“Building oneself with and in the world: Part of oneself, part of others” was the theme of the international biennial of education, training and professional practices which took place in Paris in September 2023. A theme that was entirely appropriate in view of the European project ApprEUannce and an opportunity to present the first results of the action research carried out over the past 2 years.
This is how, in the middle of the plenary conferences of JP.KAUFMANN, F.LAPLANTINE, etc., dozens of communication workshops, symposiums or professional conferences, the dissemination event of the ApprEUannce project was held.
This provided an opportunity for the seven European partners to present the initial findings of the comparative study of training programs and feedback from learners. Summaries prepared by A. Chauvet from the KELVOA association and S. Feragu, research director at CESI , concluded the event.
Amidst these presentations, the intervention of two apprentices from the MFR (Rural Family Training Center) in Hadol (Vosges) particularly captured the participants' attention. By highlighting the conditions conducive to learning, they emphasized the emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, contextual, temporal, and reflective dimensions that positively support their training. Beyond the richness of their insights, these presentations confirmed the relevance of the ApprEUnance program's approach of giving learners a voice.
Towards the contributing learner
In professional training, if it is natural to solicit the voice of professionals in the drafting of standards, training content and courses, at what point do we question the learners, who are the first to be affected by the systems put in place? How are training courses designed to respond to the world's priorities?
socio-professional? Are they operational? What are the needs and expectations of learners? What could facilitate learning? How to promote informal and non-formal learning? … are examples of questions that deserve to be investigated.
Following the model of what has been done in the media field (BRUNS.A, 2009) or initially in public health (DONABEDIAN.A, 1992), this period of cooperation could be positioned as a first step towards a "user-contributor" approach . Thus, for all training pathways, how can we envision an engaged "consumer" (the learner) who participates in the content they "consume" (the training program)? Therefore, could this suggestion from the "ApprEUnance" program not pave the way for partner institutions (and others?) to (re)invest in the margins of freedom offered within training systems by placing the learner at the heart of instructional design processes?
Building training programs "with" and not just "for" learners; a fine ambition for any training engineer.
