Month: June 2020

Young Journalists for Europe Project

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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The “Young Journalists for Europe” Project is an initiative promoted by the Umbria Region, in collaboration with the “Italian Centre for Higher Studies for training and updating in radio and television journalism”.
The initiative was financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) 2014-2020, Regional Operational Programme – POR.

Thanks to the European funds it was possible to organize a real campaign-event that involved the students of ITE Scarpellini – and 5 other Institutes of the Region – in 40 hours of training as well as participation in events of dissemination and return of the results of the project.
The training hours included an introduction to television journalism, the acquisition of mobile journalism techniques, information on television and online journalism, the acquisition of diction and proxemics techniques and digital filming and editing.
To put into practice what they learned during the training, students were called to operate in first
person and interview, as “budding“ journalists, heads of associations, families, teachers, students, operators, or make reports on their experiences. The topics discussed were family mediation, integration, disability and work, education and opportunities for the future. In addition to the skills acquired in the field of communication and digital techniques, it was also relevant and significant the emotional involvement that the young people experienced in coming into contact and having to document the personal stories of the interviewees on sensitive issues.

Interviews and reportages were documented through audio-video clips that at the end of May were published on YouTube by the Umbria Region, which holds the intellectual property of these products (links to videos are attached).
The “Young Journalists for Europe” project was selected by European Commission experts to participate in the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities (#EURegionsWeek), in the largest annual Brussels-based event dedicated to regional policies.

The project promoted by the Umbria region was selected among over 600 applications from all over Europe.
From 12th to 15th October thousands of people will gather in the Belgian city to participate in the event and within the event there will be a space dedicated to the presentation of the products made by the six Umbrian schools that participated in the project. 1 student per school will be a spokesperson for what has been achieved.

Video links:

German news

Corona effects on vocational training in Germany

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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What influence do corona-related economic developments have on the training market? The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) is examining this question in a new study based on a scenario analysis and presenting risks, consequences and possible courses of action.

The study begins with a look back at the past and shows what consequences are to be expected for the training market as a result of the economic slump. It then presents scenarios that describe the supply of and demand for training for the cut-off date of 30.9.2020 – depending on various assumptions regarding future economic development. In addition, it will be explained who is particularly affected by the corona effects, both in terms of school-leaving qualifications and in terms of the sectors in which they (will) operate. Finally, the study derives recommendations for action for policy makers.

The study Effects of the “Corona Crisis” on the dual vocational training system – Risks, consequences and need for action is available for download as a preprint in German.

German news

Institutions with history, great diversity and curiosity for Europe: The German ENNE network

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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The first five institutions, with which the German Network for the Improvement of Vocational Training is being established, represent a wide variety of training occupations and sectors. In addition to four vocational school centres, a chamber of commerce is also partner in our national network. We present them here briefly – with current facts on training courses and figures as well as exciting side notes.

Henriette-Goldschmidt-School, Vocational School Centre for Social Work of the City of Leipzig

The school was already founded in 1911 as the first institution for higher education for women in Germany. Today, however, in the sense of equal rights, the question is more likely to be asked: What is the proportion of male apprentices in the social professions? At the Henriette-Goldschmidt-School, just under a third of the apprentices are men, who are trained in the following areas:

Higher secondary vocational school for health and social work
Vocational preparation year body care/health
Podiatrist
Child care worker
Social care worker

Currently about 500 young people study at this school and 52 teachers work here.

Website

Susanna-Eger-School, Vocational School Centre of the City of Leipzig

The vocational school for nutrition and gastronomy is not only the training centre for currently almost 1000 students. It is also home to the Central German Hospitality Museum with about 15,000 exhibits documenting the development of the gastronomy and hospitality industry in the region. In addition, in the unique specialised library in the building, a pool of publications of all gastronomic branches is available to interested parties: cookbooks, restaurant guides, wine and confectionery books, but also specialist literature from areas such as marketing and management, as well as a large collection of national and international menus.

