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Description
The project "VET internships at European level" proposed by the Technological High School "Tudor Vladimirescu" from Simian locality, Mehedinti county, is addressed to 10 VET teachers and 2 internship tutors from the partner economic agent SC DYNAMIC BUSINESS SERVICES SRL, who will participates in the 7-day study visit to the host institution RIVENSCO CONSULTING LTD in Cyprus.
The aim of the project is to offer students in the field of food and mechanics, a vocational training system based on innovative strategies for organizing internships and on-the-job training at local businesses (which ensures the specialized practice of the Lyceum of Agios Charalambos Emba Paphos), as a result of the good practices acquired by the 12 participants in the study visit.
Project objectives:
1. Development of methodological and pedagogical competencies, educational management, tutoring, for 12 participants of the study visit.
2. The elaboration by the 12 participants of a set of resource tools for the professionalization activity of the students.
Products that will be made by the participants in the visit from our high school in collaboration with the 2 participants from the partner economic agent, as a result of the experiences of good practices acquired during the study visit:
- 2 improved CDLs for the fields of mechanics and food industry;
- minimum 2 practical training partnerships with economic agents;
- 2 practice notebooks in the qualifications of technician in the food industry and agricultural mechanic;
- practice and activity monitoring and evaluation sheets;
- 1 managerial strategy regarding the cooperation and collaboration with companies.
Summary of project results
In the school region, in the rural environment, in particular in the Simian town, the workforce specialized in the fields of mechanics, environmental protection and food industry is constantly decreasing, the few graduates going abroad to work. In the town of Simian, 70% of the population does not have a constant income, working as day laborers or without legal forms, so there is a major risk of students leaving school early to work.Also, our school is faced with the poor endowment of laboratories and workshops, as well as the lack of economic agents in our fields of training in the locality, which leads to poor professional training of the graduates.In addition, in order to carry out internships outside the town (usually in Drobeta-Turnu Severin city) additional funding is needed, which the high school does not benefit from, so that the trips are made exclusively from the budget of the students'' families, who do not have a good financial situation and they can''t be financially supported in long term.VET teaching staff are faced with the lack of specific skills for organizing practical internships at an external economic agent and continuous professional development, ineffective monitoring tools, non-existence of updated didactic tools and methodologies, low level of involvement and interaction with students'' families. Another difficulty would be the fear of the companies regarding the good development of internships in which high school or vocational school students are involved, having the premise that young people aged between 16-18 years are more difficult to integrate in the labor market. The students'' lack of interest in participating in practical training, because of the learning methods used traditionally, boring ones that do not arouse their interest, instead judgment and labeling are often used are just some of the difficulties we face.The lack of continuous training programs for VET teachers is another major difficulty we face. The low motivation of a percentage of 60% of the graduates to integrate into work, to the detriment of the assisted status or preferring to go abroad to work in fields different from those for which they were prepared in school, is noted.
To achieve the objectives of the project, the following types of activities were carried out:
Realization of implementation and monitoring plans.
Selection and preparation of participants for the study visit in Cyprus.
Organization and development of the 8-day study visit.
Realization of project products.
Dissemination of project results.
The project achieved its objectives. The following results were obtained:
• All 10 teachers participating in the study visit declared that they developed skills/competences.
• The 2 representatives of the partner economic agent participating in the study visit declared that they have developed skills regarding the organization of students'' internships.
• A total of 12 people participated in the study visit.
• There are 10 Roma students in the school, 1.41% of the total number of students (711).
• They were achieved :
o 2 improved CDLs for the fields of mechanics and food industry, based on the good practice models tested and taken over from the study visit
o 2 practical training partnerships with economic agents (VET teachers and economic agent/qualification representatives), based on the good practice models tested and taken over from the study visit
o 2 practice books for the food industry technician and agricultural mechanic qualifications, made by VET teachers from the food industry and representatives of SC DYNAMIC BUSINESS SERVICES SRL, with teaching-learning methods adapted to students and the needs of the economic agent, learning activities, worksheets evaluation, based on the good practice models tested and taken over from the study visit
a monitoring and evaluation sheet for the practical activity, food industry and mechanical fields, prepared by the VET teachers from the respective fields
o a managerial strategy regarding cooperation and collaboration with the economic agent, based on objectives to be achieved, measures to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the strategy, minimum criteria to be achieved, indicators of results achieved by the school director
o a comparative analysis regarding the degree of progress of improving the practical activity for all the qualifications involved, based on the questionnaires applied to the students
• 578 students (89.89%), out of the total number of 643 students in the VET classes, declared that they obtained better learning results during the internships than in previous years.
The project led to the improvement of the applicant''s collaboration capacity at the European level and at. continuing cooperation with transnational partners. The project activities were carried out as presented in the application.