The aim of this project is twofold namely; firstly for students to be afforded the opportunity to enhance their learning experience, provide them with the opportunities that working in another jurisdiction can provide, including increased motivation, engagement, societal awareness, multicultural and intercultural awareness, initiative and relationship management, critical thinking skills and obtaining a heightened awareness of the vocational specialism by: For students Enhance the students critical thinking and problem solving skills and thereby provide them with opportunity to take initiative and develop relationship management and interpersonal skills. Raise awareness of best practice of their chosen vocational specialism, raise awareness of cultural similarities and differences, enhance personal and professional development and promote a sense of European citizenship and identity. Enable learners to take responsibility for their own learning and to work independently while under supervision. Afford students the opportunity to explore how to effectively participate and practice their employability skills while on the work experience mobility. Facilitate learners to develop an understanding of the world of work and employment including rights and responsibilities of both the employer and the employee problem solving, meeting deadlines & targets and managing their time by planning ahead. Facilitate learners to cope with everyday work life challenges such as, conflict, criticism, cultural differences and language barriers. And secondly for teaching staff by transforming teachers’ capacity to deliver modern curricula to their learners by incorporating new methodologies or practices observed during the project into their course delivery such as UDL and the use of blended or technology enhanced learning and to align themselves with best international practice, which supports their role in providing successful outcomes for their own learners. Staff mobility will provide an opportunity for teachers in VET to up-skill and re-skill in a non- formal and supportive learning environment. The project aims to foster a culture of increased understanding of different cultures and an improved understanding of the similarities/differences in the structure and delivery of VET in partner jurisdictions and thereby: For teaching staff Transform teachers’ capacity to deliver a modern curriculum to learners within an international context, and to increase the expertise of our VET staff at organisational level. For example, observation of how partner organisations coordinate the delivery of VET programmes in their colleges, how work experience placements for learners are managed, including the opportunity for teachers to observe how the necessary vocational skills required are practiced by learners in other jurisdictions i.e., responsibilities of Health Care assistants in nursing homes. Consider how blended learning or technology enhanced learning is incorporated into programmes Observe how inclusivity is planned, implemented and reviewed for example, the Universal Design of Learning model. Experience of learning from partner organisations will afford VET teachers knowledge and skills in their vocational area of expertise not readily available to them in our regional or national context. Engaging in job shadowing is seen as an affirming activity for staff which will enhance their capacity to develop critical thinking competencies. Improving capacity to critically reflect on and evaluate own pedagogical practice through the wider European perspective. Increasing understanding of strategies for student motivation and engagement in the VET sector within the European framework. Fostering a positive attitude to engagement in Continuing Professional Development and lifelong learning. Increasing teacher potential to become involved with National and European Networks and Communities of Practice. Building capacity of our VET teaching staff to contextualise the European dimension of their vocational specialisms in line with European educational frameworks and recommendations. The following documents were considered at the time. The Council of the EU's framework for EU Cooperation in Education and Training's, acknowledgment of the leadership role provided by education and training institutions. The Riga medium term deliverables for VET recommended empowering networks that support VET teachers such as communities of practice. Cedefop asserts that teaching and training staff are taking on a broader role than in the past and that managerial, team working, interdisciplinary and communication skills should be key to CPD practice.
The VET/FET sector in Ireland seeks to contribute to social cohesion, equity and prosperity in Ireland, Europe and beyond by providing learners with the knowledge, skills and competence to engage in a complex and changing labour market. The VET/FET sector also supports learners in becoming active citizens at National and European level. The VET/FET sector in Ireland has experienced rapid changes both at a national (SOLAS), organisational level (DDLETB) and regional & local level (Dundrum CFE). In 2013 SOLAS, the new Further Education and Training Authority, became responsible for the strategic coordination and funding of the FET sector nationally. The Department of Education's National Skills Strategy 2025, aims for Ireland to have an education and training system that will deliver more flexible, innovative and interdisciplinary skills. Dundrum College of Further Education (DCFE) aims to respond to the needs of Ireland's increasing multicultural population with our active role in delivering vocational education and training that is innovative, creative and inclusive. DCFE applied for this Erasmus+ project in 2018, as we aimed to address the four objectives identified in the EU Education and Training 2020 strategy including the promotion of lifelong learning, mobility, equality, social cohesion and active citizenship. VET/FET students are not currently provided with the opportunity to gain or improve European language competency and we wanted to work towards improving this. We believed that the opportunity to provide eighteen students with the opportunity to complete their work placement with our partner organisations would develop their sense of EU citizenship, support the awareness of transferable skills and the development of a love for lifelong learning. We believed the learner mobility experience would enhance and increase competencies and hone skills for employment for our participating learners in that they would be exposed to new and different methods of working. This we suggested would ensure that those participating would be equipped with enhanced skills, be more flexible and adaptable and thereby more responsive to an ever changing labour market. Lastly for our students we wanted to raise awareness of the opportunities afforded by Erasmus+ to learn in another jurisdiction and how this supported the integration of competencies, our hope at the time was that they would become ambassadors of Erasmus+ and encourage others to become involved in the future For our teaching staff we wanted to create the opportunity for our teaching community to identify and work with international partner organisations with a view to enhancing the European dimension of our work. Our aim “to facilitate professional development for VET staff” was in line with the SOLAS Professional Development Strategy 2017-2019, which identified wide ranging developmental needs in areas such as contemporary professional practice, subject and course related expertise and technology and systems to support the modern learning process and environment, and to introduce a new way of thinking about professional development and the benefits of lifelong learning, ie the teachers as learners in this context. In supporting the professional development and competence of teaching staff working in VET/FET we believed that this would enhance innovation, through new teaching methods, thereby improving the quality and inclusiveness of our VET/FET delivery at local, regional, national and international level. Our final aim was to raise awareness within DCFE of cultural similarities and differences and to promote a sense of European citizenship.