The following training courses are offered:

Vocational preparation year nutrition, customer service and housekeeping services
Basic vocational training in nutrition, customer service and housekeeping
Baker
Hospitality professional
Specialist for system catering
Salesperson in the food trade (focus on bakery)
Hotel professional
Cook
Confectioner
Restaurant professional
State-certified business economist (specialising in the hotel and catering industry)

Website

LAB Leipziger Aus- und Weiterbildungsbetriebe GmbH, VET training centre of the Leipzig public transport company

Recently awarded again as one of the best training companies in Germany, LAB currently trains 96 young people for LVB GmbH. The training courses are highly demand-oriented, so that the trainees can also be given a guarantee of employment after passing their exams. In addition to professional skills, the training is also about teaching social skills, keeping trainees healthy and working together in a spirit of mutual respect. To this end, the F.I.T. trainee programme was created, which offers several courses throughout the entire training year.

The following professions can be learned at LAB:

Civil and underground construction worker
Cook
Specialist in vehicle operation (e.g. bus driver)
Vehicle painter
Driver with basic technical training
Automotive mechatronics technician
Mechatronics technician
Construction mechanic
Electronics technician for operating technology
Industrial business management assistant
Gardener
Cutting machine operator
IT systems technician

Website

Vocational School Center for Economy Dresden “Prof. Dr. Zeigner”

The history of the vocational school dates back to 1854, when it was founded as the first guild school of the Dresden merchant community. Even today, only commercial training courses are offered, albeit in far greater number than at that time and nowadays in two branches: Currently, 90 teachers and 1462 apprentices come to both schools every day. A separate working group is responsible for the history of the school and its graduates.

In addition to the vocational high school for economics, the following professions are trained at the school today:

Specialist in labour promotion
Bank clerk
Industrial business management assistant
Management assistant in office management
Management assistant for insurance and finance
Notary’s assistant
Paralegal
Assistant tax consultant
Social insurance assistant

Website

ITKAM – Italian Chamber of Commerce for Germany

Since its foundation in 1911 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, ITKAM has been promoting entrepreneurial exchange between Italy and Germany. The companies to which ITKAM offers its services today include both the traditional sectors of Made in Italy (especially food but also fashion, furniture and design) and companies from various fields of technology and industry, such as supply industry, healthcare, automotive and Industry 4.0.

“For this reason”, says Sonia Barani of ITKAM, “Italy is not only suitable for those who want to gain experience abroad in the traditional sectors of gastronomy and tourism, but also for trainees working in industry”.

Website

What are the benefits of mobility projects for institutions?

One of the tasks of the ENNE network in Germany is to make the possibilities and advantages of Erasmus+ Mobility for trainees and teachers better known. The partners support this concern not only out of conviction, but also with concrete experiences. Katharina Muschiol from LAB explains: “Since our trainees primarily take part in the exchange trips on their own, we have a great deal of trust in them, so they can assert themselves in the name of the company and thus also identify with it, which is a major factor for company loyalty”. Ferenc Naacke from the Vocational School Centre for Economics in Dresden emphasises how important, in his experience, the preparation and follow-up of the stays abroad are. Several of the partners mention that the participants of a mobility project take far more with them than just new professional impulses. Getting to know and experiencing all aspects of a culture and also developing their communication skills really helps young people. “It also strengthens the sense of community among the trainees”, says Katharina Muschiol.

Italian news

Presentation of the ENNE VET Network in Italy

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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The Italian National Network is one of the 5 VET National Networks have joined by ENNE. The European Project is focused on VET – Vocal Education and Training – in Europe. It aims to improve VET quality and attractiveness, with a specific focus on mobility opportunities.

The 12 schools that helped create this network are located in different areas of Italy (north, centre and south), they are High Vocational Schools specialized in different sectors ranging from industrial mechanics, to tourism, graphics, communication and hotel industry.

Many schools are also currently involved in European Projects including mobility or other similar experiences at both national and international level.

Part of the mission of the ENNE Project is to expand its network in each country involved in the project, namely: Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria and Portugal. The 12 schools that are already involved in the Italian network can benefit from a dedicated webpage with contact information, a short description and a focus on their current activities and projects.

The Italian schools involved are from different regions of Italy. They have different backgrounds and characteristics, but they share the same mission: promoting VET and all its opportunities for students and teachers.

Find out more about the schools:

Being part of a European project means expanding the vision to an international level, by creating a new sustainable cooperation in the VET system, increasing the number of mobility opportunities and better prepare learners to enter the job market

Bulgarian news

National Students’ Competition “BEST BUSINESS IDEA”

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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In Bulgaria, under the patronage of the Ministry of Education and Science, Vocational education and training directorate, the National Competition “Best Business Idea” for the academic year 2019/2020 was held.

