"The partnership consisted of 6 secondary vocational schools (Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Turkey and a coordinator from Slovakia) and two special institutions playing an active and important role in the field of vocational training and education permanently (The State Institute of Vocational Education in Slovakia and 21 knowledge from Portugal). They both were helpful to achieve a common project objective to enhance the quality of VET including foreign languages via producing a CLIL in VET portfolio and an international curriculum for a specific subject called ""Virtual Training Company"". All participating institutions entered the project as institutions missing relevant support to launch foreign language in VET as well as common educational contents for training companies. The CLIL approach (Contents and Language Integrated Learning) in this project was understood as a tool for professional development of foreign languages having a power to link theoretical education with practical education while strengthening the position of training companies in the process of VET. The partnership succeeded to create an international curriculum considering different possibilities of participating countries, needs of the open European labour and trade markets. Project activites were open to all teachers in VET and to students who decided to be educated within a training company subject. There participated a big number of students and teachers who produced a lot of materials and tested them in the process. Testing was realized during planned learning/teaching/training activities in international environment and during unexpected remote learning that created some environment suitable to develop international cooperation of training companies in virtual space. The State institution of vocational education as a leading institution was a guarantee to achieve the objectives with the top quality project outcomes. There were held 2 transnational project meetings focused on monitorig, evaluating and planning the project activities, Learning and teaching/training activities were aimed at creating, collecting and testing materials, whilst two of them were blended activities for students and the 3rd one was focused on teachers and the CLIL approach. During interactive workshops participants attended CLIL lessons, tested materials, evaluated results, shared experience with other teachers. Students organized virtual skype and real business meetings to develop cooperation with training companies abroad, invited special guests and experts to discuss with them, attended CLIL lessons, worked on different tasks. We even succeeded to organize an international trade fair for training companies. Our participants disseminated project ideas and results in it as well as in the multiplier event in Portugal. This was held with strict epidemic measures, but it completed the goal to inform participants about training companies implementation hand in hand with the CLIL approach. The project was evaluated by the partners as having positive impact on all of them. Students acquired new Business English skills, they improved their entretreneurial and social skills, gained experience to make international business. They were highly motivated to study by interesting activities and showed better study results. Participating teachers enhanced their foreign language skills, learned a lot of facts about different school systems, international business rules and ethics, acquired valuable experience in creating a curriculum on international portfolio. The project has had an extra added value for partners from Turkey and Portugal where the concept of training companies was totally unknown before the project. Creating international curriculum the partnership created environment suitable to implement the training company subject with the CLIL approach, flexible enough to be used in any country. The fact, that it was made by all the partners is a guarantee of its flexibility and wide usage. From the long-lasting time horizon it will be possible to update and add its contents regarding needs of the market and trends in international business. All project outcomes are accessable on the internet (and social media) freely."

“Governance in VET is expected to move towards a shared system with the participation of the main stakeholders and implemented at national, regional, local, institutional and sector level. The involvement of social partners as well as stakeholders such as providers and VET learners in the development, implementation and governance of VET policies should be further strengthened”. (Opinion on THE FUTURE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING POST 2020 – Advisory Committee on Vocational Training, 3 December 2018).With reference to this up-to-date VET system analysis and according to QUANTUM project partners’ experiences, this project proposal aims at improving the relevance and efficacy of VET provision with regard to labour market needs, by setting up and testing a new model for Quality Assurance based on Quality Networks approach. Quality Networks represent a tool for effective governance in VET, being territorial and/or cross-country networks of VET providers, enterprises, local authorities, social partners and other stakeholders, which adopt a common monitoring system based on feedback loops and graduate tracking arrangements. By exploiting the European Peer Review methodology for implementing EQAVET indicators, both in formal and non-formal training domains, they will have also the opportunity to building capacity of their members.QUANTUM partners have found that having a common understanding on QA mechanisms and tools isn’t sufficient to make all the VET stakeholders actively involved in enhancing the quality provision, highlighting specific needs:- reinforcing “peer review” approach among the various key actors intervening in VET design and delivery; - building an appropriate framework in which all the stakeholders can act a profitable cooperation, learning from each other, adopting and monitoring common quality indicators, planning further developments, following the EQAVET cycle at provider level. - capacity building of VET stakeholders on how to continuously activate feedback loops and graduate tracking measures.By achieving these objectives and by using a multi-actor approach, the proposal intends also to empower VET stakeholders and to favour the professional development of VET staff, teachers and trainers, letting them acquire awareness of their role in quality assurance systems and specific competences for peer assessment.The Consortium is composed by partners from IT, PT, SK, FI and BE, including VET providers and reference national networks, public authorities in charge of the VET systems, EU-wide networks representing the interest of VET providers and enlarging the QUANTUM countries coverage. It will contribute to improve VET provision by:- developing and testing a common monitoring system based on a set of performance indicators to facilitate the adoption of feedback loops and graduate tracking arrangements, among various