Implementing staff academies

Salpaus was the leading partner of the Erasmus + project New skills for VET teachers which has now ended. Despite the Covid pandemic the project managed to reach its´ goals thanks to all partners’ commitment to working together in developing staff training.

-On our view, the project acted as a catalyst in helping some of the partners to implement training and mentoring academies for staff within their organizations, say the project manager Sannakaisa Raatikainen and lecturer Craig Donald from Salpaus. Extending the project through the Covid19 created some challenges on how to maintain the spirit and momentum of the project. We coped this really well, and all partners really took effort to maintain unity and make sure we completed what we had planned to do in the beginning of the project.

- Both on organizational and individual level, the partners had high motivation to be involved in the project even when circumstances were difficult and participating the first two LTTA workshops was only possible on-line for some of the partners. This was one of the factors that led to the project success. General feeling from each partner organization was that they received something valuable and beneficial to their own organization. Each partner received something related to their own needs. We feel that this happened due to the nature of the project, Exchange of good practices, which allowed freedom and time to reflect on each topic and develop something new and relevant to the organization. Also, the partners would want to continue working together and plan for new projects as well.

Articles to stimulate discussion

The project partners wrote 15 articles related to the topics covered in the workshops. The articles were aimed at stimulating discussion in connection with staff training and upskilling. These articles can be found on the project website and are open for anybody to access.

We summarized the main points and topics from the project in a mindmap which can be used to discuss on how each area individually affects different VET organizations. It can also be found on the project website.

The project helped to stimulate the development and implementation of Learning Academies in some of the partner organizations. This was a side product that we did not anticipate in the beginning of the project. We believe all the initial goals of the project were met. We shared views, challenges and good practice on how to provide new skills for our teachers also at European level.
In the 3rd LTTA in Bangor, Northern Ireland, we practiced making Link and Learn videos.
The videos intoducing the project can be found on Salpaus YouTube play list: New skills for Vet teachers – project and on the project web site as well.

More information about the project and the outcomes: https://nsvett2020.wixsite.com/mysite
Information in Finnish language on Salpaus website: NSVETT

The project was co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union in 2019 - 2022.
The European Commission is not responsible for the outcomes of the project.