skillME project results and overview on VET in Croatia Marija Šutina, HUP Sector Skills Alliance/Erasmus+

Situation in 2014. relatively high level of unemployment, for companies it was difficult to find skilled workforce educational system and programs do not match industry needs widening skill gaps. skillME project was designed as a response to those needs. It was meant as a collaborative project between vocational education and training providers (VET), national regulatory partners and representatives of the metal and electro industries of the EU member states Croatia, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Main goal: identifying the most endemic skill gaps in the metal and electro industries and at developing state-of-the-art curricula to fill those gaps in order to ensure sustainable development of the European metal and electro markets

Common interest work force skilled to be productive, efficient and able to compete at global market opportunity to develop 4 curricula together with 4 other member states Develop and then use the same curricula in vocational education and life long learning Metodology: Focus group meetings and interviews: 2 meetings with focus groups (employers) to find out about skills that are most needed Interviews with 5 employers from metal industry and 5 employers from electro industry Identifying priority in technical skill gaps in metal and electro industry, future needs Discussing and defining recommendations for final selection of priority skill gaps for meeting with project partners in Riga in 2015.

What we wanted to find out from employers 1. Do your employees possess all the necessary skills for your current production processes? 2. What technical skills do your employees miss? 3. Do you monitor the development of the technologies? 4. Do you offer training for the employees? If yes, how often? 5. What current technical skills have to be improved (updated) for future in metal and electro industry (in 3-5 years) and new VET programmes have to be designed for them? 6. What new skill needs will be essential for future in metal and electro industry (in 3-5 years) and new VET programmes have to be designed for them? Q 1-4 – for discussion, Q 5-6 were the most important for the research

Not enough hours of practice in teaching Reading technical documentation Welding Basic knowledge on colouring Basics of measurments and measurment techiques Project assignment Competences in mathematics

Final selection of skill gaps for designing a common training programme in metal and electro industry- Croatia Development and maintenance of technical documentation (reading and development of blueprints – sketching) Running CNC machines/CNC programing (linking with machine circuits); application of knowledge of digital electronics Merging in line with schemes (linking contents and practical skills) Linking of manipulation of man and robots (robotics) Quality management (measuring and control, quality control, work responsibility) Working and manipulating dangerous and non-dangerous waste Project assignment – as a form of teaching class After Riga meeting, the most common skill gaps in the metal and electro industry are observed in the field of: 1. TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION, 2. CAD/CAM SYSTEMS, 3. AUTOMATISATION & 4. NEW MATERIALS

Implementation of pilot- trainings, benefits and challenges Technical High School Faust Vrancic, Zagreb Electrotechnical school, Zagreb CAD/CAM training Reading Technical Documentation – Electro training Composite materials training Machine vision systems (automation) Both students and workers approved: suitability and interest in new curricula Students acquired the basic knowledge through regular classes, broadened their knowledge and created the basis for easier and faster upgrade of the competences necessary for the future work place. Having trainings in the afternoon or on weekends was demanding for workers and difficult for employers to organize Workers were interested in getting answers from teachers on matter that was not included in teaching materials Good rating of curricula and pilot implementation Knowledge improvement and exchange of informations about present gaps and future employers’ demand