A new optional qualification unit in VET programmes allows learners gaining work experience in international environments. The unit provides opportunities particularly to those learners whose fields did not traditionally include international mobility as a part of their training. The unit will be available in all upper secondary VET programmes from autumn 2022.
The unit prepares learners for working in international environments and helps them recognise and express the competence it offers. It consists of the following parts:
- preparing to work in international environments;
- interaction in international networks;
- working in an international environment;
- applying and sharing international competence.
The goals of the unit include improving learners’ language and communication skills, familiarity with international work environments, cultures and societies, and competency in ethical and flexible work practices needed in these environments and work tasks.
Despite international competence being increasingly important, its value for learners and their working life is not always clearly noticed and recognised. The unit promotes reflecting on why international competence is valuable to learners’ careers, learning how to market one’s skills to employers, and how learners can use their international networks in gaining employment.
The new unit does not necessarily require a working period abroad. As mobility periods abroad are not possible for all learners, internationalisation at home is another great way to gain international experience. Training providers had also been actively asking for this possibility in the new unit. Internationalisation at home and various blended mobility schemes have also become more common during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting digitalisation.
The number of Finnish learners who have taken part in international mobility abroad has been declining since 2017, plummeting during the pandemic. Due to the strict travel restrictions only 262 learners were able to go abroad as part of their VET studies in 2021. Some training providers started incorporating virtual mobility in the mobility periods and 10.3% mobility instances in 2021 were blended. The Finnish National Agency for Education encourages training providers to use Erasmus+ and other international mobility programmes in the future to make the most out of the new unit both home and abroad.
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Kansainvälinen osaaminen valinnaiseksi osaksi kaikkia ammatillisia perustutkintoja [International competence as an optional part of all professional undergraduate degrees]
| Please cite this news item as: ReferNet Finland; Cedefop (2022). Finland: international competence as part of VET. National news on VET |