Project EU-Forma: Formez has re-designed the role of the Public Trainer in Europe

27/02/2007 - What organizational tasks will be assigned to those responsible for training in the European administrations in the coming years? How can we reconcile the role of training managers with minor capacities from local entities to sustain the costs of research and experimentation? To answer these questions, Formez has been coordinating the project Progetto EU-FORMA in the ambit of the Community Programme Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the key methods of vocational training currently active in Europe. The coming March 1st, a conference on the best initiatives financed by European programmes will be held in Istanbul, while on March 12th and 13th the guidelines officially elaborated in the ambit of the project will be presented in Maastricht In the presence of Training and European Public Administration schools.

European integration also concerning the public system, requires common principles and methods for training actions as well as for the experts who work in public training. From this has emerged the need to think about a trainer or a person responsible for the training processes at European level. The Progetto EU-Forma aims to define the basic contents, methods, assessment and certification systems which will lead to improving the average level of the European public trainer and to harmonize the criteria so as to eliminate the training gaps while standardizing rules and procedures.

Our training institute carries out its work in partnerships with IAAP (Andalusian Institute of Public Administration – Head Office in Seville, Spain), EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration – Head Office in Maastricht, Netherlands), ISMO (Multi-disciplinary Interventions and Studies in Organizations - Head Office in Milan) and FORDOC (Training and Documentation - Head Office in Calarasi, Romania). The range of action of the initiative is very wide and involves 10 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Spain). A total of 23 public administrations and 21 training institutes have been involved.
The project activities are directed not only to the teacher trainer but also to the project trainer and training programme coordinator, namely to those professionals who operate in the ambit of complex public organizations and coordinate training needs, management of programmes, monitoring and evaluation both in progress and on conclusion. The users who are potentially the most interested, are Public Administration trainers who operate in public entities and institutions and in public training schools, private institutes for higher education, universities and other training bodies. EU-Forma intends to identify and diffuse the current best trends used in the ten countries involved as far as the internal organization of structures are concerned as well as the capacity to govern the territory with an appropriate combination of training, counselling and assistance.

What criticalities has the inquiry carried out by Formez highlighted? Above all, the lack of a multi-year strategic vision together with a medium or short-term operational view. The result is a majority of annual programmes which are often discontinuous and realized through frequent activities and detailed training modules rather than in organizational development projects. Another element to be improved is certainly the investment in training for executives in order to adequately support their leading role in innovation and transformation of the structures providing public services. The study also describes in detail the relationship between policy and administrative management and highlights the existing gap between political managers in the phase of definition of the programmes of training updating. The low level of political assignments has encouraged first level managers to choose courses of preparation and education aimed at short-term actions for improvement.