Original article

Training actions in preparation for employment: link between the workers' organizations and universities

0000-0002-9589-2077Alejandro Arturo Ramos Banteurt^{1  *}  , 0000-0002-7707-7925María Nila Blanch Milhet¹  , 0000-0003-3770-678XOsmany Bicet Dorzón¹ 

¹Universidad de Oriente. Santiago de Cuba. Cuba.

ABSTRACT

In order to legitimize the process of professional training in the stage of preparation for employment, the successes and irregularities are followed up according to the difficulties in the link between higher education institutions and labor entities. How to use the link between the university and the employing work unit in the stage of preparation for employment? Formative actions are proposed to make better use of the link between higher education institutions and labor entities. The analytical-synthetic and generalization method is applied together with the induction-deduction method. The efficient functioning of the professional training process depends on the observance and fulfillment of what is legally decreed.

Key words: Continuing education; Preparation for employment; Permanent education; Training actions

Introduction

The formation of the professional is a process of great complexity, not only because of the various relationships in which it is constituted to function as a pedagogical expression that compromises contents of instruction, education and development, but also because in its manifestation it represents different stages in which future graduates, recent graduates and those who accumulate more experience and who, at the same time, continue to improve, thus showing a permanent formative attitude, behave.

Researchers ^{Addine, (1993}), ^{Paz (2003}) and ^{Tünnerman (2003}) coincide in considering lifelong learning as the process that university graduates develop, based on precepts of lifelong learning and education, which allows the integration and application of what was learned during initial training.

^{Bolaños (2018}) assumes lifelong learning as the training of the graduate that occurs in the work context, using the spaces and pathways of the exercise of their own profession, in which the subject takes the guidance of the tutor and managers.

An analysis of the concepts of continuing education and lifelong learning allows us to consider that the former is more general and includes the latter. This study coincides with what was stated by ^{Bolaños (2018}), who recognizes as a peculiar moment in the training process, the nomination of permanent or continuous, the one that develops from the interaction university-employer organizations with the leading role of the graduate and from the exercise of the profession.

What has been stated so far shows that dealing with this particular issue means, on the one hand, to take the corresponding legal support, and on the other hand, to analyze how the stage of preparation for employment is developed, where the performance of the graduate with his tutors acquires a leading role. It is worth noting that even though there are legal provisions, it is necessary that, at the same time, a system of actions is unleashed to guarantee the best way to establish the link between higher education institutions and labor entities.

That is, even if this intention is declared, its use is insufficient; therefore, it is formulated as a problem that mobilizes the attention of this paper: how to take better advantage of the link university-employer-working entity, in the stage of preparation for employment? Accordingly, the objective is to propose training actions that promote the best use of this link between the parties involved, leading to a constant systematization of the work carried out for this purpose.

Development

The corporate tutor is a socializing agent who has the social mission of educating the new generations. This figure has fundamental tasks and functions related to the planning, direction, control and evaluation of the formative process he/she develops. The dialectical character of this formative process is recognized, which requires constant reconstruction in order to adapt its social relevance to the social, economic and technological changes that are generated in all contexts.

Motivation as a process develops the need in the professional training of the university graduate during the preparation for employment. This is done considering that the synthesis of culture that the graduate must acquire in the training process is linked to the formative intentionality that he/she seeks, which requires the dynamics that guarantee the operational aspect of the process through the relationship between the subjects.

In this sense, the most important thing is to make the content comprehensible by means of methods and procedures appropriate to the subject matter of the profession, so as to create an epistemological-didactic relationship in which, beyond the logical methods of universal validity, those prevail which give the specific cultural content a meaning and a sense of its own in the context of the corresponding work and social activity.

The starting point of the treatment of the problem that concerns us was the detailed study of the Ordinary Official Gazette No. 10, published on February 6, 2020, approved by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba. In particular, ^{Resolution 202/2019} was the subject of analysis, which in its Decree 364 deals with the training and development of the qualified workforce. From this, the regulation of the responsibility of the entities in the training and development of the qualified workforce at the higher level is issued. The study of the general provisions of this legal document made it possible to analyze articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, since they all characterize the responsibility of the entities in the training of graduates.

Article 3 refers to the fulfillment of the Martí principle of the link between study and work. Article 4 emphasizes, as the highest priority of training, the actions of the entities that contribute to the achievement of a revolutionary, integral professional, committed to the objectives of development.

Article 5 states that vocational training and professional guidance are carried out at all levels of education, up to and including higher education, since, according to Article 6, they are carried out on a scientific basis and in a conscious manner that guarantees the comprehensive preparation of students.

Article 7 refers to the participation of the labor-university entity in the design and implementation of the study plans of the university careers and the training programs of the short-cycle higher education level; also in the development of the labor practice in these entities, the realization of curricular and extra-curricular research work, as well as other academic activities. In addition, the integration of specialists as professors and tutors, the establishment of criteria for the quality of graduates, and the participation in postgraduate academic training activities.

