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Learning while working
82 Success stories on workplace learning in Europe

prospects, higher professional status); insufficient recognition and support
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by employers; and limited training opportunities ( ). Taken together, scarce
opportunities for continuing training, meagre competence requirements, and
the fragmented nature or absence of organisations representing training
practitioners, indicate that in-company training is weakly formalised and
professionalised in many countries.
For a long time, individual trainers were left very much on their own to cope
with changes in the workplace: new forms of work organisation, technological
developments, and age and cultural diversity of employees. In many countries,
insufficient or inappropriate training, or both, are significant barriers to
meeting the needs of diverse groups of learners and the changing demands
of employers, handling very different learning situations, and making use of
repertoires of training tools, methods and strategies. Recent Cedefop analyses
of quality in training practices for SMEs in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Romania
and Slovakia bring to light important shortcomings in trainers’ understanding
of specific sectors, enterprise needs and training methods (Cedefop, 2009g;
2010h). It was found that:

‘while both public and private sector training providers claim to operate a policy of continuing
training of trainers, in practice this is done merely on an hoc basis and in a rather fragmented
manner’ (Cedefop, 2009g, p. 52).

The European Commission’s Communication on ‘a new impetus for European
cooperation in vocational education and training’ suggests that trainers will need
to develop further their pedagogical competences (European Commission,
2010d). In particular, there is a need to pay attention to the relevance, quality
and attractiveness of training provided, especially among trainers of low-skilled
adults in a workplace setting, where the trainer places the learner at the centre,
stimulates motivation and provides a flexible learning environment (European
Commission, 2009f; 2010e, p. 13). Both the quality of the training delivered to
enterprises and the competences of trainers need to be addressed by any policy
strategy on skill development to be successful. This applies to national and
sectoral initiatives to promote lifelong learning opportunities in the workplace
or to prepare the economic recovery through skill development.

( ) European Commission (2008). Eurotrainer, making lifelong learning possible: a study on the
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situation and qualification of trainers in Europe. Available from Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/
education/more-information/doc/eurotrainer1_en.pdf [13.12.2010].