2018: More Skillful Students Guided by VET School & Private Company in a Norwegian Experience (*)
Project Promoter: “Grigore C. Moisil” Technological High School Buzău
Title of the project: More Skillful Students Guided by VET School & Private Company in a Norwegian Experience
Project Code: 2018-EY-PCVET-R1-0004
Project partner – Economic Agent: Eximprod Power Systems SA Buzău
Reception organisation in Norway: Prios Kompetanse AS, Steinkjer
General objective of the project: Improving the quality of internships carried out in economic agents.
Specific objectives:
- Improve the skills and knowledge base of teachers and staff of the economic operator on the organisation of internships;
- A partnership with the economic agent to ensure employment and integration on the labour market of at least 80 % of the graduates of the dual education class, the Electrician qualification of low voltage exploitation;
- linking the skills of the student, the knowledge of teachers and the needs of the labour market.
In the school year 2018-2019, the Technological High School “Grigore C. Moisil” from Buzău was involved in two European projects aimed at vocational and technical education:
- ERASMUS+ KA1: Training project for students in the field of Media Production;
- More skillful students guided by VET school & private company in a Norwegian experience – one of the 4 projects approved in Romania, for the qualification of Electrician – low voltage operators.
How was the project coordinated by Carmen-Daniela Macadon different and interesting?
With the introduction of GEO 81/2016, amending and supplementing the National Education Law no. 1/2011 and taking into account the requirements of the local labour market, at the request of the economic agents, we introduced the professional qualification of “Electrician low voltage exploitation” operators – dual vocational education.
Over time, our school has encountered many and various difficulties in organising good quality internships, so we focused on this project to solve some of the problems and give the participating students a real chance.
The project was financed through the ESAYEP – a Programme of the European Economic Area and aimed primarily at valuing and transferring knowledge and best practices between Romania and Norway in this area of activity.
Specifically, in order to identify ways to improve the quality of students’ practical training, 2 study visits to Norway were organised, facilitated by Prios Kompetanse AS (PK). The persons involved were chosen from among those who work directly with pupils in dual vocational education – 8 specialised teachers from the Technological High School “Grigore C. Moisil”, Buzău and 4 representatives of Eximprod Power Systems SA, Buzău, organised in two mixed teams.
The two selected teams were sent to Norway, where they visited and observed the activity in various institutions:
- Norwegian VET Schools (trains young people and directs them to different jobs, depending on the needs of the labour market);
- EFONT Training Office (links apprentices, companies and school, ensuring the good quality of Norwegian vocational education);
- Some companies that employ apprentices – close to the field of activity of the partner economic group:
- ENOR: Construction and installation company networks and electrical installations;
- NTE: Norway’s largest electricity distributor;
- Norsk Transformer.
There have been days of interesting experiences with open, smiling people who are willing to answer our avalanche of questions! We were presented with the way of organising the Norwegian technical education system, how to conduct internships with employers, the organisation and conduct of the exams in order to obtain the certificate of qualification in the electric field, as well as documents and materials used. I talked to young apprentices (girls and boys) who were very interested in practicing this profession, students who had chosen their qualification after graduating 10 compulsory classes.
The experience gained through the implementation of this projection was described on the project website, where all the results and products obtained were presented, as well as images from the activities carried out.
Listed below, there are results of the project:
- Competences regarding the organisation of traineeships developed by participants in the study visit;
- Managerial competencies developed by the members of the project management team;
- Communication skills in English of participants in the visit e study;
- 3 curricula in local development Electrician qualification – low voltage operation, level 3 qualification according to the European Qualifications Framework;
- 3 learning agreements;
- 3 observation sheets – verification;
- different videos of technological operations, tools, appliances and machines used in practice for each proposed curriculum;
- 6 specialised tests for Electric domain, conducted with Google Form, which allow for evaluation score and feedback;
- 2 questionnaires for the evaluation of internships at the economic operator;
- 1 guide to the practice tutor;
- 2 professional development activities.
In the satisfaction questionnaires more than 90 % of the students said they saw an improvement in their activity as a result of being part of these traineeships.
The expected impact of the project is to be found in:
- the graduates with the necessary skills and knowledge required on the labour market;
- the improved relationship between the economic agent and school, with future plans in conducting good quality practical training;
- the local community and parents with changed mentalities regarding vocational education.
