Regional partnerships are the key to developing a green skills ecosystem to support the transition towards a climate-neutral economy.
On Friday 30 September 2022, the ETF launched the third of six thematic webinars as part of its initiative, ETF Network for Excellence (ENE) and GRETA – Greening Responses to Excellence Through Thematic Actions. Continuing its strategic partnership with the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), the online meeting was hosted by ETF’s José Manuel Galvin-Arribas, Content Coordinator for ENE, and Susanne M. Nielsen, ETF’s expert leading GRETA. Together, they presented a series of stimulating sessions to more than 90 online attendees focusing on how Centres of Vocational Education (CoVEs) can provide productivity-enhancing skills and contribute to regional economic growth by working closely with businesses and enterprises.
The meeting was opened by José Manuel Galvin-Arribas who welcomed everyone back after the summer break. Pleased to see so many attendees, Jose Manuel extended a special welcome to ENE’s 28 Ukrainian ENE partners, 8 of whom are active participants in the GRETA programme. He continued by outlining the ongoing challenges faced by the educational sector as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. “Fifteen Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutions have been destroyed and 112 have been damaged. We want to underline our support and friendship with our colleagues at this difficult time”.
José Manuel went on to outline how the ENE network continues to go from strength to strength and underscored the benefits of having such an active network through which experiences and learnings can be shared.
José Manuel Galvin-Arribas, ETF Susanne M. Nielsen, ETF
Susanne Nielsen, in interaction with Tine Andersen, Senior Expert at the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) and Andreas Bjerrre Lunkeit, DTI, got the meeting underway with a series of interactive polls to understand who are the key players in regional skills ecosystems and what are the main building blocks. First a skills ecosystem was outlined as “cluster or network between firms and skills and training institutions…organised around the principle of workforce development”, and that the key actors in regional partnerships include
'public and private training partners, employers, industry representatives, career guidance counsellors, and local and regional government. NGO’s are also very important, especially to help develop green skills'.
The importance of skills ecosystems is that they enable education providers to keep pace with technological developments which they simply would not be able to do by themselves. Skills and technology change at such a rapid pace, the demand for digital skills and the impact of climate change mean it is not possible to keep up with the rate of developments. Bringing together different specialisations results in innovation and allows experts and practitioners to learn from each other. Most importantly, education providers now need continual input from other actors, which is why we talk about a skills ecosystem.
Tine Andersen, DTI
Before moving on to the next session, Susanne Nielsen emphasised that regional partnerships and green skills ecosystems were the “engines for the green transition”. She continued,
'VET providers play a key role but equally important are the enterprises to ensure the specific demands of industry are met. Linking regional key players is so important to close the skills gap in order to support the green transition'.
There followed an interactive panel discussion with VET providers on the strategic role of CoVEs in the green transition. Panel representatives included Anders Ollson, Enterprise and Innovation Manager at Region Varmland (Sweden), Jelena Pejcic Garcev, Teacher at the Aviation Academy, Belgrade (Serbia), Jurgen Schick, EU strategy for the Danube Region, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (Austria), Tamara Zakarashvili, Director at the Construction College 2 (Georgia), and Inna Kupriyenko, Teacher at the Higher Vocational School #3, Mukachevo (Ukraine).
Anders Ollson presented his institution’s SMART specialisation strategy, which helps the region to be globally competitive in areas in which it has a natural advantage. In partnership with the Karstad University, a study was conducted to identify the skills needed within the region to implement their strategy focused on using locally-sourced forest-based materials to create high-value products.
'VET providers have a key role to play in ensuring the right skills are available to the labour market to support the development of competitive manufacturing processes in the production of green products'.
Anders Ollson, Region Varmland, Sweden
Tamara Zakarashvili, director of the construction college, College2, in Georgia, described how the innovative college was established by a private-public partnership in 2019 between the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia and local businesses. “At the time, there was a huge demand for workers with construction skills but limited supply of the skills in the market”. She continued, “The Ministry had the instruments and resources, and the businesses knew what the employers needed”, highlighting the importance of collaboration when developing productivity-enhancing skills. Currently, the college had produced more than 300 graduates now working in construction companies.
