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2002
Book Article
Titel
Certification concept for work-based learning
Alternative
Zertifizierungskonzept fur arbeitsprozessintegriertes Lernen
Abstract
The German System of vocational training is characterized by regulation and structuring. The market for vocational training courses in the IT- sector is insufficiently structured and offers only a low degree of transparency for competencies and skills of employees. Thus missing quality standards and the lack of possibilities of certificated career pathes necessitated an alliance of both representatives of employers and the trade unions ( Bundnis fur Arbeit ) to initiate a new structure for further vocational training in this field. The Fraunhofer ISST has been commissioned by the BMBF to develop a concept of turning this into practice. Advanced vocational training must take place within the work process through ''learning by doing''. The acquired knowledge is highly process- and project-oriented. These informal learning strategies are common in many work processes and they comply well with the demands of the IT sector. We intend to embed them into an educational concept. Furtherm ore, this basic concept aims at developing self-learning strategies and impart the fundamentals of information technology. With these capabilities, an IT specialist is able to keep up with the technical progress. Under the title Further Professional Education based on Work processes (German APO), the Fraunhofer ISST has developed and successfully tested a concept promoting an innovative approach to integrating learning into work processes, including a procedure to test and certify the required competencies. 3 levels of qualification will be differentiated in future: - specialist - operative professional - and strategic professional. Further vocational training of operative as well as strategic professionals is regulated by orders of the German Vocational Training Law. In the private sector, a certification as a specialist takes place according to certification procedures determined by European, branch-overlapping standards. The participant is acknowledged his comp etencies (norms and criteria) in accordance to the respective IT-specialist profile. This paper will explain in short terms in what respect the Fraunhofer ISST contributed to shaping the contents of the IT further education system. In addition to that, we want to show which structures the certification of an IT specialist is based upon and how a particular competence certification model was put into action with the Deutsche Telekom AG.