EfVET Newsletter June 2013

Message from the President (June 2013)

22nd Annual International EfVET Conference

Athina joins the Central Office Team

EfVET Statements on the European Commission Communication: ‘Rethinking Education’

Consultation on the Communication from the European Commission

Draft Summary of the EF Advisory Group Meeting in Brussels 29-30 May 2013

Rethinking Education: Language Competences for Employability, Mobility and Growth – Summary

Conference on Human Rights and Democracy in Action – Looking Ahead: The impact of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education

11th seminar: ECVET pilot projects 2nd generation

Projects in which EfVET or its members are a partner

Impressum

Message from the President (June 2013)

Dear Members, welcome to our June 2013 newsletter. I hope this arrives before many of you break for the summer. Let me begin by welcoming our new members to the EfVET family and I look forward to meeting them at Conference later this year. Your Executive and Steering Committee members have continued to represent yourselves and the European VET sector across a wide range of conferences, EC working groups and thematic expert forums in recent months. It remains a very busy period for us all with invitations from the Commission to participate in policy discussions relating to the implementation of ECVET and EQAVET , the new funding programmes 2014 to 2020 and E&T Strategy 2020.

Most recently I had the pleasure of attending the annual DGEAC/European VET providers meeting to discuss Commission proposals and key priorities over the coming months and years – looking at the Commissions work programme and identifying ways we can continue to work together. A key feature of this revolved around the launch of the European Alliance for Apprenticeships to take place on the 3rd July in Leipzig alongside the World Skills event. Rasa Zygmantaite will represent EfVET at the formal launch. This coincides with a key Commission meeting on the future of VET by the ACVT committee. The Joint VET provider group (EFVET,EVTA,EVBB and EUproVET) have been invited to attend with observer status and EfVET is sending an expert on Apprenticeships to a working group to be held concurrently. Reports of our activities will be available soon on the website.www.efvet.org

Conference 2013 – 23-26th October 2013 The Royal Olympic Hotel, Athens

I am pleased to invite you all to Register for Conference on line via www.efvet.org . Final details of Conference are being made as we speak. In addition to registering you are asked to complete the hotel booking form again on-line and submit. Discounted rates are available up to the end of July – so please do not hesitate. The theme this year is focused on Work based learning and Apprenticeships within the context of ‘The Entrepreneurial College’ and Business/VET partnerships. Conference will also update delegates on the new funding programmes 2014-2020 – currently named Erasmus for All (although the political debate still rolls on at the moment).

I would encourage you to attend and can assure you that it will continue to be an ideal networking opportunity for all and highly interactive.

It so happens that EVBB our colleagues on the European VET provider group will be hosting their conference in Athens at the same time – so we hope to bring the 2 together at some point.

A big thanks to my colleagues, particularly Leif Haar and Panaghiotis Anastasopoulus for co-ordinating the logistical aspects of conference

Central Office news

I would like to thank Valentina and Francesca for their work in Central Office. They continue to do a sterling job in keeping our administrative and development activity on track. I would also like to welcome Athina Pitta to the office. Athina has joined the team on an internship under a programme for Young Entrepreneurs co-ordinated by Stefano (CSCS) and partners. Athina has prepared a short profile to share with you and appears in this newsletter below.

New Membership campaign and website developments.

As announced at the AGM last year, EfVET has completed its new Corporate image and promotional materials have been prepared. The Central Office team have been busy preparing a comprehensive database from a wide range of sources of VET contact across the whole of Europe – this with the intention of launching a major membership campaign. This will be finalized at the Executive meeting in mid July 2013. In addition Stelios Demosthenous has been working behind the scenes to renew and update our website in our Corporate image. This will be launched very shortly. Again a big thank you to Stelios.

In conclusion – I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and I wish you well. I look forward to meeting you at Conference in October.
Peter Hodgson
President, EfVET

22nd Annual International EfVET Conference

The next EfVET Annual International Conference which will take place in Athens, Greece from 23th to 26th October 2013. Colleges and VET Institutions need to be more innovative; build closer partnership with Business and Industry to ensure young people and adults alike have the necessary skills to meet the demands of new jobs in a global marketplace. To meet these challenges: flexibility; work based learning; apprenticeship programmes, where business and VET providers work closely together and share jointly the skills development of the workforce, are key to the future of VET. VET institutions themselves need to become much more ‘entrepreneurial’ in this context. This poses many challenges – not just in terms of teaching and learning but in Leadership and Change Management. How can VET Institutions respond to these demands and challenges?

The conference will explore these issues in depth and provide an opportunity for delegates to learn from each other; consider different models and approaches and promote the concept of ‘the entrepreneurial College’. That is ‘The College that works!!!

