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ECVET ASSET

General InformationECVET Technical SpecificationsPartnershipMore Information

Duration

36 months

General approach/description of the project

The aim of ECVET ASSET project is to use ECVET as a means to integrate mobility in the initial training programmes and pathways of students in the automobile services sector.

The automobile services sector has a clear European dimension and is characterised by:

Very similar products and job tasks across Europe;

Constant technological changes of products, requiring updating of qualifications; and

A sector that concerns a large number of enterprises, mainly SMEs.

These characteristics of the sector facilitate the comparability of the training needs and of learning outcomes. Therefore, increased mobility of learners in initial training is expected to provide important added value for individuals and training centres.

In order to recognise mobility as an integrated part of vocational education in the automobile sector, partners of the ECVET ASSET project aim at identifying common units of learning outcomes that will be open to mobility. The focus of ECVET ASSET on mobility of students in initial training strongly structures their approach to designing units of learning outcomes.

The units elaborated by ECVET ASSET have been tested through a first test of transnational mobility during the first trimester 2010. This first test aimed at validating and, when necessary, refining the adopted methodology and the selected units of learning outcomes open to mobility. This first test confirmed the adequacy of the selected units of learning outcomes open to mobility and of the chosen assessment methodology. However, given the test status of this exchange the learning outcomes achieved during this first mobility have been neither validated nor recognised, the Memorandum of Understanding and Learning Agreement not being yet developed (see ECVET ASSET second newsletter article on the first mobility test).

The second mobility test, planned for the first and second trimester 2011, is intended to gather concrete results and to assess the validity of the project, including complete validation and recognition of units of learning outcomes acquiring during the mobility period.

Target group

Training centres in the different national networks
Young people in initial training (i.e. apprentices and vocational and technical education students) that will undergo a mobility period.

Dissemination

The project held its final event on 9 December 2012 in Paris.

Over 70 delegates from all four participating countries (France, Hungary, Romania and Finland) and from across Europe attended the event to celebrate the success of the ASSET project.

Plenty of documents, grids and examples that were developed by the ASSET project are provided on the projects website.

Transfer And Accumulation

ECVET ASSET organised a second mobility test during the first and second trimester 2011. During this mobility test, the partners were able to test all instruments set up by ASSET, including the Memorandum of Understanding and the Learning Agreement.

The ‘home institution’ was responsible to prepare the learner to the mobility prior to the mobility period.

To overcome the language problem, the theoretical part of the unit of learning outcomes open to mobility was taught in the ‘host institution’, but by a teacher from the home institution.

In the framework of ECVET ASSET and as set out in the ECVET recommendation, assessment of mobile learners took place in the ‘hosting’ institution.

To ensure common criteria for the assessment of mobile learners, partners of the ECVET ASSET project developed assessment fiches for each selected unit of learning outcomes:

Assessment fiches include information related to the moment of the assessment, the nature and objective of the assessment, the assessment duration, the assessment context and the material needed for the assessment.

Each unit is composed of a series of key competences. The assessment fiche presents the assessment criteria as well as the co-efficient attributed to each of the key competences. Marks from 0 to 3 can be attributed for each assessed competence.

Professionals from the automobile sector were consulted and helped to decide on the co-efficient attributed to a key competence. The importance of each competence in performing the general activity was a key factor to decide on the co-efficient.

Marking guidelines were also developed to ensure a consistent use of the assessment fiche by the four partners.

An example is provided in the PowerPoint presentation made by ECVET ASSET during the 4th pilot projects seminar in February 2010, slide 12.
Validation and recognition of the learning outcomes when the learners return to their ‘home’ institution have not yet been elaborated. In the partnership developed by ECVET ASSET, competent institutions are responsible for addressing this aspect.

Units of learning outcomes

As said above, the main focus of this project is geographical mobility in initial training. The project therefore designs units that would fit the mobility experience of students and which could be transferred to their home institutions.

The first step in the development of units of learning outcomes is the analysis of the job profile for which the qualifications concerned prepare.

Partners of the ECVET ASSET project adopted the following approach:

Selection of a job profile in the field of care maintenance that is common in the four partners’ countries: the “Car electrician electronics technician” job profile was selected (qualifications preparing for this profile correspond to level 4 or 5 of the EQF) (see Rome Seminar ECVET ASSET presentation silde 5, Definition of the ‘car electrician electronics technician’).

