Talent management has been recognized as one of the cornerstones of modern Europe which can lead to more skilled workforce and consequently to a more “competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs... " as stated in the Lisbon strategy. Despite the importance of VET in providing skilled and quality workforce, many vocational schools and VET providers lack the capacity and competence to identify, retain and train talented students. Where there is talent management in place it is mainly focused on the academic field or art schools, have a tendency to judge talents by cognitive tests and concentrate on picking up “general talents” - without the view on giving equal opportunities to disadvantaged groups, without building on multiple intelligence models, without a special focus to train mentors and teachers to identify hiding talents, and without a highlight on the vocational field. Teachers and mentors are not prepared to identify and endorse hiding talents and in most schools there is no strategy for dealing with gifted students. With our project we aspire to contribute to change the above mindset, draw attention to the importance of talent recognition and management in VET, collect and systemize good practices, demonstrate and teach new approaches and practices in the field to teachers, trainers, mentors and leaders. Our general aims: • To explore the situation and main methodologies of talent identification and management in vocational education and to exchange good practices and ideas on talent management in general and specifically in VET. • To facilitate creating a network in Europe around the liaison of talent management and vocational education and training Our specific objectives: • To gain an overview of talent management policies and practices in the partner countries • To observe practices on mentor recruitment, selection, training, etc. with special focus on mentoring talented students • To explore ways on supporting talents with disadvantaged background • To make recommendations about talent identification and management in internship and practices with the outcome of developing a “seal of excellence in talent” part adjoining the Europass mobility certificate The partnership consists of 4 vocational schools (Ro, Nt, ES, Sl) and 1 organization directly involved in talent spotting and talent management (Hu) all with various expertise and aspirations in the field. The participants who will take part in the project are teachers, trainers, mentors and staff of the above organizations, but a wider audience will be addressed via the research, the collection of good practices, visits and dissemination activities of the project. The primary and secondary target groups which we want to address and to benefit from our project include: Primary target group: managers/ teachers/trainers of vocational education and training institutions; Leaders, managers and employees of organizations dealing with talent management/mentor programmes. Mentors, facilitators. Secondary target group: policy makers, educational bodies and decision makers in education as well as the world of labour. Within the 24 month of our project by conducting a country survey, monitoring and exchanging practices and participating at meetings and joint staff trainings aims at developing the following tangible outcomes: • Country reports on talent management policies, its legal and political background in general and in relation to VET. A comparative compilation of the reports with conclusions. • An exchange of good practices on talent management in VET. • A recommendation for an optional additional part complementing the Europass mobility certificate with a “seal of excellence in talent” part The project is expected to have an impact beyond own institution level and reach out to other organizations both in VET and in talent management. We also aspire to draw attention to the importance of our topic on national and European levels and influence educational decision makers in the field.
The whole project has been composed in a way that it promotes the idea of exploring and promoting challenges and possible solutions in the form of good practices within the field of talent identification and care in VET. All project activities underpin this common aim by the following main steps: conducting a survey about talent management policies, methodologies and practices in the respective countries, observing theories and practices on talent management in the partner organizations through meetings and joint staff trainings and engaging in dialogues about the topic with fellow teachers, mentors and other stakeholders. Our other main objective was to facilitate creating a network in Europe around the liaison of talent management and vocational education and training. The other aim of the project is to ensure creating networks and trigger dialogues around the topic of talent management in VET. Synergies created with other sectors like the world of business, academic studies, youth are equally important. Networking and dialogues were supported by face2face and online meetings and trainings.
Talent management is the area that often falls into the background of school processes. This is especially true when it comes to the matters of vocational education and mentorship in the field, since if there is talent endorsement in place it is normally connected with the academic field leaving many hidden talents in vocational education uncovered. Our project addresses the horizontal priority “supporting educators" and the VET priority “Initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors in both school and workbased settings” thus underlining the importance of educating teachers and mentors on issues in VET related talent management to reach success on and beyond institutional levels. TALENTVET project, with the active cooperation of our partners, aims to help schools to make thoughtful, conscious talent care activities in the field of vocational training. Despite the fact that talent management is in many respects a priority area of educational development and many national and international programs support school talent, there is little specific, usable help for VET schools. Our project is dedicated to show a systematic direction to educators who want to strengthen talent care with collecting good practices from different European countries. The project will review and analyse the experiences from the area of talent recognition, motivation, dealing with disadvantaged background, mentoring, excellence programs. With the collection and analysis the project’s results will support high quality teaching activities in the vocational sector. With a highlight on the existing excellence among vocational students, the teachers, students, other stakeholders will have a different approach that will support the education process and the educators.