Tamara Zakarashvili, Construction College 2, Georgia
Jelena Pejcic Garcev of the Aviation Academy in Serbia, whose students learn to be either pilots or air traffic controllers, discussed the green initiatives being implemented by the school. “Our school is a big consumer of electricity and so we are partnering with enterprises to install solar panels on the roofs of the buildings and smart benches (to enable students to recharge their devices)”. “Greening our school is a strategic objective”, she went on to say. When asked what would be needed to get green skills started at the school and how can they green their training programmes, Jelena responded, “finding a partner concerned with skills ecosystems is the biggest challenge but given we are restructuring many of the school buildings, the time is right to find a collaboration soon!”.
Jelena Pejcic Garcev, Aviation Academy, Serbia
Jürgen Schick from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research who is involved with the EU Strategy for the Danube Region – Priority Area 9 “People and Skills, which focuses on education, training, labour market and inclusion policies, highlighted the benefits of regional partnerships in bringing about innovation, excellence and fostering sustainability in the region. “Going green and social inclusion are the key topics of focus of the Danube Region Platform on Centres of Vocational Excellence that was set up by Priority Area 9 in cooperation with the ETF.” When asked who he thought should be the driving force within regional educational clusters and collaborative programmes, he answered,
'Partnerships across all sectors need to be fostered to promote the development of green skills. There needs to be cooperation and exchange between the training and employment sectors to equip young people with the green skills needed'.
Jürgen Schick from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research
Olena Kupriyenko, a teacher from the Higher Vocational School #3 in Ukraine, explained the benefits of partnering with a VET provider. “We entered into a social partnership because we recognised the need to educate and update our teachers’ knowledge first”. Olena underscored the importance of having a bottom-up approach to support the transition to green skills.
Olena Kupriyenko, Higher Vocational School #3 in Ukraine
The ever-expanding ENE GRETA network provides a unique opportunity for all members to learn from each other and share examples of best practice. The last part of the meeting was an opportunity to showcase two case studies of how educational institutions can engage with enterprises to maximise the impact of green skills provision.
Karolina Sikala, International Coordinator at the Aarhus Green Academy in Denmark was the first to share their experiences. A vocational school founded in 1889, Green Academy offers a broad range of education within all green areas including landscaping, gardening, farming, farm machinery operating and animal care. In 2018, the Green Academy was awarded the Erasmus+ VET charter which recognises the school’s excellent performance in managing mobility projects. Across all its projects, Green Academy integrates the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) into its teaching.
Discussing the CoVEs project, Karolina explained how their focus on regional partnerships started. “We were asked to provide new courses – bio diversity, climate adaptation – for employees at our partner companies”. A dialogue in which employers and the college discussed what was needed was the starting point for designing the new courses together. Karolina continued, “They wanted students to get the best, up-to-date education which is relevant to the green agenda”. But it is not just the companies they speak with. They work closely with the municipality, a very important stakeholder in the partnership, as they know what jobs will be needed by the city and the projects that are needed to speed up the implementation process. “Collaboration is very important”, concluded Karolina.
When developing the biodiversity course for landscaping, they used a different approach. “We started by asking the employees first what they thought they needed. Based on their feedback, we recognised that there was a lack of biodiversity knowledge and so we developed the course to meet their knowledge gaps”. The employees were asked to review the proposed course and then gave additional feedback which really helped to tailor the course to meet their needs. “When the curricula were ready, we activated the network to identify the experts. Existing teachers were not experts and so we asked peers in other countries for examples of teaching materials”. From this knowledge share, the programme was developed and finetuned. Having ongoing feedback from the company was very important to ensure the relevance of the course. Again, this is something that can happen when there is a strong, collaborative partnership.
The course has since been offered to other companies, and a growing number of teachers participate to see how the subject matter is taught.
'Jointly developing courses that focus on skills development and competences takes time, but it is always better to do it together”. Karolina continued, “With more and more people getting involved, this process helps us meet the goals of the green agenda'.