stakeholders;- producing a more intelligent and comprehensive picture about VET key actors training needs in the field of quality assurance and networking;- defining of specific guidelines addressed to VET key actors explaining both how to set and implement territorial and cross-country networks of VET providers and other VET key actors, and how to define a common monitoring system based on feedback loops and graduate tracking arrangements, according to EQAVET indicators and European Peer review methodology;- design and piloting of new training curricula and plans addressed to VET professionals and organisations aimed at letting them learn about Quality Network approach, EQAVET indicators and the European Peer review methodology, so to allow the implementation and the evaluation of Quality Networks at regional/national level; - through the cooperation among partners and with the Stakeholders’ Committee, creation of a multi-stakeholder network aimed at improving the relevance and efficacy of VET provision with regard to labour market relevant qualifications and companies needs.By doing so, partners will produce the following results:O1– Guidelines for VET Quality Network setting up and implementation O2 –Capacity building for Quality Networks implementation and sustainability O3 – Report about implementation and impact evaluation of Quality Networks 4 x Multiplier Events, including a Final QUANTUM Conference (national and 2 x 3-day Transnational joint staff training with 32 participants (12+20)Multi-stakeholders communication and dissemination activities By implementing the activities, the project is going to set up networks to track the outcomes of the VET provision and the trajectories of graduates in the labour market through a bottom-up approach and according to EC policies and recommendations. In this way, the project will allow the adoption of an evidence-based methodology for policy-making and for re-planning the training provision

The Skills in Metal and Electro Industry – skillME project was a three-year international Erasmus+ project involving vocational education and training (VET) providers, national regulatory bodies and sectoral organisations from the four EU member states Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia, and Slovakia, which aimed at filling skill gaps and advancing VET in the metal and electro industries (ME) as two important sectors driving the European manufacturing industry, both in terms of employment as well as value added. Both sectors are facing great challenges due to shortage of skilled labour, which is a result of several factors, the most prominent among which are the out-of-date and/or inflexible VET systems, rapid development of technology and production processes, lack of resources for continuous training of employees by companies, and a decline of interest among young people for metal and electro job profiles. The skillME project aimed to address all of these issues. Its main objectives were to identify the most pressing skill gaps among students and workers of the electro and metal industry’s advanced manufacturing sector that are common to all project participating countries and are perceived as acute also in other EU member states, to develop curricula in accordance with EQAVET, EQF and ECVET principles to fill the identified skill gaps, to test the developed trainings on pilot groups of students and workers, and to create a platform for sharing good practices and information among VET stakeholders.On the basis of a wide desk research, interviews with stakeholders, focus groups with industry representatives and discussions with experts, the four most pressing skill gaps in the metal and electro industry were identified in the fields of CAD/CAM, Machine vision, Composite materials, and Reading technical documentation. Training materials in English were developed for these fields, consisting of curricula (learning units and outcomes), assessment papers and learning materials, with separate materials for the field of Reading technical documentation for the metal and electro industries. They were localized into four national participating languages and pilot tested on students and workers in all four participating countries. The curricula were created in line with the ECVET principles and assessed with the EQAVET indicators to assure quality and adoptability across Europe, focusing on learning outcomes.The pilot trainings showed that the created materials are highly useful and practical and contain the most up-to-date knowledge lacking in both industries. The developed trainings will make an impact on VET providers of initial and continuous training who will enhance their trainings/classes portfolio, on school trainees and workers who will receive updated knowledge for skills which are missing in electro and metal industry, on companies who will have more skilled workforce, especially those who are lacking training resources, and on the rest of industry and public who will recognize the added value of such cooperation in curricula design and delivery. All materials are free to use, provided a reference is made to the skillME project and Erasmus+ Programme financing.The activities set out in the project will continue within the Alliance for the Advancement of VET in the Metal and Electro Industry, which is an international platform intended for all stakeholders of the metal and electro industries as well as other industries that wish to enhance the VET for improving the employability of students and workers using the innovative approach of developing trainings based on industry needs, strengthening the collaboration of VET providers, regulatory bodies and industry representative, increasing the competitiveness of EU member state manufacturing industries and improving the cooperation among EU member states through international collaboration and sharing of good practices. Join us! www.gzs.si/skill-me/vsebina/Alliance

In-service skill development, or apprenticeship training, that can be directly assessed is the core of vocational education. The biggest problem in this training seems to be students’ lack of adaptation to working in companies. Those known to be successful at school may turn to be the most problematic students at work. It is widely claimed that students have problems in dealing with official documents, filing, hierarchy, and complying with rules. Thus, companies may demand replacement of students or tend to avoid accepting students at all. Feeling rejected and less confident, student could lose their potential rather than exploring it for work life. This causes excessive workload at schools and drop in students’ employment, thereby having a bad influence in national economy. The project covers 11 Grade students and their field teachers. The other partners outside school will support us with technical stuff and about managing the process. Five student and two teachers from each partner country will join the both mobilities. For the abovementioned problem there are online training opportunities provided by some European vocational schools under the authority of ministries