Registration details and hotel booking forms are available on the website: www.efvet.org Full details of the programme and theme will also be available on the website: www.efvet.org Register early (before 31st July) for the discounted rates.
Leif Haar

Athina joins the Central Office Team

Athina holds a Masters Degree in Public International Law from the University of Law in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and a Bachelors degree from the University of the Aegean in International Relations and Organization and trained in the Consulʼs Office in the Consulate General of Greece in Istanbul and dealt VIP, governmental and diplomatic relations while handled confidential information.
She speaks Greek, English, French, Turkish and a little Arabic and Spanish and she has practiced these languages, and experienced the cultures, by teaching or by living, working and studying in the respective countries. Willing to find inspiration and practical advice for her next professional step –a business start-up- she participates in the ‘’Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs ‘’ program, in order to have the chance to learn from experienced EfVET members and acquire the skills needed to run a small firm.

EfVET Statements on the European Commission Communication: ‘Rethinking Education’

As the EfVET members know the ongoing negotiations for the future programme ‘Erasmus for all/YES Europe funding programme 2014-2020 are soon coming to an end this year. MEP Katarina Nevedalova (S&D), rapporteur on the new Commission’s Communication on “Rethinking Education”, hosted on 26 March in the European Parliament a roundtable for a policy debate with a diverse range of key stakeholders from the education, training, youth and employment sector. I presented the EfVET position on the Communication. Please find enclosed the EfVET Statements – presented by Valentina Chanina and Geoff Scaplehorn, EfVET.
Geoff Scaplehorn

Consultation on the Communication from the European Commission

Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes
Vocational education and training for better skills, growth and jobs
The “Rethinking Education” Communication supports the Member States by identifying a range of issues relevant for improving the efficiency of education and training systems. Recent Cedefop data shows that, at the medium level, European VET graduates are more successfulthan candidates from general education in finding employment. This applies in particular to graduates from VET programmes with strong workplace orientation. The same data also shows that VET candidates are better paid than candidates from general education, even if this decreases over time. However, enrolments, attractiveness and quality of VET vary significantly across countries.

Draft Summary of the EF Advisory Group Meeting in Brussels

29-30 May 2013
Relevant developments in European cooperation in the field of education and training

•    Contacts from UNESCO to the Commission to explore how the experience gained during the development and implementation of the EQF could be shared with global consortia of countries. It was agreed that a small number of UNESCO representatives could attend the AG September meeting as observers and identify future developments in this area.
•    The Council of Europe presented the final draft of the subsidiary text on the use of qualifications frameworks to the Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC) on the recognition of academic qualifications in higher education. The draft text has been submitted for comments to national authorities and will be discussed in the meeting of the Lisbon Convention Committee in June 2013.
•    Events on the validation of NFIL Youth sector – conference in Bonn end of April – challenges to HE and Youth sector on the recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning

Rethinking Education: Language Competences for Employability, Mobility and Growth – Summary

Language competences are a key dimension of modernising European education systems, and this Staff Working Document is part of a larger policy initiative contributing to Europe 2020. It offers analysis and insight to support the Commission Communication on “Re-thinking Education: a blueprint to invest in the skills of the future for better economic and social outcomes.”

Raising the language competences of children, young people and adults will foster the mobility of workers and students and improve the employability of the European workforce. Therefore, improved language competences will contribute to achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy of growth and jobs.

Conference on Human Rights and Democracy in Action – Looking Ahead: The impact of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education

The conference on Human Rights and Democracy in Action – Looking Ahead: The impact of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education was organised in Strasbourg on 29-30 November 2012 by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, and in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Wergeland Centre.

11th seminar: ECVET pilot projects 2nd generation

07 March 2013, Paris

The 4th – and last – joint seminar of the ECVET pilot projects 2nd generation took place from 7-8 March 2013 in Paris. Four main topics were addressed:

Karin Luomi-Messerer gave a synoptical presentation on validation and recognition of learning outcomes in the context of mobility and lifelong learning. Subsequently, the projects reflected on their solutions to validation and recognition;

•    The projects discussed how to communicate ECVET to VET-providers and discussed appropriate strategies. As guest speakers, Sibilla Drews,
•    Head of Unit LEONARDO DA VINCI at the German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training – representing the NetECVET initiative – and Stylianos Mavromoustakos, European Forum of Technical and Vocational Training (EFVET) presented their projects and experiences;
•    The projects shared their experiences in preparing their final national dissemination events;
•    The projects discussed the final conference on European level and the key messages on ECVET in the national and the European context.

You can get more information by visiting http://www.ecvet-projects.eu/Seminars/SeminarDetail.aspx?id=49
Stelios Mavromoustakos

Projects in which EfVET or its members are a partner

INT-SME: Europe Supports education on internationalization

ADEPTT

BESTVET (VET Total Development System)

Language teachers’ boat called TOOLS moves forward