Category: News

AUTO 4.0 is an Erasmus+ project aimed at identifying industry 4.0 competencies for the automotive sector at EU level, and to develop training materials for a selected set of those competencies related to specific professional profiles. After having our kick-off meeting in Lanciano (IT) and attending a training action there to learn the methodology of technological road-mapping, this week the project partners from Italy, UK, Germany and the Basque Country have met in AIC´s facilities to compare some of the results already obtained in each country regarding competency needs from companies and to define the next steps of the project. These will include the construction of a standardised matrix to select and match the professional profiles and sets of competencies we are going to focus on and the organization of a training activity in AIC (end of March 2019) to share the results of our work and to provide participants with a methodology to take those findings for the construction of OER for training workers from the automotive sector.

Last Tuesday the results of the Erasmus+ project LAIT 4.0, coordinated by HETEL, were presented in the facilities of IK4 Tekniker, a key partner in the project. The event counted with the attendance of 14 VET teachers and around 60 VET students from different areas (mechanical manufacturing, automation, electronics…) who took good note about what industry 4.0 is, how is changing business models and how is affecting also the delivery of vocational education, from the curriculum to the methodologies, in order to prepare the new professionals of the future. The Progamme of the event can be found in the project Website: www.lait40.eu, in the “News” section. All materials produced by the project are also accessible in the Website under the section “intelectual outputs”.

Last summer we had the first pilot experience of our summer school MobiliTeach in Bologna (Italy). The school, intended to improve the quality of mobility management and the preparation of students for an international experience, received 21 VET teachers and mobility coordinators from Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Germany and France. After this first edition, the partners are gathering together this week in Ourém (Portugal) to assess the results based on the feedback from the participants and the trainers, in order to improve the next edition which will take place in France next summer. The programme of the first edition and some results can be consulted in the project´s Website: www.mobiliteach.net We will keep you updated there about the next summer school as well!

Each year the members of Network of Networks (NoN), get together in one of NoN´s location to exchange on the latest trends in vocational training in the countries and regions member of the network (Finland, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Basque Country) and to discuss of possible new ways of cooperation among the colleges part of each regional/national network. The encounter took place this week in Otxarkoaga VET school, associated to HETEL, and during Tuesday and Wednesday, 34 VET teachers and international coordinators worked together in different project ideas related to various topics: new skills for VET teachers, technological projects in the area of energy efficiency, enhancing gender equality in industrial VET or 4.0 skills for new professionals. Besides, on Monday the VET teachers arrived from abroad had the opportunity to visit some schools belonging to HETEL´s network: Nazaret Zentroa (Donostia-San Sebastián) to learn about entrepreneurship and training for employment, Egibide (Vitoria-Gasteiz) to know more about collaborative learning and collaboration with higher education organizations and Somorrostro (Muskiz) to learn on technological projects and cooperation with companies. Next year, NoN will meet again in Northern Ireland to keep on improving vocational education. In the meanwhile, we will keep on working on the ideas detected during our meeting in Bilbao!

Last week we had the 5th transnational meeting of the SIMPLE project, an Erasmus+ KA2 project to exchange good practices in the integration of refugees and immigrants through vocational education. As part of the meeting, we had the opportunity to visit the training centre of Örkelljunga, where refugees and immigrants receive training to learn Swedish (the first need to be solved when arriving to the country) and which uses VET as a way to integrate them into labour market and into society. Some of the students shared with us their experiences and how this integration process has taken place, which has been very enriching also at a personal level. Next time we are meeting in Elazig (Turkey) to learn how they are dealing with the arrival of hundreds of Syrians looking for a better future there. More information in our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Erasmus-Simple-127539074624703/