Analysis of the qualifications corresponding to this job profile in terms of key occupational activities in view of identifying areas which are common to the qualifications in the partners’ system. Converging key occupational activities were identified by professionals in the sector who analysed the work situation (see Rome Seminar ECVET ASSET presentation slide 6, Analysis grid of key common occupational activities).

Selection of the common areas (at this stage defined in terms of key occupational activities) that are suitable for mobility – these form the basis of units;

Description of these selected areas (units) in terms of learning outcomes, broken down in knowledge, skills and competences.

The criteria for designing the units ‘open to mobility’ are:

Convergence among the qualifications in the countries concerned: the selected units of learning outcomes should be present in the qualifications awarded by the different partners ;

Dimension of the unit: the number and complexity of the learning outcomes in the selected unit should be compatible with a three-week mobility period;

Chronology: the selected units of learning outcomes should correspond to the moment chosen for mobility; and

Pedagogical progression: the partners agreed that the mobility would take place in the second part of the training (equivalent to the second year in some of the system). Therefore, the learning outcomes in these units have to be at the level (in terms of complexity) of what is expected to be achieved in the second part of the training programme.

Each partner was responsible for setting a unit of learning outcome. The first unit of learning outcome was jointly elaborated by the four partners to ensure a certain level of consistency.

The following characteristics were considered in the definition of the units of learning outcomes:

Duration of the mobility period;

Access to unit of learning outcome (including technical and methodology pre-requisites),

Resources needed (i.e. in terms of human resources and training centres); and

Implementation conditions and assessment conditions (i.e. objective and duration of the evaluation, necessary equipment and competent staff).

The ASSET project developed four units of learning outcomes. (See presentation of the four units)

The decision to identify units of learning outcomes open to mobility starting from the job profile ensured that all partners refer to the same key occupational activities and helped identifying common knowledge, skills and competences. The choice to focus on a selection of common units of learning outcomes facilitates the cooperation among partners, which only concentrate on converging aspects of their qualifications rather than deconstructing and analysing the overall structure of their qualification.

The approach developed by ECVET ASSET has a real practical dimension (i.e. recognised mobility as part of the qualification) and could be used by projects with similar objectives (i.e. partnership composed of several training centres whose main objective is to set up a mobility project for students in initial training).

ECVET Points

Consolidation of partnerships in formal agreements

ECVET ASSET has developed a Memorandum of Understanding and a Learning Agreement. To support ongoing discussion, the ASSET partners referred to existing templates, elaborated within the framework of other ECVET past and ongoing pilot projects, such as OPIR and European Class in trucks maintenance.

ECVET ASSET intended to develop bilateral Memoranda of Understanding that will be signed by the competent institutions in each partner country. Competent institutions have already been identified by the partners. Whilst the competent authority in Hungary is the Ministry of Social Affairs, for instance in Finland, the relevant body is OMNIA, which is both training centre and competent institution.

The ECVET ASSET Learning Agreement is similar to the one developed by the OPIR project. In addition to the basic elements contained in the Recommendation, it contains additional information in relation to assessment, learning activities, the pre-requisite necessary before undertaking the mobility period, and the commitment and obligations of the learner (e.g. respect of the rules of the host institution). Annexes to the Learning Agreement will be binding for the home and hosting institutions and for the learner.

The approach developed by the ECVET ASSET project in relation to the partnership is twofold:

Strong involvement of the training centres from the beginning; and

At the same time, constant engagement of the institutions competent for the design and recognition of learning outcomes in the validation of the project outcomes produced.

On the one hand, training centres were in charge of identifying common key activities as part of the job profile and qualifications concerned, describing them in learning outcomes and organising them in units. Training centres appear in the best position to carry out this analysis as they are familiar with the job profile and with the knowledge, skills and competences necessary to carry out the job profile’s key activities. On the other hand, competent institutions are thoroughly involved to guarantee the acceptation and validation of this methodology.

Competent institutions are expected to take the lead when dealing with the development of the credit transfer system, the setting up of mutual trust tools and the elaboration of a credit point allocation system while training centres will play an active role during the last phase of the project (i.e. implementation of the mobility phase).

The fact that training centres and competent institutions have been working hand in hand from the beginning of the project ensure acceptance on both side and maximise the project’s achievement.

Projects 2008 to 2011

Projects 2011 to 2014