The project will enable the college to participate in three collaborative workshops with HEI and VET partners from Spain, Denmark, Italy and Portugal. The results of the project will be disseminated by the lead partner in San Sebastian, Spain December 2016 and will enable trainees, vocational students and apprentices to gain credit for transferable competencies.
Workshop 2 Activities
HEI academic partners from Allborg University Denmark, Libera University Bolzano Italy and Mondragon University Spain undertook a literature review of transversal competencies.
Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen, Aalborg University presented the research findings. The report highlighted the need for transferable competence that is flexible in nature and contrasts it with the rise in commodification of competence in the form of standardised certification. Four interlocking elements were identified as transferable competencies.
- Engage in independent planning and problem-solving
- Work to organisational and strategic issues
- Work with other people in changing groupings
- Continuously learn and develop
Libera University Bolzano and Tangram Italy presented VET partners with a framework for assessing transversal competences. VET partners from TKNIKA, Basque Country Spain, ECU-SYD, Denmark and Northern Regional College, Northern Ireland agreed to test and validate the assessment framework during March and April 2016.
SPI Portugal, TKNIKA Basque Country Spain and Northern Regional College provided policy, evaluation, dissemination and project co-ordination support respectively.
During the workshop college representatives Irvine and Ruth participated in the debate on transversal competencies in a vocational role and helped to define criteria for seven key competencies in:
- Teamwork
- Written and Oral Communication
- Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Social and Civic Engagement
- Learning to Learn
Agreement was reached on an assessment methodology to test the model and a timeframe for completion. Northern Regional College will undertake to assess engineering students and apprentices at the Newtownabbey Campus during April/May 2016 as part of this EU project.
Irvine Abraham, NRC Business Development Manager said “this is a great opportunity for college staff to engage with HEIs and VET providers across Europe to collaborate on a common issue. The output from this project will have an impact on future traineeship and apprenticeship frameworks”
This project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
For further information follow the project on www.compassess-project-eu or follow on twitter @compassess_proj