Mobiliteach Summer School is an Erasmus+ project aimed to create a summer school dedicated to mobility, dealing with the different aspects related to it: intercultural preparation, administrative management and work based learning abroad. During the first year of the project, the partners from Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal and Spain have worked in the design of a programme and the development of the necessary materials to deliver a first pilot Mobiliteach Summer School, which took place in Bologna (Italy) between the 25th-29th of June. 25 participants and 9 trainers from the above mentioned countries attended this first experience, which combined training activities with visits to companies and other organizations in order to enrich the experience. From HETEL´s side, 3 teachers attended the summer school in Bologna and this is what they shared with us: “For me the experience has meant a new way of learning with the added value of an international context” (Rosa Nuñez, VET teacher in Zabalburu Ikastetxea). “The summer school has contributed to increase my motivation as a teacher and to develop my intercultural skills” (María Pando, VET teacher from Escuela de Química Indautxu). “I bring home several activities experienced during the summer school that I will definitely use with my students next academic year, as well as interesting contacts for possible traineeships abroad” (Lorea Garitagoitia, Goierri Eskola). As one of the trainers taking part in the summer school, Tamara Rodríguez, coordinator of international projects in HETEL, highlights “the good spirit the participants showed, their motivation and their personal involvement in all the activities, sharing their own experiences and own ideas on how to use what has been learnt when they go back to their job”. Next summer school will be celebrated next year in Bordeaux. Meanwhile, the programme (and some funny pictures!) of the Mobiliteach Summer School in Bologna can be consulted in the Website: https://mobiliteach.net/  

Our member Politeknika Txorierri is participating in the Erasmus+ project “NET-ENT. Networking for Entrepreneurship”, aimed to promote entrepreneurship among VET students by using different approaches, like coaching tools, the CANVAS model or multidisciplinary projects implemented among different VET programmes in schools. One of the activities during the project is the organization and provision of a training course, addressed to VET teachers, on coaching tools and how these ones can help student’s personal and professional development. Apart from the Txorierri´s team involved in the project, thanks to HETEL´s Erasmus+ mobility grants, other teachers from HETEL schools (Irungo La Salle and UGLE) and the coordinator of international projects in HETEL are attending this training, provided by the School of Applied Sciences Haaga-Helia. The training course has finished with the presentation of each team of their own ideas to implement coaching tools in their own organizations. Thank you to Politeknika Txorierri for the great opportunity!

The last meeting of LAIT 4.0, an Erasmus+ KA2 project coordinated by HETEL and with Dundee and Angus College (UK), ROC Da Vinci College (NL), KTPMC (LT), APRO Formazione (IT) and IK4 Tekniker as partners, has taken place this week in Kaunas (Lithuania). The project started in 2016 and has been divided in 2 steps: first, the training of VET teachers on industry 4.0 and how new technologies are impacting business models, secondly the realization of technological check-ups in companies to find out their digital maturity levels and, above all, have better knowledge to cooperate with them from VET colleges in their roadmap towards a factory of the future. Despite being the project in its last stage, the project partners have it clear that this has just started and we keep on working in different actions to offer the best training to our students to be professionals 4.0. Resources and more information can be found in the project Website: www.lait40.eu

This week we have received in Bilbao our partners from the Erasmus+ project SIMPLE as occasion of our third transnational meeting. Counting with the assistance of our associated VET schools Centro Formativo Otxarkoaga and Cooperativa Peñascal, the aim of the meeting was to learn from the different actions/methodologies these 2 VET schools use for the integration of migrants. In Otxarkoaga, we had the opportunity to meet with the responsible of the “First Welcome” Programme and two learners from Morocco and Pakistan who participated in it when they arrived to Bilbao. Cooperativa Peñascal shared with us different actions they put in practice in order to encourage migrant students to give the best out of them, giving them an active role in their own education but also through programmes where they themselves can help others in their same situation, making them feel useful and empowered. It was a really nice experience to learn, to share and to include in the good practices we are gathering through our project!

After almost 2 years developing materials for VET teachers and learners of electronics, level 1-3 EQF, this week in Greece we completed the last module, done by our Greek partners, about sensors. During the project we have produced different modules to train electronic skills related with the use of PBP to programme microcontrollers. In total, 6 modules have been produced, focusing on different peripherals such as keyboard, LCD screen, motors or sensors. The complete manual with the materials will be available soon in English, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, Greek, Romanian and Portuguese in the project Website, www.pbpinvet.eu