2. Value of workplace learning and partnership cooperation in different countries

The WLP project has been based on the assumption the workplace learning should be seen as a genuine learning context with a value of its own. Therefore, workplace learning should not be seen as mere extension area of public education & training policies, corporate HRD strategies or technological innovation projects. Workplace learning is related to all these factors but it needs to be supported with a coherent approach that takes into account different aspects.

In this respect the national partners of the WLP project have undertaken field studies and organised pilot activities that link different aspects of workplace learning to each other: a) In Germany the local initiatives have promoted the participation of enterprises in the dual system of vocational education and training (VET) via networked learning arrangements. b) In the United Kingdom the local initiatives have integrated formal and non-formal learning provisions to organisational improvement schemes across supply chains. c) In Italy the project activities have led to the creation of an industrial learning community that focuses on promoting workplace learning in participating enterprises. d) In Slovenia the project activities of a regional VET college have intensified cooperation with local enterprises in order to promote workplace learning in a more systematic way. e) In France the local initiatives have made transparent different approaches to (local/ trans-national) partnership cooperation and diverse ways to network learning provisions. f) In Estonia the project activities have been linked to the preparation of the grounds for regional partnership cooperation with the support of European knowledge transfer.