And the development of the network is also an important part of helping the academy along its path to greening. “Our network is free but members have to contribute by donating time or courses. Stakeholders in the network must be active!”.
Karolina Sikala, Aarhus Green Academy, Denmark
Susanne thanked Karolina for sharing the real practicalities and for highlighting the different styles of dialogue which need to take place in a partnership between schools and companies.
The second case study was presented by Amaia Sastre, teacher of professional training and guidance at the Woodnika project. Woodnika, based in the Basque country, Spain, aims to increase knowledge on wood sustainability and to develop greener training for the sector as well as new wood-based products. In collaboration with Tknika, a centre promoted by the Ministry of Vocational Education and Training of the Education department of the Basque region, the project has innovation and research at its core and aims to enable VET providers to focus on green skills to stimulate regional business development.
Amaia started by saying network hubs, involving a wide range of local stakeholders, enabled the partners to gain insight into the current status of the Basque country’s enterprises, as well as looking ahead to future needs. The importance of understanding “human sustainable development, the agri-food sector, SMART buildings and sustainable construction” was very important to prepare for the digital and green transition. Amaia went on to explain, “we use drones to assess water levels and to assess forest density, it helps us identify the actors who need to get involved”.
Using the example of building a tiny house, Amaia demonstrated the level of collaboration in bringing students, educators and employers together. “Bringing together the different players to work on the construction of the house was an opportunity to learn from each other and to implement the project, all working together.
The cooperation between Woodnika and Tknika has helped to create knowledge and innovation hubs, as well as supported entrepreneurial skills and work-based initiatives for learners.
'The project has also seen the involvement of well-renowned woodworkers who have been able to share their skills and talk about the ways in which they work'. Amaia concluded that the project has halted a decline in the use of wood and has re-focused people on the benefits of using local timber to make constructions. Everyone is a winner from this collaboration!
According to both the Green Academy and Tknika, VET institutions and companies need to constantly work together, to be proactive so that we can learn from each other and ensure our students become good workers with up-to-date skills and knowledge. There is a need also to have VET teachers up to date, so that courses prepared for companies contain the most recent information and knowledge.
Amaia Sastre, Woodnika, Basque Country
Susanne and José Manuel took the last part of the webinar to share progress on some other initiatives taking place in the ENE-GRETA network. First, the exciting progress of the ETF-DG Employment international cooperation agreement, “Building evidence to support vocational excellence for the digital and green transitions”. Thanking Joao Santos for the “opportunity to be a part of this adventure of excellence”, José Manuel outlined the mapping exercise currently underway to better understand CoVEs and the inputs needed to support their internationalisation. “Many of you are moving towards strategies of internationalisation, cooperating with industry and higher education”, he said. “In 2020, DG-Employment committed to funding Erasmus+ to the tune of €400 million and will provide a programme of support for financing 100 CoVEs projects up until 2027”.
Detailing how ETF is trying to connect the dots in this international landscape and to create a VET excellence and quality award, José Manuel referenced the research and information-gathering taking place across the ENE in order to bolster the developments necessary for the digital and green transitions.
Emil Thomsen, consultant from the DTI, provided some top-line information on the second mapping exercise currently taking place which aims to highlight 8-10 inspirational CoVEs case studies to share with other CoVEs across the network. An event is to be held in March to present the findings.
Susanne closed on an upbeat note. “The ENE network is all about peer learning and excelling together and that is why it is so important to share what we do and how we do it”.
The fourth thematic GRETA session is on 27 October 2022. It will focus on a ‘deep dive into green curricula and training programmes’.
The remaining two thematic sessions in GRETA are tentatively scheduled for December 2022 (on ‘School management, green strategies and career guidance’) and January/February 2023 (‘Green surprise’).
Participants were asked to save the date for a large joint conference by ETF on the 29th and 30th of November. Here, all the sub-initiatives of ETF will be brought together, including projects on entrepreneurial learning, social inclusion, work-based learning, as well as GRETA, to share experiences and outcomes.
Such a nice event, initiatives and content. Thanks for sharing such documentation and all people who contribute to these works.
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