Study Visit in Slovenia – Learning Log by Eckert Hebel and Michael Salner

Visistors: Eckert Hebel, Michael Salner from OSZ IMT Berlin, Germany

 

Date: Monday, 13-04-15

1. Activities description

Watch presentation about Slovenian school system

Visit Secondary school of Economics, Services and Civil Construction

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

• The CPI (authority) develops most of the curricula for the vocational schools.
• The vocational school system has 2, 3 or 4 year VET courses.
• There are collective and individual contracts.

Also see: www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/2012_cr_si.pdf

“All students of upper secondary education programmes shall within three years of education, complete at least 24 weeks of practical training at a workplace with an employer, with whom they have signed individual learning contract. Practical lessons that are carried out in school can be, with the agreement of the employer and the school, replaced with practical training at workplace with an employer. So that practical training can be increased to a maximum of 50 weeks in three years of education.” and

“Students usually have individual learning contracts, which are signed by the employer, the student and the student’s parents and are generally valid for the entire period of education. But it is also possible to have a collective learning contract, which is signed by the employer and the school for multiple students and is generally valid for one school year with possibility to extend it. The contract defines the general rights and obligations of schools, students and employers, as well as all the necessary activities of all partners, regardless of the educational program. In an annex of the contract are defined educational program, occupations, address of students and mentors and terms of implementation the practical training at workplace.

It is possible to go from collective learning contract (of course with an agreement of one of the partners or student) to individual one and vice versa. Irrespective of the type of learning contract, practical and theoretical education of the student may take a maximum of 8 hours per day, but weekly it must not exceed with the law and the collective contract, defined weekly working obligations, reduced for two hours, therefore maximum of 38 hours a week.”

• There is a so-called NVQ certificate.

Also see: http://www.ric.si/national_vocational_qualifications/general_information/

“A national vocational qualification (NVQ) is a formally recognised work-related, competence-based qualification, which reflects the skills and knowledge needed to do a job effectively and shows that a candidate is competent in an area of work, or individual segments of work, within an area at a certain level of achievement, and as such, part of the national qualification framework. An NVQ is shown by a public document – a certificate whose form and content are defined by the Minister of Labour.” see 20% of the school curriculum is open, can flexibly be developed by the school itself.

• 80% of the curriculum is at national level. It is developed by the government.
• Teachers meet employers to discuss the school-specific contents (the 20%).
• Schools have one up to three so called WBL-organizers. WBL organizers are special teachers, who administrate the practise times of the students.
• VET courses consist of modules with credit points.
• The modules can be recognized in the different subjects.
• The vocational school system is quite flexible.

Also see: www.cedefop.europa.eu/files/2012_cr_si.pdf

“Transition from general to technical upper secondary education and vice versa is possible. Two non-obligatory programmes – matura courses (maturitetni tečaji) and vocational courses (poklicni tečaji), in duration of one year, are available to help the transition. Matura courses can be undertaken by individuals who completed the technical upper secondary education, vocational upper secondary education, and wish to continue their education at the university level7. Vocational courses are open to individuals who successfully completed 4 years of general education programme or technical school (without matura exam) and are another way to obtain qualification on a technical upper secondary education level.”

• At the end beginning of the practise time students have to pass a medical check, to check if they are physically able to do the job they learn.
• The government is responsible for the VET, so that the company does not pay for the education.
• The state gives an apprenticeship pay.
• There are scholarships for the poor.
• The school of Economics, Services and Civil Construction offers 4-year VET courses to reach the matura in civil engineering, 3 year VET courses to become a hair dresser, and VET courses to become a house painter among others. Those are quite different

professions together under one roof.

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

We felt the following aspects innovative.

• The open school curriculum,
• the flexible vocational school system,
• the module system with credits,
• the support of cultural identity (corporate identity) with extra-activities in the area,
• the special teachers being WBL-organizers,
• the variable portion and the amount of WBL in VET courses,
• that students in one class can have different contracts.

The following is difficult and challenging.

• There is too much paperwork (administration).
• The company does not pay for the education, so good students (have to) do jobs beside their education to earn money for a living.
• When the government changes there could be a lot of changes in the curricula.

4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

• The module system with credits makes the system more flexible.
• The support of cultural identity with extra-activities increases the solidarity.
• The WBL-organizers could support the students especially to go for a practise time abroad.
• An increase of the amount of WBL in fulltime VET courses offers the students more practical experience.
• Students of civil engineering, wall painters, etc. could renovate their own school buildings.

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why? Any additional comments.

• The 80% state-based curriculum seems to be a problem especially in the Dual System. The companies know best, which (learning) situations are best to be trained to earn money. Schools can concentrate on educating the personality, the soft skills, and ability to deal with critical life situations like being unemployed, applying for as new job, or how to start an own business, etc.

