The Vocational Training offers a technical and specialized option, oriented to the successful labour insertion or a reincorporation into labour market. However, although these studies make it possible to continue to higher studies, this is rarely achieved because the methodological gap between the two educative levels. In the case of students with fewer opportunities these barriers are almost always insurmountable. The aim of the project is to generate high-quality results that allow implementing a high performance internship system abroad for students with difficulties in social inclusion or future employment inclusion coursing half cycles of vocational training in a network of research centers and technology-based companies. Such internship system will significantly promote the participant students’ employability, especially the one of those with fewer opportunities, providing them with experience in a demanding work setting, and improving their curricula. Further, this young people will be encouraged to pursue higher education. These goals are really difficult to attain for students with these kind of barriers. This system will involve a network of cutting-edge research centres, which will employ a very innovative methodology, created within this project, based on collaborative working and on the student’s integration in brand new internships: excellence technological or scientific research group and tech-based enterprises. The fundamental teaching methodology will be encouraging the critical thinking and the overcoming of problems through collaborative working, in which the results of the rest of the students will be necessary to obtain their own results. It deals with teaching the students with fewer opportunities (cultural, economic and social barriers) that the technologic and scientific progress is associated with critical spirit, which questions any argument or explanation of an observed phenomenon, coming from any source, until that oneself do not find a satisfactory explanation through combined effort. This methodology also will teach them to overcome social intolerance and cultural barriers This kind of training will be acquired by participating in innovative working groups and in a joint research project defined by all the network partners. As a pilot test, several students will receive a certificated training course to learn how to work on high technology research projects The project will last 24 months, and four transnational meetings (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic) for coordinating the material elaboration and project development. Seven prestigious entities will be the partners: IKASIA TECHNOLOGIES and UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA from Spain, SOMATICA and UNIVERSIDAD DO MINHO from Portugal, EKATI and TEI of Crete from Greece and CHARLES UNIVERSITY from Czech Republic. Together with them a large network of collaborating entities such as IES ENRIQUE TIERNO GALVÁN, IES POLITÉCNICO DE CARTAGENA, I.E.S. ALMIRANTE BASTARRECHE, CE JUSTE and CONSORZIO INTERAZIENDALE CANAVESANO FOR VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT SERVICES among others. During the project two main high quality results will be made: -- O1. METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR HIGH TECH CENTERS TO HOST VET STUDENT INTERNSHIPS. A guide targeted to the high technological centers who will host VET students. The result will show them how the students will learn and develop typical functions from the positions within the high technology projects, and at the same time they will develop the critical thinking and the STEM competenes of VET students. -- O2. CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT FOR QUALITY AND INNOVATION IN VET CENTERS THROUGH CROSS-SECTORAL CO-OPERATION. A result targeted to VET Centers who will allow establishing the “critical thinking” as an innovative methodology for VET learning through the collaboration among VET centres, research centres and companies. These educational materials, jointly with a great variety of tangible and structural results, will allow the creation of the TRAINING PROGRAM FOR INTERNSHIPS IN HIGH TECHNOLOGICAL CENTERS, once the project be ended. This program will be an internships program service for VET students (especially for refugees, migrants or at risk of poverty) to make practices in high tech entities. During this internship system, VET students will be included in leading research projects. It will be the culmination of the curricular development proposed in O2 and O1 and will have a great impact on the employability and ability of students. It is expected this project will have a great impact in VET students with fewer opportunities, VET Centres, Universities, Research centres and high tech companies. The project’s sustainability will be ensured including more organisations into the network, increasing over time, many of them VET centres which want to extend this project to new students or to new VET field branches.
VET education offers a technical and specialized learning, aimed at successful labor insertion or the access to the labor market. However, although the VET students can continue with higher studies, this is rarely achieved due to the methodological gap between the two educational levels. In the case of students with fewer needs, these barriers are almost always insurmountable. For those VET students, the CRITICAL THINKING AS A STEP FORWARD İN VET EDUCATION project has been developed over two years. Through the joint work of an intersectoral strategic association formed by research centers, technology-based companies and VET centers, high quality materials were created. These results are able to promote the critical thinking and competencies of the students in VET education necessary for them to work in high-tech centers. But also, offering an orientation to the technological centers so that they are able to welcome and take advantage of people with this degree. The future perspective is to implement a system of work practices in high-performance centers abroad for students with difficulties in social inclusion or labor inclusion in the future. The system developed, based on the various results generated (especially intellectual results), is significantly promoting the employability of participating students, especially those with fewer opportunities, providing them with experience in a demanding work environment and improving their plans for study. Although the project was granted in the extraordinary resolution of December 2017. In 21 months a very participatory and effective international network has been generated, where four transnational meetings (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic) and many and various performances have been made. The partners have been seven prestigious entities: IKASIA TECHNOLOGIES and UPV of Spain, SOMATICA and UNIVERSIDAD DO MINHO of Portugal, EKATI and TEI of Crete of Greece and CHARLES UNIVERSITY of the Czech Republic. Together with them, a large network of collaborating entities such as IES ENRIQUE TIERNO GALVÁN, IES POLITÉCNICO DE CARTAGENA, CIFP HESPERIDES and CE JUSTE. All of them have generated two high quality intellectual results such as: - O1. METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR HIGH TECHNOLOGY CENTERS TO WELCOME PRACTICE OF VET STUDENTS. A guide aimed at high-tech centers participating in the TRAINING PROGRAM FOR TRAINING IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY CENTERS (FCT) for VET students. The result shows how students will learn and develop typical job functions within high-tech projects, and at the same time they will develop the critical thinking and STEM skills of VET students. - O2. CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT FOR QUALITY AND INNOVATION IN VET CENTERS THROUGH THE SECTOR TRANSVERSAL COOPERATION. A result aimed at VET Centers that allows establishing "critical thinking" as an innovative methodology for VET learning through collaboration between VET centers, research centers and companies. Together with various tangible results such as example laboratory notebooks, dissemination materials, a training program for internships in high-tech centers and protocols, educational materials and scientific publications in the field of pedagogical innovation. In this project we have carried out a powerful dissemination phase that has included, in addition to the two proposed multiplier events (which had a great success of participation of media multiplier agents, political authorities, teachers ...), 3 Large Dissemination Activities and More than 25 dissemination activities of the project impacting in 22 countries where more than 80 entities and federations have participated, covering more than one hundred educational centers and companies. The impact has been very high because the edited materials are already being implemented in more than 10 educational centers and technology centers in Europe today. In addition, the "TRAINING PROGRAM IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY WORK CENTERS", which was to be implemented as of the end of this project, is already a reality having signed the agreements for the realization of the first practices in technological centers during the next 2019-2020 course. In addition, this impact will continue to grow and expand as the THINKING 4 VET CRITICAL NETWORK has been consolidated, which in addition to exploiting the results generated, is promoting new projects and spreading among new entities and countries. Our network has achieved direct impact in more than 20 countries and three new VET centers and 5 new high-tech centers are already part of it.