Abstract:

The concept of ‘professional learning’ defines the knowledge, skills and competences transferable to a workplace. The aim of professional learning is to ensure that learners are trained for specifically defined job requirements and enabled to perform a job competently. As shown by Knowles (1984), the adults only learn what is perceived to be relevant and useful for their job and tend to value learning through direct experience and problematisation over content-oriented teaching.

In a complex and increasingly challenging professional field, such as the European border security management, training must effectively achieve the operational competence. In collaboration with the EU member states (MS), Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, develops and delivers training to the MS organisations with border and coast guard (BCG) responsibilities across the EU, seeking to address the training and profesionalisation needs of national border and coast guards, and trainers, through quality training interventions. The European dimension of Frontex training serves to enhance interoperability at EU external borders and to strengthen the MS capacity for border control. Learning is dedicated to professional development and based on job competences.

This approach is consistent with the Bologna and Copenhagen principles of internationalization, mobility and lifelong learning. Frontex commitment to achieve the highest professional standards requires a responsive and reflexive approach to ensure the quality of its training provision, where the role of trainers is key.

Frontex trainers are mostly operational experts and training practitioners from the EU MS BCG organizations. Defining standards applicable across all training became necessary to ensure that qualified and competent trainers are selected, trained and evaluated on the basis of a transparent framework, and that appropriate development opportunities are offered.

Delivering training for operational competence requires not only sound subject matter expertise, but also solid and recent operational experience in the unique environment of Frontex joint operations at the EU external borders, building upon previous border control practice. It is a well justified organisational policy that Frontex training is delivered by operational experts and not exclusively by training professionals. However, it is recognised that, whilst the practical operational experience enhances the quality, relevance and applicability of training, it is equally necessary to ensure that the operational experts have the required skills to transfer their most valuable operational expertise to the learners, in a manner that facilitates rather than ‘dictates’ learning by applying adult learning principles.

This paper proposes a pedagogical framework for the training of operational experts and border security training practitioners, that ensures they are fully equipped with the knowledge, skills and competence required to deliver Frontex training in compliance with the European lifelong policies and the organisational quality standards, including the integration of fundamental rights across all border and coast guard training. This pedagogical model is learning outcomes-based and learner-centred, and may serve as a reference for any professional field where training is delivered by practitioners and where professionalization of trainers whilst maintaining training quality standards is a key consideration.

Keywords:

European Border and Coast Guard, train the trainers, professional learning, learning outcomes, adult learning, learner-centered, vocational training.