 

Date: Tuesday, 14-04-15

1. Activities description

Visit employers (at Luznar and Lotric), see http://www.luznar.com/luznar_en.html and http://lotric.si/en/

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

Luznar is a company which produces printed circuit boards (PCBs). It is a family company and the owner and his son are very proud of it. The PCBs are manufactured in several working steps in several rooms. The owner of the company showed us the rooms, where the circuits are printed, the copper lanes are produced, and where the quality control of the boards is located. The company has all the required machines to manufacture the boards.

We thought that those boards could be cheaper produced in Asia, but the advantage of the Slovenian company is the flexibility. They can deliver faster. A prototype can be delivered in 24 hours. The owner proudly showed us the workshops and the expensive machines. One of the machines cost 150.000€.

Lotric is a company that offers measurement and calibration processes and also measuring instruments. Therefore they have certain rooms with instruments to measure pressure, temperature, and length among others. The PR manager showed us the rooms, where the measuring and the calibration processes are done by the workers. Everything has to be clean and exact.

Luznar and Lotric are good examples of the close contact and relationship the school has with companies through the WBL-organizer. Students can learn a lot at those companies. The students go through the departments to learn something about the steps of the production.

At the afternoon we visited an employer who refaced the forefront of a house with several workers together which was another good example of the WBL possibilities students have in Slovenia. The visited student had an individual contract, so that his WBL period was quite long. However, only 4 of the 93 students have individual contracts.

The duration of the practise time can be quite flexible. All the employers meet the WBL-organizer regularly. Also there are working groups with teachers and employers who discuss the 20% of the curriculum. Again it was told that the companies don’t have to pay for the education. The students get money from the state and that is important especially for small companies.

The training of the mentors at the company is obligatory. Only if an employer has a master degree he or she doesn’t have to be trained.

At a later discussion it was said, that the problem in Slovenia is, that there are not enough working places. Teachers should therefore have a spirit of entrepreneurship. They should go to a company for a certain time to update their knowledge. The employers also go to school and present their company and tell the teachers which competences are needed to do the jobs at their company.

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

From our point of view it is innovative that the state supports small companies a lot. There are individual contracts that can be extended by additional parts and the companies don’t pay for the education.

For us it seems difficult to administrate all those things. However, Slovenia is a small country with a few people. Faster changes are possible. Germany has a greater population. There are more people responsible for the school system. Furthermore every state in Germany has its own school law, which is called federalism. This makes it harder to harmonize things. In Slovenia people are a kind of networkers which might be harder to do in Germany.

Also in Germany fulltime VET students don’t get money for their WBL-time. They have to pay the bus tickets themselves.

4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

The close relationship between the Slovenian companies we saw and the school worked well. Maybe that’s because Slovenia is a quite new country and the people want to make it well. They have a common interest.

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why? Any additional comments.

In Germany the companies pay an apprenticeship pay in the Dual System. The more they can pay the student, the better student they can get. A good student can get a better working place and a better WBL. Of course this can only work, when there are enough companies that offer good working places with a good WBL possibility.

 

Date: Wednesday, 15-04-15

1. Activities description

Visit the SC Kranj to see the project week of the school

Visit the vocational collage in Bled

Visit the learning hotel Astoria in Bled

see http://www.vgs-bled.si/ and http://www.vgs-bled.si/index.php/studenti/solski-portal

Visit the castle of Bled and eat a famous Cremeschnitte

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

The SC Kranj made an interdisciplinary three day project week. The student groups tried to build a 3d-printer. Therefore students from different classes with different subjects/professions were involved with suitable exercises.

First we went into a classroom, where Mechatronic students were learning something about pneumatics. They stood up, when we came in.

In another room students dealt with sensors for the printer. In the next room students developed the electronic interfaces for the printer. That class also had an English teacher co-operating with the IT teacher to help the students with English technical texts. The IT teacher worked with the presentation software Prezi. All the students were networked and everyone had a smiley at Prezi. They used Prezi together in a kind of network mode. It was said that a student who presents something should use pictures instead of many words. So the presenting student has to talk a lot (about the pictures). We think that is a very good idea. The students then have to speak and train to speak, which of course is also good to learn social skills as communicative competence. The IT teacher said that the presentations also had to be held in English. So the English usage is trained too.

The SC Kranj also has a library with a quiet room. There the students make their homework or just relax.

Again it was said that students had renovated some rooms at the school themselves.

The SC Kranj sometimes offers special motto days.

Last year the SC Kranj had a robot day. At that day many workshops were offered and robots could be seen.

Another day was the creative day. The best ideas were promoted with prizes. The winner was invited to a company.

At the wall there are pictures made for primary school students that they get an impression of the different professions and the different VET courses offered by the SC Kranj.

Then we saw a very good presentation about the applications of 3d-printers held by a Slovenian student.

In the afternoon we visited the vocational college in Bled and the training hotel Astoria The school was in a nice, ancient, renovated building. The school is located in a beautiful touristic area in Bled. At the hotel Astoria there was a special week with an international competence with barkeeper students from six countries.

At the hotel the students are trained to become a waiter/waitress, a barkeeper, or a wellness assistant. The hotel closely co-operates with the neighbouring vocational school so that the school knows best what competences are required for the Hotel. Discipline and social skills play a great role not only in those professions.

