Learning tool M1T3: Design the Training Plan together with VET teacher

Module I: Organizing the training
program
PreparingTutorsfor
WorkBasedLearning
Developed in the framework of the Erasmus+ Project 2018-1-RO01-KA202-049191
TOTVET - Training of Tutors and VET professionals for high quality in Work
Based Learning and Dual Learning
This publication reflects the views only of the author(s), and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Summary
 In this learning tool you will learn to use and interpret official documents for planning,
professional standards, school curriculum and national legislation. You will learn to
understand to project flexible training according to the participants according to
age/training needs and to correlate with the theoretical training, the length of the
internship and the program of the institution in which the practice takes place. You
shall become able to prepare the training plan with realism and flexibility, taking into
account the learner’s age specifications and training needs.
Main issues covered:
Prepare a WBL-training framework for trainees
Didactic course planning
Main elements of course planning
How to plan a course/WBL-training
Target group analysis
Using the KIOSK Model to plan courses/WBL trainings
2TOTVET - Training of Tutors and VET professionals for high quality in Work Based Learning and Dual Learning

Prepare a WBL-training framework
for the trainees
In the previous modules it was shown that the main prerequisites for the
implementation of effective WBL-training are an effective learning needs
analysis and the deductive definition of learning objectives. In a next step
you have to design an appropriate learning/training framework. The
training framework should reflect the learning needs and objectives
agreed in the previous steps.
TOTVET - Training of Tutors and VET
professionals for high quality in Work Based
Learning and Dual Learning 3

What is a training framework?
A training framework is interrelated with understanding the concept of
the learning environment. This concept was introduced in Finland in
the early 1990s. A learning environment is a learning setting consisting
of the physical environment, psychological factors and social relation-
ships (Finnish National Board of Education, 2004).
 The physical environment refers to the buildings, premises, furniture
and equipment used for the apprenticeship. The physical environment
also covers the technical learning environment, which refers to
educational technology.
 The psychological learning environment covers the cognitive
environment, which means the information and skills to be learnt, and
the emotional environment, which includes emotions and motivation.
 The social learning environment includes the social network,
structure and system, which are influenced by all the people involved
in the learning situation and the interaction between them.
Having in mind the several aspects of learning environments helps
designing an adequate framework for the WBL-training.

The planning of the WBL-training path in a
company
At the same time, it’s equally important to understand the trainees initial
knowledge and skills, as well as some personal characteristics
(expectations, interests, motivations, attitudes, etc.) that can influence
their learning process.
The comparison between the skills required by the role and those initially
owned by the trainees will allow one to define a detailed plan for the
training path within the company.
Once the learning objectives have been established, what the trainee
must learn during the period of the WBL-training within the company
will be identified, as will the necessary activities so that the trainee can
acquire the required knowledge and skills.

To that end, try to establish a work plan that
specifies:
 Which work tasks the trainee will have to engage with during the WBL-
training
 The way in which they must be organized and followed, to promote
learning and the ability to use skills
 When to insert possible moments of explanation, exercise, individual
study, etc., to be carried out in the enterprise to support the acquisition
of some specific knowledge and skills
 Extra-corporate training activities that can provide an integration of
knowledge and skills useful for professional development.
The activity plan can subsequently be modified, on the basis of the
learning rhythms of the trainees and/or of unexpected events dictated by
particular business needs.

Good didactic planning is the basis for a successful
WBL-training
The didactic planning of a WBL-training is one of the basic activities of
the trainer. The planning of a WBL-training does not only concern the
definition of contents or temporal extent. For the trainer, WBL-planning
means taking into account all the circumstances that contribute to the
success of the WBL-training - from the setting of learning objectives to
the requirements for the room and the selection of learning materials to
the evaluation of the event.
The planning of a WBL-training course is the beginning of all trainers'
work. The conception of the course determines the course events over the
entire duration and is decisive for the successful execution.

Didactic course planning
What does ‚didactics‘ mean?
Dealing with didactics in practice means dealing with the process of
teaching and learning. It involves the following factors, the
 determination of the target group
 learning content
 planning
 implementation
 evaluation and
 reflection.

The following illustration shows that and how all these questions are
related to each other:
1. For what?
Application
situation
5. How's
that?
Organizati-
onal form,
method
4. What?
Contents
6. With
what,
Where?
Media,
place of
learning
3. What's
the point?
Learning
goal, quali-
fication
2. For who?
Target
group, need

Further concrete questions can be derived from these six
key questions:
 Which learning goals should be achieved and why?
 Which prerequisites, which previous knowledge do the participants
have?
 Which contents do I choose?
 Which methods and media make sense?
 How do I measure learning success?

