The European Training Foundation (ETF) has created a network of vocational schools and centres that aim for excellence: the ETF Network for Excellence (ENE). Its members are vocational education providers that wish to learn from each other, collaborate, improve their practice, introduce innovation, establish partnerships and provide support to other vocational education providers. Some members of the network have been selected to take an active part in a sub-initiative of the network, entitled ‘The role of centres of vocational excellence in work-based learning’. The sub-initiative focuses on how centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) can support work-based learning (WBL) in companies. The six countries involved are Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and North Macedonia.
Work-based learning is a key aspect of education-business collaboration, which is one of ENE’s eight priority themes. Cooperation and coordination between schools and employers are key to the success of WBL. ‘Work-based learning refers to learning that occurs when people do real work. This work can be paid or unpaid, but it must be real work that leads to the production of real goods and services.’
In November 2020, the Latvian Vocational Education Association (PIB) and the ETF carried out a study of WBL implementation in seven CoVEs in the six countries mentioned above (two centres were involved in Kazakhstan). WBL is offered in all six countries, but its implementation differs from country to country. The study aimed to map current WBL practices in the seven CoVEs and identify strengths,
challenges and opportunities for cooperation and development.
You can find the full report here.