For its part, article 8 points out the responsibility of the University in the preparation and guidance of production and service professionals, their categorization and part-time hiring to teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels; it also takes into account the evaluation of the results of research and development activities applied to services, all this in conjunction with labor entities.

Chapter IV Responsibilities of the Entities in the Employment Preparation Stage, in article 55.1, states that this preparation is conceived and carried out in the Entities, with the aim of developing in the recent graduate the specific professional modes of action related to the job position.

It is emphasized, in a manner consistent with the Basic Document of the E Curricula the ^{Education of Ministery (2016)}, that in this phase the main responsibility lies with the entities, in coordination with the higher education institutions. Article 56.1 states that preparation for employment may be considered a postgraduate professional form. For this purpose, the entity assigns a tutor to the graduate to guide and advise him/her professionally with the best practices, based on the broad profile of the career.

With reference to article 57, it is emphasized that during the employment preparation stage, several activities are developed with the purpose of ensuring that tutors and graduates carry out positive actions towards work, based on the systematization of the initial training received (general modes of professional performance), the attention to the demands of the job (development of specific modes of professional performance) and the stimulation of the improvement of the links between these two modes of professional performance.

It is considered that this stage of preparation for employment coincides with the stage of professional training, and at this stage the greatest responsibility falls on the working units in coordination with the universities.

In principle, we start from a detailed analysis of these budgets in order to contribute to the transformation of the irregularities observed in practice. This means to be aware of the role of shared responsibility, which is explained in the need for entities and institutions of higher education to develop a joint work, which is expressed in the involvement of specialists as instructors, advisors and tutors for the training and development of the qualified workforce of higher education.

Thus, in this joint work, the influence on the professional reaffirmation should be considered as a higher stage of the vocational training and professional orientation process, in which the starting point is constituted by this aspect not sufficiently worked out as a whole, and which at a higher level is expressed in the integrated attention of work and research practice, with the work in extension projects.

Already in the stage of preparation for employment, the professional reaffirmation manifests the alliance between working entity-higher education institution, which constitutes a concrete demonstration of the article 30 of the said decree, in which it is considered necessary to develop the follow-up of the graduates who enter the exercise of their profession, through a differentiated attention in which the formative intentions of the components of this community materialize.

Preparation for employment is conceived as "(...) responding to the pressing educational needs of the present and the future, under the precept previously addressed that man is educated throughout his life through the educational possibilities offered by life in society" (^{Artola et al., 2019}, p. 368).

For these reasons, ^{Bernaza, Troitiño, and López (2018}) have the merit of recognizing that preparation for employment precedes postgraduate education; however, they contradict themselves when they state that after preparation for employment in the continuing education of professionals is that the development of skills for their performance in the various jobs in production and services must be completed. This article does not agree with the latter approach, because if the purpose of preparation for employment is to develop in the professional the specific modes of action related to his or her job, it is precisely at this stage that this is achieved.

That is to say, during the preparation for employment, successful experiences are shown as part of the exercise of the profession. At the same time, graduates learn to apply methods of processes with a high degree of autonomy and creativity.

All this corresponds to the professional experience that achieves the unity between personality and environment, recognized as a cognitive-affective unit, whose historical-cultural meaning is determined for the graduates and can be enriched with the collaboration of advisors and tutors. This is a sign of a favorable climate for broad exchange and creation, because it contributes to the social construction of knowledge and new experiences. This situation of collective exchange allows the collaborative group to build a culture in IP that provides added value.

Undoubtedly, the interaction of graduates with professors, advisors, tutors, collaborators, production and service professionals, researchers or other professionals with more development or with their productions (articles, books, monographs, theses, models, software, web, etc.) offers as a result a growth of creativity and innovation.

Thus, a collaborative work group can be identified, made up of all these actors and others that are incorporated into the flow of activities of the company, such as doctoral studies. In this way, ideas are constantly generated, criteria are offered, and the results are analyzed and discussed.

The legal background described above, to make it more concrete, is synthesized in the basis of training actions for its proposal, as stated below:

1. That the activities of each stage of the professional's training are well defined: undergraduate, pre-professional and post-graduate.

2. At the undergraduate level: its basic responsibility is to guarantee the training of students with a broad profile based on the three components (academic, work and research); for this purpose, in addition to teaching, it requires the establishment of working agreements with work units and research centers and services. This process ends with the graduation and the characterization of the graduate.

3. In preparation for employment: This is the first stage that the graduate goes through. It guarantees the development of professional performance modes for the job position. It is the responsibility of the work unit, in coordination with the higher education institution, which requires the establishment of working agreements with the university institutions.

4. In post-graduate training: the graduate advances to higher levels of preparation, according to the interests of the work unit, which extend to the establishment of certain partnerships with other institutions, including universities. In this way, the foundations are laid, not only for the organization of the training process, but also for a well-oriented execution.

