Dr. Ileana Hamburg Acquiring knowledge of European laws through informal learning

European Union law (historically called European Community law):  is a body of treaties, law and court judgements which operates alongside the legal systems of the European Union's member states  has direct effect within the EU's member states and, where conflict occurs, takes precedence over national law  has as primary source the EU's treaties which are power-giving treaties which set broad policy goals and establish institutions that, amongst other things, can enact legislation in order to achieve those goals  gives its legislative acts in two forms: regulations which become law in all member states the moment they come into force, without the requirement for any implementing measures, and directives requiring member states to achieve a certain result while leaving them discretion as to how to achieve the result  regulations and the provisions of the treaties have "direct effect" horizontally allowing private citizens to rely on the rights granted to them against one another,  directives, have direct effect, but only "vertically" i.e. private citizens may not sue one another on the basis of an EU directive, since these are addressed to the Member States  covers a broad range which is comparable to that of the legal systems of the Member States themselves. European Laws

Decisions are:  taken at the EU level  implemented by member states. The core of European Union economic and social policy is summed up under the idea of the four freedoms:  free movement of goods, according to Article 28 EC “Quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect shall be prohibited between Member States" and to Article 29 EC stating the same for exports. The first thing to note is that the prohibition is simply between member states of the European Community  movement of workers  movement of capital  freedom of establishment.

Informal learning can be characterized as follows:  It often takes place outside educational establishments standing out from normal life and professional practice  It does not necessarily follow a specified curriculum and is not often professionally organized but rather originates accidentally, sporadically, in association with certain occasions, from changing practical requirements  It is not necessarily planned pedagogically conscious, systematically according to subjects, test and qualification-oriented, but rather unconsciously incidental, holistically problem-related, and related to situation management and fitness for life  It is experienced directly in its "natural" function of everyday life.  It is what happens when knowledge has not been externalized or captured and exists only inside someone’s head; to get at the knowledge, you must locate and talk to that person.

Some aspects:  Experience indicates that almost all real learning for performance is informal  The informal aspect requires real people in real time: mentors, coaches, masters, guides, power users, subject-matter experts, communities of practice  Companies and schools need to foster informal moments of knowledge transfer  One way to accomplish this is to create collaborative learning environments, where the formal and informal learning are seamlessly knit together  Technology can also be used to facilitate the informal as well as the formal transfer of knowledge by including expert locators, connections with instructors, real-time Internet meeting places, virtual-learning support groups, instant messaging, expert networks, mentor and coaching networks, personal e-learning portals, moderated chats, and more.

Methods for learning and knowledge acquirement in small and medium sized companies (SMEs)  SMEs represent 99% of the European companies and they are key players in Europe  SMEs have a big preference for informal learning (European Comission, 2003)  Some reasons for not have sustainable strategies by combining formal training activities are insufficient budget, lack of time, necessity to be informed “just in time”, no relevant courses on the market, lack of culture to test new methods. SMEs and EU enlargement  Accession to the EU shaped policies of the new member states for the last years  After the new members achieved the accessing objective, their attention should be turn how this will reshape the demand for new products and services and how suppliers should respond  Increasingly the developing of SMEs of the new member states are adding value through specialized skills, experience of governments in transition and their geographic position.

The impact of accession and globalization divide SMEs in some groups depending on the effect: 1.SMEs which are (nationally) internationally competitive or able to become internationally competitive. These SMEs are able to compete internationally seems to be advantaged by the trend to increase open regionalism (25%). 2.SMEs less likely to be able to adapt and thus at risk. Unfortunately a significant proportion of SMEs are at risk as a result of national and international pressure and of less of knowledge in many domains (40-50%). 3.SMEs which are insulated from the effects of accession and globalizations because of governmental protection or natural barriers. They make between 20 and 30%. Due to technological and regulatory changes natural and artificial barriers that protect them are reducing.

Policy makers at European as well as national levels should ensure that:  their international SMEs remain competitive  their at-risk are assisted to know European laws and to adapt the new to business environments and if possible to become competitive and active  they resist pressure from insulated SMEs for protection and assist them to adjust to increased international competitive pressure  opportunities will be developed both for local partners with ambitions beyond their home country as well as for cooperation between SMEs from old members and new ones fostering their international competitiveness. Communities of practice (CoPs):  are seen as one of the most effective approaches for capturing, sharing and acquiring knowledge  are groups of people working together at solving open-ended questions, learning in social and physical contexts of real-world problems and using collaboration and cognitive tools for knowledge acquisition and learning  have as main characteristics a shared domain of interest of its members, their commitment to this domain and a shared competence, common ideas, joint activities, common practice, members being practitioners with different expertise.

In CoPs:  knowledge is created when people participate in solving a common problem and exchange the needed knowledge for the problem  the members have common interests in learning and exchanging experience in their specific area of activity and this favours reciprocal trust  the tacit knowledge accumulated over years from experience can be processed to invent new products or services that add value to SMEs or to improve the business knowledge of SMEs  internet technologies could extend the interactions within communities of practice beyond geographical limitations and make possible the building of VCoP which can mark a change from “managing knowledge” to “enabling knowledge.” Within the European project SIMPEL:  strategies to enable SMEs to take full advantage of formal and informal learning in their training have been developed  SMEs, education and knowledge transfer experts and policy makers have been involved in two communities of practice (one European and one German) to share learning methods and knowledge.

Within the European CoP:  an “innovative and optimal vocational training model” for SMEs based on informal and eLearning was developed,  best practice models for capturing and sharing knowledge by using eLearning and different informal methods have been collected and guidelines for using them written,  in Romanian and Hungarian special informal moments of knowledge transfer (workshops, on-line forums) have been organized for SMEs in order to acquire knowledge in European laws in connection with the EU enlargement and integration measures. The discussed topics referring changes in the business environment:  Removal of barriers to trade in goods  Free movement of capital  Freedom to provide services and freedom of establishment  Free movement of labour.

Conclusions  The enlargement process is one of the most important evolutionary steps for the EU, will continue to do so in the next years and it is changing the business environment under which SMEs operated.  SMEs have to improve their knowledge about European directives and regulations particularly in connection with these changes in order to remain competitive / expand internationally.  Informal learning can contribute to acquire knowledge also of European laws and it is necessary to accredit informal learning according to the laws and agreements in labour relations.  Cooperations of experts like CoPs contribute to improving companies knowledge but the initiating of knowledge acquisition and transfer within CoPs is a complex process.