Do we need classrooms? New ways of learning in the cleaning service sector

Clean offices, hotels, manufacturing plants, schools and shops are our expected normality, and hundreds of professionals work towards this every day. Professionals, because the cleaning services sector has made great strides in the last few decades in terms of the professional skills required. Manual proficiency alone is no longer enough; cleaning services require knowledge and skills in the use of modern chemicals, equipment and techniques, as well as in the efficient organisation of cleaning operations. Has the training of professionals in the field undergone a similar transformation?

A hands-on learning experience

At Tartu Vocational College, the teaching of cleaning is being innovated by true professionals in their field, vocational teachers Liis Jurjev and Dmitri Jurjev. Their long entrepreneurial and teaching experience gives them the knowledge of the skills that are particularly in demand in the working world, but also the understanding of how people with different backgrounds and learning styles can achieve the best results. Flexibility, learner-centred approach and the use of new learning methods are the keywords for teaching in the cleaning sector.

For example, they set up the VOCO Cleaning Masters student project, which was all about implementing problem-based learning in the cleaning service. “We took the practical lessons to where there is real life and real experience. We went into people’s homes and businesses with the students and helped them clean their carpets, sofas, stoves, cookers, bathrooms and windows. It was as real and as non-formal as a learning experience can be and, most importantly, we never once heard the learners tell us that they wouldn’t like it. Solving real-life problems was an inspiring experience and the learning outcomes were also fully met,” said Liis Jurjev, a vocational teacher in cleaning services.

New e-courses for cleaning managers

But in addition to cleaners, they also train cleaning managers – the professionals who manage cleaning operations in businesses of all sizes and sectors. In order to give working professionals the flexibility to learn new management skills, VOCO took part in an international cooperation project aimed at creating online learning materials specifically for cleaning managers. As a result of the project, six learning modules have been produced for distance learning. “Flexibility and the creation of opportunities for independent learning are very important for working people. They want to improve and learn, but it is difficult to come to a school lecture or seminar when they have a job and a family,” explains Liis.

Together with partners from Finland and Greece, they reviewed the topics that level 5 cleaning managers need to know and looked for a common ground in learning outcomes. Together, they developed learning modules on cleaning quality management, human resources management, job planning and budgeting, small business and marketing and sales. The materials created were translated and adapted to the Estonian context and the courses were created in Moodle.

During the summer, the first study group was invited to learn independently on Moodle and to update their knowledge. The learners were also asked for their feedback on how they liked the materials and the independent learning. “The most important thing for me was that all 10 learners who came to the e-course completed it. So they did a great job with the self-learning. I was also pleased that most of the participants found learning on Moodle interesting and also appreciated the clarity of the content, the visual elements and the relevance to the tasks of a cleaning supervisor,” said Liis, outlining the feedback.

The e-learning opportunities will certainly increase flexibility. The courses created will be used in the cleaning supervisor curriculum already this academic year. In this way, management theory can be studied at a time and place of their choosing, and the learning can be reinforced in school sessions and seminars, or tested through on-the-job experience.  “Adults want good subjectspecific knowledge combined with the practical skills to put it into practice,” said vocational teacher Liis Jurjev, adding that it is up to the teacher to find ways to make these expectations a reality.

The teaching materials for cleaning management were developed in the framework of the Erasmus+ project Modern education in cleaning (2022-1-EE01-KA220-VET-000086667).

Read more: https://en.voco.ee/erasmuska2/module/