Conferences, seminars, webinars
"Supporting the process of acquiring talents to participate in competitions of professional skills at the national and European level - Good practices of the WeRskills project"
June 9, 2022
During the international conference entitled „Supporting the process of acquiring talents to participate in competitions of professional skills at the national and European level – Good practices of the WeRskills project” (June 9, 2022) we summarized the WeRskills project.
The discussion concerned the following questions:
How important are vocational skills competitions for professional education and the labor market?
Why manufacturers of construction products should participate in the process of vocational education and training?
What are the realities of organizing internships and apprenticeships in contracting companies?
Should an industry school with a construction profile participate in acquiring talents to participate in competitions of professional skills?
What determines the success of cooperation between vocational education and economy?
Several important recommendations were made during the conference.
Invited speakers:
Stanisław Sobczyk – Rigips Polska, Lidia Staniszewska – Zespół Szkół Budowlanych w Radomiu,
Jacek Blachowski – Stowarzyszenie Specjalistów Robót Wykończeniowych,
Jolanta Religa – Łukasiewicz – Instytut Technologii Eksploatacji,
István Vidovszky – National Federation of Hungarian Building Contractors, Hungary,
Anna Świdurska – Wydawca czasopisma „My Zawodowcy.”
WorldSkills competitions in Cyprus
June 6, 2022
The idea of WorldSkills competitions was well received. In fact, not many trainers attending the event knew about the competitions and were very keen to get more information. During a discussion at the end of the 1st session, it was obvious that the participants wished to be involved in WSC and to learn how they could contribute in promoting, leading a group to the competitions. This we linked nicely with the 2nd session of the event which aimed to present the Best Practices Guide. During Session 2, after presenting the Best Practices Guide and the WeRskills ePlatform, a discussion session was held on the role of trainers in WSC.
Main conclusion from the feedback during discussion sessions:
WSC is not well known in Cyprus. KEPA should promote it as the National Contact Point
Trainers are interested in getting involved and offer the competitions as an incentive to their students
More Guidance is need for Trainers. A tailored made course, with Step-by-Step process on how to get started with WSC
Cyprus’ participation in WSC could and should be widened to other sectors as well apart from the ones that is currently participating
International cooperation of schools
May 20, 2022
The WeRskills project was presented at the conference „International cooperation of schools” organized by the Economic School Complex in Radom. The conference was in the form of training, which was full of information on international cooperation of vocational schools within various educational programs:
Polish-German Youth Cooperation,
Project „Career Lever”,
ERASMUS + Strategic Partnership, POWER Program – Transnational Student Mobility,
ERASMUS + Strategic Partnership, Vocational Education and Training.
LEAGUE OF SKILLS
mobility and cooperation projects as a tool for development of international skills competitions
mobility and cooperation projects as a tool for development of international skills competitions
9-10 December 2021
Erasmus+ NA in Poland organized a seminar LEAGUE OF SKILLS addressed to VET skills enthusiasts in order to support them in professionalization of their knowledge and tools within planning and realization of international cooperation projects.
The event was held online, via zoom platform, on 9-10 December 2021.
Participants had a chance to network, cooperate and discuss their approaches as well as to become familiar with the opportunities of the Erasmus+ programme in relation to skills competitions.
On the first day, 3 Erasmus+ projects thematically focused on skills competitions were presented, among them WeRskills project.
WeRskills project have been selected as an example of a good practice and presented during the seminar by Małgorzata Kowalska who shared her ideas and experience within this initiative with seminar participants.
Skills leaders - synergy of schools, crafts and enterprises
22 October 2021
The conference concerned the possibility of including skills competitions into the Polish VET system.
Conference participants and speakers discussed topics related to VET education, they assessed the potential benefits and risks related to the organization of skills competitions and they tried to answer the question „How to involve various institutions to actively participate in skills competitions?”.
Are skills competitions popular in Romania?
Seminar on different approaches towards EuroSkills competitions
Seminar on different approaches towards EuroSkills competitions
6 July 2021
The seminar was organized at Łukasiewicz – Institute for Sustainable Technologies. WeRskills project team hosted representatives of the Worldskills Romania Foundation who talked about all kinds of initiatives they take to strengthen the attractiveness of VET and shared their experience in the implementation of skills competitions in Romania.
