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Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational training How to make the difference! EULIVET-project 2014

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Page 1: Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational … · 2016-08-10 · These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, ... Project partners focused on

Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational

trainingHow to make the difference!

EULIVET-project 2014

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The report was produced with financial support from the European Union.

The content does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed lies entirely with the authors.

Pictures: Helena Miettinen (EULIVET/AMKE), Mervi Jansson(Omnia)

Table of Contents

European leadership in VET institutions 3

EULIVET-project 2014 3

Summary 5

Introduction, rationale of the project and project description 7

Analysis of the VET-systems: differences and similarities in partner countries 10

Thematic areas 25

1 Relationships and cooperation with the external environment 25

2 Inter-organizational processes, roles and responsibilities 31

3 Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles in VET 38

4 Quality management practices in VET providers organizations 46

Conclusion and recommendations 56

Annex Projectplan 57

Annex project partners 62

European leadership in VET institutionsEULIVET-project 2014

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Summary

The Bruges Communiqué states that by 2020 European VET systems should be more attractive, relevant, career-oriented, innovative, accessible and flexible than in 2010. The European economy faces major challenges and youth unemployment is high in most member states. In addition we have low-skilled adults who are or will be out of a job due to non-existent or wrong qualifications. If we are to ensure a competitive and thriving Europe, VET has to take a proactive role in reforming education. This requires the formulation of a new strategic approach; innovation in both policy and practice, the goal being to transform vocational education into a renewed lifelong learning model capable of promoting prosperity in Europe.

The EU Commission’s Rethinking Education expresses the same concern. It states that education systems also need to modernize and be more flexible in how they operate to respond to the real needs of today’s society. Europe will only resume sustained growth by producing highly skilled and versatile people who can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship.

These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, work tasks and competence requirements. In a Cedefop study on VET leadership these important changes for leadership have been highlighted. This report is based on a project that aims to take this analysis a step further and highlight distinctive competences and challenges for Vet Leaders and Management for the future.

In the project we concluded that many of the studies had: a. the characteristics of “wish lists” for leaders and managers; b. were mostly descriptive or normative but very little empirical; c. described very often positive human characteristics one would want in any fellow human being

leaders or not; d. were mostly general and not specific to education and or VET education; e. because of the multitude of expected characteristics, could hardly predict outcomes on the basis of

all these characteristics.

From this we concluded that the project would be most productive if we would concentrate on characteristics, com-petences and external environments for leaders and managers that from a practice and theoretical viewpoint could be seen as the most distinctive. Project partners focused on the following thematic areas. These were deemed essential to “make a difference” as a leaders or managers in Vet education.

1. Relationship and co-operation with external environment 2. Intra-organizational processes, roles and responsibilities 3. Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles 4. Quality management practices in VET providers organizations.

This is not to say that other characteristics of leaders or themes are not important but many other characteristics for a manager of leader would also be applicable to any organization. These areas of Leadership and management were found to be so essential that it would hardly be possible to perform effectively if they were not addressed by leaders and managers in VET. They were also considered essential because, taking into account the wide differences in VET sys-tems, these thematic areas were seen as being important in any country or educational system. This would mean that relevance of the findings would be recognizable in many countries and situations and would therefore be transferable in practice. In the report best practices from the participating countries (the Basque country, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands) were described. In this short summary the results will be described for each theme.

1. Relationship and co-operation with external environment

A formal structural dialogue with representatives of the world of work at both national and college level is es-sential for the success of a VET college and its students. The two examples from Denmark and the Netherlands with experience in a dual system of VET show how this can be organized. This needs a focused attention on the part of leaders and managers in VET.

Another important aspect in the professional development of school leaders and managers is opening up to fellow professionals in other organizations. This requires the setting up a professional community of leaders and managers in VET. Examples from the Basque country and the Netherlands show how this could be initiated and raise the level of professionalism among leaders and managers, leading to a professional code of conduct,

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a public register of leaders and managers promoting public accountability, and the development of continued professional development. This is also aligned with what would be expected of the professional within VET schools and colleges. In establishing such a community the leaders and managers themselves walk the talk.

Practical cooperation with the external environment is exemplified in the Netherlands where retail educa-tion is given at a shopping mall integrating education and the world of work to the maximum. Strengthening entrepreneurship is being done by inviting the world of work within the college by either forming a center for entrepreneurship within college (the Netherlands) or giving young entrepreneurs an office or workshop in the college premises and using the students as experts to the development of the companies ( Finland)

2. Intra-organizational processes, roles and responsibilities

Modern leadership and management are not of the “follow the leader” character. A leader and manager should be in tune with both the environment and the internal organization. This means cooperation and team effort. A school leader will be both the director in a classical sense, as much as a director of a movie depending on the quality of the author, the actors, the camera men, and so on. Examples from Finland and the Basque country make clear that distributed leadership, which shares responsibilities and ownership throughout the organization, is essential. However this should be combined with a systematic process approach to the organi-zation. This more chain-like focus in the organization led to significantly higher quality (the Basque country) and gave a strong insight into the gaps in knowledge and competences in another case (Finland)

3. Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles

The wish lists of leaders and managers seem almost endless. As when looking for a partner in life and love, the longer the list the less likely is success. The length of the lists adds to the sense of inadequacy. It is well known that this in itself inhibits professional development. In the Basque country example a focus on cooperative reflection as a driver towards a higher quality in Leadership and management complements the heavy reliance on competence lists. The example from the Netherlands follows a way in which management is co-opted to develop management skills. Again shared development orientation is more important than the use of imposed external lists resulting in development programs.

4. Quality management practices in VET providers organizations.

Quality in education seems to be self-evident. In a romantic view of education quality is fully embedded in the teacher. Although the quality of the teacher is a necessary prerequisite for quality in education, it is not some-thing that will come about of its own nor will it assure quality for all teachers and students. In a complex world quality for VET is a delicate balance between the students entry level, the coordination and division of tasks with the world of work, the embedded knowledge system, the learning material and facilities, the distribution of tasks and competences and the requirements for graduation and diplomas and the external appreciation and recognition of these requirements.

The balancing, coordination and assessment of all these factors to ensure quality education can be defined as a quality management system. Examples are the EFQM system, insights from the EQAVET project, ISO require-ments, TQM, etc.) These systems will not come into place by themselves. It requires a leadership and manage-ment decision. Many VET students will work and come to work in companies which rely heavily on quality and quality assurance systems. The use of quality management systems would seem to be congruent with VET providers.

The examples range from Ireland, with a large national overhaul of the quality assurance system, to Denmark, with a strong national quality assurance with an individual choice of college to implement them, to the pro-portional inspection in the Netherlands or the Finnish system that relies on strong norms and straightforward implementation that rely heavily on staff ownership.

As a result of these dissimilarities in national approaches to quality in education, the quality work in VET institutions differs. Some areas in quality assurance can be identified that are seen relevant in all of the countries and these may be categorized in factors related to:

a. Student level: adequacy between training and employment, or completion; b. Faculty level: requirements of teaching staff; c. Organizational level: quality of the programs, internal quality assurance procedures, compliance with

rules and regulations.

As to quality assurance we can see that there are many different roads to quality. This means that there are also many roads to choose from and the chances that there is a road that suits the situation is high. In this respect, it is interesting to look at a back ground study in PISA 2010. When looking at the countries that have shown a consistent improvement

in results it found that they were the countries that combined a high level of strict national requirements and inspec-torate regimes with a high level of autonomy at the school level. To different extents we can see that this is also the case in the practices shared.

The project will support the implementation of the EQAVET framework at VET provider level and the work of EU thematic working groups in changing the competence profiles of VET teachers, trainers and leaders. Through these themes the partnership will foster the implementation of VET priorities, and the quality and the relevance of VET, by sharing and developing the diversity of European VET systems as an asset to mutual learning.

The critical role of management and leadership in VET has been recognized.

Introduction, rationale of the project and project description

1.1. The importance of Leadership and Management in VET

The Bruges Communiqué states that by 2020 European VET systems should be more attractive, relevant, career-oriented, innovative, accessible and flexible than in 2010. According to the 2011 Euro barometer report, VET has a relatively high profile in most member states. However, predicted socio-economic and technological changes will have an impact on a wide spectrum of industries and a spillover effect on VET.

The European economy faces major challenges and youth unemployment is high in most member states. In addition we have low-skilled adults who are or will be out of a job due to nonexistent or wrong qualifications. If we are to en-sure a competitive and thriving Europe, VET has to take a proactive role in reforming education. This requires formulat-ing a new strategic approach; innovation in both policy and practice, the goal being to transform vocational education into a renewed lifelong learning model capable of promoting prosperity in Europe.

The EU Commission’s Rethinking Education expresses the same concern. it states that education systems also need to modernize and be more flexible in how they operate to respond to the real needs of today’s society. Europe will only resume sustained growth by producing highly skilled and versatile people who can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship. Efficient and well-targeted investment is fundamental to this, but we will not achieve our objectives by reducing education budgets.

Rethinking Education calls for a fundamental shift in education, with more focus on ‘learning outcomes’ - the knowl-edge, skills and competences that students acquire. Rethinking is also called for in Eurydice Report Developing Key Competences at School in Europe.

Up skilling is needed in both education and industry. Without 21st century working and learning skills together with dynamic leadership and management competencies and skills, the future of teachers, trainers and management in VET is bleak. Inadequate knowledge and skills also prevents us from becoming more flexible. We might get stuck in the just-in-case education instead of delivering just-in-time education. The role of VET is of great importance both in capacity building and in up skilling the workforce. Unfortunately, it is a well-known fact that VET funding will decrease in most European countries, which causes challenges in refreshing VET.

During the course of this project it seems that Leadership and Management in education has received significantly more attention. In September 2013, the Lithuanian presidency of the EU organized a conference on leadership in edu-cation. Most of the recommendations of that conference have been adopted by the EU. The European policy network on school leadership also pays a lot of attention to the importance of school leadership. In these instances it is peculiar that most attention is focused on general education. It must be realized that VET is, after primary education, the larg-est educational sector with a high employment and social impact. This project focused more on the specific challenges for leaders and managers in VET.

The crucial role of management and leadership in VET must be recognized more strongly. The potential success of cur-rent reforms and changes in vocational education and training in VET in Europe rests largely with VET staff transform-ing policy into practice. Ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, work tasks and competence requirements. In the Cedefop study on VET leadership these important changes for leadership have been highlighted. This project aims to take this a step further and highlight distinctive competences and challenges for Vet Leaders and Management for the future. The best practices of the countries involved were researched and presented.

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1.2. General background and management and leadership studies.Historically “Leadership” has been much highlighted. Much of history is described and explained by taking the formal

leaders ideas, actions and effect as the main focus point. On two counts this also explains the mixed attitude towards leadership. Firstly, in retrospect, we all have an opinion about what constitutes good or bad leadership. Prophesying probable effects is much more difficult. Secondly looking to the future we tend to like leaders that point us in the direction we like and tend to abhor leaders and managers that ask things of us that we do not favour. In the project we looked at several leadership and management studies ranging from Blake Mouton’s managerial grid to Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People leadership; from Hersey and Blanchards situational leadership to Scott Ad-ams insight into management through the eyes of Dilbert comics. More specifically we looked at Marzano’s studies on educational leadership and Cedefop’s study on leadership in VET. The list of publications can be found in the annex. In the project we concluded that many of the studies had

f. the characteristics of “wish lists” for leaders and managers g. were mostly descriptive or normative but very little empirical h. described very often positive human characteristics one would want in any fellow human being leaders or not i. were mostly general and not specific to education and or VET education. j. because of the multitude of expected characteristics could hardly predict outcomes on the basis of all

these characteristics.

From this review we concluded that the project would be most productive if we would concentrate on the charac-teristics, competences and external environments for leaders and managers that, on the basis of practice and theory, could be seen as the most distinctive. The idea is that in selecting for any position positive human characteristics would come into play but what would be most interesting are the characteristics that make the difference and have specific relevance in VET education.

Lastly we considered the fact that educational systems differ considerably across Europe. The diversity is even greater in VET especially if dual systems and the funding of VET is taken into consideration. So we also looked at those charac-teristic that come into play in almost any educational system concerning VET. The situational considerations could then be considered in the specific situation concerned. For instance, in the European Framework for Quality Management, different stages of organizational development are considered. For each phase different leadership and management requirements can be formulated. We also concentrated on those characteristics that will be in place in every phase of development. Through this choice we sought to deliver results that are applicable to many different national systems and for VET education in different stages of development. We concentrated our work on the most important charac-teristics. Through this we set out to identify, share and develop good management and leadership practices in chosen thematic areas.

1.3. Thematic areasThe project partners decided, on the basis of the available experience and literature, that the following thematic ar-

eas could be identified as being crucial, from the point of view of leadership and management in VET. These areas are not exclusively important in VET but they stand out as the most distinctive areas in which VET leaders and managers should act, perform and produce results.

1. Relationship and co-operation with external environment

• innovative management practices to lead the interaction with the labour market and identify the training needs of the world of work

More than any other educational area VET is in interaction with the skill and competence requirements of the labour market. This means not only the responsibility to educate students for viable employment, but also relates to the de-velopment of curricula that meet the demands of the labour market and real life professional situations. Making stra-tegic choices and networking on this line between education and the labour market and organizing effective feedback mechanisms is one of the key challenges for VET leaders and manager

2. Inter-organizational processes, roles and responsibilities• Innovative management practices to strengthen the organizational capacity to meet the needs of

external environment.• The role of leaders and managers as drivers of change.• Innovative management practices in recognizing the development needs of VET teachers´ and trainers’

professional skills

In any situation this thematic area is of importance. For VET leaders this stands out significantly. As the Cedefop study shows, the challenges for VET in an ever changing environment are considerable in the information age. This means that VET leaders and managers need to combine their external networking with being an effective internal change agent. This is even more important for the professional development of the teaching staff. The quality and adaptability of an educational VET organization depends on the level of professionalism and flexibility of educational staff. This is a particular challenge in education generally, as education, together with judicial systems, are considered to be socially stable, in other words slow changing sectors in society.

3. Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles

• VET specific leadership skills and competences.• Innovative practices to develop the VET specific skills and competences needed by VET leaders.

This theme takes the two important areas described above and tries to distinguish, from all the drivers of leadership requirements, the most significantly effective ones. It also focuses on ways of developing these skills and competences.

4. Quality management practices in VET providers organizations.

Vocational education and training must meet the quality requirements expected by stakeholders. Therefore the plan-ning, organization and delivery of VET must meet the highest standards of quality asssurance with appropriate valida-tion.

In the next chapter we will discuss the results of the desk review of the main similarities and differences in VET sys-tems (steering system) in participating countries. This gives an idea of the national differences that were explained above as characteristics of VET education. After that the report will go into the results of the thematic working groups in the project they will present in the respective chapters.

• A further explanation and definition of the theme. • Why the theme is important in leadership and management and why specifically for VET including

theoretical and practical considerations.• The relationship between the specific theme and the other three themes. • What best practices have been identified and why are they so good and how easily are they

transferable to other situations.

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Analysis of the VET-systems: differences and similarities in partner countries

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1. Legislative and Institutional Framework of VET Denmark

The primary legislation governing IVET in Denmark is the Vocational Education and Training Act. Another important law governs vocational colleges: The Act for Institutions for Vocational Education and Training.

The Statutory Order on Vocational Education and Training implements the two above Acts and translates the legisla-tive frameworks into a more concrete set of rules and guidelines.

Statutory orders also exist for each of the twelve access routes to IVET. These statutory orders also set out the par-ticular guidelines for each of the more specific vocational programmes accessed via the relevant access route. Each of these specializations is governed by an agreement compiled and issued by the National Trade Committees.

The National Trade Committees, comprising representatives of the social partners, translate statutory orders into cur-ricular frameworks which can then be further adapted to local needs.

The IVET system is centralised in terms of providing nationally-recognized qualifications (decision-making level), and to some extent (pedagogically) decentralised as VET providers are autonomous in terms of adapting VET to local needs and demands.

The parliament sets out the overall framework for IVET which is administered by the Ministry of Children and Educa-tion. The Ministry is responsible for ensuring that IVET programmes have the breadth required for a youth education programme and for allocating resources. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Ministry has regulated IVET provision through a system of targeted framework governance based on providing ‘taximeter’ grants per student.

The social partners play an institutionalised role at all levels of IVET, from the National Advisory Council on vocational upper secondary education and training, to playing an advisory role at local level through Local Training Committees that advise colleges on local adaptation of IVET.

National Trade Committees constitute the backbone of the IVET system. Approximately 50 trade committees are responsible for 109 main courses.

Colleges work closely with Local Training Committees in determining course content. As self-governing institutions, vocational colleges are led by a governing board with overall responsibility for the administrative and financial running of the college and educational activities. The board consists of teachers, students and administrative staff representa-tives, and social partner representatives.

The operational management, meanwhile, is responsible for implementing the overall objectives and strategies set out by the governing board.

Around 100 institutions offer IVET programmes at upper secondary level, most self-governing institutions under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Children and Education.

Ireland

The administration and implementation of government policy for VET falls mainly within the remit of the Department of Education and Skills.

There is no legal definition of IVET in Ireland, and there is not a sharp distinction between initial and continuing vo-cational education and training for jobseekers and new entrants into the workforce, whether they are young or older people.

There is also no single system in Ireland delivering either IVET or CVET but rather a range of organisations which de-liver programmes both for young people who have just completed their compulsory education, and for those who wish to upgrade their skills having completed initial education and training. It is the status of the trainee that determines whether the training is initial or continuing rather than the system itself.

Thus, a considerable amount of the legislation regulating VET in Ireland applies to both IVET and CVET.

The most profound overhaul of Ireland’s educational structure for decades is under way. The restructuring of the VET / FET Sector is underpinned by three interconnected pieces of legislation:

The Education and Training Boards Act 2013 established sixteen Education and Training Boards, ETBs. The ETBs have statutory responsibility for all delivery of VET and FET services in their local catchment areas. This will be provided through their own institutions and by contract to other education and training providers. The former sixteen FÁS Ap-prenticeship Training Centres are now operated by the ETBs. The national representational body will be Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI.

The Further Education and Training Act 2013 establishes SOLAS, the new Further Education and Training Authority, under the aegis of the Department of Education and Skills, to coordinate and fund FET services in Ireland. Henceforth, SOLAS coordinates and funds the delivery of targeted training programmes with ETBs in accordance with government policy.

Netherlands

VET in the Netherlands is arranged through a separate law on professional education and training and adult education (WEB) Initial VET education is arranged by the Law of General Secondary Education.

On the basis of this law (WEB), private and public organizations are allowed to provide for secondary VET education at three different levels. The second and higher levels match with initial VET education. The level 4 education gives an entry to higher vocational education. Each level can be followed either by following day school plus apprenticeship or as an employee with a labour agreement that goes to school about one day a week.

The Ministry of Education formulates qualification and examination requirements for VET education. Organizations must have a ministerial accreditation to be allowed to provide these VET programs and examinations. Organizations that receive public funding have to be agreed to by law.

The majority of students go to publicly funded schools. These schools are all legally private non-profit foundations. Institutionally they are governed by a board which in turn is supervised by a Supervisory Board which is composed on the basis of cooptation but regionally grounded.

VET education is either school based or on the job based with a component in companies for the first and classes at school for the second. Learning companies get a tax benefit for being a learning company for each student in their company.

Spain/Basque Country

In Spain there is a general framework and the different Autonomous Communities pass their own legislation regard-ing aspects such as the official curricula, rules for evaluation and promotion or the organisation and functioning of educational institutions.

The State Administration has adapted, in order to accommodate the decentralised model which divides educational powers between the State General Administration, the Autonomous Communities, local authorities and educational institutions themselves.

The Ministry of Education is the department of the State General Administration, responsible for the proposals and implementation of the government policies on education, vocational training and universities.

The higher and executive body through which the Ministry of Education performs its duties in VET is the Secretariat of State for Education and Vocational Education and Training. The executive body is the Directorate General for Voca-tional Training.

The advisory body in charge of providing for coordination among the various education authorities is the Sectoral Committee for Education, currently made up of those responsible for education in the different Autonomous Com-munities and chaired by the Minister of Education.

The General Council on Vocational Education and Training is the consultative coordination body for institutional participation by the public Administrations and the social partners regarding VET policy.

Educational institutions have autonomy to devise, approve and implement an educational project, as well as to es-tablish rules for the organisation and running of the institution, within the legal framework set by the State and the Autonomous Community.

Governing bodies in educational institutions must comprise, at least, the School Council and the Teachers’ Assembly. The Management Team is the executive governing body of public educational institutions, and it is made up of the head teacher, the head of studies, the secretary, as well as any other figure established by education authorities.

Initial Vocational Training may be provided in institutions exclusively devoted to teaching vocational training, or in institutions providing other stages. The most frequent case is that this provision is offered along with the compulsory secondary education, ESO, and the Bachillerato, in institutions known as Secondary Education Schools, IES.

At the legislative level, the Ministry of Labour and Immigration and the competent bodies in the Autonomous Com-munities are responsible for the regulation of Vocational Training for Employment, CVET at national and regional level, respectively. Moreover, it is responsible for the development and updating of the Professional Certificates.

Regarding implementation level of CVET, the Ministry of Labour and Immigration makes the multiannual planning

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and is also responsible of the National Public Employment Service. In the Basque Country, Langai, is the name of the Basque Employment Service.

In the case of actions intended primarily for employed workers, the National Public Employment Service manag-es them through the Tripartite Foundation for Training in Employment. This Foundation is tripartite and its board is made up of the civil service and the major employers’ organizations and trade unions. In the Basque Country, there is Hobetuz, the Basque Foundation for Continuing Vocational Training.

At the regional level, the Autonomous Communities have the powers to programme, organize, manage, administer and inspect training for employment in their geographical area.

At the local level, town and city councils have their own adult education initiatives and promote the implementation of workshop schools, craft centres and employment workshops.

The Ministry of Labour and Immigration, together with the Ministry of Education, constitute a Committee to guar-antee the fulfilment of the principles, purposes and functions of the procedure for the Recognition of Professional Competencies acquired through work experience or non-formal learning.

Finland

Vocational upper secondary qualifications and study programmes are defined in a Ministry of Education and Culture decree.

