Quality assurance of the transfer process of good work-based learning practices

This chapter provides a short introduction to quality assurance of the WBL transfer process.

Different approaches to quality assurance of the transfer process

Quality assurance and the successful transfer of good work-based learning practices comprise both quality assurance and assessment of the effectiveness of a single transfer and as part of an organization’s or a VET provider’s operating environment.
Related to quality assurance process, in general one way to design, assure, implement and measure the quality of assurance process, is by setting requirements related to the organization’s objectives. It is very important to identify the critical points of the transfer process too. These requirements are transformed into specific “quality indicators” which have to be measured permanently by the organization through specific assessment of processes in the form of internal and external audits or reviews, for example. The results of these measurements could create so-called “non-conformances”. The quality of work-based learning may be, for example, conformance with the targets of the curricula and individual learners or other beneficiaries. The success of the WBL transfer process is scrutinized in relation to the objectives of that process.

The quality assurance of the transfer of a good WBL practice is not only directed to the transfer itself and its planning but also to identifying, analyzing and selecting the good practice (compare: the overview of the transfer process).

Figure 5. Quality assurance of the components of the good WBL practices transfer process

Another way is related to the concept of Excellence. Excellent organizations achieve and sustain superior levels of performance that meet or exceed the expectations of all their stakeholders. The main difference from the “conformance” measurement is that the Excellence Model allows identification of the “quality level” of the whole organization. The WBL innovation transfer process will then be assessed as part of the whole organization’s performance. The selfevaluation of the VET provider will cover evaluation of different processes and the relationships between them. There is also focus on how the newly transferred WBL practice can promote the organization’s performance. As part of the transfer, a new practice can appear to new partnerships and new WBL places for students then follow.

The EQARF as a reference framework helps VET providers promote and monitor continuous improvement of their VET provision based on common references. It comprises a quality assurance and improvement cycle, planning, implementation, evaluation and assessment as well as review/ revision. The EQARF guides VET providers to pay attention to aspects that are important in terms of the quality of the planning of the transfer process and the process as a whole.

Figure 6. The transfer planning process within the EQARF framework.