Project ESW – EARLY SCHOOL WORKERS
The project
The education systems of many countries need to be radically overhauled in order to remain competitive. Innovative approaches are needed to combat early school leaving (ESL) and the failure of young people to acquire key skills.
The UK’s UTC model seems capable of responding to these new challenges. It is a group of vocational schools that are implementing a pedagogical approach strongly focused on student activities, based on the Project Based Learning model. Each UTC, in collaboration with a local university and businesses, works to develop a curriculum that allows students to have experiences similar to those they would have after school, also integrating three types of learning:
technical
academic
practical
All aspects of life at these colleges are built around a specific methodology called PiXL Edge, a model that allows students to develop skills that will be useful for the rest of their lives and for their future professional activities (Leadership, Organization, Communication, Initiative, and Resilience).
Goals
- The project aims to further strengthen the key and technical-professional skills of young people attending VET courses by analyzing and adapting the English UTC model to the Italian, Spanish, and German contexts.
- In this way, the project aims to respond to a common need of European VET systems:
- to increase the levels of key skills among young people and consequently reduce the skills gap;
- to promote new partnerships and organizational models for WBL approaches.
Activities and methodologies
There will be four phases during the project, each involving the creation of specific outputs:
Developing a model for transferring the English UTC model;
Transferring the model and adapting it to VET centers in other countries by designing training courses (curricula) for each sector and professional field, combining national standards with innovative elements from English schools;
Testing and implementing this model, i.e., validating and adopting the UTC model in selected VET centers in Italy, Spain, and Germany;
Monitoring and evaluating learning outcomes.
Partners
Comunication
The European Commission’s support for this project does not constitute an endorsement of the content of this website, which reflects solely the views of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.