The curriculum consists of the National Core Curricula, each education provider’s curricula and individual study plans. The Finnish National Board of Education approves the qualification-specific core curricula and the requirements of each competence-based qualification.

The core curricula are drawn up in cooperation with employers’ organisations, trade unions, the Trade Union of Edu-cation and student unions.

Local curricula are approved by the boards of education providers. However, the National Core Curricula constitute a legal norm for educational institutions. The core curricula must also function as the basis for the evaluation of national learning outcomes.

The national core curricula for upper secondary vocational qualifications and the requirements for competence-based qualifications are common to education and training for young and adult students. The scope of the qualifications is 120 credits (40 credits per year. 1 credit is equivalent to 40 hours of study).

Qualifications can be completed in the form of school-based education and training, apprenticeship training or com-petence-based qualifications.

The method of instruction is not regulated. Teachers themselves may choose the methods that they apply in order to achieve the objectives defined in the curriculum. eLearning is the area of priority in the development of new teaching methods.

On-the-job learning is a learning method building on the objectives of the curriculum. It aims at taking the needs of both the student and the workplace into account as broadly as possible.

Vocational qualifications may also be completed as apprenticeship training, which also contain courses arranged in the institutions. In Finland, most of the apprentices are adults.

For the purpose of organising education and training, the Ministry of Education and Culture grants the permission to education providers, determining the sectors of education in which they are allowed to organise education and their total student numbers.

The majority of vocational institutions are maintained by municipalities, federations of municipalities, and the state.

Private vocational institutions operating under the Vocational Education and Training Act are steered by the Ministry of Education and Culture, receive government subsidies and have the right to award official qualification certificates.

The Vocational Education and Training Act provide that working life is a focus within education. Education must be or-ganised in cooperation with representatives from enterprises and labour unions. The most important channels through which the social partners participate is in the planning of VET through the national training committees set up by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the governing bodies and advisory councils of educational institutions. Usually, vocational institutions establish local networks to become involved in regional business life.

There is no inspection body for schools in Finland. The expert body in evaluation of general, vocational and adult education is the Finnish Education Evaluation Council, which functions as a network of experts.

The Quality Management Recommendation for Vocational Education and Training has been adopted in 2008 by the

Ministry of Education and Culture to support and encourage VET providers to pursue excellence when improving the quality of their operations.

VET at tertiary level

Institutions of higher education include universities and polytechnics.

Universities: The purpose of universities is to promote independent research and scientific knowledge and to provide the highest education in their fields of study. Access is available through the matriculation examination. In addition, those with a polytechnic degree, post-secondary level vocational qualification or at least a 3-year vocational qualifica-tion also have general eligibility.

Polytechnics: Studies leading to a polytechnic degree provide the knowledge and skills for professional expert func-tions. Polytechnics carry out research and development and play an important role in regional development as pro-viders of high-quality education and developers of the economic life of the regions, in particular small and medium enterprises. Polytechnics usually offer courses in a number of fields with a professional emphasis. Degrees tend to take 3-4 years to complete. Polytechnics also organise adult education. There are 25 accredited polytechnics in Finland.

Continuing Vocational Education and Training

Current adult education policy is based on the work of Parliamentary Adult Education Committee.

The national qualifications requirements are drawn up by the Finnish National Board of Education in co-operation with employers’ organisations, trade unions, the Trade Union of Education and student unions. They are dealt with by National Education and Training Committees, which are tripartite bodies established for each occupational field by the Ministry of Education and Culture for a term of three years at a time to plan and develop vocational education and training.

Vocational adult education and training can be divided into upper secondary and additional vocational education and training. The education or training may be either certificate-oriented or non-formal. Upper secondary vocational edu-cation and training is certificate-oriented, whereas additional vocational training may be both.

2. Systems and Mechanisms for the anticipation of skill needs.Denmark

In IVET, the dual training principle means that strong links are established between enterprises and VET providers, encouraging the integration of learning with working. Close cooperation between the various stakeholders is consid-ered a vital prerequisite if the dual system of training is to function effectively and to continue to develop in line with changes in labour market needs.

Within CVET, the flexible provision of short competence-based courses adaptable to the specific needs of the enter-prises indicates a demand-led system. Here, the established Adult and Continuing Education and Training Centres have the identification and integration of skill needs as one of their primary functions.

The Ministry of Children and Education annually compiles reports on developments in all vocational fields and the need for changes in supply of VET programmes based on responses submitted by national trade committees. These reports are produced for each of the 12 fields corresponding to the 12 basic access routes.

Since 2008, the Ministry has gathered VET analysis and forecasting activities in the Central Analysis and Prognosis Unit with the specific goal of matching VET provision to labour market needs. A series of predetermined areas for analysis are put to tender every year.

Practices to match VET provision (skills) with skill needs (jobs)

There is a continuous ongoing dialogue between the various stakeholders with regard to ensuring VET responsive-ness to labour market needs and attempting to anticipate skill needs and integrate them within VET provision. The decentralized nature of the Danish VET system allows providers a relatively high degree of autonomy enabling a rapid response to labour market changes and changes in skill needs.

National Trade Committees and National Advisory Councils on vocational upper secondary education and training and on adult education and continuing training are responsible for updating VET programmes and ensuring that they integrate the skill and competence needs of the labour market at national level.

A new VET programme is set up after a need has been identified by one of the national trade committees. Their proposal is sent to the Ministry of Children and Education which has the final word on whether or not to establish a suggested VET programme.

VET programme curricula guidelines are agreed between the social partner trade committees and the Ministry of

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Children and Education for each individual programme. Trade committees submit recommendations to renew curricula so that VET programmes and qualifications keep up with demands of industry, based on qualification analyses and in-depth knowledge of the field in question.

At the regional and local level, vocational colleges, social partners and local business and industry are able to influ-ence VET programmes so they are adapted to the specific skills needs of local business and industry, and to regional development plans through local training committees.

Ireland

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, EGFSN, is a body appointed by the Irish Government and composed of representatives of business, employees, education, training, government departments and state agencies, to advise it on aspects of education and training related to the future skills requirements of the enterprise sector of the Irish economy. The Group’s mandate provides that it will act as the central national resource on skills and labour supply for the enterprise sector and on overall strategy for enterprise training in Ireland.

The SOLAS Skills and Labour Market Research Unit, SOLAS SLMRU, regularly produces studies on different occupa-tions and provides a research facility for the EGFSN. SOLAS SLMRU has established a National Skills Database which gathers all the data collected by the SLMRU and other public bodies in Ireland including the Central Statistics Office, which are relevant to the issue of skills demand and supply.

SOLAS SLMRU also has a Planning and Research Department, which studies employment trends and skills’ needs in order to inform VET provision.

A series of economic and sectoral employment Manpower Forecasting Studies are carried out every three years by the Economic Social Research Institute, ESRI. These forecasts are translated by the SOLAS SLMRU into occupational employment forecasts for 43 different occupational groups over a 5-to-10 year period.

The National Skills Strategy, NSS, published in 2007, set out the potential skills needs of the Irish economy up to 2020, the likely supply and demand for skilled labour, related policy issues, the state of training provision, and the benefits of investment in training provision. It also detailed specific targets to achieve a significantly improved educational and skills profile for the Irish labour force.

The EGFSN reports annually on progress in relation to the recommendations, and the National Framework of Qualifi-cations provides the framework to benchmark the implementation of the strategy.

Practices to match VET provision (skills) with skill needs (jobs)

With regard to adult and further education, the 2011 Programme for Government stated it would prioritise lifelong learning, community education and vocational training for jobseekers.

At IVET and CVET level, a very wide range of courses are provided through the ETBs and SOLAS, including a range of adult and community education courses which cater for the literacy, numeracy and ICT needs of adults.

On an annual basis, with advice from its Skills and Labour Market Research Unit, and inputs from the EGFSN, SOLAS arranges for the provision of a range of courses. In recent years, SOLAS and ETBs have developed new courses to meet emerging labour market and skills needs in the areas of services, ICT, medical devices, food, biopharma occupations and green energy.

The ETBs deliver further education programmes in line with operational guidelines (for part-time programmes) and circulars (full-time programmes). In order to inform delivery, the ETBs network with local and regional stakeholders, including employers and non-governmental organisations, as well as nationally with various representative organisa-tions, through ETBI.

The social partners have always played a role in VET in Ireland. The setting up of the National Training Fund, NTF, in 2000 gave the social partners, and in particular employers, a policy consultation forum regarding the allocation of fund-ing for skills training for the employed. Employers and unions are represented on the Boards and sub-Boards of the main vocational training providers, the EGFSN, and QQI.

Netherlands

By law Centres of Expertise work at the national level. They are publicly funded and the boards are comprised of companies and unions (50%) and VET providers (50%). There is a foundation for working life and VET education which is 50% working life and 50% VET providers.

The Centres of Expertise are organized for each sector in the economy (some 17). They give advice to the Minister of Education on several issues.

a. For what professions a qualification with public value should be provided for by law at one of the 4 different level

b. What the content of the qualifications are. (competences at the end of the education for a specific profession)

c. What the labour market prospects are of each qualification/profession.

d. To recruit so called “learning companies” and assure that they provide adequate places for apprenticeships including training on the job.

Thus, the Minister decides on the basis of the advice of the Centres of Expertise which programmes for which profes-sions at which level can be provided for by public or private institutions.

Each qualification should be able to be reached within 80% of the nominal period for the education. This is the na-tional equivalent of the qualification. The national qualification is always threefold

a. Qualifications for the profession.

b. Qualifications as a citizen career planning and knowledge of learning styles.

c. Qualifications for extended education mainly entrance requirements for higher vocational education.

The 20% free space in the national qualification can be used by colleges to fill in with qualification requirements based on regional labour market requirements. Colleges use employer representative committees to formulate the content of that 20%. The representatives are mainly from “learning companies”. The diploma is based on the national qualifica-tion scheme and the 20 % is extra to be used in a regional context.

Spain/Basque Country

In the Spanish Vocational Education and Training System, there are various institutions within the education and la-bour authorities that are responsible for the anticipation of needs for training and professional qualifications:

The General Council for Vocational Training is a consultative, tripartite body for Vocational Training.

The National Public Employment Service manages the Occupational Observatory which is intended to identify the employment trends of the different economic activities.

The National Qualifications Institute, INCUAL, promotes the identification and updating of training and professional qualification needs. The INCUAL has an Observatory which studies and creates reports on the evolution of the 26 pro-fessional families. INCUAL is also responsible for the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications, the instrument that systematizes the professional qualifications identified in the production system. It constitutes a set of standards for skills that have significance for employment.

In the Basque Country, KEI-IVAC is the Basque Institute of Qualifications.

The Catalogue is compiled jointly by the Labour and Education Departments, in consultation with the General Voca-tional Training Council and in cooperation with the Autonomous Communities, the social interlocutors and the produc-tion sectors.

The 19 National Reference Centres have to observe the changes in the productive system and the needs for qualifica-tions.

The Joint Committees, which are made up of the most representative employers’ organizations and trade unions in a particular sector, work through collective agreements or specific agreements on training. At this time, there are 78 joint committees in the different productive sectors.

Practices to match VET provision (skills) with skill needs (jobs)

The education departments of the Autonomous Communities must supplement the Basic Curriculum for each cycle.

Teaching centres have the autonomy to develop and complete the curriculum for the different stages, so that at the beginning of each school year they must draw up an Annual Programme that includes all the aspects that have to do with organizing and operating the centre.

The anticipation of competencies and abilities in Initial Vocational Training is organized into a number of phases. Ex-perts from companies participate to a greater or lesser extent in all phases. The competencies listed are updated every five years or less, depending on the changes in the sectors concerned.

Through the work carried out in the different professional observatories, an overview of each professional family is obtained: information about how the job supply and demand, occupations and profiles will evolve in the future mar-ket. Although this prospective does not offer a precise picture of the future, it is a mechanism for improvement and

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modernisation of Vocational and Education Training.

In the CVET field, the initiatives included in the Vocational Training for Employment subsystem offer workers, both the employed and the unemployed, training that fits the needs of the job market and leads to partial or full completion of a Professional Certificate. Like the initial training courses, the structure of CVET is modular, so that the workers can progress along their vocational training path regardless of their employment situation.

The structure of the training courses offered is based on a common point of reference: the Competence Units in the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications.

There are a number of mechanisms for updating training within the framework of CVET. The creation and updating of the Professional Certificates is based on the qualifications in the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications. Whenever a professional qualification or competence unit is updated or changed, the corresponding Professional Cer-tificates are reviewed and updated. The inclusion of new qualifications and professional certificates can be started by a request from outside, from organizations and other bodies linked to those specific occupations.

Finland

Quantitative anticipation information on skills needs is produced by the Finnish National Board of Education. Quanti-tative skills anticipation information is also provided by the Labour Force 2025 project coordinated by the Ministry of Labour. The main aim is to anticipate economic development and the needs of the labour force until 2025.

The important governmental bodies for skills anticipation are national education and training committees and the Ad-visory Board for Educational Co-operation. Their task is, among others, to monitor, evaluate and anticipate the devel-opment of vocationally oriented education and training and competence required in working life in their own field. The labour market partners, both employers and employees, are represented in the education and training committees.

The National Qualitative Anticipation project, cofunded by the ESF, was launched in the summer of 2008. The aim of the project is to develop and establish a permanent operating model to anticipate the skills needs in different sectors of the world of work. The results will be used in development of curricula, qualifications and qualifications frameworks.

The Confederation of Finnish Industries EK conducts a regular labour force and skill needs survey.

Practices to match VET provision (skills) with skill needs (jobs)

The Finnish National Board of Education approves the qualification-specific national core curricula and the require-ments of each competence-based qualification. They are drawn up in co-operation with the social partners in different fields, other representatives and experts of economic life as well as teachers and students.

The core curricula provide the framework for more detailed curricula which are defined in each institution’s individual curriculum. Teachers themselves may choose methods to achieve objectives defined in the curriculum.

The National Education and Training Committees are involved in drawing up national core curricula and qualifications requirements, which means that they can bring the sectoral needs of the world of work into development of education and training.

3. Training VET Teachers and TrainersDenmark

Two distinct profiles can be identified among teachers employed in vocational colleges and AMU centres: General subject teacher, usually university graduates or graduates with a professional bachelor’s degree in teaching, and Voca-tional subject teacher, usually with a VET background and substantial experience in the field.

There are no requirements for teachers to have a pedagogical qualification prior to their employment. Pedagogical training is provided as part-time in-service training and is based on interaction between theory and practice. It is pro-vided by the National Centre for Vocational Pedagogy, a centre of excellence collecting, producing and disseminating knowledge on vocational pedagogy.

Regarding in-company trainers, there exist different types of trainers with different responsibilities: planners, training managers, and daily trainers. However, there are very few legal requirements to become a trainer. The social partners and the individual enterprise are responsible for their training and for their appointment.

As stated above, there are no requirements for teachers to have pedagogical qualifications prior to employment. They must, however, be qualified within the subject they wish to teach, whether general or vocational.

Trainers in enterprises who are responsible for apprentices must be master craftsmen. They must have completed a VET programme, receiving a journeyman’s certificate, and have work experience.

Just as there are no teaching qualifications requirements made of in-company trainers, there are also no in-service training requirements or control mechanisms. Quality assurance, beyond that undertaken voluntarily by the enter-prise, is restricted to informal contact between the VET College and enterprise, and official complaints from students.

Ireland

In Ireland, teachers are primarily concerned with education within the formal school system at either primary or secondary and vocational level. At third level in academic institutions such as universities and Institutes of Technology, persons providing teaching are generally known as lecturers or professors.

Trainers are involved in the skills training and development of trainees of all ages outside of the formal education system. This training is provided at both initial and continuing vocational training levels either by private companies or within semi-state organisations and other state training agencies in specific industry sectors.

The Teaching Council is the statutory professional body for teaching in Ireland. The Council has a range of functions relating to teacher education which span the entire teaching career including entry to initial teacher education, ITE programmes, accreditation of such programmes, induction of newly qualified teachers into the profession and the continuing professional development of teachers.

In June 2011, the Council published its Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education, which provided the framework within which the Council will implement its functions relating to teacher education.

Until recently, there were no specific teacher education qualifications required for IVET teachers. However, in general, the Further Education and Vocational Education programmes provided by the Further Education Colleges are con-ducted by qualified post-primary teachers. However, certain modules in specific programmes are provided by qualified personnel who may not have a professional teaching qualification.

The Teaching Council recently published the General and Programme Requirements for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Qualifications (Further Education). From April 2013, all teachers wishing to be registered must have a recog-nised teacher education qualification.

Netherlands

Teacher training in the Netherlands requires either a university masters or a higher vocational qualification in educa-tion. In VET people that want to change from the world of work to education will have to do an examination on didacti-cal end pedagogical knowledge and experience. People can work for up to 2 years to work and train to be a teacher.

There are no specific programmes of education for VET teachers. Only recently a proposal for this had been made and programmes are being developed.

Teachers should meet the requirements of the law on professions in education for the following competences:

a. interpersonal competences

b. pedagogical competences

c. didactical competences as such and for specific subjects

d. organizational competences

e. cooperative competences with colleagues

f. cooperative competences with the environment

The employer should judge whether a teacher meets these requirements. He also has to keep a professional file in which it can be established that the teacher will be continually trained. The Inspectorate of Education inspects the quality and dates of entries in these professional files.

A public register for teachers is being formed. Once formed, requirements for continued professional development will be formulated. If a teacher does not meet these requirements in the future s/he can be stricken from the register which will hinder his employment in education.

Trainers in companies are being trained mostly by the Centres of Expertise in conjunction with their continued ac-creditation as a learning company. Most training focuses on pedagogical and didactical issues when coaching a student in the company.

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Spain/Basque Country

In Spain, the academic qualifications required to teach are uniform throughout the entire country, although it may vary according to the different levels of the education system. In the case of secondary education teacher training is undertaken at the end of a degree with the corresponding speciality, after which teachers must enrol in a master’s degree in pedagogy and teaching.

Vocational Training Education can be provided by two types of teachers: Secondary Education Teachers, holding a long–cycle degree and Technical Teachers of Vocational Training, holding a short-cycle university degree.

Teachers for secondary education, official schools of languages, higher secondary education and vocational training must hold a 240-credit Bachelor’s degree together with a 60-credit Master’s Degree in Secondary Education Teaching.

Pre-service and in-service training of IVET Teachers and Trainers

In general, access to a teaching position in the public teaching sector depends on passing a competitive examination specifically established for each of the various teaching bodies of the civil service. In certain cases, authorities may designate a teacher as a temporary civil servant in a public-sector institution.

In-service training programmes are designed to update knowledge and methodologies. Since in-service teacher train-ing is a decentralised responsibility, the Autonomous Communities are free to establish their own priority guidelines for in-service teacher training.

All Autonomous Communities have a network of institutions which provide teacher training activities. Garatu is the name of the programme that manages the training of non-university teachers in the Basque Country, and for training VET teachers in innovative matters there exist Tknika, the Centre for the Innovation of Vocational Training.

Undertaking in-service training activities has a direct impact on teachers’ professional careers, as they are regarded as merits in competitive examinations. Training activities organised by the Autonomous Communities are valid nation-wide as long as they meet the basic requirements set by the Government.

Vocational Training Teachers in Secondary Education

At national level, different Lifelong Learning activities are also organised (Conferences, Seminars, and Lectures) with the aim of promoting the exchange of experiences, peer learning and the dissemination of good professional practice. Annual plans are developed at the Teacher Training Unit, under the Directorate General for Education and Vocational Training.

The Ministry of Education has also signed agreements with most employers’ organisations, trade unions and the Council of the Chambers of Commerce.

Types of Teachers, Trainers and Training Facilitators in CVET

The teachers’ requirements for the Professional Training for Employment, CVET, depend on the type of training. In training leading to a professional certificate the trainer must have the professional certificate of Vocational trainer or equivalent in the field of adult vocational training.

Finland

In Finland there is a clear distinction between teachers and trainers or workplace instructors. Thus teachers work in VET institutions while trainers and workplace instructors work in enterprises.

VET teachers in upper secondary VET are required to hold either a Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in their field as well as pedagogical training of 60 ECTS credits.

The contents of teacher training are updated continuously by the vocational teacher education institutions. The teacher education institutions have wide autonomy in deciding on their curricula and training arrangements. The train-ing of future teachers and the development of this training is based on research, as all higher education.

A new fixed-term national OSAAVA programme has been operational since 2010. The programme supports the obliga-tion of education providers to see to the continuing education of their education personnel and to ensure opportuni-ties for staff to improve their professional competence.

Trainers in Finland are not required to have any formal qualification. Also their continuing professional development is totally up to themselves and their employers. There are training programmes for in-company trainers available that follow national guidelines. These are currently being renewed.

Teachers at vocational adult education centres are not formally required to participate in in-service training, but gen-erally it is promoted as they have to compete with other institutions as training providers. Polytechnic teachers are also obliged to participate in in-service training. Polytechnic teachers are expected to develop their professionalism and to

familiarise themselves with the world of work.

Continuing teacher education is organised by different types of training centres such as university continuing ed-ucation units, vocational teacher education colleges, university departments of teacher education, teacher training schools, summer universities and various private organisations.

To support VET teachers in their increased activities related to work-based learning and cooperation with the en-terprises, the Finnish National Board of Education has drawn up two continuing training programmes for vocational teachers, the specialist in competence-based qualifications and studies for teachers to increase their competence in the world-of-work.

4. VET Financing PolicyDenmark

In Denmark, public financing of VET is a central trait of the system. The government attaches great importance to improving the quality and efficiency of education and training systems to equip all individuals with the skills required for a modern workforce in a knowledge-based society.

The basis to achieve these objectives is a highly-developed and publicly-financed system for basic secondary and further education and training.

While the government remains committed to a publicly-financed system, in recent years there has been a focus on increasing cost-efficiency and effectiveness. Various measures have been introduced including the development of the taximeter funding principle whereby funding is linked to some quantifiable measures of activity, for example number of full-time equivalent students, with a set amount awarded per unit. Such a system provides an incentive for colleges to increase retention within the system. The budgetary room-to-manoeuvre of vocational colleges has been restrained, and the Ministry of Children and Education sets specific objectives, quality indicators and targets for colleges. To obtain earmarked funding, institutions have to show their will to change within specific prioritized policy areas.

