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Evaluating Catering and Hospitality Skills though ECVET, phase 2
Start date: Jun 1, 2016, End date: May 31, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

One of the strategic choices of Helsinki Culinary School Perho is internationalization, which is put into practice for example by providing the students with opportunities for on-the-job learning abroad as well as the staff training abroad. These actions support the school’s vision and strengthens and promotes sustainable development such as understanding and respecting multiculturalism and diversity. Internationality is a natural part of everyday school activities. Students' capacity for internationalization and international mobility is supported, which also promotes the rise of organization's level of know-how. Work placements abroad enable different kinds of learning environments and individual learning pathways for students. Incoming international students bring in know-how and increase the internationalization in the school. Organization’s strategy for internationalization includes finding new partnerships and increasing possibilities for international mobility to meet the students’ increasing interest and need for international experience. The development discussions of the staff have shown that teachers have gaps in international expertise, as well as the need for language skills and IT skills development. Also ECVET knowledge is insufficient, consequently the teachers familiar with the principles of ECVET before the exchange period. Teachers are trained to use electronic means like Skype in accordance with the development plan for the staff, which enables for example vocational skills demonstration assessment in real-time for students abroad. The curriculum team's task is to develop the international dimension of the curriculum and make reforms according to Ecvet.The project is coordinated by Helsinki Culinary School Perho while Helsinki Vocational College and Lapland Tourism College are acting as domestic partners. The project is carried out with the International CHASE Network, which consists of 22 hospitality and catering colleges around Europe. Most of the colleges act both as a sending and a receiving partner. The Network has been operating for 25 years and represents a wide range of different language and cultural areas. From the gastronomic point of view, the colleges represent traditional European regional gastronomy. Gaining know-how and skills from the traditional European gastronomy strengthens the participants’ possibilities for employment and success in labor market.The participants of the project are teachers and primary and upper secondary based students, who study a vocational qualification. The two-year project provides 40 students with the possibility of 4-5 months exchange and 14 teachers with 12 days, and 2 teachers with 5 weeks training abroad. The student exchange consists of a 4 -week language and cultural training in the host college and of on-the-job learning. During the exchange period the students learn skills needed in the internationalizing working life in addition to the professional skills. International work skills include different languages, networking and acting in a multicultural environment as well as different working cultures and customs. The skills and learning outcomes acquired abroad are validated and recognized as part of the qualification. The project makes use of Europass Certificate Supplement, Europass CV and Europass Mobility Document.The teacher training abroad strengthens professional skills and international competences. Teacher exchanges aim to take place in the same restaurants, where the students are placed. This will strengthen the assessment know-how in the work placements towards the ECVET-principles. The assessment documents tested in the previous project will be developed further. The teacher exchange takes place, when the students start their on-the-job learning. Teachers familiarize the staff in the work placement with the vocational skills demonstrations and the assessment targets such as the knowledge, the skills and the competence of the student. The teacher organizes the vocational skills demonstration assessment via Skype in the end of the student’s on-the-job leaning.In the annual collaboration meeting The CHASE network agreed on a common project theme ECVET. Members of the network are in very different levels in terms of ECVET both in know-how and practical experience. Helsinki Culinary School Perho and Helsinki Vocational College have been co-operating to develop international mobility actions already for 8 years. Now, along comes a new partner Lapland Tourism College with a strong ECVET expertiseThe project aims to develop documents/material in English such as evaluation/assessment forms based on vocational program in hotel, restaurant and catering qualification and its unit of learning outcomes. The material aims to describe the validation of the learning outcomes and specify the assessment targets in on-the-job learning such as the knowledge, the skills and the competence of the student.

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