As for the previous IO, the IO-02 will be also tested through a pilot course delivered in each Country through three integrated stages, involving 10 Job counsellors/professionals (learners),  as follows:

1) 1st stage with 10 (junior staff) Job counsellors/professionals working in private/public sector in each Country and selected among the partner organisations. It is anticipated that these Job counsellors/professionals are starting to work in WBL programmes.  The delivery methodology will be a combination of threeTrain the Trainers sessions in each Country with experienced personnel and learners, together with preliminary self-assessment for learners using questionnaires. The 1st session is to review and deliver the first part of the Curriculum Programme & learning materials (Module I&II); the 2nd is to review and deliver the second part of the Curriculum Programme & learning materials (Module III&IV); the final session is to review the results from the train the trainers programme and assess the preliminary results/feedback from the learners. During the Train the trainer sessions, the project experienced instructors will present information effectively, respond to participant questions and lead activities that reinforce learning and help less experienced participants to link training to their jobs.

During the testing of the materials the group of Job counsellors/professionals will not only cover a wide range of practical skills but will work towards developing the following for each participating individual: (i) Training Needs Analysis and (ii) Learning Action Plan. During the piloting and testing of the Curriculum Programme, evaluation of this process will be essential in order to capture (i) learning and change, and (ii) improvements to be made.

Feedback/Validation and Review from this process will be instrumental in fine tuning the training materials before the testing begin with the Working Groups for Alliance

2) The 2nd Stage includes Testing/Piloting the learning materials with a Working Group for WBL Alliance. This Working Group will aim particularly to develop, test and review the abilities to “Working Effectively with Learners” (Module II) like in a ‘real life’ context. Three Working Groups for WBL Alliance will be set up; one in each country. For this piloting stage, the Working Groups will consist of apprentices/trainees and job seekers. Job  counsellors/practitioners participating in the initial Testing (via Train-the-Trainers sessions) will then run testing/learning sessions measuring their abilities within each Working Group. It is anticipated that each Working Group will have around 10 participants. This group will test/review the learning materials that have been produced also concerning the Module I&IV. The Working Groups’ sessions will be participative and interactive and feedback will be sought at every stage, it will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Job counsellors/practitioners with the results being fed back into the further design and finessing of the material.

3) The 3rd Stage includes Testing/Piloting the learning materials with a Working Group for WBL Alliance that is aimed particularly to develop, test and review the abilities to “Working Effectively with Employers” (Module III). Three Working Groups for WBL Alliance will be set up; one in each country.  Interactive testing sessions within each Working Group will be developed where Job counsellors/trainers will be requested to experiment the same skills and competences experimented on the job. It is anticipated that this Group is composed of those in-company tutors participating in the piloting (IO-04) and social partners (SMEs representatives), circa 10 participants totally. These groups will test/review the learning materials that have been produced also concerning the Module I&IV.

Following the key findings of Testing/Piloting of the Curriculum Programme, the partners will design and produce a Self-Directed Learning Guide with a set of resources and learning tools, which will be made available to Job counsellors/practitioners and those in roles requiring the WBL programme development. It will be a combination of new resources developed as a result of the programme and links to existing resources which have come to light as result of the research activity. This Guide is aimed at providing opportunities for self-assessment and professional development for the Job counsellors/professionals, providing them with the resources to assess their own skills and competencies, along with materials to enable them to develop additional skills and aptitudes and importantly to enable them to track and assess their current skills against the Occupational Competency Standards and associated NQF/EQF Standards. It will incorporate materials to enable them to assemble a portfolio, which can be tracked against the identified Standards. Again this is crucial in the context of a newly emerging and fast changing role such as this.