Funding for Initial Vocational Education and Training

IVET is based on an alternance model, where training takes place at college and in an enterprise in turns. The State finances training at colleges, and enterprises finance on-the-job training; apprentices receive an apprentice salary while in the company.

Financing Training Colleges

In 2011, the State spent 1,006 million euros on IVET foundation courses and main programmes. A considerable pro-portion of these funds were distributed to colleges in accordance with the ‘taximeter’ principle.

Besides the ‘taximeter’ rate, VET providers also receive an annual fixed grant for maintenance of buildings, salaries, etc. The total State grant is provided as a block grant which institutions use at their own discretion within the bounda-ries of the legislative framework and specific institutional objectives. The present funding system for IVET in accord-ance with the ‘taximeter’ principle was introduced following a major reform in 1991. Such a system provides an incen-tive for colleges to increase retention within the system.

The 1991 reform, which was primarily organisational, introduced management-by-objectives as a means to improve overall provision of IVET. The funding system was introduced as part of a New Public Management Strategy to decen-tralise and make institutions compete on ‘quasi markets’.

Ireland

The majority of funding for vocational education and training in Ireland for individuals not in employment is provided by the State. This applies both for young persons before they enter employment, and for unemployed adults.

Funding for initial vocational education and training

Funding for IVET is very largely from central government, with only small contributions from employers or individu-als. The Community, ESF contribution, which previously was a major contributor to government VET expenditure, now contributes much less funding to IVET. The ESF remains, however, an important influence on Government policy and expenditure for IVET for young unemployed people and early school leavers.

Responsibility for the provision of funding for vocational schools, community colleges and further education centres is devolved from the Department of Education and Skills to the ETBs.

There are numerous programmes aimed at broadening access to further non-tertiary and third level education, par-ticularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and significant investment continues to be allocated to this area, as well as grant schemes and allowances to support students, including mature students, into further and higher edu-

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cation.

Funding for apprenticeship training is sourced from the employer-levied National Training Fund, NTF, together with central Government funds. During the apprentice’s on-the-job training, employers contribute an agreed ‘industrial apprentice wage rate’. During periods of off-the-job training and education, all apprentices are paid an allowance by the State and, where appropriate, a contribution towards travel or accommodation costs. Due to the impact of the economic recession on industry, overall funding for the apprenticeship programme has been reduced.

The Higher Education Authority, which operates under the remit of the Department of Education and Skills, is the main funding body for universities and the designated higher education institutions, including the 14 Institutes of Tech-nology and the teacher training colleges.

Funding for continuing vocational education training and adult learning

The state plays a smaller role in the funding of CVET for the employed and for adult learners, in comparison to its funding for the training of the unemployed and for young people. The Department of Education and Skills provides funding for continuing vocational education in further education colleges and adult education centres.

Funding for continuing vocational training is distributed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to state agencies, and other government departments fund ongoing continuing training for specific industrial sectors such as tourism.

No public funds are distributed directly to the population for CVET, and there is no system of paid education and train-ing leave. In general CVET for adults is paid for directly by the individuals themselves, and while participation in full-time further and higher education does not require the payment of tuition fees, adults attending part-time or evening courses normally pay the full cost.

Funding for training for the unemployed

In general in Ireland unemployed persons and those from other socially excluded groups are provided with financial assistance to undertake education and training programmes.

The majority of expenditure on VET for the unemployed comes from central government, and includes contributions from the National Training Fund and the European Social Fund. Intermediary implementing bodies make annual sub-missions to their parent government departments outlining the number of unemployed they intend to train and the associated costs. There has also been increasing public funding for the community and voluntary sectors which provide CVET for marginalised or unemployed adults.

In general unemployed persons and those from other socially-excluded groups are given financial assistance to under-take VET programmes, including trainee or education allowances, childcare allowances, lone-parent allowances and disability allowances, and grants for course materials, meals and transport.

Netherlands

The amount of investment in HR development is dependent on each institution. A general bench mark is 2% of all la-bour costs should go to “out of pocket” costs for HR development. At the moment, the government is investing strongly in extra funding for teacher education. It has been found that teachers do not generally take their own responsibility for continued professional education despite the time that is given to them in collective labour agreements. A combi-nation for funding for individual teachers and funding employers in education should remedy that.

The concept of once qualified always competent has lowered general teachers quality. The government has aspira-tions to be in the top 5 in education in the world. Teachers quality is a central point in achieving that.

Specific Masters Courses for teachers are being developed. A specific VET teachers programme is being developed.

Spain/Basque Country

In Spain, the financing of VET comes mainly from budget items in the General State Budgets for the Ministry of Edu-cation and the Ministry of Labour and Immigration. The budget of the Ministry of Education funds Initial Vocational Training and other initiatives that are part of Lifelong Learning, such as training for adults. The budget of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration funds initiatives in the Vocational Training for Employment subsystem, CVET.

Funding for Initial Vocational Educational and Training

Initial VET is cost-free at all non-university education levels, however, families usually pay for school materials, text-books for personal use, as well as for the use of complementary services of transport, canteen, when available, and extracurricular activities.

Secondary schools and IVET institutions have autonomy in the management of their resources, but in order to guar-

antee the efficiency of their economic management, they have to prepare an annual budget showing the income and expenditure for the school year.

Concerning IVET, public training centres are created and financed by the Autonomous Communities, which also grant subsidies to private schools by means of the system of the so-called ‘educational agreements’.

Funds are not only assigned to public education institutions but they can also be assigned to private centres in the form of subsidies or scholarships and financial aid for students. Private centres that receive subsidies are called state-funded centres (centros concertados).

Public funding Schemes and Mechanism to finance CVET

The Vocational Training for Employment Subsystem is financed with funds from the vocational training contributions (0.7%) paid by companies and workers, aid from the European Social Fund and specific allocations in the National Public Employment Service budget.

The budget allocated to VET policies has changed in recent years but financing for Vocational Training for Employment activities has remained stable with only slight variations.

Under the training on demand initiative, companies use their own resources to finance the training of their workers, in accordance with the minimum percentages applied to the total cost of training, plus the set allowances that they receive.

Funding for Training for the Unemployed

The financing of training initiatives intended to train unemployed workers and other groups at risk of exclusion from the labour market comes under the framework of funding the entire vocational training for employment subsystem.

The criteria used for distributing the funds that come from the 0.7% contribution are based on the proportion of un-employed workers in each Autonomous Community as compared to the country as a whole.

Finland

The Ministry of Education and Culture has overall responsibility for funding education and training except for labour market training which is the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment and the Economy.

The majority of vocational institutions, usually VET institutions, are maintained by local authorities and joint munici-pal boards. Of all students in VET, 16% study in privately maintained institutions. Funding criteria are uniform irrespec-tive of ownership.

Providers of vocational education and training receive statutory government transfer and funding from the munici-palities to cover their costs on the basis of unit prices determined by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The performance-based funding system was established in 2002 when education providers were granted separate state subsidies based on their performance. In 2006 the performance-based funding system was expanded and inte-grated into the overall system of funding based on unit prices. The performance-based funding corresponds to approxi-mately 3% of the whole funding of vocational education.

The state funding covers costs caused by school-based education period. The state grants training compensation for the employers, which is compensation for the given training at the workplace. The amount of training compensation paid to the employer is agreed upon separately for each apprenticeship contract before the contract is approved.

Public funding Schemes and Mechanism to finance CVET

The financing system for adult education and training is similar to that of upper secondary vocational education and training for young people. Adult education in polytechnics observes the same principles as for other polytechnic edu-cation.

The Act on the Financing of Educational and Cultural Provision also covers most educational institutions providing adult education and training.

A system for funding vocational further education and training has been applied since the beginning of 2001.

In the apprenticeship system, the state is responsible for fully covering funding for the vocational further education and training: the statutory government transfer accounts for 100% of the unit cost confirmed by the Ministry of Educa-tion and Culture.

Funding for Training for the Unemployed

There is a dual system for organising and funding training for the unemployed in Finland. The training is mainly pro-vided by institutions supervised by the Ministry of Education and Culture and funded by the Ministry of Employment

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and the Economy. The regional and local labour administration, under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, are responsible for purchasing training courses for the unemployed from a variety of training providers.

Employers can also contribute to the financing of employment training with the labour administration. There several types of co-financed training.

Thematic areas

1 Relationships and cooperation with the external environment1. Explanation and definition of the theme.

The effectiveness of organizations depends greatly on how they interact with their environment. Organization theory, mainly the contingency theory and the theory on dynamic capabilities, stresses this fundamental reality. In general organization theory states, looking at cybernetics, according to Ashby’s formulation “variety destroys variety ” . This means that the higher the number and importance of changes in the environment of the organization the higher the flexibility or adaptability of the organization needs to be. At a later stage the fluidity of the concept of boundaries between the organization and the environment was recognised. This led to the distinction between the internal and external environment. In this project we focus on Leadership challenges concerning the external environment, influ-ences from people or entities that are not a part of the organization itself. The leadership challenge is to identify, relate to and define the interaction with external individuals or organizations. The characteristics and contributions to this by individuals undertake Leadership roles and positions is explained in the next chapter.

2. Why is the theme important?

In the Cedefop study on VET Leadership it is concluded that:

“The interaction with the labour market and the expectations on VET to act as an agent for economic and social trans-formation result in a high degree of complexity in VET organizations, networking, target groups and provision. These circumstances require a different type of leadership from general education.”( Cedefop 2012)

Evidently all organizations have to deal with challenges from their environment. Financial considerations, client rela-tions, labour union relations, legislative requirements and changes, quality assurance regulations, etc. In a sense we should recognise that, when looking at educational institutions, the amount of variety in the external environment is relatively low compared to other sectors. But, within the educational sector, the range of external impact is greatest in vocational education and training, and increasing as the Cedefop study shows.

At the European level challenges for VET providers, and thus for leadership and management in VET, are increasing. In this context, we have to realize that, due to technological developments, the labour market seems to develop further to a dual labour market. This means a divide between high skilled work and low skilled work. The intermediate knowl-edge and skills level in the labour market is decreasing. This means education is getting increasingly important for the millions of people who are not well educated or not in employment or education or training (NEET’s). Understandably, social inclusion is strongly linked with education and labour market opportunities that accompany this. For many of these the route through general education is either too long or cognitively too demanding. This means VET education is looked upon as the vehicle for providing both employability and social inclusion. Social expectations of VET education have increased over the course of the past decade. Both technological developments and economic contraction have driven this development.

These same drivers are also working at the level of companies and institutions that employ people at the VET educa-tional level (secondary VET). The employers depend on education to provide them with skilled workers and also expect a higher level of competence not only of new entrants in the labour market but also of those already in employment. For the latter, continuous adaptation to new technologies and requirements are needed. From a financial perspective companies will seek to distribute the financial consequences of this between themselves and the State. From the per-spective of workers unions or representatives there is often a match between educational requirements and collective labour agreements. This also suggests a way of facilitating the attainment of higher educational levels. The higher qual-ity requirements for employees tends to ask for a higher selectivity between best, sufficient and mediocre students in VET. This at the same time contradicts the social goals of lowering the percentage of early school-leavers.

Within these challenges VET providers will have to deal with these developments, not only at a national level but also in their immediate environment both socio-political as concerning the relation with the world of work. VET providers in the extent that they are financed by the government, will have to take heed of the governments’ requirements. At the same time VET providers need the cooperation of companies and institutions in the implementation of their appren-ticeships and internships programs; and the VET providers have to meet the skill needs of the labour market. They need to do this not only to adapt and innovate their programs but also to ensure the employability chances of their students.

In many countries high youth unemployment figures and the overall economic situation also call for new measures; employability is not enough. VET students need to be coached also for a career through entrepreneurship and VET pro-viders need to employ teachers and trainers with entrepreneurship experience to coach students in a pre-incubator/incubator environment.

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In the changing economies new trades are emerging and old trades are either changing radically or short listed for ex-tinction. This introduces new challenges to the VET sector as in many countries the development of new qualifications and the updating of existing ones is a painfully slow process. This pressure is evident in both on the I-VET and C-VET qualifications and involves the need to reform content, delivery and assessment.

We have to realize that in this changing environment, leadership challenges will differ from country to country. How-ever, in European countries, the above challenges and dilemma’s for leadership and management in VET are present in every country. Major differences occur however. Dimensions on which differences notably will vary are:

a. The way VET is financed between private and public institutions and the percentage of funding that will have to be contributed by students, companies or governmental agencies. The distribution and di ferentiation of financial dependency will in a great part determine the strategies in relations with the external environment.b. The relative distribution of authority in VET education. The level at which qualification requirements

are established, examinations are managed, the role of educational inspections and the like vary from country to country.c. The educational system in the country, mainly the way in which different school levels are linked and

the requirements for continued education, the permeability of the system and the duality of the sys tem in terms of including apprenticeships and or internships as part of educational programs.d. The legal requirements and governance regulations for VET may or may not influence requirements for

external relations or accountability of performance. For instance the formal influence of students, parents or companies could pose requirements on relations with the external partners. Sometimes there is no choice on who or when to inform or involve external partners.

Despite these differences we see a move towards a growing complexity and differentiation in the external environ-ment of VET colleges. This puts higher demands on leadership and management In VET. The following items, including those from the CEDEFOP study, were recognised in all participating countries in the project. This was the case even when there are differences from country to country on the dimensions explained above.

a. There are more mergers due to either a difference in distribution of authority or financial considerations due to make the external environment more manageableb. From different starting points we see a growing decentralisation of VET authority.c. This is accompanied with a higher level of both authority and the need for networking at regional and/

or local level.d. The involvement of social partners, employers and unions is growing.e. The growing external demands will lead also to the necessity to adapt internally. It will also increase

the demands on quality assurance and accountable results also the different orientation between content driven teacher staff and the increasing managerial demands and external accountability will have to be bridged.f. New management models are being put in place. Concepts like strategic planning, evaluation, assess-

ment monitoring quality cycles and investment planning will make the school more entrepreneurial and business like. Also financing arrangements are undergoing changes to which leadership and management will have to adapt.

The changing situation will require leaders and management in VET to undertake profound stakeholders and risk analysis for their organization. We will go into that further on. The relationship with the external environment poses new challenges both for continuity for the educational organization and also for the quality of education. This makes attention to the external environment of crucial importance for the learner, the companies and society. Leaders and management can make a difference if they meet this challenge

3. Relation of the relevance of the theme of relationships with the external environment with the other themes of the project.

From the above, the relationships with the other themes are self-evident and can be illustrated by looking at the dif-ferent themes.

Inter-organisational processes, roles and responsibilities.

As described above the increasing demands from the external environment influence directly internal organizational processes. Leadership and management are required to balance and also to select which external influences are rel-evant to adapt and/or react to. They will have to solve dilemmas between external expectations and requirements and internal capabilities. Looking at organization theory again, the internal organization will have to grow in both quality and adaptability. This will put strains on both the financial leeway that the organization will have to show and the hu-man resource management capabilities. The chapter in this theme will go into this in more detail.

Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles

The challenges with increasing external variety and challenges and the need to realize this with the organization will ask more form Leaders and managers in VET provider organizations. For the external environment a social and net-working attitude as well as a cooperative attitude are necessary. At the same time leaders and managers will have to take a balanced orientation towards the external environment. The need for a strategic choice in what developments and institutions to relate to and how to do this, is necessary. Leadership and management will need a solid education in strategic decision making, SWOT analyses and stakeholder analysis. This means that leaders and managers will have to take a professional open learning attitude and this also will function as an example for others.

Quality management practices in VET providers organizations.

The growing demand from the external environment is for the most part focused on the quality of education. Be it companies, government of the students. They will increasingly ask for demonstrable quality. In different countries government inspections or assessment also adopt this approach. This means that quality is no longer self-evident and embedded in the teacher’s activity. Quality depends on national systemic dimensions as explained before in terms of connecting levels of education. It is derived from formal standards and qualifications. At the provider’s level it consists of a combination of quality of programming, teachers’ quality and moreover continued competence, cooperation of teachers in a team and with supporting staff. This has to be supported by quality management instruments. However they are often looked upon as bureaucratic requirements, systems of quality management help and facilitate the veri-fiable increase of quality. Form the point of view of the external environment it is essential that a VET provider can independently confirm that a system for quality management is in place.

4. Best practices on relationships with the external environment.

4.1. Introduction.

In the next paragraphs we will describe the best practice on relations with the external environment. First we will give some background that can help leaders and management in VET.

When looking at the external environment it is essential to make a stakeholder analyses. In the following we rely on the stakeholders analyses from A.M.M. Vijverberg 1998 from Strategieboek Berenschot 2002.

First it is advisable to make a distinction between primary and secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholder might be clients, competitors, suppliers etc. Secondary stakeholders might be media , social groups, unions, etc.

For each stakeholder the following needs to be established.a. The strengths of the relationship with the stakeholder.b. Existing coalitions (evident or supposed) between stakeholdersc. The two main interests of the stakeholder.d. The actual or perceived power of the stakeholder broken down into short term and long term

executable power.e. Stakeholder’s priorities, which could or could not be the same as interests.

This could easily be set out in the form of a matrix table. The matrix could be developed in a subjective way within the organization and then supplemented by being reviewed by a trusted external partner.

Following the stakeholder analyses the strategy towards each stakeholder has to be defined. It is important that the relationship with each stakeholder gets attention, even secondary stakeholders. Also this analysis has to be updated regularly. A quality management system must assure that continuous analysis is put on the agenda. These stakeholder analyses need to be made more frequent as the dynamics in the external environment increase. We will not go further into the details of the analysis. It is safe to say that the specifics of the VET external environment have to be taken into account. Most literature on stakeholder analysis refers to private business practice, which may need amendments for publicly financed or governed educational providers.

After this stakeholder analysis we can draw upon public policy orientation towards the public. In the annex you can find an example of different strategies to follow. For individual organizations the choices are not so different towards stakeholders as they are for governments towards the public.

Five levels of involvement can be identified.a. Informb. Consultc. Involved. Collaboratee. Empower

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This distinction can help to assess the strategy towards each stakeholder.

The last step in the process is to distinguish if and to what extent stakeholders hold relevant positions at different levels within the society. This means at national regional or local level. For instance perfect relations with local employ-ers’ associations could turn out to be irrelevant if the national employers have more influence on VET education and or there are no relations between the local and national employers’ organizations.

The above serves as a guide to those leaders and managers that would want to venture upon a more systematic ap-proach. It also serves as a reference for the best practices that will be described below. A summary of the best practises can be found in the annex.

4.2.1 Upside down innovation in an retail educational program (Netherlands)

In the dual apprenticeship scheme in the Netherlands students usually work 4 days in a company and get one day theoretical and simulation practice at school. In a shopping mall in the vicinity of the VET provider retailers together with the VET provider embarked on a venture that would turn this upside down or more specific all the way. Together they managed to get a grant for educational innovation. This allowed for the educational program for shop assistants being undertaken entirely at the shopping mall. This unique cooperation combined the “involve” and “collaborate” strategies explained above. It resulted in fusing the world of work and the college together. The teachers went to the shopping mall in which facilities for the more theoretical part of the program were installed. It realized a stronger involvement of teachers with the world of work with beneficial results in other programs, notably the day-school program for shop assistants. It brought about a strategic attachment between the companies and the college with the companies participating in advisory boards to further develop both the educational program and the examinations. For the students it resulted in extremely low dropout rates and an almost 100% job attainment at the conclusion of their studies. It shows that out-of-the-box thinking can realize new strategic long term relationships in VET provision. From a VET management perspective, it showed a visionary outward looking attitude that was both enterprising and innova-tive. Success was only realised with a communicative and results oriented approach. The transferability of the practice will be limited to dual system countries. Non dual oriented systems might, however, consider adapting their theoretical lessons and delivering some of them at selected companies that would form a partnership in education

4.2.2 Danish designed cooperation (Denmark)

The Danish VET system is a dual system. This means that students learn their trade both at school and in companies. Input by companies is seen as very important to keep the educational programs up to date and in accord with develop-ments in the different sectors. The obligation to consult has been laid down in law. The organization and involvement of partners is organized by the school, including the invitation of partners. The best practice can be described as both consultative and involving. Both parties are committed to providing the best education possible. Companies, which are in the Danish system, more or less co-educators, have an interest in and a connection to the school. In terms of stake-holders analysis it is vital to keep the companies and institutions involved and take heed of their recommendations. As to the way it is implemented it is rather classical in terms of regular meetings and agendas in a fixed structure. In organizing it this way it has become a regular way of life with the school.

When discussing this structure in Denmark it turned out that there are similarities with the system in the Netherlands. Although there it does have a legal basis at the national level but not at the school/regional level. The character of the meetings are more informal and also more at the level of informing and consulting.

The transferability of this best practice is high. It is shown that in the comparison with the Netherlands, legal arrange-ments are not necessary to realize this meeting with the external environment. The arrangements are straight forward and in the sense of implementation, possible in almost any country. Again here the main challenge would be to try and find stakeholder representation that will make the investment. A gradual process from” inform” to “consult” to “involve” would maybe be a wise process to start with.

4.2.3. Evaluation cooperation benchmark (ESB) (Denmark)

In this good practice a regular orientation on major internal and external stakeholders has been realised. It amounts to a yearly survey of evaluation by students. Next there is a three-year evaluation of the staff of the college. The sys-tem is complemented with a three-year evaluation with external partner companies and institutions. The system is embedded in a regular cycle. The method uses a survey which guarantees valid information that can be moderated for extreme outcomes. Also the acceptance of the outcomes is higher. The surveys focus on expectations and realization of cooperation within the triangle of the student, the school and the institution. Based on the different stages of stake-holder relations, it mainly focusses on the consultative. This method assures that the relationship with external parties continues to be seen as important by them. It also links external expectations and realized quality to staff quality and thus links orientation on the external environment with internal changes that are needed. It fits perfectly in a quality assurance system mainly because it is a structural instrument and not a “sometime only” activity.

The transferability of this good practice is high. Both staff and students are easily identified as respondents to surveys. The development and application of surveys are nowadays rather straight forward. Translation of existing question-naires would be a good starting point. In dual system countries implementation could be immediate. In other countries again partners form the world of work will have to be identified to act as external evaluators.

