Skills sector alliances for transfer of knowledge and skills of VET workforce in construction – SKILLCO

11th December 2019, at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The international SKILLCO conference titled Learning and training through new learning content for 4 skill areas and the new SKILLgAPP ICT application for building profiles" took place on 11 December 2019 at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The conference marked the end of the three-year Erasmus+ “Skills sector alliances for transfer of knowledge and skills of VET workforce in construction – SKILLCO” project and brought together more than 50 attendants: representatives of sectoral associations, VET providers, teachers, trainees, andragogic experts, regulatory bodies, employment agencies, national agency for education, innovators in VET, journalists from media, VET experts, and representatives of the construction industry and beyond. The purpose of the conference was to present results of international sectoral cooperations, good practices and innovative approaches in filling sectoral skill gaps, matching skills with labour market needs, developing new skills for new jobs and adapting national strategies in order to improve the quality and efficiency of vocational education and training, foster mobility, and increase the competitiveness of workers.

The final conference event was open by speaker Mr Janez Damijan explaining that the situation in the field of vocational education in Slovenia is similar to that in Europe and, as such, our guidelines and orientations are in some way similar. On the one hand, a very large number of people are unemployed and, on the other, there is a very high need for workers who are non-existent. That is why Europe’s policy, as well as in Slovenia, is are trying to achieve that adults gain retraining through lifelong learning, to make them employable and, in this way, also increase their quality of life. He outlined in Slovenia CPI is responsible for the quality of vocational training, attractiveness and its quality. Great successes have already been achieved in this area: the equipment of VET schools, the competences of teachers and trainers are improving all the time and CPI is striving to ensure the steady growth in this area.

The SKILLCO project manager Ms Valentina Kuzma (CCIS CCBMIS-host) continued with conference with the presentation of the developed training materials (more than 300 public outcomes) and overall project achievements, which surpassed the project aim in both its scope and its impact. The pilot trainings generated much interest among VET students and employees (923 persons upskilled), which resulted in the fact that 12 pilot trainings for employees in 4 participating countries trained more employees than planned, and also 12 pilot trainings for students trained more students than initially planned. This confirmed that the identified skill gaps are indeed highly topical and relevant and will significantly contribute to raising employability of workers and the competitiveness of the construction industry.

Mr Jože Renar (director CCIS CCBMIS-host) presented an overview of EU trends, policies and challenges affecting construction industry in Slovenia and EU. He emphasised the need for strong, flexible, and attractive vocational education and training systems, which will be able to meet the labour needs of today and tomorrow and will path the way to a competitive construction industry that can respond to the market needs, industry development, climate changes, circular economy, energy efficiency, digitalization and machine work (as substitute for labour force shortages all over the Europe). The construction sector in EU should invest more, become more digitalized and its productivity scientifically improved.

Other very interesting speakers made conference topic attractive and triggered thoughts how to make design teaching even more modern and with integrating a use of other advanced digital technologies to be used in pedagogic process which for sure attracts youth and bring results.

All conference speakers recognized the usability and effectiveness of the SKILLCO curricula design approach (and execution as Module A-for pupils and Module B-for adults/employees), which includes all main stakeholders in the quality curricula design: PPs partners and external experts assuring the quality of the outcomes and deliverables developed. The conclusions of the conference recognized the need for further innovative trainings and courses designed through a trilateral approach based on industry needs, for strengthening the collaboration of VET providers, regulatory bodies and industry representative, increasing the competitiveness of EU member state construction industry and improving cooperation among EU member states. This is why the partnership will continue to focus its efforts within the “Joining the Alliance for the Promotion and Development of Vocational Education and Training in the Construction Industry Sector”, which will serve as a platform for the exchange of information and best practices, networking, developing new project ideas and offering support with curricula development. All conference visitors were warmly invited to join the Alliance, become supporters: https://www.skillco.eu/content/join-the-alliance/.

Video, photos from the SKILLCO final conference and all of the speakers’ presentations and the bulletin of conference reports are available below: https://www.skillco.eu/content/events/conferences/final-project-conference/.