This project arose out of a common interest amongst the three partner institutions to provide the very best vocational education pathways for their learners. To this end, there are three main foci: 1. How to provide the highest quality vocational and work-based learning for the learners in each of the partner institutions. 2. How to create assessment structures and processes that work for the learners and enable each one to have an accredited qualification that is recognised about the European Union through implementation of ECVET. 3. How to ensure that migrant children and young learners are able to integrate into the education system as quickly and positively as possible, enabling them thereby to access suitable and appropriate vocational educational pathways. Each of the three partners has their own sphere of expertise and wish to share this expertise across the three institutions. There is an enormous sense of excitement and goodwill towards this as it will bring only positive outcomes to the educational experience of the learners and to the professional development of staff in the three partners. Those students directly involved in the project outcomes number nearly 1,000 but in total the potential number of students and staff who will benefit from the outcomes of this project is much higher, notwithstanding those staff and students who benefit outside of the three partner institutions. Within each partner, there are 3 members of staff directly involved in the project with the outcomes being disseminated across the partnership and beyond through a final report and a dedicated website which will showcase the success of the partnership. The structure of the programme is based around 3 visits per year of the two-year project, with one visit to each partner by 3 appropriately selected members of staff from the other two partners. Throughout the 24 months, there will be regular bi-monthly Skype conferences and a blog (checked on a weekly basis by the Project Manager for each partner institution) will be used for daily input of thoughts, actions, evaluations and comments. Very regular communication throughout the duration of the project will keep all participants abreast of developments. Action planning will take place at the final part of each visit and direct the way forward for each member between visits. The lead organisation will appoint a Project Manager for the overall progress of the project, with each partner institution appointing a project manager who will lead on moving the project forward. The outcome of this project will be a scheme of successful ways of implementing vocational education leading to accreditation that is recognised on an international level. This will be documented in the final report and on the dedicated website. In addition, the three partners foresee longer-term links which will continue beyond the life of this project. This project is seen not as a two year project but the beginning of a long and fruitful working relationship on a European level.
At the lead organisation, we wanted to implement our new T levels successfully and ensure we were learning from best practice in more mature and embedded vocational education systems where the perception of the value of technical education is higher. We also had specific learning objectives pertaining to Industry placements and developing quality bilateral relationships with local industry partners to maximise the value of high-quality work placements. For our partners, this new UK initiative enabled them to reflect on and consider their own systems strengths and potential areas for development. Additional objectives related to sharing experience and successful interventions to support the assimilation of new migrant students, often with significant language barriers and ways to ensure they can access suitable and appropriate vocational pathways. Through the sharing of best practice, we were also keen to collaborate on assessment systems and structures used within vocational education and map the relations of our qualifications across different educational systems, both pre and post-16. Ultimately, for all of the partners, this initial two-year project was always intended as the beginning of building a sustained and mutually beneficial cooperation with our European neighbours.
This project arose out of a common interest amongst the three partner institutions to provide the very best vocational education pathways for their learners. Cranford Community College, as lead organisation, were part of the Wave 1 implementation of the UK's new T levels and wanted to learn from some of the best international practice in technical education, particularly as regards links with industry, tracking and monitoring students on work placements and raising the status of vocational education towards parity with academic pathways. Each of the three partners has their own sphere of expertise and wished top share this across three very different institutions: a small specialist technical college in the Arctic; a large college in Central Netherlands and a 11-19 secondary school in Hounslow in West London. The main foci of the project were: • Provision of vocational education to ensure the highest quality vocational/technical education for the learners in each partner institution • Provision for immigrants and refugee children ensuring that migrant children are able to integrate into the host country's education system is quickly and positively as possible • Development of different forms of assessment