Animal Husbandry Exchanges in North West Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Animal Husbandry Exchanges in North West Europe

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Recognition, transparency, certification; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

•Context/background of the project;
According to the Dutch report “De Arbeidsmarkt in 2016, een verkenning door Aequor voor het domein voedsel, natuur en leefomgeving”, Aequor 2011, graduates from vocational courses in animal husbandry have extreme difficulty finding jobs in their sector. A group of 4 Eurpoean vocational agricultural schools have cooperated together in this project to try to ensure that their graduates have an advantage on others in the future when entering the labour market. Also they have tried to make their own vocational qualifications more attractive, interesting and valuable to the vocational students by offering them modules that are built around new, innovative subjects.

•Objectives;
The partners in AHENE aimed to:
1. Agree on the content and the level of at least 8 educational modules in the field of animal husbandry to be developed within the partnership, using input from companies from the sector related to the partner schools;
2. Agree on the learning outcomes in these modules (8 clusters of learning outcomes);
3. Create at least 8 educational modules in animal husbandry (of roughly 60-120 guided learning hours each), consisting of a theoretical and a practical component;
4. Work out uniform ways to assess the learning outcomes in each unit in such a way that both knowledge and skills are assessed;
5. Agree on the recognition & validation of the educational modules (learning outcomes) in the curriculum of the home institutions;
6. Work out ways to exchange students between the partner institutions on a regular basis;
7. Work out ways to give these international mobilities a permanent place in each other’s curricula.

•Number and profile of participating organisations;
Partners were 4 agricultural schools in Wales, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands who all had considerable knowledge in teaching animal husbandry and experience in sending students on international placements to different countries. The schools were:
Lentiz MBO Maasland in the Netherlands:
Grans Naturbruksgymnasium in Northern Sweden:
Neath Port Talbot College in Wales:
Kainuun Ammattiopisto in Finland.

•Description of undertaken main activities;
Project meetings: 10 meetings took place in 35 months. The meetings consisted of a number of working sessions in which the partners worked on intellectual outputs (module-descriptions, educational modules and exams). They also exchanged best practices by visiting each other’s classes, exams & students’ practical training. There were also opportunities to visit related companies, used for the practical components of the educational modules.

•Results and impact attained;
The AHENE network is a strong network, which will continue in the future. One partner, Wales, decided, due to staff shortages, to withdraw from the network after the end of the project. This project aimed to work towards a systematic exchange of students.
– Through the development of 8 modules, 79 students from all over Europe have become better prepared for their future jobs in the fields of animal husbandry. Modules include input from the sector & the schools are now able to offer students more flexible learning paths including educational periods at international partner schools. Modules were offered in an international learning environment, enriching students with both specific/deeper subject knowledge as well as becoming meaningful personal international experiences.
– The exchange of students on international learning modules has given the partners the opportunity to develop their schools into more internationally oriented institutions. They have enriched the educational experience of their students and staff and 22 teachers travelled to the partner countries to participate in the exchanges (and many more will participate in the future);
– Through using ECVET principles in this project, the participating partners are now better prepared to exchange their students with other schools;
– Animal husbandry companies were involved as practical training companies, excursions and sparring partners for learning outcomes.
Due to their own participation in the AHENE project, these companies have also become more internationally oriented themselves.

•If relevant, longer-term benefits.
Sustainability:
3 of the 4 schools involved will continue to offer these developed modules to international groups of students in the future.
More teachers will be involved & will be enriched & challenged by teaching international students in English.
Expectation is that employers shall feel the impact of this project as they will, in time, be able to employ students who are more experienced upon graduation.
Strengthening vocational courses enables Europe to reach their goal of strengthening the knowledge economy & exporting this knowledge to other parts of the world.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 247198,2 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stichting Lentiz onderwijsgroep, samenwerkingsstichting voor BVE en VO in het Westland en de Nieuwe Waterweg Noord & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Grans Naturbruksgymnasium
• Kainuun ammattiopisto
• Neath Port Talbot College