Tuesday 19 April 2016

"Bringing Europe Closer”: KA1 - Job shadowing in Spain


André Fonseca, one of our teachers, was in Fundació Eduard Soler, in Ripoll (Spain), for a one-week job shadowing period (11th to 15th April).
This is André Fonseca´s opinion on this experience…

“I had the opportunity to meet the school, attending classes and participating in the realization of projects of students. I also visited companies in the region and an institute that is also dedicated to training and even had the opportunity to meet the technological centre connected to the foundation. In the visit to the school I had the opportunity to meet the physical spaces with special focus on technical training rooms of the areas of technical design, mechanical and electrical / automation that are the same as I work. I've also met with the school principal and the director of marketing explained to me all the school run. During the week I attended several classes of different materials such as CNC classes, Pneumatics and programming APP's and software. Participation in these classes were important to meet new training areas and different teaching methods. I also participated in mechatronic projects that are practical lessons for the development of projects by students, like our PAP's. I was able to know the type of projects that perform as well as the technologies used and help in its realization. I was also provided visits to two companies in the region and an institute. The visit to the "Lacetània Institute" was made with a steering member of the "Fundació Eduard Soler" working the same areas of training, with the aim of sharing experiences and knowledge. The "Lacetània Institute" is a school dedicated to training in the areas of Automotive Mechanical, Industrial Maintenance, Automation and Robotics, Electricity and Electronics and Telecommunications. I also visited the Tesem company that is a world leader in the manufacture of metal luxury packaging. This company specializes in the production of plastic and aluminium components for markets such as perfumes and cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. I also visited the MATRIX company dedicated to the manufacture of high precision moulds for plastic injection machines. Finally, during this week of Job Shadowing I also met the technological centre Foundation Eduard Soler with the production manager and director of engineering. This centre is connected to the area of mechatronics and is dedicated to the construction of prototypes and projects for companies in the region. It offers companies a wide range of services ranging from the creation, design, development and improvement of products and also complementary services through innovation processes, technical support, prototyping, casting, calculations, advanced computing, manufacturing, installation and consulting innovation. This job shadowing period was a very enriching experience because I had the opportunity to get to know a different reality in vocational training and in the same areas that I teach in my school that will allow me to improve my teaching activity. Moreover, as I am the director of the Industrial Maintenance Technician Course, it   was  also important to get to know other forms of organization and to learn with them in order to improve the functioning of the course.”