eral Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs (pp5-17).

Manning, S. (Ed.) (1996). Qualifications with aDual Orientation towards Employment and HigherEducation: A Comparative Investigation of Inno-vative Schemes in Seven European Countries.INTEQUAL Report I. Berlin: WissenschaftsforumBildung und Gesellschaft e.V. (WIFO).

Manning, S. (Ed.) (1997). Qualifications with aDual Orientation towards Employment and HigherEducation: A Collaborative Investigation of SelectedIssues in Seven European Countries. INTEQUAL Re-port II. Berlin: Wissenschaftsforum Bildung undGesellschaft e.V. (WIFO).

Manning, S. (Ed.) (2000). Dually-oriented qualifi-cations: a knowledge base related to the Leonardoda Vinci projects INTEQUAL/DUOQUAL. Berlin:Wissenschaftsforum Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V.(WIFO). Internet: <http://www.b.shuttle.de/wifo/duoqual/=base.htm> (first set up: 14 August 1999).

Stenström, M.-L. (2000). Impacts of and experi-ences from the SPES-NET project. In: M.-L. Stenström& J. Lasonen, Strategies for reforming initial voca-tional education and training in Europe. Jyväskylä:Institute for Educational Research, University ofJyväskylä (pp. 253-257).

Kämäräinen, P. (2000). Parity of esteem as a chal-lenge to European cooperation as reflected in thePOST-16 STRATEGIES/SPES-NET and INTEQUAL/DUOQQUAL projects. In: M.-L. Stenström & J.Lasonen, Strategies for reforming inital vocationaleducation and training in Europe. Jyväskylä: Insti-tute for Educational Research, University ofJyväskylä (pp. 302-315).

Lasonen, J. (1998). Shared learning. In: J. Lasonen& M. Young (Eds.), Strategies for achieving parityof esteem in European upper secondary education.Jyväskylä: Institute for Educational Research, Uni-versity of Jyväskylä (pp. 169-185).

Lasonen, J. & Manning, S. (1998). Analysing strat-egies and qualifications in two Leonardo da Vinciresearch partnerships - issues of transnational re-search in collaboration. In: M. Mulder (Ed.), Voca-tional Education and Training Research: Proceed-ings of the vocational education and trainingNETprogram at the ECER conference on 17-20 Septem-ber 1998 in Ljubljana, Slovenia (pp. 1-7).

Lasonen, J. & Manning, S. (1999). How to improvethe standing of vocational as against general edu-cation – a comparative investigation of strategiesand qualifications across Europe. Jyväskylä: Insti-tute for Educational Research, University ofJyväskylä; Berlin: Wissenschaftsforum Bildung undGesellschaft e.V. (A contribution to the CedefopResearch Report II, to be published in 2000).


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(1) EUROPROF/Leonardo da Vinci Surveys andAnalyses project (1995-1997).Title: New forms of education of professionals forvocational education and training.

(2) INTEQUAL/Leonardo da Vinci Surveys andAnalyses project (1995-1997).Title: The acquisition of integrated qualificationsfor professional work and study - an assessment ofinnovative approaches in seven European countries.

(3) DUOQUAL/Leonardo da Vinci Multiplier-effectproject (1997-2000) based on INTEQUAL.Title: Qualifications with a dual orientation towardsemployment and higher education - applying apattern of comparative investigation across Euro-pean countries.Coordinator (INTEQUAL/DUOQUAL): Sabine Man-ning, Research Forum Education and Society(WIFO), Berlin.Partners (IQ=INTEQUAL; DQ=DUOQUAL):Berufsbildungsinstitut Arbeit und Technik (BIAT),Universität Flensburg, Germany (DQ);Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur les Qualifica-tions (CEREQ), Marseille, France (IQ);Cooperativa Marcella, Lurago Marinone, Italy (DQ);Department of Educational Research, Roskilde Uni-versity, Roskilde, Denmark (DQ);Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia – Ciências daEducação, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Monte deCaparica, Portugal (DQ);HIAK Akershus College, Bygdoy, Norway (IQ/DQ);Institut für Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft (ibw),Wien, Austria (IQ/DQ);Institut Technik und Bildung (ITB), UniversitätBremen, Germany (IQ/DQ);Institute for Educational Research (IER), Universityof Jyväskylä, Finland (DQ);Institute for Employment Research (IER), Univer-sity of Warwick, England (IQ/DQ);National Institute for Pedagogical Research (INRP),Paris, France (DQ);

List of projects

Pedagogical Institute (P.IQ.), Ministry of Education,Athens, Greece (DQ);Research Institute of Technical and Vocational Edu-cation (VÚO_), Prague, Czech Republic (DQ);SCO Kohnstamm Instituut, Universiteit van Amster-dam, The Netherlands (IQ/DQ);Staatsinstitut für Schulpädagogik und Bildungs-forschung (ISB), München, Germany (IQ/DQ);Stockholm Institute of Education, Stockholm, Swe-den (IQ/DQ);University of Surrey, Surrey, England (IQ).

Authors of the INTEQUAL/DUOQUAL Knowl-edge Base (Manning 2000)<h t t p : / /www .b . s hu t t l e . d e /w i f o / duoqua l /=base.htm>Göran Arman, Tor Bergli, Rainer Bremer, AlanBrown, Elly de Bruijn, Henri Eckert, LourençoFrazão, Robert Höghielm, Knud Illeris, GeraldHeidegger, Pekka Kämäräinen, Jean-Louis Kirsch,Anna Konopásková, Werner Kusch, Lillian Larsen,Anne Lazar, Kveta Lejcková, Owe Liljefelt, SabineManning, Loukia Marneli, Trudy Moerkamp, TeresaOliveira, Stamatis Paleocrassas, Fátima Santos,Monika Thum-Kraft, Petr Viceník, Maarit Virolainen,Eva Voncken, Stella Zacharia.

(4) POST-16 STRATEGIES/Leonardo da Vinci Sur-veys and Analyses project (1995-1997).Title: Finding new strategies for post-16 educationby networking vocational and academic/generaleducation and working life to improve the parityof esteem for initial vocational training.Coordinator: Johanna Lasonen, Institute for Edu-cational Research, University of Jyväskylä.

(5) SPES-NET/Leonardo da Vinci Multiplier-effectproject (1997-2000) based on POST-16 STRATEGIES.Title: Sharpening the post-16 education strategiesby horizontal and vertical networking.Coordinator: Marja-Leena Stenström, Institute forEducational Research, University of Jyväskylä.


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KlausHalfpapAssistant ExecutiveOfficer for Schools(retd.) in a local au-thority in NorthRhine-Westphalia

Towards learningfor the future: somepractical experiences

e) individualisation: the key figure of theindustrial age was the ‘employee’ – theperformance target for the future is ‘life-long entrepreneurship’;

f) spread of media: worldwide break-through for the new mass medium of theInternet.

These trends will give rise to a changedand expanded perception of the purposeof vocational training. In the 1980s and1990s, changes in the organisation of workin industrialised societies1 led to the de-liberate promotion of key skills that wentbeyond specialist competency. Such es-sential skills as ‘flexibility, capacity fordecision-making, spirit of enterprise, ca-pacity for abstraction, team spirit andlearning capacity (self-learning skill)’ havea ‘key role in the present and future or-ganisation of work’ (European Commis-sion 1993). These skills are still indispen-sable prerequisites for carrying out em-ployment tasks (Ott 1999). This is con-firmed by a survey carried out in 1998-99in Germany by the Federal Institute forVocational Training Affairs and the Insti-tute for Labour Market and VocationalResearch on structural change in the worldof work: since 1991-92, the extent of au-tonomy in the organisation of work hasincreased, the degree of monotony atwork has declined, and the demand forinnovativeness and creativity at work hasincreased (Dostal et al., 2000). The skillsreferred to are also indispensable if peo-ple acting autonomously are to carry outtasks successfully in any situation in life(see table 1).

In pursuit of the guiding principle of ‘edu-cation for lifelong learning’, the enlargedperception of the purpose of vocationaleducation means:

Introduction

The General and Vocational EducationStudy Group of the European Communitycalled in 1997 for ‘vocationalisation andpreparation for entry into a complex, de-manding and rapidly changing world ofwork … at all stages of education sys-tems’ as a third essential function of edu-cation alongside the development of thepersonality and socialisation (EuropeanCommunity 1997).

According to Opaschowski (1999), certain‘core trends’ will guide social develop-ment in the Western world (including theUnited States and Japan) over the nextdecade. Some of those of relevance to theeducation system are mentioned in thefollowing list, with brief explanatorynotes:

a) globalisation: work shared out acrossthe world – decline in work in the tradi-tional sense – need for extension of theconcept of work beyond gainful employ-ment to include human and social serv-ices;

b) services: structural change from indus-trial society to service society based oninformation technology – expansion in se-curity, care and health services – devel-opment of experience-oriented leisure so-ciety (tourism, media, etc.);

c) increased flexibility: frequent changesof occupation and job;

d) ageing: rise in life expectancy in West-ern industrialised countries by middle ofnext century to average 90 years – dou-bling of proportion of population aged60+ in Germany;

(1) From the conveyor belt to inte-grated assembly, and from isolatedcommercial activities to responsibil-ity for complete cases.

Core trends are guiding so-cial developments enlarg-ing perceptions of the pur-pose of vocational training.This article looks at threepilot projects in Germanywith outcomes of possibleinterest to countries withdifferent training systems.Experience from the pro-jects leads to some conclu-sions for the future devel-opment of schools as ‘learn-ing centres’.


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a) no longer being trained solely for oneoccupation, but also for jobs in the hu-manitarian and social field, including un-paid work. So-called honorary activitiesare becoming increasingly widespread inGermany;

b) the vocational training system has toface up to the challenge of training peo-ple to manage their lives purposefullyduring the lengthening period after gain-ful employment, since work plays a keypart in human existence.

So-called (unpaid) voluntary work2 is ofgreat significance, not only after but alsoduring the phase of paid employment.This has been demonstrated in the firstrepresentative sample survey carried outin Germany (Bundesministerium 2000),according to which 34% of those agedover 14 years (approx. 22 million peo-ple) are engaged in voluntary work (37%among those aged 14 to 25). The willing-ness to take on voluntary tasks and workassumes a general predisposition towardssocial behaviour, which is fostered by asense of ‘belonging’ to a wide circle offriends and acquaintances and to achurch, and by higher educational quali-fications, among other things.

The ‘new’ objective of education can besummarised as overall ability to act inoccupational, private and social life. Thefollowing are particularly important:

a) occupational and specialist skills(knowledge, abilities);

b) problem-solving ability, especially ana-lytical, planning and decision-making abil-ity;

c) capacity for interaction, especially col-laborative and communicative ability;

d) capacity for taking responsibility, in-dividually and socially.

Many of the trends mentioned have al-ready been noticeable for some time (see,for example, Commission 1993). Numer-ous pilot projects in Germany have at-tempted to develop new training courses3

to take account of them. There followreports on some of these pilots, and onfollow-up activities.4 All references toteaching relate to vocational courses inschools.

Only reports of outcomes which may beof interest to countries with different train-ing systems are discussed. The headingschosen represent in my view major stepstowards the future of vocational educa-tion in schools:

a) linking work and learning in vocationaltraining;

b) training teachers and creating the req-uisite conditions in schools;

c) new roles for teachers and learners.

The three practical experiences describedwill be summarised at the end and sup-plemented by some key considerations forthe future development of schools as‘learning centres’.

Linking work and learningin vocational training

In North Rhine-Westphalia, pupils quali-fying for entry to the Fachoberschule (spe-cialised upper secondary school) can takea two-year Berufsfachschule (full-time

Table 1

Model of a complete action

Task Objective

1 2 3 4 5

Stages

1) Analyse task, possible solutions and conditions affecting action2) Draft action plan (intermediate objectives and working steps)3) Assess and decide on action plan4) Carry out action plan5) Check and evaluate outcome and action process

(2) In, for example, sports, leisure andcultural activities, schools, socialwork, churches, politics, youth workand life-saving associations.

(3) See the publications of the Fed-eral Institute of Vocational Training.Address: Bundesinstitut für Berufs-bildung, Hermann-Ehlers Strasse 10,D-53113 Bonn.

(4) The author of this paper has beeninvolved in these as project directoror adviser.


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(basic) vocational school) course provid-ing a basic training in commerce and theschool element of qualification for entryto Fachhochschule (post-secondary tech-nical college).5 This course, at the ‘HöhereHandelsschule’ (upper secondary com-mercial school), was based almost entirelyon theory until the mid-1980s. It was vi-tal to relate the training more closely topractice by giving learners first-hand ex-perience of operations, and hence tomake it more effective.

A pilot scheme was tried out in fourschools between 1985 and 1988 to seehow this goal could be achieved throughlearning about work in a ‘learning office’(Halfpap 1993). For this purpose, realis-tic offices were set up in schools so thatlearners could plan, carry out and evalu-ate commercial activities. Pupils spent oneday a week working on and learningabout typical commercial jobs in the de-partments of a model company: purchas-ing, sales, warehousing, and sometimesmanufacturing, accounting, and person-nel/general administration (see table 2).The commercial activities were real, theonly simulation being the actual exchangeof goods. 6

A model company is an idealised depic-tion of reality and creates a frameworkfor learning about work at school (notonly in the learning office, hence the two-way arrow between the office and theschool subjects in table 2).7 Learning aboutwork in a learning office can be describedas follows:

a) learning is graded in increasing degreeof difficulty, in accordance with didacticprinciples. This grading relates particularlyto the complexity of the working proc-esses and the subject content of informa-tion, and to learners’ freedom of decisionin the autonomous and joint planning andconduct of work processes;

b) it is action-oriented and highly efficientlearning because it is based on the indi-vidual, structured around activities, expe-riential, interactive and holistic. Learnersare no longer consumers of knowledgebut must play an active part in their ownlearning;

c) the learning calls for changed behav-iour on the part of teachers, leading to

the creation of interactive partnerships:teachers arrange learning through teamteaching, acting as advisers and helperswhile learners work and learn;

d) it is learning that binds subjects to-gether and requires close coordinationbetween the course subjects.

Learning offices have now been intro-duced in all schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, and in other German Länder.8

Initial steps have been taken for the in-troduction of this scheme in Hungary, andlately Russia and Poland. The Federal In-stitute for Vocational Training Affairs(BIBB) has provided support for the open-ing of model vocational training centresin numerous cities in central and easternEurope (BIBB 1996). All of these areequipped with learning offices in theircommercial sections. Under this project,for example, one model centre in Mos-cow is receiving support from a school

Table 2

Links between practice and theoryin the Learning Office

Workplaces for commercial clerks in real companies

Vocational orientation

LEARNING OFFICEof

model company

with departments (e.g. purchase, sales, etc.)

Academic orientation

Teaching subjects: commerce, English, politics, German, etc.< relevant academic subjects >

(5)After further training in an enter-prise, this qualification entitles theschool-leaver to study at a Fachhoch-schule. The qualification for entry toa Fachoberschule is an intermediateschool certificate obtainable after 10years of general education.

(6) At the time, it was not acceptablefor schools to set up real businessesrun by pupils. This is happening in-creasingly today.

(7) The arrow from the teaching sub-jects to the learning office is intendedto show that many subjects influencewhat is done in the learning office.The arrow leading to the teaching sub-jects is to show that the data from themodel company can and should beused also in those subjects.

(8) See, for example, Achtenhagen andSchneider 1993.


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which took part in the ‘learning office’pilot scheme in North Rhine-Westphalia.In Poland, there are ‘model learning of-fices’ in Poznan and Koszalin. In the threerepublics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithua-nia, model vocational education centreshave been developed with the support ofthe relevant ministries in Germany andthe Baltic States, of BIBB and of Institutesin the Länder of Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia.9

Learning about work in learning officeshas now been extended to other coursesin North Rhine-Westphalia, to training foroffice clerical staff, for example. Schoolsalso use model companies with appro-priate accommodation and facilities toteach other specialisms, training staff forlegal, medical and dental practices, trans-port companies and retail.

