International Strategic Partnership in Textile Education

Context of project: The goal of the project was to provide skilled employees for the restructured European textile industry. The main idea of the project was based on the need to BALANCE the EMPLOYER´S NEEDS on skilled labour forces in European textile and clothing industry WITH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES OF THE TEXTILE SECONDARY SCHOOLS or Specialised educational centres and thus support both job opportunities and mobility for graduates (future labour forces). The growth of the efficiency of vocational education with regard to the structural changes that have taken place in the European textile and clothing industry for the past 20 years. These changes place completely different requirements for the structure and labour force skills. This trend must be transformed also to the whole sphere of vocational education in different European countries. Project objectives:- Comparison of the level of vocational education in selected countries- Utilisation of the strong parts of school programmes- Facilitate the integration and employability of young people who are interested in studying disciplines of the T+C industry- Support of the co-operation between the educational and employer´s sphere Consortium:1 coordinator (CZ) and 8 core partners (CZ,ES,PT,PL) The project partners were well chosen with respect to the purpose of the project. Associations from Poland (PIOT), Spain (ASECOM), Portugal (ATP) and Czech Republic (ATOK) provided contacts between schools and employers. All these associations knew the needs of T+C branch for skilled workers and were able and willing to help in their education. Represented schools (SPST, Czentrum Sosnowiec) and educational institutions (Fuenllana, Modatex, TZU) have a long term experience in the vocational system of education and great interest in cooperation with the manufacturing sector. Main activities and theirs resultsIO1, IO2 - Comparative study of National qualification framework and educational programmes IO3 - Set of 10 Unit of learning outcomes supporting the future student´s mobilityIO4 - International Multilateral agreement combined with 4 Declaration of willingness with 27 companiesImpact:The exemplary document were prepared within the project; it is not intended only for project participants but also for other bodies (eg.associations members), which could be or are interested in recruiting the skilled labour forces. At the same time students will have possible certainity of the future jobs and mobility within the EU. This is the project contribution to the growth of qualification level of labour forces and thus to the higher competitiveness of the European T+C industry.