On Tuesday 26 November, the final conference of the VET_GPS – Guiding tools for Professional Skills development in VET was held under the title “Talent of the future trainees’ professional skills development” and organised by EfVET in Brussels.
The main goal of this meeting was to introduce the four main products of VET_GPS project and the process of a pilot test to be done with the support and on VET schools, involving counsellors, trainers and trainees.
The two-year funded project, started in October 2017 and it was coordinated by Mentortec (Portugal) and counted with partners from Spain (CECE and Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri), Portugal (ANESPO), Italy (Connectis and Pixel Firenze), Austria (Blickpunkt Identität,) and Belgium (EfVET). The partnership is focused on the the acquisition, development and assessment of soft skills of trainees attending VET training, essential for their personal development, social participation and workplace success, contributing to: the reduction of early School Leaving / combating failure in education, overcome skills mismatches between the training and labour market needs, and then the promotion of rates of employability, by providing career guidance.
The conference, which was among one of the more than 1,675 events organised in the context of the European Vocational Skills Week, was organised by the Belgian partner, EfVET. The “Talent of the future trainees’ professional skills development” event was opened by Leif Hard from EfVET who introduced the first session on the project results. Andreia Monteiro, the project coordinator from Mentortec, offered a project overview and how the main target audience where reach. The most challenging was to reach SMEs as the VET-Business cooperation remains as one of the pending subjects as Monteiro explained. The main resources are already available on the project website:
- Guide for the integration of the Soft Skills in VET offer
- Toolkit for Professional Guidance and Coaching
- Programme for Professional Development of Trainers/Tutors
- Quality Framework and Platform for the Cooperation in the VET System
After the introduction, Klaus Linde-Leimer, (Blickpunkt Identität) introduced the main resources from the project the methodologies behind the resources. Followed by Andrea Anzanello (Pixel Firenze) who presented the VET-Business Quality Framework developed by VET_GPS.
The second session was dedicated to the introduction of different good practices at the European and regional level. Giulia Meschino (EVTA) took the floor to present the SOLITY project which is focused on the social impact of VET. The regional perspective was given by Luis Miranda (EARLALL) who represents the European Association of Regional & Local Authorities for lifelong learning. One of the good practices presented was the Bridge+ project which is building up regional initiatives to develop skills-based guidance.
The afternoon session closed with two European presentations, first from Anna Barbieri (European Commission, DG EMPL) who offered an overview of what the European Commission was done in the last term and the challenges ahead such as the follow-up of the European Pillar of Social Rights, the new Skills Agenda, the approval of the next Erasmus+ programme or the European Education Area. And finally, Andrew Todd (Lifelong Learning Platform) introduced the position paper on 21st-Century Learning Environments and validation of transversal skills “Learning can happen anytime, anywhere, and the spaces where this learning occurs are incredibly and increasingly diverse”.
The event offered an overview of the status of the skills training at the local, national and European level. Showing that we need to cooperate among all the shareholders to cope with the societal challenges and get ready for the future of VET with good resources such as the ones presented by VET_GPS – Guiding tools for Professional Skills development in VET project.
Presentations
- Soft skills in VET system: the VET_GPS approach, (Andreia Monteiro, Mentortec; Klaus Linde-Leimer & Susanne Linde, Blickpunkt Identitat; Andrea Anzanello, Pixel)
- Presentation of the Solity – VET Social Utility Monitor, Giulia Meschino (EVTA)
- New strategies of skills development on a Regional level, Luis Miranda (EARLALL)
- The Skills Agenda for Europe, Anna Barbieri (European Commission, DG EMPL)
- 21st-Century Learning Environments and validation of transversal skills, Andrew Todd (Lifelong Learning Platform)