In the framework of the European programme Erasmus + ESEVET2 , seven members of RIPESS Europe are cooperating to ensure that SSE is integrated into all VET programmes in Europe.
Following the design of an 8-day training module built collectively between European trainers in Bergamo, Italy in October 2019, each member of the project had the mission to organise a pilot experiment of this module on one or two territories of its country between March and May 2020.
For the Solidarity Economy Movement, I therefore organised two experimental training sessions with two groups of five people in Paris and Toulouse. Caught up by the Covid 19 crisis after only two days of face-to-face training, we decided to maintain the training using distance learning tools. These videoconferencing and collective intelligence tools enabled us to carry out these two training sessions in the middle of a period of confinement while reinforcing the cooperative working method between the trainees.
The expected objective was to test with a group of SSE or VET professionals, the program developed collectively in Bergamo, in order to validate the relevance of the pedagogical approach and to confirm that this module allowed to reinforce the capacities of VET trainers to integrate social and solidarity economy in their training programs.
Several elements reinforce the initial module. The theoretical input was used as a starting point to get trainers to develop by themselves and collectively during the training a shared definition of SSE and VET. The use of collaborative work methods allowed the individual contributions of the trainees and the trainer to merge into the collective construction thanks to the contribution of computer tools: shared space (Wiki, Moodle), collective note taking (pad), development of a common table (google sheet), shared construction of a digital documentary library (Zotero)…
Thus the results of the training are a joint production for which the responsibility lies with the group as a whole. The training method, which is rather transversal and supportive, implies interactivity, motivation and interpersonal trust between all the members of the group and the trainer acts as a facilitator, a catalyst and not as the only one who knows.
One of the challenges of our programme is to collectively understand what are the specific skills implemented in SSE and to understand how these skills can be transmitted to VET trainees but above all how they will be an asset for their future professional integration. The action-training process and the crossover between theoretical reflection and immersion in visits to field initiatives is one of the levers of this collective appropriation, another one is the learning of cooperative animation methods.
As we were unable to carry out all the visits initially planned, we were able to enrich our reflection by inviting two university professors, Gilles Caire and Sandrine Rosbapé, to our collaborative space. By coming to enrich our collective reflection with their research, they offered us new perspectives for the dissemination of our work. Finally, these two experiments were the beginning of the construction of a learning community that will continue and develop in the continuation of our project.
A positive outcome for these two experiments which allows us to validate a proposal for an enriched module and which we are delighted to pass on to the group of European trainers.
Bruno Lasnier, SSEVET2 trainer