Training teachers and cre-ating the requisite condi-tions in schools

A ‘learning office’ pilot scheme extendedto the Land of Brandenburg in 1992-95was built on experience in North Rhine-Westphalia. Teams of teachers weretrained initially at six schools to work inlearning of f ices. The pi lot scheme(Halfpap, Oppenberg and Richter 1996)related to two-year full-time school-basedvocational courses training commercialassistants. In the first year, two schoolseach were advised by teams of teachersat partner schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. After one year, the demandfor this course was so great10 that it hadto be offered at additional schools. At theconclusion of the pilot scheme, 16 schoolsin Brandenburg were taking part. Oneyear later, all 20 schools – with one ex-ception – had learning offices, supportedby further in-service training.

This pilot scheme, the coverage of whichwas expanded, presented the four teamsof moderators with an unexpectedly greatchallenge. (A fourth school was found tojoin.) The only way of carrying out thetask was by means of consistently action-oriented in-service teacher training.11

Teams from neighbouring schools metseveral times a year in Brandenburg forone-week training courses moderated by

the teams of teachers from North Rhine-Westphalia. The aim was not to give theteachers more specialist knowledge butto train them in teaching methods and toenable them to organise themselves towork in teams.

They therefore had to learn to plan inte-grated action learning, using the modelof a complete action (table 1). This callsfor new high-level planning ability on thepart of the teacher. To encourage learn-ers as far as possible to organise their ownactions, thereby teaching capacity for ac-tion in a wide range of real-life situations,the teacher must arrange the learningenvironment and learning conditions in away that enables learners to plan andshape their own learning.12

Full implementation of the scheme inBrandenburg (and in North Rhine-Westphalia) made heavy demands on theteachers and the school management.The scheme assumes that the course isthe key factor in the planning of learn-ing and teaching in all subjects. In voca-tional schools there are very manycourses leading to differing qualifica-tions, in contrast to the situation inGymnas ien (academic secondaryschools), for example, which only leadto one level of examination. It is neithereffective, interesting nor meaningful forthe future for learners who have chosena vocational course to learn a foreignlanguage, mathematics or economics perse. The link between one of these sub-jects and training for such jobs as com-mercial assistant or transport clerk, forexample, must be made plain. If the con-tent and amount of time allotted to thedifferent subjects in a course are coordi-nated, learning will be encouraged be-cause the interconnections thus becomeobvious and interdisciplinary learningbecomes possible. Teachers can onlyachieve this through teamwork (includ-ing team teaching). Ability to work in ateam can only be developed effectively,however, by doing it, i.e. by working ina team. The in-service training for teach-ers was arranged according to this prin-ciple.

The implementation of the concept ofaction-oriented teaching, and of courseplans based on it, has significant implica-tions for school management:13

(9) The author of this paper took partin 1996 in a workshop in Jurmala andRiga (Latvia) with management andteaching staff from model centres toexchange experience on the develop-ment of vocational training in thosecountries. The importance of learn-ing offices was stressed, althoughthese need to be complemented bypractical placements in companies(Carl Duisberg Society 1997).

(10) Because it was not possible to pro-vide company training places underthe Dual System.

(11) This adult learning approachproved very successful. It is thereforepossible to answer Blaschke (1997, p.17) by saying that such a ‘learning andteaching method for adults’ does ex-ist and is now widely practised.

(12) Onstenk (1995, p. 39) has pointedto the possibility of improving learn-ing by strengthening the learning en-vironment at the work place.

(13) A number of in-service trainingcourses were held for members ofschool management in Brandenburgto facilitate the introduction of thescheme and ensure its success.


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a) course conferences must be held withteachers of all subjects in the course towork out a rough outline of course teach-ing.14 Teams of teachers must draw up anannual teaching plan and interdisciplinarylearning action situations;

b) teachers need to work in teams on thesame course over a long period. Theylargely organise their own work (includ-ing the breakdown of teaching hours).Only the number of hours per subject andteacher is laid down;

c) teaching accommodation must beequipped in such a way that cooperativelearning in small groups and plenary workcan be alternated, interweaving theoryand practice (i.e. in a learning office orworkshop laboratory).

New roles for teachers andlearners

In 1990-1993, a ‘workshop laboratory’pilot scheme was conducted in Schleswig-Holstein.15 This focused on promoting keyskills, using the example of CNC technol-ogy on a technical course training grind-ing machine operators (Halfpap andMarwede 1994).16 This promotion of keyskills (see above) resulted in a differentperception of the roles of teachers andlearners, as will be explained below.

With the support of a team of teachers,pupils had to carry out a complex produc-tion task over six months (one 8-hour dayper week) in the workshop, i.e. the ‘labo-ratory’ of a model company set up in theschool.17 The equipment available in theworking space, which included a compre-hensive library, made it possible for pu-pils to work individually or in small or largegroups. Subject content drew on manufac-turing and control technology, technicalcommunication, materials technology,machine technology, commerce and com-munity studies. These were reflected, forexample, in preliminary calculation andpost-production checking, in work prepa-ration, in the programming office, and inproduction and control relating to the pro-duction of ‘travelling centre points’.

The teachers kept detailed records of theirwork. Some of the important results of

the evaluation of teachers’ training inlearning through work are as follows:

a) learning through work makes heavydemands on teachers’ planning ability (seeabove) and methodological flexibility;

b) teachers must learn to observe pupils’behaviour and to check it against set cri-teria, and deliberately to encourage be-havioural skills;18

c) teachers must themselves act more orless as models, demonstrating capacity foraction in a wide range of situations usingthe above-mentioned key skills.

When teachers’ ‘new’ role is assessed, itshould be asked, for example, whetherthe teacher has encouraged learners’ ca-pacity for action in a wide range of situa-tions. Has the teacher successfully createdaction learning situations – as part of ateam where appropriate – and facilitatedintegrated action learning?

Learners’ ‘new’ role consists, for exam-ple, in the ability to document their ownwork, to handle software and machines,to work as part of a team, to find infor-mation, to use the knowledge they haveacquired, and to speak in public (by giv-ing a speech or making extensive contri-butions in class).

Where possible, learners’ complex per-formance should therefore be judged andevaluated on the basis of their learningdevelopment in all the skills relating tocapacity for action, in accordance withcriteria which are clear and are known tothe pupils.

The process of developingschools into ‘learning cen-tres’

In 1992, the Prime Minister of the Land ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia19 set up an inter-national education commission, whichpresented its research results, main pro-posals and recommendations in a reportentitled ‘The Future of Education – TheSchool of the Future’ (Bildungskommis-sion 1995). The school of the future isdescribed as a ‘learning centre’. It will onlybe able to withstand the pressure of the

(14) Representatives of pupils on thecourse should also be invited to actas advisory members along with rep-resentatives, in dual system vocationalschools, of the trainees working incompanies.

(15) This pilot scheme had implicationsfor school organisation and manage-ment similar to those of the pilotscheme in Brandenburg.

(16) These experiences also fed intothe pilot scheme in Brandenburg.

(17) It is thus obvious that there wasinput from the experience of the‘learning office’ pilot scheme in NorthRhine-Westphalia.

(18) Social behaviour, too, can only belearnt at pupil level through reflec-tive action, pupils’ behaviour beingworked through cognitively withthem, for example.

(19) This was then Johannes Rau, whois now President of the Federal Re-public of Germany.


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demands placed on it in the future ‘if itsees itself as a learning organisation’(idem). This requirement is the same asthat expressed by the authors of the study‘The Learning Organisation’ in their vi-sion for the development of human re-sources for initial and continuing train-ing in enterprises in the European Com-munity: self-learning at the workplace isthe model for learning in an enterprisewhich is a learning organisation, wherework and learning are combined in an‘all-embracing culture of learning’ (Euro-pean Commission 1993).

As a learning centre, a school should de-velop its own pedagogical profile, so thatall those working in it reach a consensusabout the following tasks and place themin order of priority in their ‘school culture’:

a) teaching of knowledge and personal-ity development;

b) subject learning and interdisciplinarylearning;

c) social and applied learning;

d) finding one’s own identity and respect-ing others’ integrity (Bildungskommission1995).

One of the education commission’s mainprecepts for vocational and continuingeducation is that ‘the educational purposeof vocational education goes beyond oc-cupational training. Vocational educationis also general education’ (idem).

It is possible, in my opinion, to summa-rise as follows the main implications forschool development of the work of thepilot schemes:

a) School profiles express the basic peda-gogical orientations which are crucial ina school. The creation of such profilescalls for a high degree of autonomy onthe part of each school, which needs toset down in writing its objectives, its strat-egies for achieving these, and its evalua-tion procedures.

b) The style of teaching used in the courseinterweaves the objective course material20

with the learners’ subjective learning.Interdisciplinary action learning situationswithin a model company are a core ele-

ment of course teaching, and overcomethe traditional teaching of subject knowl-edge in isolation.

c) Fields of action drawn from work, lifeand society determine the didactic ap-proach used in curriculum development.Their content is described in detail interms of intended abilities (specialist,methodological and social skills) and ofthe capacities required to handle actionsituations. These curricula are developedinto a curriculum for each school by teamsof teachers at course conferences.

d) Teacher training (initial and in-serv-ice) must be guided by an image of ‘be-ing a teacher’ which has the paradigm of‘enabling learning’ instead of teaching inthe sense of conveying knowledge. Itmust give teachers the skills to educate,to advise, to innovate and to work inteams, and hence to play a part in shap-ing the profile of the school and in de-veloping the curriculum as part of acourse-teaching methodology.

e) School organisation and school man-agement must facilitate and support theteaching plan outlined. This implies:

– a participatory guidance model inwhich teachers play a major part in or-ganising their own work (in teams)

– an organisational structure based oncourses or groups of courses, with teach-ers working on as few courses as possi-ble

– flexible timetabling and facilities whichencourage action-oriented learning andteaching.

Eleven ‘requirements for roles of respon-sibility’ have been derived from the studymentioned above to act as points of ref-erence for the promotion of voluntarywork (Bundesministerium 2000).21 Theywere also, with hindsight, relevant in thepilot schemes reported here. Equally, theyare key skills in paid employment and,as has been shown, apply to both eco-nomic and training activities. If they arefollowed, vocational training will providepreparation also for voluntary work:

1) room for independent action on one’sown responsibility;

(20) This is prescribed in the curricu-lum (cf. Halfpap 2000).

(21) The twelfth requirement, ‘the op-portunity to change without the needto justify one’s actions’ only appliesto voluntary work.


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2) the opportunity to make use of one’sown inclinations and abilities;

3) the opportunity to do something ‘sen-sible’;

4) the opportunity to do something whichproduces results;

5) recognition of responsibility;

6) the opportunity for self-organised team-work;

7) the opportunity to monitor oneself;

8) a guarantee of adequate knowledgeand abilities;

9) generous flexibility in timing;

10) the opportunity to take part in settingobjectives;

11) a guarantee of ‘activating’ leadership.

It has been demonstrated at a conference,with the aid of 26 examples, how thisconcept can be applied in certain disci-pl ines in the school of the future(Landesinstitut 1997). The section of the

report of a team of teachers working on‘Learning for Europe’ which deals withthe overall concept reads as follows:

‘Learning for Europe cannot and may notbe assigned to a separate subject. If youngpeople’s capacity for action is to be ex-panded to fit them for the broader andmore complex field of action that will beEurope, course objectives need to be de-veloped across subjects, and these haveto be expressed in real terms, harmonisedand set down in writing in binding form.It will therefore need to be establishedwhat contributions the individual subjectson the course can and must make to theachievement of the common objectives,and how the subjects must work togethertowards a common goal… ‘Learning forEurope’ can doubtless best be realised iflearning takes place on the spot, that is,in other European countries or in closecooperation with foreign partners.’ In thisEU programme, ‘Socrates’ schools in Den-mark, Germany, Hungary, The Nether-lands, Portugal and the UK are taking partin vocational development through ex-changes of experience.

Practical examples have shown that weare already moving towards learning forthe future.

Achtenhagen, Frank and Schneider, Dagmar:Stand und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten der Lern-büroarbeit unter Berücksichtigung der NutzungNeuer Technologien, 2 vols., Göttingen 1993

Bildungskommission NRW: Zukunft der Bildung– Schule der Zukunft, report by the EducationCommission to the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Neuwied/Kriftel/Berlin 1995

Blaschke, Dieter: Current situation, experiencesand strategies in the evaluation of trainingprogrammes. In: CEDEFOP (ed.): Evaluation ofEuropean training, employment and human resourceprogrammes, Thessaloniki 1997, pp. 15 ff.

Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (ed.): Geför-derte Modellzentren und Lernbüros in Mittel- undOsteuropa, Berlin 1996

Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frau-en und Jugend (ed.): Freiwilliges Engagement inDeutschland. Ergebnisse der Repräsentativerhebungzu Ehrenamt. Freiwilligenarbeit und bürgerlichemEngagement, 3 vols. (only vol. 1, the general report,is quoted here), Stuttgart/Berlin/Cologne 2000

Carl Duisberg Gesellschaft e.V. (ed., with theLatvian Centre for Vocational Education): Modell-zentren der beruflichen Bildung in Estland, Lett-land und Litauen, Cologne 1997

Bibliography

Halfpap, Klaus and Marwede, Manfred: Werk-stattlabor, Vol. 2: Abschlußbericht des Modellver-suchs Lernbüro, Schwerte 1994(Abr idged vers ion on the Internet : h t tp ://www.ipts.de/ipts23/wela/wela-ind.htm)

Halfpap, Klaus, Oppenberg, Heinbernd andRichter, Dirk: Kaufmännisches Arbeitslernen inModellbetrieben des Landes Brandenburg, Vol. 3:Abschlußbericht des Modellversuchs Lernbüro,Schwerte 1996

Landesinstitut für Schule und Weiterbildung(ed.): Profilbildung in Kollegschulen und berufs-bildenden Schulen, Soest 1997

Onstenk, Jeroen: Work-based learning in organi-sational change in the process industry. In: Euro-pean Vocational Training Journal, No 5/1995, pp.37 ff.

Opaschowski, Horst W.: Blick in die Zukunft –Wie wir morgen arbeiten und leben, Unpublishedlecture, Schwerte 1999

Ott, Bernd: Structural characteristics and target cat-egories of holistic vocational training. In: EuropeanVocational Training Journal, No 17/1999, pp. 55 ff.

Commission of the European Communities(ed.): The Learning Organisation – A Vision for theDevelopment of Human Resources by Thomas Stahl,Barry Nyhan and Piera C. Aloja, Brussels 1993

Dostal, Werner, Jansen, Rolf and Parmentier,Klaus (eds.): Wandel der Erwerbsarbeit: Arbeitssi-tuation, Informatisierung, berufliche Mobilität undWeiterbildung, Nuremberg 2000

European Community (ed.): Report of the Gene-ral and Vocational Education Study Group ‘CreatingEurope through General and Vocational Education’,Luxembourg 1997

Halfpap, Klaus: Lernen lassen – Ein Wegweiser fürpädagogisches Handeln, Darmstadt 1996

Halfpap, Klaus: Curriculumentwicklung im Rah-men der dualen Berufsausbildung in Deutschland.In: Europäische Zeitschrift Berufsbildung, No. 21/2000, pp. 37 ff.

Halfpap, Klaus: Curricula für berufsbildende Schu-len handlungsorientiert konstruieren und evaluie-ren. In: Erziehungswissenschaft und Beruf, No 2/1998, pp. 166 ff.

Halfpap, Klaus et al.: Arbeitslernen im Lernbüro,3rd. ed., Schwerte 1993a


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(1) In this context Olbrich refers to‘fake virtual enterprises’ (see Olbrich,1994).

The experience of theLeonardo da Vinci project“Virtual Enterprises in Ini-tial Vocational Training”(ISIS) suggests that the in-novative concept of virtualenterprises can be success-fully implemented in voca-tional education and train-ing.

