NEW VET Stories 2022

Do you know the deep breath after breathlessness, the bench in the shade when it is summer or the gentle breeze moving the leaves? It took a lot but this also came for me. Anxiety ran a lap around my body, it crushed my chest when I couldn’t breathe, my head when I thought I was falling, my stomach when I couldn’t eat, my body when I used to hurt myself, my mind when I didn’t want to get up.

This job saved me, it took me by the arm and it accompanied me towards a new light, I was reborn from a passion that every day makes me feel exactly where I am. I was lucky enough to grow up in a school environment ready to listen to me. And as time passed by, I was healing.

My name is Daniela Rosada, I am twenty years old and I am a pastry chef. I want to leave a mark, to give courage to those people who are a little lost as I used to be. Feel all that pain, one day you will find the strength that will change your life and you will have a story to celebrate by living it.

I’m Mabel and I never thought I’d work in the world of Vocational Education and Training.

It was so distant from my ideal job that I never thought it could instead become my daily safe harbour, my sea (sometimes calm and many times stormy) in which to sail to try to spread the vision of lifelong training.

Rewind: I am Mabel and when I graduated I had one only objective to let the world know that I would be an Auditor, I would work in one of the Majors in the sector and I would do everything to promptly become a partner (woman).

And then…in the middle of an audit checking, I stumbled upon the reality of the VET system, I saw what is behind the design of a single training course, I saw people strongly believing in the power of VET and I started to think it would be nice to be able to also believe in it. So I’ve been starting to wink at that niche of the sector never seen before and now, after years, I also believe in it. I strongly believe that we can change something, not everything, and that we can improve our world.

I’m Moira and, I’ve been working at IAL Marche since 2003 covering various roles in the area of Vocational Training over the years.

The most important role played was that of the classroom tutor where every time it was for me a « getting back into the game » « as well as an « investment in my person ».

VET for me is about the exchange of information, the specific cultural preparation, the implementation of classroom management techniques and of the teaching tools to be used in the various class groups. This role has been sometimes difficult but stimulating at the same time, because investing in professional training means, in my opinion, to be able to develop expertise, to increase productivity and to foster changes, in line with company values.

« During the training process, changes are a happy encounter between two cultural experiences. One is that of the trainer who technically prepares the dynamic structure of changes and another is that of the learners eager for novelty. »

If I have to choose among Autonomy, Initiative and Creativity, I believe that Creativity is certainly the personal skill that makes me love the work of Training Designer.

When you design a training project you build it, you shape it into the training and work needs of the learners, into the historical, social and territorial context of reference and you make sure that each training project is unique.

I would like to explain my work by identifying myself with an artist: when I develop a project, both in the motivational part and in the didactic contents and training objectives, I feel like a painter. I enjoy creating the picture, by choosing details, colours and shades to be immersed in the « realistic normative rigor ».

However, there is a brio of originality that always distinguishes my way of working. I do not copy static realities but I devise reality in the making by dreaming « innovative work in the future ».

Hello. I am currently 20 years old and I prepare a vocational baccalauréat in logistics in the AFPMA of Péronnas. Before finding my way, I went to different rural vocational training centers for orientation because work-based training was the best solution for me who had problems with general education and harassment like many young people who end up not wanting to go to school.

I started with a first year in hotel and catering but I couldn’t do the second year because the school decided to close the course. So I stopped school to go to work. But I told myself that I would prefer to obtain a baccalaureate certificate in order to be well off professionally.

After doing a temporary job in logistics, I realised that I really liked it. That’s why I started to search on the internet for a school providing this training, and that’s how I ended up here today.

I wanted to say how much work-based learning teaches us the values of life.

I am Marko Žavbi, a student at The School of Woodworking in Nova Gorica. I am 19 years old, with a vision and a desire to present the wood and the music in my life as parts of my happiness. In other words, I am a lover of music and wood. I look at them with respect in my eyes, with gratitude for what they give me. With melodies from my guitar, violin, piano and other wood products that will ornament homes for me as well as others. I have encountered wood since I was a child. The joy of this was first shown to me by my father, who took me to a carpentry workshop, showed me the machines, the tools, and most of all, the path to all this.

Even then, I was aware that this feeling and a sense of duty was already in my heart, that I wanted to do it and that it brought me joy. A wide range of subjects and various extracurricular activities have helped me to think more comprehensively about how to become the best carpenter. Well-being always resides wherever you feel at home, in nature, in the natural environment. This environment provides us with wood. Anyone who knows how to appreciate nature and its importance also appreciates wood and all its riches.

Wood attracted me in my very early childhood. I began discovering its properties with wooden whistles and other first products in the home cellar.
I realized very early on that my profession would be a carpenter and thus I acquired my first woodworking knowledge in high school.

Many of the products I made were shown at various exhibitions and I was most proud of my final product, exhibited at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Center. After finishing school, I got a job and continued to work with wood.

In my free time, I deepened my experience and knowledge with a renowned carpenter. I am happy to pass on all my knowledge as a mentor to the younger generations who intern at our company.

