7 keys to active vocational training: discovery learning

We acquire and internalise new knowledge better by practising than by listening. and this is what promotes the active vocational training in the company: that workers advance more effectively in their development through a more participatory and open methodology.

According to the Learning pyramid Edgar Dale's "Putting something into practice allows us to remember it in a 75% after 24 hours, while if we have only listened to it we will retain only 5% of the information.

For this reason, companies should update their training programmes for promoting professional development, introducing models where the worker/learner is not a mere listener.

A new concept of learning: the learner at the centre

Active learning is defined on the job Active methodologies GIMA as “methods, techniques and strategies used by the teacher in order to to turn the teaching process into activities that encourage active student participation and lead to learning”.”

In this sense, according to the book Participatory methodologies in university teaching, According to Fernando López Noguero, this model of training is “a interactive process based on teacher-student, student-student, student-student, student-learning material and student-material communication which enhances the responsible involvement of the latter and leads to the satisfaction and enrichment of teachers and students”.

For active vocational training, pupils are not conceived as blank sheets of paper in which to translate certain content. Rather, they have prior knowledge, ideas, values and experiences that influence their learning process.

Thus, at the working level, it is based on this same methodological point of view, where it is the workers themselves - guided by the teacher - who improve their skills and abilities through practical programmes in which they apply feasible solutions to existing problems..  

In this way, employees act as active agents of their professional development and not as mere recipients of information.

“The learner becomes the centre of the educational process, rote learning is rejected and critical thinking is encouraged.”GIMA points out, moving from an expository or dogmatic methodology to an internalisation of content through actual construction. This is what is known as discovery learning.

Keys to active vocational training

However, How can HR departments develop this methodology within companies? To this end, active vocational training must have a number of characteristics:

1. Customised. Each employee will set the learning process according to his or her needs and abilities. In this way, the tutor or teacher will act as a mere guide, providing the necessary tools so that the students manage to evolve as much as possible.
2. Problem-focused. Although there must always be a theoretical framework, active vocational training has its raison d'être in problem solving. Thus, programmed activities should aim at improving real weaknesses within the company and internalising new, more effective processes.
3. Flexible. This methodology of employee training is meaningless if it responds to a rigid programme of contents. So It will be the participants themselves who will mark the path according to the evolution within the activity, as long as the initially set objectives are pursued.
4. Contextualised. Active vocational training should take place in the place where the problems it is intended to solve occur, or at least simulate these scenarios as closely as possible.
5. Collaborative. Group work is a key element in this learning methodology, as it allows each employee to contribute his or her previous knowledge, enriching the training and providing feedback to each other. Moreover, this intervention in teams is similar to the organisational functioning of a company, which favours the contextualisation of the training programme.
6. Interactive. One-way communication from teacher to student is eliminated in active vocational training, where discussion and dialogue between participants is encouraged.
7. Lúdica. If active vocational training is dynamic and is built on the techniques of gamification in the company, The motivation and involvement of the participants will be higher, improving learning outcomes.