Workplace Integrated Learning for Technical Experts with a Vocational Background

Employees who have begun their professional career with vocational training – in many countries in the form of a dual training – can continue to develop up to level 6 of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). In many companies, the experience shows that this group of employees, once they have established themselves at this level, are seldom able to further advance their careers beyond this level. Such a development may, however, correspond to a desire for advancement but may as well be a necessary response to changes in the work enviornment (eg “digitization”, “industry 4.0”), in which tasks for the middle qualification level are often lost. The next higher positions, however, are usually filled with people who have a higher degree of academic qualifications, for the technical professions these are usually engineers.

Thus, the aim of the project is to develop qualification paths and strategies for the target group of technical specialists with dual training, which allow them to develop skills on an academic level without having to apply for a full study program. Instead, it must be a matter of designing and implementing workspace-integrated ways of competence development. For this approach, concepts are to be developed and tested, which are then disseminated in the partner countries and beyond. In the long term, this is intended to open up additional paths for further professional development.