The race for good practice on enterprise skilling has its risks, warns ETF

At an international conference called by the Union for the Mediterranean, ETF’s Anthony Gribben warned delegates of the risks of chasing good practice on small business training. ‘Be sure of the quality and costs associated with someone else’s good practice before buy-in,’ he said. The objective of the conference was to share good practices in training for small businesses and where a number of good practices were showcased. Mr. Gribben went on to inform the conference of ETF’s on-going work which involves the road-testing of a peer review method and where experts from similar training environments (e.g. training for youth start-ups) evaluate the training of others working in the same field. ‘When ‘like meets like’ what is good practice and what isn’t becomes apparent,’ said Gribben, underlining the value of peer assessment.
Good practices shared into the conference included a) a skills brokerage service from Northern Ireland which brought businesses and the training community together for more effective design and delivery of training, b) a training and financing support package from Jordan for small businesses keen on entering international markets, c) quality assurance of training provision from Morocco and d) a public-private partnership for careers guidance from Spain specifically addressing young unemployed.
‘The skills brokerage model from Northern Ireland is novel and is worthy of more detailed examination,’ said Gavril Lasku, also from ETF, and who facilitated a workshop at the conference. ‘What is particularly powerful in the brokerage model is the contribution of the brokers in attracting inward investment and where quality manpower is central to the investor’s interest.’
ETF is a partner organization of the Union of the Mediterranean and sits on its expert board on training, employment and entrepreneurship.
For more information, contact Aziz Jaouani.