The project JobIT focused on the development of software development skills of Vocational education and training (VET) graduates, developing those skills according to the needs of the labour market. Three partner organizations from Estonia (BCS Koolitus), Italy (CEIPES) and Cyprus (EUC) were involved in creating and establishing a collaboration that ended up in the creation of several outcomes all aimed in reducing the gap between VET and labour market in the field of software development. Partners: BCS Koolitus AS is one of oldest and largest ICT training and consulting company in Estonia, who offers training and consulting services to ICT users, ICT specialists and business managers since 1993. Centro Internazionale per la Promozione dell Educazione e lo Sviluppo (CEIPES) is a non-profit European organization with antennas in more than eight European countries. European University Cyprus (EUC) is private university, founded in 1961 to provide well-rounded programs of study combining academic and practical knowledge. The institution has a student enrolment of 5,600 and provides international recognized undergraduate, graduate and doctorate degrees. Finding people with the right experience and skills continues to be a challenge across Europe. Skills mismatches and occupational shifts have worsened as jobs are opening up for technical professionals in Europe. It is a well-known fact that programmers are the most sought professionals in almost all European countries. Until recent years in majority of European countries software development jobs have been regarded needing educational preparation on Master’s or minimum Bachelor’s level. Today there are many successful examples of teaching programming starting already in primary schools. Examples of successful software development curricula on EQF levels 3, 4 and 5 are in different European countries, but they are not common yet. Some employers are still hesitating whether the vocational training provides the skills needed in labour market. JobIT project focused on meeting the needs of the employers with developing innovative and effective software development teaching methodologies for Vocational Education and Training on EQF levels 3-5. The research of the labour market needs and the views of employers was an integral part of the project and carried out in all partner countries. One focus of the research was to disseminate the understanding that vocational schools are capable of preparing skilled workers to start take their first job as junior programmer. The conceptual framework was created based on the research and integrated with innovative teaching methodologies of the crucial subjects of software development. Crucial subjects are not just directly programming-related subjects, but also social behaviour related subjects tackling teamwork, cooperation, project management etc. Good cooperation and close interaction with employers and real customers is crucial in VET education, especially in ICT. Thus, the methodology relies strongly on engaging working specialists in the teaching process and also providing real-life tasks and mentoring during practice period. Innovative methodologies and tips are described in teachers’ handbook in a form of guidelines for the teachers. DRFT Report Form The project also included training for VET school software development course teachers. The training was carried out in all three countries with the specialists as lecturers. Because of the training, the participating VET teachers are now more confident in their knowledge and skills on teaching software development because of acquired knowledge during training and straight from the field during their practice. The European labour market will benefit from the skilled and competent VET graduates.
Finding people with the right experience and skills continues to be a challenge across Europe. Skills mismatches and occupational shifts have worsened as jobs are opening up for technical professionals in Europe. It is a well-known fact that programmers are the most sought professionals in almost all European countries. Software development in a wider sense is becoming an integrated part of many different jobs in the modern society. Different sources declare thousands and tens of thousands developers needed in the labor market. Until recent years in majority of European countries software development jobs have been regarded needing educational preparation on Master’s or minimum Bachelor’s level. Today there are many successful examples of teaching programming starting already in primary schools. Examples of successful software development curricula on EQF levels 3, 4 and 5 can be found in different European countries, but they are not common yet. Also the employers are sometimes still hesitating whether the vocational training provides the skills needed in labor market. The partnership is composed by 3 members; all of them are active in ICT related training and education. Partner 1 - BCS Koolitus is ICT training and consulting company established in 1993 in Estonia, offering a full training process, from assessment of needs, till measuring the training results. BCS has been the awarding body of the professional qualifications in the field of IT since 2010. Partner 2 - CEIPES is a non-profit European organization with antennas in more than 8 European countries. Partner 3 - EUC - European University Cyprus is a private university, member of Laureate International Universities, a worldwide network of Higher Education institutions founded in the United States. The JobIT project focuses on meeting the needs of the employers with developing innovative and effective software development teaching methodologies for Vocational Education and Training on EQF levels 3-5. For this the consortium took the following actions. To study the labor market needs and the views of employers a focused analysis is a first and an integral part of the project. The study analyses the numerous ICT labor market research studies carried out in the partner countries and other European countries and study the needs for EQF level 3-5 software developers in participating countries. One focus of the study was to disseminate the understanding that vocational schools are capable of preparing skilled to start take their first job as junior programmer. Based on the study a conceptual framework was put together innovative integrated teaching methodology of the crucial subjects of software development. Crucial subjects are not just directly programming-related subjects, but also mathematics and social behavior related subjects tackling team-work, cooperation, project management etc. Good cooperation and close interaction with employers and real customers is crucial in developing the relevant methodology. Thus the methodology strongly rely on engaging field working practicians in the teaching process, but also providing real-life tasks and mentoring during practice period. The innovative methods were collected into handbook as a set of principles for the VET teachers. Based on the research results the consortium worked out a package of learning materials for web programming subjects (PHP and Javascript, testing). The accordingly developed courseware is using innovative educational technologies (mainly Scrum in Education) and gives teachers also guidelines how to use software development tools. The project also included a training component for VET school software development course teachers. The training were carried out in all three partner countries with the field specialists as lecturers. As a result of the training the participating VET teachers were confident in their knowledge and skills on teaching software development as having acquired the knowledge from specialists and straight from the companies during their practice. The VET schools now have guidelines (the handbook and web programming learning materials) to execute the innovative methodology for the crucial subjects of software development. After training and internship in companies, the VET teachers have better understanding of the employers needs and the field labor market. The European labor market will benefit from the skilled and competent VET graduates.