Stefan KreherFrom 1998-2001

wissenschaftlicherAngestellter (assistant lec-

turer) at the Institute forWork Science of Kassel Com-prehensive University. Since

April 2001 working in Indus-trial Engineering at the

Kassel plant of VolkswagenAG. Main field of work: workorganisation/organisational

development.

Introduction

Decentralised business structures are onthe increase as a reaction to the new de-mands of competition. Management ofthese structures is facilitated, or made pos-sible in the first place, by the intensivedissemination and development of infor-mation and communication technologies(ICTs). As a result company structuresknown as ‘virtual enterprises’ develop.

Interpretations of virtual enterprises rangefrom the notion of enterprises that do notreally exist (practice firms), to enterprisesthat transact business through the Internet,to loose associations of independent com-panies that trade under a common nameand are organised exclusively by meansof ICTs.

Under the last interpretation of virtualenterprises, the characteristics of suchvirtual structures can be defined as fol-lows:

a) strong focus on finding solutions tospecific problems (extremely client-ori-ented);

b) temporary working organisation thatbreaks up after the problem has beensolved;

c) decentralised organisation of the ‘prob-lem-solving group’;

d) no permanent location, existing onlyon the Internet/intranet (extensive ICT ap-plication).

Setting up virtual enterprises in vocationaltraining involves eliminating the tradi-tional distinction of internal and external

Virtual enterprises andvocational training

training. Interested groups such as teach-ers, pupils, classes, technical/tradeschools, commercial/administrat ionschools, school principals and externalconsultants form a problem-solving col-lective and work closely together usingICT. To outsiders the virtual enterprisefunctions as if it were an independententerprise or project. A teacher or a schoolclass launches a learning project by of-fering it on a virtual market to otherclasses who want to contribute their spe-cialised skills to a problem-solving exer-cise.

Virtual organisationstructures

Virtual organisation structures can beformed at different company levels, as il-lustrated in table 1 (Hofmann/Kläger/Michelsen, 1995).Table 1: Virtual Organisation Structures

Intraorganisational virtual structures ex-ist within the legal perimeters of an inde-pendent enterprise (Klein, 1995; Kirn,1995; Mowshowitz, 1986).1 Technical im-plementation is achieved via an Intranet.Winand (1997) explains this as follows:

‘The principle of virtual projects orprocesses in particular can now … beapplied to both intercooperation andintracooperation of organisations. Inthe first case cooperation is establishedbeyond organisational perimeters. Inthe case of intracooperation, partnersfrom different sections or departmentsof an institution are combined intovirtual units... .’

Interorganisational virtual structures areformed beyond the legal perimeters of


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individual enterprises and other organi-sations. Here technical implementation isachieved via an extranet or the Internet.The extreme form of interorganisationalvirtual organisation structures typifies vir-tual enterprises. Besides their intendedtemporary character, which is not neces-sarily inherent in intraorganisational vir-tual enterprise structures, virtual enter-prises differ above all from the more wide-spread concept of virtual organisationalstructures in that they refer exclusively tointerorganisational structures.

Virtual enterprises

The concept of the virtual enterprise (VE)has received the greatest attention in thework of Davidow and Malone. They de-fine VEs as enterprises that can supplycustomised goods and services, in largequantities where necessary, economicallyand quickly. Davidow and Malone referprimarily to goods and services and avoidany concrete definition of the term ‘vir-tual enterprise’ (Davidow and Malone,1993). Nevertheless, their work has sig-nificantly advanced the debate on virtualenterprises and engendered many at-tempts to define the term.

In contrast to Davidow and Malone, whoassume the existence of virtual enter-prises, Fischer defines ‘virtual enterprises’as short term organisations formed on anad hoc basis comprising teams or indi-viduals, i.e. a temporary combination ofspecialists (Fischer, 1995). In this defini-tion Fischer refers to the characteristicsof virtual enterprises, which he presentsas follows:

a) geared towards solving problems;b) quick;c) adaptable;d) partnership oriented.

More recently, temporary collectives oflegally independent enterprises, reliantupon information technology, have beenconsidered under the term ‘virtual enter-prises’. These exist only for the limitedduration of a jointly pursued project sothat the project-specific skills of the vari-ous partners can be utilised flexibly (see,for example, Winand, 1997; Pribilla,Reichwald and Goecke, 1996; Hoffmann,Hanebeck and Scheer, 1996; Reiß, 1996;

Winand, 1995; Flynn and Flynn, 1995;Klein, 1994). The ‘problem-solving collec-tive’2 thus formed comprises differententerprises and breaks up after the suc-cessful conclusion of the project or afterthe problem has been effectively solved.Frequently this leads to new alliances,with different constellations according tocircumstances.

To the ‘problem possessors’, the clients,such an alliance appears to be a businessentity from which they receive a serviceas they would expect from a classicalcompany. Yet there is no permanentphysical structure behind the problem-solving collective.

Mertens and Faisst (1997) extend the defi-nition to include individuals in the organi-sational alliance of virtual enterprises:

‘A virtual enterprise is a form of co-operation between legally independ-ent enterprises, institutions and/or in-dividuals who provide a service on thebasis of a common business under-

Table 1:

Virtual organisation structures

(2) See Fischer, 1995, p. 56 on the con-cept of ‘problem-solving collectives’.

Intraorganisationalvirtual structures

Interorganisationalvirtual structures

Virtual enterprise structureswithin the legal perimeters

of an independant enterprise

Virtual organisation structures

Virtual enterprise structures beyondthe legal perimeters of enterprises

and other organisations

Intranet Extranet/Internet


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standing. The cooperating entities par-ticipate in horizontal and/or verticalcooperation primarily with their coreskills and act toward third parties as asingle enterprise during the provisionof the service. Institutionalisation ofcentralised management functions inthe organisation, control and develop-ment of the VE is largely avoided andthe required coordination and harmo-nisation covered by suitable ICT sys-tems. The VE is bound up with a mis-sion and ends when the mission isaccomplished.’

Virtual enterprises can be illustrated dia-grammatically as shown in table 2.

Table 2:Virtual enterprises are characterised by:

a) strong focus on finding solutions tospecific problems (extremely client-ori-ented);

b) temporary working organisation thatbreaks up after the problem has beensolved;

c) concentration on the core skill;

d) avoidance of institutionalising central-ised management functions;

e) legally independent entities;

f) based on trust and a common businessunderstanding;

g) learning and adaptive orientation;

h) decentralised organisation of the prob-lem-solving group;

i) no permanent location, existing onlyon the Internet/Intranet (great depend-ence on ICTs) (see Zmija, 1998).

Mertens and Faist (op.cit) found three dif-ferent types of virtual enterprises in theirfield study (table 3). Crucial to the suc-cess of virtual enterprises is the trust fac-tor. Even before the separate businesspartners amalgamate into a virtual enter-prise, confidence-raising indicators fromtheir working practices are necessary. Forthis reason the networking form definedby Mertens and Faist as Type A is a com-mon variant. Under Type A, virtual enter-prises are contabled on the basis of analready available pool of companies thatalready know each other, so that a cer-tain level of trust among the businesspartners can be assumed. If a specific skillneeded for solving the problem is una-vailable or insufficiently available in thispool, a partner will be temporarilybrought in from outside for the durationof the VE (Type B). Subsequent admis-sion of this external partner into the poolis very likely if the cooperation is suc-cessful. Only rarely are virtual enterprisesfounded by partners who have had noprevious relationship, so that no bond oftrust has been able to develop (Type C).

Table 3: Types of Virtual EnterprisesThe trend towards virtualisation is beingpromoted by business start-up supportschemes and existing businesses estab-lishing offshoots. At the same time thereis a trend towards smaller, usually inde-pendent or semi-autonomous businessunits. The development of existing soft-ware standards is strengthening the trendtowards fewer software systems, andgreater work force flexibility has becomeevident in recent times (Mertens andFaist, op.cit).

Table 2:

Virtual enterprises

= Core skills / Enterprises = Freelance / Self-employed

A

B

C

D

E

FGH

21

“ProblemPossessor”


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bers. Interdisciplinary communicationwith partners for jointly defining and de-marcating the areas of work is just as nec-essary as specialised knowledge and in-terpersonal skills for resolving problems.Participants must be equally familiar withproject planning tools and with the pro-cedures and rules for discussions, meet-ings and presentations.

Independent recognition of informationand operational deficits and the resultantindependent acquisition of the necessaryinformation and knowledge are facilitatedby projects and are, at the same time, aproject objective.

In all modern occupations, besides tech-nical information and communication ex-pertise, consultation and service provisionare growing in importance. Specialistscannot create barriers by using jargon, butmust recognise their client’s problem anduse their specialist skills to find appro-priate solutions. Thus successful voca-tional training of the future must build abridge between respective specialist com-petence and appropriate technical com-munication and commercial knowledge.

Restraining factors are also apparent. Con-trary to the theories occasionally voicedby organisational theoreticians and prac-titioners, that in future large-scale enter-prises will be the exception and network-ing alliances will be the rule, a growingtrend towards large-scale enterprises andthe associated effort to gain greater mar-ket power can also be observed (Mertensand Faist, 1997, op.cit). Factors that speakagainst virtual enterprises are:

a) lack of long-term experience of thoseinvolved and therefore, lack of insight intothe disadvantages of speed;

b) lack of permanent commitment of spe-cialists to an enterprise;

c) stance of employees’ organisations,which have a very sceptical attitude tothis concept;

d) complexity of virtual enterprises;

e) obstacles that arise during the periodof cooperation.

Problem areas

A Leonardo da Vinci project3 examinedthe impact on vocational education in re-spect of the observations on virtual en-terprises outlined above. Which skills areimportant in virtual forms of organisation,and particularly, in virtual enterprises?How should vocational education andtraining, particularly initial vocationaltraining, be structured to meet the needsof the future?

Skills

As is clear from the interpretations of vir-tual enterprises described above, anumber of problem areas become appar-ent with regard to the requirements vir-tual enterprises place on vocational edu-cation and training. In the Leonardo daVinci project ISIS these were identifiedas discussed below.

Project workDuring the implementation of a project,both the appropriate expertise and amultiplicity of different skills are expectedand required from individual project mem-

Table 3:

Types of virtual enterprises (see Mertens/Faist, 1997)

(3) Leonardo Project: ‘Evaluation, In-tervent ion and Transfer of theLeonardo Project ‘Virtual enterprisesin initial vocational training (ISIS)’ –OSIRIS’ headed by Prof. Dr.-Ing. HansMartin, Institute of Industrial Scienceat the Comprehensive University ofKassel with project partners in Ger-many (HRM Consult , HessischesLandesinstitut für Pädagogik), Greece(University of Thessaloniki) and Ire-land (Cork Institute of Technology).Duration of the project 1997-2000.

Type A

Type B

Type C

Pool


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Experience shows that in this day and ageexpertise becomes outdated at an everincreasing pace. As a result there is a ur-gent need for constant, flexible adapta-tion and lifelong learning.

Information and communication tech-nologiesDue to the immense deployment of ICTsin VEs, workers in such organisations musthave the appropriate skills. Apart fromuser skills, which these days are essentialeven in conservative organisational struc-tures, knowledge on the networking ofICT systems is the key requirement. TheLeonardo da Vinci ISIS project neededover a year to install the necessary tech-nical infrastructure in all the participat-ing institutions and schools, particularlyin the German vocational schools. Thisindicates just how important it is to havenot only good data-processing equipment,but above all, skills in handling and serv-icing ICTs.

InternationalisationBesides technical specialist skills, lan-guage and intercultural skills are particu-larly important in transnational virtual en-terprises. Cultural differences can lead to

problems in interpreting information. Anunderstanding of the other culture and itscustoms and manners prevents misunder-standings and irritation.

Job-related skillsVEs create new work forms and newworkplaces. Work is decentralised, donefrom home or on the client’s premises.Occasionally non-commercial workplaces,such as local teleworking centres or of-fice hostelling, might even be established.Workers should therefore be familiar withlabour law and health and safety stand-ards. Relevant industrial safety regulationsalso apply in places of work outside ac-tual company premises (e.g. regulationconcerning VDU operator workstations).

Job descriptions and requirement profilesfor particular jobs are not helpful in VEssince ‘the’ job in the narrow sense of theword no longer exists. The demands madeon workers depend on the project. Thereis no job profile for a particular job sincetasks are constantly changing accordingto project requirements. This results inconstant training and continuing trainingwhich must be undertaken as required.

Career development and continuingtrainingCareer development in VEs is not plannedas a position in a hierarchy, but in termsof project history. Successful completionof a project leads to a higher rung on theladder of success rather than being re-sponsible for personnel or belonging toa company for a certain number of years.The configuration of the team is crucialto the success of VEs. Uniform standardswith regard to training, methods and pro-cedures and behavioural patterns shouldbe specified. Team supervision is straight-forward. This also results in changes ininitial and continuing training. If tradi-tional jobs are no longer relevant, tradi-tional training makes little sense. Train-ing must therefore also be project-related.Continuing training becomes individual-ised. People ‘working for themselves’ andcore staff have to invest in themselves andcontinuously advance their own training.A substantial demand for continuing train-ing is foreseeable.

How can this demand be met, or howshould training and continuing training beorganised in VEs?

Table 4:

Virtual personnel training

Time (T)

ICT

req

uir

emen

t co

mp

lex

ity

(C

)

Computer-based training (CBT)e.g. CD-ROM teaching software

Web-based training (WBT)e.g. virtual Centre

on the Internet/intranet

Virtual enterprisesin vocational education and training


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Organisation

A possible solution is offered by thevirtualisation of training and continuingtraining (table 4). This cannot and willnot replace traditional training and con-tinuing training, but will supplement it.

In the first place, suitable educationalsoftware has to be developed. Good com-puter-based training programs are alreadyon the market. These can usually be in-stalled locally on a PC, by CD-ROM. Con-tent is adapted when the software is re-distributed. The learner can work throughthe program on a PC workstation withmultimedia capability. The design of suchsystems requires a high level of didacticknowledge.

To meet the requirements of virtual en-terprises, initial and continuing trainingshould lose their stationary nature andlikewise become networked. Web-basedtraining concepts on the Internet orIntranet permit quick changes of educa-tional content. Users can access the ap-propriate training program and workthrough the modules at any time and fromany place where they have access to theWeb. Intelligent use of the media capa-bilities to achieve the educational objec-tives are important for the success of thesesystems, too.

Virtual enterprises can also be organisedin vocational education and training. Atthe initial stage, VEs of Type A are avail-able. A virtual learning group in the senseof a virtual enterprise can be formed froma permanent pool of employees, continu-ing training participants, teachers andpupils. Each individual can formulate theirlearning needs on the virtual market orlook for a supplier for their individualeducational requirements. An expansionof this system to Type B or C is conceiv-able. Such structures, however, bringabout a sharp increase in ICT require-ments and consequently, are far morecomplex.

Table 4:Various providers of virtual personneltraining exist. These can be subdividedinto intraorganisational and interorgani-sational virtual structures (Table 5).

Schools can offer courses on the Internet.It is conceivable that teachers make sup-

Table 5:

Various forms of virtual learning centres

plementary training material accessible totheir pupils over the Internet. Users ofsuch material could be pupils or otherteachers. A Type A or B VE can evolve ifpupils and teachers work together on thematerial as a team.4

Enterprises and companies are increasingtheir own web-based training for theirown in-house and continuing training.Their target groups are clearly their ownpermanent staff. A Type A VE can de-velop.

Increasingly, service providers (usuallycontinuing training institutes) are offer-ing training to enterprises and groups ofindividuals over the Internet. Some en-terprises are opening up parts of theirinternally developed web-based trainingmodules to other enterprises or individu-als. While this offer corresponds to a TypeB VE, Internet service providers are moreproperly classified under VE Type C.

