Of the many possible actions that could help the exploitation of the training role of the SMEs and in the same time integrate it with the necessary cognitive contribution of the formal education systems, one is the study visit in company on which this project is focused.

 

 

Within the framework of intended study visits in companies the G&L idea focuses on a set of formal training and/or guidance units carried out in a non-formal context, combining one or more of the following modules:

 

 

The visit modules can be characterized as follows:

 

1) Discovery module:

• General presentation of the hosting company profile including history, products/services, market, structure
• Entrepreneurs and production managers will be the speakers

 

2) Thematic module:

• In-depth illustration of a product, service, technology in which the company excels
• Company experts will illustrate the theme and accompany the visiting group to see the specific areas of the production sites related with the subject of the seminar

 

3) Reflective module:

• Theoretical discussion relating to the concepts learned during the visit
• Discussion is coordinated by a matter expert/tutor accompanying the group
• The reflective module is the only module that could be carried out outside the company

 

 

Module’s combination criteria

All the activities described above are to be considered learning activities. On the base of their combination, different training units are possible. In each G&L catalogue you can choose a combination of modules addressing the needs of the stakeholders and target groups. They are:

Seminars in company

 

• They are planned training units carried out in non-formal learning environments
• Target groups: students of secondary school, vocational training, apprenticeship, high education, workers and unemployed people participating in LLL actions
• The seminars are oriented to fulfil non-formal and formal learning needs, with the objective to become an integral part of the standard curricula

 

 

 

Economic discovery visits

 

• These visits are activities of discovery of economic frames. They can be: Industrial Tourism Visits aimed to foster the discovery of the local economy, enhancing existing local tourist’s visits programs, or Guidance seminars/visits aimed to learn more about professions and professional settings in the local job market, enhancing existing guidance paths proposed by schools, VET, universities, employment centres.

 

  

 

Circuits

 

• A circuit is a cluster of thematic seminars, guidance seminars, industrial tourism visits or any combination of them is called a circuit. If relevant for study and guidance purposes, the circuits will be linked to courses and training paths, if relevant for industrial tourism they can be linked to other tourism programs of discovery of the local culture, traditions and land.
• The international G&L catalogue, managed by the European G&L network, is a catalogue of circuits that can be accessed by a group of participants coming from other European countries.