Proposal of training actions during the preparation for employment

Training actions are considered to be the forms that have been devised to influence the subjects participating in the preparation for employment as a training sub-process, based on the socio-educational requirements and on the basis of the context of professional performance, so that specific attitudes, values and modes of professional performance are developed.

Objective of the proposal

Enable tutors, advisors and employers to find ways for the training process of the professional during the preparation for employment, based on various ways of establishing the link between the employing entities and the universities.

Training actions:

1. First action: diagnosis of the development achieved by the graduate in his/her professional performance modes.

2. It refers to taking into account the characterization of the recent graduate, elaborated from the integral evaluation of his or her transit through the career, so as to contribute to the diagnosis of his or her insufficiencies and potentialities.

3. II. Second action: Assignment of tutors to assist graduates.

4. This is based on the selection of specialists from the labor entity who, in addition to their experience, have labor prestige and sufficient preparation to train the university graduate, both in the search for solutions to problems and in the approach of new ones, so that he/she can move from basic knowledge to creation and entrepreneurship.

5. Third action: Preparation of tutors.

The model of the career professional is taken as a guideline, whose pedagogical character allows interpreting the need to move from broad profile professional performance modes to others with a specific profile in the job position. That is to say, the tutor receives a preparation that allows him/her to understand that his/her mission must be one of updating and continuity in the graduate's training. It is a pedagogical process, which means organizing the actions of the figures involved, so that their results contribute to the expected business or service objectives.

1. Organization of professional development.

Based on the results of the diagnosis, the forms of post-graduation are conveniently combined (courses and trainings), so that the interest of professional improvement flows with that of solving insufficiencies of basic knowledge or of greater complexity. In other words, professional development has a dual character: that which mobilizes graduates and tutors and that which mobilizes the entity to link up with the university.

Once the graduate has been received in the labor entity, he/she must be motivated and oriented, based on his/her own protagonist performance as a professional who intends to grow. Orientation plays a fundamental role in contributing to attitudinal development, as it identifies significant learning. Thus, the graduate is able to understand the essence of the cultural part that he/she needs to transform in the workplace, as part of scenario-based learning. From now on, complex situations will be solved with the help of the tutor, or sometimes it will also involve a learning situation for the tutor. So the solution will be a constructed success situation.

1. All this makes sense when the graduate learns how to identify problems and solve them, search, select, obtain and process information with the help of ICT, therefore an infotechnological culture is necessary to work collaboratively in the technological process of postgraduate studies, assisted particularly by computers in professional communities, so that they can develop their own professional identity, promote learning to learn and learning to undertake, as well as disseminate the results achieved.

2. Execution

3. Once the graduate has been received in the labor entity, he/she must be motivated and oriented, starting from his/her own protagonist performance as a professional who intends to grow. The orientation has a fundamental role in contributing to the attitudinal development, since a significant learning process is identified. Thus, the graduate is able to understand the essence of the cultural part that he/she needs to transform in the workplace, as part of scenario-based learning. From now on, complex situations will be solved with the help of the tutor, or sometimes it will also involve a learning situation for the tutor. So the solution will be a constructed success situation.

4. All this makes sense when the graduate learns how to identify problems and solve them, search, select, obtain and process information with the help of ICT, therefore an infotechnological culture is necessary to work collaboratively in the technological process of postgraduate studies, assisted particularly by computers in professional communities, so that they can develop their own professional identity, promote learning to learn and learning to undertake, as well as disseminate the results achieved.

5. Evaluation

The first thing is to know how to critically evaluate oneself in order to improve the quality of one's performance and promote innovation in one's professional activity. This reinforces the continuous nature of evaluation, which fulfills formative functions. It verifies the relationship between the objectives stated and the results. Judgments and reasoning are expressed on the efficiency of the fulfillment of the objectives, their new projection, the efficacy of the selected content and the effectiveness of the applied methods; so that the relevance, the optimum of the process and its impact can be assessed.

The evaluation makes it possible to issue pertinent assessments as to whether the graduate is in a position to assume the demands of the job he/she occupies, or whether he/she still needs to extend his/her job training.

Conclusions

The training process of the professional during the preparation for employment constitutes the pedagogical basis that guarantees the readiness and development of the skilled workforce. Its operation is efficient based on the observance and fulfillment of what is legally decreed. Its effectiveness is increased when the parties involved in the responsibility fulfill the role that corresponds to them.

The main function lies in the way the relationship between labor entities and institutions of higher education is established. In this sense, training actions gain value to the extent that in order to guarantee the theory-practice relationship, they are adjusted to conditions, requirements and processes in which the involvement of agents who are transformed through updating and training is achieved.

Referencias bibliográficas

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Received: August 20, 2022; Accepted: December 04, 2022

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