The origin of the PFN model is Austria: according to Philipp (1998), the concept of practice enterprises has a tradition in Austria stretching back over more than 200 years, with roots that can be traced back to the 17th century in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. At that time they set up in the commercial colleges, the so-called
“Musterkontor” or model office, and “offered over-sleeves, stand-up collars, inkpots and writing stands” (http://www.act.at/). Gramlinger (2004) adds that at that time
the merchants were interested in providing a better commercial education for their apprentices, with more realistic exercises and simulations. […] By the second half of the eighteenth century, the first practice offices had been established in the German commercial colleges in Hamburg, Nurnberg and Erlangen. These ‘Übungskontore’ (an
obsolete German word for training office) were the forerunners of the Practice Firm of today (p. 82).
However, “at the end of World War I, this form of business-oriented education and training disappeared from the curricula” (Philipp, 1998: 3). It was re-established at the end of World War II. In Austria, as a result of the introduction of the new curriculum in 1994, the participation of students in the PFN is compulsory in commercial schools (Gramlinger, 2004). Since that date, the number of Pfus has risen from 50 in 1992/93 to 1,000 in 2000/2001 (http://www.act.at/). Once it had been established in Austria, the model began to be disseminated to other countries. Nowadays, it is offered in twenty-nine other countries throughout the five continents (see Table 1 below).
Table 1 - Number of Practice Firms in different countries
(April 2006)
EUROPEN Member Countries
Australia 120 France 110 Russia 14 Austria 1100 Germany 587 Slovak Rep. 229 Belgium 78 Great Britain 25 Slovenia 210 Brazil 104 Hungary 256 South Africa 6
Bulgaria 83 Italy 324 Spain 141
Canada 41 Lithuania 50 Sweden 62 Croatia 11 Netherlands 175 Switzerland 46 Czech Republic 171 Norway 67 Ukraine 14
Denmark 48 Poland 58 U.S.A. 286
Finland 59 Romania 11 Total: 4486 Source: http://www.europen.de/, last accessed on 05/04/06.
Although it takes on different roles in the various countries, the concept generally is supported by educational policies. In Switzerland, for example, the concept of the PFN is supported by government bodies: the Swiss Central Office was set up to develop and run a Practice Firms Network as a means to alleviate the country’s unemployment (Comte, 2004: 7). In the USA, the PFN concept, known as Virtual Enterprises International, is a trademark of the New York City Department of Education, which has supported the development of the concept since 1994. In the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Education established the PFN model at the State Vocational Education Institute. In Denmark, the model was introduced in 1990, after
the Government passed a law that guaranteed all interested people an apprenticeship (Johansen, 2000).
Depending on national and regional needs, the model has slightly different
characteristics and is used in slightly different applications. These include vocational orientation of pupils, training and promoting human resources, updating competences, and assisting people with special needs. It has been used in high schools and colleges, in universities, in adult education institutions and in medical rehabilitation as a full- or part-time operation (http://www.act.at/).
In the Netherlands, for example, the PFN has been used by vocational
schools/colleges as an instrument for competency-based vocational education
(Boering, 2005). The French network of Practice Firms has been applying the concept within the penitentiary system for its adult detainees, with the aim of developing the PFN as a tool of socialisation, of training, and as an aid to social reintegration (Troton, 2004). In Australia, there was an initiative to use the concept of PFN as a means to provide parents up to the age of 25 with the opportunity to complete their secondary schooling. The concept was also used by the Enterprising Young Mothers Project, in which a Pfu was created to test a new social enterprise before its formal establishment and real-world operation (Dalgleish, 2004).
The model may be used in a cross-curricular programme. In Croatia, for example, the model connects all economic subjects (entrepreneurship, economics, bookkeeping, business communications, statistics, marketing and shareholding) and foreign
languages (English and German). The program of the PFN is extended throughout the four years of high school education (http://www.vb-zagreb.org/).
In the United Kingdom, the model is considered to enable the “students/trainees/ employees [to] learn to work as a team and develop interpersonal skills by working with others, improving their own learning and experience and performing the various jobs” (http://egni.morgannwg.ac.uk/) required in an enterprise. This includes the use of information technology, the organisation and monitoring of work, the preparation of minutes of meetings, the design of documentation, and many other activities.
The PFN model is believed to provide a safe and secure learning environment in a comprehensive, student-oriented approach towards teaching and working with
practical, task-oriented instruction (http://www.nycenet.edu/). It is also intended to be beneficial not only to students, but also to the hiring organisations. In addition, the model comprises a network of similar Pfus in different countries, linking students from different cultures, business practices and currencies and providing them with the opportunity to practice another language or improve their English language skills in real situations.