Industry 4.0, digital revolution, smart factories, global interconnection – these are the keywords describing the present developments of the labour world. Vocational training can become “the first choice” to live this transformation, but at present only a few training centres in Europe can exploit necessary equipment and, even more important, teachers and trainers are not aware of the dimension of such changes, or can exploit the required tools (conceptual and methodological first, rather than technological). Some of them tend to adapt the same (sometimes old fashioned) methods to new topics; some of them are not fully aware of existing on-line tools for learning, teaching, assessing; some of them do not interact with each other as much as they could, thinking they have know-how to “defend” ; some of them need a clearer picture of the nature, implications and real meaning of the 4.0 paradigm, which is not only ”Industry” 4.0 and technology. In order to make VET sustainable, it is relevant updating its times and tools, favouring collaboration among teachers/trainers, learners, training providers, companies, social parts, local authorities. Fit for 4.0 intends to take this challenge, by describing a set of competences useful to VET teachers, and by developing and testing a set of training modules fit for “4.0”, in strict co-operation with companies. Project objectives are: - describing a “minimum” of skills, namely didactical and transversal, needed by teachers/trainers, especially those involved in HVET, with regard to the 4.0 transition; - developing a competence self-assessment tool, allowing VET teachers/trainers to measure their readiness for the 4.0 world and digital transformation; - developing and testing, in strong cooperation with enterprises, a resource pack for trainers, a training programme delivered as a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), complete with examples of training material, methods for learning assessment, (truly) innovative tools for training and learning; - exploiting that MOOC to train a sample group of trainers, who will pilot their learning by co-designing training modules/programs in this new 4.0 concept, together with businesses; - making such products available to everyone, even beyond the partnership, through a knowledge base of OER freely accessible via the same on-line platform used by the sample group; - identifying a set of policy recommendations/suggestions to local, national and European decision makers, for future updating of teachers’ and trainers’ competences. To ensure concreteness, the project focusses on the mechanic, mechatronic and automotive sectors, where advanced digital competences are necessary, digital revolution is already started, and meaningful company experience is in place. The train-the-trainer programme aims mostly at improving skills for teaching, using innovative methods and tools, embedding the 4.0 paradigm in day-by-day work. That is why it relates to topics like understanding the sense and the impact of the 4.0 paradigm on study and work, or how to develop and run interdisciplinary 4.0 training modules together with colleagues and companies, how to make use of training methods which anticipate operational processes at the workplace, how to assess competences in the digital era, and so on. This train-the-trainer programme is practical and at the same time “intrinsically digital”, built up with the same instruments it offers, that is, by transnational teams composed by trainers and company experts, making use of on-line cooperative platforms. Trainers taking the programme will not sit in a classroom or in front of a computer, listening for hours another trainer rattling off tens of slides; rather, they will learn by visiting companies, by discussing with peers (even at distance), by exploiting Design Thinking and Instructional Design techniques, by exchanging views with experts and professionals, and by "seriously" playing. Main expected results are: - more skilled VET teachers and trainers; - improved quality of learning, hence better employability of students and attractiveness of VET; - increased and stable cooperation between training providers, teachers/trainers and enterprises; - availability of sustainable tools, transferable to other economic sectors and other European countries. Fit for 4.0 is performed by a strong consortium of 10 partners in 8 EU Member States: Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, representing a competent and skilled mix of excellent European VET players, in the spirit of providing for a true “strategic partnership”.
The project aims to: - describe a "minimum" set of competencies, in particular didactic and transversal ones, necessary for teachers of higher vocational education and training with respect to the transition to the 4.0 paradigm; - provide teachers with a self-assessment tool, to reflect on their own role and on how "equipped" they are for the digital transformation (i.e. "ready" to be teachers in the 4.0 world) - provide teachers with a training course, in the form of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on the non-technological skills they need to teach in the 4.0 world, created and tested in close collaboration with companies; - use the MOOC to train a sample group of teachers, who will experiment what they have learnt by co-designing training modules or courses with companies, under this new 4.0 approach; - make the products developed freely accessible to all, through the same online platform used by the sample group; - identify a set of recommendations/suggestions for the future of updating teachers' skills.
Industry 4.0 and digital transformation are key words to describe present developments in the labor market. Digitization, globalization, and networking, all challenge enterprises of all sizes, and it is clear that the transformation goes beyond the technological sphere and invests the organizational one and the ways of working. Vocational training can become the first choice for riding this transformation, but even today only a few training centers in Europe have the necessary equipment, and teachers are not always fully aware of the dimensions of change or do not have the necessary tools (conceptual and educational, even before technological). Some adapt the same old methods to the new; some do not know the online tools that already exist for learning, teaching, and assessing; some do not interact as much as they could and "defend" their know-how; some need a clearer vision of the real meaning of the 4.0 paradigm, which is not only technology. Fit for 4.0 took up this challenge, describing a set of non-technological competencies useful for VET teachers and developing and testing a set of '4.0' tools and training units in close cooperation with enterprises.