The annual competition usually takes place during the period January – April, but due to the emergency situation caused by the COVID – 19 pandemic, the preliminary qualification phase could be performed only in the beginning of June. European Center for Quality, partner in the ENNE project, participated in the evaluation commission assessing the students’ ideas.

The main goals of the competition are:

Strengthening the motivation of the students from vocational high schools in economics around the country for full comprehension of the learning material, based on the interdisciplinary approach and entrepreneurship skills.
Providing students the opportunity for creative expression of the acquired knowledge, skills and competences in the field of entrepreneurship.
Stimulating the innovative thinking, creativity and the teamwork of the students.
Encouraging the development of entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurial thinking and behavior.
Encouraging the attitude for continuous and individual studying by stimulating their competitive spirit.
Encouraging the cooperation between vocational high schools, the business and higher educational establishments.

Participants in the competition can be students from XI and XII grades of the country vocational high schools in economics. The competition goes through three rounds. The first round is being held internally at the school and it is divided into two stages – anonymous, during which students present their ideas through written form, and public, where students present and defend their business ideas verbally. Only the students ranked on first and second place at each school advance to the next, pre–qualification round.

This stage is again anonymous, the students are sending their business ideas through mail, and their personal data is sealed in a separate non-transparent envelope. Usually more than 60 ideas reach this stage. The members of the commission, that evaluates the ideas that have reached preliminary qualification, comprises: representatives of the Institute of Entrepreneurship of the University of the National and World Economy, business representatives and teachers of economic subjects from vocational high schools of economics. Experts from the European Center for Quality Ltd. often participate as business representatives in the evaluation commission. Only the 24 participants who receive the highest average scores from the evaluators reached the final national round of the competition.

During the final stage the students will be divided into 6 teams of 4 participants and will work on a challenge, drawn at random from several possible topics. This year the final round will take place in Petrich city, and the competition will be hosted by the Vocational School of Economics and Tourism “Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov”.

In 2019, the idea of making and selling eco utensils such as forks, knifes, boxes for food and bottles, made of resin became the winner in the Bulgarian national students competition “Best Business Idea”. It was held in Sofia and participants were 24 of the best students-entrepreneurs from all over the country. We look forward to learn what interesting ideas the finalists will work on this year.

Bulgarian news

The pandemic did not have a negative impact on the matriculation exam results in Bulgaria

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
No Comments on The pandemic did not have a negative impact on the matriculation exam results in Bulgaria

The Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science presented at a press conference a summary of the results from the matriculation exams in Bulgarian Language & Literature and Mathematics held in the beginning of June. During the conference Minister Krasimir Valchev stated that “Transforming knowledge into skills, preparing children for life and forming critical thinking capacities are among the priorities of Bulgarian education.

All our efforts are aimed at this – ensuring a good educational environment for children and improving their results”. Almost 49,000 students sat the matriculation exam in Bulgarian Language and Literature. The exam was held in 5,162 rooms of 722 schools in the country in observance of the anti-epidemic measures and under video surveillance.

In order to make students calmer, the Ministry of Education and Science removed from the exam material the literary works taught during the second term of the school year, when remote teaching began. 37,116 twelve-graders were admitted to a second mandatory exam. The biggest number of them – 11,710, chose to sit an exam in English.

Girls achieved better results than boys. Excellent grades amount to about 15%, while last year they were 10%. In terms of regions, the highest grades are in Sofia-City, Smolyan, Varna, Gabrovo, and Veliko Tarnovo.

Compared to last year results, there has been an increase in excellent grades in the Bulgarian Language and Literature exam:

	EXCELLENT GRADES	POOR GRADES
2020	6 283	3 764
2019	5 062	4 302

Source: MES

The average success rate has also increased as compared to the previous year:

	AVERAGE SUCCESS RATE IN THE BLL EXAM
2020	GOOD 4.20
2019	GOOD 4.06

Source: MES

	AVERAGE SUCCESS RATE IN THE SECOND MANDATORY EXAM
2020	VERY GOOD 4.87
2019	VERY GOOD 4.67

Source: MES

This year, more 12-graders sat the optional matriculation exams. The reason for this is the universities’ decisions to admit students based on their results from the state matriculation exams. The change only applies to this year’s admission.

