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First published in Polish by Sylwia Kurszewska

Whenever I mention practice enterprises, my interlocutors seem to be unfamiliar with the concept, maybe with the exception of students and staff of schools for adult learners. However, the idea is not new, as it originated in 1993 at the BFZ Essen e.V. vocational training centre in Germany. There, as part of a project funded by the European Social Fund and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, EUROPEN (now Practice Enterprise Network – PEN Worldwide) – an association which today brings together the headquarters of practice enterprises from all over the world - was founded. Practice enterprises share a common goal, which is "business and entrepreneurship training tailored to the needs of tomorrow".

^{Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash}

More than 7500 practice (or virtual) enterprises operate in more than 40 countries worldwide. These entities – operating from Canada to Morocco and China – collaborate to create a virtual network, in which thousands of people acquire soft and hard skills through, ‘pretending to be working’, yet their work is for real. Vocational school and HEI students, the unemployed, people with disabilities, aspiring and future entrepreneurs alike take on the roles of practice enterprise employees for a fixed period of time (training period) and work under the supervision of a practical training teacher.

Analysing data for Europe alone, you can say that undisputed leaders in terms of the sheer number of  practice enterprises in operation are:

• Slovakia - 1018,
• Austria - 820,
• Germany - 503,
• Bulgaria - 350,
• Czech Republic and Spain - 310 each,
• Belgium - 282,
• Romania - 271,
• Italy - 221.

Less than 20 such companies operate in Poland, mainly at continuing and vocational education institutions. One of them was established at the Centre for Continuing Education in Sopot as early as in 2001 (CKU Modex sp. z o.o. - a company selling workwear) and the other one in 2017 (SMArt Studio sp. z o.o. - a graphic design and marketing company).

What is a practice enterprise?

Simply put, it is a place for practical training offering working conditions as close as possible to economic reality. The essence of the company is practice, i.e. reflecting the work of a real-life company, in which all financial and economic operations and transactions are identical to those of a real company, but no actual transfer of goods or money takes place. What does this mean? In principle, a work day as part of a traineeship should look like that at a real company. Employees are hired by a human resources department (only on paper and registered with a virtual social security office) and come to a physical place of work (to serve their traineeship). They stamp their time cards, take part in business meetings, perform the tasks in accordance with their job profile, use the same software that is used by companies operating in the real market, establish cooperation with other companies, learn standard procedures when buying, selling, and planning short- and long-term operations of the company. Their working time is accounted for, and an accountant prepares the payroll for them, etc.

Depending on the profile of the company, the trainees can get to know the reality of working in a given position and try different roles working at various departments, ranging from a front office, through sales and marketing department, to HR or the financial and accounting department. In addition to practice enterprises, virtual institutions operate within the network, such as a district court, statistical office, bank, revenue office, social security institution of a customs office. Thanks to this extensive working environment, employees (trainees) of companies such as Sopot-based "SMArt Studio sp. z o.o." can learn how to pay taxes, insurance premiums, and make all kinds of financial transactions.

The biggest advantage of this form of gaining qualifications is the possibility to work on documents coming from outside and maintain contacts with other practice enterprises at home and abroad. This form of training has all the advantages of serving a traineeship in a real-life company with the difference that you can touch everything, do anything and even make mistakes without suffering the consequences. From my experience I can say this is the best way to acquire practical skills, all the more so because the one who makes a mistake has to correct it.

A practice enterprise is also a great place for learning professional jargon in a foreign language. This is possible thanks to cooperation with similar enterprises around the world and participation in international fairs of virtual companies.

I am a strong advocate of practice enterprises, because many years ago I served a work placement in a virtual company. I also served an internship in a few companies operating on the free market. It was only at the practice enterprise that I could show my full potential and try doing everything, be it maintaining contacts with other companies, including the company's patron, negotiating contract terms, representing the company at trade fairs, registering new employees with the social security office, managing a warehouse, and even sitting on the company's supervisory board.

At real companies, I could only spend all day tidying up documentation or operating a photocopier and shredder. Well, I am aware that for various reasons the employers did not want to or could not allow me or other trainees access to certain information, programmes and documents, but for this reason the educational value of an apprenticeship in a real company could not compare to that in a well-run practice enterprise. Little has changed over the years. Despite closer cooperation between schools and employers, the quality of traineeships varies. That is the reality.

It turns out that ‘pretending’ to work at a practice enterprise is an excellent method supporting the process of acquiring professional skills. In a virtual company there is room for applying different methods: brain-storming, learning by doing, project-based learning, lifelong learning, learning by playing, learning by making mistakes or even slow education. Practice enterprises have enormous potential. They are only limited by the creativity of the company supervisor and by how far the "employees" (trainees) are allowed to go to discover their potential, that of their colleagues and that of the company.

Sylwia Kurszewska – works at the Centre for Continuing Education in Sopot, where she coordinates the international projects team working for diversified social groups. An educator. She is the president of the Praca-Edukacja-Zdrowie Association working on behalf of people who are socially excluded or at risk of such exclusion. EPALE Ambassador (former).

Bibliography:

1. Practice Enterprise Network – PEN WORLDWIDE https://www.penworldwide.org oraz https://www.penworldwide.org/english/#gallery-1-1 film [2:58], 31.01.2022 r.

2. CENSYM: http://cku.zgora.pl/polska_centrala_firm_symulacyjnych_censym-23.php, 31.01.2022 r.

3. Centre for Continuing Education in Sopot https://www.ckusopot.pl/smart-studio/, 31.01.2022 r.

4. Centre for Vocational Education BFZ Essen e.V. w Niemczech https://www.bfz-essen.de/, 31.01.2022 r.