Development of an aviation aerospace mechatronics technician curriculum

<< Background >>A constantly growing number of companies have established themselves on the drone market as manufacturers or professional users. The fast growing of the aviation industry sector leads to new requirements in the vocational education and training of personnel working in this field. Respective ESCO occupations such as Mechatronics Assembler (Code 8211.3) or Aircraft Maintenance Technician (Code 7232.5) lack specific skills and competences such as programming, electrics, mechatronics or safety issues. So, especially the competitiveness of small SME working in the aviation industry sector is endangered as they cannot afford recruiting only specialised engineers for simple tasks.The project AMTech addressed therefore the following needs: - creating innovation in vocational education and training VET providers who need to upgrade and update their offerings and services to more innovative curricula and courses that meet labour market needs to support innovation, growth and competitiveness of SME working in the field of aviation - upgrading competences and skills for the aviation industry, VET learners who gain skills and knowledge relevant for labour market needs - skilled personnel for SME working in the field of aviation<< Objectives >>The AMTech project had very clear and concrete objectives of adapting vocational education and training to labour market needs by:- upgrading competences and skills of VET learners to be able to find a job in the growing aviation industry sector- helping VET learners to gain the right skills that Europe can strengthen its position in global competition and have a sustained economic relaunch geared towards a green and digital transition- developing a new professional profile of an aviation aerospace mechatronics technician in alignment with ESCO- creating a new and innovative curriculum specifically designed for labour market needs - developing the “European Aviation Aerospace Mechatronics Passport – EAAMP” to codify the most relevant profile and occupational features of the new profession, highlighting the competences, knowledge and skills requiredMoreover, the AMTech project requires and produces European added value:1. materialize the transnational confrontation and exchange between different VET realities.2. the diversity of the organisations represented amplifies the cross-border dimension of the AMTech project<< Implementation >>1. Project Management and implementation activities:Transnational Project Meetings (TPM): TPMs served the purpose of gaining an up-to-date overview about the overall project and financial management, the project activity implementation progress as well as to plan next activities. Quality assurance measures: The Project Management Plan included a section specifically dedicated to QA, which defined precise tools, actions and timetable of the internal monitoring and quality assessment to be realised. Every PR has bene peer-reviewed and evaluated with a QA Grid through the Steering Committee (SC).2. Project Dissemination Acitvities: Multiplier Events: The 3 MEs have held at the end of the project implementation to present the tangible results of the project to users, target groups and stakeholders. The following target groups attended the MEs:- SME working in the aviation industry sector that need technicians-to-be, - VET learners,- interested people representing the topic aviation and aerospaceONLINE and OFFLINE dissemination activities: personal meetings, conferences, websites, press releases, activities in social networks and more. << Results >>PR1 - Partners established the digital identity of the project and formal “online storage” of all project’s results, relevant news and updates. Users are able to access the content completely for FREE. The content is also available for download, use and reuse in compliance with the “open access to research and data” PR2 - In conjunction with PR1, the project partners accomplished the identification of relevant trends and dynamics for the aviation industry sector. The analysis highlights qualitative dynamics, quantitative data/statistics, tangible skills gaps, further challenges and opportunities and best practices. Training needs, required skills and capacity gaps were identified to ensure accuracy and relevance of the training content developed by the project.PR3 - The project developed an aviation aerospace mechatronics technician curriculum based on the defined professional profile designed in PR2. The curriculum has been designed in a modular approach. This will include generic as well as skills specific modules (like digital and new technologies skills).PR4 - The project developed a complete set of professional profile and training content. Partners developed the “European Aviation Aerospace Mechatronics Passport – EAAMP”.