GRiW

Project description

Continuing training is regarded as a central determinant for acquiring new competences and for lifelong learning. However, a differentiated look at the real continuing training situation reveals clear deficits. There is a need for action particularly with regard to unequal participation structures and the use of development-conducive forms of learning. In numerous research projects and pilot projects on learning in the work process or at the workplace, didactic concepts have been tested increasingly since the end of the 1990s. Learning at the workplace requires a development-conducive design in order to contribute to occupational competence that goes beyond the repetitive completion of partial tasks. Work-bound continuing training in this sense represents an approach that is still used unsystematically and is not widespread, especially in the area of “simple work”.

The aim of the GRiW project is to develop occupational competence by tapping and systematically using the learning potential of work processes among people with little exposure to continuing training. At the same time, promoting the ability to help shape the world of work plays an essential role in the design of the continuing training measures by basing them on the guiding idea of design orientation.

The first focus of the project is the implementation of a work-bound continuing training concept in the field of “simple work” in 20 companies of the metal and electrical industry. The second focus of the project is sustainable consolidation by enabling the companies to apply the continuing training concept independently. To this end, 32 in-company multipliers are qualified practically and theoretically for the transfer and sustainable use of the instruments. The practical qualification takes place by having the multipliers implement the instruments of the continuing training concept with semi-skilled and unskilled employees. The theoretical qualification takes place in inter-company modules, which also serve to build up a network.

Research question

The project focuses on the pedagogical-didactic design of educational processes and their framework conditions (organisation, resources) as well as the resulting effects. The starting point is the thesis that self-directed, work-process-bound forms of learning, if adequately designed and supported, promote the competence development even of groups of people unaccustomed to learning, such as semi-skilled and unskilled workers. The aim is to enable them to help shape the world of work, to promote lifelong learning and to open up opportunities for connecting to formalised continuing training. Work-bound continuing training in this sense is understood, in contrast to on-the-job instruction procedures, as pedagogically organised but self-directed, with the learning content defined by the work environment.

A key question is what effects engaging with problem-oriented tasks embedded in authentic work contexts has on the competence development of the participants. In this context, it is of particular interest which factors contribute significantly to success and which potentials for optimisation can be identified. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the continuing training produces effects for the company beyond the individual, such as an improvement in work processes and an increase in productivity.

Engaging with characteristic work tasks in the area of “simple work” also opens up the field of analysing fields of activity and employment structures. Of particular interest here are changes in the level of requirements of “simple work” and the overlaps with skilled work, as well as the resulting interdependencies with the companies’ continuing training objectives.

With regard to the sustainability of the form of learning, it is examined which obstacles and success factors the company actors identify when it comes to the transfer and independent application of the instruments and methods.

Methods

The project is based on a specific learning concept, which is implemented by modifying and applying various vocational research methods and instruments in the area of “simple work”. The learning concept is based on the assumption that the target profile for the continuing training measures to be developed consists of the empirically identifiable work tasks of a company field of activity. The continuing training measures are transformed in curricular-didactic terms from the characteristic work tasks. An important challenge here is the parallel design of the organisational framework conditions. The following instruments of the continuing training concept are used:

Continuing training needs analysis: Continuing training needs analyses are used to identify structures in the companies that are conducive or detrimental to learning and to generate continuing training needs in relation to work areas and groups of people. The ideal of the learning company serves as the frame of reference.

Expert workshops: In expert workshops, company fields of activity are analysed empirically. The results of the workshops define the reference systems (target profile) for the continuing training programme.

In-company continuing training projects: At the centre of the learning concept are the in-company continuing training projects (IWP), which are derived from the work tasks and designed and carried out according to didactic, design-oriented criteria. Thus, project-based, process- and task-oriented learning in problem-laden situations of occupational reality is at the centre. The IWP are complemented by classic seminars.

Learning guidance: Trained in-company learning advisers support the continuing training participants by means of accompanying process consulting. Within the project, the learning advisers are qualified for their tasks in inter-company seminars.

Change workshops: The in-company workshops serve communication, coordination and transparency as well as the promotion of a clear distribution of roles and tasks within the project. Representatives from different departments and hierarchical levels are involved in shaping the company’s continuing training process.

Evaluation: In order to determine the individual effects of learning among semi-skilled and unskilled workers, an instrument for the qualitative, performance-oriented recording of competence development is used. The contents of the work tasks serve as the frame of reference. The assessment is based on the participants’ presentation of their IWP results, in which they must demonstrate and justify their competence through action appropriate to the task within the company’s community of practice (action validation).

In addition, the entire continuing training programme, the sustainability of the form of learning, and the subjective (competence development) and extra-subjective effects (benefits for the company, continuing training objectives, success factors) are recorded qualitatively and quantitatively. For this purpose, guideline-based interviews, feedback discussions/rounds, document analysis, questionnaires and workshops are used.