4.3. Entrepreneurship for entrepreneurship (The Netherlands)

The college is in a region with many small and medium sized companies. Also many building companies are there. Looking at a “greying” number of entrepreneurs a growing number of people who would want to take up an entre-preneurial challenge will be needed to maintain employment in the region. In the building industry the number of self-employed workers has increased considerably. Their lack of entrepreneurial skills led to several problems for these workers. The college then established a curriculum which was called “building blocks for entrepreneurship”. Students could follow this and get financial and business knowledge in anticipation of them starting their own company. The col-lege linked up with the Chamber of Commerce which was providing similar courses for adults. The college staff was also trained to be a consultant for the Chamber of Commerce. Then all formal requirements for starting a company can be fulfilled within the school building. At the initiative of a board member, the initiative hooked up with other initiatives. This has resulted in a nationally recognised certificate in entrepreneurship. This is now a formal part of the national qualifications framework. It is not limited to the building industry programs but can now be followed by all professional programs. Together with the Chamber of Commerce this resulted in the realization of a centre for entrepreneurship in one of the college buildings. Here both the school and the Chamber of Commerce courses are being realized.

This is an example of linking best practices from regional to national level. From a leadership perspective it is a beauti-ful example of facilitating an ongoing process by non-intervention and at the same time a solid intervention of linking the regional initiative to national initiatives.

During the project an even more ambitious venture at Omnia, The Joint Authority of Education in the Espoo Region, in Finland, became evident. From a completely different perspective, a similar initiative on entrepreneurship came about. The municipality wanted to support diversity in entrepreneurship and particularly to offer support to the service sector and arts and crafts micro companies, instead of focusing solely on high tech, high growth entrepreneurship. All previous business incubator type programs had existed within university campuses, this was the first time premises and support were linked to a VET campus. It was concluded that not only would the program offer support to the en-trepreneurs, but it would also provide excellent project opportunities and every day role models to VET students. The centre was named InnoOmnia – a lifelong learning hub. For the student, it offers a work-based learning environment. For the over 100 entrepreneurs now members of the community, it offers a network, a possibility to rent premises and business support. For the teachers, it offers daily interaction and thus up-to-date knowledge on both entrepreneurship and the trades the entrepreneurs represent. Everybody is a teacher and a learner in InnoOmnia. The transferability of the best practice is large. As the comparison shows it can be started in different contexts. It demonstrates an outward looking orientation by the school or college. It could enhance the awareness with other companies of an entrepre-neurial friendly and empathetic orientation of the college.

4.4. Ireland

In Ireland VET is delivered mainly under the auspices of Education and Training Boards through their colleges and training centres. CVET is delivered also through third level Institutes of Technology.

The ETBs are the delivery agencies for further education and training programmes in the sector which is overseen by the further education and training authority SOLAS. The ETBs sign Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with SOLAS which is the overall funding agency for VET.

ETBs engage with employers within their geographical areas while SOLAS will also engage with employers at national level. In both cases the business community has representation on the boards of SOLAS and ETBs. Individual colleges regularly engage locally with businesses, parents and other stakeholders.

Adult Education Officers in the ETBs ensure there is regular oversight of engagement and contact with stakeholders and external environment. Therefore schools, colleges and education and training centres are supported by their pa-tron ETBs and the delivery of VET nationally is given strategic leadership and oversight by SOLAS.

The third level Institutes of Technology are provided with similar oversight by the Higher Education Authority

5. Concluding remarks.

The best practices described serve as a stimulant to increase the awareness of the external environment for VET pro-viders. In many examples we will see that situational considerations in terms of leadership can be found. From taking an initiative to letting things evolve. This situational perspective is both helpful and not helpful in defining leadership and management requirements. We will look at these aspects later on. In many cases it is seen that doing things beside

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the normal path may be a good choice. From a quality perspective it shows from the best practices that embedding initiatives in a recurring cycle or linking them to other cycles or initiatives seems to be crucial. For leaders and managers in VET this theme commences with the realization of its increasing importance. As for our students it will mean doing your homework first and starting with an extensive stakeholders analysis.

2. Inter-organizational processes, roles and responsibilities2.1 Explanation and definition of the themeAn important function of leadership and management is to organize education through organizational processes and

by the distribution of authorities and responsibilities. At an individual level this will result in functions and job descrip-tions. At an organizational level it will result in an organizational structure, hierarchy and the distribution of tasks to be performed and results to be achieved. Next to these functional-structural decisions we will have to look at the man-agement of a VET school through processes also rather than on the basis of functions alone. The processes provide products and services (teaching classes, project work based learning, etc.) to our customers (students) by meeting their expectations and achieving the intended results (recognized qualifications and diplomas).

A process management approach involves a distribution of responsibilities based on assigning owners and teams to each process. The assignment for a process owner and his team is to evaluate the results in order to improve the pro-cesses, to manage critical factors, to resolve the interactions with other processes and to connect process objectives with all levels of the organization.

Although there is some criticism notes of the business-like approach to education, notions of quality management are in fact positive for both teachers and students that want to reach higher level of quality and results. This means that if one wants to raise the predictability of educational results, it is necessary to design and standardize manage-ment processes according to a PDCA cycle. We must use indicators, fix targets, measure performance and analyse the causes when deviations occur, in order to adopt corrective actions and promote improvement. This approach is relatively more important for VET colleges because most professionals educated at a VET college will be working with such notions in their professional life. In a way it is a good example of ‘practice what you teach’ and use this in your own college.

This joint approach of structural functional way of looking at organizations combines with a process orientation we will process-based management. In this chapter we will focus on this approach and offer some good practices for lead-ers and manager in VET, and it is the subject on which we want to offer some explanations below.

2.2. Why is the theme important?If any organization should be a “learning” organization, a school should be one.. Unfortunately this is not always

the case. It seems self-evident that insufficient attention is being given to this important aspect of organizations. Pe-ter Senge identifies two problems with the concept of leadership when talking about organizations. Firstly, there is confusion about “being a leader” and “being a boss”. If these two are taken as being synonymous, a discussion about leadership results in more confusion than clarification. The second point is that leadership is at the same time personal and individual. It requires individuals with courage, clarity of mind and vision and their own ideas that will take on initiatives. At the same time leadership is inevitably a collective effort. In all cases of leadership there are more people involved than just one. So leadership needs to combine individualism with collectivism. In itself a paradoxical assign-ment.

This theme is important in education and more so in VET because moving towards a learning organization is under-scored and because of the multitude of stakeholders in VET education makes balancing the paradox between the indi-vidual and collective aspects of leadership particularly challenging.

In balancing these paradoxes we will use the concept of distributed leadership; to our mind, leadership is not a task for only one person but for a whole team, for a large group of people working on management tasks. This requires a deliberate action on how these leadership requirements will be distributed. This seems familiar to the functional ap-proach on who does what in an organization. However, the concept of distributed leadership requires more than just organizing the distribution of tasks.

We think the answer lies in combining this concept with a process approach in management together with a systems approach. This can be done through the implementation of a processes management system and, of course, with a sound knowledge of the reality of the school where we work.

A fundamental task of leadership is to delegate, organize and distribute labour. This is the way to facilitate teamwork and collaboration. That way of approaching management and developing distributed leadership is combined with the process-based management.

The processes prevent leaders from charging people with excessive tasks in one chain of the process and helps them focus on their specific processes: strategic planning, people management, positioning, etc. This will lower the amount of “fire fighting” or being occupied by remanaging other people’s processes. The problems of shifting linkage problems though the chain of the process instead of solving them will diminish.

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All activities developed in a VET school, training activities, planning, financial management or maintenance can be considered as processes or parts of processes; in this sense, processes would be a set of activities linked to each other. But the essence of the processes is that they use resources and controls to transform certain inputs into outputs. Pro-cesses get meaning through the results they aim to reach.

The raison d’être of the processes lies in these results, in the added value to clients or beneficiaries of the process. In addition, process-based management moves from a functional organizational model to a more horizontal organization, based on the owners of such processes.

The principles of the process-based organization can be realized by VET colleges through the following important steps.

• Adopt a process-based management system. • Assign owners to the processes and stakeholders that have been identified as key to the achievement

of strategic objectives and results in the medium and long term. • Use indicators and set targets to evaluate results and process performance.• Standardize and design processes according to a PDCA cycle (plan do check act)• Analyse causes of deviations and develop corrective and improvement actions

To set the objectives and expected results , they analyse the process capability and take into account previous results to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time scaled (SMART).

When possible, for example in initial training, VET schools will promote self-management of processes by means of teams working independently and with authority and responsibility for the process, objectives, activities and resources.

In this approach it is important to identify the processes that are key to the achievement of strategic objectives. In this approach processes are meaningful as long as they contribute to achieving the desired objectives.

In the above approach elements of total quality management can be identified. In our view these are supplemented by taking this process orientation rather than a structural orientation based on merely a division of tasks. Attributing process responsibilities is essential in this approach.

In order to be effective two things are important that again seems self-evident but are often overlooked. There is a need to adopt a systematic processes management. We have to realize that in education often business-like manage-ment models are more often seen as the enemy of education than a friend. This is often the case if the elements of distributed leadership, a learning organization and the process approach are not taken into consideration. Again using a business model in education, where most people will work in business, is not such a bad idea. The second important point is that there is a strong need for a strategic thinking initiative as a starting point to identify the key processes of the management system. So, VET schools should not just slavishly implement processes. They should first establish long-term goals and then the processes required to achieve them. The strategic thinking within the school itself could be the means to define the key processes.

Realizing such an approach means also a process orientation. In annex.. this process is outlined in detail and follows the following steps.

a. Strategic Reflection

A strategic direction for the management system should be adopted through a reflection process in which needs, expectations and benefits of stakeholders are identified.

b. Stakeholders and needs and expectations analysis

All those groups that have interests in a VET school are considered stakeholders, i.e., those who can expect a profit or have certain expectations or needs that a VET school can cover. We have reflected on this in the previ-ous chapter on external relations.

c. Setting Strategic Objectives

The next step in the process of reflection is to establish strategic objectives. The objectives must be measur-able, i.e. SMART objectives.

d. Critical Success Factors

The Critical Success Factors (CSF) are those new internal capabilities we launch into the system so that we can achieve the strategic objectives that have been formulated, i.e. the CSF represent what our school should do to succeed in its mission, none other than to achieve these goals we have previously set.

e. Identify key processes

Having identified the Critical Success Factors, the next step is to identify the key processes. If the CSFs repre-sent the new actions and capabilities that the school needs to achieve the strategic objectives, key processes are those in which the Critical Factors are managed. The EFQM excellence model can be helpful in doing this.

Along with the deployment of processes, we can use all kinds of techniques and dynamics to help and facilitate the tasks of leadership. We can talk about plans, models, forms, methods, records. And about working calendars, training maps or about coordinating with other members of the management team. And clarify the distribution of responsibili-ties among people.

Once this is established the quality management cycle must be implemented according to the plan do check act phases. This of course requires assigning responsibility for this process as well. It is self-evident that this responsibility and the responsibility for the working of the management system lies specifically with the higher management in the college.

2.3. How does the theme relate to the other 3 themes?The theme in this chapter logically follows from the earlier chapter on the relationship with the external environment.

A sensitivity to external relations is essential when this process oriented approach is followed. For a VET college that has to work closely with companies, it is a good thing to use business based models or approaches for their own college as well. Recognition by stakeholders will increase and the students will be educated in an organization that will in most part be managed like the organizations they will find employment in.

Both this chapter and chapter one form a context in which the attributes and requirements for leaders and managers in VET are based. In this sense, the work on this theme and the one in the next chapter are closely related. To imple-ment the processes outlined here, a profile, that will be discussed in the next chapter, is required and, in turn, you need a powerful tool like the Map of Processes described in this chapter to further develop VET leadership properly.

It will be evident that the quality management approach discussed in this chapter will be closely linked with issues that will be discussed in the chapter on quality assurance. Quality management approaches through looking at pro-cesses are a fundamental part of the EFQM Excellence Model on which the management approach described in this chapter is developed.

2.4. Best Practices on intra organizational processes roles and responsibilities2.4.1. Stronger together with tailor made systems integration for individual VET centres

This best practice is from the Basque country. Relying on the principles outlines in this chapter colleges aimed to strongly work together in introducing a process management system.(SGP)

This is a process management system that wants to be a support for VET centers to allow them to design their own process management systems in line with their strategy and objectives. It is a system that integrates two system ap-proaches, the European EFQM Excellence Model and HOBBIDE, The Basque VET Model. It is a certifiable system ac-cording to ISO 9001, whose requirements must be met.

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It organizes the school management on processes rather than on functions. The processes identified can be found in the chart above. This is in line with the approach described earlier. The processes provide products and services to their customers by meeting their expectations and achieving the intended results.

An organization based on processes assigns owners and teams to each process. The mission of the process owner and team is to evaluate the results to improve processes until they are reached, to manage critical factors, to resolve the interrelationships with other processes and to deploy process objectives at all levels of the organization.

This way of working is established at the end of a period in which after a great deal of VET centres achieved to real-ize at least a 400 points rating in terms of EFQM. There was a desire to take a next step in the development of quality assurance. The main area of improvement in the field of management is the integration between strategy, objectives, and their deployment through the process. It aims to have processes clearly oriented towards the achievement of objectives.

The aim is to develop a unique process-based management system in our VET centres, This allows the centres to gradually improve on their capacity to satisfy environment, prevention, curriculum or quality standards.

One of the aims is to make the whole Basque VET system, the VET centres and the Deputy-Ministry itself, work as a great team, so that the overall objectives can be deployed to schools and contribute towards the attainment of global and specific objectives. This means that there is an attempt not only to integrate quality assurance on the level of ISO certification of processes but also on the level of the system through EFQM assessment. It also tries to integrate the different systematic efforts at the level of each VET centre to the systems level of all VET centres. This makes it possible to raise the quality of VET for an entire region.

The SGP functions as a reference for VET centres, so they can set their own processes according to their goals and strategies and to the critical factors identified by them. The schemes and tables give an impression of the structuring of the processes.

VET centres are well aware that their work goes beyond offering only initial training and, therefore, they have identi-fied stakeholders and design strategies that meet their needs and expectations, define strategic objectives and deploy-ing them by means of the processes implemented for this purpose.

During the course of 2011-1012, from the Area of Quality a Process Improvement Team was launched to assist schools to design and deploy their strategy systematically and, since December 2013, in addition to Change Management Teams and Alliances Management Teams, Structure Process Teams were set up.

These teams’ mission is to define a system to enable the centre for an integrated management of all activities associ-ated with the improvement and maintenance of the Process Management System (SGP). All the team members are responsible for quality and are assigned and have assumed many tasks and responsibilities and both their management teams and the rest of the people in the centre expect relevant results. It may seem a paradox, but in most cases, the work done by these people is not identified in any of the system processes.

The aim is to contribute to and to spread and recognize the work of the quality managers and their teams in schools, or in any other organization, with something as simple as identifying and systematizing their work.

VET Centres that have adopted the Process Management System are structured through networks. From 2007 to date, we have worked with seven centre networks. Altogether, 58 VET-centres.

This best practice shows that having a common framework makes it possible to structure a process oriented approach across different VET centres. It also makes integration between EFQM and ISO standards possible. It leaves room to manoeuvre for each individual VET centre. They establish their own objectives and targets, depending on their own need, ambitions and expectations of their specific external environment. It also shows that this could be developed further, that a quality assurance system for an individual organization could be developed to accommodate a group of organizations and even a whole region. The applicability and transferability is high. The work relies heavily on already internationally well recognised systems like ISO and EFQM. The specific characteristic lies in the joint effort on raising the quality the bar and realizing a high ambition on quality, whilst leaving room for individual centre’s differences. This requires a specific quality in leadership focussing on joint responsibilities rather than competition.

2.4.2. Savvy Savo: Knowledge management development

The Savo Consortium for Education consists of Savo Vocational College, Varkaus Upper Secondary School and Savo Apprenticeship Training Centre. It is one of the largest providers of initial, further and continuing vocational education in Finland. It has approximately 8 000 students and 1,100 persons on staff. The consortium provides education in eight locations and provides upper secondary education in Varkaus. Like in the previous example, a process orientation was chosen. The applicability of the approach described can be shown by the SAVO process chart. Even in quite different countries the same approach can be used and is shown to be effective.

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This process orientation can still be combined with a traditional organisational chart. This shows that the approach in terms of processes can be integrated with a more traditional structural functional representation of the organization.

Savo used the process approach more specifically to work on knowledge management within the organization. The objectives of improving knowledge management were defined. It was necessary to provide an overall view to support the mission of the organization. More awareness of the knowledge available in the organisation could gear the organi-sation more towards its objectives. The knowledge present could help to provide a better way of anticipating future needs for knowledge and staff. It could be used to form or reorganize teams and would more strongly indicate the need for recruitment of new staff either internally or externally. It would identify skills shortages and would also identify the need for knowledge transfer from retiring staff. It was also found that when you make good use of available knowledge in an organisation the staff feel more appreciated and it enhances the feeling of wellbeing in the work place

Of course the relationship between superior and employee was essential in reaching these goals. From the chart above one can see that, surveys, organised feedback discussions on professional development and leadership evalu-ations were used in this process.

The results of focussing on this process gave more insights into where the skills gaps in the organisation could be found. This was related to organisational objectives. Also information from working life on knowledge gaps were used. This made it possible to identify lack of knowledge and skills in relation to the external environment. The process led to personnel updates of personal knowledge profiles. This could be used to take action on the professional development of specific staff members.

One of the results was also that discussions and group discussions on knowledge development were systematically introduced. This made it not a onetime effort but a recurring process on knowledge management development. This also helped align individual development objectives with organisational objectives. By choosing the process approach it also became clear that a comprehensive development and utilisation of competence requires discussions between different levels of the organisation.

This best practice is a very specific example of combining the process approach with a functional structural approach. It also shows how this can result in a structural embedding of processes. Like the earlier example, it shows that trans-ferability is high. Both best practices have similarities in implementation and are being used in quite different coun-tries with different educational systems and different cultural backgrounds. The strength of this approach in terms of transferability can be considered high. Of course systems implementation and effectiveness rely heavily on the people that work with them and the leaders and managers that promote them. More on what characteristics these people are expected to have will be discussed in the next chapter.

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3. Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles in VET

3.1 Explanation and definition of the themeIn recent years, VET leaders are facing new challenges, mainly due to the growing expectation that technological in-

novation, migration and globalization are putting on VET schools. The role of VET leaders is changing as countries are transforming their vocational education and training systems to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed in this changing world. These higher expectations have been clearly delineated in the CEDEFOP study on VET Leader-ship.

It is no longer sufficient for VET leaders to be simply good managers. Efficient VET leaders are considered the key to improving educational outcomes and to transforming the training scale.

As was explained in an earlier chapter the leader in a VET school is not only the director, but is also a member of the management teams s/he works with, and in general has a responsibility to everyone s/he works with. The concept of distributional leadership has also been discussed above.

The question that arises when discussing expectations on VET leaders is: what kind of leadership is expected from them? What kind of skills are they required to possess? Of course these will vary according to the specific develop-mental stage of a college and the national and regional situation. Looking only at the EU level we could say that VET leaders are expected to have the skill to carry their school towards achieving some commonly accepted goals, such as those listed in the Bruges Communiqué. But realistically VET leaders will act on the expectations and requirements in their college context.

However new requirements will externally result in new training and schooling of VET managers and leaders and a development of new competence frameworks. This will also result in reforming the process of selecting and recruiting new VET leaders. This is a task for those institutions with responsibilities for VET systems in each country.

Internally, VET schools themselves must find ways to promote, train and retain effective leaders.

On a personal level, candidates to lead VET schools need to be aware of the level of demand required to fulfil their aspirations and, therefore, take the necessary steps to enhance, over time, their competence profile in management, pedagogy, use of new technologies, languages, transversal competences, etc.

3.2 Why is the theme important?In addition to the above requirements set by stakeholders of VET schools: parents, students, companies, institutions

and society, there are some other factors that put leadership of VET schools in the spotlight and place it as the key to the success of VET schools nowadays.

We refer, for instance, to the generational change that is taking place today at the European level. This means that people of great experience are leaving their jobs and that we are facing the need for new leaders for a time of great challenges. Of course this could be seen as both a problem as an opportunity.

Emerging questions that need to be answers in coming years are:• What is the role of leadership in innovation and change?• How to facilitate and promote VET leadership?• How to put learning and learning environments on the agenda of all leaders in education?• How to spread VET leadership in order to create innovative learning environments?• How to make VET leadership more powerful by creating networks of innovation?• How to recognise the role and potential of a range of important partners and alliances?

Starting from the objectives of the Bruges Communiqué, from the guidelines and documents of the European com-mission that have been published, we can deduce that, in general, they are looking for a VET leadership profile that combines two different elements: the resource manager and the pedagogical leader. Rightfully, it is assumed that the quality of VET education depends upon a combination of sensitivity to external requirements, the ability to realise an internal organisation that promotes educational development and quality and, last but not least, the ability to raise quality through a combination of quality management and human resource management directed at the professional quality of teachers.

The higher attention for characteristics of Leaders and manager in VET leads to the development of lists of require-ments and competences that should be expected from VET leaders. Taking the above aspects of resource manager and pedagogical leaders, we can delineate a list of skills competences and personal characteristics

In short this results in a profile of a professional of strong character with particularly high skills and competences and with clear values. In the annex there is also an example from the State of new South Wales Australia included which gives an example of a list of requirements for VET leaders in that jurisdiction.

This list of characteristics of a VET leader should of course match the tasks assigned in the management processes of the school, which are the ones to define the role that the leader in the VET school will have. Inside the processes, it seems clear that leaders have been assigned the role of strategist and manager of people, resources and alliances.

The most relevant one is that of being a manager of people, a transforming and inspiring leader. As indicated earlier it can be expected of institutions engaged in education that they will be at the forefront of developing a learning organi-zation. For this organisation the professionals are, next to the formalised knowledge base, its most important assets. A closer look at what this means for managers in VET is warranted. In connection with the earlier chapter a process orientation to managers in the organisations is highly recommended.

VET schools must train their managers to be competent to lead, manage and support the development of people and to design and implement guidelines that enable people and teams to perform to high standards. Leaders need to be visible, practice active listening, lead by example and increase organisational cohesion and respond to the needs and expectations of people, helping to improve performance and giving recognition to those who improve the perfor-mance of the school.

