Doc. 9969

13 October 2003

Developing work-linked training options

Motion for a resolution

presented by Mr Colombier and others

      Education and training are of continuing concern for all the governments of the Council of Europe's member states. There has been a general advancement of skills and culture throughout Europe, but at the same time numerous factors, ranging from changes in family structure and generational differences in attitude to parental financial problems, make it difficult for certain young persons to integrate into traditional types of education.

      Moreover, in a certain number of subjects the transmission of knowledge, often highly advanced, combines traditional-type education with experience gained on the ground in something approaching normal working conditions, under the supervision of an instructor.

      Work-linked training reflects these two sorts of requirement. As the name suggests, the knowledge and skills necessary for a particular occupation are acquired partly in courses organised in a training centre and partly in an undertaking linked to this centre or to the school of which the young person is a pupil, under a formal agreement providing for a constant interchange of information and assessments. The families of young persons undergoing such training may be called on to take part in decisions concerning its objectives and methods, through associations that are legally responsible for these establishments' activities. Organising these establishments around such associations has the additional advantage of encouraging parents' sense of responsibility.

      The formula often helps young people to regain confidence in themselves. Since the development of such training calls for close links between these training centres and firms in the surrounding region, it can constitute an effective tool for regional planning and contribute to social and economic cohesion. In societies that are rediscovering their democratic traditions it can also offer a practical means of re-establishing local collective responsibility. More generally, it is particularly suited to rurally-based economic activities. Throughout Europe there is now a great deal of interchange between networks of associations and establishments involved in work-linked training.

      To strengthen still further the development of an approach whose social and economic worth has been fully established, steps should be taken to:

      - list and assess the current use of work-linked training approaches in the Council of Europe's member states, with particular attention to the relationship between training establishments and their social and economic environment, particularly enterprises and firms that act as partners in the training;

      - review the nature and extent of exchanges of information on and experience of work-linked training between establishments, associations and other organisations in the Council of Europe's member states;

      - identify the conditions for encouraging co-operation between work-linked training systems and establishments to facilitate the expansion of this type of training in countries where it could offer a means of re-establishing collective responsibility at the local level, making training more responsive to real economic needs and aiding the development of rural areas.

Signed ¹:

Colombier, France, EDG

Adam, Germany, EPP/CD

Branger, France, EDG

Cousin, France, EDG

Debarge, France, SOC

Deittert, Germany, EPP/CD

Evin, France, SOC

Götz, Germany, EPP/CD

Grignon, France, EDG

Gubert, Italy, EPP/CD

Hedrich, Germany, EPP/CD

Karapetyan, Armenia, NR

Kocharyan, Armenia, LDR

Kucheida, France, SOC

Letzgus, Germany, EPP/CD

Masseret, France, SOC

Masson, France, EDG

Mignon, France, EDG

Olteanu, Romania, SOC

Pericleous Papadopoulos, Cyprus, LDR

Pourgourides, Cyprus, EPP/CD

Provera, Italy, LDR

Rauber, Germany, EPP/CD

Rochebloine, France, EPP/CD

Rustamyan, Armenia, SOC

Schreiner, France, EDG

Torosyan, Armenia, EPP/CD

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group