1 The impacts of Leonardo da Vinci – projects in Finland The evaluation of both the and projects was carried out by special researcher Seija Mahlamäki-Kultanen from the Research Centre of Vocational Education and Training, University of Tampere It was funded by the Ministry of Education

2 Main points of the presentation What kinds of an impact have the projects and their results had in the long term and how have their results been exploited after the end of the projects? Does the programme have effects on educational practices or educational policy? How has the situation of the target group changed in relation to internationalisation and what it is at the present moment? How to enhance the effectiveness of the programme?

3 continues How can an international programme, especially a programme of the EU, affect the development of vocational education? What is the additional value brought in by the EU? Could the same functions be handled nationally?

4 The concept of impact in LdV? The targets of the programme are extremely wide and open The subject matters and content areas vary a lot Fairly small amount of money per each content area How to separate the impacts of LdV-projects from other developing actions? Open approach to search for the impacts of the projects Utility for the beneficiaries -approach by Patton (1997)

5 Methodology Analysis of projects documents and products Analysis of Internet-pages Reaching the project co-ordinators and organisations was fairly succesful in spite of the recent restucturing of Finnish educational system (data from 86 % of the projects was reached) Telephone interviews and conversations questionnaire Group interviews

6 Short-term effects during The impact of the projects was generally large or very large. The project coordinators learned –Project management and project administration in EU –Working models for developing their own work –Understanding of different work cultures –Language proficiency –To use and information technology in general

7 The long-term impact of the Leonardo projects The product of the project is still in use or has been developed further The expertise on the content area of the project has expanded, the need for it has increased and a completely new organisation or working model has been established The implementing organisation has become generally more innovative and internationalised

8 Continues The interpersonal networks built during the project are still working both on European and on national level The previous coordinators are now working as national innovators and are actively developing their fields A product or an idea for a project that was developed in European cooperation has led to a national follow-up project An idea for a project that was developed in European cooperation has led to a European follow-up project

9 LdV today in Finland The long-term impacts of the first LdV –projects seem to be large The situations of both the beneficiaries and the project coordinators and contractors have changed a lot. There is lots of project expertise and some professional project organisations have even emerged

10 Recommendations There is still plenty of needs to be converted into LdV-projects LdV can be a good solution, but the administrational duties and procedures make it unpleasent to especially entrepreneurs.They should be simplified a lot. The situation of educational organisations is somewhat polarized; care should be taken of the smaller organisations especially on vocational secondary level.

11 Recommendations The impact of the projects should be supported by national cooperation of the projects and with valorisation projects. Projects should be aimed to meet the needs of the target groups and to deep impact instead of seemingly extensive dissemination There should be two different types of projects: great spearhead projects and smaller projects that could be administered completely nationally as long as the European aspect is visible in them

12 Recommendations for the project organisations Implementing organisations have to guarantee support and trust with their expert applying for international projects. In project personnel choices, organisations should follow the principle of personnel rotation and involve the whole staff in the projects in different ways. Project expertise should be disseminated inside the organisation and decrease the unnecessary dependence on individual workers of projects. Authorities of the region should be involved in the projects.

13 continues Projects should be planned from the very start in cooperation with the representatives of the target group and such work methods should be used that truly increase their possibilities to affect the planning. Projects should form links between their www pages and the possible portals of their vocational field, and use such keywords that make it easier to find them.