Universities are also developing virtualseminars or entire courses and offeringthem on the Internet. A mix of VE Types

(4) An example of this are the schoolsand educational institutions participat-ing in the Leonardo Project ‘VirtualEnterprises in Initial Vocational Train-ing (ISIS)’ in Germany, (Schulze-Delitzsch Schule, Wiesbaden; MaxEyth Schule, Alsfeld; Friedrich EbertSchule, Wiesbaden), Greece (ChalkisCollege of Technology, Chalkis) andIreland (Cork Institute of Technology,Cork). The ISIS Project is being sci-entifically monitored under the OSIRISProject.

Intraorganisationalvirtual structures

Interorganisationalvirtual structures

Virtual centreWeb-based training (WBT)

Intranet Extranet/Internet

Firms with internalWBT for initial andcontinung training

Schools offeringvirtual training

over the Internet

Universities offeringvirtual seminars orcomplete coursesover the Internet

Service providers (continuing training institutes) with offersfor companies and

groups of individualsover the Internet


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A and C arises. This is organised inter-nally within the university (Type A) oron an inter-university level (Type C), de-pending on the users.

All forms of virtual personnel trainingcomply with the requirements of virtualenterprises. A high degree of network-ing by means of ICTs is necessary. Usersbecome familiar with the required tech-nologies and the core skills needed invirtual structures. Virtual teams areformed as learning groups and can em-ploy the technical potential for optimi-sing their work.

Table 5:Virtual enterprises as an extreme form ofinterorganisational virtual organisationalstructures in vocational training have veryspecific requirements. Internal and exter-nal groups requiring vocational educationdisperse. Teachers, classes, pupils, schoolprincipals, external lecturers, enterprisesand consultants join forces in a pool (TypeA or B) or an open virtual market (Type

C) where they contribute their respectivespecialist skills. A project or a problem isadvertised on the virtual market on theIntranet or Internet. This leads to the for-mation of a problem solution collective.Its composition depends on the problemto be solved (Table 6). All the necessarycore skills are combined to carry out theproject. Results are fed back to the alli-ance. When the project is finished, thegroup reconfigures and new virtual en-terprises are formed.

Table 6:This theoretical concept can be clarifiedusing the example, ‘Construction of awind power station’. A class from a tech-nical vocational school wants to build awind power station. Much information isrequired to do this successfully. Market-ing, design, production planning, account-ing, cost-benefit analysis, sales and pur-chasing, all have to be considered. Ques-tions arise that the class teacher probablycannot answer without outside help.

An action-based training project involv-ing other classes would provide the solu-tion. The project can now be advertisedon the virtual market in a search for po-tential partners. A class from a vocationalcommercial administration school want-ing to take part in the project turns up. Acraft trade enterprise is also interested andpromises its cooperation.

The next stage is founding the virtualenterprise. Tasks have to be allocated andthe necessary communication structurespecified. Information is exchanged be-tween the project members. Finally thewind power station is built and the projectis finished. The vocational commercialclass now tries to set up a new alliance,because contacts have developed throughthis project and the new class topic, ‘Eu-ropean payment transactions’, is also tobe tackled in the form of a virtual enter-prise. A new alliance is forged.

The hypothetical case is no doubt incom-plete and can certainly be extended. Highdemands are placed on teachers and pu-pils. Nevertheless, the experience of theLeonardo da Vinci project ‘Virtual Enter-prises in Initial Vocational Training (ISIS)’suggest that the innovative concept of vir-tual enterprises can be successfully im-plemented in vocational education andtraining.

Table 6:

Virtual enterprises in initial vocational training

= Enterprises (E) / Vocational Schools (VS)

= Freelancers / Self-employed / Specialists (S)

VS6S1

E1

21

S2

E2

VS1

VS4

VS5 VS2VS3


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Davidow, W.H.; Mallone, M.S.: Das virtuelleUnternehmen. Frankfurt, New York: Campus, 1993.

Fischer, P.: Die Selbständigen von morgen:Unternehmer oder Tagelöhner?. Frankfurt, NewYork: Campus, 1995.

Flynn, L.K.; Flynn M.: Virtual Companies ,Ingram’s, Vol. 21 (1995), No 2, pp. 41-43.

Hoffmann, W.; Hanebeck, C.; Scheer, A.-W.:Kooperationsbörse - Der Weg zum virtuellenUnternehmen, Management & Computer, Vol. 4(1996), pp. 35-41.

Hofmann, J.; Kläger, W.; Michelsen, U.: VirtuelleUnternehmensstrukturen, Office Management,Baden-Baden, No 12 (1995), pp. 24-29.

Kirn, S.: Kooperierende virtuelle Agenten invirtuellen Organisationen, HMD, Heidelberg, Vol.32 (1995), No 185, pp. 24-36.

Klein, S.: Virtuelle Organisation, WiSt, Vol. 23(1994), pp. 309-311.

Mertens, P.; Faisst, W.: Virtuelle Unternehmen:Idee, Informationsverarbeitung, Illusion. Scheer, A.-W. (ed.): 18. Saarbrücker Arbeitstagung für Industrie,

Dienstleistung und Verwaltung 1997. Heidelberg:Physica-Verlag, 1997. pp. 101-135.

Moshowitz, A.: Social Dimensions of Automation,Advances in Computers, Vol. 25 (1986), ed. M. C.Yovitz, Orlando et al., pp. 335-404.

Olbrich, T. J.: Das Modell der ‘Virtuellen Unter-nehmen’ als unternehmensinterne Organisations-und unternehmensexterne Kooperationsform, Infor-mation Management, No 4 (1994), pp. 28-36.

Pribilla, P.; Reichwald, R.; Goecke, R.: Telekom-munikation im Management: Strategien für denglobalen Wettbewerb. Stuttgart: Schaefer-Poeschel,1996.

Reiß, M.: Virtuelle Unternehmung: Organisa-torische und personelle Barrieren, Office Man-agement, Baden-Baden, No 5 (1996), p. 13.

Winand, U.: Virtuelle Unternehmen. In: NetWorks,No 3 (1995), p. 45.

Winand, U.: Gestaltung durch Virtualisierung -Fokus: Medien- und Kommunikationstechnologien.Arbeitsbericht No 14 Lehrgebiet Wirtschaftsinfor-matik, Universität GH Kassel, 1997.

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(1) The Spanish initiative received thespecific support of the following in-stitutions: Directorate-General forWomen of the Community of Madrid;Institute for Women; the trade unionsComisiones Obreras and Unión Gen-eral de Trabajadores; and several lo-cal corporations (Fuenlabrada andCoslada in Madrid; Pamplona, etc.)

Introduction

In 1990 professional staff working in equalopportunities in Spain were given vari-ous titles such as socio-cultural promot-ers; community educators; trainers ofadults and many more. The status of thoseresponsible for positive action in the so-cial services of the municipalities andpublic agencies was quite precarious and,on the whole, they were considered “so-cial workers” or “teachers of adults”. “Posi-tive action” is an attempt to prevent orrectify situations which lead to genuineinequality between men and women andimply gender discrimination (Bianca,1987). As in other Member States of theEuropean Union, positive action in Spainhas a legal backing in the Constitution of1978 (Articles 9.2. and 14) and in legalregulations. At that time there was no spe-cific designation for them although it wasa rapidly growing group (some 600 peo-ple) with a specific vocational profile di-rected at eliminating discrimination in thesocial, vocational and educational fields.On the other hand, the relevance of theirwork which consisted of implementingequal opportunity plans of public admin-istrations, made it advisable to introducerecognition of access routes and speciali-sation through vocational training (see ta-ble 1).

In principle, it was assumed that equalopportunity professionals were workingin “community services” and “adult edu-cation”; in other words, that this was agroup of professionals similar to thoseworking in the social and educationalservices, but there was no specific recog-nition of the profile of persons carrying

Vocational trainingfor professionalsin the fieldof equal opportunitiesfor women

out “positive action” for the benefit ofwomen.

Nine years later the situation has changedsignificantly. A number of surveys con-ducted within the framework of NOWIni t ia t ive (New Opportuni t ies forWomen␣ – a Community initiative with theaim of developing equal opportunities be-tween men and women, especially in theworking world. The measures describedhere were co-financed by the Directorate-General for Women in the Community ofMadrid.) have led to the recognition ofthe vocational profiles and access routesthrough vocational training. In general,the point of departure for these surveyswas the systematic analysis of the occu-pations of equal opportunity profession-als and a study of the training require-ments. The outcome of this was the in-clusion of the vocational profiles of offic-ers (agentes) and advisers (promotoras)working in the field of equal opportuni-ties for women in the National Classifica-tion of Occupations in Spain, and the in-troduction of standardised vocationaltraining courses. In Spanish the feminineform of the term “equal opportunity pro-moter” or adviser (promotora) is fre-quently used because up to 1992-94 themajority of the persons carrying out posi-tive actions in Spain were women. To-wards 1999 about 10% of equal opportu-nity officers and advisers were men. Thesedevelopments have probably occurred inother Member States too and can serve asan impetus for equal opportunity pro-grammes run by public agencies, tradeunions and some companies1. This arti-cle describes the process which led to thisrecognition. It also invites interested per-sons and organisations to join this initia-

This article describes theprocess that led to the rec-ognition of the vocationalprofiles and access routesfor professional staff work-ing in equal opportunitiesin Spain. It outlines the sup-port provided through theNOW Community initiative,and encourages interestedorganisations and personsto join the initiative to pro-mote transparency and ap-proved certification acrossthe EU in this field.

JulioFernández

GarridoDirector of the

School for LabourRelations.

Complutense Univer-sity of Madrid, Spain

LuisAramburu-

ZabalaHiguera

Associate Professorfor LabourPsychology

Carlos III Universityof Madrid, Spain


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tive so that “transparent” and “approved”vocational certification is established inall EU Member States.

Occupations in the fieldof equal opportunity

In some European countries and theUnited States equal opportunity profes-sionals have existed for some time carry-ing out positive action in various sectors:employment, education, citizen participa-tion and other areas. The task of theseprofessionals is to prevent gender dis-crimination and promote conditions toensure genuine equality of opportunity.This growing desire to guarantee equalopportunity between men and women hasled many countries to set up advisoryservices specifically for women. The emer-gence of vocational profiles linked topositive action is a response to the needfor competent staff in this area. Theseprofiles have several elements in common,but there are also some differences be-tween the EU Member States arising fromnational specificities (Cedefop, 1986).

In France, workers in this field are calledconseiller(e)s d’égalité (Equal opportunityadvisers), agents d’égalité (Equal oppor-tunity agents) and responsables en égalité(Equal opportunity officers). In Germanythese occupations have been well definedfor some time. Generally, the terms areGleichstellungsberate(r) (Equal opportu-ni ty adviser) and Gleischstel lungs-beauftragte(r) (Equal opportunity officer).In the UK this work is done by “Equalopportunity officers” and “Equal oppor-tunity advisers”. In the Netherlands, thedesignation is Emanciepatiewerker (Equalopportunity worker).

In Spain, the designations used for someyears have been Agentes de igualdad(Equal opportunity officers) and Promo-toras de igualdad de oportunidades(Equal opportunity advisers).

With respect to training these profession-als, three trends may be identified whichinvolve the training of human resources(in countries like the UK and Italy), prepa-ration in the field of trade unions andcollective bargaining (Italy, France, Ger-many) and integration in the working

Table 1

In Spain the following terms employed in this article are in current use:

Vocational training: this is technical training at secondary education level (aftercompulsory schooling, from 16 years of age) which is under the responsibility ofthe education authorities and structured in two study cycles corresponding toEuropean Union levels 2 and 3. The vocational certificates obtained here are validthroughout national territory.

Occupational training: this is short-cycle technical training which is given topersons who are unemployed or wish to improve their qualifications. This trainingis free of charge and, in Spain, is administered by the labour authorities (Ministryof Labour and Social Security) and the regions or Autonomous Communities.

Certificate of Occupational Proficiency: accreditation for the exercise of a pro-fession which is valid throughout national territory and which is acquired aftercompleting a standardised training programme; these programmes are usually com-posed of a series of “credit units”.

National Classification of Occupations: official register of all occupations ex-isting in Spain which is used for statistical purposes and for management of em-ployment. The Spanish classification dates from 1994 and is similar to the Interna-tional Standard Classification of Occupations of the International Labour Organi-zation (1988).

Higher Council for Statistics: a government organisation which, in Spain, isentrusted with the periodical updating of the National Classification of Occupa-tions.

Employment Offices: local agencies of the public employment service of theState (INEM) and the regional authorities.

Occupational models: technical sheets drawn up by the public employment servicewhich describe the basic contents and requirements of an occupation.

Standardised course programmes: technical training programmes designed onthe basis of a minimum standardised curriculum which is the same all over thecountry. These programmes can be adapted to the specific needs of different mar-kets or geographical zones.

Initiation programmes (“broad-based”): training courses which transmit thebasic initial contents for the exercise of an occupation.

Specialisation programmes: training courses for persons possessing the basicknowledge and skills required to exercise an occupation. In the case of universitygraduates they are also called very high level courses (Muy Alto Nivel -MAN).

University diploma: university education with a duration of three years equiva-lent to European Union Level 4.

University degree: university education with a duration of five years equivalentto European Union Level 5.

In Spain, vocational training consists of two cycles of technical studies which follow compulsorysecondary schooling; they are equivalent to Levels 2 and 3 of the European Union and fall under theresponsibility of the education authorities. Occupational training, on the other hand, consists of shorttechnical specialisation courses designed for unemployed persons and other target groups and is theresponsibility of the labour authorities, that is, the employment services and regional training/em-ployment agencies (see attached figure)


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world and career development of women(in Portugal, Greece, Germany, Spain). Inthis context, the training programmes inSpain are similar to some multi-skillinginitiatives conducted recently in someGerman Länder, and the Netherlands.These initiatives took the form of “broad-based” training programmes, not confinedto specific fields such as personnel man-agement or vocational guidance, but cov-ered a broad range of competences re-

quired to develop positive action in dif-ferent contexts. However, there were nosigns of attempts in these countries tomake this basic training uniform by es-tablishing a standardised and nationallyvalid curriculum. In this connection theSpanish movement is more specific be-cause it has the explicit objective of fu-ture vocational certification which is sup-ported by the labour administrations andcan be identified and valued as such bythe employees.

Analysis of the vocationalprofiles

Against this background a group of ana-lysts from the School for Labour Relationsof the Complutense University of Madridembarked in 1992 on the task of studyingthe profile of equal opportunity profes-sionals in Spain to add it to the NationalClassification of Occupations. The planwas to make this part of a NOW pro-gramme run by the Directorate-Generalfor Employment and Social Affairs of theEuropean Commission and co-financed bythe Structural Funds. This programme hasthe specific objective of identifying thepersons who, in Spain, have vocationalfunctions linked to equal opportunity, anddesigning a standard vocational trainingprogramme backed by the public employ-ment services. In addition, it was alsoplanned to present a proposal to the Span-ish National Institute for Statistics on therecognition of these profiles because thisstudy took place at the same time as theestablishment of the National Classifica-tion of Occupations (1994).

To prepare the technical description ofthe profiles for Equal opportunity offic-ers and advisers, a team from the Schoolfor Labour Relations drew up the ques-tionnaire entitled PAIO2 which served asthe basis for structured interviews to col-lect data on the content of the occupa-tions. Basically, it adopted a methodol-ogy similar to the one recommended bythe International Labour Organization(1988) for the studies on the vocationaldescription of jobs (i.e., description ofgeneral functions, specific tasks and ac-tivities and concrete duties). The ques-tionnaire was sent to about 200 profes-sionals and their direct superiors in the

Table 2

Officer for equal opportunities for women

Description of the occupation

The Equal opportunity officer (Agente de igualdad de oportunidades) has the taskof coordinating, initiating and implementing positive action plans for equal oppor-tunities in the fields of education, vocational training and employment, culture,leisure-time, well-being and, in general, all forms of citizen participation, includ-ing representation in public bodies.

