Creating collaborative training networks Erasmus Project

Project Title

Creating collaborative training networks

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal)

Project Summary

The COTRAIN project aimed at implementing a new model of collaboration in the dual training field, a model in which two companies at least (or several) target to teach all the occupation profile activities. It tis called a collaborative training.
This kind of collaboration exists in Germany (inab) and in Austria (oïbf), with a potential of development. Thanks to an action-research coordinated by a Belgian partner (Cepag), Italian (Centoform) and Belgian VET centres (CEFA CST and IFAPME) developed such collaborative trainings, leading to the elaboration of a methodology.
The 51 collaborative trainings (EQF 3 and 4) developed in Italy and in Belgium by 3 VET centers open up a field of new possibilities. The specific and concrete approach partners choose allowed to overcome differences and sometimes barriers between training center based system and company based system. The pilots have been implemented in several sectors, in accordance with each institutional context.
The action-research shows that a collaborative training:
* increases the training quality by
**enlarging and diversifying the professional experiences of the apprentices, with an impact on technical and soft skills;
**better covering the vocational skills;
* increases the expertize for very specialized companies;
* better adapts the training to the main labor market changes and trends;
* enlarges the number and kind of companies wishing to get involved in dual training;
* encourages emulation and networking between companies themselves and between companies and VET centres;
* increases the awareness of youngsters on how demanding the labour market is,
* helps youngsters to confirm their vocational choice,
* decreases risks of dropouts,
* supports self-confidence and is seen as a double vocational asset on CV…
Built as a transferable methodology, a “COTRAIN” guide aims to reflect the partnership experimentation and its learnings: why and how to build collaborative training networks. A didactic video complements the Guide. The findings go beyond the initial expectations: not only more pilots were implemented and in different sectors, but also sectoral rationales show a high potential of transferability. And this particularly for SMEs and single entrepreneurs, but also for firms of bigger size that could build usefull and efficient training collaborations with smaller firms. Last but not least, creating collaborative trainings requires no high investment, just a new way of training collaboration and networking.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 220233,76 Eur

Project Coordinator

CENTRE D’EDUCATION POPULAIRE ANDRE GENOT & Country: BE

Project Partners

• CEFA du Collège Technique Saint-Jean de Wavre
• K.O.S GMBH
• inab – Ausbildungs- und Beschäftigungsgesellschaft des bfw mbH
• OSTERREICHISCHES INSTITUT FUR BERUFSBILDUNGSFORSCHUNG
• CENTOFORM SRL
• INSTITUT WALLON DE FORMATION EN ALTERNANCE ET DES INDEPENDANTS ET PETITES ET MOYENNES ENTREPRISES