The school graduates who got 100 points in one exam are 124. 4,525 graduates or almost 1,500 more than last year got excellent grades in both exams. This year there was one student with four maximum results, seven with 3 maximum results and 73 with 2 maximum results.

The analysis shows that this year the results are better in nine out of fourteen subjects. There are higher results from the exams in Bulgarian Language and Literature, History and Civilization, Physics and Astronomy, Geography and Economics, Biology and Health Education, and in foreign languages – German, English, Russian and Italian.

There has been an improvement in student’s ability to formulate a thesis on a given topic, but they encounter difficulties in obtaining and extracting information from a text, and in particular in summarizing the essence of a text, said Evgenia Kostadinova, Director of Directorate “Pre-School and School Educational Content” at MES.

The school graduates with the highest results will get an additional stipend of BGN 100 per month (approx. 50 euro) if they continue their education in professional areas important to the Bulgarian economy – pedagogy, physics, chemistry and engineering. The students entitled to such payment will be the ones with top 10% in grades from the state matriculation exam in Bulgarian Language and Literature, and a grade from the second exam equal or exceeding the country’s average. The stipend will apply for students admitted in priority majors in universities if their success rate was equal to or higher than the country’s average BLL success rate and are among the top 30% results in the second exam in Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy, or Chemistry and Environmental Protection. The additional stipend will be provided starting from the forthcoming 2020/2021 school year.

“We consider the results and the session successful. The system managed to mobilise. We had a successful session in unexpected conditions. Both the students and schools did well. We had no organizational problems”, said the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tanya Mihaylova.

Data source: Ministry of Education (https://www.mon.bg/bg/)

Bulgarian news

Industrial Internet of Things VET Network

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 June 2020
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ENNE Associate partner Institute for Postgraduate Studies (IPS), Bulgaria implements the project “Industrial Internet of Things VET Network” (IIoTNET), an ERASMUS+, KA3 project lasting 24 months (2019-2021).

The IIoTNet project is designed in order to raise awareness and contribute to developing human capital, through upskilling and reskilling of employees among European Companies (including micro companies and SMEs), professionals and VET providers about the potential of IIoT technologies and to give evidence of their applications.

The aim of the project is to create a VET Network with certification scheme for professionals, being IIoT developers or users or sales workers, and training them to adapt and adopt a new common framework of best practices of the modern IIoT know-how in order to be able to combine effectively knowledge and fundamental principles from various areas of expertise of cutting edge technologies in the IIoT sector and gain a competitive advantage in their carrier path.

Specific project objectives are:

to support the uptake and mainstreaming of IIoT VET training and to promote the integration of talent development in collaboration with external stakeholders
to create sustainable institutional structures and ICT tools enabling IIoT training and stakeholder co-creation in talent development;
to build IIoT VET providers teaching capacities for delivering innovative training in view of building trainees’ employability skills in fast growing industrial sectors.

Project results

During the project, the partnership expects to achieve the following results:

Strengthen cooperation among VET providing partners in the IIoTNet through joint strategic planning for international cooperation and development projects for mutual leaning and capacity building
Design and development of specialized social media network for management and operation of IIoTNet. It is planned to use network platform for fostering cooperation not only among partners but involving VET providers that do not yet contribute or benefit from European cooperation.
System for organizational analysis of VET providers and action planning will be used to identify inefficiencies and streamlining of provided services, including level of participation in international cooperation
Evaluation of IIoT trainees’ progress against IIoT Body of Knowledge. The definition of units of learning outcomes and their descriptions will be carried out in compliance with ECVET principles and technical specifications and the tools developed by EU ECVET network.
Development of IIoT Certification scheme
The EU developed model of Logical Framework will be used for designing IIoTNet objectives and activities considering existing risks.
To develop and disseminate Guidelines for mobility, lifelong learning and EU funding in the field of IIoT that will present best practices and lessons learned in implementation of IIoTNet.
1-day trainings will be orgnise in each partner country of VET providers’ representatives that still not contribute or benefit from European cooperation on effective use of IIoTNet and thus to improve their networking capacity and their access to EU funds.

The project involves 9 project partners from 6 European countries: Bulgaria, Latvia, Italy, Sweden, Greece, and Cyprus.