Main elements of course planning
The main elements of course planning (according to Nuissl and Siebert,
2013) are shown in the following diagram:
Course planing
Designing
the course
schedule
Formulate
learning
objectives
Reduce
content/
amount of
material
Select/create
learning
materials
Content
Place of learning
Evaluation
Instructors
Methods
Learning groups
Aims
Interactions
Learning sequences
Time
Learners
Media

1. Formulate learning goals/objectives
The formulation of the learning goals/objectives is at the
beginning of every course planning. Care must be taken to ensure
that achievable learning objectives are set and that they are verifiable.
Learning goals/objectives must be agreed with the learners/trainees,
therefore they should be formulated as clearly as possible. Finally, the
learning objectives should be appropriate for the course/WBL-
training.
2. Reduce the amount of material
This is done through didactic reduction: exemplary selection,
introductory orientation, explicit reference to participants'
experiences, concentration on usage situations and professional
specialisation (according to Nuissl & Siebert, 2013).
How to plan a course/WBL-training

Excursus: didactic reduction
A didactic reduction of learning content means that facts are prepared for
the learners in such a way that they are clear and comprehensible. It takes
place when a selection of learning contents is made from a large amount of
material or when a complex topic is presented in a simplified form by
reducing it to its basic concepts, ideas or patterns.
Didactic reduction is thus a technique that can be used to achieve learning
goals against the background of an unmanageable amount of material and
increasingly complex topics.
Didactic reduction is part of the planning and teaching competence of
teachers. The planning competence refers to the selection of materials in the
course of the offer planning and the program development. The target
group, learning objectives and time and organisational framework must
be taken into account. The teacher/trainer’s teaching competence is required
if the elementary aspects of the learning material are to be taught to the
learners/trainees.

The task of reducing learning content comprises a quantitative and a
qualitative dimension. A quantitative reduction is achieved by concen-
trating the learning content (abstraction). The set learning objective and
the needs of the target group are taken into account. The qualitative
reduction is a simplification of the contents taking into account the
learning requirements. It aims to present individual facts as clearly as
possible (concretisation).
In order to translate facts into teaching content, they first have to deal
with the content and choose an appropriate form of preparation. In
this way, an initial factual analysis helps them to ascertain the current
state of knowledge of a subject. This is followed by a didactic analysis in
order to discuss the significance of the matter for the learners and to
find approaches for them. This is done with the learners/trainees in
mind: their biographical characteristics, the importance of the subject
matter for their future and other questions.

Strategies to put didactic reduction into practice
 Elementarisation: The learning content is reduced to the essentials;
not to be confused with trivialisation, but reduction to basic structures
and laws.
 Key terms: In some subject areas, there are various key terms that can
provide access to the topic.
 Use situations: In continuing vocational education and WBL-training,
for example, topics that are relevant to everyone could take precedence
over those that are of interest to only a few.
 Exemplary selection: An individual phenomenon of a topic is
selected and prepared in such a way that general structures and laws
become so clear that they can also be transferred to other cases.
(Siebert, 2009).

3. Select/develop learning materials
The learning materials are then compiled or developed. There are
often fixed materials for courses, e.g. textbooks, texts, slides,
presentations, which have to be adapted. The material should be
suitable for adults, should not contain contradictions in terms of
statements and context, should fit the course in terms of time and
participant competence and should not overlap.
In addition, the course instructor/trainer decides on the use of methods
and media that are appropriate for achieving the learning objectives.

What is methodology?
The term 'methodology' is understood differently. On the one hand, it
refers to all the methods used in the teaching-learning process. On the
other hand, the term can be extended to include the place of learning, the
social form, the seating arrangement, the times, the media and the
participants.
We understand methodology as the 'teaching or theory of the methods
that are available to achieve certain goals in education and
teaching' (according to Schaub & Zenke, 2002).

Horst Siebert systematizes these aspects and suggests that the
institutional framework, the participants, the goals and contents as
well as the teachers should be taken into account when selecting the
methods, as the following figure ‘criteria for method selection’ shows:
Institutional
framework
Instructors/
trainers
Participants
Goals and
contents
Methodology

Selection of methods: varied method compendium
Taking the above mentioned points into account, the trainer now needs
to choose adequate methods for preparation and practice of the
content, tasks and topics of the WBL-training. A diverse and varied
method compendium (interactive methods, methods of practical
knowledge acquisition, visualization and feedback methods) should be
suitable for active participation as well as for comprehensive training.
The demonstration of new, activating learning approaches and –
methods, apart from front teaching, has a motivating effect on
employees. Further-more on the one side it helps to reduce any negative
experiences regarding learning and further training and on the other side
to gain a positive attitude of the topics mentioned before.

