Partnership to develop VET educators in event management with learner-centred approach Erasmus Project

Project Title

Partnership to develop VET educators in event management with learner-centred approach

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Regional dimension and cooperation; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

The InVent project idea was born as a result of the expanding necessity, as it is world’s one of the largest growing industries, Europe has, enormous demand for event management professionals. The manner in which the project intends to contribute to such a wide policy challenge is by developing knowledgeable VET educators. We believe that if we will target VET educators (not aspiring event managers) we will be able to achieve better results and impact will be wider.

The applicant has developed and piloted Event management programme and materials, and we now wish to share and improve the programme with the help of a network of European VET partners, working together towards achieving transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications to facilitate learning, employability and labour mobility.

The vast umbrella of event management includes an extensive repertoire of possible events, which include hospitality, retail and education. Many of these are familiar to most of us and recognisable in event listings at institutional, local, regional, national and international levels, such as: conferences and meetings, exhibitions and trade fairs, music festivals, arts and cultural events, sports events, etc.

The proposal builds on the UK approach to student-centred learning, offering an innovative pedagogical approach to partner nations. The event management programme for VET educators that we wish to develop, improve and standardise is based on an learner-centred approach, offering immediate solutions to engage employers in work-based learning. The curriculum materials will be offered for a VET training route, and opportunities for national and ECVET certification will be explored.

The tangible results of the project will also lead to the development of better quality assurance mechanisms in VET, by identifying clear statements of learning outcomes.

The project relies on four pillars: first, comparison of National occupational standards in 5 EU partner counties, where the partners will also assess the state of the art and will identify gaps. A second, in which partners will be working on capacity building of VET educators in event management, through introducing innovative teaching methods and pedagogy. Lastly, conclusive output, where VET educators will be able to test their knowledge and skills by pilot teaching and portfolio building (for VET learners/aspiring event managers).Lastly, the tools and materials are shared as Open Educational Resources.

We will work together to bring in good/better practices, improve the materials of EM programme and standardise, with inputs from 10 partners representing 5 EU countries. We are all seeking to enhance the “boost to employability” through pilot teaching and portfolio building. We want to design the most appropriate VET teaching approach and pedagogy, using the knowledge of all the partners. We acknowledge the different pedagogical approaches of partners/nations, yet also seek to be uniform in our approach

The impact will be that we develop a common results (tangible/intangible) which we all own – both as intellectual property and “own” in terms of our commitment to its quality delivery. The main target groups will be the VET educators and the staff of the partner organisations, which will benefit directly from the developments of the project. VET learners (aspiring event managers) will be also targeted and will be involved in testing the VET educators acquired knowledge and skills through pilot teaching/portfolio building

The current proposal will build and strengthen a network of European VET providers, enabling them to deliver a standardised EM curriculum in VET, build organisational capacity and collaboratively work towards achieving results that tackle EU’s 2020 Strategy.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 190589 Eur

Project Coordinator

GECKO PROGRAMMES LIMITED & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Evropski kulturni in tehnoloski center Maribor, socialno podjetje
• HOCHSCHULE HANNOVER
• Latvijas Kulturas darbinieku biedriba
• Fundación Coremsa
• FAKULTETA ZA KOMERCIALNE IN POSLOVNE VEDE
• VPLT – Der Verband für Medien- und Veranstaltungstechnik e.V.
• CENTRO SUPERIOR DE FORMACION EUROPA SUR