Background
Every country in Europe has its own specific needs, and its own methods to meet them. While sea borders are the focus of islands like Cyprus or Malta, other countries, such as Austria, have no coastline. Similarly, the systems and structures each country uses vary enormously: Italy has three separate bodies devoted to border security while Britain for example has traditionally had no border guard as such—those responsibilities were divided between the customs and immigration authorities until the 2008 establishment of the UK Border Agency. Britain’s law-enforcement units are also not armed while other countries’ border guards are.
Frontex’s role is not to replace or supersede national training. Rather it is to create a training regime whereby representatives of the various countries can work together effectively in joint operations. In order for the EU policy of Integrated Border Management (IBM) to be effectively implemented on the ground, it is vital that the European Union’s 400,000 border management personnel “speak the same language”. This means not only literally being able to communicate at an individual level, but having the same goals, methods and standards as well as similar terminology. For this reason, Frontex’s responsibility of creating a harmonized pan-European training system is a central pillar of the agency’s work.
Although not all border guards need the same training and tools, there are common themes and values that should be shared. These include social and communication skills, knowledge of human rights and the related legislation, awareness of and sensitivity to diversity issues, security, fairness and incorruptibility among many others. For this reason there is a need to develop standards that all countries can agree upon and use when working together. This is a concept known in Frontex as interoperability.
Details
One of Frontex’s central activities in the field of training is the development of border-guard training curricula. The agency has established a Common Core Curriculum for basic border guard training that is already in place and which ensures standardized instruction and testing tools for training academies Europe-wide. This is in itself a milestone, being the first EU-wide common training curriculum in any border guard field. In addition to developing the core curriculum, Frontex also offers additional training courses and seminars in the field of border management, ensuring the sharing of experience and best practices between Member States.
Frontex’s training role is based on three precepts. The first is the agency’s legal foundation, specifically Council Regulation 2007/2004 (of 26 October 2004) Article 5, which gives Frontex general tasks in the field of training.
Secondly, Frontex co-operates directly with Member States in order to best identify common training needs and to develop the necessary tools and materials. Frontex also arranges the deployment of national experts on temporary secondment to other countries.
The third precept is that of implementation. The job of introducing specific training modules into the training programmes of national border-guard academies is a responsibility that falls to Frontex.
Common Curricula
The Common Core Curriculum (CCC) was launched in 2007 and represents the first standardised set of skills and knowledge criteria for basic-level border-guard training in the EU. It was devised and perfected by representatives of the Member States to bring together best practices and shared goals and values from across the union. The CCC includes modules in a full range of border related topics from detection of false documents and stolen cars to human rights, international law and leadership.
For more senior officers, a mid-level curriculum is currently under development, which will ultimately lead to a Bachelor’s degree-level qualification for mid-level officers. Additionally, 2009 saw the first feasibility study (conducted by an external university) into the development of a Common High-level Curriculum equivalent in status to a Master’s degree for border guards. Such a qualification would include a module on international and pan-EU interoperability to be developed also as Bologna-process based Master’s study programmes.
“Rising from local level circumstances to European level practices calls for new competencies.”
Additional Training Courses
In collaboration with the Member States, Frontex has developed a large number of specific training courses and tools. These aim to raise and harmonise the levels of expertise in the following fields.
- Language Training: focusing on operational needs and related terminology
- Virtual Aula: a common training overview module in English
- Falsified Document Detection
- Detection of Stolen Vehicles
- Common Training Tool for Third Countries’ Border Guard Training
- RABIT (Rapid Border Intervention team) Training
- Air Crew Training: including night-flight and tactical skills
- Training for escort leaders on joint return flights
- Dog Handlers’ Standardized Training
- Joint Operation Trainers’ Training
- Human Rights Training, Methodology
- Schengen Evaluators Training
- Risk Assessment Training
- Criminalistics for Border Guards
- Training for Interview/Interrogation Officers
- E-Learning
History
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