In general the training/learning
methods are supposed to be as
practical as possible. Not only
should the focus be on practical
relevance, but also the way of
learning should be a practical one.
Learning by doing can be
implemented and developed to a
dimension that the trainees are
learning unconsciously. They can
develop new competences without
even noticing the fact that they are
learning.

The methods you choose within an event should be varied. In WBL-
trainings you often have to deal with heterogeneous learning groups. This
fact can be taken into account by using a variety of methods with different
focal points.
Choose methods that consider different learning types, are fun and
appeal to all the senses. Integrate short sequences in which the
participants also move, because movement is - according to the results of
brain research - conducive to concentration.
The following methods prove to be efficient methods in WBL-
trainings:
• Cognitive apprenticeship
• ‘Leittexte’/Guiding texts
• Simulations
• Learning stations/station operation
• Learning by doing: practical practice
• etc.

Cognitive apprenticeship
Cognitive apprenticeship is characterized by the four phases:
 Modeling (demonstration),
 Scaffolding (supported independent activity),
 Fading (decrease in teacher support as learners become more
competent) and
 Coaching (supervised observation).
At the beginning, the teacher/trainer presents the individual work steps
on a model to the learners/trainees (modeling). The learner/trainee
should then carry out the individual work steps independently with the
help of the teacher (scaffolding). As the learner's competence increases,
the teacher's support decreases more and more (fading). The teacher/
trainer must closely observe the learning process of the learner/trainee in
order to be able to provide adequate support (coaching).

‘Leittexte’/Guiding texts
Guiding texts are written instructions for learning. The trainees are
guided by questions and tasks on how to search for information
independently and how to work with materials, sources and media. This
method is used to develop independence and competence.
The trainees must plan their learning process independently and work on
the contents largely independently. The guiding texts support the trainees
in breaking down the work and learning processes into sub-steps and
determining their sequence.
The guiding text method can be used for trainees with different learning
requirements. This method is also suitable for different types of learners,
as the trainees themselves can determine within given limits how they
learn, with whom they learn, which aids they use and which focal points
they set.

Simulation
A simulation is a realistic representation of the events of reality.
Abstraction is used to create a model on which experiments are carried
out in a targeted manner. The resulting results are then used to deduce
the behaviour of the real processes.
Learners - often playfully - take on roles and/or work in simulated
environments in order to develop and train their ability to act and make
decisions in situations that are realistic but relieved of pressure.
Consultations with customers, dealing with complaints, conflict
discussions etc. can be tested and practised through simulations, so that
target-oriented behaviour can be seen and internalised.

Learning stations/station operation (1/2)
Station learning provides different learning stations in one room,
which are prepared by the trainer. Depending on interest, learning
requirements or learning style, the participants choose a learning
station to work on, practice or deepen their knowledge. They can
work alone or together with others.
The motto is: everyone at his/her own pace and on the subject
aspect that is important to him/her. Regular meetings of the
whole group offer space for discussions and open questions. Station
learning combines individual and joint learning in the group.

Learning stations/station operation (2/2)
Trainees work on each assignment, but choose the order in which they do
so. They therefore give their participants the freedom and responsibility
to decide their own learning path. Trainees will experience that such
learning decisions can and may be motivated in different ways depending
on the situation: they will be guided by interests or will be based on their
own previous knowledge and abilities.
Station learning needs intensive planning and should in any case be
evaluated together with the participants.

Learning by doing: practical practice
Practical exercises allow trainees to apply, practice and successively
improve various work steps or previously acquired theoretical
knowledge.
The practice of (new) work tasks (e.g. different work sequences on
equipment, use of tools, efficient handling of different IT software)
enables the trainees to optimise the execution of the individual work
tasks and at the same time provides information on the extent to which
the respective tasks (in the sense of self-evaluation) have already been
mastered to an appropriate degree.
The degree of execution can be regarded as an indicator of the learning
success control.

