CASE STUDY SUMMARY: ICELAND
Number CS1 SUMMARY
CS1 Automobile sector: pilot project set within the motor industry (VET). The project is aimed at individuals with experience in the motor trades industry but who had not completed their vocational studies and therefore did not have the right qualifications. The CS describes the project’s main aim as trust building between various stakeholders (VET sec schools, adult education and training centres forum, TU, Employers Union) and the individuals concerned. The processes are described and useful conclusions reached, such as the importance of the availability of the educational/ vocational counsellors. CS2 Validation within the trades: The case study describes a validation project started in 2006 and coordinated by the Vocational and Educational Training centre (Idan) targeting people with 5 years experience in carpentry, who had not completed their Upper Secondary School but had at some point started studying carpentry. It gives details of the numbers of participants involved, and how many have succeeded in getting their competences validated in order to go back to Upper Secondary School, gaining ‘equivalences’ for course units and therefore shortening the formal education part. It reports on the methodology used for assessment -portfolios, interviews and simulations/ observations. It talks about funding (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture) and specifies that the validation process is free for the participants, but fees have to be paid once they attend school. It explains the way the project is run consensually though a steering group made of the social partners and various centres. It could be said that validation here is used for access into further education for participants to sit the necessary examination to become qualified craftspeople. VET
SECTOR
CS2
VET, AE/3rd Sector
CS3
CS3 Validation in banking: This CS describes here in some details the validation processes, piloted through a Leonardo project and initiated and financed by the Trade Union for banking employees, with the support of the banking sector and the lifelong learning and education & training centres. It targets service representatives and cashiers, mostly middle-age women who do not have formal qualifications in banking. The CS is interesting at several levels, showing working collaboration between the partners: the Trade Union, which runs the project and follows up after the validation, the banks, who assist with recruitment and assessment, and the Lifelong Learning centre who provides career guidance and work on portfolio building. It gives some indication of the success in quantitative terms, but mostly reports the satisfaction of the participants in terms of self-confidence, return to studying and possibility for better career prospects.
Employed based on WBL, AE/3rd Sector
