On October 21st more than 100 Italian and international participants attended the Eduwork.Net transnational online conference. The event was integrated into the yearly Seminario Europa, organized by Ciofs-FP and part of the European Vocational Skills Week 2020.
The 32nd edition of the Seminario Europa was held in Rome under the title: “for young people and for relaunching the country: IVET and professional training chain potential” (Per i giovani e per il rilancio del Paese – Potenzialità dell’IeFP e della filiera formativa professionalizzante). The talks focused on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the needs and potential these circumstances offer to redesign and innovate Vocational Education and Training and Work Based Learning models.
With the transnational conference of the Erasmus+ funded project Eduwork.Net integrated into the event, special attention was placed on ‘Improving Quality in Work Based Learning’. The conference brought together the expertise and experience of VET professionals from Greece, UK, Spain, Italy, Lithuania and Ireland.
After Ciofs-fp President Manuela Robazza and Eduwork.Net project coordinator Tiziana Piacentini welcomed the attendees, a virtual roundtable discussion offered a fruitful exchange on VET policies. The participants included Italian National Association of VET providers (FORMA) president Paola Vacchina, Italian National Council for Economics and Labour (CNEL) president Tiziano Treu, and State Secretary at the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies Francesca Puglisi. After learning about current Italian WBL policy initiatives, the head of unit at the DG Employment on VET, Apprenticeships and Adult Learning, Chiara Riondino, offered insights on current WBL trends in Europe and EU-level policies.
Next, Eduwork.Net project manager at CECE (Madrid) Tomás Serrano presented the results of the field research on Work Based Learning in the Eduwork.Net partnership countries (a summary of which can be found on this website). Valentina Buitta of Assolombarda and Roberta Gagliardi of Confartigianato (both are associations of businesses and entrepreneurs) and Rocco Dabraio, CEO of Impianti Elettrici Dabraio, then discussed the requirements and contributions required to implement successful WBL practices, from the perspective of entrepreneurs.
Participants also shared select good practices of WBL in Italy, Lithuania, UK, Ireland, Greece and Spain, inspiring each other with new approaches. We will be sharing some of these approaches in the coming weeks via our social media channels.
Finally, Natassa Kazantzidou, project manager at IDEC SA in Greece, discussed the importance of developing mechanisms to track VET learners in apprenticeships, and offered more details on how the Eduwork.Net project will be working on this.
As the project progresses, partners will continue the work of building a network of VET providers, developing the virtual networking space. A major phase of this work includes creating the European projects support office which will work with new VET providers who join the network. Together, the aim is to realise the mobilities of students and teachers across Europe.
