RESTAT project TN meeting in Rethymno, Crete

After a long break from attending Transnational Meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the consortium of the RESTAT project met in Rethymno, Crete, Greece on July, 22-23 2021.

The scope of the 3rd Transnational Meeting held in Rethymno, Crete was to validate the produced educational material on Accessible Tourism and to set the path for the smooth completion of the next Intellectual Output, namely “Boosting Employability and Job Mobility of Tourism Professionals – Career Guidance Tool”. The consortium discussed in detail the results from the Pilot Tests conducted in each partner country and evaluated the modules for the training of Tourism Professionals.

Further, partners from the RESTAT Project set the goals for the next period of implementation of the project which covers the development of profiling methods and jobs analysis and development of career-matching method.

The consortium of the RESTAT project is comprised of Comune di TUSA (IT), New Horizons (IT), ECTE (EL), FUEJI (ES), ROGEPA (RO), Handy Club (CZ) and it is implemented with the funding of the European Union, under the Erasmus+, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships for VET | Innovation – Project Code: 2018-1-IT01-KA202-006891.

Live webinar – Design Thinking for entrepreneurship in the Agri-food sector (Pre-steps)

  |  Athens (GMT 2:00)  |  3:00 PM Central European Time

Free registration: HERE

The webinar introduces the pre-steps of the design thinking process and is implemented in the context of the European project DTRaIN. The pre-steps of the Design Thinking is the first module out of five of the DTRaIN course, that is going to be developed in the coming months.

The webinar has a two-hour duration and includes the following Learning units

  • The Design Thinking Process
  • Developing the designer’s mindset
  • Identify an opportunity for a design thinking project
  • Drafting a design brief
  • Planning a design thinking process (people, setting, research)

Addressed to entrepreneurs, University/Vet students, trainers, professionals n the agrifood sector, stakeholders.

EUROMOB: Approaches to certify skills and competences in international mobility

Euromob is an online tool that is developing in the context of the EUROMOB project with the aim to identify, measure, and recognize the skills that learners have acquired during their mobility program in a European country, with the acknowledgment of companies and education institutions.

Approximately 50 thousand young students engage in international mobility for a traineeship every year through the Erasmus+ program. The benefits of these academic activities are recognized at all levels including inter-personal and professional competencies. Students, the direct and main beneficiaries of such initiatives, become aware of the added-value for their employability and the number of applicants is increasing at a rate over 10% per year.

A key concern with regards to this type of mobility – mobility for an internship/traineeship – relates to the certification of the acquired skills and competencies. Internships/traineeships evolve in an environment that is quite distinct from traditional classroom settings. Several characteristics of traditional classroom environments are not observed in internship/traineeship activities thus preventing the use of similar assessment and certification mechanisms. In general, the following internship/traineeship activities characteristics are not observed in traditional classroom environments:

  • students are enrolled for a short period of time
  • involved in practical tasks to perform certain activities (highly practical)
  • formal assessment, written exams, and the like are not expected either welcome
  • companies, in general, internship/traineeship hosts, are more focused on results than on student assessment
  • companies are not willing to spend time on academic/educational assessment tasks

These circumstances demand new approaches to certify the skills and competencies acquired by an increasing number of students during an internship/traineeship.

The European Center in Training for Employment – ECTE,  is participating in the EUROMOB project consortium, for addresses the development of recognition of skills and qualifications with the objective of enhancing youth employment opportunities. Youth employability is considered as the main priority in Europe and the optic of the project is to reduce the breach between graduates and companies through direct recognition of skills.

Design Thinking, an effective methodology for Innovation

The most valuable companies in the world place use design thinking at the center of everything they are doing. As an anthropocentric methodology, it is the ideal tool for companies seeking to develop products and services, regardless of the market in which they operate. Domains such as the agro alimentary sector, energy, healthcare, education, and government have begun to prototype, iterate, and build more with a human-centered focus.

It may seem intimidating to consider innovation from a design perspective. However, whenever there is a tough business challenge, we can tackle it as a design thinking problem. At its core, design thinking is a powerful, repeatable process that questions everything, relies heavily on observation, demands options, and promotes experimentation. Using Design thinking effectively demands competencies in observing, interviewing, creating personas, developing storyboards, making prototypes, and testing making decision-making analyses. The acquisition of these skills for professionals of the agro-alimentary sector is a challenge for the DTRaIN project, which is co-financed by the European Commission under the Erasmus + program.

The DTRaIN curriculum development led by ECTE has been finalized and the consortium members have started developing interactive training material for ubiquitous learning.

Coronavirus: Distance learning increases dropout risk for vulnerable learners

Cedefop’s ambassadors for tackling early leaving from education and training call for further support to address the needs of learners at risk and ensure their equal access to quality distance learning.

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted the education and training of an entire generation of vocational education and training (VET) learners. Those already at risk – from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, migrants and from ethnic minorities, learners with disabilities and special education needs – often find themselves out of school. With schools being closed, they risk falling further behind, while further disruption to their learning is imminent if distance learning is not ensured. At the same time, they are at increased risk of violence, abuse and neglect, as families and households are locked down.

Examples of initiatives from seven European countries in Cedefop’s new report show the efforts made to ensure that learning continues for all VET learners, as well as to support VET teachers and trainers who had to convert physical classrooms and working places into digital learning environments overnight.

According to the report, VET teachers and trainers face challenges such as no access to equipment and internet connection required to offer distance learning; lack of digital skills and competences to make efficient use of the platforms; poor experience in creating digital teaching content; no experience in e-learning and other distance learning pedagogies in VET, especially for teaching practical components; concerns over privacy issues, copyright and data protection.

The report also points out that learners at risk, not participating in distance education, disconnect for a longer period and may eventually drop out of their VET programme.

Prior to the pandemic, European countries had made significant progress in lowering the rates of early leaving from education and training, results which should be sustained in the post-coronavirus era. Cedefop’s VET toolkit for tackling early leaving has never been more important in supporting policy-makers and VET practitioners to prevent early leaving.

Cedefop will continue work in this field to support the European Commission, Member States and social partners in implementing the newly adopted Council Conclusions on European teachers and trainers for the future (European Council, 25 May 2020), recognising teachers and trainers as an indispensable driving force of education and training and acknowledging their commitment during the current crisis.