First Transnational Conference

Paide, Estonia
December 18 – 21, 2008
Leonardo da Vinci Partnership Project
2008 - 2010
“Building the Best”
2008-0012-LEO-PP-09

On Thursday the 18th of December 2008, the first transnational conference of the
Leonardo da Vinci Project “Building the Best” as written in the work schedule
took place at Särevere Manor of Järva County Vocational Training Center in
Central Estonia. Organizations represented included N.E.T Association – Italy;
Lepido Rocco Association – Italy; BONUM Institute or Support of Education and
Entrepreneurship – Poland; and Wisamar GbR – Germany. Not present was
Panstwowe Szkoly Budownistwa – Poland.

In terms of documenting and promoting project results, the Partnership decided

to have Järva County Vocational Training Center develop and host an exclusive
web page located on the school’s existing website, links of partner organizations
as well as information and reports will be added. This site now exists, although
still under development, and may be found at: http://www.jkhk.ee/4657.

The Project Leader and Coordinator, Elizabeth Parsons-Lenz of Järva County

Vocational Training Center, opened the conference by providing an overview of
the project reviewing aims, objectives, expected results, and tasks to be
accomplished during the project, as well as assigning members to the project
committee. There was a full schedule of activities to accomplish during this 2-day
plenary session. We needed to define the model to be used in determining best
practices in vocational teaching and enterprise training of construction trades.
Construction teachers of Järva County Vocational Training Center prepared a
presentation on applied teaching methods to share with partners. And finally we
had a scheduled visit to a medium-sized construction company to learn about
training practices and company needs for training student apprentices.

The applied approach in using our model for determining best practices is #1 by
analyzing the teaching tools, methods and theoretical principles used by
vocational schools and enterprise trainers, and #2 studying and finding
agreement in best practices of teaching and training methods in consultation with

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industry experts while noting the utility of new technology and innovative industry
practices.

Each partner opened by giving a short presentation about their organization and
expected role in this project. The conference proceeded with the defining of ‘best
practices’ by identifying pedagogical aspects; quality aspects and collection
methods, sectoral documentation, and reporting requirements; analyzing
methods and taking into account of the different contexts of each partner country;
and by identifying informational needs and barriers to learning and training. The
main challenges to overcome during this plenary conference were: what
information is deemed most important to explore in the course of this 2-year
project and how we will collect best practices from participating construction
companies and vocational schools. Team work here is essential to achieve these
tasks and it is important to take into consideration the European dimension as a
whole, not only the countries where partners come from.

To help our European partners to understand the economic conditions in Estonia,

guest speaker Indrek Peterson, Managing Director with the Estonian Association
of Construction Entrepreneurs attended and gave an excellent presentation that
put things into perspective, especially regarding the economic forecast for this
industry. Partners have requested a copy of this presentation to be added to the
official website, something that has been requested but has yet to be acquired.
This Union helps develop Estonian laws, awards official training certificates and
engages in research of the construction market. Mr. Peterson talked about the
construction market over the past few years and what is happening today.
Ultimately the market is decreasing resulting in lower employment levels, but he
is hopeful that the economy will turn around in the next five years. This is
because the fall in the construction market started before the overall economic
crisis arrived, so theoretically the construction industry will start to rise before
everything else.

Other conference discussions were equally as interesting and centered on

defining the model of best practices. A solid model is crucial for knowing what
data to collect, analyze, and compare. We will use this model to ascertain best
practices from among the tools, methods and principles that are presently
applied in vocational schools and enterprises where students practice.

The seven (7) main points identified during this conference and listed below
serve as the framework of our model by which we will observe and evaluate the
system of vocational training of construction trades in partnering countries. In
using this model we will be able to carry out a comparative work between
European countries for determining best practices.

1. apprenticeship system
2. level of cooperation between schools and firms
3. connection with construction unions

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 4. training of enterprise trainers
5. teaching materials/curriculum
6. continuing education program for teachers to gain new skills
7. feedback loop

In summary of the thoughts and discussions that produced these points, we

learned first the perspective of Estonian vocational teachers and expert partners.
Later on at the company visit we gained the perspective of construction
enterprise management on their perception and experience with the existing
student apprenticeship system, which is discussed later in this report.

With this in mind, teachers and partner experts decided upon several aspects
using these seven (7) points as guidelines in examining the apprenticeship
system used by European vocational schools and enterprises. These include:
how cooperative agreements between vocational schools and enterprises are
initiated and organized; how well teachers and students function in this system;
what functional improvements are needed; the extent of the cooperation and how
it is maintained and strengthened, especially the communication between
vocational teachers and enterprise trainers; how often the vocational school
provides training to enterprise trainers and at whose expense; and to identify and
propose a solution should a gap exist between the teaching materials and
curriculum applied by vocational schools and the actual needs and expectations
of enterprises operating in the marketplace.