We compared Polish and Romanian VET systems and discussed the pros and cons of vocational skills competitions which may encourage young people to choose VET as an educational pathway and start a skilled career in the future.
We also agreed that Poland and Romania share the same problems when it comes to popularizing the idea of skills competitions among VET institutions, VET students and teachers, companies and businesses, authorities.
WeRskills Conference at the Drywall Systems National Selection Competition in Hungary
June 11, 2021 Hungary
The event was held at Pollack Vocational School in Pécs, Hungary. Participants of the conference observed the competition and discussed the necessity of popularizing skilled careers among young people. Career advisors, vocational school teachers, trainers and representatives of construction companies should be involved in this activity. It was also agreed that the most important requirement for successful participation in the competition is a thorough practical training.
Skills create opportunities.
Building partnerships to develop skills competitions in Poland
Building partnerships to develop skills competitions in Poland
17 February 2021
The event is part of the Erasmus+ project WeRskills which promotes VET and motivates the youth to learn a profession. It is planned as a seminar during which the results of the project will be disseminated to an audience composed of representatives of schools, crafts and businesses who will also take part in a discussion on the synergy of actions promoting VET through skills competitions.
The general purpose of the activity is to engage different kinds of people into the idea of vocational skills competitions and skills excellence sought by the labor market today.
Report on Multiplier Event
Country: Hungary
Place: Budapest
16 February 2021
1. Background
The multiplier event of the WeRskills project was planned to be organized at the end of 2020. But because of the pandemic situation it had to be postponed constantly. Finally, we decided to hold online in the frame of a Teams meeting in mid-February 2021.
The invitation of the webinar was sent to all Hungarian construction vocational training schools by e-mail. Beside that we also sent the invitation directly to those teachers and trainers who have participated in our former teacher training programs organized in the frame of the Erasmus program in collaboration with Rigips Austria. See enclosed the letter of invitation.
2. Participants
Finally, 12 people have registered and took part at the WeRskills webinar in the afternoon on 16 February 2021. The participants were on one hand trainers and teachers of nine different vocational schools in the country. On the other hand, most of them have earlier participated at our dry wall construction trainer training program co-organized with Rigips in the frame of the Erasmus program.
3. Description of the event
At the webinar Zoltán Pete, deputy director of ÉVOSZ first welcomed the participants and then presented them the WeRskills project. He explained the background and the aim of the project. Briefly introduced the participating partners and their activities, the tasks and achievements performed so far, as well as the additional tasks.
4. Conclusions
The dry wall construction profession was recognized as an independent profession in Hungary in 2002, and a textbook was published by ÉVOSZ Dry Wall Constructor Department, as well. Subsequently, dry wall construction training was launched in some vocational schools in the country. For example, in Budapest, in Nyíregyháza, in Kecskemét and in Pécs.
Unfortunately, the number of young people choosing a career has been on a declining trend for years due to demographic reasons, and at the same time, the number of young people choosing construction professions declines also continuously. As a result, vocational schools have not been able to start a drywall constructor class for years. Thus, the education of this profession takes place only in the frame of adult education.
The participants of the webinar were very satisfied with the information that was presented about the WeRskills project. They all consider it very important to draw attention of young pupils to the drywall construction profession as career choice. Hopefully the findings of the WeRskills project they will provide significant assistance in this regard.
WeRskills Webinar- skills tests in construction
29 October 2020
The event is part of the Erasmus+ project WeRskills which inspires an excellence in skills and introduces the youth to a variety of skilled careers through participating in skills competitions.
It was planned as a series of webinars to develop the skills tests for Plastering and Drywall Systems, which is one of the EuroSkills competitions – the major vocational skills competition in Europe. The tests will range from introductory to advanced test pieces that may be used in classroom projects, school championships, regional or even national competitions.
The general purpose of the activity is to engage VET teachers and trainers into the idea of vocational skills competitions and skills excellence sought by the labor market today.
