Monday 31 October 2016

INNOTECS - International Network of Technical Schools - 2nd Conference and final project meeting


Manuela Guimarães and Teresa Santos were in Valencia, Spain, participating in INNOTECS final project meeting and in the second project conference.
The conference participants worked together on the theme “How to attract more (young) students in technical studies (and how to fill in the gap between school and company) and the two teachers from FORAVE were responsible for the round table “How to meet the rapidly changing demands of the companies?”.
Here are FORAVE`s round table results and some photos.




















Friday 30 September 2016

INNOTECS - International Network of Technical Schools – 2nd project conference (Valencia)


On 26th October, the 2nd INNOTECS conference will take place in Valencia, Spain.
“How to attract more (young) students in technical studies (and how to fill in the gap between school and company) will be the theme of the conference and FORAVE will be were responsible for the round table “How to meet the rapidly changing demands of the companies?”.


Here is the desk research we did for the conference.



INNOTECS CONFERENCE
VALENCIA, 26th OCTOBER 2016

WORLD CAFE - How to meet the rapidly changing demands of the companies?

Debate Issues

1.   What are the biggest challenges that workers are going to face in the next 20 years?
2.   Are education and vet operators prepared for the future demands of companies?
3.   How can they increase the approach to industry and talk the “same language”?
4.   Which profiles do companies need? How skilled should workers be for industry 4.0?
5.   Which trainers’ profiles do schools need to prepare the new generation working force?
6.   Everything will be connected to everything else. In what way can VET and manufacturing improve their connection?

ABOUT THE TOPIC

The world is changing and the workforce in a very near future will be multi-generational, older,  and  more  highly  polarised.  Businesses are likely  to  retain  a  smaller  core  staff,  with  people  moving  across  organisations  and  projects,  with  the  lower-skilled  experiencing  increasing  insecurity of  employment  and  income.  People are more  likely  to  develop  portfolio  careers  around  hybrid  skills.  Collaborative business models become more important, and businesses demand people with excellent project and risk management skills.
In all countries the implications for skills development are momentous. Many of the jobs that will be generated over the next two decades do not exist today.
The next most significant trends include a greater customer focus and more customer-specific adaptation, efforts to reduce lead times, new forms of marketing and distribution channels (especially in the e-commerce area) and greater energy efficiency across the production operation. Further trends included preventive maintenance, automation of inbound logistics, smart data-gathering and miniaturization.
These additional trends and challenges are closely linked to the issues raised by industry 4.0 and exponential technologies. Digital Industry 4.0 is based on cyber-physical production systems that combine communications, IT, data and physical elements. These systems transform traditional plants into smart factories. Here, machines "talk" to products and other machines, objects deliver decision-critical data, and information is processed and distributed in real time resulting in profound changes to the entire industrial ecosystem.
The talent requirements and number of skilled workers, the digital transformation to industry 4.0 will bring new challenges for many employees.
Creative working processes, such as strategic planning or research and development, will have a greater need for the skills required to identify, introduce and implement the new and innovative business opportunities offered by industry 4.0.
New business models and new models for cooperation constitute the real added value of industry 4.0.  Space for creativity needs to be established. To answer the questions how companies can learn and how change can be managed will be of key importance for senior management.
Digitisation increases also the importance of new technical skills, notably in the case of operating activities and mechanical working processes in production, purchasing and warehousing and logistics. New, process-dependent systems making greater use of technology may prove to be a major challenge for existing employees. In future manufacturing companies will have to pay even greater attention to developing the competencies of their employees and recruiting a digitally sophisticated workforce.

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE CHANGES ARE WIDE-RANGING     

  • Employers will need to  take ownership  of  skills  in  their  sectors  and  rise  to  the  challenge   of   international   competition;   develop   career   routes   and   progression pathways  for  young  people  and  those  with  lower  skills  in  particular;  and  collaborate  with  education  and  training  provides  to  ensure  learning  provision  meets  employer needs.
  • Individuals will need to adapt to a changing labour market and patterns of work; take responsibility for investing in and developing their skills; develop both job specific and soft skills, including collaboration and communication; and develop the skills required by employers, including enterprise and management skills.
  • Education and training providers will need to collaborate with employers to  ensure  that  their  offer  meets employer  needs;  invest  in  new  modes  of  learning  and  continually update content; develop content which reflects the role of technology and an   increasingly   interdisciplinary   approach   to   work;   and   provide   more   flexible   opportunities for learning. 
  • Policy makers will need to maximise the public and private markets for skills,  ensuring  that  public  investment  supports  provision  that  meets  employer  needs;  encourage  employers  to  take  ownership  of  skills  and  develop  training  solutions;  support  those  with  lower-level  skills  to  reskill  and  take  opportunities  in  a  changing  labour market; and mitigate local, regional and demographic disparities in access to jobs and skills.
  
WHAT CAN BE DONE

  • Building solid bridges between the world of work and training providers in order to match skills provision to the needs of enterprises
  • Continuous workplace training and lifelong learning enabling workers and enterprises to adjust to an increasingly rapid pace of change
  • Anticipating and building competencies for future needs
  • Sustained dialogue between employers and trainers, coordination across government institutions,   labour market information, employment services and performance reviews are steps to an early identification of skill needs
  •  Ensuring broad access to training opportunities, for women and men, and particularly for those groups facing greater difficulties, in particular youth, lower skilled workers, workers with disabilities, rural communities
  • Benefits from adequate investment in good-quality education and skills
  • A good skills development system will be able to: anticipate skill needs; engage employers and workers in decisions about training  provision,  including  in  specific  sectors; maintain the quality and relevance of training; make training accessible to all sectors of society
  • To keep training relevant, institutional and financial arrangements must build solid bridges between the world of learning and the world of work. Bringing together business and labour, government and training providers, at the local, industry and national levels, is an effective means of securing the relevance of training to the changing needs of enterprises and labour markets.
  • Maintaining a close connection between training policies and employment policies creates an effective bridge between the worlds of learning and of work

Manuela Guimarães I Teresa Santos
Lousado, 30 September 2016

Sources:

Monday 15 August 2016

"Bringing Europe Closer”: KA1 - Staff training in France


Ana Flávia Pereira, our teacher of French, attended, from 1st to 5th August, a course on “Français pour professeurs de français”, at  Lyon Bleu  International, in Lyon, France.
Here is her opinion on the course...

