6 – 8.2.2019 in Nantes, France
communication and skills
PM2 focused on communication and skills. During the first day we focused on what we mean with the word communication and how we can establish a common language between VET and work. The current situation has proven that we often use the same words but that VET providers/teachers puts a different meaning to the words than employees/workers. This results in misunderstandings and weakens the collaboration. This is why we had a small workshop where we looked at what we mean when we say words/sentences like good communication/skills/engagement in communication etc.
After clarifying what we mean when we use these words/sentences we had a workshop about what we thing engagement in cooperation means and should consist of. All felt that in order to commit to a collaboration we must find a common ground. How to find and build a common ground was the topic of our next workshop
We ended day one by visiting Provost where we got to interview the employer and a student. Provost is a silent partner in the project and will also be one of the best practice cases for collaborations between VET@work
skills and conflicts of interests
During day 2 we focused on skills and conflicts of interests. We addressed in a workshop what the conflicts of interests are when it come to vocational education and training and then analyzed how these conflicts of interests can hinder collaborations. After going through the results of the workshop about conflicts of interests we continued to look at skills that the employers are looking for and what skills employers of the future are looking for. This workshop was done so that we had split employers to one group and then teachers in one group. Both then presented the skills they found important in the future worker. After this we split the groups so that a group consisted of both employers and teachers, together they then looked at the skills and started to see what skills could be developed together, what skills are the responsibility of the school and what skills can only be provided at work. The results were presented during day 3 as we had to leave, before presenting the results, for a company visit to Deco Jardin where we were introduced to how they collaborate with Nantes Terre Atlantiqua and the agricultural union in order to develop VET and educate skilled workers. This visit will be in our manual as a best practice case.
The last day of the meeting we went through the skills that VET and work can provide together and what skills should be provided by VET and what skills can only be obtained at companies. We also begun to work on how VET and work through transparent and genuine collaborations can better adapt to the changing market and how we can connect the visions of the labor market and the visions of VET into 1 common vision which is that VET and work is codependent and works together in order to make the transition from VET to work as smooth as possible.
– Tanja Halttunen, project manager