To achieve this, the officer:

• advises the administration, social partners, companies and non-governmentalorganisations on equal opportunity initiatives and legislation,

• coordinates, supervises and participates in the preparation of pre-training andvocational guidance measures, implements training/employment schemes di-rected in particular to disadvantaged groups,

• collaborates with local departments for social welfare, employment, youth, healthand other sectors to prevent and rectify situations leading to disadvantages forwomen or their marginalisation,

• initiates and promote awareness campaigns to change discriminatory and stere-otyped sexist attitudes in the community,

• designs, implements and evaluates positive actions and plans for equal oppor-tunity, coordinating the activities of the different bodies and agents involved,

• acts as an intermediary between the administration, women’s groups and socialpartners in all matters relating to equal opportunity in the community.

Training and suitable profile

Although there is a tendency in EU Member States to recruit professionals withhigher education in the social sciences or with comparable certificates (EuropeanUnion Levels 4 and 5), this occupation can also be exercised competently bypersons with other types of education who have ample experience and training inthe field of equal opportunities. Qualities such as a well-balanced approach, so-ciability and empathy plus the ability to manage projects and coordinate teams,are considered to be indispensable. A specifically sensitive understanding of theproblems of traditionally disadvantaged groups – in particular women – is a basicpre-requisite for the exercise of this occupation.

(2) PAIO/Perfil Profesional de Agentesde Igualdad de Oportunidades (Oc-cupational Profile for Equal Oppor-tunity Officers); School for LabourRelations of the Complutense Univer-sity of Madrid, 1992.


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whole of Spain. The following resultswere obtained from this survey conductedbetween 1992 and 1994.

The initial assumption by the researchersof the existence of two different profileswithin this professional field, was con-firmed. One concerns functions relatingto planning, advice to high-level techni-cal and political persons, and evaluationof the programmes. These functions cor-respond to the activities of persons withuniversity education and several years ofexperience. In line with other countries(Cedefop, op. cit. 1986) this profile wasdesignated “Equal opportunity officer”(Agente). The functions of the secondvocational profile concerned activities forthe users of services for women, plus pro-motion of awareness campaigns, schoolsfor adults, etc. This profile more or lesscorresponds to professionals with non-university training and was given the des-ignation of “Equal opportunity adviser”(Promotora).

Although the two profiles are quite dif-ferent, there is a certain amount of over-lapping, especially with regard to tasksinvolving advice to women in specifictarget groups (for example, jobseekers,abused women, etc.); in other words,there is a certain continuity in the dutiesof Equal opportunity officers and advis-ers.

On the basis of the above data, two tech-nical sheets were drawn up which give asummary of the results of the survey (seetables 2 and 3).

TABLE 2 +3.

Recognition in theNational Classificationof Occupations

In 1994, the results of this work were pre-sented the Higher Council for Statisticswith the aim of getting these two occu-pations incorporated in the National Clas-sification of Occupations, an official docu-ment listing the main occupations of eachcountry. This proposal was accepted inthe course of the updating carried outbetween 1992 and 19943. The Spanishpublic employment service (INEM) alsoincluded these two profiles in its own

Classification of Occupations in 1997. Thismeans that all Equal opportunity officersand advisers in Spain are included in allstatistical surveys, and that persons whowish to take up employment in this fieldcan register themselves for this occupa-tion in an Employment Office.

The next step, undertaken between 1998and 1999, was to establish standardised

Table 3

Adviser for equal opportunities for women

Description of the occupation

The adviser is the person who, in collaboration with the officer for equal opportu-nities for women, or with the responsible person in the Department for Women,initiates and coordinates various positive actions in direct contact with women,women’s associations and other organisations involved in equal opportunity is-sues.

To achieve this, the adviser:

• carries out tasks relating to reception, information and guidance in the advisorycentres, women’s shelters and other services established for women, includingsocial and community services,

• participates directly in the monitoring of activities for women in the areas ofpre-training, education, vocational training, vocational guidance, health, cul-ture, etc.,

• advises and supports groups and associations with regard to services, resourcesand activities relating to women,

• provides training and guidance for social workers, undertakes educational andhealth activities,

• advises and informs companies and organisations on measures for positive ac-tion (subsidies, training and re-training aids, etc.), and on questions relating toequal opportunities for women and men,

• gives advice and cooperates in programmes and initiatives of the Council andthe Commission for Women, etc.,

• collaborates in other tasks relating to the design, management and evaluationof positive actions in the local environment, and investigates inequalities towomen.

Training and suitable profile

Given these functions, it is considered appropriate to have a level of basic trainingequivalent to European Union Levels 2 and 3 (secondary education), even thoughthis occupation can also be exercised by persons with experience and training indirect work with women. Additional training and experience in the field of posi-tive action are highly recommended. . A specifically sensitive understanding of theproblems of traditionally disadvantaged groups – in particular women – is a basicpre-requisite for the exercise of this occupation.

(3) Equal opportunity advisers, codenumber 2939 of the National Classifi-cation of Occupations of Spain (1994),page 160; and Equal opportunity of-ficers, code number 3539; ibid. page201.


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Table 4

Summary of the programme for Equal opportunityofficers, 1999

Training family: Community and personal servicesSpecialism: (Title of the course) Officers for equal opportunities for women

Recommended duration: 270 hoursNo. of trainees: 15Level: Occupational (MAN)5

Reference in the National Classification of Occupations: 2939 (page 160)

General objectives:

After completing the course the participant should have attained the level of knowl-edge and skills required to perform the following tasks:

• advise the administration, social partners, companies and others on equal op-portunity initiatives and legislation,

• design, implement and evaluate positive actions and plans for equal opportu-nity, while coordinating the work of the different bodies and agencies involved,

• act as an intermediary between the administration, women’s groups and socialpartners in all matters relating to equal opportunity.

Access requirements:

University degree or diploma (preferably in the Social Sciences)

No prior technical knowledge required.

Contents: (thematic blocks)

• strategies for the detection and prevention of discrimination• techniques for the planning, development and evaluation of positive action• advisory and consulting techniques• negotiation and communication techniques• intervention in specific contexts.

course programmes which would lead tothe recognition of vocational trainingcourses which had existed nationwide formany years. Initially launched by the In-stitute for Women of Spain, and then ex-tended to several autonomous communi-ties, these special programmes made itpossible to train more than 600 womenbetween 1987 and 1999. Part of these pro-grammes is subsidised by the Spanishpublic employment service which recom-mends the standardisation of the curricula.Generally speaking, there were twophases in the development of these pro-grammes: a first phase in which many

introductory or “broad-based” pro-grammes were established (1987-1992)and a second phase in which specialisa-tion was introduced (1993-1999). How-ever, these training programmes do notmake a clear distinction between the twoprofiles described in the National Classi-fication of Occupations of 1994.

To achieve the objective of the standard-ised course programmes, the starting pointtaken was a description of the two voca-tional models which reflect the compet-ences required for the two profiles. Tothis end, Equal opportunity officers andadvisers were interviewed from 1992-94,and another questionnaire prepared oninitial and continuing training needs. Thisquestionnaire grouped the training areasalong the lines of the functional catego-ries established in the previous study andassumed two levels of training: one spe-cialisation course at Level 4/54 for Equalopportunity officers and another at Level3 for Equal opportunity advisers. The re-sponses to this questionnaire were com-pleted by a Delphi group consisting ofspecialists from equal opportunity organi-sations, local authorities and trade unions.They form the basis for the two modelstandardised courses whose technical fea-tures are summarised in tables 4 and 5.

Table 4 + 5

Towards the Certificate ofOccupational Proficiency

Finally, the standardisation of vocationaltraining takes us to the third objective ofthis project the recognition by the Minis-try of Labour and Social Security in Spainof the Certificate of Occupational Profi-ciency for Equal opportunity advisers5 andthe creation of a model of instruction invocational training which, in Spain, isunder the responsibility of the Ministryof Education and Culture and the regionswhich benefit from the effects of large-scale decentralisation. In Spain, the Di-rectory of Certificates of Occupational Pro-ficiency is the basis for the system of vali-dation and recognition between voca-tional training which is the responsibilityof the education authorities and occupa-tional training which is under the respon-sibility of the labour authorities, twostreams traditionally separate from eachother. At present, the team of specialists

(4) Reference codes for the system ofvocational qualification levels estab-lished by the European Union.

(5) The case of the Equal Opportu-nity Officers is different because itconcerns a profession which requiresprevious university education at theuniversity diploma level (that is, atqualification level 4 of the EuropeanUnion) or the university degree orrelated level (level 5).


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in the School for Labour Relations is con-tinuing the work which can lead to theapproval of this certificate. This team has,however, indicated that the vocationalprofiles of Equal opportunity officers andadvisers contain other competences whichcannot be acquired through formal quali-fication and which have to be taken intoaccount in selection processes for exam-ple, maturity, previous experience of workwith women, affinity with people, etc.These characteristics are the basis for a“vocational model” designed recently

within the framework of the NOW initia-tive following the specifications of theSpanish public employment service.

Summary and outlook

The work undertaken on the vocationalrecognition of Equal opportunities offic-ers and advisers is an example of howvocational training experts contribute tothe development of positive action in the

Table 5

Summary of the programme for Equal opportunityadvisers, 1999

Training family: Community and personal servicesSpecialism: (Title of the course) Adviser for equal opportunities for women

Recommended duration: 270 hoursNo. of trainees: 15Level: OccupationalReference in the National Classification of Occupations: 3539 (page 201)

General objectives:

After completing the course the participant should have attained the level of knowl-edge and skills required to perform the following tasks:

• receive, inform and guide women in the advisory centres, women’s shelters andother services established for women,

• participate in activities for women in the areas of pre-training, education, voca-tional training, vocational guidance, health, culture, etc.,

• advise and support groups and associations with regard to services, resourcesand activities relating to women.

Access requirements:

Hold a secondary education certificate or, failing that, have experience of work inadvisory activities for women or socio-cultural promotion.

No prior technical knowledge required.

Contents: (thematic blocks)

• strategies for the detection and prevention of discrimination• reception and follow-up techniques• training of trainers for positive actions• efficient presentations• intervention in specific contexts


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EU. In 1994, a detailed study of the workof equal opportunity professionals led tothe official recognition of these two oc-cupations in the National Classification ofOccupations in Spain. Subsequently, thestudy on “vocational models” and train-ing needs became the basis for the twostandardised vocational training pro-grammes and the future certificates ofvocational proficiency. In practical termsthis means that the persons working inthe field of equal opportunity succeeded

in obtaining recognition by the publicadministration. There were two reasonsfor this, firstly, the technical work and sec-ondly, the mobilisation of women’s or-ganisations and associations throughoutthe country. This mobilisation was impor-tant as it provided the support of equalopportunity organisations, local and re-gional institutions and the leading tradeunions. As this is a pioneer initiativelaunched by the EU, efforts are beingmade to spread it to other countries.6

(6) For exchange of information onthis subject, we would request you tocontact Julio Fernández/Luis Aram-buru. Escuela de Relaciones LaboralesUniversidad Complutense de Madrid.C/San Bernardo, nº 49; 28015 Madrid.Spain. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Initiativesto undertake joint action relating toequal opportunity professionals in theMember States of the European Un-ion will be welcomed.

Arbejdsmarkedsstyrelsen Danmark (1992), To-wards Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, TheNational Labour Market Authority of Denmark, Co-penhagen, Denmark.

Bianca, I. (1987), Un programa de acción positiva.Ministry of Culture, Madrid.

European Centre for the Development of Voca-tional Training (Cedefop) (1986), Equal opportu-nity advisers: vocational training and vocationalprofile, internal document 92-825-6375-8, Berlin

Centro de Estudios de la Mujer (1991), Mujeres yAyuntamiento, Centro de Estudios de la Mujer, Ma-drid

Deroure, F. (1990), Accompagner les femmes dansleur formation, Directorate-General for Employ-ment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs, Com-mission of the European Communities.

Instituto Nacional de Empleo (1988), Diseño depruebas de certificación, internal document, Sub-Directorate-General for the Management of Occu-pational Training, INEM, Madrid.

Bibliography

Instituto Nacional de Empleo (1996), Clasifica-ción Nacional de Ocupaciones (CNO-INEM/1994),Madrid.

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (1994), Clasifi-cación Nacional de Ocupaciones, Revision 1994,Madrid

Ministry of Labour and Social Security - Na-tional Institute for Employment (1988), Clasifi-cación de Ocupaciones (nomenclature), internaldocument, Sub-Directorate-General for the Promo-tion of Employment, INEM, Madrid

International Labour Organization (ILO) (1991),International Standard Classifications of Occupa-tions (I.S.C.O.: 1988), Geneva

International Labour Organization ( ILO)(1998),Tareas propias de los puestos de trabajo,EADA, Barcelona.

United States Bureau of Labor (1977), Diction-ary of Occupational Titles, US Bureau of Labor.


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the role that education has, and lifelonglearning may, contribute to the ‘exclusion’of large groups within society. In the firstfour chapters, Field has established thebase for his strategies noted in chapter 5,‘The new educational order’. In the com-plex contemporary world there is no sin-gle (or simple) answer. Rather, he offersfour plus one strategies to move towardshis desired new educational order: rethink-ing the role of schooling; widening par-ticipation in adult learning; building ac-tive citizenship by investing in social capi-tal; pursuing the search for meaning; plusbalancing individual goals with environ-mental responsibility.

Creative and inclusive strategies forlifelong learning: Report of the Inter-national Roundtable 27-29 November,2000/editors Gillian Youngs, ToshioOhsako and Carolyn Medel-Añonuevo.United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation - UNESCO, Institutefor Education - UIEMeeting International Roundtable, Ham-burg, 2000Imprint Hamburg: UIE, 2001, 124 p.ISBN 92-820-1110-0

The Round Table was proposed withinthe framework of UIE’s programme Clus-ter 1: ‘Learning Throughout Life in Dif-ferent Cultural Contexts: From LayingFoundations to Strengthening Participa-tion’. It is also a follow-up to the ‘GlobalDialogue 7: Building Learning Societies:Knowledge, Information and Human De-velopment’, held at EXPO 2000 (6-8 Sep-tember 2000, Hanover, Germany). It willalso constitute an exploratory stage in theformulation of a UIE-led and coordinatedfollow-up activity area to the World Edu-cation Forum (WEF, Dakar, April 2000).

European Union: policies,programmes, participants

Memorandum from ETUC, FGTB andCSC to the Presidency of the EuropeanUnion.Brussels: ETUC, 2001, 18 p.

Reading

Europe International

Rea

din

g se

lect

ion This section has been

prepared by

Anne Waniart,and the DocumentationService with the help ofmembers of the nationaldocumentation network

This section lists the most im-portant and recent publica-tions on developments in train-ing and qualifications at aninternational and Europeanlevel. Giving preference tocomparative works, it also listsnational studies carried out aspart of international and Eu-ropean programmes, analysesof the impact of Communityaction on the Member Statesand national studies seen froman external perspective.

Information, comparativestudies

Competence development and learn-ing organisations: a critical analysisof practical guidelines and methods/Ulrica Löfstedt.In: Systems research and behavioural sci-ence, 18 (2001), p. 115-125New York: John Wiley, 2001ISSN 1099-1743

In critically analysing eight research pa-pers about competence development inorganisations, it is found that systemicmodels, methods and approaches have agreat deal to offer in the field of compe-tence development in SMEs. However, theproposed methods and approaches are stillrather tentative and theoretically based.Hence, they need to be further empiricallytested and adapted to practical use. It isalso desirable to further develop and elabo-rate all the ideas raised in the papers inorder to bring them to full maturity. Fi-nally, in order to meet all the requirementsin the European Commission’s ADAPT pro-gramme, further research and developmentis needed concerning how to combine andextend the original methods discussed inthis analysis.

