Apprenticeship reading materials

Breakdown of revenue from the implementation of work-based learning activities

Breakdown of costs related to the implementation of work-based learning activities

1.Think about the needs and opportunities for your business.

People

• Identify what skills you need; whether and how much new recruitment is needed; whether and how much training is needed for existing staff.
• Consider whether you have a suitable tutor(s). Choose a mentor who is a master in his/her field, and who has mentoring expertise. The vocational training institution will provide training and guidance for your supervisor(s). One workplace supervisor may supervise up to 4 apprentices.

Time

• Remember that 2/3 of learning takes place in the workplace, 1/3 at school.
• Take into account that apprentices will need supervision throughout their learning in the company. The apprenticeship can last from three months to three years.

Money

• Please note that the apprentice must be paid a wage that cannot be lower than the applicable minimum wage.
• You are entitled to receive up to 50% of the apprenticeship’s main funding from the vocational training institution to pay for workplace tutors.

2. Choose the appropriate programme and contact the vocational school.

Suitable speciality

Find a vocational school that teaches the right subject. You can find an overview of the subjects taught and the vocational schools here: www.kutseharidus.ee.
Initiate a cooperation
– Contact the vocational school, even if you have not found the right programme. Discuss together the needs and possibilities of both the company and the school. The school will help you to find a suitable curriculum and will work with you to draw up an implementation plan for the curriculum.
– In exceptional cases, if there is no existing curriculum that meets the employer’s needs, a new curriculum may be initiated. The implementation of work-based learning can be based on a curriculum for initial vocational education and training that meets the occupational standard or has been approved by the social partners. Therefore, the curriculum to be set up cannot be narrowly focused and specific to one employer.

Company valuation

Prior to the conclusion of an apprenticeship contract for the implementation of work-based learning, the school and the apprenticeship placement will jointly assess the learning conditions in the apprenticeship placement in order to evaluate the apprenticeship placement:
– readiness to meet the objectives of the curriculum;
– availability of competent staff necessary for the implementation of the training;
– readiness to cooperate with the school and the work-based learning student;
– readiness to teach practical skills in the work environment (workplaces, equipment, tools, measuring and support equipment, materials);
– compliance with health and safety requirements.
The assessment will also identify which learning outcomes described in the curriculum can be acquired in the apprenticeship and which can be ensured in the school or in another apprenticeship site. As a rule, the assessment will result in a written expert evaluation, which will be annexed to the apprenticeship contract.

Signing a traineeship agreement

The vocational training institution prepares the apprenticeship contract.
A tripartite apprenticeship agreement is concluded between the apprenticeship placement, the student and the VET institution to carry out work-based learning. This may or may not be accompanied by an employment contract between the traineeship placement and the student.
Tripartite apprenticeship agreement
A tripartite apprenticeship agreement is necessary for the implementation of work-based learning and constitutes the legal basis for the relations between the student, the vocational training establishment and the traineeship placement, defining the learning, working and social conditions.
Tripartite apprenticeship agreement + employment contract
If an employment contract already exists between the apprenticeship placement and the student or is concluded for the duration of the apprenticeship, all the mandatory conditions of the Employment Contracts Act apply in full – they cannot be excluded by agreement and there are no specific conditions for an employment contract for work-based learning.
It is not possible to link an employment contract and an apprenticeship agreement. Each contract can refer to the other, but each contract has different parties (the apprenticeship contract is tripartite, the employment contract is bilateral).

Appointment of supervisors

Identify the supervisor who will undergo training in apprenticeship supervision organised by the VET/PET institution and who will supervise and assess the apprentice against the objectives set in the curriculum.
The apprentice also has a tutor from the school.

Training of trainers

The vocational training institution prepares and organises training on apprenticeship supervision.
The content and scope of the preparatory training for the on-the-job supervisor shall be taken into account in the planning:
● the degree of educational involvement in the tutoring (whether the students’ general competences are high or low, whether the students have good learning and self-management competences;
● the tutor’s prior tutoring knowledge and skills;
● whether the tutor will tutor one student or several students at the same time (one tutor may have up to four students at the same time);
● whether the student will be supervised predominantly by a single person, or whether there will be several members of staff in the placement who will be involved in the supervision and the responsible supervisor will also be responsible for coordinating the activities of other staff involved in the supervision.

The following actions

• Assign the apprentice suitable tasks that will help to achieve the learning outcomes set out in the curriculum. Supervise and assess the apprentice.
  Allow the apprentice to take part in the school’s activities, freeing him/her from his/her work placement for this period.
• Ensure that students have working conditions that meet health and safety requirements and that they have the materials and tools they need to carry out their work.
• Pay the student a fee that cannot be less than the minimum wage set by the Government of the Republic.
• Provide regular feedback to the VET institution on the student’s progress.

