The project will be implemented in a situation where Finnish VET has strengthened the development of the new reform legislation, which is closely linked to the European competence based VET. On aim of the europeanization of VET is to promote recognition of competences acquired in different countries in other EU countries. This objective supports the mobility of labor and skills in Europe and strengthens competitiveness of Economy in regional, national and European level. The coordinator of the project is Finland and the partners come from Germany, Estonia, Sweden and Spain. The main target group of the project is the organizers of vocational education and training in Europe. The aim of the project is to strengthen competence-based vocational training. The project promotes student mobility and the ability to find righ kind of workplace for traineeships in Europe. The project improves the quality of assessment of skills, competence and knowledge of VET students. The project compiles information about companies, their jobs and learning environments on the digital platform. The project will produce three Intellectual Outputs, which will enable the expected results to be realized: Product / Intellectual Output 1; Coaching program for students; Product / Intellectual Output 2: A digital platform supporting expertise and personalization of learning paths; Product / Intellectual Output 3: Coaching Program for Teachers. AFter testing and piloting the project have Output 4: Model for Personalized Competence Based Learning Paths for VET in Europe Development responsibilities and actions for products are shared between project partners. The role of Germany is to respond to the development of the O1. Estonia has the responsibility of O2 and Finland O3. Partners supports eacher others during the project. The more detailed content of the products is agreed separately at the project meetings. The products are piloted and tested under the guidance of a Swedish partner (O4). The Spanish partner is responsible for disseminating the results of the project. Spanish schools work for the testing and piloting the outcomes. The impact after the end of the project is based on the use and expansion of the outcomes made there. The use of digital platform as well as the content of coaching programs are monitored. With the expansion of use of the products, new European partners will be added to the platform. In the dissemination process new users will ensure the effectiveness of the project´s outcomes. The coordinator will continue to maintain the platform for at least five years after the end of the project. The project supports the general objectives set for European mobility of skills and workforce. Regional, national and international competitiveness in Europe in relation to the rest of the world will improve. Students', teachers' and entrepreneurs' skills for internationalization are developing. The co-operaton of European VET institutions in different regions will be tighter and more planned.
The competence-based VET has been promoted in the 21st century EU by, among other things, the European ECVET and the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). The acquisition of the project was necessary to identify a different amount of acquired skills and the recognition in other EU countries to strengthen competence-based vocational training. The project was coordinated from Finland and the partners came from Germany, Estonia, Sweden and Spain. The primary target group of the project was VET institutions and students in Europe. The project suffered major setbacks. The sudden death of the project manager and the Covid-19 epidemic caused work challenges and the cancellation of mobility caused massive reorganizations. During the project, it was stated that competence-based concept is implemented differently and at different levels from the point of view of the Finnish perspective. Fe. in Finland and Estonia, competence-based is comprehended and understood as a broad concept that enables students to personalize their studies according to their own needs and abilities, studies are not time-bound. While in Germany and Spain, competence-based concept and personalization are only just coming to the debate. Its’ importance is seen as one development point of one's own educational culture. Legislative issues and educational policy traditions in particular were seen as a challenge. In Finland, for example, the reform of VET was possible due to changes of entire legislation. This created the conditions for Finnish competence-based learning. Sweden expressed a desire to find new models for VET that will serve better the changing society. Germany’s dual model is strong and this type of education model can be challenging, but also the dual model could benefit from competence-based and personalization approach. The project involved an intensive discussion on the differences, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of education systems, as well as barriers. The aim of the project was to support the mobility of skilled labor in Europe and to strengthen national and European competitiveness, as well as to promote and make mobility more flexible. However, no funding was granted for student mobility in the project, so the objectives and experiences in this respect were not achieved. However, the material and tools produced during the project will further promote and facilitate mobility and the possibility of finding internships in partner cities. At the same time, the opportunities for companies to offer suitable internships in terms of students' competence goals are also supported. Development responsibilities and measures in product design and production were shared among the project partners. Germany was responsible for IO1, Estonia IO2, Finland IO3, Sweden and Spain IO4 product development. The partners supported the responsible actors during the project. More detailed content of the products was agreed at the project meetings. The products were piloted and tested in Sweden and Spain with students and teachers. The responsibility for the development of IO2 was transferred to REDU by joint decision and an ICT postgraduate student was hired for the project. Testing the products through student mobility was not possible even with non-project funding, as the pandemic prevented them. As a result, testing had to be carried out locally in Spain and at Swedish schools. The testing process was two-step. The feedback from the first test revealed shortcomings in usability. The test teams (students) did not find the site customer-friendly, so the site needed to be further developed. As the ICT student's schedule and skill were not enough to develop the product, a web design service had to be purchased at this point. After this, the testing was repeated and the customer feedback was better in all respects. The Spanish partner was responsible for disseminating the results throughout the project. Due to the pandemic, physical meetings could not be organized, which reduced the content and forms of information (fragmentation of work, short online meetings). The original plan was to carry out an extensive seminar. Key stakeholders in the education sector, industry and cities and provinces. Due to the assembly restrictions imposed on Covid-19, it had to be reduced to a network meeting between the partners. The virtual implementation failed due to the lack of technical infrastructure available for the event. The project produced four products (Intellectual Outputs): IO1 Coaching Program for Students; IO2 A digital platform that supports mobility, competence-based learning and personalization of studies, on which all outputs were compiled, e.g. guidance materials for students and teachers on mobility and a description of the mobility process (before-during-after). The aim was to collect information from companies in the partner regions to help students to find most suitable internship place from the point of students’ curricula. This helps also companies to recruit most suitable student for them. However, the collection of detailed information in some countries was prevented by country-specific issues. IO3 Coaching program for teachers and a guidance model that supports competence-based learning and personalization of studies (IO4). However, the products developed will promote mobility, improve its’ quality and support the competence-based learning and personalization of VET, depending on how it is possible to implement it on a country-by-country basis (e.g legislation). Due to the inability to implement student mobility in the workplace, the project couldn’t provide experience information from workplace counselors or students on how the tools produced in the project work in practice and how the acquired skills are assessed from the perspective of curricula and different education systems. All outputs will be available and in use after the end of the project. The partners have agreed to continue implementing mobility within the network. In these mobilities will be utilized and tested the tools produced in the project. Based on experiences and feedback the digital platform is constantly being updated, all partners are committed to updating their own section of the platform. REDU will be responsible for the maintenance costs of the platform after the end of the project, and the use of the digital platform and the content on it will be monitored. The platform will be deployed in all international mobilities and the partner network will be proactively expanded according to demand.