The developmental process can be described as follows

Analyse the Information

Analyse survey results and other information from people at the school for the improvement of strategies and plans for managing people and, therefore, increase their satisfaction.

PlanDevelop strategies and people management.Align plans with people management strategy and with the Annual Plan and with the school’s facilities and structure of key processes.Identify, classify and adapt the skills of individuals.Manage the training of leaders to have the skills to lead, manage and support the performance of people and to design and implement the guidelines allowing individuals and teams to implement them.

ActionEncourage and promote collaboration within the school.Be visible, practice active listening, lead by example and increase the cohesion and offer feed back to the peo-ple of their schools. Promote delegation, the sense of belonging and ownership, responsibility and participa-tion of people in decisions that affect performance, adapting the structure and organization of the school.

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Help and support people to make plans, objectives and goals a reality.Recognise, timely and properly, the efforts of individuals and teams.Promote equality of opportunity and consider the diversity between individuals a real value.

EvaluationReview and improve the effectiveness of personal conduct in the area of leadership.Assess the effectiveness of leadership in managing people.

This process for the development of skills, competencies forces us to rethink some of the other processes that can strengthen it. Thus, externally, those involved in providing initial management education will have to take into account these new demands on leaders, so that they can offer the possibility of training for those who aspire to leadership positions in VET schools.

In this context, we should highlight examples of good practices in Europe and spread them, so that they will expand the range of training opportunities for leaders in all European regions.

Also in the selection process, the requirements in terms of experience, training and competences should be appropri-ate to the new scenario, which means that the legislation regarding this process should be modified and also undergo a process of constant updating.

Example:• Competence to define goals and strategic lines. This competence is associated with strategic

leadership.• Competence to lead and organize the school. This is associated with distributed leadership.• Competence to exercise pedagogical leadership. This competence is associated with instructional

leadership or leadership for learning.• Competition to promote the participation and collaboration of internal and external agents.• Promotion of the evaluation and change management.

Internally, in the schools, there are a number of challenges to face to help improve the prospects of VET leadership. The chances of internal promotion, professional development must increase, through performance, to enable people with training and experience to stand as candidates for VET leadership positions.

It is vital as well to deploy, in the school, some tools and techniques that facilitate the management and ultimately the effectiveness of leadership. We are talking about the process orientation towards management, management pro-grams, and dynamic methodologies that help make both effective and efficient management.

On a personal level, teachers or workers contemplating the position of leadership as a possibility in their professional careers should be aware of what they need to do to update their skills and seize the opportunities offered by the sys-tem. Within the project we discovered that like the relatively low attention to the quality of teachers’ education in VET, there is also a relatively low attention to the development of management education for VET.

However, there are some places where initiatives to offer training to leaders and management teams of VET schools are underway. We mention the contents, as a sample, of some of these courses:

• The Directive Function: Leadership. Task management. Professional competences for performance.• School Management: Projects and Programs. Strategic Project, Annual Plan, Annual Report. The

management project as a dynamic axis of the school performance.• Organizational Structures of the Schools. Processes management systems developed in schools:

improvement processes, teaching and learning process.• Educational Management and Revitalization. Team building at schools, cooperative work, networking

and in participatory decision-making processes.• Attention to the Student Diversity. Conflicts resolution in schools. School climate and coexistence.

In addition, returning again to the external field, it is necessary not only to establish processes for evaluating leader-ship in VET schools, but also to facilitate the conditions to grant well-earned recognition to people who have assumed leadership in VET schools.

In this respect we should be aware of a serious risk that can be seen in some countries. The combination of higher expectations of VET managers in combination with the higher demands on knowledge skills and competences may put strain on present managers and maybe limit the amount of people who would opt for such a responsibility. Attention to the context in which VET managers work requires as much attention as the changing context in which the managers are working.

In addition the “wish lists” of requirements in knowledge, skills, experience, behaviour and character can be almost limitless. In the practice of recruitment of managers one will, as always, make a trade-off between the elements on this

lists. We recommend taking a dynamic view in making this trade-off. Looking at the EFQM model one can distinguish different stages of development of organisations. Each phase requires a different orientation and level of competence. So, in making this trade off, the developmental stage of the organisation should be taken into account in evaluating differences in knowledge, skills, experience, behaviour and character. The process approach above makes it possible to let managers grow in their effectiveness. Managers continued professional education should be geared to the next developmental stage in the development of the organisation.

Finally, the need for forums and networks through which good practice and initiatives may be disseminated must be acknowledged. Such forums and networks offer VET leaders across Europe the opportunity to meet and share experi-ences and knowledge. They also provide a platform for new research and new projects for which the European Com-mission is also establishing suitable mechanisms.

3.3. How does the theme relate to the other 3 themes?Many of the new requirements for VET leaders and managers can be traced back to external developments. Relations

with the external stakeholders are essential specifically for VET leaders. The theme, in that respect, also has a bearing on the requirements for VET leaders.

This issue of VET leadership is directly related to the analysis made on intra organizational processes and responsibili-ties. Leaders roles and responsibilities are defined for that area. In this chapter we describe Leadership features that best suit those functions and processes.

The theme on characteristics of leaders is strongly related to the next chapter on quality. The development of leader-ship and management requirements can be directly related with the development of organisations in models of quality assurance.

3.4 Best Practices from project partner countries3.4.1 Let the sunshine in.

In the development of leadership and management it is essential to engage in a strong external orientation. We have to realise that for many managers “it is lonely at the top”. Naturally, leaders are open to feedback from within their own organization. None-the-less, professional development needs to avoid the tunnel vision that can result from that. Forming a community of practice across institutions can help to avoid that.

Ikaslan Gipuzkoa is the Association of public VET centres in Gipuzkoa in the Basque country.

This association performs the following activities.• It contributes to the development of public VET centres.• It channels the opinions, interests and projects of VET Leaders to policy makers • It channels the VET Leaders’ proposals on finance, equipment and facilities. • It channels the opinion of VET directors to regional institutions for the efficient allocation of resources. • It takes part in the development of continuous training programs for VET teachers• It coordinates VET centres in the management of European mobility programs

They created the ZUBI (“ZUzendaritza BIlgunea”) Forum. This is a Community of Practice for the management roles in the VET centres of the Basque Country. This community of practice is becoming a “meeting point” for VET Direc-tors, focused on their personal and professional development, through their participation in a new dynamic of skills development.

This initiative, closely linked to the consolidated Management Development Programme, emerged in 2007, to face the demand made by Directors participating in the 1st Edition of the Management Development Programme (2006 - 2007).

ZUBI has the following objectives:• To enhance the personal and professional development of the role of director.• To promote the exchange of experiences and the transfer of knowledge between experienced and new

directors.• To promote participation, reflection and creativity, thus facilitating the emergence of ideas and

innovative and practical initiatives.• To add value and recognition to the role of director.

All these activities (conferences, workshops, debates and recreational activities) address issues of interest for the players and that push them to be exposed to views, experiences and realities beyond the VET System. In short, this is meant to open a “window to the outside” and thus let the sunshine in to ensure the updating and exchange of experi-ence among VET Directors.

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Another feature of this initiative, which has been essential for its consolidation, is the incorporation, from the very beginning, of the directors in the planning and management of the activities to be developed. In this way, the direc-tors “self-organize”. They act as both the designers and receptors of the activities. All this, taking into account that it is voluntary, requires a strong commitment.

Since the beginning of the ZUBI Forum in late 2007, monthly meetings have been organised to deepen relationships among directors of public and private VET centres. A wide range of activities has been planned and developed. Details of these can be seen in the following table.

At the time of writing this article, the ‘Programme for the promotion of professional and personal Effectiveness is underway, consisting of 4 workshops that are taking place throughout February, March, April and May.

There are 18 Directors registered for this programme. It consists of 4 full-time interrelated workshops, and it ad-dresses the following topics.

• The self-knowledge.• The “human-team-organisation” system and its impact on the managers’ way of learning.• Managing emotions.• The development of the skills necessary to be effective, both in the performance of the management

function and in the personal sphere.Throughout the four workshops, they also learn about the concept of “mindfulness” with the aim of increasing atten-

tion to their actions and improving their stress management. After each workshop, personalised attention is offered through e-COACHING practices (personal reflection and personal and confidential feedback).

In preparation for the first workshop, participants undertake a self-assessment exercise and at the end of the program they will receive a CUSTOM REPORT. Thus, the program envisages three levels of evaluation:

• OBJECTIVES Assessment (set according to previous diagnosis).• PROCESS Assessment• SATISFACTION Assessment.

In addition to the workshops mentioned above, during the 2011-12 academic year, the ZUBI Forum has been develop-ing at its monthly meetings, through three teams, the following topics.

1. SUPPORT Service for the VET Director: The design of this service, based on guidance and coaching techniques, aims at confidentially providing the Director with support to face situations that he may find especially difficult to ad-dress and, with the collaboration of veteran directors and experts, to find strategies for resolving difficulties. The idea is that directors support each other, using the knowledge and experience they have gained in their work.

2. The AGENDA of the Director: This is to prepare a document setting, taking into account the formal commit-ment schedule involves managing a vocational training centre, public, and private concerted, all those dates, commit-ments and recommendations to be into account by the Director, throughout the academic year. Thus, the “Agenda / a director / a” can become a very useful tool, especially for those / as Directors / as more novice.

3 AKNOWLEDGEMENT Activities to VET Directors: This team is designing different activities to acknowledge the important role played by directors at VET Centres. The complexity of the function they perform, the increasing de-mands from all groups that interact with a VET centre (students, faculty, companies, families, administration, etc..) deserves acknowledgement and special support to those who are in charge of the centres.

With the same objective to create a community of practice an initiative in the Netherlands should be mentioned. A national association of board members was started in 2009 (VKBBO). This is now an association of which about 50% of all board members are a member. It has a public register, a common code of conduct and has 6 weekly professionalisa-tion activities. Requirements for continued professional development are being developed. They developed a general competence framework for board members of VET institutions. This works as a standard for education and recruitment for board members. Interestingly, they did a small research project on what is required of VET leaders in practice. They researched 15 different recruitment procedures and found that there were over 40 different requirements. They then took the eight most used ones as a basis for profiling.

The transferability of these practices is very high. The essence of forming a community of practice is universal and the good thing is that it is easily adapted to specific cultural and national specific conditions. One important requirement to be effective is that it is voluntary and is organised in a socially safe environment where the sharing of strengths and weaknesses and the acknowledgement of professional development is accepted. It is more difficult to organise effec-tively in a highly competitive environment where knowing the weaknesses and strengths of another leader or manager could be a competitive advantage

3.4.2. Reflection: The inner dialogue as a management team effort

It is also important to organise a dialogue on Leadership development within one’s own organization. Especially if we look at the concept of distributed leadership it is essential to have a good appreciation of management requirements and activities within the organization. Noorderpoort is a college for initial and secondary VET in Groningen in the North of Holland. It developed a management scan to stimulate the dialogue on professionalism at an individual and team level. Management scan was initiated by the HR-department, but the individual and the team (manager) were made responsible for developing their own professionalism. The HR department facilitated the process and tried to lower the threshold for using the instrument. A customized questionnaire was used, supplemented with some organisation specific themes. The strategic plan of the college and its vision of leadership and management were used also as input for the instrument. The final questionnaire was developed in cooperation with a few management teams to ensure an optimal connection to the perception and experience of management. This at the same time generated support from those teams for the entire project. In communication throughout all management layers, the objective of the instru-ment was clearly communicated. The scan was definitely used to help further develop leadership and management skills as part of the strategic development of the organisation.

Through the questionnaire the leadership requirements were visualised specifically with regard to developing pro-fessionalism. The focus was also on the development of the leadership and management skills required to adapt to the changing environment/context. When all managers filled out the questionnaire, the results were processed into individual and team reports, which contain charts that visualises professionalism on individual and management team level. Management teams conduct a dialogue based on the results. This process was supported by a qualified trainer.

The objective of the process is to ensure that:• management teams take responsibility and ownership for the professionalism and development of the

team and self;• management teams reflect upon the performance of the team and self;• organisational goals/strategy are being aligned with your personal goals and development; and• personal performance should be in alignment with organisational strategies to be able to deal with the

changing environment.The instrument used took the following themes as focus for reflection.

1. Corporate/Noorderpoort ambitions 2. Corporate/Noorderpoort values 3. Talent 4. Creativity 5. Analysis & Reflection 6. Environmental/context orientation 7. Educational vision & Educational strategy 8. Focus on Learning Performance 9. Exemplary behaviour 10. Management & Leadership 11. Human Resource Management

The use of the survey and the use of qualified trainers meant the results were viewed more objectively and they were therefore a good basis for dialogue and understanding within the team. It also made it easier to design team and indi-vidual professional development paths.

The results depend highly in the process used and their acceptance by management. Essential was the developmental outlook and the fact that it was an activity done for all managers in a similar way.

This best practice can be easily transferred. Customised surveys on management development are readily available. The introduction of the management scan can be developed geared to the level of professional development and ac-ceptance within management teams. Focus points for reflection can be chosen

3.4.3. The Giant Leap for Leadership

The Irish education sector is experiencing the most profound structural change in the history of the Irish state. The recent economic crisis and the very significant increase in unemployment rates brought about a new focus on how ef-fective the VET sector has been in meeting the needs of industry. In July 2011 the Irish Minister for Education and Skills announced the following major structural changes.

• The transfer of the National Training Authority (FÁS) to the Department of Education and Skills FÁS has now been abolished and replaced by SOLAS.• The establishment of 16 new Education and Training Boards to replace 33 abolished entities;

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• The transfer of the Training Division of the National Training Authority (FÁS ) to the 16 new ETBs;• The establishment of a new Training Authority (SOLAS) to provide strategic oversight and funding and

to plan delivery on the basis of government policy and defined need. A key focus of SOLAS is the evaluation of outcomes, but the delivery of training programmes is to be the responsibility of the 16 ETBs which are to agree Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with SOLAS.

The Challenge for Leaders

The leaders of the 16 ETBs were appointed in July 2013 to drive the change process, managing the amalgamation of the 33 previous regional entities to form the new ETBs. This involves the amalgamation of staffs, cultures, and organi-sational structures and systems which had been in existence for over 80 years. Additionally, it involves the transfer to the ETBs of apprenticeship training centres, staffs and cultures from SOLAS (which replaced FÁS), an entirely different entity.

This reorganisation delineates the huge challenge facing the leaders assigned to the 16 ETBs: how to create a single dynamic functioning entity from entities which may have previously been culturally and operationally hostile to each other? The success or otherwise of this process depends on those appointed to positions of authority in each of the 16 ETBs, who need to demonstrate real leadership ability to bring about the following.

Organisational Reform

Staffing cohorts from three or four different entities are required to be amalgamated into one new structural entity with clearly defined functions and roles. This process is all the more difficult where there may be competition for pro-motional posts in the new ETBs. The new organisational structure will only accommodate a certain quota of managers and function heads, and competition for these places will need to be open and fair. Staffs that are surplus after this selection process are to be redeployed elsewhere in the public sector. The challenge for ETB leadership is not only to select the best management personnel, but also to find a way to “heal the wounds” that are certain to exist after the completion of this structural reform process.

Establishing a Common Vision

A core trait of the leader of any organisation is the ability to steer the process of defining and agreeing a vision and culture for the organisation. In a scenario where separate corporate entities are being amalgamated to form a single new entity, a clearly agreed vision for that entity will certainly determine the success or otherwise of the transforma-tion process. This requires commitment from the staff, a shared commitment to a vision which defines the future role and purpose of the new entity. This is a major challenge facing leaders in the formation of new ETBs.

Defining a Common Culture

Critical to the success of any new entity is the establishment of cultural mores and outlooks which must permeate throughout the entity. The ability to inspire confidence and commitment to a culture which values people, which re-wards commitment and which respects clearly defined values is a core characteristic of a leader. In the case of the 16 new ETBs, time will tell how good the leadership qualities of those in authority are.

The ability to inspire followers, to identify and share a vision, and to agree and build a positive culture for the new entity, all constitute a hugely significant challenge for the leader which will ultimately define the success of the trans-formation process.

Setting Strategy and Priorities

As leaders are expected to lead, the ability to identify priorities for the new entity and to demonstrate a capacity to define strategic objectives are also at the core of leadership. Underpinning this process of goal definition must be the setting out of a strategy or process for achieving these goals. The success of the leader and the associated success of the entity will be defined by the ultimate achievement of these goals. The 16 leaders of the ETBs are mutually sup-portive in this process, where learning from peers has proven most beneficial in terms of best practice. Equally critical to success are the operational supports and strategic direction which are provided at a national level, and explained below.

Communication

In the current amalgamation and reform process, there has been a real emphasis on developing clear and open com-munication channels through which the vision and strategy are clearly communicated and understood. In each ETB, various communication tools and processes are being utilised so that a consistent, continuous and clear message is spread throughout the entity.

ETBI is playing a central role in this area, and has consistently argued that communication is a two-way process where leaders understand that listening is also critical to the ultimate success of this process.

Building a High Performance Team

Leaders must be able to motivate and inspire. In doing so, they must be aware of the value of teamwork. Building a team and inspiring team performance is a most difficult task where different staffs, cultures and organisational pro-cesses are being amalgamated. Ultimately, however, this is the goal that must be achieved if the ETB is to become a successful and high performance entity. Driving for results is now a key focus of ETB leadership and some quick wins have supported this objective.

Delegation and Empowering

Delegation and empowering others will build the capacity for high performance. Having the confidence and ability to delegate to others in a shared leadership model of administration is now common in the VET sector in Ireland. The quality and performance of the team not only defines the entity but also defines how the leader is perceived. Evalua-tion and performance management must, however, underpin this process.

How the VET Transformation Process is Being Managed at a National Level

The key stakeholders have collaborated nationally to provide the vision and oversight to assist the ETB leaders to achieve their goals. Collaboration between the Department of Education and Skills, ETBI representing member ETBs, and SOLAS, the new national FET authority, is at the very core of the transformation process at a national level. When the Minister for Education and Skills announced the government’s intention to reform the structures which underpin VET delivery in Ireland, a framework structure was established with these key stakeholders working collaboratively in a common cause. Unity at the top has proven to be key to the success of this transformation process to date. There have been several stages and levels which have demonstrated this national unity of purpose.

1. Implementation Group, established to agree and prepare the Implementation Plan

This implementation group was established and chaired by the Minister for Skills. It consisted of all the main stake-holders, including the ETBI. A wide consultative process was undertaken, involving public and stakeholder consultation and this ultimately led to the development of the agreed Implementation Plan. As a result of this process, there was “buy in” from all the stakeholders on the underlying vision and purpose of the transformation process, and on the steps needed to achieve the ultimate and declared objective of establishing a world-class Further Education and Training sec-tor. This group was disbanded once the Implementation Plan was approved by government and published.

2. National Project Office

This national body was established to drive through the transformation process. It gives direction and operational support to the leaders of the 16 ETBs. It is involved in negotiations at a national level with the trade unions represent-ing the staff members of the former entities. It has addressed a range of operational issues which may have otherwise caused “roadblocks”. It has smoothed the way for the amalgamation process.

This office is staffed by personnel from ETBI, SOLAS and the Department of Education and Skills, and has clearly dem-onstrated unity of purpose at a national level in pursuit of common goals. Without this office there would not have been the necessary coherence and support to provide consistency in the transformation agenda across the 16 different ETBs.

3. National Programme Board

This high level strategic oversight Board was formed to act on the recommendations of the Project Office. It is also charged with ensuring that the Implementation Plan is adhered to and that agreed government policy and strategy are implemented. The Board is composed of high-level representatives from the key stakeholders, including ETBI. The Board oversees the implementation process and is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills.

National Framework of Supports

The need for high-level strategic direction and oversight (Programme Board) and operational supports (Programme Office) became obvious from the outset to ensure consistency of approach across the 16 ETBs being formed from former VEC entities and apprenticeship training centres. The framework supports listed above are essential for the success of such a large-scale and multi-faceted transformation process.

A national vision having been defined and national stewardship having been set up through the Project Office, the responsibility now rests with the individual ETB leaders to secure “buy in” from the newly-formed ETBs. Herein is the challenge for the leaders involved and the test of their innate ability as leaders. There have been some early indications of success in some recent “quick wins”.

Ultimately change is a process and not a single event. This transformation journey is far from ended, and much has

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yet to be achieved before there can be a realistic assessment of outcomes. Only time will tell.

This best practice looks like it is one of kind. The necessity for national reforms was evident in Ireland. The strong focus on developing new structures and requirements for leadership in VET is exemplary. In many instances of national reforms in education thoughts about leadership to realise these charges often come after the fact. The Irish example to take this into consideration from the start is a lesson that could be followed in many countries that work on funda-mental changes in education at a national level. As to transferability this is the most important lesson. The way in which it will be implemented will vary across countries due to the large differences in educational systems and institutions

4. Quality management practices in VET providers organizations

a. Explanation and definition of the theme.

Quality in education seems to be self-evident. In a romantic view on education quality is fully embedded in the teach-er. Although the quality of the teacher is a necessary prerequisite for quality in education, it is not something that will come about of its own or assure quality for all teachers and students. In a complex world quality for VET is a delicate balance between the students entry level, the quality of the educational processes, the embedded knowledge system, the learning material and facilities, the distribution of tasks and competences and the requirements for graduation and diplomas, the coordination and division of tasks with the world of work and the external appreciation and recognition of these requirements – and the structures and organisation that enhances all the above mentioned areas.

The balancing, coordination and assessment of all these factors to ensure quality education can be defined as a qual-ity management system. Examples are: the EFQM system; insights form the EQAVET project, ISO requirements. TQM, etc. These systems will not come into place by themselves. It requires a leadership and management decision. Many

VET students will work and come to work in companies which rely heavily on quality and quality assurance systems. The use of quality management systems would seem to be congruent with VET providers associations. However, the use of these systems is not always as self-evident as it may seem.

b. Why is the theme important?

