Personal Certification for teachers in VET4 and SCHE
14th December 2015
Tag list
Location / Country / Region
The Netherlands
Time frame
The project for this started in 2014, but is based on the experiences that the people in SPONed have gained since 2002, working for DNV (Det Norske Veritas), for personal certification in the welding sector (training, coordination).
Short description
In the recent years it has been more and more relevant to be recognized as a ‘specialist’ in your job. In programmes for vocational education and training (VET) and short cycle higher education there are a lot of practical components. For students it is important to be taught by people from the world of work, to gain the most recent competences, including information about the developments in that sector, to learn how to respond to them (=LLL).
Those teachers need to have the right skills to be involved in formal education. That is why SPONed has developed a programme for a personal certification for them. The national VET association is supporting this, knowing that it makes student more prepared for LLL and the ‘real dynamic business world’.
Actors Involved
- Teachers
- Managers in institutions offering VET and SCHE
- Companies (having those teachers as employees)
- SPONed (for the certification procedure)
Target audiences
The group that can be seen as the best ‘audience’ will be the students in VET and SCHE, at the start of their career.
Relevant links, websites, etc.
Contact person: Aart den Boer
BACKGROUND
Links with the European Framework
There is an indirect link with elements of the European Framework. To give a few:
- Quality in Education
- Involvement of Business in VET and HE
- Cooperation between providers and employers.
Links with national / regional priorities
The most important link with the national priorities is to have more youngsters at a higher level in formal education, with practical components of the programmes. The programmes have to be based on the needs for the labour market in the near future. The teachers with a personal certificate, as mentioned here, can provide this.
Political and Economic dimensions
The government is asking for higher quality of the programmes, the teachers and the cooperation between providers of VET and the world of work. The parliament is supporting this strategy.
Using this kind of teachers means that companies can hire graduates with better skills, more tailor made for the jobs they have. There is no extra money needed for additional schooling.
1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
See the website of SPONed.
In short:
- Looking for the programmes with relatively a lot of practical components
- Providing contacts between providers and companies
- Description of the teachers’ profile
- Certification procedure for people involved.
2. ANALYSIS
Innovativeness
The way SPONed is acting is for the Netherlands really innovative. There are some countries that have it in the law, the requirements for people teaching ‘in practice’. VET has to be more attractive, with a high quality, and that means that the labour market and providers have to trust each other in providing this kind of education.
Key success factors
- Involvement of Management (VET and SCHE)
- Budget for this (based on requirements, set by the Inspectorate)
- Enough people willing to teach
- Status of them in the ‘world of education’.
Contributions to LLL Policy
The providers of VET and SCHE can use this procedure to ensure the quality of programmes offered to youngsters. They can make a better start on the labour market, to make them aware of the dynamic changes in the labour market and the possibilities to use a diploma for a certain time after graduation.
For the next generation the government will provide some groups of graduates in HE vouchers, to updating their competences where needed for LLL.
What could be appropriated by others?
This procedure can be developed for other countries. So, this means that other governments can use it also for their national (and regional) strategy and approach. A international seminar can be useful.
3. Lessons Learnt
Regarding the building of a shared definition of LLL in LLL-Hub
We have learnt that personal certification is not common in formal education. Formal diplomas for teaching are required, and that is all. But teachers have to update their competences. For this group of teachers, involved in practical components and modules it is absolutely necessary to have this certificate. In a few years a government will use this approach in this field for LLL, no doubt.
Regarding the key actors, their roles and activities in LLL
SPONed is trying to make certification procedures like we have mentioned here, more common. That is its role, taking risks in developing programmes for that.