DEVELOPING BLENDED TRAINING PROGRAM FOR SPECIALIST ADVISORS IN THE EU FARM ADVISORY SYSTEM

"<< Background >>The purpose of the project did not change significantly during project execution. The aim of the project is to create an up-to-date and mixed training program that farm advisors need. Farm advisors are main responsible for farmer training in Turkey and in the EU as a mentor as well. Inherently, advisory VET, ie Training of Trainers, requires interdisciplinary study environment and involvement of several academic disciplines, such as agriculture, education, psychology, sociology and communication. However, current advisors are mostly graduates of faculties related with only agricultural sciences. Their limited academic background on the other relevant disciplines, rather than agriculture, complicates conducting advisory service. The current situation creates “skill mismatch” between the nature of farm advisory services and current qualification of advisors. A blended training program combining these disciplines in the EU perspective forms a structured learning/training pathway for furthering careers. An advisor should be equipped with effective communication skills and extension knowledge.<< Objectives >>FASTool project has addressed continuous training needs of the farm advisors in the EU Farm Advisory System (FAS). The present Project aimed at developing a blended training program for professionalization of the agricultural advisors defined as “Specialist”. The program would be applied for continuous improvement of Farm Advisory Services throughout the EU, by capacity development of the human resources. For this purpose, FASTool project has primarily practiced upon Quality Assurance (QA) methodology, indicative descriptors and quality indicators of appropriate EQF level. Development of the “Specialist Agricultural Advisor” qualification framework and designing training program curricula for furthering target group’s profession has been realized in four stages, compatible with the quality assurance and improvement cycle, in the following order: 1) Planning, 2) Implementation, 3) Evaluation/Assessment, 4) Revision. Besides main deliverables, FASTool fulfillled several duties; creating network among partners, assessing current situation, bridging the gap between the sector demanding service and VET systems, more internationalization and designing transnational training concepts. << Implementation >>The FASTool has adopted Quality Assurance methodology consisting of planning, implementation, evaluation and revision phases. For all phases, the individual methods have been used to reach the objectives in the project are as follows: Workshops, Desk and Case Studies, Cross Sectional and Delphi Surveys, Cluster Analysis, Criterion-Based Approach or combination of these methods. Taking into consideration the expertise areas of the key staff in the consortium, small working groups have been formed and these methods have been applied into research field. In the Planning Phase : In constructing the ""Determination of Professional Profile of Specialist Farm Advisors on the 6th level of EQF"", the European Qualification Framework (EQF) has been utilized as the core document. The EQF contains main descriptors for each qualification level. Specialist Advisors (SAs) employed in FAS should have adequate training background or they should have considerable work experience in the field and thus their appropriate competency is considered at the 6th level of EQF. In parallel to the descriptors at this level, competences of SAs required in FAS have been defined by categorizing. Through surveys with experts advisors and FAS authorities , competences at the 6th level of EQF have been determined and results reported in internal workshops organized. Since the Delphi method was implemented in series and multi-phases, it was an effective method in decision making and forming a consensus. Field and client-oriented dimensions of the competency profile have beeen determined by a cross-sectional survey. Cross-Sectional Survey was a descriptive study. In this study, farmer and FAS expectations from the SAs accepted in the EU have been determined. Upon compiling all studies at this phase, the step of developing competency profile of the project has been completed. Implementation: In the second phase, in the face of competency profile, to reach the expected proofs, A blended training program, providing determined competences, has been determined by multi-disciplinary desk study. The Training program included, must and optional courses, didactic content of the courses, pragmatically involvement of the trainee, entrance conditions, transnational credit system and flexible learning program as well as online learning sources (MOOC). Quality Management check contained direct observation, questioning, structured assessment, third party feedback, third party feedback, process has been done for the essential project deliverables. Revision: In the final phase, the initial project outcomes have been tested with pilot trainings, the third party feedback as employer and farmer being serviced by specialist advisors. In this test group, 360 trainee, 102 FAS expert and 143 Farmers has been involved. Using the feedbacks received from this case study, the ""refinement- validation"" of the competency profile and the training program have been made. For dissemination and valorization of the results, in parallel to the strategy developed in this subject, with requesting a multiplier event budget, an international seminar with FAS experts and Farmer Organizations from each partner country has been organized in Turkey. Moreover, the project registered into existing databases of the ERASMUS+ program and the deliverables is presented to the public via the project website. Electronic documents including the public level project outputs/findings have been e-mailed to the EU FAS authorities.<< Results >>The FASTool project has fulfilled all the promised outputs and activities within the framework of quality indicators. The 4 concrete outputs defined in the project application form, all planned project meetings and multiplier events were realized with the target number of participants. The project reached the target audience with the dissemination strategy it implemented. The professional profile was a reference for expected learning outcomes from the blended training program. Learning outcomes emphasized what a trainee is expected to achieve in terms of knowledge, skills, and competences, in line with each qualification level .Transnational character of the project made these learning outcomes universal throughout the EU at a certain extent. Since the project consortium consists of complementary institutions and their feedback has been taken during planning stage, leaning outcomes became acceptable with consensus for Farm Advisory services, being the employer for the advisors. The elucidated learning outcomes or professional profile sorted out principle for assessment of achievements to the FAS human resources. Upon having such a unified principles to be used in assessment, selection, and certification throughout the EU, clear objectives in VET have been set out and skill mismatches associated with advisory services have been removed. The Training Program developed in FASTool project functions as self professionalization pathway for bachelors or inexperienced practitioners. By using blended program having optional courses and flexible e-learning component, trainee has been able to select content within their interests and accordingly they partially have figured out their learning goals. The flexible character of the program stimulated attraction towards professionalization among learners. The program partially directs trainee to the online learning sources and aims at blended learning environment. In FASTool consortium, there were public bodies dealing with certification, tertiary level agricultural higher education institutes from which advisors graduate and farmer organizations representing end users in the considered context. In this respect, products and outcomes developed in FASTool, are somehow practiced upon by all consortium members. To ensure required qualifications in the field, each member of the project team has reviewed their procedure and they revised their policies in line with the increased knowledge. Besides, recognition and certification bodies enable to use more realistic inputs and indicators to efficiently measure qualification units. FASTool project gave policy recommendation to the European FAS authorities on occupational standards and legislative change needs. More internationalization was co-outcomes of the project implementation. In particular, collaborating higher institutions has created network for trainee and C-VET staff exchange, designing joint certification programs and follow-up projects. Applications are currently being prepared for central and more comprehensive projects.The ultimate goal of the project was to improve overall efficiency of Farm Advisory Services and better implementation of the EU Common Agricultural Policies (CAP) among European and Turkish farmers. Since environmental concerns constitutes base of the CAP policies, a better implementation of legislations contributes to “sustainability”, which is highly beneficial to all segments of the society. Human resources is at the heart of advisory services and the FASTool project promises Professional Farm Advisors for enhancing the EU policy implementation."