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Learning Foreign Languages in Companies That Provide In-House Vocational Training – Exemplary Strategies

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Learning Foreign Languages in Companies That Provide In-House Vocational Training – Exemplary Strategies TOPIC PROMOTING INNOVATIONS IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING Learning foreign languages in companies that provide in-house vocational training – Exemplary strategies ̈ The importance of “Europeanising” voca- The European Commission's Language Action Plan that was adopted in the summer of 2003 calls for, inter alia, tional training – and concomitantly the need workers to have the “opportunity to improve the language to teach foreign languages on an occupation- skills relevant to their working life”.2 This issue is playing an increasingly important role at national level as well. related basis – has grown significantly in Long gone are the days when only company managers had recent years. The work programme that was to be able to operate in contexts involving a foreign lang- uage. As economic relations are becoming increasingly formulated on the basis of the Lisbon strategy internationalised, more and more employees – not only at and approved by the EU education ministers international corporations but at smaller companies as well – have to be able to understand technical texts and and the European Commission back in 2002 manuals in foreign languages; correspond in a foreign cites the promotion of foreign language learn- language with parent companies, subsidiaries and associated firms in other countries; and procure important ing as one of the 13 key objectives that Euro- information from Internet pages that are often available only in English.3 pean education policy is to implement by the year 2010.1 Activities aimed at further developing skilled occupations are responding to these demands by, inter alia, incorpora- ting foreign language skills into the training regulations for the respective occupation. But how are the necessary skills to be learned when the additional time this requires is not available – in either the day-to-day routine at the com- pany providing practical training or in the classroom at vocational school? The following sections outline various strategies that are already being practised with success to- day. Transnational practice firms and learning groups Many companies have already used the practice firm con- cept successfully as part of their training activities. Thanks ULRIKE SCHRÖDER to the responsibility assigned them, trainees acquire im- Research Associate in the ”Education for portant basic skills such as autonomy, organisational abi- Europe – National Agency“ Section at BIBB lity and negotiating skill. Some firms are already operating on a cross-company basis in this connection and are using the means offered by new media such as e-mail, Internet- BWP Special Edition 2007 33 TOPIC based discussion fora and The European Commission already provides financial sup- Useful links complex virtual learning en- port – through the Leonardo da Vinci programme – for www.na-bibb.de (National Agency vironments. This also ex- placements abroad or company exchanges lasting up to 12 Education for Europe, at BIBB) pands trainees' “web skills” months (a maximum of six weeks for trainers). Some http://europa.eu.int/comm/educa- (BORCH/WORDELMANN) more 30,000 employees in German companies have benefited tion/language/label/index.cfm or less as a side-effect. How- from these grants in the years since 2000. In this case, par- (European Label database) ever very few companies ticipants acquire foreign language competency – usually www.zuef.de (Deutscher Übungsfir- pursue such activities on an following a preparatory language course – in a situation menring = German Practice Firm Circle) international level – by, for in which specific activities in actual working situations are www.wege-ins-ausland.de (central example, having the practice used as a learning platform, a method that noticeably website for funding sources for mobil- firm handle orders from for- improves learning outcomes. The experience of living ity activities) eign business partners or and working abroad also helps individuals overcome any http://Leonardo.cec.eu.int/pdb/ bringing their practice firm inhibitions about functioning in a foreign language. (European Compendium & Products together with a similar Participating companies can also benefit from mobility Database) group in another country. In activities in a number of ways. The skills that their http://Leonardo.cec.eu.int/psd/ those cases where this does employees acquire in other countries make it easier to (European Partner Search Database) happen, participants see a expand their business contacts to international level and www.Leonardodavinci-projekte.org marked improvement not the “neutral” view that foreign colleagues have often leads (German-Austrian project and product only in the skills mentioned to improvements in one's own internal processes. And database) above but also in their for- finally, involvement in European-level education activities www.regiokom.de/nw_grenzregi- eign language skills and in- enhances a company's image. on/index.htm (Netzwerk Grenzregion tercultural knowledge. – Border Region Network) The project databases for the EU's individual education www.Leonardo.th.schule.de/ (BIL- Vocational schools are mak- programmes contain a wide variety of examples for activi- VOC project) ing increasing use of the po- ties in the mobility field. They also help firms establish tential that cross-(language-) contact with partner companies and inform them about border collaboration offers. However many companies that learning materials that are available for different target provide in-house vocational training are still hesitant to languages and sectors. take the leap – despite the fact that it would be possible in some cases to obtain EU funding (as a Comenius language project). Cross-border training cooperation The EU database of projects that have been awarded the Collaborative transnational training activities constitute an European Language Seal offers various examples of learn- intensification of “classic” mobility measures, so to speak. ing groups that have been organized on a cross-border In this case, firms from several countries agree on set train- basis. In the area of practice firms, the homepage of the ing segments that are to be completed in different coun- Deutscher Übungsfirmenring (German Practice Firm Circle) tries. The respective national experience with collaborative offers general information on practice firms, assistance and training can be incorporated here. It must however be re- a link to the European network of central administrative membered that training structures and practice vary from offices for practice firms. country to country and the German situation cannot always be directly applied to other countries. Compared to conventional measures, this strategy offers the advantage that valuable training time is not “lost” as a result of stays Cross-border mobility abroad. And thanks to the longer-term and more intensive Stays abroad during or after vocational training are the collaboration, a marked improvement in participants' for- best means for acquiring not only foreign language com- eign language skills and intercultural knowledge can be ex- petency but also a knowledge of the work cultures in other pected – along with the above mentioned benefits for their countries. At national level, the draft bill to reform voca- companies. For companies located near a national border, tional training in Germany that was submitted in the such activities involve comparatively little cost or effort. spring of 2004 (Berufsbildungsreformgesetz – BerBiRefG) Suggestions and examples can be found in, for example, contains provisions that would make it considerably easier the Netzwerk Grenzregion (Border Region Network) data- to complete training segments abroad in the future.4 The base that was set up as part of the Federal Ministry of European Commission is also planning to increase its Education and Research's RegioKompetenzAusbildung expenditure on the promotion of mobility substantially, campaign (“regiokom” campaign to build skills in particu- starting in 2007. lar regions) which is supervised by the Federal Institute for 34 BWP Special Edition 2007 Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). In addition, transnational collaborative training is currently a focal area for Germany in connection with the Leonardo mobil- ity programme. Generally speaking, in all these activities it is advisable to Ulf-Daniel Ehlers, Wolfgang Gerteis, Torsten Holmer, Helmut avoid using only the “hub” language English for cross-bor- W. Jung (Ed.) der contacts. It is impossible to imagine the business sector E-Learning Services in the Crossfire: Pedagogy, Economy without English as its lingua franca. In this area English and Technology fulfils an important function. However, a basic knowledge E-learning is undergoing significant of a business partner's technical and day-to-day language changes. Because it is caught in the cross- fire of pedagogy, economy and techno- brings unquestionable benefits. On the one hand, this logy, sustainable economic concepts have knowledge increases understanding of an unfamiliar (work) to be developed. This book discusses approaches that are based on experi- culture. On the other hand, it has a positive impact on buil- ences derived from the research project ”L – Life-Long Learning”. ding trust between the parties involved. 3 The L3 project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Order from carried out under the responsibility of W. Bertelsmann Verlag the Federal Institute for Vocational Edu- GmbH & Co. KG cation and Training.
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