On the 23rd and 24th of September, the EfVET Thematic Team on Technologies and Industry 4.0 met at the Technical Education Copenhagen (TEC), Copenhagen, Denmark. The meeting was co-organised by the TT coordinators Kari Puumalainen (Ylä-Savo Vocational College, Finland) and Vibeke Holtum Nørgaard (TEC, Denmark), gathering 17 participants from six different countries.
The Technologies and Industry 4.0 looks at the changing world and changing vocational education. How will work and occupations change in the near future, and how these changes will change vocational training? What is Vocational College 4.0? And what it’s the impact of technology and industry on VET colleges. Hence, one of the most important decision has been to rebrand the group’s name to VET 4.0, which matches better with the vision and objectives of the TT.
The TT members have been working in different subgroups which are focused on different sub-areas affected by industry 4.0 development, after their first meeting at the beginning of June in San Sebastian.
Working groups
In order to structure the work of the different subgroups, it was proposed to use the Future Platforms, a collaborative platform used already by YSAO. This a web-based tool which can support colleges and any type of association to plan and radar their work by understanding the impact major trends have on the work.
The TT has decided to work from five different phenomena: Industry Change; Organisational Change; Societal Change; Global Change and Technological Change, matching with different subgroups coordinated by EfVET Members experts: Els de Waard, Jukka Salmi, Sulevi Komulaine, Katriina Lammi and Martin Koorevaar.
Each perspective entails different factors or issues mapped as important and rated in term of relevance and impact by the Future Platforms users across a given timeline.
Moving forward the different subgroups will continue analysing and working on how the different phenomena influence VET 4.0 and what recommendations, tools, guidelines could be developed to support VET practitioners.
TEC knowledge and Automation Centre
The participants had the occasion to visit the TEC knowledge and Automation Centre. The TEC Vocational Education and Training college is using the latest technology available and the type of pedagogical approach used and being a role model for other VET colleges around Europe.
What’s next? The EfVET Annual Conference
The Technologies and Industry 4.0 will meet from 14:30 to 16h on 23rd of October at the EfVET Annual Conference in the Azores. This will be the opportunity to join the groups but also to get to know “the Futures Platform tool” and other team members.
About EfVET Thematic Teams
EfVET launched the Thematic Teams in 2018 as an opportunity for Members to meet and share good practices, networking and also as a way to promote and spread innovative ideas and practices.