The situation in Estonia regarding vocational training in construction will be used

as a basis for comparison with partnering European countries. It was identified
that in Estonia it is not a common practice for vocational schools to train trainers,
that workplace trainers have little to no incentive to take time out of their busy
schedule to train students. Similarly, vocational teachers communicated their
wish for a continual updating of skills, knowledge and abilities, preferably to be
acquired by job shadowing at enterprises that apply the most modern methods
and technologies.

Together, teachers and expert partners acknowledged that a strong connection

and active relationship is essential between vocational schools and national trade
associations. Having a strong connection would make it less likely that there
would be a gap between what is being taught to students and what companies
actually need in skills and abilities of an employee or student apprentice. A closer
relationship would allow a sharing of information, broadening of networks, and
improved training system for student apprentices. The knowledge, skills and
abilities shared between vocational teachers, students, enterprise trainers, and
trade associations needs to have some kind of systematic integration, a feedback
loop, to ensure proper incorporation into existing programs to result in a learning
organization.

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Once the model was defined and teacher’s observations noted, the newly
developed model was applied for the first time during our visit to AS Paide MEK,
an Estonian company that constructs buildings and metal frame structures
employing approximately 120 people. Järva County Vocational Training Center
has strong ties with this company that regularly receives 30 – 40 student
apprentices each year. In 2006 – 2007 there were 45 students that did their
vocational practice at this firm. All partnering organizations were represented at
this meeting.

Questions presented by partners to AS Paide MEK included:

1. How satisfied is this company with students and how often do they hire
students for a permanent position after graduation?
2. Has this company noticed something lacking in students?
3. Does this company have a special contract with the vocational school?
4. How does the company get new information on technical standards? How
do they get informed of industry changes? Do they share this information
with the school?
5. What does the company do to retain trained workers, what incentives are
in place?
6. What motivation or incentives are in place for company workers to train
students?

During this visit we attempted to apply the new model as best as possible, but did
not follow it exactly as planned, the main reason being we had only just defined
the model and not written out for partners to reference during our visit.
Summarizing discussions we learned that at this enterprise it is up to the
students on how well they do the work and it is the trainer’s decision on how
much work they entrust to the student based on the level of trust between them.

One problem area identified is that the labor laws and qualification system in
Estonia are deemed too rigid. As one example, prior to apprenticeship the
company needs students to have been already nationally certified in first-aide,
not just studying it as a matter of course work; they must be officially certified.
Otherwise companies at their own expense end up paying to teach the same
information again, but for official certification to meet national requirements.

No formal contract exists between the company and Järva County Vocational
Training Center, although this has been considered. Realistically, it is not
possible to say the firm will take a certain number of students because it depends
on the kind of contracts they secure during the year. Rather, the vocational
school influences students to come to this company, and many students return
for their second apprenticeship training because they like working there, which is
also seen as a plus by managers since students already know how to work well
in their position.

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Several company employees have been trained to train students, which has
been very beneficial, but has been at the company’s expense. The company is
interested in having more of their employees trained as trainers of students by
the vocational school. However, another rigid government requirement is that
trainers must have a pedagogical degree to be qualified as workplace trainers.
This company itself evaluates workers to get a pay grade level and few workers
have the necessary qualification to teach. Then, in terms of motivating trainers,
thus far this role has been voluntary, but the company does give workers a 10%
raise to teach students. Company management believes this system could be
improved by having the government to pay this amount, especially since the
company is already losing out because workplace trainers are unable to do the
job that they were hired for because their time is monopolized in training
students.

Regarding employee development and continuing education the company tries to

regularly give courses to workers and test them in order to maintain their ISO
rating and requirements. Suppliers also provide training to accompany use of
new products and materials for free. If a worker desires more training, they must
pay for it themselves. At present, 1 manager and 2 project managers are
attending the university.

AS Paide MEK has several long-term employees that the company strives to
retain by providing good working conditions and caring for them. The company is
able to retain good employees because they are a reliable company to work for.

In looking back, our partnership learned and accomplished much during our 2-
day First Transnational Conference. In review, we learned more about partner
organizations and deepened our relationship in our pursuit of common aims.
Each partner presented information about themselves and we determined roles
and responsibilities. Discussions ensued resulting in a defined model to be used
when analyzing teaching tools, methods and applied principles for determining
best practices in vocational teaching and enterprise training of construction
trades. This model was partially tested during our visit to the local construction
firm AS Paide MEK, that led to a deeper understanding of enterprise needs and
how the apprenticeship system might be improved in the future in relationship
and function with participating enterprises.