Many system of quality assessment in Europe rely heavily on quality assurance by government inspectorates. The embedding of notions of quality assurance within one’s own organisation then risks not relying on one’s own quality ambitions and standards but more on trying to meet or “survive” external scrutiny. The reality is, of course, that if internal quality systems are working well the risk of not meeting external standards will be lowered considerably. This theme is important when we realise that this notion of quality assurance will not be realised if leaders are not a cata-lyst for such quality assurance. Leadership is the catalyst that transforms potential into reality yielding positive results. Quality Assurance is a vehicle for supporting a structure that will guide and direct an organisation. Shared or distrib-uted leadership will support the planning, develop ongoing implementation, guide the evaluation and disseminate that information to all stakeholders. The credibility of the work of Quality Assurance will be enhanced by the exchange of viewpoints and experiences among participating countries. (See appendix for models and further information)

The introduction of quality assurance systems in education will meet some resistance when implemented. The point is that there will be no difference of opinion on the importance of quality in education. The differences come about in the way quality standards are defined and in the way quality is measured. Opposition towards quality requirements sometimes makes it difficult to introduce formal quality assurance systems. This is mostly the case if these systems are seen as being externally imposed rather than internally generated motivating forces to enhance quality These systems will then often be looked upon as bureaucratic and controlling, and “having nothing to do with education. At the same time a college and teachers will implement such systems themselves often when assessing students’ results and pro-gress. Many of the discussions may result in the paradox of “do not do to me what I do to others”) .

Although a more ideological discussion could be carried on this item in VET, students, governments and companies are not so much interested in this more academic discourse. They simply demand high quality VET education which meets professional standards, is publicly recognised and delivers skills and competences essential to being an effective worker. With the continuing demand for higher levels of quality in education for all kinds of individual, considerations (employment and employability) or collective considerations (competitiveness, social inclusion) there is an increasing need for quality assurance and therefore quality assurance systems.

Leadership and management play a crucial role in balancing the external demands on quality with internal possibili-ties. One of the challenges is to choose a systemic approach but link it to the professional pride of both student and teacher. This in the realisation that quality systems will in themselves not produce quality but will help all in the organi-sation to heighten the quality effects of the joint efforts of all people in the organisation. Thus we achieve a concerted effort towards quality in the interest of both student and society.

c. Relation of the relevance of the theme of quality assurance with the other themes of the project.

Since this is the last theme to be considered in this project the relevance has already been highlighted in earlier chapters. The requirements of the external environment are essential drivers of quality assurance and they are also as a source of quality standards. Quality assurance systems are essential in all organisations and absolutely critical in organisations providing VET. The implementation of effective quality assurance systems by VET providers requires lead-ers capable of meeting the requirements discussed in the previous chapter but most of all leaders who see quality and the continuous raising of quality levels as one of their most significant functions.

The best practice, at an organisational or national level, in quality management described below is presented in al-phabetical order - the Basque Country, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands. May this best practice serve as a quality inspiration to others.

4.4 Best Practices from project partner countries4.4.1. Basque perseverance in quality assurance.

The Basque Country has been working on the implementation of quality systems in their VET centres for 16 years, since 1998, when the 1st Basque Vocational Training Plan was published. This plan established the strategy for imple-menting quality systems which would improve the processes established to provide a better service to Basque citizens. These systems should be aligned with the EFQM Excellence Model.

At that time, process-management systems were implemented in many VET centres, following the ISO 9000 standard. Subsequently, all these centres were audited and certified by an internationally recognized organisation, AENOR.

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Later, Resources Management Systems, the 5S Program, and People Management Systems, the Investors in People Standard, were also implemented. After that, the Environmental Management Systems, according to the ISO 14000 standard, were implemented. The Occupational Health and Safety Management System specification, OHSAS 18001, and the ISO 27000 for Information Security Management were implemented in some VET centres as well.

In parallel, the centres were receiving training and counselling from the Basque Quality Agency of Vocational Train-ing to guide their management strategy towards the EFQM Excellence Model. As a result 55 centres were awarded by Euskalit a prize for the Basque Foundation for Quality, the Silver Q and the Golden Q.

The level of ISO and EFQM received up to date:• EFQM 500 points, Golden Q - 9 VET Centres • EFQM 400 points, Silver Q - 51 VET Centres• ISO 9000:2000 Certificate - 55 VET Centres

In the Basque VET Agenda 2015, where major vocational and educational training strategies for coming years are de-scribed, there is still a section devoted to “the establishment of new systems of improvement in VET centres” with the intention of renewing existing management systems and seeking new updated and dynamic ways of improving quality.

Quality on organizational level

In 2001 the Basque Agency for the Evaluation of Competence and Quality of Vocational Training was created by the Basque Government and since then this agency, has been working on supporting the improvement of management system at the VET centres, including the self-assessment process of the VET centres, and the evaluation of the whole Basque VET system.

For the achievement of these two objectives they had developed following tasks.• Support of VET Centres. Providing means for improving the quality of VET centres management. Pro-

viding external contrast to the development of self-assessment processes and promoting innovation initiatives at the centres.• Overall evaluation of the Basque VET system based on individual self-assessments of the centres and

on the information provided by them, which would allow VET centres to analyse the adequacy between train-ing and employment and the compliance between the training offer and the skills demanded.

In the Basque Agency for the Evaluation of Competence and Quality of Vocational Training there were three areas, one for the Recognition of the Competence, another one for Certification and Registration and a third one for the Qual-ity of the VET System, that were in charge of Hobbide Programme, and some other programmes as well.

This best practice shows that the introduction of a quality system that is college based but implemented collectively in many centres throughout the Basque country is possible but requires perseverance over many years and a joint col-lective effort. The best practice is easily transferred if this collective necessity is recognised. Internationally recognised systems of quality assurance are used. It also shows that this joint quality effort could also be undertaken in conjunc-tion with inspecting bodies. It is self-evident that a lot can be gained if colleges and inspections use the same frame of reference with regards to quality assurance systems and methods.

4.4.2. Shared landmarks, individual responsibility: Quality Assurance in Denmark

As to a national definition of quality, the Danish Ministry of Education has formulated it as follows in its description of the quality strategy for the VET sector:

“[…] it is not possible to say anything definitive and universal about quality in an education system. It is neither pos-sible nor desirable to authorise one specific concept – be it in regard to methods or objectives and values. This is a basic democratic principle, which takes into consideration the fact that it is possible to achieve the same goals by different routes and with different means and methods” (Quality strategy for the vocational college sector, 2nd edition, the De-partment for Vocational Colleges, Theme booklet 6-96, p. 7)

In Denmark, quality in VET is perceived primarily in relation to providers and learners, with the aim of ensuring cor-respondence between the national VET objectives and the local VET programs, and of securing the quality of the indi-vidual providers.

For the Danish VET program, the objectives are that all young people should: • acquire a high professional level of competence;• be able to continue in further or higher education after completion of a VET program; and • develop their citizen skills in order to become active citizens in a democratic society.

Measuring the quality of VET program on these parameters is important, and the main indicators are employment, completion and further education/career pathways.

In Denmark, there is no single, nation-wide, quality approach, but common principles and measures at system level, and different approaches at both system and provider level. The Danish Ministry of Education has defined nine com-mon principles/measures regarding policy on quality issues.

• The involvement of stakeholders• Common national guidelines• Output monitoring using indicators• Quality rules• Ministerial approval, monitoring and inspection• Testing and examination• Transparency and openness• Evaluations by the Danish Evaluation Institute• International cooperation and surveys

Internal evaluation

The “backbone” of the Danish quality strategy is self-evaluation by the VET institutions. All providers are required to evaluate their own performance and the courses they provide on a regular basis.

Quality rules

The regulation stipulates that all VET providers must document that they have and use a system of quality assurance and development. They must meet the requirements laid down in the quality rules. (for further information: http://pub.uvm.dk/2008/vetquality2/kap04.html#annex2 )

All providers must document that they have a quality system matching the four phases of the CQAF model: (see ap-pendix for the CQAF-model)

Planning: the providers must draw up an annual plan for improvement, including how to increase the overall comple-tion rate.

Implementation: the providers must draw up procedures for evaluation at specific levels and within specific VET pro-grams. These procedures must specify how users/ trainees/enterprises will be involved in the evaluations.

Evaluation: the providers must report on the evaluation results within the priority areas stipulated by the Danish Ministry of Education and publish them on their website.

Review: the providers must assess the results and draw up a follow-up plan, taking into consideration available re-sources and time. This follow-up plan should form part of the action plan for the following year.

The results of these self-evaluations, including follow-up plans and strategies, must be publicized on providers’ web-sites.

Quality assurance at an organizational level

In IVET, providers are required to have:a. a quality management system; b. procedures for information collection and self-evaluation within politically defined priority areas; c. a follow-up plan and a plan for the public dissemination of results.

However, the colleges are free to choose their own quality concept, and there is no national model or system which the individual provider is obliged to use. One of the reasons for this is that VET providers vary considerably in terms of size, organisational culture and the VET they provide, so they must have the possibility/freedom to adapt a quality strategy to the local needs and the local culture. In order to observe the quality rules, most colleges have set up a new function of “Quality Coordinator”, with particular responsibility for quality management.

Evaluation and QA at Basic and Health Care College Fredericia-Vejle- Horsens

The Basic and Health Care College Fredericia –Vejle- Horsens works professionally and systematically with evaluation and QA. The aim is to enhance quality and to ensure quality improvement of the school’s education and to substantiate the school’s quality and results in different areas.

The evaluation- and QA-work is central in all development work and in all development processes in the organisa-tion in order to ensure contribution to the vision of the Basic and Health Care College and to ensure the quality of the school’s education. (see appendix for further information)

One of the specifics of this best practice is that there is room for situational considerations. This makes it possible for others also to follow this route. Often the introduction of Quality assurance is resisted by the assertion that a “one size fits all system does not work and especially not for us”.

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In these cases the situational approach of Denmark might be used and will raise the acceptance of the principle of quality assurance and will achieve greater acceptance.

4.4.3. KISS Nr 1……. Assured quality the case of Finland

Finland ranks high on many international lists on educational excellence. For both the advocates or the sceptics of quality assurance maybe a testing situation. In Finland the quality of vocational education and training (VET) is seen as a key factor related to the efficiency of education, the equality of individuals, as well as an important factor influencing the attractiveness of VET.

The legislation obliges education providers to evaluate their performance and its effectiveness, participate in national evaluations as well as publish their results. Quality in VET in Finland is steered by the Development plan for education and research, authorisation to provide education (granted by the Ministry of Education) as well as the requirements of qualifications issued by the Finnish National Board of Education. Furthermore, the quality of VET is influenced by the qualification requirements of teaching staff. The funding mechanisms of Finnish education also aim to raise the quality of training with performance-based funding and quality prizes for education providers who have systematically devel-oped their provision in line with education policy.

Quality on organizational level

Jyväskylä Educational Consortium (JEC) has a long history of quality management with a QA system built to support the business of education. The key drivers for JEC’s quality system include equality, trust, and simplicity. Our quality system with its process descriptions forms the backbone and frames to everyday work an ensures systematic planning, implementation, assessment, and development. The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture recently gave the yearly VET Quality Award to Jyväskylä Educational Consortium’s quality system and its implementation in one of our colleges, Jyväskylä College. The ministry stated that our “quality work is considered a management tool and it has been success-fully implemented in everyday work”.

Good practice example: Minimizing drop-outs / Managing students’ paths @Jyväskylä Educational Consortium

In our quest to making our whole staff own our quality work, we have learned to aim for simplicity. In Jyväskylä Edu-cational Consortium we have described only the processes crucial to successfully run a VET school. The process de-scription template includes only the required input, expected results and the minimum must-do’s during the process, and of course the responsibilities of each process. This chosen method works in two ways: firstly, it gives the teachers and experts the possibility to use their own subject expertise and choose the most suitable way of working in most of the everyday situations. Maybe even more significantly, it makes our process map and guidelines more user-friendly, understandable, and flexible, and thus more likely to be implemented. Still, our processes are described in great detail wherever unconditional uniformity is required.

A good example of a process described to a high level of detail is managing the students’ paths within JEC. Jyväskylä Educational Consortium has not only defined the process and responsibilities, inputs and outputs to a most detailed level within its own organization but defined them jointly with the local authorities responsible for basic education, lower secondary education, and municipal youth services in the Jyväskylä area. The joint process instructions include step-by-step definitions on roles and responsibilities on different stages of the student’s path in upper secondary education. The instructions continue to the level of how the information is to be saved in the student information system (which fields are to be filled in each of the situations). This ensures that anyone who opens a student’s file will understand this student’s situation and the measures taken to support the student. The JEC management follows the numbers and reasons behind this process closely as student graduation and preventing drop-outs are factors that af-fect funding that Finnish VET education providers receive.

This best practice combines a rigorous national focus on quality with a KISS (keep it simple stupid) method of intro-duction. In this way each and everybody’s responsibility is challenged to achieve aims. The good thing is that it is also combined with a very high level of detailed consideration. This reaches the point elaborated on at the beginning of the chapter. A system works when the people within the system work the system. If this balance is not reached, people will tend to oppose the system, as it does not seem to work for them but against them. Shared and accepted responsibility is essential.

4.4.4. Irish “demonstrated consistent repetition of good performance”

Quality assurance is increasingly important in Irish education. It has gone through a major systemic change over in recent years. National responsibility for quality assurance is legally assigned to Qualifications & Quality Ireland (QQI) The role and general functions of QQI (Qualifications & Quality Ireland), as set out in its legislation, are listed below. They incorporate the previous functions of FETAC, HETAC and the NQAI in relation to the following.

1. The maintenance and development of the National Framework of Qualification, 2. The validation and awarding of qualifications, and 3. The monitoring and review of providers.

In addition, the authority has been assigned some new functions that are listed below. It is responsible for the devel-opment and implementation of a register of programmes leading to awards on the NFQ. It will also establish a Code of Practice and International Education Mark for the provision of education to international learners.

Functions of Authority - Qualifications & Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act, 2012, Part 2 (9) (1):(a) Promote, maintain, further develop and implement the (National) Framework (of Qualifications).(b) Advise the Minister in relation to national policy on quality assurance and enhancement in education

and training.(c) Review and monitor the effectiveness of providers’ quality assurance procedures.(d) Validate programmes of education and training, and review and monitor the validated programmes.(e) Establish the standards of knowledge, skill or competence to be acquired by learners before an award

can be made by the Authority or by a provider to which authority to make an award has been delegated.(f) Make awards, delegate authority to make an award where it considers it appropriate and review and

monitor the operation of the authority so delegated.(g) Determine policies and criteria for access, transfer and progression in relation to learners, and monitor

the implementation of procedures for access, transfer and progression in relation to learners by providers.(h) Establish a code of practice for the provision of programmes of education and training to international

learners.(i) Authorise the use of the international education mark by a provider that complies with the code of

practice.(j) Establish, maintain and develop a database providing information on awards recognised within the

Framework, programmes of education and training which lead to awards recognised within the Frame- work and any other programmes the Authority thinks appropriate.(k) Establish and maintain the register.(l) Advise and consult with the Minister, or any other Minister, on any matter which relates to its

functions, at that Minister’s request.(m) Co-operate with international bodies on qualifications and quality assurance policies and their imple-

mentation and in particular to-(i) Liaise with awarding bodies outside the State for the purposes of facilitating the recognition in the

State of awards of those bodies, and(ii) Facilitate the recognition outside the State of awards made in the State.(n) Ensure arrangements for the protection of learners are in place where learners have begun but not

completed a programme of education and training where a provider ceases to provide the programme before completion.(o) Assist enrolled learners in finding alternative programmes of education and training where providers

cease to provide a programme before completion, and(p) Collect any information relating to the performance of its functions it considers appropriate.

Quality assurance on organisational level

Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) require that all providers of further education and training at levels 1-6 lead-ing to QQI Awards establish procedures to Quality Assure their programmes and these procedures have to be agreed with QQI. QQI monitors and reviews the effectiveness of each provider’s quality assurance system as well as each provider’s agreement.

Quality Assurance is the demonstrated consistent repetition of good performance using a system of documented procedures, which are known, understood and operated by all. In order for recognition as an approved provider of QQI accredited awards, Cork Education and Training Board devised and implemented a comprehensive Quality Assurance process. This process took a year to develop which involved a major collaborative effort between teachers, staff and managers with the support and guidance of our CEO.

Cork Education and Training Board’s Quality Assurance system demonstrates our capacity to monitor, evaluate and improve the quality of programmes and services to learners.

Quality Assurance’ (Q.A.) is a dynamic system of best practice that ensures consistent quality education, this means the best teaching and learning atmosphere for students and for teachers in Cork Education and Training Board.

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To ensure that each of our quality assurance processes is working efficiently and effectively Cork Education and Train-ing Board as part of its Quality Assurance Agreement with QQI put in place a set of policies and procedures that moni-tors our QA system in practice.

The value of an educational award is subject to the standards that are applied in the delivery of courses and in the subsequent adjudication of these awards. So in keeping with all areas of ETB activities, it is essential that the highest of standards are set when engaging in the provision of Further Education and Training. The devising of a Quality As-surance Policy with an accompanying Resource Pack enhances the value of the service provided by our ETB and will ensure the maximum benefit for the “end user”, namely the learners who participate in these programmes. One such policy that demonstrates Good Practice is around Access, Transfer & Progression, an example of which is included in this document.

Cork Education and Training Board also have a range of surveys for both teachers/tutors and learners to complete in order to monitor and ensure that the quality assurance system is working effectively.

The realisation of this system at a national level came about in yet another turbulent period in Ireland due to the economic crisis and financial problems. Often necessity is a driver for change. Or, as a Mayor in a Dutch town once said, there is nothing as good for the improvement of quality as a crisis. The Irish example shows that even at a national level and concurrently at the college level a lot can be achieved through a joint effort and commitment to the maintaining of quality standards.

4.4.5. Dutch Quality

In the Netherlands, the quality of education has traditionally been high on the political agenda for many years. It even might be that the Netherlands has the highest incidence of national educational reform. This can be attributed to a high level of ambition in raising the quality of education. Several years ago a parliamentary commission concluded that all these changes might even be detrimental to quality. This has led to a lower tendency to systematic change and a higher focus on quality assurance

In the Netherlands the Dutch Inspectorate of Education is responsible for the inspection and review of schools and educational institutions:

• assessing the quality of education offered in schools;• reporting publicly on the quality of individual institutions;• reporting publicly on the educational system as a whole;• encouraging schools to maintain and improve the education they offer;• providing information for policy development; and• supplying reliable information on education

Founded in 1801, the Netherlands’ Inspectorate of Education is one of the oldest state Inspectorates of Education. Nowadays, the Inspectorate uses a system of proportional inspections based on a risk-analysis to decide which schools should be inspected and which schools may be trusted to deliver good quality education. On an annual basis, the Inspec-torate collects and analyses information on possible risks in all schools. The results of the risk analysis indicate whether a school needs to be investigated more extensively, or whether the school can be trusted to perform adequately during the next year. If the analysis does not reveal any risks, the Inspectorate has sufficient trust in the quality of the educa-tion provided to qualify the school for the so-called basic inspection program. Where a school performs inadequately, the Inspectorate states which shortcomings should be improved and subsequently monitors these improvements.

Checking compliance with rules and regulations is always part of an inspection visit, in addition to the evaluation of quality. The Inspectorate has no advisory or counselling function with respect to schools; schools are provided with a budget they can use for hiring advisors and other support staff from regional or national agencies. In case pupils, par-ents, teachers or other stakeholders have complaints, they should address these to the complaints commission that schools are legally obliged to have. Besides that, the Inspectorate uses complaints as inputs in risk based inspection.

The Inspectorate also conducts so-called thematic inspections: in a sample of schools a certain topic or subject is in-spected using a specific framework of indicators and criteria. These inspections also result in public reports. Each year the Inspectorate publishes a report on the state of education in the Netherlands. This report is sent directly to parlia-ment and to the Minister of Education and generally attracts large media attention.

Quality assurance on an organisational level

The Horizon College uses a policy cycle, based on the policy plan and expanded on in the theme guide, which contains further explanation of established targets.

• The focus is on education, where the natural cycle is the school year.• This model is linked to the company policy, where the cycle follows the calendar year.

• The model assumes that the top circle is based on calendar years, the bottom two on school years. This has been adapted into the time planning. This means that (as is the case now), a team plans activities and deployment for a school year based on the available data. In the event that in the new calendar year it becomes necessary to change anything, the activity plan may be altered.

The cycle works if every separate circle is closed and linked to the other circles. Generally the top links translate tar-gets to activities and results. The bottom links provide reports and answer questions of input from each circle and its relationship with the other circles.

Horizon College uses about the realization of targets and underlying causes (evaluative aspects). Please find below an explanation the inspectorates national quality assessment scheme up to team levels for the self-assessments. This ensures a link to national requirements all the way into the grass roots implementation of the quality cycle.

4.4.6. Comparison in approaches.

Details on each best practice can be found in annex…. Below there is a summary comparison of the situation on qual-ity assurance in the participating countries. The comparison is about how quality is monitored and measured and how it is done at an organizational level.

Similarities and differences in Quality management practices in VET provider organisations in the Basque Country, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands.

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In all the participating countries there is a national interest in quality assurance and an institutional obligation to work on quality.

However the monitoring of quality seems to be different. The Basque Country and Denmark seem to rely on self-assessment and self-evaluation, Finland has national evaluations which may be like the Dutch thematic inspections and

The  Basque  Country  

     

Denmark   Finland   Ireland      The  Netherlands  

How  is  Quality  monitored  and  measured?  

 Nationwide  quality  approach.  EFQM,  ISO  +  self-­‐assessment  

   

         

No  nationwide  approach,  but  national  definition  of  quality  in  vet.  Evaluation  and  quality  framework  in  all  VET  institutions  is  required  by  the  ministry.  Selfevaluation  is  a  backbone  in  the  evaluation  and  quality  assurance  approach  

         

Nationwide  Development  plan  for  education  and  research.  Authorization  to  provide  education  granted  by  the  ministry.    The  Finnish  National  Board  of  Education  issues  requirements  

         

Qualifications  and  Quality  Ireland  have  nationwide  functions  such  as:  The  maintenance  and  development  of  the  National  Framework  of  Qualification  The  validation  and  awarding  of  qualifications  The  monitoring  and  review  of  providers.  

