At its annual conference, EfVET – the European network for vocational education and training, of which ENAC has been a member since 2018 – offers its members the opportunity to disseminate the results of their projects in order to promote best practices.
During the Roundtables, partners from various European projects have the opportunity to provide more in-depth information to all interested parties and discuss future opportunities for cooperation. During this event, ENAC and the Catholic University will present the main results of the project, specifically:
the first Intellectual Output, which consists of a report on UTCs (University Technical Colleges) and how to transfer the model to other contexts
the second Intellectual Output – Methodological framework and common tools for the development of a new curriculum
To participate, send an email to enac@enac.org indicating:
email address to which the link to participate should be sent
We asked some trainers who participated in Erasmus+ mobility projects last year to evaluate the impact that this experience has had on their training activities over time. Below is the testimony of Vera Bottazzi, language trainer at ENAC Lombardia – C.F.P. Canossa in Bagnolo Mella, who visited Friesland College in the Netherlands last year.
“During the three days of visits as part of the J2E project promoted by ENAC, I noticed that the training structure in the Netherlands is very different from ours. There are more unstructured activities, which I hope will also come to Italy, as I believe they are good for both professional skills and soft skills. In fact, it was the focus on the latter that struck me most during the study visit.
What have I learnt and what do I use? Definitely explaining the objective!
Each lesson, each period is dedicated to a concept, an activity that is always visible (on the blackboard, on the interactive whiteboard), which helps students understand the reason behind the exercises. In addition, the experience has helped me rethink teaching spaces. In a classroom in Bagnolo (first pastry shop), we created a different classroom setting:
The desks are arranged in groups of four, which greatly helps both students who are struggling and those who are more skilled, as they can help others.
The teacher’s desk is not near the blackboard but on the other side of the room, which helps the teacher to avoid “sitting down”. They have to get up to stand in the middle of the room (which attracts more attention) and to write on the blackboard. This situation met with a lot of resistance, but gradually seems to have been accepted.
The presentation of group work or various individual tasks takes place in the centre of the classroom. I have set up a lectern so that students can overcome their shyness and clearly share what they are doing with others. It wasn’t easy, but now the students have no problem with it.
Going beyond simple lectures…
In the fourth year classes, I gave them independent assignments to be completed over time, which they could then discuss in class (as I had seen during lessons at the Dutch school). This gave each student greater autonomy and responsibility. Of course, some took advantage of this to do less than was asked of them, but I think this is normal; the habit of lecture-style teaching does not help students to work towards results.
My confidence in the students’ soft skills has increased. I believe that in the past I sometimes took their place, but the Dutch experience made me realise that giving them more autonomy, listening to their opinions on the progress of the course and reviewing the situation as a group every month helps them to be more responsible towards their studies.
I hope that soft skills and professional skills will be considered complementary. In the future world of work, there should be no division between what you do and how you do it. I believe this will be the rule for success, and the same should apply to vocational training centres.”