Partners and contacts:

Portuguese news

Re-inventar

Re-inventar is a project of Citizenship developed by the class of the 11^th year of the Technical Multimedia Course of the Teaching Cooperative Vocational School of the Youth Center of Campanhã.

The project aims to raise students’ awareness of issues related to attitudes and behaviors in society and also to contribute to the understanding of the importance of a healthy environment.

Consequently, a virtual exhibition was created and it consists of images, created or captured in the students’ residence, of recyclable waste, seeking to turn it into something aesthetically attractive and educational.

We invite you to visit this virtual art exhibit, available on https://bit.ly/3g0BWIy

Portuguese news

Erasmus+: Internships during the Pandemic

Post author By enneproject
Post date 5 June 2020
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Clarification: the photo was taken in December 219, before the Covid19 pandemic

A group of 3 trainees from Latvia decided to stay in Portugal during the Covid-19 pandemic to continue their Eramus+ internship. In October 2019, Arts & Skills welcomed in Guimarães a group of 3 students from Riga’s Art and Media School, Latvia.

Linda, Marika, and Elva had just finished their courses on Web Design and Interior Design courses when they decided to come to Portugal to develop their internships. The plan was to have an experience of 8 months, where they could develop their professional skills, see and experience a new culture, a new language and get to know new people and new places.

They have been in Portugal for quite some time, have had plenty of opportunities to travel around the country and enjoy many good things Portugal has to offer. They were already integrated into their training companies, had their daily routines, and were making plans to travel to the Portuguese islands of Azores and Madeira.

When Covid-19 surprised us all and plans had to be changed. They had two options: take the first flight back home to Latvia and their families, like many other students who were abroad or stay in Guimarães and continue their internship with us and adapt to Teleworking. They chose to stay. They felt safe and decided to continue their internships. Therefore, like the rest of us, they completely changed their daily routines, stayed at home, and complied with all the security measures this pandemic requires in order to protect themselves and others.

We invite you to watch a small video on their experience, available on: bit.ly/36DwZlz

Bulgarian news

Reshaping educational processes in secondary education

Post author By enneproject
Post date 3 June 2020
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The project “Innovative ICT-based training approach to reshape school education and training – sCOOL-IT” (project ref. № 2019-1-BG01-KA201-062543) is an Erasmus+, KA2 project in the field of School education, in which European Center for Quality, Bulgaria takes part.

The project is aimed at creating an innovative ICT challenge-based training approach for supporting educators in the process of conveying knowledge, promoting the development of key competences (digital, science, mathematical, etc.) among their students with regard to boosting their performance in these fields and enhancing their digital skills. To this end, the main target groups of the project are secondary school teachers & headmasters and secondary school students.

The project started on 01.10.2019 and is with duration 24 months. The main deliverables of the project will be: Web Adventure Portal, Comprehensive training programme and Web Adventure Development Toolkit.

The sCOOL-IT Training Programme will help teachers learn about the WebQuests Teachning Methodology and how they can integrate sCOOL-IT WebQuests in their school training curriculum. The Web Adventure Portal will offer WebQuests in 6 main fields in secondary education across Europe, namely: Mathematics & logics, Biological sciences, History and cultural heritage, Physics, Geography and Philosophy. Finally, the Web Adventure Development Toolkit will provide a comprehensive guideline for teachers and educators on how to develop own WebQuests on different topics and further improve their educational and pedagogic approaches. All developed materials will be available in 6 languages: English, Bulgarian, Italian, Greek, Portuguese and Dutch.

Secondary schools, which adopt the sCOOL-IT training approach will, strengthened their images as modern educational institutions open to the application of innovative teaching methods with regard to ensuring high-quality educational service for their students. Students engaged in learning by WebQuests in these schools will be more devoted and motivated in the learning process in general school subjects, which will lead to improved performance. Teachers in schools utilising the sCOOL-IT approach will increase their confidence in applying constructivist teaching methodologies and using ICT for teaching purposes, which will result in desire to further enrich their pedagogic approach with new teaching and assessment methods. The cumulative impact of the aforementioned will be expressed by boosting the educational service offered by secondary schools applying the sCOOL-IT challenge based approach.

Partners in the project are various institution with complementary experience and expertise:

Project website: http://scool-it.eu/

Facebook Page: sCOOLIT.project/