Abstract:

The different forms of work-based learning programmes are an integral part of formal professional or even higher education in many countries. Traditionally, apprenticeship programmes are most popular in vocational education and in the level of the applied sciences. In Estonia, work-based studies constitute a specialised form of vocational education where the ratio of practical assignments undertaken in companies or institutions encompasses at least two-thirds of the curriculum. There are no special requirements for apprenticeship programmes in higher education, but the study form is also allowed in the formal studies in 6th and 7th level of European Qualification Framework.

In 2015, the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and Innove Foundation launched a programme "Development of Vocational and Higher education for the needs of the labour market." One of the aims of the programme is to develop the apprenticeship study form in Estonian vocational and higher education. Although almost all Estonian vocational schools (and some higher education institutions) offer apprenticeship programmes, then the principles of quality work-based studies are not fully developed and mutually understood and the level of apprenticeship studies is unstable.

Within this aforementioned programme, a group of experts initiated in 2018 the project of Recognition of the Apprenticeship Study Process in Vocational and Higher Education to harmonise the quality of the implementation and development of the apprenticeship studies, in creating the framework for quality assessment and further improvements. The present article gives an overview of the development of the recognition process, explains the assessment criteria and brings out the main conclusions based on the piloting assessment to improve the recognition process as well as assessment criteria. The criteria describe the work-based learning process and indicate the activities that the school (or other stakeholders) need to do to achieve high - quality result - a well-prepared specialist for the labour market. The work-based learning process criteria and description of the recognition process are universal and can be used (with small adjustments) in every school or country to assess the quality of WBL and apprenticeship studies.

Keywords:

Work-based learning, recognition of quality, apprenticeship, criteria for quality.