 

         Nationwide                                        Inspectorate  of    Education  that  is  responsible  for  inspection  and  review  of  schools  and  educational  institutions:  Assess  in  the  quality  of  education  Reporting  publicly  on  the  quality  of  individual  institutions  Reporting  publicly  on  the  educational  system  as  a  whole  Encouraging  schools  to  maintain  and  improve  education  Providing  information  for  policy  development  Supplying  reliable  information  on  education    

Important  quality  measurements  

 Adequacy  between  training  and  employment.  Compliance  between  training  offers  and  skills  

     

Quality  of  the  programmes  Employment  Completion  Career  pathways  

     

Performance  and  effectiveness  and  national  evaluations.  Qualification  

     

Established  procedures,  agreed  with  QQI  to  quality  assure  programmes  

     Checks  compliance  with  rules  and  regulations  and  evaluates  quality.  Conducts  

Ireland and the Netherlands have bodies monitoring quality.

As a result of these dissimilarities in national approaches to quality in education, the quality work in VET institutions differs. Some areas in quality assurance can be identified that are seen as relevant in each of the countries. They may be categorised in factors related to:

a. Student level: adequacy between training and employment, or completion;b. Faculty level: Requirements of teaching staff;c. Organizational level: Quality of the programs, internal quality assurance procedures, compliance with

rules and regulations. With regard to quality assurance we can see that there are many different roads to quality. This means that there are

also many roads to choose from and the chances that there is a road that suits the situation is high. In this respect it is interesting to look at a back ground study in PISA 2010. When looking at the countries that had shown consistent im-provement in results it showed that they were the countries that combined a high level of strict national requirements and inspectorate regimes with a high level of autonomy at the school level. To different extents we can see that this is also the case in the best practice documented in this report.

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Conclusion and recommendations Based on the results of the project the steering committee has formulated a number of conclusions and recom-

mendations. These conclusions and recommendations are hopefully helpful for further research policy considerations projects and the development on management and leadership in VET.

1. Leadership and management in VET requires sector specific competences and requirements as a necessary requirement for success next to general management abilities. Strong orientation towards requirements in the exter-nal environment, specifically requirements from employers should be combined with a strong orientation on quality management. The latter specifically on enhancing the quality of the professional.

2. A stronger recognition of the importance of leaders and managers in VET as drivers for quality in education is needed. This will help come away from dysfunctional seemingly contradictory relation between managers and profes-sionals. It is the synergy that is needed for quality in education.

3. Despite large differences between countries in educational systems in VET, the distribution of authority on ed-ucational issues and financing structure and public private involvement there are remarkable similarities in dilemma’s for leaders and managers and VET. This means that much can be learned from each other at a European level. Some of the important issues are:

a. the issues of quality assurance and how to organize this in a non bureaucratic way whilst ensuring public recognition and comparability.b. to balance short term employers requirements with long term employability requirements for the

learners.c. To strike a balance between professional autonomy in education with public, learner and employers

expectations on quality in education.d. To balance high expectations towards quality with a high level of acceptance in programs and low drop

out rates.4. We recommend to initiate and support a European network of leaders and managers to realize the further

exchange of best practices in such common issues which will enhance quality in education across countries.

5. In line with many other professions we urge leaders and managers together with national governments to initiate professional associations and communities of leaders and managers in VET that will ensure a code of conduct, a public register and requirements for continued education. Even for countries that have legal requirements in place the responsibility for the professional status and recognition for leaders and managers in VET should match the profes-sionalism in the execution of their function that one would expect of the teachers profession.

6. Based on the good practices we found we recommend a systematic introduction of already developed quality assurance systems like EFQM and Eqavet at the level of the individual school and college. These system discipline and ensure development to a continuous development of quality in education.

Annex ProjectplanPROJECT PLAN

EULIVET – European Leadership and Management in VET –partnershipProject background

The Bruges Communiqué states that by 2020 European VET systems should be more attractive, relevant, career-oriented, innovative, accessible and flexible than in 2010. According to the 2011 Eurobarometer report, VET has a relatively high profile in most member states. However, predicted socio-economic and technological changes will have an impact on a wide spectrum of industries and will have a spill-over effect on VET.

The European economy faces major challenges and youth unemployment is high in most member states. In addition we have low-skilled adults who are or will be out of a job due to non-existent or wrong qualifications. If we are to en-sure a competitive and thriving Europe, VET has to take a proactive role in reforming education. This requires formulat-ing a new strategic approach; innovation in both policy and practice, the goal being to transform vocational education into a renewed lifelong learning model capable of promoting prosperity in Europe.

The EU Commission’s Rethinking Education expresses the same concern. It states that education systems also need to modernize and be more flexible in how they operate to respond to the real needs of today’s society. Europe will only resume sustained growth by producing highly skilled and versatile people who can contribute to innovation and entrepreneurship. Efficient and well-targeted investment is fundamental to this, but we will not achieve our objectives by reducing education budgets.

Rethinking Education calls for a fundamental shift in education, with more focus on ‘learning outcomes’ - the knowl-edge, skills and competences that students acquire. Rethinking is also called for in Eurydice Report Developing Key Competences at School in Europe.

Up-skilling is needed in both education and industry. Without 21st century working and learning skills together with dynamic leadership and management competencies and skills, the future of teachers, trainers and management in VET is bleak. Inadequate knowledge and skills also prevents us from becoming more flexible. We are stuck in the just-in-case education instead of delivering just-in-time.

The role of VET is of great importance both in capacity building and in up-skilling the workforce. Unfortunately, it is a well-known fact that VET funding will decrease in most European countries, which causes challenges in refreshing VET.

The crucial role of management and leadership in VET has been recognised. The potential success of current reforms and changes in vocational education and training in VET in Europe rests largely with VET staff transforming policy into practice. Ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, work tasks and competence requirements.

What kind of landscape leadership and management is needed to achieve the objectives of the Bruges Communiqué and to reshape VET?

Approved partner organizations and number of mobilities

The EULIVET-partnership consists of the representatives of following organizations with the amount of mobilities listed below:

Project number Institution name Country Mob

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 1 Ammattiosaamisen kehittämisyhdistys AMKE ry FI 24

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 3 MBO Raad NL 24

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 4 Irish Vocational Education Association IE 8

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 5 Stitching Regionaal Opleidingencentrum Noord- NL 12

Kennemerland/West-Friesland (Horizon College)

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 6 SOSU Sjaelland DK 8

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 7 TKNIKA (Institution of Innovation for VET and LLL)ES 8

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 8 Social- og sundhedsskolen Fredericia-Horsens DK 8

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 9 Suomen Ammatilliset Rehtorit ry FI 12

2012-1-FI1-LEO04-09545 10 CPH West, Business College Ballerup DK 12

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Project objectives

The project will focus on the present priority topics in common VET policy at the European level. The aim of the pro-ject is to identify and share good leadership and management practices of VET providers to support the short term deliverables of the Bruges Communiqué in fostering the quality and relevance on Vocational Education and Training in certain thematic areas.

Thematic areas of EULIVET-partnership

The chosen thematic areas this partnership is focusing on are:• Quality Assurance / Quality Management in VET• evolving roles of VET teachers and trainers / development of capacities, skills and competencies of VET

staff • labour market relevance of VET / co-operation with the world of work and the structures for the

involvement of the world of work• evolving role of VET leaders / attributes of the individual leader

The project also aims to strengthen the international cooperation of VET leaders and managers to share innovative practices of VET provision.

Identifying innovative leadership and management practices in above mentioned areas

The objectives of the partnership are to identify, share and develop good management and leadership practices in chosen thematic areas.

In the EULIVET Kick-Off meeting in October it was stated that leadership in VET focuses on the relationship between 3 dimensions:

1) Inter-organisational processes, roles and responsibilities2) Relationship and co-operation with external environment3) Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles.

Relationship and co-operation with external environment

• innovative management practices to lead the interaction with the labour market and identifying the training needs of the world of work

Inter-organisational processes, roles and responsibilities• innovative management practices to strengthen the organizational capacity to meet the needs of

external environment• the role of leaders and managers as drivers of change• innovative management practices in recognizing the development needs of VET teachers´ and trainers’

professional skills Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles

• VET specific leadership skills and competences• innovative practices to develop VET specific skills and competences needed for VET leaders

According to these thematic areas four (4) thematic working groups were established in the Kick-Off meeting:• Relationship and co-operation with external environment• Inter-organisational processes, roles and responsibilities• Characteristics and contribution of individuals who carry out leadership roles in VET • Quality management practices in VET providers organizations

Project organization ant the roles of actors

The organization of the EULIVET project consist of steering committee and the thematic working groups.

Steering Committee

Steering committee was nominated in the Kick-Off meeting and there are representatives of each partner country.

Members of the steering committeeMs Kirsti Kosonen Finland chairMs Hanne Helleshoej DenmarkMr Michael Moriarty IrelandMr René van Schalkwijk The NetherlandsRepresentative of TKNIKA Spain, Basque Country

Ms Tellervo Tarko Finland secretaryMs Helena Miettinen Finland secretary

The role of the steering committee• approval of the project plan and the work plan• approval of the dissemination plan• approval of the themes of the working groups• approval of the template for describing good management practices• approval of the evaluation questionnaire (to be carry out after each project meeting)• to help in the project meeting arrangements• approval of the agendas of the project meetings

The role of the steering group members• to act as a country coordinator / coordination of the actions of the partners in each country • to guide the representatives of country partners

Thematic Working groups

The thematic areas of the project will be worked on in project meetings. The role of the thematic working groups is• to prepare the examples for good management practices in their own thematic areas to be presented

in project meetings• to evaluate those good practices after the meetings• to gather the best practices for the report

Project meeting organisers

Project meetings are organized in each participating country in turn. The representatives of partners in country in question form the organizing committee of the meeting. Each meeting has a specific theme according to the thematic areas of the partnership.

The role and duties of the project meeting organizers• arrangements of meeting venue and accommodation • planning of the agenda of the meeting (approved by the steering committee)• chair the meeting• guest lecturers• minutes of the meeting• summary of the feedback of the meeting• attendance certificates to participants

Contact person of each partner organization

Each partner organization designates a contact person for the project. The role of the contact persons is to dissemi-nate project information in their own organizations, to take care of project practicalities and to co-operate with the country representative of the steering committee.

Project actions

The partnership will be realized through at least five (5) expert meetings, peer learning activities or seminars, which will be organized in participating countries in turn. Each meeting will explore the good practices of the thematic areas, being led by the host partner/partners and showcasing each partner´s national approach. The last meeting will be a summary and dissemination seminar and a first annual forum for VETR leaders and managers to share good leadership and management practices on selected themes related to ongoing main priorities for VET.

The agendas of the meetings, the themes of the project, the showcases of national approaches and the project re-ports will be prepared between the partner meetings by the thematic working group and the steering committee.

In project meetings VET providers and VET leaders together with silent partners, representatives of the world of work, sector organizations, professional organizations and intermediary bodies will identify good practices to foster the qual-ity and labour market relevance of VET.

Tools for cooperation and communication

The project meetings will be the main opportunity for face-to-face communication. For communication between the meetings a EULIVET community will be established by using the tools of social media (Yummer or Ning). The coor-dinator will make s proposal about the tool after the first meeting and the community will be established as soon as possible.

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Digium (or similar) will be used to gather the feedback for the evaluation and to carry out different kind of question-naires.

Project budget

Each partner organization has its own approved budget for this partnership. The final amount of the grant has been determined in accordance with the rules set out by The National Agency of each partner. Each partner has accepted the grant under the terms and conditions set out in the agreement signed with the NA.

The full grant amount indicated in the grant agreement will be awarded if the following conditions are fulfilled:

1) Realisation of activities

The final report provides sufficient information on the realization of the activities, mobilities and outcomes planned in the Partnership application or of equivalent relevant activities, mobilities and outcomes aimed at achieving the objec-tives of the partnership.

2) Realisation of eligible and relevant mobility activities

The partner has carried out at least the minimum number of mobilities indicated in the grant agreement. The mobility activities are eligible according to the definitions of the grant agreement and relevant to the partnership in question.

Results and outcomes

Estimated results and outcomes of the partnership:• desk review on the main similarities and differences in VET systems (steering system), in the organiza-

tions of VET providers and in the roles and work tasks of VET leaders and managers in participating countries• project leaflet• at least four expert meetings/PLA´s; forums to share and develop good leadership and management

practices on the main themes of the partnership• report on VET specific leadership qualities• Annual forum for VET leaders and managers to share and develop good leadership and management

practices in VET / dissemination seminar for the project results• report on good leadership and management practices in VET in accordance to themes on focus• progress report and final report

Work program

The tentative work program:

23. – 24.10.2012 Project Kick-Off meeting in Palma de Mallorca (in connection of the Efvet Conference)

28.11.2012 Steering group meeting in Alkmaar, the Netherlands

Virtual meetings of the thematic working groups

Virtual steering group meeting before the meeting in Finland

17. – 18.4.2013 Project meeting in Finland

Virtual meetings of the thematic working groups

Virtual steering group meeting before the meeting in Finland

23. – 24.9.2013 Project meeting in Denmark

Virtual meetings of the thematic working groups

Virtual steering group meeting before the meeting in Finland

01/2014 Project meeting in Ireland

Virtual meetings of the thematic working groups

Virtual steering group meeting before the meeting in Finland

06/2012 Project meeting in the Netherlands

Face-to-face meetings of the Steering Committee will be arranged in needed.

Project evaluation

To be approved in the first Steering Committee meeting.

Dissemination of project results

All partners have an existing commitment to the topics of the project. Since the project aims and activities are in-tegrated to the ongoing activities of the partner organizations the dissemination and exploitation of experiences and results is ensured.

EUproVET (European Providers of Vocational Education and Training) acts as a silent partner of this EULIVET partner-ship project. All the national associations of this partnership are members of EUproVET. Through the EUproVET net-work the results and experiences of this partnership will be disseminated to the wider lifelong learning community. The results will be disseminated in EUproVET meetings, workshops and annual c onferences.

The VET institutions included in the partnership are members of the other European network Efvet (European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training). Efvet conferences and meetings will also be used to disseminate the results of EULIVET-partnership to the wider lifelong learning community and additionally support the European dimension in the dissemination.

National actors and national associations, both VET bodies and professionals´ associations will use their own national networks, annual conferences, seminars and meetings for the dissemination of results. The participating regional VET institutions use their local and regional networks to disseminate to disseminate the results to local communities. Ad-ditionally, the local members of national associations will ensure dissemination at local level.

The sharing and dissemination of the results and experiences takes place throughout the project. The dissemination plan will be approved in the first steering committee meeting.

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Annex project partnersThe EULIVET-partnership consists of the representatives of following organizations:

Ammattiosaamisen kehittämisyhdistys AMKE ry, Finland

MBO Raad, The Netherlands

ETBI, Irish Vocational Education Association, Ireland

Stitching Regionaal Opleidingencentrum Noord-Kennemerland/West-Friesland (Horizon College), The Netherlands

TKNIKA (Institution of Innovation for VET and LLL), Basque Country

Social- og sundhedsskolen Fredericia-Horsens, Denmark

Suomen Ammattikoulutuksen Johtajat SAJO ry, Finland

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Contribution from Denmark to the template WG1

80

Leadership  and  management  practice  described  

1  The  Danish  Dual  System  

 

2VTU  (See  point  below)  

 

The  field  area  or  subject  that  is  subject  to  Leadership  or  management  activity  (systematic  goal  or  target  area)  

Combining  the  goals  of  the  education  to  the    Reality  and  new  development  within  the  branches.    

 

A  questionnaire  concerning  the  corporation  between  the  school  and  external  partners.  

 

Description  of  the  process  that  is  being  used  or  implemented    

Board,  LUU,    Discussion  of  these  matters  with:  -­‐the  board  (representatives  from  the  stakeholders  and  the  unions)  -­‐  LUU  (advisory  board  concerning  the  structure  and  content  of  the  education.  Same  representatives  as  the  board)  

 

Every  third  year.  A  questionnaire  is  to  be  fulfilled  which  makes  it  possible  to  benchmark  with  other  schools  and  to  improve  the  results  from  the  former  session.  

 

Description  of  the  structure  of  tasks,  roles,  groups  and  responsibilities  that  is  used  in  the  practice  

Formal  structure  and  cooperation  (see  above).    Responsibility  primarily  the  school.  In  addition  to  that  there  is  daily  corporation  among  the  staff  at  several  levels.  

   

Choosing  the  appropriate  system  of  QA  –  VTU.    Choosing  the  number  of  corporation  partners  to  answer  the  questionnaire.  ESB  sends  a  specific  questionnaire  to  the  chosen  respondents.  Receiving  feedback.  Decide  how  to  react  upon  the  answers.    

 

Description  of  the  communication  strategy  used  

Formal  meetings  and  agendas  according  to  legislation.  

Quantitative  method  with  predefined  questions.  

 

Supporting  instruments  or  techniques  

Rules  and  legislation  made  by  the  government  regarding  the  number  of  meetings,  content  of  the  agendas  etc.  

The  ESB-­‐  system  has  been  chosen  by  the  school  among  many  other  systems.    

 

Main  leadership  or  management  competences  required  to  be  effective.  

Corporation  with  the  intention  of  creating  the  best  education  as  possible.  

Active  decision  to  evaluate  on  the  external  corporation.  And  to  act  accordingly  to  the  results.  

 

Best practice Certificate of entrepreneurship

Annex in terms of a website

https://www.iap2.org.au/sitebuilder/resources/knowledge/asset/files/36/iap2spectrum.pdf

81

 Best  practice  Certificate  of  entrepreneurship      1.  Best  practice  described  Leadership  and  management  practice  described  

Realize  a  certificate  for  entrepreneurship  

2   ….  

2.  The  aspect  of  leadership  and  management  that  the  best  practice  is  about    

Cooperation  with  both  regional  and  national  partners  

   

3.  Description  of  the  process  utilized    

Implementation  in  a  pilot  educational  program  for  the  building  professions.  Cooperation  with  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Gain  visibility  to  join  in  a  contest  for  excellence.  

 

   

4.  What  instruments  or  techniques  supported  the  process    

An  inkblot  (  or  nesting)  strategy  of  implementation.  Linkage  to  national  initiatives  

   

5.Organization  and  structure  of  the  tasks,  roles  and  responsibilities    

Facilitation  within  the  normal  organizational  structure.  Curriculum  development  with  external  experts  together  with  internal  experts  

   

6.Description  of  the  communication  strategy  used    

Participation  in  contests    Physical  visibility  of  a  center  for  entrepreneurship  

   

7.Main  leadership  or  management  competences  required  to  be  effective.  

In  this  particular  instance  the  challenge  was  to  support  what  was  already  being  developed.  

   

   

       

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Appendix:

Basque Country:

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Links: The Basque Quality Agency established by a decree (Decreto 62/2001 (BOPV de 3 de abril de 2001)

Blog Tklitatea: http://tklitatea.tknika.net/hobbide/

Hobbide Model: http://www.youblisher.com/p/496978-Modelo-HOBBIDE-Principios-ejes-y-temas/

Hobbide, A Management and Autoevaluation Model: http://www.youblisher.com/p/497004-Modelo-de-gestion- autoevaluacion-y-mejora/

Hobbide 2013 Sample Questionnaire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4LQ7Qa9lsA

Magazine with information Hobbide 2013: http://www.youblisher.com/p/788544-UB2-Urteko-Berriak-12-13/

Hobbide 2013: http://prezi.com/zntfl8xrb5ln/hobbide-efqm-2013-mejorando-los-procesos/

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For further information: http://www.onderwijsinspectie.nl/english

Chapter 4

Denmark:

Model for working with evaluation and QA at Basic and Health Care College Fredericia-Vejle- Horsens:

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The  school´s  QA    System  

1.  Educa6on  and  courses  (First  Year  Introductory  Course,  Social  and  Health  Care  Helper,  Social  and  Health  Care  Assistant,  Child  Care  Assistant,  Adult  Voca6onal  Training  and  other  courses  

1.1  First  Year  Introductory  Courses(including  evalua6on  of  teaching  and  learning)  

1.2  Adult  Voca6onal  Training  (AMU)  and  con6nuing  educa6on-­‐ac6vi6es  (EVI)        

2.  Services  and  support  

2.1  General  student  services  (educa6onal  guidance,  student  administra6on  and  library)  

2.2  Student  services  with  special  focus  on  student  reten6on  

3.  Organiza6on  and  corpora6on  

3.1  Employees  

3.2  Management  

3.3  Corpora6on  with  external  partners  

3.4  CommiSees  and  terms  of  reference  

4.  Development    

4.1  Strategic  focus  areas  

4.2  Internal  and  external  projects  

Finland:

Ireland:

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SPECIFIC GOOD PRACTICEB4 Access Transfer and Progression (www.cocorkvec.ie)

Policy

Cork Education and Training Board recognise that applicants have diverse life experiences and varied educational backgrounds.

Cork Education and Training Board undertake the following:

1. Application or Registration forms will be devised so that relevant information can be obtained regarding prior for-mal and experiential learning.

2. Programme Staff will provide assistance to learners in selecting appropriate modules suitable to their individual needs.

3. Course Coordinators where applicable will advise learners on: • The relevance of previous attainment • Level • Exemptions • Certified learning

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Go to www.qqi.ie for further information.

The Netherlands:Policy cycle at the Horizon College

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y no

t on

ly to

star

t a d

ialo

gue

with

key

stak

ehol

ders

, bu

t als

o to

initi

ate

new

w

ays t

o dr

ive

the

dial

ogue

tow

ards

a jo

int

visi

on. I

nter

nal d

ialo

gue

with

in th

e V

ET

orga

nisa

tion

mus

t not

be

negl

ecte

d.

bran

ches

.

qual

ities

of r

etai

lers

an

d te

ache

rs. I

t’s a

bout

ha

ving

the

abili

ty to

se

e an

d ta

ke

oppo

rtuni

ties a

nd

chan

ces,

conn

ectin

g pe

ople

with

diff

eren

t qu

aliti

es, o

ut o

f the

bo

x th

inki

ng, t

he

abili

ty to

com

mun

icat

e an

d ne

gotia

te w

ith

diff

eren

t par

ties.

Man

ager

s exp

erie

nce

the

effe

cts o

f the

ed

ucat

ion

prog

ram

on

the

shop

floo

r.

3. D

escr

iptio

n of

the

proc

ess

utili

zed

Im

plem

enta

tion

in a

pilo

t ed

ucat

iona

l pro

gram

for

the

build

ing

prof

essi

ons.

Coo

pera

tion

with

C

ham

ber o

f Com

mer

ce.

Gai

n vi

sibi

lity

to jo

in in

a

cont

est f

or e

xcel

lenc

e.

