Training
March 2011
Work-Based Learning
Work-based learning (WBL) is a methodology which accredits or extends the workplace skills and abilities of employees. In effect, from an employer’s perspective, we are talking about workforce development – the up-skilling and re-skilling of an organisation’s employees.
It is at the same level and standard as traditional higher education, and the learner will develop the same higher-level skills, but here the focus is based on their work knowledge and the application to work practice. WBL includes the development and demonstration of critical and analytical skills, as well as more job-specific skills and competencies such as team working, communication and problem solving. It’s also about understanding the cross-functional/regional impacts (both internally and externally), thinking critically about changes in the workplace and being supported in undertaking and reporting on a work-based project.
Work-based learning is seen as a method of pulling together learning and teaching, research and work activities involving university relations with business and industry. By taking this approach, an environment has been created that enables learners to respond in a timely manner to identified employer needs. ‘One-stop shop’ approaches have been established to act as a focal point for employer engagement. The learning outcomes emphasise the need for the learners to broaden their knowledge and understanding and apply theories in a workplace setting in order to make sense of complex situations and enhance their skills development through practical experiences.
| In today’s climate, business leaders have to get the most out of their management. Investing in their development produces rapid improvements to their performance. This exciting new development process delivers: | |
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Drive to Improve Skills and Productivity
Changing employment patterns in the workplace have impacted on the demand for higher-level skills. Employees are expected to be more flexible, have a broader range of skills and be better able to manage their own career and development. Across Europe, graduate-level skills and qualifications are now seen as increasingly important in the changing workplace.
Drive to Create and Apply New Knowledge
Knowledge creation and the deployment of new knowledge in the workplace have given rise to the workplace itself being recognised as a site of learning and knowledge production. This concept is an integral feature of the ‘knowledge economy’ and the growing intellectual capital of businesses.
Drive to Maximise Innovation, Enterprise and Creativity
Across Europe, businesses need to compete on the basis of unique value. This necessitates investments in new products, processes or services and in new ways of doing business. Measures to develop the enterprise skills and creativity of the workforce are likely to be a prerequisite. The speed of technological change and market responses demands a continuous drive for innovation.
Transforming Accreditation and Quality Assurance
This enables organizations to strategically plan for the development and training of their employees rather than short random training courses. Individuals are required to deliver work-based projects to achieve Accredited Management Qualifications, which can unlock funding for training support. Key outputs here are to deliver meaningful, measurable change to the organization.
Work-Based Learning
Work-based learning is a distinctive foundational feature of many degrees and qualifications, and an important element of many training programmes available to employed people.
So how do management qualifications benefit the organisation?
The key objective is to deliver meaningful change into organisations and provide them with a clear return on investment (ROI). Management training schemes can only achieve success if an individual, when back in the workplace, actually implements and acts upon what they learned on the training course.
This can be achieved through:
WBL courses, unlike traditional academic approaches, require participants to complete work-based assignments that focus on their role within their organisation.
Quite simply, WBL takes as its starting point the learner and their activities at work in their company or organisation. The expectation is that the work-based learner has experience and expertise as a worker. They are able to take their work activities and use them as a starting point for their studies.
WBL involves actively using the workplace as a learning environment. It is therefore more than just ‘being at work’ or ‘work experience’. Learning outcomes are measurable and can be specified through workplace activities.
Spreading Training over a Period of Time
Experience shows that the best way for individuals to implement change into their organisation is to spread courses over a specified scheduled period of time. This allows individuals to identify, implement and assess any challenges they are facing. If management training occurs in isolation, or on random days, the learning is often not implemented in the workplace.
So how is work-based learning assessed?
Work-based learners need to provide evidence to demonstrate they have met the learning outcomes of their programmes. They can have input into designing the evidence they will present arising out of their work activity. Evidence may derive from:
- Practical projects focused on work
- Problem solving
- Reflective logs and journals
- Personal and professional development planning
- Action learning sets (where small groups of learners work together to support each other in their learning and development on a task or area of interest/expertise)
- Research investigations and their outcomes
- Management and technical reports
- Presentations
- Exhibitions
- Portfolios
The assessing tutor will check for evidence that the output meets the learning outcomes and assessment criteria and that it is at an appropriate level.
Retaining Your Organisation’s Talent
In a world of economic uncertainty, it certainly pays to invest in your people and their talent. Work-based learning is both a great tool to aid organisational talent retention and up-skilling your workforce. It also clearly demonstrates how much you value your employees and, therefore, supports employee engagement and encourages employee loyalty – a win/win outcome!
For more information on funded work-based learning schemes, contact Georgette at +44(0)776 4444235 or at .
Georgette careers includes management roles in the retail and consumer sector and more recently, senior European management roles in change management, customer relations and communication.
Highly skilled in Organizational Development, Business Transformation, Change Management and Communications, Georgette believes in forging partnerships and coalitions and fostering a diversity of perspectives and ideas, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to her work.