Target group analysis
Another important point that should not be ignored when planning
WBL-trainings is the target group analysis:
 Which requirements do the employees bring along?
 Are they a rather homogenous participation group with similar
requirements, needs and interests?
 Or are the groups made up of men and women of various ages, various
origins, diverse social backgrounds and attitudes and different levels of
motivation?
 Which are the specific needs and challenges of the different sub-target
groups (e.g. women with caring responsibilities, migrants, young men,
etc.)
Those criteria need to be taken into account when setting up the further
planning of the WBL-training.

Specific needs of (sub-) target groups
Depending on the company there will be more or less heterogeneous
participation groups. Even in supposedly homogenous groups (e.g. only
women, only men) exist various varying factors which ultimately lead to a
heterogeneous group, if you take a closer look at individual components
such as age, family/social situation, education/professional biography.
However, there are also certain factors to generally bear in mind and to
consider in the WBL-training.
Specific needs of the various types of learners
Another component which requires a heterogeneous groups of partici-
pants are the respective types of learners. Each participant is a different
learning type. As a consequence this has a lasting influence on learning
and learning success. A multifaceted set of methods ensures that
employees can find the most suitable approaches and methods for them
in order to make the most out of their personal learning efforts.
The respective types of learners and learning preferences of the trainees
will gradually show in the process of learning and working together. The
trainer needs to act attentively and flexibly in this case. This is indispens-
able to take the respective current learning requirements into account.

Note:
A short and general introduction into simple but efficient learning
strategies at the beginning of the WBL-training would probably be a
good idea in order to positively effect the learning behavior of the
employees.
Possible negative experiences made at school or with learning can easily
be reduced by experiencing fast success in learning. This might result in
trainees regaining confidence in their own learning performance and in
developing fun and joy in learning.

Using the KIOSK Model to plan
courses/WBL-trainings
The metaphor of house building
helps to ensure that you don't
forget anything important when
planning a course/WBL-training.
The trainer and consultant Hubert
Teml describes the planning of a
teaching-learning situation
simplified by means of a small
building, the kiosk.
The freely available model on the
Internet shows that planning and
design of a teaching-learning situation
is very similar to building a house.

The ‘KIOSK-Modell’
House and teaching - both need at least foundation, basic framework
and roof.
Foundation: Attitude conducive to learning
The foundation - a basic attitude that promotes learning - is the basis for
good teaching. For example, a participant-oriented design and apprecia-
tive interaction are indispensable for a good learning atmosphere.
Basic framework: basic didactic questions
Like a house, the learning planning also needs a basic framework, i.e.
answers to basic questions about the course/WBL-training:
 What goals/objectives do I want to achieve?
 What content do I want to cover?
 Which methods should I use?
 How can the learning success be determined?

Structure: Tasks during the teaching-learning
process
The basic scaffolding also needs a construction material to hold it. This
refers to the tasks and roles of trainers in five basic teaching-learning
situations.
 Confront: Getting into the topic
 Inform: Provide knowledge base
 Organize: Guiding learning tasks
 Accompanying independent work: Supervising learners/trainees in
individual, partner or group work
 Check: Help learners/trainees to make their learning success visible
If one now plans these phases with the help of the questions mentioned
above, the core of the teaching is already prepared. If you think the whole
thing out a bit more from the participants, you can see that many of these
tasks can also be taken over by participants if there is sufficient
clarification and agreement on the tasks.

Roof: Overarching educational goals
Overarching educational goals, such as promoting the ability to reflect or
solve problems, should not be neglected in the planning process. They
form the roof of the education kiosk and are basically at the beginning
and not at the end.
Because if you haven't thought about the roof at the beginning of
building a house, you may not be able to bring under it what belongs
under it.

Leading tips and ressources
 APP & TEACH, IO2 – Training modules on management of apprenticeship
programmes for SMEs: Analysing learning needs and training
environments (https://www.appandteach.com)
 Profi-Train, Module 3: Appeal to Employees (http://www.profi-
train.de/images/Self_study_manual_Module1_6_11042019_FORMAT_EN.p
df)
 https://erwachsenenbildung.at/aktuell/nachrichten_details.php?nid=8227
 http://methodenpool.uni-koeln.de/apprenticeship/frameset_
apprenticeship.html
 http://paedpsych.jku.at/INTERNET/ARBEITSBLAETTERORD/UNTERRIC
HTSFORMORD/PREISS/method17.html
 https://wb-web.de/material/methoden/stationenlernen-1.html
 https://wb-web.de/wissen/lehren-lernen/kursplanung.html
 http://www.ausbildernetz.de/plus/waehrend/vermittlung/unterricht/leitt
extmethode.rsys
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz6SwliUWoE

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