StepUP – Supporting Tutor’s Educational and Professional Upgrade

Work-process-oriented learning plays a fundamental role in successful vocational training: it enables trainees to learn the skills and competences needed in real-world workplaces. In addition to trainees, the key players here are skilled workers accompanying training, who are also referred to as mentors, tutors or training officers, depending on the context and sector. In contrast to teachers and full-time or part-time trainers, however, these mentors have no or only marginal pedagogical qualifications. This is where the ERASMUS+ STEP UP project comes in: Based on examples of good practice from the four participating countries Germany, Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT) and Spain (ES), further training units are developed, implemented and evaluated which further develop the teaching competences of the mentors, particularly in the context of new technologies.

Training accompanying skilled workers from companies in all EU Member States need support in developing skills, in particular digital skills. Improving the continuing vocational training of company trainers, tutors and mentors has been on the political agenda of the EU for several years (Teachers and Training Matter EC 2018).

STEP UP is based on the assumption that there is a direct connection between, on the one hand, the effectiveness of work process-oriented training and, on the other hand, pedagogical skills and competence for the development, planning, follow-up and evaluation of in-company training courses by trainers and mentors.

STEP UP will contribute to improving the quality, effectiveness and relevance of training in Italy, Germany, Lithuania and Spain through a new pedagogical framework for the preparation, training and support of tutors, trainers and mentors.

The project will also involve vocational training providers, universities, trade unions and business associations.

Trainers, tutors and mentors will be due to STEP-UP:

1. better supported and equipped to design learning pathways for trainees, in particular in the context of "digitalized" working environments (I.4.0),

2. better able to accompany and facilitate the transition of disadvantaged learners from school to education,

3. better trained to accompany the transition from training to work,

4. more active within and aware of their mentoring or trainer role and responsibility.

With the project results and tools of STEP UP, we aim to reach about 1200 in-company vocational training tutors and mentors as well as more than 4000 trainees directly.