A major change

1. employability
2. better correspondence of education with working life
3. to introduce the rules and operating methods of working life
4. to promote young people's immediate job placement
5. to consolidate vocational competence
6. to enable exchanges of teachers and experts
7. to strengthen the attractiveness of vocational education and training

1. all qualifications include on-the-job learning periods of minimum 20 credits (compares to half a year) out of 3 years of studies
2. focused, supervised and assessed studies, based on the curriculum
3. carried out at the workplace, method of learning, schools and workplaces are partners
4. based on a written contract between the training provider (the educational institute) and the workplace
5. a prerequisite for making a contract is that the workplace has a sufficiently high volume of production or services, a wide range of tools and other facilities and the qualified personnel needed to provide training in accordance with the relevant national core curriculum.
6. the contracts specify the tasks of the parties, the organising of supervision for students, possible remuneration paid to the employer as well as the goals, core contents, duration and timing of studies. The occupational safety of the students is a matter of special concern.
7. as a rule, on-the-job learners do not have contracts of employment with the employers.
8. the student is entitled to the normal welfare benefits of the students (instruction free of charge, free meals every working day, financial aid, housing supplement and study grant, government-guaranteed loan, subsidised travel expenses, in case the school has hall of residence, accommodation is also provided free of charge)
9. the employers' expenses for the students are normally not covered by the public finance but there are no legal restrictions to agree on them between the partners
10. VET-institute is responsible for the for finding a suitable enterprise for the on-the-job training period
11. Educational institutions determine the details of their own curricula on the basis of the national core curricula. This includes determining which components of each study programme are to be learned at workplaces and how supervision and assessment are to be arranged.
12. Based on the objectives of the vocational study modules as defined in the core curriculum and on the provisions governing on-the-job learning, the institution plans the timing, objectives and arrangement of on-the-job learning. The plan is prepared in co-operation with representatives of local employers and allows for the needs and capacities of local and regional working life.
13. The objectives, learning assignments, duration and timing of each training period, and the procedures for student assessment are determined by the student's personal study plan or by a joint training plan signed by the student and by representatives of the school and the workplace.
14. Assessment of workplace training periods is the duty of the job of the teacher responsible for the instruction together with the on-the-job instructor or trainer appointed by the employer. Students have the right to obtain information on assessment criteria and their application.