Source: Kubix

Integrated Delivery ofContinuing Vocational Training (CVT)

• Background
• Objective
• The Integrated Delivery of CVT
• Close Interplay Between Three Phases
• Quality Demands Focus on the Organisation

Background

In Denmark, the public system of continuing vocational training, the AMU-system, has placed a development process on its agenda. The strategic development is called ‘the integrated delivery of CVT’, indicating that the development of competences - the individuals’ and enterprises’ competences - has to take place in a kind of joint effort between in-house learning and learning in training institutions.

This development is highlighted by the fact that key competences are more and more important in modern private and public enterprises. In addition, already accepted theory-based knowledge shows that key competences really are dependent on the context, i.e. the daily work. In other words, isolated efforts in institutionalized settings are more or less useless without thinking of how they can be imbedded in the daily working life.

A number of analyses within the CVT area - among these the report from Uddannelsesrådet (a centrally placed social partner committee) on general and personal qualifying within the labour market courses - has indicated that one barrier to increase the outcome of the training efforts is due to insufficient interaction between the training providers and the users. The core of this problem is that the connection between the demand and the supply is insufficient to ensure that the training requirements and the courses match, and that the requests for the effect of the courses are met.

On this background it is crucial for the support and the usability of future CVT that the interplay between the users and the providers plays a crucial role in future training strategies. It was mentioned in the report from the Uddannelsesrådet that the concept of ‘the integrated delivery of CVT' (Den Gode Leverance) was launched.

Objective

The objective of the concept of 'the integrated delivery of CVT ' is to qualify the AMU-centres, to a higher degree than is a fact today, to be able to analyse and meet the training needs through continuous dialogue with the users. The training institutions have to function as consultants in relation to the total qualifying processes in the enterprises and for the individual. Together with the user the training institutions have to be able to make a comprehensive picture of the user’s qualification needs and identify the means to meet these.

The innovative aspect of 'the integrated delivery of CVT' is to shift focuses from the very training courses to a comprehensive view of the total qualifying process including preparation and follow-up on the institutionalized training. This shift in focus not only challenges the public training system. At the same time it highlights the way in which the users demand training. Thus, the project might imply that the users get an increased awareness on which elements the qualifying process should comprise in order to be well-founded.

The Integrated Delivery of CVT

With international and national pressures creating significant changes in the labour market and the operation of enterprises, demands on training provided through the AMU (Adult Vocational Training) system are tightening. Key issues include: tailoring courses more closely to participants' needs and qualifications; the relationship between the training courses and the enterprises’ own human resource development activities; and the match between learning and changing requirements in the labour market.

This extent and pace of change emphasises the need for AMU-providers to focus on how to meet the demands most efficiently. The Integrated Delivery of CVT is a crucial response to these pressures; it is central to developing the quality of the service which the AMU-system offers both its users and its customers. It is a wholistic approach to further development of the AMU-system, emphasising coherence of the training process: from the very first stages of contact with participants and enterprises, to the final stage - where the employees are back in their work places and make use of their new qualifications.

Connection and interplay are two pivotal elements of the Integrated Delivery of CVT:

• Connection between the individual participant's learning and his or her working life.
• Connection during the whole process of learning, in order to make both participants and enterprises experience the contact with the AMU-system as a logical and progressive process.
• This entails the need for a stronger interplay, partly between AMU-providers and their customers, partly between different functions inside the AMU-system: trainers, administration, service staff, etc.

Close Interplay Between Three Phases

It is the quality of learning which is, and remains, the crucial quality issue within the AMU-system.
Experiences show that the output of the training is better if the interplay with the users and the customers is managed more systematically - both before and after the training. Close interplay can be organised through the three connected phases which make up a coherent process for AMU provision:

• The preparation phase: a dialogue with users and customers about the aim and the expectations to the training; typically giving a sound basis for the planning of the single learning process.
• The training phase: the knowledge about the participants' skills and demands ensures a better connection between the training and the demands in the work place and/or the labour market. The participants' current work experience may be drawn into the training.
• The follow-up phase: follow-up on how the participants and the enterprises have benefited from the training. The feedback may be used to further improve the CVT provision and to strengthen the organisational framework of the learning.

A closer and more systematic interplay between (i) training institutions and (ii) the AMU users and customers demands more from both the trainers, management and the administrative staff of the training institutions. The experiences emerging from the development activities stress how crucial it is to create inside the training institutions the necessary organisational framework for quality development, in line with the Integrated Delivery of CVT.

It is crucial to:

• draw up strategic as well as practical aims and special activity areas. It is advantageous to make this an integral part of quality assurance and quality control at the institution
• focus on the internal organisation of the work, and to secure and maintain commitment to new forms of cooperation
• strengthen the dialogue between staff groups with different functions, and to develop new competencies through joint training activities across the different groups
• focus on the role of the trainers and the quality of the teaching processes; there is a need for training of the trainers and curriculum development activities.

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