CONTEXT Covid-19 crisis has disrupted the education process especially in VET, where digital readiness was not uniform. While remote learning offers some educational continuity, VET sector has been hardly hit by the crisis (The impact of covid-19 on education, OECD report). However, increase is foreseen in the generated value and growth rate until 2027 in TVET in Europe (Report Ocean market research, Sept.2020). Current and next generation of trainers and workers needs to be more tech savvy, as ICT skills are required to offer & receive education & training. Digital natives are not necessarily digital literate. VET centers need to monitor and improve the quality of the provided training, in order to reach digital readiness that is becoming even more necessary today. VET centers/teachers need to adapt/act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting a safer, more responsible and ethical use of digital technology. However, everyone seems to focus on online tools, evaluation and examination methods, but there is no framework to assess the digital readiness at VET level. Even the online survey launched by the European Commission demonstrates this gap. The EFQM Model combined with the capabilities offered by the Digital Competence Framework can serve as a basis for this process. VET centers and trainers will be allowed to identify the key criteria they need to focus, according to their strategic objectives. There is already a map of the previous EFQM Model with EQAVET that can serve as a basis for this effort. The project will support opportunities for trainers and experts to acquire key competences in assessing digital education readiness. It will also support the professional development of educators and foster actions supporting high-quality and innovative assessment, combined with the deployment and evaluation of digital tools. OBJECTIVES General objective: offer a methodology for a quality plan to VET centers and trainers for them to: 1) adopt a quality-centric point of view for their services and internal operations, 2) address digital education readiness issue, 3) assess training methods’ adaptability, 4) assess quality of online/distance/blended learning in the post covid-19 era. Main objectives: -understand more deeply the digital education readiness status in the VET sector; -assess a mixture of Quality Assurance (QA) methods and models and provide the novel Q4EDU framework; -prepare the ECVET curriculum for an expert and develop a novel methodology for specialised training. -develop training content, keeping in mind the quality criteria and performance indicators; -develop the Digital Readiness Assessment Tool that incorporates the proposed Q4EDU framework, perform trials and assess results, - develop Policy Recommendation/Guidelines document. NEEDS / PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED VET trainers need to: -acquire key competences and be properly prepared to respond to new challenges in VET raised by the emergence of covid-19; -be able to adapt and act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting a safer, more responsible and more ethical use of digital technology; -be provided with methodologies to evaluate training methods and courses (i.e. online, blended and distance learning); -learn how to ‘value’ the use of new technologies and workflows in their trainings; -upskill with new competences. VET providers (i.e. managers and professionals) need: -updated curricula and attractive portfolios, engaging various education methods (online/distance/blended learning) adapted to emerging conditions; -to adapt/act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting safer, more responsible and ethical use of digital technology; -to employ specialised and highly trained trainers; -to provide additional courses tailored to trainees' needs. VET students need to: -be better prepared for challenging future careers enjoying inclusive nature of learning opportunities; -be provided with high-quality VET services. TARGET GROUPS VET trainers who want to be familiarised with high quality assessment of mixed/online/distance learning courses are mainly targeted and thus supported to enhance their digital readiness capabilities. Secondary target groups include VET professionals (e.g consultants, managers etc.) who want to evaluate the digital readiness of their organisation, as this is important for their competitiveness and sustainability. The project intends to outreach to more than 200 VET providers/trainers/trainees, more than 200 participants in multiplier events belonging to the defined target groups, at least 600 stakeholders at conferences/dissemination events and at least 5000 audience overall.
Q4EDU was designed to fill identified gaps, through the development and provision of a comprehensive,innovative methodology, aiming to: increase quality orientation, implemented services and internal operations, address digital education readiness issue, support evaluation of training methods' adaptability. Within the framework of the specific objectives, it was assumed that the Q4EDU project will succeed in determining the current status of activities, related to digital readiness of the VET sector, review and evaluate a mixture of Quality Assurance (QA) methods and models and on this basis provide the novel Q4EDU framework; prepare the curriculum for an digital readiness experts and develop a novel methodology and content for specialized training. In addition, the main achievement of Q4EDU was to develop the Digital Readiness Assessment Tool that incorporates the proposed Q4EDU framework, perform trials and assess results. As a complementary result to the above achievements, a Policy Recommendation was developed. All educational resources were planned to be made available openly and tailored to different stakeholders.
The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly reshaped key processes around the world. Changing realities of life, have also forced changes in education processes, and at every level and from the perspective of various stakeholders (providers, trainers, teachers, experts and students). However, the thriving VET sector, in particular, has shown a great need for improved ICT skills. The Q4EDU project significantly supported modern distance learning by providing a framework to assess the digital readiness at VET level. In addition, Q4EDU responded to the needs not only of organizations, but also of individuals associated with VET, mainly trainers/teachers and experts, who, in the context of both the pandemic and ongoing digitization, needed specific improvement tools other than those already developed. Despite, for example, the existence of a map of the previous EFQM Model with EQAVET, there were still some gaps (as confirmed by research, conducted by the European Commission) that the Q4EDU project was designed to fill.