Lifelong Learning and the new educa-tional order/Field, John.London: Trentham Books, 2000, XII + 181p.ISBN 1-85856-199-X

This volume consists of five chapters.Chapter 1, ‘Lifelong learning: a design forthe future?’, focuses on the concept, poli-cies to implement and the context in whichthe concept and policies operate. Chapter2, ‘The silent explosion’, is based on Field’sbelief in ‘the fundamental, underlying shiftin the behaviour of ordinary citizens.’Chapter 3, ‘The learning economy’, ad-dresses an area to which the concept oflifelong learning is most easily and fre-quently applied, i.e. the workplace. Chap-ter 4, ‘Who is being left behind?’ returnsto a point he has already noted and stresses


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ETUC,5 Boulevard Roi Albert III,B-1210 Brussels,Tel. (32-2) 2240411,Fax (32-2) 2240454,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.etuc.org/

The ETUC (European Trade Union Con-federation), the CSC (Confédération desSyndicats Chrétiens) and the FGTB(Fédération Générale du Travail deBelgique) hope that the Belgian Presi-dency will manage to develop the Euro-pean social model through the Social Dia-logue and European macroeconomic dia-logue. Our organisations also want thenational social partners to be given a big-ger role. The trade union organisationstherefore think that the Belgian Presidencyand the Commission should jointly set upa European Social Dialogue Summit.

Euromosaic: support from the Euro-pean Commission for measures topromote and safeguard regional orminority languages and cultures.European Commission, Directorate-Gen-eral for Education and CultureLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2001ISBN 92-821-5512-6Abstract available in all EU languageson the Europa site: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/langmin/euromosaic.html

The study is based upon a theoreticalperspective, which considered the vari-ous social and institutional aspectswhereby a language group produces andreproduces itself. This involved focusingupon seven central concepts for whichempirical measures were sought. The pri-mary agencies of these processes wereidentified as the family, education and thecommunity. The motivating force involvedthe concept of language prestige, or thevalue of a language for social mobility,and cultural reproduction. The link be-tween ability and use related to the con-cepts of institutionalisation and legitimi-sation. The Euromosaic report derivingfrom this study produced by the Institutde Sociolingüística Catalana (Barcelona),Centre de Recherche sur le plurilinguisme(Brussels), and Research Centre Wales(Bangor), highlights the shift in thinkingabout the value of diversity for economic

deployment and European integration. Itargues that language is a central compo-nent of diversity, and that if diversity isthe cornerstone of innovative develop-ment, then attention must be given tosustaining the existing pool of diversitywithin the EU.

Kalif: to share is to multiply.CIBITEuropean Consortium for the LearningOrganisation - ECLOUtrecht: CIBIT, 2001, 75 p.ISBN 90-75709-10-2

The European Commission supports thedevelopment of a networked knowledgeinfrastructure for 16 ESPRIT projects,known as KALIF (Knowledge and Learn-ing Infrastructure). This project waslaunched in late 1998 and aims to pro-vide a knowledge management and or-ganisational learning framework for the16 projects supported by the new EU Es-prit thematic programme, IT and Learn-ing for Industry. The aim of the project isto apply principles and concepts involvedin organisational learning to an entire EUprogramme. This innovative project willseek to establish an effective learningenvironment for both the EU, the research& development projects involved in theprogramme and its two principle partnersand the members of their respective net-works. The project also seeks to estab-lish three user groups of industrialists in-terested in the subject of the programmeto examine the potential broader exploi-tation of the projects under development.

Occupational safety and health andemployability programme and expe-rience.European Agency for Safety and Healthat WorkLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2001, 214 p.ISBN 92-95007-18-2Cat. No TE-33-00-502-EN-C

This report gives an overview of the dif-ferent types of initiatives in the MemberStates that aim to increase the employ-ability of workers by using interventionsderiving from the field of occupationalsafety and health. Twenty-six case stud-ies from 13 Member States highlight thepotential role of occupational safety and


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health to improve the employability ofworkers, including prevention pro-grammes and programmes aimed at(re)integrating specific groups at work.URL: http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/reports/employability/

Second chance schools: disseminationconference: passing the torch to theGrundtvig programme.Brussels: European Commission - Direc-torate-General for Education and Culture,2001, 108 p.European Commission - Directorate-General for Education and Culture,Rue de la Loi 200/Wetstraat 200,B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel,Tel. (32-2) 2991111,URL: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/index_en.htmAvailable in: EN and FR

On 10 and 11 May 2001, the Municipalityand the Second Chance Schools ofNorrköping organised, with support of theSwedish EU Programme Office and theEuropean Commission, a conference todisseminate results of the Second ChanceSchools pilot projects. This conferencewas supported by the SOCRATES-GRUNDTVIG programme, which will nowbecome an important vehicle to carry themessage of the Second Chance Schoolsforward. Some 120 participants from 19European countries participated, theseincluded Nat ional Agencies of theGrundtvig programme, interested localauthorities and agencies, as well as theEuropean Parliament and the SwedishEducation ministry and the Swedish teach-ers union. This conference underlined thesuccess of the pilot phase - as well as thestrong interest to continue with theprojects, to create more linkages and toget more schools, cities and countries in-volved. It was for the first time in the shorthistory of the Second Chance Schoolsscheme that the idea was presented tonon-EU countries such as Iceland, Nor-way, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia,Romania, Slovakia and Poland.URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/2chance/report.pdf

Study on the State of Young People andYouth Policy in Europe.European Commission, Directorate-Gen-

eral for Education and CultureIARDLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2001, 156 p.Available in all EU languages.

Within the framework of the ‘Youth forEurope’ programme, DG EAC commis-sioned a ‘Study on the State of YoungPeople and Youth Policy in Europe’ fromthe IARD Institute (Milan). This study isthe outcome of the active collaborationbetween European research institutes inthe 15 member states, Liechtenstein, Nor-way and Iceland. The work is divided intothree main sections: the first one is dedi-cated to the conditions of youth in all 18European countries; the second one isabout youth policy in the same countries;the last section deals with ‘Education andTraining of Youth workers in Europe’. Theimpressive study identifies the main prob-lems and challenges faced by the younggenerations, then it focuses on some par-ticular issues such as education and train-ing, labour market, well-being, health andvalues, organisational and political par-ticipation and the ‘European dimension’.It contains general and national reportson each of the three above-mentionedfocal points and provides some additionalpolicy reflections and recommendationsto help foster initiatives in the Youth field.URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/youth/studies/iard/summaries_en.pdf

Training needs of investment analysts.European Commission, Directorate-Gen-eral for EnterpriseLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 2001, 48 p.ISBN 92-894-0632-1Catalogue No. NB-NA-17031-EN-C

A report commissioned by the Directo-rate-General for Enterprise reveals that intoday’s Europe there is a real need forrelevant training for investment analystsin three main areas: entrepreneurship,trends and evolution in technology, andbasic technology theory (understandingthe technical basis of technology). Thereport recommends that, at universitylevel, more institutions should follow theexamples of schools such as Insead, theLondon Business School and IMD, Swit-zerland, in setting up programmes onthese subjects. It suggests that, as theseare new subjects, they could be taught


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by professionals from the infotech indus-try. It also suggests that courses could beset up by venture capital associations todevelop the interests of the sector. Thereport goes on to recommend that indus-try associations set up programmes spe-cifically related to: new trends in tech-

nology/market, basic technology in lan-guage understandable to non-technicalanalysts, growth stock valuation and valu-ation problems. Finally, because newtechnologies are by nature rapidly evolv-ing, courses should be up-dated as oftenas possible.

Exploiting the achievementof Leonardo da Vinci in Austria:

a report on a series of seminars of theLeonardo da Vinci National AgencyAustria.Leonardo da Vinci NationalagenturÖsterreichVienna: Österreichischer AkademischerAustauschdienst, 2001, 315 p.Leonardo da VinciNationalagentur Österreich,Schottengasse 7/5,A-1010 Wien,Tel. (43-1) 5324726,Fax (43-1) 532472680,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.leonardodavinci.at

During the year 2000 the results of thefirst phase of the Leonardo da Vinci pro-gramme in Austria were discussed in anexchange of views in order to elucidateconsiderations on the programme’ssustainability at the national level anddraw up prospects for the implementa-tion of the programme’s second phase inAustria. This project, which was initiatedand supported by the European Commis-sion throughout the EU with the aim ofvalorising the first phase of the Leonardoda Vinci programme began in Vienna inFebruary 2000 as part of a series of semi-nars. It culminated in an internationalvalorisation conference held in Salzburgon 16 June 2000. The specialist seminarsfocused on three main subject areas: thedual education system, continuing voca-tional training and linguistic skills.

Innovative Ansätze beimLernen durch Arbeit und bei

beruflichen Prüfungen:Sechs Fallstudien als Basis zur Ent-wicklung eines Instrumentariums zur

Beobachtung von Innovationen inEuropa.[Innovative approaches in on-the-joblearning and in vocational examina-tions:Six case studies as a basis for the de-velopment of a set of instruments forobserving innovations in Europe]Grünewald, Uwe [et al.]Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung - BIBBBerichte zur beruflichen Bildung, vol. 238Bielefeld: Bertelsmann 2000, 128 p.ISBN: 3-7639-0910-9

The six case studies presented here are apart of the results of a project financedby the European Commission which hadthe aim of analysing innovative ap-proaches in the educational sector interms of their suitability as models, andpresenting them as ‘good practice’. Thevolume deals with two areas: firstly, learn-ing in the workplace and how to use thelearning potential of on-the-job practice,and secondly, the innovations in the Ger-man examination and certification system.Both areas are relevant for future devel-opment as they deal with learning proc-esses which lie beyond the classical formsof learning (instruction, seminars). Exami-nations and certificates are directly con-nected with concrete requirements in thework process. The case studies highlightthe perspectives and problems of inno-vative approaches.

Förderung von Benachteiligten in derBerufsausbildung.[Promotion of disadvantaged personsin vocational education and training]Büchel, Dieter-August [et al.]Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung - BIBBBielefeld: Bertelsmann 2000, 120 p.ISBN: 3-7639-0920-6

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This publication presents some of theentries in 2000 for the Hermann SchmidtPrize organised annually by the VereinInnovative Berufsbildung (Association forInnovative Vocational Education andTraining). In 2000 the theme of this com-petition on vocational education was ‘Pro-motion of disadvantaged persons in vo-cational education and training’. Thetheme covered activities for the prepara-tion, ongoing support and implementa-tion of apprenticeship contracts whichwould lead to a recognised certificate aslaid down in paragraph 25 of the Voca-tional Training Law/Crafts Code, the over-all goal being the sustainable integrationof disadvantaged persons in society andworking life. The selection and classifi-cation of the entries were undertakenaccording to the key factors involved inthe promotion of disadvantaged persons.Concepts which address vocational choiceand training routes are presented. Theyare followed by other contributions relat-ing to sectors or regions, suggestions forthe support programme, the design ofqualification measures and training peri-ods, and end-of-training and post-train-ing action.

Erfaringer fra forsøgmed eud-reformen:

grundforløb og hovedforløb i 2000.[Experiences from experiments withthe vocational training reform: basicand main courses in 2000].Shapiro, HanneUndervisningsministeriet, UVM; Uddan-nelsesstyrelsen(Uddannelsesstyrelsens temahæfteserie nr.11 –2001)Copenhagen: UVM, 2001, 136 p.ISBN: 87-603-1988-7

In March 1999, the amendments to theAct on Vocational Education and Train-ing were adopted. As a consequence, thebasic organisation of technical VET pro-grammes underwent substantial changesin order to create a more open, flexibleand transparent structure. These changeswere implemented in January 2001. Priorto the implementation, a number of de-velopment projects were initiated at tech-nical colleges all over Denmark. This pub-l icat ion describes the developmentprojects managed by the Danish Techno-logical Institute. The report deals with the

following themes: the organisationalframework for the reform, the educationalintentions in the reform, new teacher rolesand tools, enterprise knowledge of thereform, and the problem of drop-outs.

Om erhvervsakademiuddannelserne:6 tv-programmer: vejen videre.[About short-cycle higher education atvocational schools: 6 television pro-grammes].Copenhagen: DR, 2001. videocassette, 160min.DEL,Rosenørns Allé 31,DK-1970 Frederiksberg C

In 2000, the reform of short-term highereducation was implemented. The aim ofthe reform is to ensure broad and moretrenchant education programmes that cancompete with other further education pro-grammes in attractiveness. For this pur-pose, the number of programmes wasdrastically reduced from 75 programmesto 15 programmes of which 13 were en-tirely new. This videotape presents all thenew vocational academy programmes (asthey are called) with regard to both con-tent and structure. The programmes en-sure both vocational skills and prepara-tion of students for higher education.

Guía de formación profesionalen España.

[Guide to vocational education andtraining in Spain]Instituto Nacional de las Cualificaciones,INCUALMinisterio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales,MTASINCUAL, 2001, 176 p.INCUAL,Rafael Calvo 18,E-28010 Madrid

Report on the vocational education andtraining system in Spain with four chap-ters presenting a complete description ofthe sub-systems that constitute the over-all system: the first chapter deals withregulated vocational training or initialtraining and presents the legislation, formsof access, etc., the ‘social guarantee’ pro-grammes (to help those who leave schoolwith no qualifications to enter workinglife) and special training courses (instruc-

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tion in arts, plastic arts, language andsports). The second chapter describesoccupational vocational training, its legalprovisions, the planning of training meas-ures and certificates; this includes theprogrammes for Training Workshops andCrafts Training Centres and continuingvocational training (financing, manage-ment, agreements with social partners andthe Foundation for Continuing Training -FORCEM). The third chapter deals withtraining provided by various bodies be-longing to the labour or education admin-istrations, plus training for maritime oc-cupations, agricultural training and train-ing in the armed forces. The last chaptershows, in the form of tables, the currentsituation of administrative vocational train-ing structures and the bodies involved inplanning and management; it also dealswith the transparency of qualificationstaking the European Union as the frameof reference. The report concludes withthe National Classification of Education(CNED-2000).

Les enjeux d’une refonte de laformation professionnelle con-

tinue: bilan pour un futur.[The key factors involved in the re-or-ganisation of continuing vocationaltraining: an assessment for the future]Lichtenberger, Yves, Méhaut, PhilippeMEDEF,31 avenue Pierre 1er de Serbie,F-75784 Paris Cedex 16,http://www.medef.fr

This report which is intended for the so-cial partners participating in the negotia-tions on the continuing vocational train-ing system, presents an assessment andelements of analysis for future discussions.A series of documents, some already pub-lished, contain 12 annexes on the follow-ing themes: labour market, developmentand outlook – changes in work, compe-tence and key factors of training – demo-graphic trends – efficiency of training forindividuals and enterprises – evolution oftraining, links with working hours - fi-nancing, structure of expenditure, sectoraldifferences, non-training companies –mutual benefit associations, the role ofthe Approved Joint Collection Agencies(OPCA) – the individual and lifelonglearning – access of individuals, personaltraining leave (CIF), training time capital

(CTF) - certification and validation of non-formal learning – initial training, accessof youth to employment and alternancetraining, the dynamics of collective bar-gaining.

Evaluation du programme LeonardoDa Vinci I en France de 1995 à 1998.[Evaluation of the Leonardo Da VinciI programme in France from 1995 to1998]Gartiser-Schneider, NathalieInstitut de Recherche et d’Analyse desDynamiques Economiques et Spatiales –IRADESBureau d’économie théorique et appli-quée - BETAMarseilles: CEREQ, 2001,124 p.Documents CEREQ, série évaluation, 154ISBN 2-11-091-413-0CEREQ,10 place de la Joliette,BP 21321,F-13567 Marseille cedex 02,Tel. (33-4) 91132828,Fax (33-4) 9113288,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.cereq.fr

This document is a sequel to the first re-port on the implementation of the Com-munity action programme Leonardo daVinci I (CEREQ Documents No 127, Oc-tober 1997). It presents an initial assess-ment of the results achieved. Although thesponsors of projects state that they aregenerally satisfied with what they wereable to achieve, the dissemination andexploitation of what they produced con-tinues to be problematic. Furthermore, theimpact of Leonardo in France still seemsto be limited in terms of the effects onthe quality of initial and continuing voca-tional training systems, innovations in thetraining market, or increasing the numberof placements of trainees and youngworkers in the Member States of the Eu-ropean Union. Another observation madein the report is that partnerships are of-ten restricted to the duration of projectimplementation although the objectives ofthe Leonardo programme would requirethem to continue in other forms. It stressesthe fact that emphasis is put on the effi-cient functioning of the programme andthe requirements to be adhered to duringexecution of the project. This, however,means that there is insufficient exploita-

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tion of the actual results obtained and thisoften leads to the advantage of experi-mental processes to be underestimated.Because of this, the planning and inno-vation factor which is the basic purposeof this programme, cannot be fully ex-ploited and developed.

