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The European Workplace Tutor

VET personnel is increasingly faced with new tasks and challenges. The shift of paradigms from instructor to learning guide requires a complete re-thinking of the role of VET trainers. New roles and responsibilities of VET personnel require a wide range of competencies which until today only slowly find their way into recognised qualification programmes. Germany has, over the past years, achieved an important step and responded to the new competence requirements by taking up and installing the high-level VET qualifications of "Berufspädagoge" and "Aus- und Weiterbildungspädagoge" in the regulatory system. 

In contrast to many company tutors, workplace tutors are originating from the work floor themselves and will remain working there as well. The Workplace Tutor trains, coaches, supervises and assesses fellow-employees on-the-job, based on his own technical subject knowledge. In addition, he analyses learning needs and opportunities on the work floor, he arranges and develops training programmes, and is authorized to issue training certificates, which are recognized within the company and/or the sector at hand.

In the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci project "European Workplace Tutor" (2011-2013), we have developed two common European competence profiles for the Workplace Tutor and for the Learning Process Guide. The represent all the competences required in this job roles across the countries that participated in the project (Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary and Romania). The competence profile "European Workplace Tutor" includes all competences required for high-level in-company training positions (including the analysis of individual and company qualification needs, the design, planning and implementation of training measures as well as learning process guidance and the assessment of competence development and the evaluation of training provided). The profile for the Learning Process Guide represents an adapted profile targeted at for example part-time trainers who also need to be able to deliver high-quality training, especially guiding learners in the process of work but with less responsibility in the area of analysing qualification needs of the company and large-scale company training measures.