Last week, two trainers from Esprominho took part in the final meeting of the Erasmus+ project DESQUADES – Development of Sectoral Qualification Descriptors for EQF Level 5 (No. 2016-1-LT01-KA202-023178) which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 17 to 19 September 2018. This project is a KA2 Strategic Partnership to improve Vocational Education and Training, with partners from Lithuania, Spain, Italy and Portugal, and will come to an end in October 2018.

Esprominho (Portugal)

The aim of DESQUADES is to prepare internationally comparable qualifying descriptors (proficiency and competency profiles, with regard to professional practice and range of accessible professions) at EQF level 5 to promote better quality education and training and respond to the labor market needs. The selected sectors were health, services, metallurgical industry, construction.

This project is expected to increase transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications to facilitate learning, employability and labor mobility through the evolution of EQF level.

The Intellectual Outputs associated to this project were:

1. A comparative study of EQF level 5 developments in selected sectors: Health, Services, Construction and Metallurgy, in each partner country;
2. A study on the analysis of the needs of key stakeholders (primarily employers, trainers and students) through structured round tables with employers and other interest groups in the partner countries in order to meet the main expectations and formulate recommendations for the needs and best use of sector qualification descriptors at EQF level 5 in the selected sectors;
3. The development of the methodology for the creation of level 5 descriptors for the sectors predicted in the project.

 In order to achieve the objectives, monitoring, discussion and reflection meetings were held in Lithuania, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the last one in Lithuania.

This last meeting enabled the partners to take stock of the development process of the last intellectual output – IO4, to share methodologies and channels used to disseminate the project in each country, to get acquainted about a publication which will be made about this project.

The final meeting ended with a conference with representatives from the Lithuanian National Agency, from the Klaipedos University, and from the Coordinator of the Project – Vocational training center of Ernestas Galvanauskas, Lithuania.

All the partners had the opportunity to present their schools and describe their intervention throughout the different project phases.To conclude the conference, the representative of the Vocational Qualification Centre mentioned that he was glad to see that this project has concrete results, contrary to many projects that only exist on the paper.

Through its participation in several projects, Esprominho continues to develop actions aimed at improving the reality of vocational training, considering the needs of all the agents involved, aiming at a better relationship between the school and the professional context at the national and international level.