The

City

of E

spoo

and

O

mni

a jo

intly

agr

eed

that

a

sect

ion

of th

e ca

mpu

s be

ing

built

was

to

beco

me

a liv

ing

lab

for a

ne

w ty

pe o

f cen

ter

prom

otin

g en

trepr

eneu

rshi

p. A

n ap

poin

ted

grou

p of

staf

f fr

om O

mni

a w

orke

d to

geth

er w

ith th

e ci

ty a

nd

arch

itect

s to

desi

gn n

ew

type

s of c

olla

bora

tion

and

wor

king

spac

es a

nd a

bu

sine

ss p

lan

for t

he

cent

er. R

esea

rch

was

do

ne a

mon

g lo

cal

entre

pren

eurs

to

Boa

rd, L

UU

,

Dis

cuss

ion

of th

ese

mat

ters

with

:

-the

boar

d (r

epre

sent

ativ

es fr

om th

e st

akeh

olde

rs a

nd th

e un

ions

)

- LU

U (a

dvis

ory

boar

d co

ncer

ning

the

stru

ctur

e an

d co

nten

t of t

he

educ

atio

n. S

ame

repr

esen

tativ

es a

s the

bo

ard)

Ever

y th

ird y

ear.

A q

uest

ionn

aire

is to

be

fulfi

lled

whi

ch m

akes

it

poss

ible

to b

ench

mar

k w

ith o

ther

scho

ols a

nd to

im

prov

e th

e re

sults

from

th

e fo

rmer

sess

ion.

Hor

izon

col

lege

took

th

e le

ad in

this

pr

oces

s: th

ey in

vite

d re

taile

rs to

par

ticip

ate

in th

e pr

ojec

t, c

reat

ed

a un

ique

pro

gram

me

of

educ

atio

n an

d tra

inee

ship

, cre

ated

a

cons

ultin

g st

ruct

ure,

tu

rned

the

goal

s in

the

proj

ect p

lan

into

join

t ac

tions

. A g

reat

su

cces

s of t

he p

roje

ct

is th

e fa

ct th

at a

lmos

t ev

ery

stud

ent f

ound

a

job

afte

r bei

ng

grad

uate

d. T

he

com

mitm

ent o

f

Page 42: Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational … · 2016-08-10 · These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, ... Project partners focused on

82 83

dete

rmin

e w

hat t

ype

of

supp

ort a

nd se

rvic

es

wou

ld b

e be

nefic

ial.

The

wor

k/pr

ojec

t bas

ed

lear

ning

mod

el w

as

inte

grat

ed in

to th

e bu

sine

ss a

nd

adm

inis

tratio

n st

uden

ts

prog

ram

. A se

lect

ion

proc

ess a

nd “

hous

e ru

les”

fo

r ent

repr

eneu

rs w

as

appr

oved

. The

resu

lt, a

vi

bran

t for

erun

ner o

f V

ET d

evel

opm

ent a

nd

entre

pren

eurs

hip

has

prov

en to

be

a gr

eat

succ

ess.

stud

ents

is h

igh,

dro

p ou

t of s

tude

nts i

s low

.

4. W

hat i

nstr

umen

ts o

r te

chni

ques

supp

orte

d th

e pr

oces

s

An

inkb

lot (

or n

estin

g)

stra

tegy

of

impl

emen

tatio

n.

Link

age

to n

atio

nal

initi

ativ

es

Res

earc

h ba

sed

busi

ness

pl

an w

ith g

oals

, re

spon

sibi

litie

s and

a

budg

et, r

esou

rces

al

loca

ted

for d

esig

ning

th

e ne

w c

once

pt,

benc

hmar

k vi

sits

to o

ther

or

gani

satio

ns, a

mob

ile

devi

ce fr

iend

ly

envi

ronm

ent (

WIF

I, A

pple

TV

, scr

eens

, iPa

ds,

lapt

ops)

, coo

pera

tion

with

the

City

of E

spoo

an

d in

volv

ing

the

loca

l en

trepr

eneu

rs’

asso

ciat

ions

in th

e pr

ojec

t.

Form

al st

ruct

ure

and

coop

erat

ion

(see

abo

ve).

Res

pons

ibili

ty p

rimar

ily

the

scho

ol. I

n ad

ditio

n to

th

at th

ere

is d

aily

co

rpor

atio

n am

ong

the

staf

f at s

ever

al le

vels

.

Cho

osin

g th

e ap

prop

riate

sy

stem

of Q

A –

VTU

.

Cho

osin

g th

e nu

mbe

r of

corp

orat

ion

partn

ers t

o an

swer

the

ques

tionn

aire

.

ESB

send

s a sp

ecifi

c qu

estio

nnai

re to

the

chos

en re

spon

dent

s.

Rec

eivi

ng fe

edba

ck.

Dec

ide

how

to re

act u

pon

the

answ

ers.

A P

roje

ct P

lan

with

go

als,

resp

onsi

bilit

ies

and

a bu

dget

Subs

idy:

ext

ra ti

me

for t

rain

ing

skill

s and

ex

tra m

ater

ials

(I p

ads,

com

pute

rs)

A sh

oppi

ng m

all w

ith

clas

sroo

ms i

nteg

rate

d in

the

shop

ping

mal

l.

data

base

-pro

gram

N

@ts

choo

l: us

ed b

y bo

th te

ache

rs, s

tude

nts

as w

ell a

s ret

aile

rs a

nd

the

coac

hes f

or th

e

tra

inee

ship

s.

5.O

rgan

izat

ion

and

stru

ctur

e of

th

e ta

sks,

role

s and

re

spon

sibi

litie

s

Faci

litat

ion

with

in th

e no

rmal

org

aniz

atio

nal

stru

ctur

e. C

urric

ulum

de

velo

pmen

t with

ex

tern

al e

xper

ts to

geth

er

with

inte

rnal

exp

erts

Om

nia

took

the

lead

in

the

proc

ess,

but t

he C

ity

of E

spoo

Om

nia

play

ed

an im

porta

nt ro

le th

roug

h ou

t the

pro

cess

. The

re

wer

e se

vera

l int

erna

l ta

skfo

rces

invo

lved

in

draf

ting

and

final

isin

g re

late

d pr

oces

ses s

uch

as;

sele

ctio

n of

en

trepr

eneu

rs, d

esig

ning

su

ppor

t mea

sure

s for

en

trepr

eneu

rs,

rede

sign

ing

the

sylla

bus

and

sche

dule

of t

he

busi

ness

and

ad

min

istra

tion

stud

ents

w

orki

ng a

nd le

arni

ng in

th

e ce

nter

, set

ting

up th

e te

ache

r tra

inin

g in

volv

ed,

hirin

g st

aff f

or th

e ce

nter

, et

c.

Form

al m

eetin

gs a

nd

agen

das a

ccor

ding

to

legi

slat

ion.

Qua

ntita

tive

met

hod

with

pr

edef

ined

que

stio

ns.

Hor

izon

Col

lege

took

th

e le

ad in

this

pro

cess

, an

d is

resp

onsi

ble

for

the

qual

ity o

f ed

ucat

ion.

A jo

int

proj

ect p

lan

was

co

mpo

sed

with

goa

ls,

role

s and

re

spon

sibi

litie

s. Th

e re

taile

rs re

spon

sibi

lity

is to

real

ize

inte

rnsh

ip

that

has

an

exce

llent

fit

with

the

educ

atio

n. A

jo

int r

espo

nsib

ility

is

to d

eliv

er h

igh

qual

ified

reta

ilers

as a

re

sult

of th

e co

oper

atio

n.

6.D

escr

iptio

n of

the

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

use

d

Parti

cipa

tion

in c

onte

sts

Phys

ical

vis

ibili

ty o

f a

cent

er fo

r en

trepr

eneu

rshi

p

Com

mun

icat

ion

with

the

stak

ehol

ders

; City

of

Espo

o, e

ntre

pren

eurs

’ as

soci

atio

ns

Rec

ruitm

ent,

info

rmat

ion

and

com

mun

icat

ion

with

ar

chite

cts,

entre

pren

eurs

, st

uden

ts, s

taff

Rul

es a

nd le

gisl

atio

n m

ade

by th

e go

vern

men

t re

gard

ing

the

num

ber o

f m

eetin

gs, c

onte

nt o

f the

ag

enda

s etc

.

The

ESB

- sys

tem

has

be

en c

hose

n by

the

scho

ol a

mon

g m

any

othe

r sy

stem

s.

Com

mun

icat

ion

with

th

e st

akeh

olde

rs (l

ocal

go

vern

men

t, al

l re

taile

rs in

the

shop

ping

mal

l, su

bsid

y pa

rty)

Rec

ruitm

ent,

info

rmat

ion

and

com

mun

icat

ion

with

(p

oten

tial)

stud

ents

,

Page 43: Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational … · 2016-08-10 · These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, ... Project partners focused on

84 85

               

    1. B

est p

ract

ice

desc

ribe

d

Lea

ders

hip

and

man

agem

ent p

ract

ice

desc

ribe

d

1 Ev

alua

tion

and

QA

M

odel

2 H

obbi

de, a

Mod

el fo

r M

anag

emen

t, Se

lf-As

sess

men

t and

Im

prov

emen

t of t

he B

asqu

e VE

T Sy

stem

. A

prog

ram

me

that

has

bee

n ru

nnin

g si

nce

2004

and

has

re

cent

ly u

nder

gone

a n

ew

upda

te, H

obbi

de 2

013,

w

hich

ent

ails

impr

ovin

g its

on

-line

Self-

Asse

ssm

ent

Tool

eHob

bide

, its

co

mm

unic

atio

n sy

stem

, Tk

alita

tea b

log,

and

its

own

inne

r man

agem

ent w

ith n

ew

Com

mun

ities

of P

ract

ices

.

reta

ilers

and

teac

hers

7.M

ain

lead

ersh

ip o

r m

anag

emen

t com

pete

nces

re

quir

ed to

be

effe

ctiv

e.

In th

is p

artic

ular

inst

ance

th

e ch

alle

nge

was

to

supp

ort w

hat w

as a

lread

y be

ing

deve

lope

d.

Vis

iona

ry

Ente

rpris

ing

Inno

vativ

e

Com

mun

icat

ive

Res

ults

-orie

nted

Out

of t

he b

ox th

inki

ng

Cor

pora

tion

with

the

inte

ntio

n of

cre

atin

g th

e be

st e

duca

tion

as

poss

ible

.

Act

ive

deci

sion

to

eval

uate

on

the

exte

rnal

co

rpor

atio

n. A

nd to

act

ac

cord

ingl

y to

the

resu

lts.

Vis

iona

ry

Ente

rpris

ing

Inno

vativ

e

Com

mun

icat

ive

Res

ults

-orie

nted

Out

of t

he b

ox

thin

king

2. T

he a

spec

t of

lead

ersh

ip a

nd

man

agem

ent t

hat t

he

best

pra

ctic

e is

abo

ut

A

ctio

n pl

an o

n hi

gher

com

plet

ion

rate

.

H

obbi

de, a

Mod

el fo

r M

anag

emen

t, Se

lf-As

sess

men

t and

Im

prov

emen

t of t

he B

asqu

e VE

T Sy

stem

. A p

rogr

amm

e w

hich

is c

oord

inat

ed b

y th

e In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent A

rea o

f Tk

nika

. Th

is m

odel

aim

s to

pro

mot

e an

d gu

ide

the

VET

cent

res

in c

ondu

ctin

g se

lf-as

sess

men

t pro

cess

es th

at

help

you

find

out

the

resu

lts

bein

g ob

tain

ed in

diff

eren

t m

anag

emen

t are

as:

lear

ning

pro

cess

, allia

nce

man

agem

ent,

reso

urce

s,

acad

emic

resu

lts, e

tc.

Acco

rdin

g to

the

resu

lts

obta

ined

Impr

ovem

ent

Plan

s ar

e de

sign

ed in

ord

er

to im

plem

ent n

ew in

itiat

ives

, es

tabl

ish

stra

tegi

es,

resp

onsi

bilit

ies,

and

set

ob

ject

ives

in e

ach

cent

re.

3. D

escr

iptio

n of

the

proc

ess u

tiliz

ed

St

ep 1

:

Eval

uatio

n an

d Q

A

com

mitt

ee in

clud

ing

scho

ol m

anag

emen

t with

th

e sc

hool

pre

side

nt a

s ch

air.

The

com

mitt

ee a

lso

Step

2:

Teac

her e

valu

atio

n, te

am c

o-op

erat

ion

incl

udin

g sy

stem

atic

com

mun

icat

ion

on:

An a

nnua

l cal

l to

VET

cent

res

to p

artic

ipat

e in

H

obbi

de p

rogr

amm

e is

m

ade

by T

knik

a.

With

the

sele

cted

cen

tres

a

Page 44: Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational … · 2016-08-10 · These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, ... Project partners focused on

86 87

incl

udes

staf

f fro

m a

ll th

ree

depa

rtmen

ts a

nd a

re

tent

ion

coor

dina

tor.

• D

iffer

entiat

ion

• C

oher

ency

be

twee

n th

eory

an

d pr

actice

Bas

ed o

n m

utua

l pe

dago

gica

l and

di

dact

ic

foun

dation

netw

ork

is fo

rmed

and

the

resp

onsi

ble

of H

obbi

de in

th

e In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent A

rea

coor

dina

tes

the

prog

ram

me.

Th

roug

hout

the

acad

emic

co

urse

, the

cen

tres

rece

ive

coun

sellin

g an

d tra

inin

g in

th

e M

odel

and

in th

e H

obbi

de S

elf-A

sses

smen

t To

ol.

In p

aral

lel,

seve

ral g

roup

s,

wor

king

as

com

mun

ities

of

prac

tice,

try

to im

prov

e th

e m

odel

con

stan

tly.

At th

ese

VET

cent

res,

they

pe

riodi

cally

con

duct

Sel

f-As

sess

men

ts p

roce

sses

w

ith th

e to

ol a

t the

ir di

spos

al

and

with

the

resu

lts

obta

ined

they

sta

rt de

velo

ping

impr

ovem

ent

plan

s.

4. W

hat i

nstr

umen

ts o

r te

chni

ques

supp

orte

d th

e pr

oces

s

Se

e ab

ove

a)

The

Hob

bide

Mod

el,

stru

ctur

ed in

axe

s an

d th

emes

: a d

ocum

ent t

hat

expl

ains

the

feat

ures

of t

he

mod

el.

b ) H

obbi

de, a

Self

-As

sess

men

t and

Im

prov

emen

t Mod

el: a

docu

men

t tha

t exp

lain

s ho

w

to c

arry

out

the

self-

asse

ssm

ent p

roce

ss.

c ) T

he In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent A

rea:

The

man

agem

ent

area

that

had

be

en p

art o

f the

Age

ncy

for

Qua

lity

until

now

and

re

cent

ly in

tegr

ated

in

Tkni

ka,

guid

es a

nd

coor

dina

tes

the

Hob

bide

pr

ogra

mm

e th

roug

h re

gula

r m

eetin

gs, s

catte

red

thro

ugho

ut th

e sc

hool

ca

lend

ar, w

ith p

artic

ipan

ts

from

VET

cen

tres

in th

e Ba

sque

Cou

ntry

. d

) Som

e Im

prov

emen

t Te

ams t

hat k

eep

on

prov

idin

g pr

opos

als

for

impr

ovin

g th

e m

odel

in

diffe

rent

fiel

ds:

com

mun

icat

ion,

stra

tegy

m

anag

emen

t, pe

ople

m

anag

emen

t, et

c.

e) A

n on

line

tool

to m

anag

e th

e Se

lf As

sess

men

t pr

oces

s in

eac

h VE

T ce

ntre

: eh

obbi

de.

f ) A

que

stio

nnair

e for

the

Self-

Asse

ssm

ent p

roce

ss o

n lin

e.

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88 89

c) T

he Q

ualit

y Man

ager

s of

the

VET

cent

res

parti

cipa

ting

in th

e H

obbi

de

prog

ram

me

are

resp

onsi

ble

for m

anag

ing

the

impl

emen

tatio

n at

eac

h si

te,

with

the

esse

ntia

l sup

port

of

the

VET

cent

re le

ader

s.

d ) T

he p

rincip

al of

eac

h pa

rtici

patin

g ce

ntre

is

ultim

atel

y th

e re

spon

sibl

e fo

r im

plem

entin

g th

e m

odel

, du

e to

the

com

mitm

ent h

e an

d hi

s ce

ntre

take

whe

n jo

inin

g th

e pr

ogra

mm

e.

6.D

escr

iptio

n of

the

com

mun

icat

ion

stra

tegy

us

ed

O

n or

gani

zatio

nal l

evel

:

ETU

: Stu

dent

eva

luat

ion

(eve

ry y

ear)

MTU

:

Staf

f eva

luat

ion

(eve

ry

third

yea

r)

VTU

: eva

luat

ion

of c

o-op

erat

ion

with

ext

erna

l pa

rtner

s (ev

ery

third

ye

ar)

On

team

leve

l:

Des

crip

tion

of te

am p

rofil

es

Age

ndas

Sum

mar

ies

All

man

dato

ry d

isci

plin

es.

Hea

d of

dep

artm

ent

parti

cipa

te in

team

mee

tings

.

At th

e In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent A

rea

the

stra

tegy

for c

omm

unic

atin

g w

ith q

ualit

y m

anag

ers

of th

e VE

T ce

ntre

s, b

esid

e th

e us

ual m

eans

, em

ail

com

mun

icat

ions

, mob

ile

phon

es, i

s ba

sed

on th

e fo

llow

ing

elem

ents

: Th

e TK

litat

ea B

log:

whe

re

the

mos

t int

eres

ting

expe

rienc

es d

evel

oped

ar

ound

Hob

bide

pro

gram

me

are

diss

emin

ated

. Th

e an

nual

Mag

azin

e QK

g ) A

List

of I

ndica

tors

: lin

king

axe

s an

d is

sues

of

the

mod

el th

at s

houl

d be

bo

rne

in m

ind

whe

n es

tabl

ishi

ng s

trate

gies

, de

velo

ping

act

iviti

es a

nd

sear

chin

g fo

r res

ults

. h

) An

Impr

ovem

ent P

lan

Mode

l for t

he c

entre

s to

ke

ep o

n de

velo

ping

st

rate

gies

bas

ed o

n th

e re

sults

obt

aine

d in

the

prev

ious

Sel

f-Ass

essm

ent

proc

ess.

5.O

rgan

izat

ion

and

stru

ctur

e of

the

task

s, ro

les a

nd

resp

onsi

bilit

ies

D

ialo

gue

Feed

back

Did

actic

age

nda

on b

oth

orga

niza

tiona

l and

team

le

vel.

a)

In T

knik

a th

ere

are

seve

ral m

anag

emen

t are

as.

In th

e In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent A

rea t

here

is

a Co

ordi

nato

r who

is

resp

onsi

ble

for c

oord

inat

ing

the

vario

us p

roje

cts

and

serv

ices

offe

red

by th

e ar

ea.

b ) H

obbi

de P

rogr

amm

e is

ru

n by

a m

anag

er w

ho

coor

dina

tes

the

wor

king

gr

oups

and

the

cen

tres.

It

also

dea

ls w

ith th

e ev

olut

ion

and

impr

ovem

ent o

f the

pr

ogra

mm

e an

d its

tool

s:

ehob

bide

, the

qu

estio

nnai

re, t

he

met

hodo

logi

es, t

he

impr

ovem

ent p

lans

, etc

.

Page 46: Leadership and Management in Vocational and Educational … · 2016-08-10 · These ongoing developments have a great impact on VET leaders´ roles, ... Project partners focused on

90 91

ETU

, MTU

and

VTU

are

in

stru

men

ts in

dica

ting

stud

ent-,

staf

f- a

nd

exte

rnal

par

tner

- sa

tisfa

ctio

n.

Labu

rrean

: qua

rterly

pu

blic

atio

n, w

ith b

rief

desc

riptio

ns a

nd li

nks

to th

e qu

arte

rly n

ews.

UB U

rteko

Ber

riak.

A do

wnl

oada

ble

pdf d

ocum

ent

colle

ctin

g al

l the

new

s ap

pear

ing

in th

e bl

og a

long

th

e ac

adem

ic c

ours

e.

The

Quali

ty W

eek :

An

annu

al e

vent

in th

e Ba

sque

C

ount

ry w

here

the

know

ledg

e an

d re

sults

ob

tain

ed th

roug

h H

obbi

de

prog

ram

me

are

spre

ad

7.M

ain

lead

ersh

ip o

r m

anag

emen

t co

mpe

tenc

es r

equi

red

to b

e ef

fect

ive.

C

omm

unic

ator

Coa

ch

Add

abs

tract

/

conc

eptu

al th

inki

ng

Prof

essi

onal

spar

ring

with

an

abili

ty to

ana

lyze

.

Bo

th H

obbi

de p

rogr

amm

e m

anag

er a

nd th

e qu

ality

m

anag

er o

f eac

h VE

T ce

ntre

mus

t hav

e ex

perie

nce

in v

ocat

iona

l tra

inin

g an

d in

qua

lity

man

agem

ent m

odel

s.

They

hav

e al

read

y ha

d an

ex

perie

nce

in c

oord

inat

ing

sim

ilar p

roje

cts

in th

e In

nova

tion

and

Impr

ovem

ent

Area

.

They

hav

e to

be

skille

d in

m

anag

ing

peop

le a

nd

espe

cial

ly in

mas

terin

g gr

oup

wor

k te

chni

ques

. Th

ey n

eed

to k

now

how

to

man

age

mee

tings

ver

y w

ell.

Also

list

enin

g is

an

esse

ntia

l qu

ality

in th

is ty

pe o

f pro

ject

. Th

ey h

ave

to k

now

how

sh

ould

be

able

to

over

com

e th

e cu

lture

of c

ompl

aint

, tu

rnin

g it

into

a c

ultu

re o

f in

nova

tion.

Fi

nally

they

are

exc

elle

nt

com

mun

icat

ors,

they

are

en

thus

iast

ic to

cel

ebra

te

othe

r peo

ple’

s su

cces

s an

d to

pro

mot

e ac

know

ledg

men

ts w

hen

goal

s ar

e re

ache

d an

d m

ilest

ones

exc

eede

d.

         

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