President EfVET and MCAST Principal/CEO Professor James Calleja addresses WFCP

President EfVET and MCAST Principal/CEO Professor James Calleja addresses WFCP

President EfVET and MCAST Principal/CEO was a keynote speaker at the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) Congress in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

San Sebastian, Spain, 17 June 2022:  President of the European Forum for Technical and Vocational Education (EfVET) and Principal/CEO of MCAST Professor James Calleja was a key-note speaker at the Congress of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.

The congress was organised by the WFCP, the largest association of colleges and polytechnics globally, in collaboration with TKNIKA, the Basque VET Applied Research Centre, which is a world leader in vocational education research. The event, on the theme of TVET Excellence for All focusing on the future of work, sustainability, inclusion and equity, gathered over 1000 participants from all continents.

The congress was opened by Dawn Ward the President of WFCP, and saw the participation of the Spanish Minister of Vocational Education and the Vice Minister of Vocational Education and Training of the Basque Country as well as other distinguished CEOs of VET Colleges from Jamaica, Kenya, Australia, Brazil, the UAEs, the USA, India and Pakistan. This was the second time that Professor Calleja was asked to address this World Congress. His first participation as a key-note speaker was in Quebec, Canada in 2016.

In his intervention Professor Calleja focused on how learning is changing fast and the need for VET institutions to create for young learners new forms of work-based learning. It is this method of learning that will retain more students in education and training by making learning more practical, relevant and attractive. MCAST Principal said, “Many young people today are smart, quick learners and target oriented. Systems of learning have to combine college-based and work experiences and hence the need to bring industry on campus and match more carefully what is being learnt by the jobs available on the labour market. One fundamental lesson learnt from COVID-19 in the context of education and training is that the future of work lies on the transformation of pedagogy. The internet of things has changed every space in which we live in a platform for learning including and more incisively the workplace. Colleges and polytechnics must extend their learning spaces and add the workplace as a key learner’s source for new knowledge, skills and competences”.

In his concluding remarks Professor Calleja stressed the need that in VET Colleges and Polytechnics “we need to embrace transformation at all levels but in particular in the training of teachers, in modernising the infrastructure for learning and in assessing learners throughout their learning process. Technology has transformed the way we live, learn and organise our lives. Grasping its added value will determine the future of further and higher education”.

 

More information:

EfVET – European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

EfVET is a unique European-wide professional association which has been created by and for providers of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in all European countries. Its mission is to champion and enrich TVET through transnational cooperation and building a pan-European network of institutions that could lead to European VET policies.

WFCP – World Federation of Colleges & Polytechnics

The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) is an international network of national and regional associations of colleges as well as individual colleges. WFCP provides leadership in delivering workforce education for our global economy and is also a keyway for Colleges to link with other key stakeholders in the Skills landscape to help emphasise its position in the Skills ‘ecosystem’.

– Press Release

 

 

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