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  Need for recognition of the professional competencies of trainer (5 posts)

• Eileen Lübcke said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

  This forum will gather thoughts and comments from a discussion done via email among the project. partners. Comments, ideas, and new points of view are very welcome.

• Eileen Lübcke said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

  Graham Attwell commented in response to the proposed question:

  "I agree that we should focus on practical support for professional development for trainers. Many of these will not require accreditation – they do not need it for their careers and practice. But of course some will and so we need a practical approach to how they can claim accreditation for that professional development. The best way to do this would I think be through portfolios, probably using elearning tools or eportfolios."

• Eileen Lübcke said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

  Christina Costa also respond to the idea of recognition of professional competencies of trainers:

  "The proposed points for the discussion immediately caught my eye. And even before reading Graham's answer, eportfolios did come to mind. I think this would be the way forward. I think it might be a relevant approach to record one's lifelong learning path and also present people's with the trainer's own reflection about his/her experiences and practices. This should provide evidence to the recognition of one's competences and ongoing further development.

  And YES, I hear you. Trainers still don't have a professional identity as such in many countries, despite them having a vital role in mentoring and training people. I do also agree with your proposal to provide more practical support to trainers. I think this is also another key activity to help trainers build their Identity as such. it is important to provide them with new learning opportunities and a supporting framework in which they will have a voice.
  Also, while reading your email I started thinking about what the Portuguese Government is doing to develop a 'system for recognition, validation and certification of competences' of adults. I know it not the same as trainers – their aim is to increase the qualification of the Portuguese people, but maybe we can learn something from them. In their website it says:

  The recognition, validation and certification of competences is a process of recognition of adults' lifelong learning process in the different contexts which they belong to, provided these environments are able to generate knowledge and competences. Through this proceeding, the applicants will have access to a certificate which is issued based on life experience learning, outside of the formal systems of education and training. The purpose of this initiative is to increase the level of qualification and employability of active adults, encourage lifelong learning and improve one's social status.
  More concretely, this process allows each adult to have his/her acquired competences formally recognised.

  And as far as I know they are using a kind of reflexive portfolio which will then be presented before a Jury for feedback and evaluation. During the process of gathering all the relevant information to add to their portfolio, the adult students have meetings with teaching staff who helps them make sense of their learning path. I am not sure how far down the line this has been planned in a way that people, once getting the certificates they are aiming for, continue to engage with their learning in a reflexive way, but so far it does seem impressive as a form of trying to value people's live experiences in a formal way, which can be useful for them to get new jobs, be promoted, etc…

  I could see something similar being developed for trainers … trainers know way more than the certificates they own. Most of them don't even have certificates as Trainers… so that does fragment their Identity as such… and does not five them a network of support. Just like any educator, I would like to see trainers' informal lifelong learning being valued and taken into account as part of their further development. I think interactive, reflexive eportfolios might be the start. If such activities are then supported by the development of learning communities which will also provide furher support for people to continue reflecting about their learning and developing new skills as they come in contact with a wider community. Creating learning communities isn't however easy, let a alone sustain them. I think their success will be dependent on both a clear policy and trainers' active angagement. Above all, it has to be a collaborative effort by all parties involved in the 'solving of this issue'."

• Eileen Lübcke said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

  Anna Kubica gave a statement why they have chosen the EQF solution:

  "Why Wszechnica UJ decided to create competence profile based on EQF standards?

  • EQF is universal and useful for everyone engaged in education and training;
  • It will help to establish unified standards for career development of trainers in Europe; assuming that all European countries adopt this model, it will be very easy for employers in different countries to recognize the level of competences of a trainer -> it will enhance the flow of training services through Europe;
  • EQF serves as a very clear career path for trainers – it gives indications of what way to develop one’s competences, what is the next step in one’s development, what kind of knowledge or skills are needed on the next level;
  • It’s very helpful in preparing and performing training programmes – it gives clear instructions on what kind of material should be the content of training programme (it is very useful in our School of Trainers but we believe it can be adapt to all professions); it’s useful in managing training policy;
  • It’s helpful in a recruitment process – gives clear description of requirements for candidates for the given position (described by each level of the EQF profile);
  • It’s helpful when it comes to choose training services provider – it’s simple to verify qualifications and competences of given individual or organisation if we relate it to the trainer’s profile (EQF clearly says what is necessary to know to take on given services);"

  You can find the Polish EQF Standard in the document section

• Eileen Lübcke said 6 months, 3 weeks ago:

  Herold Gross also added to the EQF

  "Thank you, Anna,

  for mentioning the opportunities of the EQF to make trainer/ training certificates more transparent and that this instrument is attracting more and more interest not only in Europe.

  The interest for EQF is naturally also strong between training of trainers providing institutions. The influence on a competence oriented structure of the certificates may help in the long run to constitute a “reference frame” are going to be compared on the ‘market’.

  Trainers have, others as VET teachers, in most of the countries not a recognized “profession”. They often have no “national” or other standard qualification.

  In the Defining Vet Professions Project (Cedefop/TTnet) an overwhelming majority of the trainers (fulltime -, trainers in first place or whatever you call them) expressed urgent interest on national “trainers” reference qualification as a need for professionalization and making the profession visible and recognizable.

  I personally can’t see, why trainers shouldn’t have a recognized profession and due certifications and I will continue trying to support them on this way. Even in Germany – after long and complicated discussions– we may have soon one (or two) national standard qualifications for the further training of Trainers (Ausbilder).

  Reference frameworks can be a first important step to standards. In our TTnet / Cedefop projects on “Defining Vet Professions “ we tried to develop a common reference framework (you can have a look on one example for in-company trainers in the attachment ) as a tool to support professionalization of trainers.

  Unfortunately, our discussion started with a touch of polarization of the concepts of trainers training, for example the framework or system-oriented approach against the community –oriented approach, instead of looking more at complementary aspects and taking in account different target groups and stakeholders and asking what may be useful for whom.

  In this respect I’m interested in hearing more about the “communities” and have a look on the more practical aspects of training and who trains the trainers and how they learn.

  The practitioners, who also do some training, may be closer to the working group or professional community than to a trainers’ or training community.

  Many of our free-lance trainers have nice ‘portfolios ‘ of training-certifications delivered by training providers but nevertheless their organization is occupied with standards and looking at the qualifications delivered now also from the academic side."