Reflection of the organization of the study visit in Slovenia – cooperation with employers
 

As part of the study visit, my responsibilities were:

• presentation of the WBL at School Center Kranj,
• the organization of meetings with employers and students who attended the WBL at selected companies.

We started preparing the study visit early enough, which had proved to be very wise. We soon noticed that the organization of such meetings requires time and a lot of coordination.
On the first day I presented the history and organization of the School center, school system in Slovenia and the entire course of action: from the informational sign to final report of the WBL.
I organized a visit to two employers where our students perform WBL. I decided to choose a company with whom we cooperate for many years (LOTRIČ Metrology – area of mechatronics and IT) and another company with whom we have cooperated for the first time (Printed circuit boards Luznar – field of electrical engineering).

 

LOTRIČ Metrology:

• we collaboratewith the companyfor many years; they provide WBL for manyof ourstudentsof secondary vocationaland secondary technicaleducationin the field ofmechatronicsand informatics,
• we provided the Pedagogicaladult education for more than 10mentorsfor students,
• the mentors take very good care forstudentsatWBL,
• twostudents attended the visit;oneof the programmechatronicstechnician(4 weeks onWBL) and otherIT operativeprogram(18 weeks onWBL),
• both studentswerevery happyin the company; even their reports were of high quality,
• School center Kranj cooperates with the company on many different areas: open curriculum, information days, the days of metrology; they also have their representative in the working group of our project Skills 4 Work – the field of informatics.

 

Printed circuit boards LUZNAR:

• we started cooperating in this school year,
• I chose them for the visit because they prepared the plan of WBL extremely well and provided WBL experience for students in high quality,
• student of mechatronics technician program attended the visit; he was on WBL in the company for 4 weeks, so he met the company’s organization and worked at all job positions in manufacturing,
• student got a lot of information to include in its report on the WBL; its report was extensive and of good quality,
• mentorhasworkeddiligentlywith the student,
• we will cooperate with this company further more (in the area of ​​education for the mentors, WBL, field trips, co-operation in the field of chemistry – lectures by experts from the company).

 

During the preparations for the Study visit I agreed with business representatives to visit the company. I presented in detail the purpose and objectives of the project Skills 4 Work and I outlined our expectations about the visit (date, time, content, number and professions of visitors). Both companies were pleased to confirm the participation in the Study visit. While organizing the activities of the study week we concluded it will be best to first explain about the Slovenian school system and visit the employers day after.

 

According to the responses of the participants of the study visit, I conclude that the selection of the companies and the experience of the work process were up to their expectations.

 

Miloš Frelih