From 05 to 07 April, the European Working on Soft Skills for Employment project met at several Ikaslan Bizkaia VET centres and other places of interest to get a first-hand view of Basque VET and its challenge-based Ethazi learning methodology, a benchmark for the WISE project’s partners.
Today marks the end of a week of visits organised by the WISE project in Bizkaia as part of its action framework for the exchange of good practice between Vocational Education and Training bodies. Over the last three days, representatives from nine organisations have visited VET centres in Bizkaia, the goal being to showcase the Basque education model, which is being studied by the WISE project alongside the renowned Finnish model. The focus for these visits has been on the Ethazi methodology, which uses challenge-based learning to connect students more directly to real-life work situations and develop their skills over each training cycle.
The first visit was to CIFP San Jorge, where the European team got the chance to get closely acquainted with the Basque VET educational model and its advantages, as well as the Ethazi methodology. This exchange of good practice continued the following day at CIFP Tartanga. In addition, the Bizkaia region’s Agency for Employment and Entrepreneurship (DEMA) presented its ENPRESARI programme, an initiative to promote an entrepreneurial culture among Basque students. Participants then moved on to CIFP Nicolás Laburu, where they were introduced to the GizaLEADER project, a programme for reinforcing soft skills which is led by Ikaslan Bizkaia and funded by the BBK foundation, and aims to improve student employability.
Today, the WISE project has visited CIFP Emilio Campuzano and heard from the Basque employers’ association Confebask. They made clear the business sector’s commitment to collaborating with VET centres, as they provide valuable training opportunities for many businesses who are looking to hire people with that kind of background. To finish, the team headed to the Iberdrola Tower to participate in an Erasmus+ international project dissemination conference organised by Tknika, the innovation project development centre managed by the Vice-Ministry of Vocational Education within the Basque Government’s Department of Education.
This marked the end of the WISE project’s second in-person gathering to exchange good practice and applied VET methodologies. The project, which is made up of educational organisations from Portugal, Italy, Finland, Norway, Estonia, and Denmark, is expected to run until September 2022.
