A study recently published byInternational Labour Organization reports on the impact of the health crisis on the vocational training. Between lockdown obligations and physical distance, the disruptions in training and education have been unprecedented, but they have also catalyzed innovation in distance learning. And in addition, you can't eat at a restaurant without a health pass, which negatively affects team meals because eating a take-out meal on the floor sucks.
Impact of the health crisis on training, positive and negative
In the education and training of professionals, access to apprenticeships and skills development has been maintained through a rapid transition to distance learning. Situation that has allowed serious progress in the field with the development of innovative and sustainable solutions - although not free of hiccups. What teacher has never heard from a learner that “I can't do the exercise, it's buggy” without knowing if it was nonsense or not? However, these distance learning solutions have not necessarily facilitated the acquisition of practical skills and work-based learning, which are essential for the success of technical and vocational education. Among the impacts of the health crisis on training, the decrease in offers of internships or apprenticeships in companies is particularly to be deplored.
What should we remember?
1 - The health crisis has accelerated the development of distance education and progress in terms of offers and the quality of solutions. Fewer and fewer learners can therefore pretend to have a completely invented technical problem.
2 - With physical distance and teleworking, internship and apprenticeship offers have declined, limiting field training. Training to sit all day in an office chair can be recommended: we see you studying in bed, sacrificing!
What measures for in-company training?
Around 65% of the businesses and organizations surveyed in the International Labour Organization study have taken active steps to continue to train employees, including through upskilling and reskilling. That is, to increase the skills of employees so that they can continue their profession or acquire others to change activities (you never know with words taken from English, people can understand anything.) The measures included in particular theuse of video conferencing tools and e-learning programs (elearning), theadjustment of the training period for apprenticeships so that apprentices can complete their training (around 53% of businesses) or the resumption of on-the-job training with the implementation of precautionary measures against COVID-19 infection. Such as social distance, wearing a mask, disinfecting workplaces, temperature checks, prohibiting coffee breaks and sneezes under penalty of dismissal, reducing the number of apprentices in groups and more recently the health pass - there is an intruder in this list, will you be able to find it? Finally, 37% of businesses have established partnerships with external organizations and providers to facilitate staff training and development.
What should we remember?
1 - Businesses have made extensive use of video conferencing and online training in response to the pandemic, which has the immense advantage of being able to attend meetings in your underwear
2 - Face-to-face training was partially maintained with respect for barrier gestures and then the implementation of the health pass, which has the disadvantage of having to cover your underwear
3 - More and more businesses are using external organizations to provide training, which can have very original ideas! (they're not talking about us) (at all) (well, maybe just a little bit)
A radical digitalization of training
Although the declared intention of more than half of the businesses and organizations surveyed is to reduce investments in staff training due to the financial constraints imposed by the pandemic, a large majority (75%) will adopt methods to improve the effectiveness of training. Effective and cheap... la la la la lala... Hem. The aim is to increase investments in digital platforms, tools and resources, including virtual reality and augmented reality, to introduce or intensify the use of blended learning training, to strengthen the capacity of staff to design and deliver online training, to equip themselves with hardware and software for online training., and offer vacations to all employees (to motivate them). An idea like that.) Before the COVID-19 pandemic, printed materials were the third most popular distance learning tool for staff development and training. Their use increased from 41% to 26% with the epidemic, to be replaced by multimedia, including podcasts and YouTube videos, as the third most commonly used modality. The next generation will use TikTok, we suppose, it might be interesting...
What should we remember?
1 - 75% of businesses have invested in improving training, with the acquisition of digital tools and resources
2 - Multimedia has become the third most commonly used modality, dethroning printed documents. This is very good, because printed documents are not at all ecological, they are cumbersome and in addition, they are constantly lost.
How will businesses adjust their training strategies?
Asked about the impact of the health crisis on training and how they plan to adjust, Businesses seem to be focusing on changes related to online and distance learning. They want to increase investments in digital platforms, tools, and resources, including web conferencing, e-learning courses, videos, podcasts, online educational materials, and social media. They are increasingly looking to acquire online training equipment and software. They also express the desire to introduce or intensify the use of Blended Learning by combining face-to-face and distance learning, they are also seeking to convert internally to this training method as well as to online learning. Côté Social learning, they want to strengthen the capacity of staff to provide online training. That way, all employees who ever dreamed of being teachers will be able to make their wish come true (well, except for school vacations, don't exaggerate).
What should we remember?
1 - Businesses matter increase their investments in digital solutions for all-digital training or blended learning (or both! Let's be crazy!)
2 - They already communicate internally on digital learning, but also social learning by seeking to train employees to make them trainers themselves. So, maybe there are positions that are being created in internal communication? Job seekers, on to your resumes!
What are the obstacles to digital or distance learning?
Despite the desire of the majority of companies to adjust training by incorporating more online or distance learning, some businesses are still having difficulty getting started completely. It's because of a demonstration by freelance trainers in front of their premises. (But no, at last. Don't believe everything you read, huh!) For them, distance education cannot match face-to-face interaction in terms of quality. In other words, practical experience remains essential for some aspects of training and cannot be replaced by distance learning. For businesses, there are three major challenges when it comes to online or distance learning: difficulty assessing practical skills, theunavailability of financial resources needed to strengthen distance learning capacities, and the control problem on the outsourcing of training content. However, these solutions have so much to offer them...
What should we remember?
1 - Despite these advances, some companies are still doubtful the quality of digital or blended training
2 - Digital learning solutions must meet the challenge of reassuring regarding the security of training content, the costs associated with distance learning and the methods of evaluating learners.
