Training and Equipping Mentors in SMEs to provide Quality Apprenticeships – MENTORTRAIN Erasmus Project

Project Title

Training and Equipping Mentors in SMEs to provide Quality Apprenticeships – MENTORTRAIN

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Cooperation between educational institutions and business

Project Summary

The European Council’s recommendation on a framework for quality and apprenticeships, designed to help young people enter the world of work outlines 14 criteria to define quality and effective apprenticeships, ensuring both the development of job-related skills and the personal development of apprentices. The third criterion highlights the role of pedagogical support in successful mentorships, stating that “In-company trainers should be designated and cooperate closely with VET Providers and Teachers. Teachers and trainers (mentors) should be supported to update their skills.”
In its guiding principles, the Thematic Working Group on Trainers in VET does not advise on having a formal qualification as a requirement for mentors, but suggests that they should have the possibility to acquire and constantly update the necessary training-related competences to oversee the practical training and acquisition of work experience by apprentices/trainees at the workplace.
Reflecting on that, MentorTrain aimed to create a platform for imparting pedagogical skills to mentors, particularly experienced workers from SMEs who may not necessarily have relevant teaching experience. Our focus was on mentors in companies who work with professional higher educational institutions at EQF levels 5-7.
MentorTrain defined the specific competences required by early-stage and experienced mentors, and used this to define learning activities that can be used to acquire these competences, structured as a common curriculum for mentorship within PHE-apprenticeships.
These were used to create an “Online Training on Mentorship of Apprentices in PHE” (https://mentortrain.eu/online-course/) aimed at prospective and early stage mentors, made up of a set of modular online micro-learning units, each of which allow participants to master a specific competence relevant to quality mentoring.
To assist experienced mentors in designing detailed training-plans for specific placements, the consortium created a methodological guideline on applying “A Design-Thinking Approach for Defining Placements”, which was piloted by mentors in four countries, across a total of 12 placements:
Motor Vehicle Technician
Electronic Maintenance Technician
Mechatronics Technician
F&B Manager
IT specialist
Accountant
Auditor
Media Worker
Social Pedagogue at a Low-Threshold Facility for Children and Youth
Electrical Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
Logistics Engineer

Finally, the consortium managed to supplement all the work done by creating a resource pack of templates and forms which can help mentors standardise each part of the mentorship process. In particular the pack focused on:
periodic teaching, training and/or demonstration activities to be held by the mentor;
periodic feedback and evaluation activities;
formal review meetings, including participants and timeline;
the general objective of the placements;
specific tasks (with clear outcomes) to achieve the objective.

The partnership of the project consists mainly of Institutions of PHE, and European/National networks of Institutions of PHE. The project was designed to address current and predicted needs of mentors from companies working with such institutions, and the outputs are intended to be used directly by these institutions and by their stakeholders.
Specifically:
PHE Institutions are able to improve the quality of the apprenticeships they offer, by assuring that mentors delivering the apprenticeships have appropriate pedagogical competences and by ensuring that placements are designed using a quality-controlled process;
Enterprises, and in particular SMEs, can find it easier to onboard and manage apprentices, since they are now able to refer their nominated mentors to a training scheme to prepare them for the role. In addition, enterprises can benefit from the design-thinking approach to placements, which allows them to identify the problems they have when hiring recent graduates, and propose learning activities within the placements that would address these issues;
Prospective mentors within enterprises are able to assess their own readiness to take on the role of a mentor, as well as show their competences in the area for purposes of promotion, with the use of the competence framework for mentors;
Students of PHE are the ultimate beneficiaries of these activities, benefiting from a more uniform experience across placements, and consequently, higher quality education & training and better prospects for employment at the end of the mentorships.

Project Website

https://mentortrain.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 347487 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sdružení profesního terciárního vzdělávání, z.s. & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• TALLINNA TEHNIKAKORGKOOL
• CIFP DON BOSCO LHII
• TKNIKA
• INSTITUT JOZEF STEFAN
• SKUPNOST VISJIH STROKOVNIH SOL REPUBLIKE SLOVENIJE
• KNOWLEDGE INNOVATION CENTRE (MALTA) LTD
• ASSOCIATION EUROPEENNE D’INSTITUTIONS DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR