Work-Based Learning in Europe
WBL-Q: From EQAVET principles (building blocks) to real quality in WBL on business and company level - self-evaluation, audit and continuous improvement.
Work-based learning (WBL) is a crucial part of the vocational education and training (VET) systems in European countries and its various types reach from dual systems to long-term internships to short-term job shadowing and anything in-between. This multitude of WBL types is highly depended on the education system of a country (sometimes it even differs regionally!) and the types of learners who are addressed. Learners participating in WBL during their initial VET are mostly teenagers or young adults. Learners in continued VET are usually senior company staff who participate in form of further training offers.
There is no doubt that WBL cannot happen in a vacuum - there have to be regulations and laws that guide the participating mentors and learners through the process.
The WBL-Q project partnership is going to support these processes by supplying a accessible online self-evaluation tool that allows WBL responsible staff to assess their current status quo according to benchmarks valid in the EU (EQAVET), implement a stress test of their WBL offers against future trends such as demographic developments, digitalisation and internationalisation trends. A comprehensive handbook will support these processes even further and provide guidelines and recommendations how to implement the deducted improvement measures.
From 2020-2022, a transnational partnership of 7 professional organisations from 6 EU countries work together to develop a self-evaluation tool for quality in work-based learning (2022), which will be applied by staff responsible for work-based learning processes in their organisation. The tool will be accompanied by a handbook (2022) for these responsible persons and all developments of the WBL-Q project will be based on an investigation research study, implemented in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, and Slovenia (2021).