The ENE SISI peer learning activity in San Sebastian, Spain: bridging from the first to the second part of the initiative

On November 17th, 2022, it was held the last Peer Learning Activity under the ENE SISI-Sharing Innovation in Social Inclusion Initiative. The meeting was hosted in the spaces of Tknika, College of Technology of the Basque Government, in San Sebastian, Spain. A prestigious setting, not only for the hi-tech and accessible environments provided by Tknika's excellent venue but also because of the simultaneous holding of the 2022 European Forum on Vocational Excellence on 15 and 16 November, in which the ENE Network members took part. ENE SISI members were actively involved in the live plenary session organised by the ETF Network for Excellence (ENE) "Centres of Vocational Excellence as engines for vocational education and training development"- Skills for inclusion and the role of Centres of Vocational excellence. The aim of this session was to present the developments of ETF Network for Excellence (ENE) members on the impact that technology, digitalisation and innovative and inclusive policies and practises in different contexts can have on enhancing skills for inclusion. It also addressed the latest policies and digital tools in this context. The partners shared their countries’ policies and actions on how VET/Vocational Excellence can be drivers of skills provision for social inclusion. Their panel discussion provided a unique perspective from outside the European borders.

The peer learning activity on 17 November was an important moment to summarise and develop the themes that emerged from the six peer visits organised online from March the 3^rd to July the 1^st, 2022 (attended by CoVEs from Israel, Türkiye, Albania, Georgia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe), as well as the topics highlighted in the self-reports and peer reviews produced by the CoVEs members of the ENE Network. A moment of conclusion for SISI’s first phase, but at the same time an overture for the second phase, which has started in 2023.

The PLA was made even more meaningful and important by the circumstance that, after months of working together remotely, the SISI members eventually had the occasion to sit together in the same room, sharing their valuable perspectives, experiences, and insights without the mediation of a screen. Israel, Türkiye, Albania, Georgia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, representatives from VET providers and policymakers had a fruitful mutual exchange of experiences and good practises, highlighting the deep vocation of VET in acting as an effective driver for social inclusion.

Some of the core topics of the session can be heard directly from the words of some of the protagonists of the peer learning activity in the Developmental Stories: the nine video interviews will be published in the following weeks on this blog and on the ETF Youtube channel.

However, looking at what has already been done was not the only purpose of the session. Addressing in detail relevant themes connected with the core Social Inclusion – from the relevance of innovative technologies to the concept of excellence as the ability of VET providers to answer to the needs of their context- and bringing together the different expertise of the participating CoVEs has paved the way for the second phase of the initiative. In the upcoming months, four online thematic meetings will take place. They will harvest the experience of the first phase of ENE SISI and design a roadmap for an integrated approach to Social Inclusion in the VET world.