of education. In these trainings students usually start up online companies in the 11th Grade. These virtual startups have the same steps as any actual ones. For example, they have their tax number, bank accounts, digital money, and founding members etc. Company management consists of managers, accountants, and marketing personnel etc. In their online trading with other similar companies, they sell and buy products. Each company has a name, slogan, logo and a specific sector. During this process, students are required to behave as in a real company and keep a record of all official documents. As employees of a virtual company, students become more prepared to work in companies when their apprenticeship starts. Although work-based learning is the core of vocational education, there is no system checking the success of vocational schools in this in our country. Schools seem to manage their tasks on this issue arbitrarily. Some schools cannot find place for apprenticeship, some others hardly meet the demands from companies. The main goal of our project is to create a common platform which will advance our students pre-apprenticeship skills and build a relationship among relevant institutions. Our project partner SIOV, an institution affiliated to ministry of education, applies the abovementioned training successfully in Slovakia. We, under the supervision of SIOV, plan to create a website providing service for online companies at our school. We will conduct the project by letting students in groups start their own companies on the main website. In the beginning there will be companies of three groups consisting of five students. There will be one supervisor teacher for each company. Student will manage most of the process. The most successful company will attend the educational fair in Slovakia and represent our country in the designated booth. The other partners will attend the same event and assist us. By gaining an international experience, our students increase their knowledge for the system to be built. The second educational mobility will be held in our city. We, together with the project partners, will organize an educational fair for online training, and through the help of provincial administration of education we will invite vocational schools in our city. We will make sure the attendance of all relevant parties in vocational education, such as students, teachers, parents, NGO members and businesspeople. We will evaluate the success of our project and try to disseminate it at national level. We will also present our reports and outputs to the relevant department of ministry of education. We will make our website and database available for public use for dissemination as it is currently done in many European countries. We will also promote our project at schools, thereby enabling its integration to vocational education and sustainability in due course. We expect all our students to develop their social and linguistic skills as well as work skills and eventually be more productive and happier in their work life. In this way, they will be indispensable to companies. Eventually, these employees will contribute to national economy and productivity and growth of companies, which is our ultimate goal and desire.

Project Green Wheels addresses some of the long-term strategic objectives of EU education that were defined by The Education and Training 2020 work programme (ET 2020), namely improving the quality and efficiency of education and training and enhancing creativity and innovation in education and training.The project aimed to create open learning materials in the newly emerging field of Operation, repair and service of hybrid and electric vehicles, by using innovative methods and approaches such as Critical thinking, Inquiry-based learning, Collaborative learning, Flipped classroom, Peer Instructions etc. The project focused on improving and enriching teacher methodology through innovative methods, extensive teacher trainings and mentoring. The project intends to develop a new professional curriculum using EU criteria (ECVET-EQAVET) designing competencies for Operation, repair and service of hybrid and electric vehicles through innovative e-learning materials and work based learning activities. The projects created tangible and intangible results such as: complex online learning management system (LMS), e-learning modules and worksheets for practical assignments, online picture-based explanatory dictionary in all project languages, blended learning resources, ECVET system in the VET in the automotive industry of hybrid and electric vehicles in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary and the United Kingdom.Furthermore, the project focused on creating guidelines for ECVET system in the field Operation, repair and service of hybrid and electric vehicles at VET schools in the project countries. The new curricula observed ECVET concept using EQAVET indicators to enable their adoptability across EU. The project primarily makes an impact on VET providers in automotive industry so that their graduates would improve the skills missing in this industry sector and on professional motor industry companies that will have more skilled workforce.The project results are disseminated to a wide range of stakeholders (VET providers, professional organizations, regulatory bodies in education, etc.) inside and outside the project countries to increase the sustainability and adoptability of project results. Project consortium consisted of partners from 4 countries (CZ, SK, UK and HU). In each of the participating countries there are –among others- one VET school, one professional association in the automotive field and other partners, such as regulatory bodies, etc. Sector skills partners are professional associations and key car industry players that provide professional feedback to the learning materials and make sure the material include stat-of-art technologies and approaches. The involved VET schools pilot and test the newly developed materials, the regulatory bodies actively participated in designing the methodological system and incorporating the ECVET in the school curriculum. The project was led by the CFME which has substantial experience with managing and administering international educational projects.Thoughout the project run we have accmplished to develop all 82 worksheets based on innovative teaching methods, 20 CLIL worksheets for English for automotive, we have prepared a basis of a Teacher´s Guide, online sound and picture based dictionary and prepared e-learning activities to accompany the worksheets. The teacher trainings focused on innovative teaching methods have been carried out in 4 project countries and we have trained not only project partner schools teachers, but also teachers from schools outside the project. We have also completed the ECVET units system for the field of EV and HV operations and are working on its implementation into school curricula. We have started a dialogue with regulatory bodies and helped to promote mutual collaboration of VET schools and car companies as their potential employers.