The National Report of Estonia

Part I: The background and context for workplace learning partnerships in Estonia (Draft version 30.11.2006)

I Sectoral background information:

Enterprises In Estonia there are more than 400 metalworking and engineering enterprises, 100 of who are small, with a staff of 1-5 persons and a turnover of less than one million kroons. Half of the enterprises involved in this study are located in the general Tallinn area and are mainly large enterprises. There is also a large concentration of engineering enterprises in the general Tartu area. 84% of the enterprises surveyed are Estonian-owned. However, foreign investors in the industry are mainly from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway and the US. In the medium-size and large company categories foreign partnerships involving investments have been established.

The investments projected to be made in new product development and staff training will be very low, with only an average of 15% of companies planning to invest in this area. At the same time only 15% of companies are planning training activities methodologically. This shows the current development stage of Estonian companies – in order to remain competitive, it is necessary to produce efficiently high-quality products. The companies are not yet in the stage where they concentrate on developing their own products and creating a competitive edge by that.

Goods and Services The bulk of the products manufactured by companies of the Estonian Metalworking Sector in general involve low-level technology, like metal structures and machine parts. Subcontracting services (orders-based production) provide a steady income for many companies therefore product development is not much in focus yet. Companies with foreign partnerships are more advanced in product development. In 1999, metal processing accounted for 41% of the total production in the metalworking sector. The manufactured goods included metal structures, containers, roof shingles, profiles, and various component parts. Such products are labour-extensive, raw material accounting for more than 50% of the production cost. The cost of labour is significantly lower, accounting for ca 20%. A large proportion of the products were manufactured by subcontracting for foreign businesses. Shipbuilding and ship repair accounted for 22% of the total output of the metalworking sector in 1999. Besides ship repair and shipbuilding, production included large steel structures and ocean containers, repair of diesel engines and railway carriages. The number of shipbuilding plants in Estonia is small. However, they account for a significant part of the sector's turnover, since their products are bulky and labour-extensive. Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and vehicle parts accounts for 18% of the metalworking industry. The main products are car seatbelts; exhaust gas pipes and other car parts. Special purpose vehicles and trailers for cars and forest trucks are also manufactured. Manufactured goods also include road building and agricultural machinery. In 1999, the share of machinery and equipment was 19% of the total output of the metalworking sector. The main products, mainly manufactured by subcontracting, are different component parts for machinery, boiler equipment, and heat exchangers. The manufacture is labour-extensive, with the raw material accounting for ca 30 – 40% of the production cost. The share of tools and instruments in the metalworking sector is relatively modest. The manufactured goods include casting moulds, metal cutters, etc. The main products of the apparatus industry include control devices, assembly of electronic devices, water and heat meters, navigation systems. The Estonian Metalworking Sector is still in a stage of development. Only a few companies have an established specific product, produced either as subcontracting or as end product. It was mainly large companies who had their own specific products. Most of the companies sell their products in Estonia themselves. As there are few specific products to offer, production depends on requests by the client.

Technology and Production Capacity

Similar to other industries, in the metalworking sector very different levels of technology exist within enterprises. For the more active large companies who export extensively, technology is not a problem. They continually invest into modern technology and renew their plant and equipment according to their needs. The technological level is lower with the manufacturers who produce mainly for the local market, but, according to managers, they do not see it as a problem yet, though it may become a problem when they are faced with new, more sophisticated projects that require upgrading of technology.

Most companies in the metalworking sector provide subcontracting services, mainly because they need to 'survive', or they lack end-user projects. For 8% of the surveyed enterprises, subcontracting is their only activity. For another 15%, subcontracting is their main activity. Thus, the proportion of companies whose major engagement is to provide subcontracting services is rather high – 23%. In many cases, subcontracting is just a once-off activity and connected with a large order or project. In the metalworking sector, the dependence on subcontracting is relatively high for many companies, being a vitally important type of activity. The companies lack the necessary resources and know-how to develop their own specific products.