Checklist for the suitability of work-based learning

What is the purpose of learning?

Is workforce development aimed at acquiring a qualification/vocational standard or is the need for workforce development specific?
Level apprenticeships are preferable if the aim is to develop a workforce with a broad range of knowledge and skills that can adapt and respond flexibly to work-related challenges.
For more specific training needs, it is worth considering outsourcing or organising the training yourself.

Is the employer prepared to make a long-term investment in the workforce or is it more important to achieve results as quickly as possible?

The curricula for level 1 studies range from 15 to 180 ECTS credits (i.e. three months to three years in general).
Depending on the employer’s needs and possibilities, it is necessary to consider whether, given the nature of the workforce needs, it is in the employer’s interest to invest in longer-term workforce development (the costs involved may be lower and the added value higher), in finding suitably qualified labour on the labour market, or in, for example, upskilling the existing workforce as a quicker solution.

If you want to enrol minors, what restrictions apply?

In the case of underage workers, the restrictions that apply to them must be borne in mind. Under the Employment Contracts Act (§ 7 (3)), an employer may not conclude an employment contract with a minor or admit a minor to employment which:
1) exceeds the physical or mental capacity of the minor;
2) endangers the morals of a minor;
3) contains risks that the minor is unable to detect or prevent in time due to lack of experience or training;
4) hinders the social development or education of a minor;
5) endangers the health of a minor because of the nature of the work or the hazards of the working environment.
The list of these activities and hazards is set out in more detail in the Decree of the Government of the Republic.
It is also worth noting that, due to their age, a lower working time standard is prescribed for persons under 18 years of age – 7 hours per day and 35 hours per seven days according to § 43 (3) 4 (4) of the Employment Contracts Act.
A minor cannot be obliged to work between 20.00 and 6.00.
A worker who is under 16 years of age and not of compulsory school age and a worker who is 17 years of age must have at least 17 consecutive hours of rest in any 24-hour period.
According to § 56 of the Employment Contracts Act, a minor employee is presumed to have 35 calendar days of annual leave (the minor’s annual leave), unless the employee and the employer have agreed on a longer annual leave or the law provides otherwise.
The posting of minors is only possible with the consent of both the minor and his or her legal representative.

Does the content of the work or the organisation of the work allow for the involvement of students with limited specialist skills at the beginning of their studies?

It may be difficult or impossible to implement the work-based learning model in areas where the nature of the work or legal requirements do not allow participation in the work process (apprenticeships) without a certain level of prior competence.

Is the employer prepared to allow time for students to participate in school-based learning?

School-based learning does not have to be included in the standard working time, as the regulation on working time and rest periods applies directly only to work at the workplace, and it is permissible for a student to work full-time at a training place and to participate in school-based learning (plus independent work).
At the same time, however, it should be borne in mind that a prolonged high workload also increases the risk that a student will either drop out of their studies or terminate their traineeship.

Is there a tutor?

In order to ensure the competence of the supervisors in the field of supervision, the VET/PET institution will provide training for the supervisors of the apprenticeship prior to the learning process and will support the supervisor during the learning process, if necessary.
What is important is both the motivation of the supervisor to undergo further preparatory training and to supervise, and the willingness of the employer to allow the supervisor to undergo training, to commit to the supervision (if necessary by reducing the workload) and, depending on the employer and the supervisor, to find an agreement that would motivate the supervisor to fulfil the role.
The VET institution has the right to allocate up to 50% of the cost of the training place to the traineeship in order to cover the traineeship supervisors’ salaries.

Does the student have the opportunity to acquire the competences needed for the placement?

The aim of level-based learning is to develop competences that meet the requirements of the occupational standard (or, in its absence, the school curriculum objectives recognised by social partners).
It is the responsibility of the traineeship placement to enable the pupil to acquire competences at a level which will enable him/her to pass the vocational examination or the school examination.
This requires in particular that:
– the student is supervised by a competent and committed supervisor
– the work processes of the placement are sufficiently modern to enable the student to pass the relevant final examination or vocational examination
– the organisation and nature of the placement allow for the involvement of the student
Under the new regulation on the final transcript, the name of the placement will be added to the student’s final transcript.

The occupational standards can be found on the website of the Chamber of Vocational Qualifications at www.kutsekoda.ee

See also: WORK-BASED LEARNING OR APPRENTICESHIPS. Implementation guidance for employers (Innove 2016). https://employers.ee/wp-content/uploads/T%C3%B6%C3%B6kohap%C3%B5hise-%C3%B5ppe-rakendamise-juhendmaterjal.pdf