Meeting of the project partners in Cumbernauld College, Scotland
On March 14-18/ 2007, the fourth meeting of the pilot project DIQUAS took place in the sunny town of the Cumbernauld College Tryst Road, Cumbernauld G67 1HU Scotland.
We were very glad to have an opportunity to visit Glazko and would like to extend our greatest thanks to our project partners Mr. Tom Dodds and Mr. Jim O’Donnell.
Mr Brian Lister, Principal of Cumbernauld College & Chief Executive SFEU, welcomed all delegates to Scotland and the opportunity to (a) share good practice and (b) work collectively to prepare and present a European Quality System to benefit practical Training and Standards of Competence.
Mr Juozas Baranauskas, Principal of Vilnius Builder Training Centre, thanked Principal Lister and presented a comprehensive outline on the progress of the project to date and looked forward to the Conference in Scotland. He also expressed the importance of working together in the interest of improving the Quality of trained personnel throughout Europe.
Dr. Eric Massie, (SFEU) Project Development Manager (Further & Higher Education), presented the role of Scottish Colleges within the Scottish Education System. He also highlighted the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework and progression routes to Higher Education.
Mr Colin Buchanan, (SFEU) Lead Specialist – Quality Enhancement, introduced e-construction and offered delegates the opportunity to consider future partnership. He also demonstrated e-learning materials which were clearly of interest to delegates and positive comments were received in relation to the use of IT in the Teaching and Learning Environment.
Tom Dodds, Assistant Principal, introduced Mr Martin McGuire (Depute Principal) and Heather Urquhart (Assistant Principal) Cumbernauld College. Mr McGuire welcomed delegates to Scotland and to Cumbernauld College.
Jim O’Donnell, External Funding Manager, Cumbernauld College, gave a short presentation on the structure of Cumbernauld College. He highlighted to delegates the extensive Estates development and how European Funding had supported the new and improved facilities. He also outlined the curriculum taught at Cumbernauld College and how it reached out to the wider community, employers and other stakeholders.
Pamela Hosey, Quality Improvement Manager, Cumbernauld College, presented an overview of Quality Systems in Scotland and explained in detail how external influences impact upon our Colleges and how they must comply with Awarding Bodies (Certification) such as SQA, BCS, City & Guild of London etc. She also highlighted the importance or promoting a quality ethos throughout the college and the continuous improvement of materials and teaching methods through a ‘Self-Evaluation’ process.
John McNair (Business Development Manager) and peter Hughes (Workforce Development Manager) Cumbernauld College, presented a joint overview of widening participation in Vocational Education and Training. The Business and Community Development Plan (2006-2007) promotes a model of community and business principles introducing key partners within the local business community. Key to the success of these of these programmes is understanding employers needs in order to provide relevant training and support to enhance the individual skills and employability. They also explained the importance of engaging at the highest level within participating organisation to ensure maximum benefits both for the employer and potential employee.
Delegates were interested in the way Colleges’ sourced appropriate funding to develop their community interest and activities. T Dodds stated that strong partnership working was key to the success of many programmes and projects and different agencies i.e. both Social and Economical could advance their ‘agendas’ by ‘sharing’ the burden of resource.
Tom Dodds thanked all presenters for their time and interesting presentations. An organised tour of Cumbernauld College followed where delegates view Teaching and Learning Environments, Teaching Materials, IT to support the Learner and Student and Staff Support facilities.
I. Giniotis presented an analysis of the Assessment of the draft products by external experts and proposals for improvements should be prepared by April 2007 with a final approved version by October 2007. A question was raised as to what would happen if the final product was evaluated negatively. This proved to be a very important issue for all delegates and some felt the external expert influence was somewhat distant from the development stage and should be a closer integral part of the process.
I. Giniotis gave a brief overview of the comments by the ‘external experts’ outlining strengths and weaknesses of the Products.
There seemed to be problems with vocabulary, definitions and translations and it was agreed that this was an important point for action and clarification.
T Dodds (P3) asked if the external experts had considered the impact of culture and the difference in Education and Training throughout VET Institutions in Europe. He felt, that his understanding of ‘all systems and issues’ relating to local training was only now beginning to influence his understanding and response to ‘Product Development’ having visited Partner countries and their training organisations.
He again pointed out the importance of the practical application of a ‘system’ was vital to the success of a proposed model. He did, however, acknowledge that the core methodology was also important to a common response.
It was agreed t hat a good quality final project was possible given the commitment of each Partner to produce something that could be used to benefit students/college staff and all other stakeholders throughout Europe.
Mr J.Baranauskas reminded delegates that we were contracted to use External Experts and we should listen to what they have to say and make improvements based on their opinion in order to develop the “perfect product”. He added that although comments are direct and critical he believes they were made in good faith and would motivate Partners to make the necessary improvements to Products.
