Traditional Cretan Easter in the small village of Apodoulou.

Easter is surely and by far the most important festival of the Greek year and is celebrated with much more enthusiasm and excitement than Christmas. It is a festival in which the religious, the theatrical, the social and the metaphysical all play a part and it brings communities together with much joyfulness.

It is an excellent time to be in Crete, both for the beautiful and moving religious ceremonies and for the days of feasting and celebrating which follow. Especially if you make for a smallish Cretan village like Apodoulou, you may well find yourself an honorary member of the local society.

All Erasmus participants hosted in ECTE, had the chance to live this experience of traditional hospitality for two days, in the small village of Apodoulou.

Geothermal and Solar Skills in CVet education

The EU’s strategy for sustainable growth, Europe 2020, puts innovation and green growth at the heart of its blueprint for competitiveness. Indeed, it has set clear objectives in terms of energy sustainability, the 20-20-20 targets1. Moreover, according to the EU Directive 2010/31/EU on the Energy Performance Buildings, all new buildings by the year 2020 will have to be nearly zero energy buildings2. This leads to a whole new demand for environmental skills in the construction sector.

Following the involvement of ECTE in the funded project GSSkills, from the “Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion” programme, in which the skills gap for electricians and plumbers for geothermal and solar installations was clearly demonstrated and the needed skills were defined, ECTE has developed a Sector Skills Alliance (Lot 2), in order to capitalise on these previous findings in terms of skills needs and create a European offer of adapted and innovative continuous training. Related to previously identified skills needs, the project aims at:

  • on one hand designing, for Geothermal energy system installers, and for Solar energy system installers, two European core curricula (EQF level 4-5), divided in sets of learning outcomes, allowing an easy implementation of the ECVET procedure; two corresponding VET programmes, including innovative teaching methods, and including periods of work-based learning; two qualification standards for evaluation and certification based on the ISO 17024 and the ECVET recommendations,
  • and on the other hand at implementing, delivering, evaluating and certifying the above-described training.

The project consortium is composed of 15 partners from four countries, led by the Technical Educational Institute of Crete, each country including at least one VET provider and one sectoral organisation. This complementarity will ensure a strong collaboration between the labour market (sectoral organisations) and the education and training institutions. The role of the sectoral organisations will be of ensuring that the developed training is in total adequacy with the employers’ needs and supporting the implementation of the training for workers. The role of the VET providers will be to develop an adapted, attractive and innovative continuous VET programme, and to implement it for 200 adults in 4 countries. The EU umbrella organisation will promote the training in the other EU countries.

The programme will start in December 2016, has a three-year duration and is funded by the European Commission.

Practice placements of students in foot care services

It may appear straightforward and undramatic, but a simple Finger & Toe Nail cutting service can make a huge difference to people’s Health And Well Being.

Students from Klaipeda Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Centre, specialised in providing foot care services, were hosted in Rethymnon by the European Center in Training for Employment – ECTE. The students/ practitioners were placed in companies providing foot care services following a work-based learning program . Practitioners gained valuable working experience in:

  • cutting and filing toenails and keeping them at a comfortable length
  • smoothing and moisturising dry and rough skin
  • checking for cracks and breaks in the skin and inflammation such as blisters
  • looking for signs of infection like nail fungus or other obvious early problems, and seeking professional advice

The participants were awarded a Europass certificate and a certificate from ECTE, validating their learning experience. The program was financed by the European Commission under the Erasmus plus program.

Cultural program in environmental education for Vocational Colleges of Great Britain

Crete, is famous for having almost as many species and subspecies of plants (about 1750), as the whole Britain (1450), even if it is 35 times smaller. This diversity is not only reflected in the total number of species but also in the number of endemic species, which grow only in Crete and nowhere else in the world. In Crete, there are about 160 endemic species and subspecies, which mean that 9% of the plant species of Crete do not exist anywhere else in the world. Most plants of Crete aromatic herbs included are used as ingredients in cooking, in the preparation of teas, medicines. And traditionally also used in natural dyeing purposes.

Students from Vocation colleges of Great Britain having work-based learning activities in companies of Rethymnon had the chance to explore this amazing nature walking at Kourtaliotis gorge one of the most beautiful gorges of Crete. At the and of the day they enjoyed the sea at the beaches of South Crete.