The attached EVABCOM Manual II was developed by ITB in a previous project (EVABCOM) and is the second of a series of two manuals that present a tool to assess and describe standards of modern skilled labour with simple methods. While Manual I provides an instrument to identify typical professional tasks of a particular occupational specialisation, Manual II deals with developing and applying evaluation tasks to assess the quality of vocational learning and training in different national contexts and industrial cultures.

Both methods introduced in the manuals — the expert-workers-workshops in Manual I and the evaluation tasks in Manual II — were developed and realised in close cooperation with the project partners and a large number of skilled workers who can be considered experts of their respective occupational domain. Both manuals present a short and for the objectives of the EVABCOM project modified version of a method of investigation that was originally developed in the course of a large-scale German Vocational Education and Training (VET) pilot project called GAB.

This project was implemented in collaboration with the German Volkswagen (VW) AG between February 1999 and March 2003. Covering all national company branches and involving about 4.500 apprentices, the aim of the GAB project was to reduce as much as possible the number of 27 different occupational specialisations for which the Volkswagen AG was offering training. By concentrating on the most essential skills profiles, the project was able to identify five new so-called ‘core occupations’ on the basis of the professional tasks assigned to them.

ITB (Institute for Technology and Education, University of Bremen, Germany) further developed the methods of investigation applied in this project to reach a level of generalisation that makes it possible to transfer these methods to different work environments and industrial cultures reaching beyond the automobile industry in Germany. The aim is to support the development and organisation of vocational education and training in different work contexts in a way that vocational learning and training can be closely linked to work practice. We think it is possible to describe modern work in relation to the work process related tasks involved and by making reference to the respective skills and training requirements. Those descriptions can be made regardless of a particular definition or concept of work, employment or training system. We believe that individuals who have acquired the skills to perform these work-related tasks are best positioned to make those kinds of descriptions. The two manuals together present a basic concept of how work-related learning and training can be improved in collaboration with skilled workers.