Professional Development of Vocation Education Teachers with European Practices

Pro-VET is a co-funded project with the EU through its ERASMUS+ programme. The project's overarching aim is to develop VET teachers' professional skills in Russia and Serbia. This will be achieved through four specific objectives (deliverables):

1.       by training HE teachers in European VET pedagogical initiatives and proven best practices,

2.       by upgrading technology e-labs to produce & disseminate VOOC courses,

3.       by creating online in-service training courses for VET teachers, and,

4.       by setting up a VET-ETN (Educator Trainer Network) to consolidate the role of VET teachers in VET development and to co-design roadmaps for VET development in cooperation with respective Ministries of Education in Russia and Serbia.

The project will be carried out over a three-year period beginning in mid November 2018 by 12 partner institutions from Finland, Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Russia (4) and Serbia (4).

The first phase of work will concentrate on preparing the environment by considering what VET legislation is already in place in the partner countries and what kind of practices are employed. A review of proven European VET pedagogical initiatives and best practices with produce options which can be adopted by the partner countries to form a new framework of VET teacher training in Serbia and Russia.

The next phase of work will be an upgrading of technical resources to create e-labs at Russian and Serbian the partner institutions. These e-labs will enable VET teachers to produce and develop VOOCs (vocational open online courses), through which other Russian and Serbian VET teachers can upgrade their professional skills. Continual review and development cycles of this deliverable will ensure the legacy of the Pro-VET project.

Dissemination will follow by each key partner in Russia and Serbia arranging and hosting a series of roadshow events throughout their home countries in collaboration with their respective Ministries of Education. In these roadshow events the new e-labs and the possibilities they offer will be showcased to VET teachers from other institutions and various stakeholders. This action will be supported at the European level by presentations of the project at conferences and the publication of a number of articles in professional journals.

Contact information: Graham Burns, project manager, [email protected], JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Professional Teacher Education