7 keys to active vocational training: discovery learning

A new concept of learning: the learner at the centre

Active training is defined in the work Active methodologies from GIMA as “methods, techniques and strategies that the teacher uses to convert 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, by Fernando López Noguero, this training model is “a interactive process based on teacher-student, student-student, student-learning material, and student-medium communication which fosters the responsible involvement of the latter and leads to the satisfaction and enrichment of teachers and students.

For active professional 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 a professional level, it is based on this same methodological point of view, where It is the workers themselves, guided by the teacher, who improve their capabilities and skills through practical programmes in which they apply feasible solutions to existing problems..  

This way, employees act as active agents of their professional development and not merely as recipients of information.

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

Keys to professional active training

However, How can Human Resources departments develop this methodology within companies? To this end, active professional training must possess a series of characteristics:

1. Customised. Each employee will be the one to drive the learning process according to their needs and capabilities. In this way, the tutor or teacher will act merely as a guide, providing the necessary tools for students to evolve as much as possible.
2. Problem-focused. Although there should always be a theoretical framework, the active professional training's purpose lies in problem solving. Therefore, planned activities should aim to improve real weaknesses within the company and to internalise new, more effective processes.
3. Flexible. This methodology of employee training it doesn't make sense if it responds to a rigid programme of content. So the participants themselves will mark the way depending on the evolution within the activity, as long as the initially set objectives are pursued.
4. Contextualised. Professional active training should be developed in the place where the problems it aims to solve occur, or at least, these scenarios should be simulated as faithfully as possible.
5. Collaborative. Group work is key within this learning methodology, as it allows each employee to contribute their prior knowledge, enriching the training and allowing for mutual feedback. Furthermore, this teamwork resembles the organisational functioning of a company, which aids in contextualising the training program.
6. Interactive. One-way communication from teacher to student is eliminated in active professional training, where debate and dialogue among attendees are encouraged.
7. Playful. If professional active training is dynamic and built with techniques from Gamification in the company, the motivation and engagement of the participants will be greater, improving learning outcomes.