Leonardo da Vinci - Initial Vocational Training
Objectives and description of the action
The action aims at the support of transnational mobility of persons undergoing initial vocational education and training and is divided into two sub-groups:A. Mobility of apprentices
B. Mobility of persons in school-based initial vocational training
An Aprenticeship is defined as a vocational training scheme based on alternate learning in which the learning/training takes place at the workplace (enterprise) as well as in school. The enterprise plays an active role/has responsibility in the set-up of the training programme as well as in the decision if a person can leave on mobility; there is not necessarily a contractual link between apprentice and enterprise. Given the differences of initial vocational training schemes in the participating countries, the exact coverage of the two groups will be defined at national level and published on the national agency website.
The general objectives of this mobility action within the Leonardo da Vinci sectoral programme are:
- To support participants in training and further training activities in the acquisition and the use of knowledge, skills and qualifications to facilitate personal development, employability and participation in the European Labour Market.
- To enhance the attractiveness of vocational education and training and mobility for individuals and to facilitate the mobility of working trainees.
A transnational mobility in initial vocational training consists in a training placement for a period of vocational training and/or work experience undertaken by an individual participant (apprentice, pupil, trainee, etc in IVT) in an enterprise or a training institution in another participating country. In case the training placement is done in a training institution, the link to the practical experience and to the training needs of the participant shall be clearly defined.
Individual participants will receive their grant within a mobility project organised by a coordinating organisation. Individuals cannot directly apply for a grant to National Agencies.
Within the project, co-operation will exists between the sending institution and the host organisations, such as training institutions, VET schools or enterprises. Their respective roles and involvement in the different steps for implementation of the mobility activities have to be clearly defined, especially in case Intermediary organisations are participating. Their quality can be assessed on the basis of past performance and the satisfaction of the beneficiary and participants in previous projects.
In the case of apprentices mobility, good-quality intermediary bodies are very important to support and simplify participation of SME as sending or hosting organisation and to bridge the gap between the world of education and the world of enterprises. Competent intermediary bodies are all public or semi-public organisations and interest groups having the mission of supporting the business or training sector in their E&T activities; examples of such bodies are chambers of craft; chambers of commerce, business representation/federations, unions; labour offices.
Applications are submitted to the National Agency of the sending country (country of the applicant organisation) and can only cover outgoing mobility, i.e. individual participants residing and/or enrolled in the country of application moving to another participating country.
The beneficiary of the project grant, generally the coordinating institution, will have to ensure that the partners of this co-operation, including the intermediaries, meet the principles contained in the Quality Commitment:
- Clear description of objectives, needs, expected learning outcomes, content and duration of the training period abroad
- The placement is an integral part of the vocational training course
- Clear match between the training needs of the individual beneficiary, his training curriculum, the qualification to be achieved and the content of the placement (traineeship)
- Individual, linguistic and cultural preparation of the individual beneficiaries is ensured
- Pedagogical monitoring of the individual beneficiaries is ensured (tutoring and mentoring in cooperation between sending and host organisation, follow-up of learning agreement)
- Validation of the competences and learning outcomes acquired by the individual beneficiary and assessment of the general outcome within the specific vocational training field (use of Europass Mobility on request, use of ECVET, when applicable)
- Logistic support to individual beneficiary (travel, accommodation, host organisation)
- Dissemination activities are foreseen
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