My name is Tadej Štrancar, I teach professional subjects in the field of mechanical installations and metal processing at the School Center in Nova Gorica. My career as a « machinist » started very early as I was fascinated by various construction machines and their operation. After primary school, I enrolled in the mechanical engineering school at the school centre in Nova Gorica and, during high school, I became very enthusiastic about energy engineering. After successfully finishing high school, I continued my education at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana, where I graduated with a degree in energy.

My career then led me to various companies in Nova Gorica and its surrounding area. And the time has come for me to start sharing and passing on my knowledge to students. I got a job at the Nova Gorica School Center. Pedagogical work is very close to my heart because I do it with great pleasure and I am honoured that the students gain a lot of knowledge. This is confirmed by the employers to whom these students go to practice, as well as to be employed by them.

Since we have been dual vocational training in our company, it has been possible for every trainee to leave for an internship abroad with ERASMUS+.

For two years we have been organizing projects for the whole year. An attempt is made to renovate a historic rail vehicle of the respective country.
(Thessaly Museums Railway Greece).

The trainees have to make the plans for the work and then work together in a team. Sometimes it is also difficult to get parts and material. This was often a problem in Eritrea. Then it is interesting to observe the trainees. There are some growing beyond themselves that you might never expect.

This year we were in Greece and everyone can be proud of what we have achieved. As trainers, we also learn something new and recognize how much more potential there is in our young colleagues. Maybe we would never have been able to recognize it without this internship. ERASMUS+ Mobility is great opportunity to make our dual VET system attractive for our apprentices and our VET staff.

As a teacher in a vocational school, I find it important to teach my trainees topics such as diversity and intercultural competence. So, 7 years ago we started working together with Spain and Bulgaria in an Erasmus project. We organize joint project weeks, e.g. for sustainable animal husbandry. Parts of the project were realized in Spain, Bulgaria and Germany. The insight into other education systems was exciting and profitable for all partners. The developed materials are used in our school and offer the trainees an exciting and instructive insight into sustainable animal husbandry in different countries.

In addition to the factual knowledge, it was in particular the soft skills of our VET learners that have developed strongly through our cross-border teaching and learning activities. On the photo you can see Andalusian Iberico pigs from an organic farm, which we got to know during the project.

We are very pleased that such encounters within the formal dual VET are possible with the help of ERASMUS+, and would never want to miss it again.

Nowadays, the world of work is open to you. Everyone is free to choose their profession. I am a trainee industrial clerk in one of the largest companies for wood-based material solutions worldwide. I researched my wishes and quickly found this apprenticeship. I was able to prove my flexible willingness to work and my creative streak in a very short time.

Thanks to my commercial training, I got the chance to do an internship abroad. In my second year of training, a small adventure started for me. I travelled to Malta for a month and worked in another company there. My self-confidence was boosted and I was able to improve my English. It was a great experience. This apprenticeship was the right decision. It opens all doors for me to further my education and development. During my training, I went through a positive change in my lifestyle and personality.

My special thanks go to the team of www.azubi-mobil.de the IHK-Projektgesellschaft for this great opportunity.

I studied and graduated from the School of Food and Nutrition Technology at the Technical University of Athens. But for me, the bakery was my second home because my father was a baker, and from a young age, I grew up in the family business, a historical and old stone bakery. Although I knew the industry, I felt I needed to enrich my knowledge to take it on. Then I decided to study at the I.E.K OAED Xanthi, in the department of Bakery and Pastry.

During the two years of training at I.E.K., I learned new techniques and improved my professional knowledge and skills. Without a second thought, I decided to reopen the business, which I am now running on my own. In addition, I have also gained expertise in pastry making, which makes me envisage expanding in this field.  The vocational training at IEK provided me with the know-how to make the family business viable and improve it.

It all started when I accepted the offer to participate as an instructor in the Greek language training program for adult women refugees and immigrants. This ambitious project was a partnership between a KEK, an NGO and the EAP in order to implement an Erasmus proposal. In the beginning, I admit that I was sceptical, and that was because the courses would have to take place inside the Refugee and Migrant Camp.

The difficulties were many, the main one being that of communication due to different languages. No one spoke Greek, very few spoke broken English, and the class consisted of women of different nationalities and languages. But everyone’s love of learning overcame every difficulty. You could see women speaking Greek, writing their names in Greek (some had never even written it in their own language), and you were filled with joy and emotion. I will never forget the happiness on their faces, their gratitude, and the thank-you party they prepared for me.

As a training consultant in a Lifelong Learning Centre, I have been invited several times to act as a VET trainer in companies. Indeed, the experience of preparing and guiding both young and experienced entrepreneurs for the implementation of study visits and preparation of partnerships lasting from 1 to 6 months in similar enterprises abroad in the framework of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs has been exceptional.

The positive aspect of this process was that as a mentor, you become a co-facilitator in developing training plans to explore new business opportunities and products while helping to manage daily problems and concerns. Moreover, it is gratifying to know that you are helping to build the confidence of young entrepreneurs when they return as settled entrepreneurs and to see the development of transnational business partnerships that you have supported in their first steps.