EFA La Malvesía (Valencia), a centre associated to the Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa, participates in the Circular Bricks project with the aim of contributing to the training and education of new generations about the circular bioeconomy. This project, co-financed by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme, will run until february of 2024 and involves the collaboration of VET centres and entities from Spain, Italy, Greece and Romania.

This initiative, led by the University of Rome Unitelma Sapienza, highlights the importance of education as a driver of change in the bioeconomy. “Through innovation and training in work and production processes, the bioeconomy can be consolidated as a key tool in the creation of new sustainable business models and in the fight against climate change”, has said Miguel Guasp, from the International Department of EFA La Malvesía.

To this aim, VET teachers in the agri-food sector will be trained through pedagogical materials. This will enable them to train students in the acquisition of green skills, essential for both current and future industries operating in the European circular bioeconomy.

A green and sustainable future

In december of 2023, EFA La Malvesía met in Italy with the rest of the team to present the results of the work generated by the students of the agri-food sector of the VET centres involved. These results have been very well received and valued by both the VET students and the technical committee of experts.

Moreover, during this meeting, the partners planned the final activities of the project and started the preparation of the final report to be presented at the Final Conference in Rome in february of 2024, marking the culmination of this European project.

“Our aim is to transform our students into real agents of change, and with this project we will achieve this. Without a doubt, this represents a new step forward in the internationalisation of the school and will contribute to improving the professional skills of both teachers and VET students at our school”, has concluded Miguel Guasp.

EFA La Malvesía, a centre associated to the Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa, has held an event to present the ‘New Agronet’ initiative to its educational community. It is an Erasmus + project, made up of teachers and students from France, Italy and Romania, to promote and consolidate the creation of new companies in the agri-food sector. Likewise, ‘New Agronet’ seeks to promote training in methodologies and new technologies among VET students; to increase the opportunities for students by helping them in their professional development; and to help create a more modern and professional environment in VET schools that encourages entrepreneurship. In this way, the project encourages the exchange of culture and knowledge and increases the motivation to work in the agricultural world.

Day

EFA La Malvesía was selected as the host entity for the international delegations to carry out this event. The ‘New Agronet’ programme was held at the end of September and proved to be a success for all participants. The day started with several participatory work sessions in the classroom. These sessions were in turn combined with visits to farms of interest. This helped students to refine and better define their agri-food business model proposals.

In addition, they visited the livestock farm ‘els Masets’, which became an example of the renovation of a family farm: from merely producing lamb meat, it has gone on to produce milk and quality dairy products, offering, among others, typical products of the area.

Finally, the attendees took advantage of the visit to the agro-ecological farm ‘Saifresc’ to learn about a production model that focuses on local, fresh and seasonal products.

 

Since 2019 EFA La Malvesia– associated centre of FPEmpresa VET Schools Association – leads the Erasmus+ KA2 for VET project called “Upgrading Trainers in Dual Vocational System”.

When it comes to youth unemployment and job insecurity we can see that Europe is having some problems, being more highlighted in the south of Europe. In this scenario, the VET DUAL SYSTEM and specially the role of the trainer in the company are considered really significant resources to solve this tragic problem for the future of the European youth.

The VET students spend many hours working with their trainers in the companies. Therefore, they must be a real and effective influence for their trainees to guarantee the success of the internships. This will benefit then as they will enrich their soft and professional skills required by the Labour Market.

Although the willingness to collaborate is usually excellent, there is still a lack of professionalization of the competences of the trainers which would help to achieve a real experience of high quality.

Obviously, there are multiple reasons for these gaps, such as: the role of the trainer is not legally regulated in all European countries or, surprisingly, it is not considered as an educational agent. In addition, the access to updated and relevant information is complicated due to the lack of centralized access to it.

In the light of the questions mentioned above, the UPT2S project was launched in December 2019 in Spain and its main objective is the achieve the professionalization of the role of trainers in the Dual Training System. The transformation of a company’s employee into a pedagogical trainer who is a fix and real link between companies and educational institutions and which should be facilitated with the created resources/tools.

The project goal is to obtain three intellectual outputs:

  • Implementation of an online course for trainers (25 hours).
  • The creation of an Evaluation App to assess the different learning and skills levels acquired and monitoring the progress of the trainee in real time.
  • A guideline based on the best practices focused on the role of the trainer.

Due to Covid-19, important activities had to be postponed. Needless to say, the partnership did not intend to give up their project . Therefore, they continued to move forward via on-line, showing their resilience and ability to adapt to the current situation.

Nonetheless, at the end of the month of September 2021, a group of 20 people from the project partner countries: Spain (EFA La Malvesia), Estonia (Järvamaa Kutsehariduskeskus), France (MFR de Bretagne), Croatia (Srednja Skola Bedekovcina), Germany (DEULA Nienburg) met in Nienburg to check how the project was going on, its development and to set new goals.

This training activity was based on an intensive testing of the pedagogical outcomes that the partnership had developed during this phase of the project carried out by invited international experts. These resources have been an Online Course for trainers involved in VET Dual System and an Evaluation and Communication APP that allows monitoring in real time the progress of the trainee in the company during their internship period.

It should be noted that the evaluation of the resources used were well received by the participants: VET teachers, Trainers, Educational and Labour Administration Representatives. These members analysed and tested their performance, highlighting the added value was added to the project. It was also mentioned that it can become a tool that can be used by the trainer in order to upgrade their professional skills and at the same improve the quality of evaluation and monitoring of the trainees.

The project partners are currently working on the development of the third objective: A guide of best practices in this field, which allows the trainer to become a real educational agent.

 

For more details on the project and its ongoing developments please visit: project website.

https://upt2sproject.com/

Facebook page @UPT2SProject