1. DAY ONE – Monday 11 November 2013
WORKING GROUPS – 14:00 TO 15:45
Organization
Project participants will be divided into country groups (1) Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia (2) Albania, Israel, Kosovo and
Turkey. Each group will have a facilitator who will explain the aim of the session and the
methodology.
Within groups (1) and (2) project participants will be clustered as ‘policy-makers’ or ‘school
professionals’. Each cluster will sit at a multi-national ‘Café Table’. Each ‘Café Table’ will have
moderator and rapporteur. The moderator will facilitate the participants to reflect on a significant
finding and a set of statements that emerged from the synthesis study, and to consider priorities
for ‘follow-up’ actions to address common challenges. The rapporteurs will present the conclusions
of the ‘Café Table’ at the plenary session.
A third group of seminar participants, who were not directly involved in the project, will be invited
to a question and answer session at which they will gain further insight into the findings contained
in the synthesis study and may contribute their reflections on its outcomes. The group will have a
facilitator and panel members from the LSE team will respond to questions.
A. AIM-of the ‘Café Table’ activity
The aim of the activity is to reflect on a significant finding and a set of statements that emerged
from the synthesis study, and to consider priorities for ‘follow-up’ actions, to address common
challenges, from the viewpoints of policy-makers and school professionals.
B. CONTENT-VET’s ‘fitness for purpose’: Evidence gaps
Upper-secondary VET has the dual purpose of safeguarding the societal and labour market inclusion
of young people by contributing to their preparation for employment and responsible adult life;
meeting these goals strengthens social cohesion. A key finding of the study is that evidence,
regarding the trajectories of young people who graduate from, or ‘drop-out’ of VET is often sparse
and/or unreliable. Insufficient evidence can make it difficult to demonstrate that VET achieves its
purposes.
C. TASKS-reflections and proposals: Making VET ‘fit for purpose’
1. Please reflect on VET’s ‘fitness for purpose’, as regards safeguarding the societal and labour
market inclusion of young people, with particular reference to the following set of statements
that emerged from the synthesis study:
1.1. Policies for education and training, employment and social welfare are insufficiently
‘joined-up’ and co-ordinated;
1.2. Young people with disadvantaged socio- economic backgrounds and/or special needs tend
to be overly represented in the VET schools; despite the greater needs of these young
people, the VET schools are often comparatively under-resourced and unattractive;
1.3. Employers and social partners are inadequately engaged as partners in VET policy
development, governance, management and provision; this has a negative impact on the
relevance and status of VET qualifications;
1.4. Competent school professionals and relevant methods and materials are crucial for the
attainment of quality learning outcomes, yet disturbing numbers of young people,
responding to the project surveys, expressed dissatisfaction with their learning facilitators,
contexts and contents;
1.5. Supportive frameworks for school-leavers, including career guidance and job placement
services, are often ineffectual and there is a dearth of tracer studies and relevant research
to provide evidence for policy action to ameliorate this.
2. Please consider a priority list of measures (no more than five), which need to be taken at VET
policy and/or provision levels to improve VET’s ‘fitness for purpose’ that group members
consider could be implemented (and how) in the short to medium term (2-5 years). Consider
whether co-operation across countries could enhance the quality of the measures and, if so, the
form(s) that co-operation might take.
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2. Working room 1 - Group one:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and
Serbia
Facilitator: Elizabeth Watters
Café Table’ one: policy-makers
Moderator: Nina Brankovic
Rapporteur: Nikica Mojsoska Blazevski
‘Café Table’ two: school professionals
Moderator: Maja Ristovska
Rapporteur: Natalija Lukic
‘Café Table’ three: school professionals
Moderator: Jadranka Kaludjerovic
Rapporteur: Zrinka Ristic Dedic
Working room 2 - Group two:
Albania, Israel, Kosovo and Turkey
Facilitator: Lida Kita
Café Table’ one: policy-makers
Moderator: Basak Yavcan
Rapporteur: Ardiana Gashi
‘Café Table’ two: school professionals
Moderator: Sidita Dibra
Rapporteur: Jehona Serhati
‘Café Table’ three: school professionals
Moderator: Nermin Oruc
Rapporteur: Gözde Gülören
Working room 3 - Group three: Peer Reflection
Israeli policy-makers, representatives of EU institutions and international guests
Facilitator: Sabina Nari
Panel: William Bartlett and Marina Cino Pagliarello
Moderator:
Gad Yair
Rapporteur: Nir Rotem
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