Employers' Assessment of Education and Training The majority of companies organising training for their staff are satisfied with the quality of the training provided. Some companies referred to the poor level of the teaching staff, out-dated knowledge (poor level of basic training, theory not connected with practice, superficial professional knowledge, training not linked with realistic life situations, etc.). Out-dated teaching materials and equipment provided by the organisers of training courses were also mentioned. According to the companies, almost no continuing education and training is available for skilled metalworkers, particularly for lathe operators and instrumental metalworkers. Managers have better possibilities for self-development. Small and medium-sized companies are considerably more satisfied with the possibilities of in-service and continuing training than large enterprises, which are most critical of the quality and availability of training possibilities. The main problem is insufficient choice of training courses for skilled workers. They have lost all hope for special professional training in the form of continuing education, and they all have become accustomed to the fact that the real working skills must be taught to new employees in the workplace.

Work Experience - Practical In-Company Training The majority of enterprises provide opportunities within their own companies for work experience for students of vocational and higher schools. 83% of the very large and large companies, 76% of the medium-sized and 69% of the small ones provide such opportunities. The opportunities to gain practical experience are the widest for students studying the most popular trades in the metal sector, like metalworker and welder.

Opportunities for work experience are not provided only by a small proportion (20%) of small and medium-sized companies, while all the large or very large companies surveyed responded positively. Various reasons were mentioned for refusing to provide opportunities for work experience, like insufficient physical resources, lack of human resources and time for training, no security that the trainee will stay at the job. Very long training period (up to six months) and weak contacts with the schools are a few other negative aspects mentioned.

A few of the medium-sized companies admit that they will accept trainees, if the school or the student takes the initiative. The reasons why medium-sized enterprises do not accept students vary, like lack of close contacts with schools, or work providers report a great worry in the lack of certainty that the student will come and work with them after finishing at the vocational school; damage to machinery is feared, shortage of people who would coach the trainees, etc. They also say that the schools have not appointed special tasks for the trainees, which makes finding them a proper job difficult. Some companies select their trainees, relying on references and first collecting the relevant information on the potential candidates II The WLP project in national sectoral context Generally, there is enormous lack of information on WBL and WLP in the sector. Most of the project concepts (learning potential of work, WLP-s etc) are not in use in analytical as well in everyday discourse of enterprises / schools staff. Therefore the comprehensive interview programme in Estonia is needed in order to understand the state of art and the meanings and practices beyond the projects´ concepts.

The main factor, influencing on need for WBL is lack of qualified skilled workers. The WBL should be initiated from both – initial training and rise of qualification level / acquasition of new skills (technoloy factor!)

• At which part of the CVET system/context is your local initiative targeted (e.g. initial or continuing education; secoral regional networking; supply chain etc.)?

Local initiative can be targeted at initial VET level and at regional networking level. Most schools communicate more actively with only a few companies in their region. In many cases schools and companies fail to carry out effective cooperation. As a result, educational institutions have no real knowledge of the demands of the quality of education acquired at school. Most of the networks built up between VET Schools and enterprises around the arrangement of practice of the VET student. As practice of VET student is not regulated by the law the VET Schools and enterprises should negotiate to cooperate in arrangement of practice.

• Describe the sectoral efforts (automotive; machine tool industry) with regard to work-based learning (in/close to productive working processes). What opportunities for informal learning do you see and what are your expectations with regard to their alignment with the needs of the sector, individuals and systems of formal accreditation?

The acknowledgement / and awareness of importance of the work-based informal learning is at the very initial phase in the metal sector.

Even the WBL is traditional way of learning and implicitly quite widely used the new / consciously applied methods and approaches to WBL are not widespread yet. The most common pattern of WBL is traditional: much like master – apprentice relationships. The WBL in SME-s is highly irregular depending on actual need for skilled workers. As a rule, masters coaching apprentices are skilled workers themselves usually having no special training in pedagogy. The scheme may be applied to “apprentices” coming from the vocational schools, as well to canditates “from the street”. The most important need for informal, WBL comes from the shortage of skilled labour.

Also, one can expect that the learning potential of work tend to be rather limited because of hierarchical build up of and arrangement of work as it is usual in sectors of traditional industry (we have evidences from timber and furniture sector).

Nevertheless, representatives of the sector development organisation have expressed a keen interest on the questions related to WBL saying that the question is in the centre of the interest in the sector and they try to improve the methods and tools for that. One of the most attractive “best practices” for actors of the metal sector is the system of “learning contracts” already applied effectively in Finland.