Une nouvelle ambition pour la voietechnologique.[A new goal for the technological path-way]Decomps, BernardParis: MENRT, 2001, 116 p.Ministère de l’Education nationale, dela Recherche et de la Technologie,110, rue de Grenelle,F-75357 Paris cedex 07,URL: http://www.education.gouv.fr

In order to guarantee the credibility, flu-idity and lucidity of all training which isaimed at more professionalisation, anoverall structure should be put in placein France for the occupational pathway.This structure calls for a stronger linkbetween the technological stream and thevocational stream which should be builtup by developing the vocational second-ary school (lycée des métiers) and estab-lishing smooth customised training pathsbetween these two types of education.The task assigned to Mr. Decomps was adual task. An indepth examination of thetechnological part of this occupationalpathway together with an analysis of theorigin of flows, access requirements fordifferent series of the technological bac-calaureate, the BTS and the DUT, andoutlets for employment at these levels.This assignment was completed with thesubmission of a report on 1 February 2001.Proposals were developed for construc-tive changes in the technological bacca-laureate, for links between the techno-logical and vocational sections, and foraccess requirements enabling graduateswith a generalist degree to enter thisstream.URL: http://www.enseignement-professionnel.gouv.fr/ministere/missions/rapport-decomps.htm

Thesmoi kai politikesepangelmatikis

katartisis: i evropaiki proklisi kai Iexelixi tou ethnikou systimatos

epangelmatikis katartisis.Amitsis, GavriilAthens: Ekdoseis Papazisi AEBE,2000, 949 p.ISBN 960-021442-5Ekdoseis Papazisi AEBE,Nikitara 2,GR-106 78 Athens,Tel. (30-1) 3822496,Fax (30-1) 3809150,E-mail: [email protected]

The present study investigates and recordsthe institutional framework of certifiedvocational training in Greece and analy-ses the interventions of the EU for themodernisation and improvement ofequivalent national activities. The studyfocuses on the following issues: a) analy-sis of the institutional context that gov-erns the implementation of vocationaltraining activities in Greece, b) recordingof the representative planning servicesand rendering of vocational training serv-ices (initial and continuing), c) standardi-sation of the basic national Europeanmodels in the field of vocational training,d) investigation of the role and the inter-vention of the EU for the promotion ofthe vocational training activities that aresubsidised by ESF. According to the study,vocational training policies should beexamined not only in the context of busi-ness and competitiveness but also in re-lation to the protection of people that areexcluded from the labour market. Thestudy concludes that a radical reorgani-sation of the vocational training policiesand their adaptation to the new condi-tions is needed. This can be managed withthe constitutional consolidation of theright of every individual to vocationaltraining and the sub-system connectionbetween initial and continuing training.

2000 review and 2001outlook statement.

FORFASDublin: FORFAS, 2001, 39 p.Availability:FORFAS,Wilton Park House,Wilton Place,IRL-Dublin 2,Tel. (353-1) 6073000,Fax (353-1) 6073030,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http:/www.forfas.ie

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The Statement contains an economic over-view of 2000 in the context of the per-formance of the state development agen-cies. Among other information, it includesdata on employment and skill needs. Itdiscusses the work of the Expert Groupon Future Skill Needs, which FORFASsupports. The Expert Group reports one-business skill requirements and on in-company training and the FAS/ESRI(Training and Employment Authority/Eco-nomic and Social Research Institute) na-tional vacancy survey are highlighted. In2001 the Expert Group will focus on howto encourage a higher active participationof the ‘over 55s’ in the Irish labour-force.The IT skill requirements in the nationaleconomy; the skill needs of the construc-tion sector in the light of the NationalDevelopment Plan; the need for research-ers in the private and academic sectors;and the issues associated with the overallsupply and demand within the nationallabour market.

Employment and human resourcesdevelopment operational programme,2000-2006.Department of Enterprise, Trade and Em-ploymentDublin: Stationery Office, 2000, 127 p. +appendicesISBN 0-7076-9008-0Availability:Government Publications,Postal Trade Section,4-5 Harcourt Road,IRL-Dublin 2.,Tel. (353-1) 6613111,Fax (353-1) 4752760

An investment of Euro 14,199 million isproposed for this Operational Programme(OP) in human resources, of which Euro901.09 million will be provided from EUStructural Funds over the coming 4 years.With the current economic boom in Ire-land and the resulting tightening in thelabour market, the emphasis in this OP ison pursuing policies that provide an ad-equate supply of appropriately skilledworkers to sustain this growth. To thisend, actions to increase the supply of la-bour whether women returners, olderpersons, people with disabilities or im-migrants, are given priority. Proposals onin-company training concentrate on im-proving the quantity and quality of train-

ing and human resources developmentand providing support for social-partnerdriven approaches to training. The life-long learning of the individual is also tobe supported with flexible delivery ofeducation/training. Improving the qual-ity of teaching at all levels of the educa-tion and training system and the ongoingdevelopment of a framework of certifica-tion and qualifications are discussed.

Learning for life: white paper on adulteducation.Department of Education and Science -DESDublin: Stationery Office, 2000, 224 p.ISBN 0-7076-6450-0Availability:Government Publications,Postal Trade Section,4-5 Harcourt Road,IRL-Dublin 2,Tel. (353-1) 6613111,Fax (353-1) 4752760

Adult Education is the last area of masseducation, which remains to be developedin Ireland. The White Paper sets out ablueprint for its future development andexpansion, with a focus on access, qual-ity, flexibility and responsiveness, and theestablishment of national and local struc-tures to help provide a coordinated andintegrated system. The provision of a com-plementary, learner-centred educationand training structure to ensure progres-sion is a major priority. The White Paperdiscusses the consultation process sincethe Green Paper was published, and ad-vances its proposals under the followingheadings - second-chance and furthereducation, community education, work-place education, higher education, sup-port services i.e. training of adult educa-tors, accreditation, childcare etc., and thestructures needed for implementation ofthese proposals.

Partnership in training and lifelonglearning: case study pack.Irish Congress of Trade Unions - ICTUIrish Business and Employers’ Confedera-tion - IBECDublin: IBEC, 2001various paginationIBEC,Confederation House,


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84/86 Lower Baggot Street,IRL-Dublin 2,Tel. (353-1) 6601011,Fax (353-1) 6601717,URL: http://www.ibec.ie

The case studies are presented here aspart of a review of the effects of part-nership arrangements on lifelong learn-ing at enterprise level. The study, con-ducted jointly by IBEC and ICTU in 2000,examines how partnership arrangementsare influencing the nature and structureof training and development activities inIrish companies. The study also reflectssome aspects of an enterprise-led ap-proach to training, and the work ofSkillnets - the Training Networks Pro-gramme, a body comprising both em-ployer and employee organisations. Casestudies describe how 10 Irish companies- semi-state, private, multi-national - haveintroduced partnership arrangements tofacilitate the mutual involvement of man-agement and employees in organisationaldevelopment. In each case, these ar-rangements have also had an impact onthe training and development processeswithin these organisations and indicatenew approaches to lifelong learning inthe workplace.

Lifelong learning in theNetherlands: the state of

the art in 2000Cees Doets, Barry Have,Anneke Westerhuis (red.).‘s-Hertogenbosch: CINOP, 2001. - 136 p.(Expertisecentrumreeks). –ISBN 90-5003-333-4Availability:CINOP,P.O. Box 1585,NL-5200 BP ‘s-Hertogenbosch,Tel. (31-73) 6800768,[email protected]

In this report the central question ad-dressed is how the idea of lifelong learn-ing is manifested in a) the developmentof Dutch government policy towards vo-cational education and training, b) inno-vations in organisation of initial and post-initial education and training by educa-tional institutions and in the workplace,and c) changing patterns of participationby adults in education and training. Thisquestion is answered from a number of

perspectives by the authors. In conclu-sion, it can be argued that the govern-ment, the social partners and educationalproviders in the Netherlands have takena number of steps in the direction of asociety in which the learning undertakenby adults acquires greater recognition anda more significant place.

Koers BVE: advies over de voortgangin de vernieuwing van het middelbaarberoepsonderwijs en volwassenen-educatie/SER‘s-Gravenhage: Sociaal-Economische Raad(SER), 2001. - 117 p. -ISBN 90-6587-772-XSER,P.O. Box 90405,NL-2509 LK Den Haag,Tel. (31-70) 3499541,[email protected]

The Ministry of Education, Culture andScience [OC&W] has requested the boardto advise on the content of the memoran-dum entitled Koers BVE (Course of Ac-tion in vocational training and adult edu-cation). In this memorandum, couched ina cohesive policy framework, the minis-ter sets out the medium-range develop-ment course to be taken by the sector.The Koers BVE activities are geared to-wards reinforcing vocational education.The socio-economic Council [SER] wasasked to advise on the content of thememorandum. This request for advice alsoincluded a call to pay particular attentionto the following topics: reinforcing re-gional dynamics; shaping a multiple pub-lic responsibility; tuning supply to (re-gional) demand; ways of intensifying theposition of participants by creating alter-native funding arrangements to meet edu-cational demands. The recommendationfirst of all gives an outline of the BVEsector in its social context and on the basisof that, it formulates a number of chal-lenges. Themes that are important for themedium-range policy agenda are alsospecified. The convictions of the boardwith regard to these topics are furtherdetailed, a differentiation is being madebetween a number of key topics. The fol-lowing are discussed: control and respon-sibility, regional collaboration, accessibil-ity of the BVE sector, and expediency andoutput.

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Classificação nacional de áreasde formação.

[National Classification of Fields ofTraining].Diário da República (Lisbon) 78, 1ª série,2001CIDES,Praça de Londres 2-2º,P-1049-056 Lisbon,Tel. (351) 218441100,Fax (351) 218406171,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.deppmts.gov.pt/cict.html

Vocational education and training areplaying an increasingly important role inthe quality of employment. The absenceof comparable data on the training givenin Portugal has hampered political deci-sions. The Statistical Office of the Euro-pean Communities (Eurostat) and theEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational Training (Cedefop), aware ofthe difficulty of obtaining comparativestatistics, have elaborated a sub-classifi-cation of fields of training to the Interna-tional Standard Classification of Education(ISCED) by field of education. TheInterministerial Commission for Employ-ment (CIME) has translated this manualand adapted it to the situation in Portu-gal and thus established the National Clas-sification of Fields of Training, as stipu-lated in Ministerial Decree No 316/2001.

Mudança organizacional e Gestão dosRecursos Humanos.[Organisational change and human re-source management]Caetano António, coord.Observatório do Emprego e FormaçãoProfissional, OEFPEstudos e Análises (Lisbon) 20Lisbon: OEFP, 2000, 345 p.ISBN: 972-732-603-XObservatório do Emprego e FormaçãoProfissional,Av. Defensores de Chaves, 95,P-1000 Lisbon,Tel. (351) 217817080,Fax (351) 217817087

The purpose of this study is to give infor-mation on organisational change andmanagement of human resources withregard to: the quality of employment, themotivation and involvement of workersin the organisation, and their adaptability

to the different changes brought about bythe competitiveness strategies of theseorganisations.

Os empresários e o mercado do 1ºemprego: estratégias de recrutamento.[Entrepreneurs and the primary la-bour market: recruitment strategies]Moreno, Conceição, coord.; Colaço,Teresa [et al.]CESO I & DLisbon: AIP, 2000, 201 p.CIDES,Praça de Londres 2-2º,P-1049-056 Lisbon,Tel. (351) 218441100,Fax (351) 218406171,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.deppmts.gov.pt/cict.html

This publication summarises the mainfindings of a study on ‘Entrepreneurs, theprimary labour market and recruitmentstrategies’, commissioned by the Indus-trial Association of Porto and sponsoredby the Institute for Employment and Vo-cational Training (IEFP). It was conductedby CESO Research & Development in thecourse of 1997 after a public call for ten-der. The study analyses the followingproblems: the high youth unemploymentrate, the difficulty of getting a first job,the unemployment level of graduates andthe low qualification of the workforce ingeneral. In view of this situation, Indus-trial Association of Porto organised twoseminars in the towns of Porto and Vianado Castelo and invited several specialiststo analyse the findings of the study. Thismonograph contains some of these con-clusions. The Industrial Association ofPorto stresses the need to initiate actionin the following fields: coherence andefficiency of initial training systems; trans-parency of training systems and recogni-tion of qualifications; recruitment, job in-tegration and promotion of employment;human resource management.

Schools:building on success

Department for Education and Employ-mentSheffield: DfEE, 2001, 96 p.ISBN: 0-10150-502-7Availability:The Stationery Office,

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PO Box 29,Norwich NR3 1GN,Tel. (44-845) 7023474Fax (44-870) 6005533,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.ukstate.com

This green paper looks at changes in theeducation service since the Labour gov-ernment came to power and sets out pro-posals for reform for the coming years. Ithighlights secondary education as the toppriority for reform and proposes a sys-tem in which schools can progress fromthe current standard comprehensive for-mat which characterises the majority ofstate schools, and become specialistschools focusing on particular curriculumareas, including vocational courses. Itproposes to enable pupils from age 14 tomix academic and vocational courses andwork-based options and it includes pro-vision for high-standard vocational op-tions across the ability range, with a clearladder of progression at age 16 to highervocational courses or to Modern Appren-ticeships. The green paper also sets outthe Government’s vision for schools, col-leges and local businesses to work to-gether more closely to deliver work-re-lated opportunities.Online ed.: http://www.dfee.gov.uk/buildingonsuccess/pdf/schools.pdf

Opportunity for all in a world ofchange: a white paper on enterprise,skills and innovation.Department for Trade and Industry, De-partment for Education and EmploymentSheffield: DfEE, 2001, various paginationISBN: 1-10150-522-1Availability:The Stationery Office,

PO Box 29,Norwich NR3 1GN,Tel. (44-845) 7023474Fax (44-870) 6005533,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.ukstate.com

This white paper is concerned with therequirements for economic success in thenext decade. It sets out the achievementsof the present Labour government withregard to economic growth and educa-tion and training. It outlines proposals foradapting to change and ensuring invest-ment occurs in a modern infrastructure.The key issues addressed are: equippingindividuals with the right skills, buildingstrong regions, investment for innovation,fostering a climate for enterprise andgrowth, and strengthening European andglobal connections. The paper makesclear that increasing the educational andskill levels of the population is essentialto equip individuals with the skills, abili-ties and know-how necessary for eco-nomic growth. It makes a clear commit-ment to developing ‘a vocational educa-tion system which matches the best in theworld’. It gives details of a proposed in-vestment of 163 million to develop voca-tional specialisms in colleges, to commitmore resources in reformed Modern Ap-prenticeships, and to rationalise voca-tional qualifications. It proposes to trainan extra 10␣ 000 people a year in informa-tion and communication technology skillsthrough new advanced learning pro-grammes. It commits £45 million to de-veloping a smaller, stronger network ofNational Training Organisations – theemployer-led sectoral training bodies.URL: http://www.dti.gov.uk/opportunityforall


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CEDEFOP

European Centre for theDevelopment of Vocational TrainingP.O. Box 22427GR-55102 THESSALONIKITel. (30-31) 049 01 11 GeneralTel. (30-31) 049 00 79 SecretariatFax (30-31) 049 00 43 SecretariatMr. Marc WillemHead of Library & DocumentationServiceE-mail: [email protected] Information NetworkSecretariatE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cedefop.eu.intWeb address: http://www.trainingvillage.gr

