The Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa has participated in the eighth PLA (Peer Learning Activity) of the European project PRALINE (Promoting Adult Learning in Networks) which was held on 2 and 3 October 2023 in Zagreb (Croatia). On this occasion, the organisation Hrvatsko Andragosko Drustvo was in charge of holding the meeting at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Crafts.
The conference focused on the educational system of the Croatian country, as well as the functioning of vocational training and the actions carried out to promote adult education in the country. During the presentation of these topics, the various speakers presented their various measures for dissemination and support for adults to access these studies.
Itana Bukovac, head of the Adult Education Department at the Public Open University Samobor, gave an example of good practice in this type of education at her educational institution, as well as the dissemination activities that are carried out.
Participants who also shared their perspectives on the strategy for promoting adult learning at regional level included Nives Nvak, Head of the Lifelong Learning Development Section at The Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education, and Hrvoje Jelen and Danijel Dekic, Regional Coordinators for the Promotion of Adult Education at Zagreb Craft College, among others.
Croatia bets on VET as a solution to unemployment
One of the most important topics of the conference was the commitment to vocational training as a key tool for inserting the country’s unemployed into the labour market. Thus, Kristina Mazalin, senior expert advisor of the Department of Vocational Guidance and Education of the Central Office of the Employment Service in Croatia, explained in detail the actions carried out to improve the qualifications of unemployed people in order to obtain employment opportunities.
After the conclusion of the conference programme, as was done in previous ALMPs, the PRALINE partners met to share their points of view and to encourage a debate to find new ideas among them.
Finally, the European partners will meet again in the ninth and last ALMP in the Netherlands, where a final conference will be organised in December to close the project and will be organised by MBO Raad, the project’s coordinating association.
“From FPEmpresa, we are committed to networking and the exchange of ideas. The joint work that is born in each of the meetings that we have within the PRALINE project produces a series of results that aim to establish recommendations on VET at European level”, concluded Elena Argudo, Director of Communication and Projects of FPEmpresa.
PRALINE is an Erasmus+ funded project that aims to strengthen and boost international networks of adult education providers already in operation by learning about good practice.
