Integrating Romanian Footwear Companies in a Sustainable Apprenticeship System and Experience from Piloting Work Based Learning

The Work Based Learning (WBL) pilot stands on a Locally Developed Curriculum elaborated within a partnership consisting of an Educational Institution (Technical high school), Economic operator (Footwear company) and a Public institution (University) and serves as a good apprenticeship model for both, VET providers and footwear companies. The goal of this study is to describes the apprenticeship experience and the stages of implementing WBL in Romanian footwear company, namely: selection of apprentices, WBL pilot planning, tutors training on WBL, WBL pilot implementation, and formative quality assurance. WBL pilot programme in Romania was applied at Papucei footwear company and involved three young apprentices from “Ion Holban” Technical College of Iasi with background in Textile and Clothing field. During one year, according to the developed WBL pilot program and guided by previously trained tutors from Papucei and TUIASI, the apprentices followed all the Core Spheres (Cutting, Pre-stitching, Stitching, Pre-lasting, Lasting, Assembly and Finishing) and Peripheral Spheres (Technical Development, Production planning, design and Quality Assurance) specific to industrial footwear manufacturing. The apprentices' achievements were evaluated by the responsible tutors using the special designed Matrices found in the Manuals developed by ICSAS to support tutors involved in WBL process. The entire apprenticeship experience was then investigated and evaluated by relevant stakeholders using SWOT analysis to highlight the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.