FOREM/CIDOC

Office wallon de la Formation pro-fessionnelle et de l’EmploiCentre intercommunautaire de docu-mentation pour la formation profes-sionnelleBoulevard Tirou 104B-6000 CHARLEROITel. (32-71) 20 61 67Ms. N. DerwiduéeTel. (32-71) 20 61 74Ms. Nadine DerwiduéeE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.forem.beJoint Network Member for Belgiumwith VDAB

VDAB/ICODOC

Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeids-bemiddeling en BeroepsopleidingIntercommunautair documentatie-centrum voor beroepsopleidingKeizerlaan 11B-1000 BRUSSELTel. (32-2) 506 13 21Mr. R. Van WeydeveldtFax (32-2) 506 15 61Mr. Reinald Van WeydeveldtDocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Tomas QuaethovenDocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.vdab.beJoint Network Member for Belgiumwith FOREM

INEM

Instituto Nacional de EmpleoMinisterio de Trabajo y SeguridadSocialCondesa de Venadito 9E-28027 MADRIDTel. (34-91) 585 95 82 GeneralTel. (34-91) 585 95 80Ms. M. Luz de las Cuevas TorresanoFax (34-91) 377 58 81Fax (34-91) 377 58 87Mr. Luis Díez García de la BorbollaDeputy Director General ofTechnical ServicesMs. Maria Luz de las CuevasTorresanoInformation/DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.inem.es

Centre INFFO

Centre pour le développement del’information sur la formation per-manente4, avenue du Stade de FranceF-93218 SAINT DENIS LA PLAINECedexTel. (33-1) 55 93 91 91Fax (33-1) 55 93 17 28Mr. Patrick KesselDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Danièle JoulieuHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Stéphane HéroultDocumentation DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.centre-inffo.fr

FAS

The Training and EmploymentAuthorityP.O. Box 45627-33 Upper Baggot StreetDUBLIN 4IrelandTel. (353-1) 607 05 36Fax (353-1) 607 06 34Ms. Margaret CareyHead of Library & Technical Infor-mationE-mail: [email protected]. Jean WrigleyLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.fas.ie

ISFOL

Istituto per lo sviluppo dellaformazione professionale deilavoratoriVia Morgagni 33I-00161 ROMATel. (39-06) 44 59 01Fax (39-06) 44 29 18 71Mr. Enrico CeccottiGeneral DirectorMr. Colombo ContiHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Luciano LibertiniE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.isfol.it

FOPROGEST asbl

23,rue AldringenL-2011 LUXEMBOURGTel. (352) 22 02 66Fax (352) 22 02 69Mr. Jerry LenertDirectorE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.foprogest.lu

CINOP

Centrum voor Innovatie vanOpleidingenCentre for Innovation of Educationand TrainingPettelaarpark 1Postbus 15855200 BP’s-HERTOGENBOSCHThe NetherlandsTel. (31-73) 680 08 00Tel. (31-73) 680 06 19 Ms. M. MaesFax (31-73) 612 34 25Ms. Martine MaesE-mail: [email protected]. Annemiek CoxE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinop.nl

abf-Austria/IBW

ArbeitsgemeinschaftBerufsbildungsforschungInstitut für Bildungsforschung derWirtschaftRainergasse 38A-1050 WIENTel. (43-1) 545 16 71 0Ms. S. KlimmerFax (43-1) 545 16 71 22Ms. Susanne KlimmerE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ibw.atJoint Network Member for Austriawith IBE

Members of the documentary information network

DEL

Danmarks ErhvervspaedagogiskeLaereruddannelseThe National Institute forEducational Training of VocationalTeachersRosenørns Allé 31DK-1970 FREDERIKSBERG CTel. (45-35) 24 79 50 Ext. 317Ms. P. CortExt. 301 Ms. M. HeinsFax (45-35) 24 79 40Ms. Pia CortResearch AssistantE-mail: [email protected]. Merete HeinsLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.delud.dk

BIBB

Bundesinstitut für BerufsbildungHermann-Ehlers-Str. 10D-53113 BONNTel. (49-228) 107 21 26Mr. D. BraeckerTel. (49-228) 107 21 31Ms. M. KrauseFax (49-228) 107 29 74Mr. D. BraeckerE-mail: [email protected]. Martina KrauseE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.bibb.de

OEEK

Organisation for Vocational Educa-tion and TrainingEthnikis Antistatis 41 &KaramanoglouGR-14234 ATHENSTel. (30-1) 27 09 144 Ms. E. BarkabaFax (30-1) 27 09 172Ms. Ermioni BarkabaHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.forthnet.gr/oeek/


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abf-Austria/IBE

ArbeitsgemeinschaftBerufsbildungsforschungInstitut für Berufs- undErwachsenenbildungsforschungRaimundstraße 17A-4020 LINZTel. (43-732) 60 93 130Ms. M. MilanovichFax (43-732) 60 93 13 21Ms. Marlis MilanovichE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ibe.co.atJoint Network Member for Austriawith IBW

CIDES

Centro de Informação eDocumentação Económica e SocialMinistério do Trabalho e daSolidariedadePraça de Londres 2-1° AndarP-1091 LISBOA CodexTel. (351-21) 843 10 35Ms. O. Lopes dos SantosTel. (351-21) 843 10 36Ms. F. HoraFax (351-21) 840 61 71Ms. Odete Lopes dos SantosDirectorE-mail:[email protected]. Fátima HoraDocumentation DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.deppmts.gov.pt

NBE

National Board of EducationHakaniemenkatu 2P.O. Box 380FIN-00531 HELSINKITel. (358-9) 77 47 71 24 Mr. M. KyröTel. (358-9) 77 47 72 43Ms. A. MannilaTel. (358-9) 77 47 78 19Mr. K. NyyssöläFax (358-9)77 47 78 65 or 69Mr. Matti KyröE-mail: [email protected]. Arja MannilaE-mail: [email protected]. Kari NyyssöläE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.oph.fi

SIP

Internationella Programkontoret förutbilningsomradet, The Swedish In-ternational Programme Office forEducation and TrainingBox 22007S-104 22 STOCKHOLMTel. (46-8) 453 72 75 Heléne SällTel. (46-8) 453 72 18 Rolf NordanskogFax (46-8) 453 72 53 GeneralFax (46-8) 453 72 02 Ms. H. SällMs. Heléne Säll; E-mail:[email protected]. Rolf Nordanskog; E-mail:[email protected]. Sandra Dias Dos Santos; E-mail:[email protected] address: http://www.programkontoret.se

CIPD

The Chartered Institute of Personneland DevelopmentCIPD House35 Camp RoadLONDONSW19 4UXUnited KingdomTel. (44-20) 82 63 32 78 J. SchrammTel. (44-20) 82 63 32 81 C. DoyleFax (44-20) 82 63 33 33 GeneralMs. Jennifer SchrammPolicy AdviserE-mail: [email protected]. Cathy Doyle, Information OfficerE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cipd.co.uk

MENNT

samstarfsvettvangur atvinnulífs ogskólaEDUCATE - IcelandLaugavegi 51IS-101 REYKJAVIKTel. (354) 511 26 60Fax (354) 511 26 61Ms. Stefania KarlsdóttirGeneral DirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Adalheidur JónsdóttirProject ManagerE-mail: [email protected]. Bára Stefánsdóttir, [email protected] address: http://www.mennt.is

NCU

Leonardo NorgeP.O. Box 2608St. HanshaugenN-0131 OSLOTel. (47-22) 86 50 00Fax (47-22) 20 18 01Ms. Aagot van ElslandeE-mail:[email protected] address: http://www.teknologisk.no/leonardo/

OIT

Centre international de formation deL’OITViale Maestri del Lavoro, 10I-10127 TORINOTel. (39-011) 69 36 510Fax (39-011) 69 36 535Ms. Catherine KrouchDocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.itcilo.org

ILO/BIT

International Labour OfficeBureau International du Travail4 Route des MorillonsCH-1211 GENEVE 22Tel. (41-22) 799 69 55Fax (41-22) 799 76 50Ms. Pierrette DunandEmployment & Training DepartmentDocumentalistE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ilo.org

DfEE

Department for Education andEmploymentRoom E3MoorfootSHEFFIELDS1 4PQUnited KingdomTel. (44-114) 259 33 39Fax (44-114) 259 35 64Ms. Amanda CampbellLibrarianE-mail:[email protected] address: http://www.open.gov.uk/index/..dfee/dfeehome.htm

CINTERFOR/OIT

Centro Interamericano deInvestigación y Documentación so-bre Formación ProfesionalAvenida Uruguay 1238Casilla de correo 176111000 MONTEVIDEOURUGUAYTel. (598-2) 92 05 57Tel. (598-2) 92 00 63Fax (598-2) 92 13 05Mr. Pedro Daniel WeinbergDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Juan Andres Tellagorry␣DocumentalistE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinterfor.org.uy

Associated organisations

DGEAC

European CommissionDG Education and CultureRue de la Loi 200B-1049 BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 295 75 62Ms. E. SpachisTel. (32-2) 295 59 81Ms. D. MarchalantFax (32-2) 295 57 23Fax (32-2) 296 42 59Ms. Eleni SpachisE-mail: [email protected]. Dominique MarchalantE-mail:[email protected] address: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/index_en.htm

EURYDICE

the Education Information Networkin EuropeLe réseau d’information sur l’éduca-tion en Europe15 rue d’ArlonB-1050 BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 238 30 11Fax (32-2) 230 65 62Ms. Luce Pepin, DirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Patricia Wastiau-SchlüterE-mail:[email protected] address:http://www.eurydice.org

FVET

Foundation for Vocational Educationand Training ReformLiivalaia 2EE-10118 TALLINNTel. (372) 631 44 20Fax (372) 631 44 21Ms. Lea OrroManaging DirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Eeva KirsipuuE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.sekr.ee/eng/index.html

ETF

European Training FoundationVilla GualinoViale Settimio Severo 65I-10133 TORINOTel. (39-011) 630 22 22Fax (39-011) 630 22 00Ms. Gisela SchüringInformation and PublicationsDepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.etf.eu.int/etfweb.nsf/


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Issues recently

published in

English

No 20/2000

European Union policy: a retrospective

• Political and legal framework for the development of training policyin the European Union. Part I - From the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Maastricht(Steve Bainbridge, Julie Murray)

Current policy issues

• Berlin memorandum on the modernisation of vocational education and training.Guidelines for the creation of a dual, plural and modular (DPM) system of lifelonglearning

• In search of quality in schools. The employers’ perspective (Informal working group ofemployers federations)

• Working to learn: a holistic approach to young people’s education and training (PeterSenker, Helen Rainbird, Karen Evans, Phil Hodkinson, Ewart Keep, Malcolm Maguire,David Raffe, Lorna Unwin)

Policy developments: debate

• Low-skilled people on the European labour market: towards a minimum learningplatform? (Eugenia Kazamaki Ottersten, Hilary Steedman)

• The concept of a minimum learning platform educational contentsand methods for improving the low-skilled (Arthur Schneeberger)

• Achieving a minimum learning platform for all - Critical queries influencing strategiesand policy options (Roberto Carneiro)

No 21/2000

Developments in initial vocational training

• Qualified Vocational Education beyond 2000 - a report from a pilot project in Sweden(Jan Johansson, Torsten Björkman, Marita Olsson, Mats Lindell)

• Documented partial competence. A third way to a diplomain upper-secondary education in Norway (Karl J. Skårbrevik, Finn Ove Båtevik)

• Vocational education and training in schools - an Australian initiative: towards theintegration of vocational and academic studies in the senior secondary curriculum(John Polesel)

• Curriculum development in the dual vocational training system in Germany(Klaus Halfpap)

Policy issues

• The active roles of learning and social dialoguefor organisational change (Michael Kelleher, Peter Cressey)

• Political and legal framework for the development of training policyin the European Union. Part II - From Maastricht to Amsterdam(Steve Bainbridge, Julie Murray)

• The European Court of Justice advancing Student Mobility(Walter Demmelhuber)

Case study

• Héraclès, an association project for the social and occupationalintegration of disabled workers (Marc Schaeffer)


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89

Please cut out or copy the order form and send it in a window envelope to CEDEFOP

No 22/2001

Research articles

• Skill profiles of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal,Sweden and the UK (Åsa Murray, Hilary Steedman)

• Mechanical building services craft training in Great Britain:a comparison with France and Germany (Derek King)

• Making learning visible: identification, assessmentand recognition of non-formal learning (Jens Björnavåld)

Vocational training and young people

• The upside and downside of the ‘initial qualification’: towards a basic baggageof competences for everyone (Ben Hövels)

• What are we going to do about school leavers?: Comment (Mark Blaug)

Vocational training outside the European Union

• A comparative analysis of the testing/assessment and certification systems in France andGermany with Turkey (Türkiye) (Tomris Çavdar)

• Vocational training in Latin America (Manfred Wallenborn)

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90

The European Journalfor Vocational TrainingA call for articlesThe European Journal for Vocational Training journal is looking to publish articlesfrom researchers and specialists in vocational education and training and employ-ment. Researchers and specialists who want to bring the results of high-quality re-search, in particular comparative transnational research, to the attention of a wideaudience of policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in many different countries.

The European Journal is an independent and refereed publication. It is publishedthree times a year in English, French, German and Spanish and enjoys a wide circu-lation throughout Europe both within the Member States of the European Union andbeyond.

The journal is published by CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training) and aims to contribute to debate on the development of voca-tional education and training, in particular by introducing a European perspective.

The journal is looking to publish articles which set out ideas, report on researchresults, and which report on experience at national and European level. It also pub-lishes position papers and reaction statements on issues in the field of vocationaleducation and training.

Articles submitted to the journal must be exact, yet accessible to a wide and diversereadership. They must be clear in order to be understood by readers from differentbackgrounds and cultures, not necessarily familiar with the vocational education andtraining systems of different countries. They should be able to understand clearly thecontext and consider the arguments put forward in the light of their own traditionsand experience.

In addition to being published, extracts of the journal are placed on the Internet.Extracts from past issues can be viewed on http:/www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/edito-rial/journal/journalarc.asp

Articles can be written either in a personal capacity, or as the representative of anorganisation. They should be around 2,500 to 3,000 words in length and can bewritten in either Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Dutch,Norwegian, Portuguese, Finnish or Swedish.

Once written, articles should be sent to CEDEFOP in hard copy and on a disketteformatted for Word or Word Perfect, or as a Word or Word Perfect attachment by e-mail, accompanied by brief biographical details of the author outlining the currentposition held. All articles are reviewed by the Journal’s Editorial Committee whichreserves the right to decide on publication. Authors will be informed of its decision.Articles do not have to reflect the position of CEDEFOP. Rather, the Journal providesthe opportunity to present different analyses and various – even contradictory –points of view.

If you would like to submit an article the editor Steve Bainbridge can be contacted bytelephone on + 30 310 490 111, fax on + 30 310 490 175, or e-mail on: [email protected]

ISSN 0378-5068

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T R A I N I N GE u r o p e a n J o u r n a l


The European Journal Vocational Training is published three times a year in four languages (DE,EN, ES, FR). The annual subscription covers all issues of theEuropean Journal Vocational Training published in thecourse of the calendar year (January to December).Unless notice of cancellation is given by 30 November,the subscription will be extended automatically for afurther calendar year. The European Journal Vocational Training will be sent to you by the Office for Official Publications of the EC,Luxembourg. The invoice will be sent to you by theresponsible EU distributor. The subscription price does not include VAT. Please donot pay the amount due until you have received theinvoice.

CEDEFOP

Europe 123, GR-570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea)Postal address: PO Box 22427, GR-551 02 ThessalonikiTel. (30-31) 490 111 Fax (30-31) 490 020E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.eu.intInteractive: www.trainingvillage.gr

European Centre for theDevelopment of V ocational Training

European Journal Vocational Training


VOCATIONAL T R A I N I N G - Cedefop

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