About the project

During the project, the partner network will create a total of eighteen enriching ECVET units. ECVET is the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training and is a European instrument designed to support lifelong learning, the mobility of learners and the flexibility of learning pathways to achieve qualifications.

Each Amoove21 learning module consists of two parts. The first part is the virtual unit which is available to a large group of students and teachers. All partner colleges will be able to participate with a complete class and work together with all involved students and teachers from the partner colleges on the eTwinning platform. The second part is a unit of two weeks in which both theory and practice is offered in English to a mixed group of national and international Amoove21 partner students at one of the colleges.

Professionals from local companies are involved to be able to train their future employees with important skills but also to learn from them and their culture.

During the project, four pilots will take place with the main goal to learn from the experience and make adjustments to the learning modules if necessary. The output oif each pilot forms a handbook with information for other schools to set up similar lesson modules.

By enabling students to take part in these ECVET units, the students will increase among other things their 21st century skills and will become competitive in a growing international labor market.

Through virtual international orientation at home and by physically participating in the ECVET units offered abroad, youngsters will be equipped with 21st century skills such as theoretical, practical, social and cultural skills, which will enhance their chances to be competitive on an international labor market.

The outcomes of the project will also help to increase teachers’ international experience and professionalism. The ECVET units will be developed by the teachers representing the five partner organisationsorganizations. Through this kind of collaboration the teachers will become more internationally competent and their professional orientation, knowledge and skills will grow.

Project results and impact

During the project we could see that working on creating the virtual assignments, the international learning unit and the pilot, made teachers more aware of how they can share and develop teaching practices, online assignments and ideas on an European level. The teachers could also gain a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities different countries face when it comes to VET in livestock and dairy. This will help them support and encourage their students to take part in European mobilities and take part in virtual assignments and transnational courses offered by the partners. Teachers saw also an opportunity to upgrade their lesson plans and recognize how transnational collaboration and mobilities support the development of 21st century skills, while at the same time help empower students and find hidden talents.

The learning units and virtual assignments developed in Amoove21 pilots also forced teachers to teach in English (a foreign language to all the partners in this project) and to educate students with mixed nationalities. Even if this was scary in the beginning it became soon evident that the barrier to speak and educate in a foreign language vanished and the teachers confidence to host and teach students from foreign countries improved.

When developing the virtual assignments and learning units, focus was on the making the curriculums fit with the ECVET rules and regulations. The teachers learned to use eTwinning and pretty soon realized how they could implement eTwinning into their virtual assignments and through this establish contacts with students from foreign countries in a simple and time effective way.

During the project, we have measured impact and collected feedback by using questionnaires for both students, teachers and other involved staff. We have learned that all students that took part in the virtual assignments and in the transnational learning units did gain many new skills that will make them competitive on the (international) labor market. This because they have been able to develop their language skills, cultural awareness and problem solving skills. The students are now more independent and secure when it comes to working in a foreign country and using a foreign language at work. This in turn will help them adapt in different environments and work situations in the future.              
When it comes the partner organizations we have been able to witness and increase cooperation between the partner organizations. The step to set up pedagogical transnational collaborations has become smaller and local and regional companies have been introduced to the concepts of Amoove21.