“Ce cours a été une riche experience d´apprentissage qui m´a permis l´acquisition d´aptitudes et de compétences dans le domaine de l´enseignement du français langue étrangère. J´ai développé mes propres compétences dans mon domaine, j´ai accru la pertinence de mon enseignement et j´ai aussi amélioré ma connaissance de questions sociales, linguistiques et culturelles.
J´ai développé mes opportunités de carrière et d'embauche futures, aussi bien que mes compétences en langue étrangère. Maintenant je peux contribuer plus efficacement pour améliorer les services offerts par mon organisme d’envoi, comme, par exemple, l´amélioration de la qualité et la quantité des mobilités d’apprenants et du personnel vers et depuis mon organisme d’envoi.
Les attentes ont été satisfaites, voire dépassées; j´ai acquis des compétences pratiques pertinentes pour mon développement professionnel et je suis três motivée pour expérimenter et développer de nouvelles pratiques d’apprentissage et méthodes d’enseignement, qui conduiront à une plus grande motivation des apprenants.”


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"Bringing Europe Closer”: KA1 - Staff training in the UK


From 1st to 12th August, Teresa Lessa Santos and Ana Clara Santos, our teachers of English, attended the course "Educational Technology Today for Language Teachers" at Bell Institute, in Cambridge (England).
Both teachers considered the course as extremely useful as it helped them to upgrade their skills and familiarise themselves with the latest developments in educational technology.
These were some of the topics covered during the course:
- Blended learning: making the most of an online learning platform;
- The flipped classroom: creating and curating video material;
- Using current mobile apps for language learning;
- Using authentic mobile apps for language learning;
- Using games and games features to gamify your classroom;
- Adaptive learning and adaptive learning products, big data;
- Augmented reality;
- Tools for tracking student progress;
- Digital test-creation;
- Using your interactive white board to the maximum;
- Online project work and e-portfolios;
- Cloud computing and collaboration tools;
- Using social networks to create a personal learning network.



Monday 18 July 2016

"Bringing Europe Closer”: KA1 - Staff training in the Czech Republic


André Fonseca, one of our teachers of ICT, attended, from 11th to 15th july, the  course “ICT In Education Course” at ITC International TEFL certificate s.r.o., in Prague, Czech Republic.

André Fonseca attended lessons on the following modules:
Module 01 – Trends in ICT in education, situation in different european countries
Module 02 – Methodology of use of ICT in the classroom
Module 03 – Plagiarims
Module 04 – Safety issues (health, cyber bullying, cyber stalking)
Module 05 – Work with smartboards
Module 06 – Weebly/WebQuests
Module 07 – Using mobile devices to support learning
Module 08 – Finding resources for lessons
Module 09 – Efficient presentations
Module 10 – Creation of posters
Module 11 – ICT in different subjects
Module 12 – Workshop,

and made a “very positive assessment of this course because I improved my level of expertise and skills in ICT and also language skills because the course was held in English. I bring new ideas and skills that will be able to share with the school community and that will certainly reflect on the success of learning.”














Monday 4 July 2016

"Bringing Europe Closer”: KA1 - Staff training in the UK


Manuela Guimarães, FORAVE`s Pedagogical Director and teacher of English, attended, from 25th to 29th June, the course “Creative Methodology” at Oxford House College Training Limited in London. Manuela Guimarães considered that the “course was very enriching and helped to increase my knowledge and improve my teaching skills. My expectations were completed achieved and I am highly motivated to test creative methodology in my classes.”
The course was also very positive as Manuela Guimarães had the chance to build up new contacts, expand her professional network and gained practical skills relevant to her current job and professional development.
On her return to FORAVE, Manuela Guimarães shared the new, or improved, skills and competences with her colleagues.



Monday 13 June 2016

"The Effect of Children on Consumption and Sustainable Consumption Training“ - Meeting in Partinico, Italy

From 29th May to 4th June 2016, “IIS ORSO MARIO CORBINO” a vocational High School in Partinico, Italy, welcomed and gave hospitality to colleagues and students from partner schools of Portugal, Romania, Turkey and Croatia.
As the Headmaster of the Italian school said in his welcoming speech “ the project comes from a strong desire to create a partnership with other European schools, but also from the need of many teachers to develop the European dimension in our school and to strengthen the sense of belonging to a larger reality… Europe is a great opportunity for the younger generation, in a genuine process of renewal. Giving the opportunity to the teachers and students of the European schools to meet, work together, know each other is a great contribution for the consolidation of the basis of a great Europe”.
Italy was the second mobility after Croatia. During this meeting all the participants were invited to watch the videos about “sustainable consumption” which had been created and filmed by the students of each school partner. The topics of the drama activities had been decided in the previous meeting in Croatia: Turkey – Shopping Madness, Portugal – Food, Italy – Saving Money and Energy, Romania – Recycling and Reutilization, Croatia –Budget Planning.
The next meeting will be in Romania in March 2017 where the work done by the school partners will be shared: the curriculum for the following school year 2016/17, the survey about consumption and the questionnaire on European consciousness.