The hotel has co-operations with different countries as Finland. Finish students also participated in our final discussion. The managing director said it is always good to see how the personality of the students grows. He had a quite positive view of the Slovenian vocational system. But Slovenian students should be more open, less scared, said the manager. One of the students had a job beside their education.

Finally we visited the castle of Bled and we ate a famous cake called the Cremeschnitte at a café. We knew the Cremeschnitte from Germany.

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

The innovative things:

• We saw that the teachers at SC Kranj work very practice- and action-oriented.
• The idea to develop a product together with students from different classes learning different professions is very good.
• The students renovate, create their own surroundings. This might have the effect that they more like to go to school, feel a little bit like home.
• The quiet area where students relax or make homework is also a good idea. They can help each other or just relax when they had stress in the lecture before.
• Also every student gets a warm lunch (meal) for only 2,42€ at the school canteen.
• Having employers or companies and schools nearby in the neighbourhood makes it easier to visit each other.

Difficult is, and that’s what was said by the Slovenians, to organize the project week. Every class needs a new schedule and a lot of preparing project work has to be done as ordering the material or controlling everything, etc.

4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

• Students could be more involved in designing the school, the buildings, the rooms, café, bringing equipment from their homes, etc. to make them feel good or to have a better atmosphere for study.
• The Prezi network features let students closely work together with Prezi.
• The quiet area is a good idea.

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why? Any additional comments.

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Date: Thursday, 16-04-15

1. Activities description

Visit the hair dresser Mare at Ljublijana

see http://www.maredresurafrizure.com/

Visit the vocational school SC PET at Ljublijana (school for telecommunication)

see http://www.scpet.net/

Discuss vocational system at CPI

Visit the old town of Ljublijana and the castle

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

We visited the hair dresser Mare and discussed the situation of the Slovenian vocational system. He had a critical view of it and said the students come to him too late. At the time they come to the company they have not enough competences. It was answered that he would have the possibility to make individual contracts with the students. Thus he could teach them a lot more at his company.

After that we (only the two Germans) went to the SC PET. The teachers we met were very motivated. The equipment of the school could be better, but the teachers try to buy the newest technology, e. g. fibre technology. A special project room shall be configured to train electrical installation. This is done by the students.

At the CPI we participated in the last part of the discussion about the vocational system together with representatives of the chamber of crafts and the chamber of commerce and industry. VET training courses can have different portions of work based learning (WBL). VET course with 2 years have 2 weeks WBL. Others have 800 hours. A 3 year VET course has 24 weeks WBL. A 4 year course has 4 or 8 weeks WBL.

The CPI creates the occupational standard. Therefore the chamber of crafts and the chamber of commerce and industry co-operate with the CPI closely.

Employers can get money for their training.

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

The innovative thing as mentioned above is that there are different contracts and different amounts of WBL which can be arranged at any time.

At SC PET it was very impressive to see how two persons could closely work together. The head mistress supported her teacher very much and so she could develop new projects to teach them the current technologies like connecting fibre cables, etc.

4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

In Germany we already have the practise time (WBL period) at the final part of the education. The reason is to make them better be able to work at a company. They are then, maybe, more self-confident, because they already know a lot of things about the profession. The employer can delegate more and more responsible work.

A nice idea could be to arrange a three weeks practise time at the first year to increase the amount of WBL.

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why? Any additional comments.

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Date: Friday, 17-04-15

1. Activities description

Watch presentation of student who stayed abroad for a while

Watch presentation of teacher who worked at a company for 2 Months by his own

Watch presentation about e learning materials

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

A student of the SC Kranj went to Italy for a practise time. He presented us something about his trip to Italy. He was prepared with a 3 weeks course in Italian and the Italian culture. The trip was supported by Erasmus+. He worked at a Ferrari repair shop. Most of the Italians spoke English so he could communicate quite well because his English was very good too. The whole experience made him more self-confident.

A second presentation held by the teacher who developed the circuit boards at the project week was about the possibility for teachers to work in a company. He did that and talked about it. This was possible with the help of a special co-operation programme of the Slovenian government. The company had the intension to change their operation systems from Windows to Linux. The aim the teacher had was to improve his knowledge about Linux and to transfer this into the school. So the teacher implemented Linux at the company and after his practise time at the company at school too.

The company now also uses the school for further education.

Finally we heard something about learning materials being online. There is a free Website with ca. 1000 text exercises. Every exercise contains a 30 minute video. The problem is, not every teacher is able to work with a PC and it is hard to upgrade the media.

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

Generally it is a good idea to send students abroad for their WBL. In Berlin we also do this a lot.

Also teachers can work at a company or do a practise time there, but this is seldom. One problem is that a teacher who works at the company has to incorporate a second teacher to substitute him or her at school. However, in Germany teachers who want to work at a company for a certain time receive a number of 2 or 4 hours for their industrial practise time.

4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

The preparation course to let the student be aware about the foreign culture is good. Otherwise cultural conflicts in the foreign country could occur.

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why?Any additional comments.

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