English for the World of Work (EWoW) is a project targeting students in Romanian Vocational Schools, which cater for the 15- 18 age range. In the nineties, most of the British Council-funded projects and much of the attention at Ministry level in Romania was focussed on ELT on the ‘mainstream’ at secondary and tertiary level, and the vocational sector has been something of a ‘poor relation’. Since the turn of the century, however, Vocational Education and Training (VET) in general has slowly but surely been given more attention in educational reforms across Europe and beyond.

The context in which EWoW was launched in 2004 was characterised, in so far as it is possible to generalise, by poor resources for English teaching, low motivation among learners and low priority given to English in the curriculum and on the timetable. To expand on this, most teachers worked from ‘General English’ textbooks with little or no attempt to tailor the language input to future workplace needs; students gave far less attention to English than to their main vocational subject classes, perceiving English as, at best, marginal and in the worst case as irrelevant to their future employment prospects; professional development opportunities for teachers of English were limited. The inevitable consequence of this was that morale among learners and teachers of English was often fairly low.

The Project: Year One

There was no evidence anywhere in Vocational ELT that students’ workplace language needs had been analysed or even seriously investigated. Accordingly, phase one of the project, initiated in 19 schools across Romania focussed on identifying these needs. But the project methodology was, from the outset, unconventional even though it is identifiably based on a ‘cascade’ model. A group of seven key trainers was selected, all with previous experience in British Council ELT work. These trainers were given a refresher course in basic research methodology with special emphasis on needs analysis so that they could pass this training on to teachers in their allocated schools (each trainer was responsible for a small cluster of schools in a given region). This training was underpinned by a bank of training materials suitable for use in schools. The teachers were thus equipped to pass on their newly-acquired know-how to their students (mainly from the 10th and 11th grades) who were to carry out the research. This involved the drafting, administering and interpreting of questionnaires, interviews with employers and employees in the workplace, job ‘shadowing’ and reference to guidelines and written sources.

In this way, students gradually put together a picture of their job-related language needs. In many cases, subject teachers became interested in what was going on and were keen to make a contribution to the needs analysis process, more often than not by making their existing links to local employers available to the EWoW students; principals, too, got behind the project, recognising it as innovative and with potential for raising the school’s profile locally and beyond. At the end of the school year the students prepared and gave presentations of their findings to an invited audience of parents, employers, school staff and fellow students. Imagine the pride and enthusiasm that went into these presentations, most of which were on Power Point and included graphs and other visuals, and the boost they gave to the selfesteem of students many of whom had come to regard themselves as second-best to their more academically-inclined high school ‘cousins’. The trainers attended these presentations and were responsible for collecting copies of the materials and findings, some of which are now available on the project website (details below). Students and teachers alike evaluated this first phase of the project very positively.

The Project: Year Two

Having established their basic job-related language needs and grown in confidence and motivation, the students (and their teachers) were anxious to maintain the momentum going into the second year. To this end, the core group of trainers had already met together with the project manager and the UK consultant to devise a training pack in the basics of materials writing, focussing particularly on working with authentic texts of the type students are likely to encounter in the workplace. This seminar triggered the second cascade process, with trainers working regionally with teachers from the participating schools and the teachers then working collaboratively on materials development with their own students. It is amazing to see what happens when students are asked to take a hand in producing material that they would like to learn with. The act of finding and analysing texts, pictures and graphic data relevant to their diagnosed needs was a huge learning experience in itself. Once again, subject teachers took an interest, often checking the material for content accuracy while the English teachers helped with the language. In some cases, 11th and 12th graders were even allowed and encouraged to teach their material to 9th and 10th graders – once again a huge confidence booster. As in Year One, the second phase of the project culminated in public presentations in each of the regions, again witnessed and supported by interested members of the school staff and local community. Samples of the products from this second phase of the project are also available on the website. Formal and informal evaluations among students and teachers once again indicated very high levels of involvement and satisfaction with their experience of the project.

The Project: Year Three and beyond

By now, EWoW was beginning to attract attention beyond the pilot schools, and the project manager was beginning to deal with enquiries from teachers in other schools about the possibility of joining the project. With project funds limited both in amount and in duration, a direct expansion with the same procedures as in Years 1 & 2 was never going to be possible. It was for this reason that the website was launched, to complement the limited number of training events that could be financed and the word-ofmouth dissemination that had already started. The website was launched in June 2006 at a high-profile event in the British Council office in Bucharest before an invited audience of vocational school students, teachers, inspectors, ministry and officials, academics and visitors from Greece, Turkey and Albania as well as the UK. As British Council funding has now been wound down, the website has become more and more important as a source of information about, and orientation to, EWoW; it will, effectively be the active continuation of the project. Its key features are:

• Descriptive accounts of the project phases
• Evaluation and self-evaluation material
• Sample material produced in partner schools
• Up-to-date news and information about the project
• An interactive area with a discussion forum and a Q & A facility
• Support and training material

Some Facts and figures about EWoW

At the time of writing (November 2007), 32 vocational schools in 15 towns and cities across Romania, from Arad and Timisoara in the West to Constan a on the Black Sea, are implementing EWoW. 13 vocational domains are covered, as follows:

			Tourism
			Mechanics
			Hotel and Catering Studies
			Building/Construction
			Finance/Accounting
			Electronics
			Computer Studies
			Economics
			Sports
			Environmental studies
			Telecommunications Studies
			Navigation & Maritime Studies
			Postal Services

A total of 910 students are directly involved as well as 68 teachers (39 English teachers and 29 subject teachers). 45 companies are or have been active partners in the project. Innovations and Achievements within EWoW EWoW has broken new ground in the context of Romanian education in a number of ways:

• It is truly learner-centred in spirit and in realisation
• It develops learner autonomy, motivation and self-esteem in a very concrete way
• There is a productive integration of language and content
• It has shifted the balance in the relationship between teachers and students
• It has helped to break down curriculum boundaries and strengthened the role and status of English teachers in the vocational school community
• It has strengthened and lent additional purpose to the relationship between schools and local employers

EWoW has involved students in processes such as planning and designing, working in interdisciplinary teams, self- and group management skills (eg taking a leadership role, decision-making, reaching agreement), applying knowledge to practice, data analysis and interpretation, self-analysis (accepting and giving critical feedback), plus using a range of important communication channels. These demands have helped vocational students to develop in a number of important areas:

• Work and life skills
• Language skills
• Teamwork skills
• Research skills
• Task and materials design skills
• ICT skills
• Presentation skills
• Confidence-building

Conclusion

There is no doubt that EWoW has brought a breath of fresh air to English language teaching in the Romanian vocational sector. Through our presentation at the Chennai Conference and through the website we wanted to draw attention to the extent of untapped potential in vocational school teachers and students, thereby also inviting colleagues from further afield to correspond with us and to share their experience of working in this hitherto neglected and under-resourced sector of education.