BORDER GUARDS’ DISTANCE LEARNING DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES

Abstract

The research reveals the peculiarities of the Distance Learning (DL) development in the framework of border guards training in the European Union (EU) countries. Theoretical and practical concepts, modern stage and peculiarities of border guards’ DL development were substantiated in the article. The special attention was paid to possibilities of educational web platforms, which are widely utilized in the training of personnel of the border guard agencies, namely: Web Platform Virtual Aula of the FRONTEX Agency; E-Net Web Platform of the CEPOL (The European Police College); EU Coast Guard Functions Training Portal (CGFTP); ILIAS Learning Platform of the EU Mission EUBAM (EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine); Connect & Learn platform of the UNHCR (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees); Global eLearning Program of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). The authors have also conducted the comparative analysis of DL courses of educational platforms with border guard components in the EU countries, which showed that the platform with the biggest number of border guard-oriented courses is Virtual Aula platform of FRONTEX Agency. Suggestions and proposals on DL development and prospective directions based on the experience gained during DL introduction into the system of the border guards’ training system supported by the survey results are given in the conclusion of this article in order to facilitate the improvement of border guards’ DL systems in the EU countries. The prospects of the border guards’ DL system development are based on 5 key factors: aligning all DL training courses to the Sectoral Qualification Framework and Common Core Curricular for border guarding: unification of the skills and knowledge of European border guards; enhanced use of the Internet and social media; introduction of common educational web-platforms; organizing specialized training for the specialists in DL use and management, and developing common eLearning tools and programs.