Project partners commented on the improvement of the products.
I. Giniotis gave a short presentation on the strengths and weaknesses of all products and proposals for improvements.
The Swedish partners presented results of the testing on Product 3. Generally all questions asked were appropriate, acceptable and relevant with a few being reconsidered.
T. Dodds proposed that all four products should integrate to provide an evolutionary system capable of translation and implementation throughout Europe. A system capable of addressing future trends and capable of the analysis of quality in (a) the workplace (b) VET Institutions (c) Learning away from formal structured setting (Accreditation of prior learning).
Deimante Konciuviene presented an overview of the Panevezys College Quality Assurance System, highlighting 9 areas evaluated and a positive external experts’ response on the self-evaluation model introduced.
Delegates welcomed Monica back and wished her good health for the future. Monica thanked delegates for their good wishes.
M. Schellenberg presented her report on the strengths and weaknesses of the products are suggestions for improvements.
Josef Karl outlined the current situation in Waldkirchen and explained that the college had established a Quality Asurance Task Force. The Task Force will have cross college representation. The primary role of the group will be to review the knowledge gained from the Leonardo Partners meetings and process the information of the Products.
Ivaras thanked all present for their contribution to another successful conference.
He gave particular thanks to Partner 3 Scotland for their organisation and hospitality throughout the four days.
All partners went to Scottish Parliament to participate in the meeting with Department of Lifelong Learning.
Project partners are very grateful to Scotland colleagues for their unique hospitality and well-organized meetings.
It was wonderful to learn about the Scottish vocational training system, to feel rich traditions and culture of the beautiful region of Scotland’s city of Stirling.
Meeting of the project partners in Santander, Spain
On November 22-25, 2006, the fourth meeting of the pilot project DIQUAS took place in the sunny town of Santander, Spain.
We were very glad to have an opportunity to visit Santander and would like to extend our greatest thanks to our project partners Mr. Javier Muñiz Bárcena and Mrs. Marhgaryta Burdynkh.
Mr. Miguel Angel Castanedo Alonso, General Secretary of Regional Confederation of Entrepreneurs,
introduced the aspects of cooperation agreements between VET providers and entrepreneurs: the quality issue.
A visit to the first integrated VET in Cantabria, where the vice director and the chief of studies clarified some of the aspects of this centre, such as not having a school council but a social one, and the things they do in order to follow the development of their graduates, including some questionnaires, was organised. After the presentation, we had a guided tour by director José Luis Alejos around the Centre.
All partners participated in the official reception in the Santander City Hall. We were received by José Manuel Riancho, the council representative for culture and sports. Josefina Lusares joined the group and presented each of the participants of the project with a gift from Santander City Hall. The lunch and “Spanish wine” at the City Hall premises were offered by the Lord Major Excmo. Sr. Gonzalo Piñeiro García-Lago.
During the visit to the International University “Menéndez y Pelayo” in its resources of Península de la Magdalena in Santander, runned by Council House representatives, Belén Serna, on behalf of the council authorities, showed us around the premises and explained the rich history of the former summer residence of the Spanish Royal Family.
Excma. Sra. Rosa Eva Diaz Tevanos and Ilmo. Sr. Ramón Ruiz Ruiz introduced the participants of the meeting to the Spanish vocational training system.
Director General de Personal, Centros y Renovación Educativa Ilmo. Sr. Roberto Cayón Fernández and Director General de Formación Profesional, Ordenación y Promoción Educativa made an introduction to the Spanish quality system in practical training.
Project partners listened to the homework prepared by product managers:
Julita Navaitiene, partner P6 presented the second draft of “The Description of Concept and Model of Quality Assurance in Practical Training”;
Gintaute Zibeniene, partner P1 presented the second draft of “A Set of Criteria and Indicators for Quality Assessment in Practical Training”;
Barbro Ohlson, partner P2 presented the second draft of “Self-Assessment Questionnaire for Vocational Training Institution“;
Josef Karl, partner P8 presented the second draft of “Development of Examples on the Organization of Practical Training Implementing Quality Assurance Model“;
Fco. Javier Muñiz Bárcena , partner P4 presented the “Developed Technical Action Plan for Testing”.
Later the partners worked in groups.
Product managers summarized the work done, suggested certain amendments in the contents of the products, divided up the homework for the conference in Scotland on 14-17 March, 2007.
Project partners are very grateful to Spanish colleagues for their unique hospitality and well-organized meetings.
It was wonderful to learn about the Spanish vocational training system, to feel rich traditions and culture of the beautiful region of Spain – Cantabria.