Of course, the situation is complitely different in big enterprises.

• Which local actors will you involve within the project (project partners/others)?

We will involve project partners (4 enterprises and Sectoral developmental organisation “Masinatööstuse Liit”) and also Poly-functional Vocational Centres at the regional base. The Vocational Centres have VET curricula at initial levels and they also are providing continuing VET for skilled workers.

• What would be the “curricular” point of reference for a learning rotation?

Rotation is well known tool in enterprises to develop newcomers´competences inside the organisation. It can be used in the case of engineers or masters in order to familiarise all parts / technologies of organisation, organisational culture etc. Rotation has been widespread also as managers training tool inside the enterprises.

• What contributions with regard to the implementation of the project’s aims and the application of the different tools to be developed in the project do you expect from the relevant actors within your local initiative?

Partners can help to get information (interviews) in order to understand the situation - importance and meaning of WBL, information for construction the main tools of the project and feedback on the usefulness of the tools developed (training course and diagnostic tool for learning potential of work) Experiences regarding the establishment of WLPs? within your context a) Experiences • On which experiences with regard to regional networking between enterprises and educational providers can you build?

Networks of enterprises generated by subcontracting and supply channels; Networks of enterprises and VET Schools to arrange practice of VET students; Networks between SME-s

• Do there exist other learning schemes or activities in which learners rotate between different learning venues (e.g. departments, SMEs?)?

There exists schemes like workers rotation between enterprises (but not in learning purposes first place). The reason can be shortage of very highly skilled workers (like mechatronics for example). In some cases enterprises try the “share” them. There are also examples where enterprises have some kind of common “pool” of unskilled workers who cannot find full harnessing in one enterprise. The bigest cooperation relationships in the sector between enterprises and schools and networks emeregd at the base of subcontracting channels. As it was said earlier, enterprises have very different attitudes concerning the arrangement of practice and networking on this base.

• What efforts have there been to establish WLPs? or similar constructs in the partner country? How can these be described with regard to the economic sector, the occupational field, the enterprises involved and other important characteristics? • How can workplace learning partnerships be described in terms of their institutional structure and their curricular organisation?

The partnership schemes work mainly at mutual agreement, not at institutional level. Even the practice is not institutionalised at national level. Practice is institutionalised at school curricula level (except some internationally agreed curricula like nurses)

b) Perspectives • Are there any outstanding examples that have proven particularly successful and might provide criteria for the selection of the case studies? If so, what are the distinctive features of the partnerships?

There is not well known and commonly acknowledged successful cases

• What opinions and positions are held by experts and the relevant decision-makers? Are workplace learning partnerships considered an exceptional measure targeted at rather specific problems or a new standard?

Surely it is not a “new standard” yet. The main obstacle seems to be competition between enterprises which might have potential to build up learning networks / learn from each other and enterprises tend to protect the their technological or business details.

• What is the state of the more general discussion based on research and evaluation concerning WLPs? or learning in regional or sectoral networks in the partner country? Has the implementation of workplace learning partnerships been systematically evaluated by previous research? If so, what conclusions should be drawn with regard to the implementation process?

Unfortunately there is real lack of research, analyses and evaluations on this issue. Therefore the comprehensive interview programme is needed. One can suggest, that the issue might be completely new in many enterprises. But there is interest in sector development level to deal with this issue. The implementation of project tools is extremely useful from the viewpoint of rising awareness and discussion on the WBL and WLP. Also, the international examples might be useful for learning and implementation purposes

• Are there any problems not yet covered in the project proposal that should be addressed during the development of the tools, e. g. particular needs of certain target groups or end-users, particular features of the economic sector you have chosen etc.?

Also, some initiatives of WLP can be notice at local communities level. In order to attract young people to vocational training (in particular vocations) and learning at practice some local governments have arranged some kind of local fairs which are close to “skills demonstration” fairs. In these cases many enterprises and schools may network around this kind of “learning event”.

Sources Sectoral study in Estonian Metalworking, Engineering And Apparatus Industries. 2003. PW Partners/National Observatory 2 interviews with representatives of sector organisation