Training for practitioners – training with a lasting impact

Shopping bag with cans and tetrapack labelled skills
SFUVET/Loren Tschannen and Damla Senn-Yurdakul

SFIVET’s certification courses, continuing training programmes and courses for examiners are continuously adapted in response to changes taking place in the education landscape and working life. Surveys of participants from the 2019/2020 academic year bear testimony to the high standard of training provided: over 80% of respondents stated that they were very satisfied.

The year 2020 saw the further expansion of continuing training courses on digitalisation in VET. The strong demand for the CAS “Digital Learning” course shows that training content addresses the current needs of vocational school teachers. In 2020, the SFIVET Board adopted the training plan and the SFIVET Executive Board approved the modules for the highly adaptable CAS, DAS and MAS modules “Specialisation in Vocational Education and Training” as well as for the CAS courses “Bilingual Instruction” and “Support and coaching”.

The Continuing Training Division’s decision to adapt most of its courses to distance learning and online formats led to a veritable boom in enrolment figures (2020: 8408; 2019: 4335). Nevertheless fewer participants completed their continuing training programmes (2020: 195; 2019: 289). While it was possible to teach the certification courses online, some modules simply could not be adapted to the distance learning format in such a short period of time. Practical training options were also limited. Moreover, many vocational school teachers experienced extra workload as a result of the pandemic conditions, which made it more difficult for them to fit continuing training into their work schedule. Covid-related restrictions also reduced enrolment figures for examiner training courses (2020: 5657; 2019: 7031). In contrast, operational cooperation with professional organisations went very smoothly, e.g. in the planning and elaboration of examiner training courses.

To facilitate the transition to distance learning and teaching, SFIVET organised several webinars on digital skills and tools through its Trans:formation programme. The Continuing Training Division also offered courses that could be tailored to suit the individual needs of schools or institutions, and these courses drew considerable interest.

 

Graphic continuing education by language region