Learning in the Workplace for Garage Mechanics and Technicians

Employees in technical firms, like garages, need more and more formations. Due to the very fast innovation in technology, lifelong learning is a real need for these labour forces. On the other hand, there are the needed formations very specialized and expensive. Another problem employers faced in these economical sectors in Western Europe is the lack of candidates. Also in secondary education schools, the wide interest for these formations is decreasing. One of the factors causes this problem is that schools don't have enough money for investing in new and high-tech machines. Therefore two interreg projects were submitted and approved for financing. Interreg is an initiative of the European Union meant for the permanent development of the "European Space". The third phase of interreg means enhancing the economic and social cohesion within the European Union. In this paper, we describe two successful projects, namely Autoweb and V@K, which try to help employers, employees, schools and students to keep up with the high-tech innovations with a workplace-based e-learning program. (Contains 1 figure.)