Being good at what you do is very important nowadays. Being a professional in your field means that, you are going to be that one person that everyone will want to work with. However, when you first enter a workplace, you will realize that things are rather different than what you may have thought. Being inexperienced means that even if you know what you are doing, it will still be a bit difficult to get accustomed to the work environment.
Work-based learning is not just about teaching you about the higher level skills you are going to be needing in the workplace. It is also about being able to help you adjust to a potential working environment.
Most of the time, people tend to confuse work-based learning with on-the-job training. These are two very different things. On-the-job training is the kind of training you get in a particular field while you are working on it or a similar one.
Work-based learning is the kind of training you get even before you enter the labor market. It is very common nowadays for example, for universities to add WBL classes to help simulate the working environment for the students. But what exactly are the benefits of work-based learning?
WBL has many benefits for the employees as well as employers. Here is a list of the most important ones:
- It is something flexible that you can fit at your work hours
- You can use it to learn things that are relevant to your line of business
- All the new information you are going to achieve will be part of your current learning programme and will be assessed that way
- The learning you are going to get can be relevant to your organization
- It helps you put theory into practice. We all know what we should do with our work but without practice, we will not be able to do it the right way!
- You can do it from home. WBL classes can be studied from afar or even part-time
- You get to acquire experience what it will be like to work in other things and decide what you like to do best!
These are just some of the many different benefits of WBL. If you have the opportunity to take classes on work-based learning or put yourselves in a work-based learning project that you need to grasp that opportunity.
European Projects focusing on entrepreneurship try to add work-based learning in their educational material. The European Union has recognized the importance of WBL as a strong part for every business, and an important type of training for every future employee! For more information on WBL feel free to visit the Innotrain website
