InnoTrain actions and outputs will focus on key target issues in VET-Business partnerships’ promotion acting on weak elements of the work-based learning cycle in 5 European regions in Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece. The improvement focus will be regional and local, benefitting from a transnational dimension working on effective practices leading to innovation of training programmes and tools for professionals involved in WBL development. Our Strategic Partnership points to create a more systematic engagement of VET providers and businesses with the proposal to investigate, design and implement new synergies among local key stakeholders involved in cooperation structures for WBL promotion and inspire sustainable policy reforms on education and employment.
In details activities will tackle the following issues related to E+2018 VET priorities:
Continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors in both school and WBL settings, representatives of social partners and public authorities with effective capacity building actions through joint staff trainings and multiplying training actions at local level. According to professionals’ skills needs analyses performed in the four regions during preparation activities a specific focus will be on Quality Assurance, Evaluation and Monitoring processes of learning outcomes and impacts of WBL either on learners, companies, VET providers and general education providers.
We will stress on integrated design of effective WBL experiences investing on professionalization of VET/school teachers and in-company trainers and tutors, bridging the gap between education and business, with a clear and more intense participation of social partners and public authorities in fostering WBL in all its forms.
A mix of complementary transnational partners (consisting of 9 partners of five EU-countries) will work on a 30 months basis for creating new VET-Business cooperation structures (Italy, Spain, Greece) and revise existing ones (Germany, Austria).
The motivation of partners to participate in the project is strongly connected to the observation of local needs and the acknowledgement about the necessity to try to cover the gap between skills’ qualifications levels and the requirements from job market, starting from strengthening quality and quantity of WBL in education and investing on innovation for practitioners.
The OVERALL OBJECTIVE of the project is to create transferable outputs (4 IOs) for the upgrade of professional competences of practitioners daily involved in VET-business relationships and delivery of WBL programmes pointing on qualitative growth of high quality skills and competences. On the other hand we intend to investigate and develop new strategies for effective VET-business cooperation structures involving complementary local stakeholders, but with an outlook at exploitation in other EU regions.
NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED
- To bridge the gap between the worlds of education and business
- To give new impetus to VET-Business engagement in mature regions through continuous training for practitioners
- To contribute to reduce youth unemployment rate and skills mismatch strengthening WBL element in VET (all regions)
- Lack of active and continuous participation of social partners in the process of design, delivery and monitoring of WBL (all regions)
TARGET GROUPS
Professionals in VET/general education/business/social partners/local bodies/youth associations.
Implementation will try to tackle skills challenges and needs at regional and local level in five European representative local contexts in Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece with an Action Research methodology focused on three main issues:
- Understand and innovate VET-Business Partnerships
- Design new training programmes and training methodologies based on WBL for skills upgrade of key practitioners
- Suggest for more effective cooperation structures between a wide audience of stakeholders.
The schedule of research for action applied to all three above mentioned issues will have the following backbone:
- Integration of Comparative research in the 5 EU regions on WBL weaknesses and skills’ needs for professionals’ upgrade.
- Capacity building process through joint staff trainings for direct key actors through cross-transfer of recognized European excellent practices on WBL, Quality Assurance, Monitoring and Integrated Monitoring Processes
- Intellectual Outputs creation addressed to VET teachers, tutors, VET designers, in-company trainers, social bodies, public administrations.
- Training activities through local Short term joint staff training events for partners, associated partners and external professionals on final outputs related to Design, Quality, Monitoring in WBL development. This will be a testing phase before validation and delivery of final Outputs.
- Dissemination at regional, national, European level for exploitation purposes and policy reforms inspiration.
Project website: https://www.whkt.de/index.php?id=3089
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