Designing VET is an Erasmus+ supported project led by Comparative Research Network based in Germany. The project partnership is formed by 6 different institutions coming from five European countries (Germany, Sweden, Italy, Ireland & Bulgaria.)

The Project

 

DesigningVET – reflecting on design skills and strategies in VET Keywords like design thinking, SCRUM, agility are currently fashionable and are used specifically in project and business management heavily.

 

However in the VET education the concepts are little known and educators are not aware of the benefits and limits of those methods. Social and experience design have the advantages that knowledge is not just transferred on a cognitive level but through emotional and experiential learning, which enables a deeper understanding of skills and values.

 

Experience design is especially important for ethics, intercultural skills, leadership and conflict resolution, while design thinking is encouraging co-creation and co-working processes, based on community and collective intelligence.

 

 Designing VET will explore other practices and contexts, in which other design methods might be used. Our interest is to help VET providers in Europe to adapt to the modern work skills enshrined in experience design and design thinking, thest their applicability, by teaching, applying and testing the practices and create tangible results for the participating organisations, but as well to European VET providers in general.

 

The project will start with a needs assessment within each consortium member, identifying strength and weaknesses in their practices in using design thinking, experience and spatial design in job, VET and entrepreneurship training. Based on the needs, the partnership will develop indicators and create a self-assessment grid on the practices used by the partners on needs and offer in the field.

 

Based on the resulting SWOT the partnership will seek and present smart practices, addressing specifically the weaknesses commonly identified by the partnership. At the same time there will be a common Input training, where the staff of the organisations will learn some of the most current practices and methods.

 

Based on the input and the collected practices, but as well the self-assessment, there will be an open EduLab, in which the participants will respond to challenges, given by the partnership, to create prototypes and action plans for methods, tools and campaigns, which can be actually used and implemented by the partnership.

 

The process, the practices and the assessment grid will be published in an eBook and can be the basis for a future training plan on target audience communication, not just for the partners themselves, but for any other interested organisation.

 

Designing VET results will be:

• Elaborating at least 12 smart practices on using design in VET

• Organising 2 Training, where the techniques and methods will be discussed and put into practice.

• Creating an interactive map visualising the smart practices

• A process to assess needs and practices and implement them in action plans

• A self-evaluation grid for design practices in VET, which will be spread outside of the partnership

• Creating an Ebook collection the methods, practices and process, to enable other educators to work on the topics

• Action plans and prototypes of solutions on implementing design skills in VET A European narrative of education in the shape of an online archive.

 

This is a 2 year long project starting in December 2020 and ending in December 2022

 Our team is currently working on the first research phase of the project. Keep an eye on our page for project updates.

 

The Comparative Research Network (Germany) was founded in 2007 and worked since then in the field of non-formal adult, youth and VET education and research.

 

The CRN Network is specialised in training activities within the fields of intercultural competences, intergenerational learning, mobilities and migration. Additionally, the CRN is specialised in creating and performing evaluation and dissemination processes. CRN lately gained through various projects both as coordinator and participant expertise in game design in education, storytelling and community reporting, where the                                                                                                 network is currently carrying out training for several target groups.

Changemaker are based in Sweden. For over 20 years they have helped companies and organizations with tailor made solutions for leadership, team building and change management. They offer workshops and lectures, project leading and process competence, for both businesses, schools and individuals.

Mali Weil is an Italian based artistic platform, established by Elisa Di Liberato, Lorenzo Facchinelli and Mara Ferrieri.

Through layered projects that range from design to visual art, from editorial products to audiovisual formats it develops a research which investigates the potential of performance as a driving force for creating -and as a space for disclosure- political imagination .

Mali Weil establishes real production mechanisms, with a poetic which privileges participative sets up and a contamination between art and everyday life. Its projects have a site-specific approach, becoming often also  human-specific . They create aporetic experiences for the audience, in order to produce imaginary products and to push him away from the actual economic production rules.

National High School of Plastic Arts and Design “Acad. Dechko Uzunov ”is a school of arts, providing quality professional education in the field of Fine Arts, Design and Luthiery, enjoying the trust of cultural and business organizations - users of staff and the public in the region, country and abroad. A school that promotes the building of free, flexible, moral and enterprising creative individuals with a strong civic consciousness and behavior, respecting the laws, the rights of others, their language, religion and culture. Education and training according to the state educational requirements and the standards of the European Union in the spirit of democratic values. Assimilation and formation of universal and national virtues, development of individuality and stimulation of creative talents.

I.Re.Forr - Regional Institute for Training & Research - is a limited liability cooperative company founded in 1984 that has a diversified experience in the field of training and research.

The I.Re.Forr has as its mission the satisfaction of the company by putting the person at the center, caring for professional and organizational growth that meets individual needs, transferring skills and knowledge, employing the best professionals and using the most modern technologies, to train future resources.

We encourage the preparation and initiation of young people to work, paying particular attention to social inclusion policies, we choose our teachers not only among the most popular professionals, but above all for their ability to transmit passion and trust in themselves and in their descendants. others, in order to allow the future professional to work both independently and in a team.