The project WHEEL DONE – Enforced alliances between VET providers in the car mechanic field was created as a consequence of the needs identified at the level of all partners, at local level/regional/national level, organization based level and target group level. At first, intention for such a project belonged to Technological Highschool Aurel Persu who needs to professionalize own work, to increase abilities of the VET teachers and other school staff and also performances of their students. Soon after, a partnership started to configure at local level with the company Sc Vladadel Srl and after with two other partners from Italy (VET center) and Spain (NGO) who are activating in the same field but from a different angle (San Vicenzo Vocational Training Association and Spanish Confederation for Training Centers). The common needs of the partners are in line with the 3 national contexts and with the Erasmus+ and national priorities in the field of VET and raising employability among youth. Therefor, partners have identified as common needs the following: - Increased collaboration/networking between VET providers and companies in order to enhance practical skills and employability readiness of VET graduates - Improved teaching competences and capacity to update learning programs to technological progress - Introduction/development of career counselling programs in VET organizations - Improved social image of VET training and professional career pathways The local and national contexts point out few critical aspects which are in close connection to the needs of the partner organizations and target group selection: - Insufficient career counseling programs fostering the development of students’ employment competences and skills in order to increase quality of education and relevance for the labour market - Lack of student centered learning systems, tailored on their needs - Almost non-existent collaborative learning - Insufficient or inefficient partnerships with companies from the sector in order to diversify the offer of practical stages, as well as the quality of tutoring at workplace - Apprenticeship often do not foster learning of relevant competences and labour market integration - School drop out is very high in the car mechanic sector (only 4% of pupils manage to pass the Bachelor exam) - Rate of employment of young people in every partner country is very low, especially in this sector Therefor, European Commission and national governments have identified the need to „develop partnerships with employers, with the aim on promoting work based learning and practical activity in all its forms, including dual learning, with a special attention given to apprentices, through the involvement of social partners, companies, organizations/institutions who offer professional training and with a specific interest on locqal and regional dimension, in order to produce concrete results”. The direct target group of our project is 16 VET professionals and administrative personnel (teachers, trainers, tutors, mentors, career counselors, project managers, school directors) and 13 VET students (learners). The indirect target group is formed from other 40 VET professionals, 80 VET students and about 350 relevant stakeholders at community level mainly. The goal of the project is to create qualitative learning opportunities for VET learners based on partnership between VET institutions and companies (developing human potential, adapted to market needs and technological progress) by establishing a partnership formed from 4 partners (Technological Highschool Aurel Persu - RO, Sc Vladadel Srl - RO, AFP – IT and CECE - SP) coming from 3 EU countries (Romania, Italy and Spain). Activities of the project will include 3 learning/teaching/training mobility opportunities out of which 2 will be short term joint staff training events of 5 working days and 1 blended mobility of VET learners of 5 working days. Some of the concrete expected results of the project are: - to produce a positive impact on the direct target group by increasing their abilities and teaching competencies as well as capacity to update learning programs to technological progress - enforcing cooperation between different VET providers – social actors, companies, VET institutions - to produce a Strategical Development Plan for all partners involved in the project - to produce an Integrated Career Services Pack to be used by all partners and their current and future beneficiaries - to disseminate the project in every partner country also through local dissemination events - to strengthen cooperation among the 4 project partners and to prepare at least one new Erasmus+ project for the future
The aim of the project was to create qualitative learning opportunities for VET learners based on a partnership between VET institutions and companies (developing human potential, adapted to labour market needs and technological progress). With this project we intended to offer to our teachers and students the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge with students and teachers from the other partner countries, and to offer to all the possibility to see other learning contexts, other perspectives and ways of doing the things. In the same time, we were interested in building on an international cooperation partnership (the first in our school) and in understanding better the Erasmus+ regulations and opportunities for the future. We focused on strengthening the cooperation with car companies at local level but were also interested in learning how cooperation school-business is defined in other countries and how benefits are highlighted. In terms of the partnership created which gathered partners from the business sector, schools and NGO, we looked very much at learning from each other and improving our methods and instruments by "stealing" ideas from the others.
Technological Highschool Aurel Persu is one of the 7 professional high-schools in Targu-Mures and the only at county level providing training only for the automotive sector. The high-school has a dual training program for 7 qualifications and a contractual partnership with car companies within the city where VET students are doing their practical activities and apprenticeships. We decided to apply for an Erasmus project because there are many needs that students and teachers have, as well as needs regarding the cooperation between school and the business sector. Concretely, the needs we identified are: - Low access of students to advanced equipment in line with the technological progress. Our school and schools in general, are outdated in equipment and students need to have different and diverse perspectives - Students lack employability skills and attitudes because of the age, because of insufficient real "work-based" experiences and insufficient learning exchanges with students from other countries - VET teachers need to keep up with technological progress and to update the information they transfer to students - VET teachers need at their turn more experiential activities in care services and closer cooperation with tutors