The meeting was organized in the framework of the EACEA’s call KA3 Support Policy Reform ‘’Vet-Business Partnerships on Work-based Learning and Apprenticeships’’.

Mr. Grassos due to his expertise in the European funded projects and project management  was involved in a wide range of workshops during the kick-off meeting. There were 4 topics related to the project, as following:

1. how skills needs assessments will be carried out within sector
2. how systematic cooperation will be ensured between businesses and VET-schools including where appropriate the collaboration with the tertiary level and/or VET teachers and in-company trainers. He was appointed as Rapporteur for the Topic
3. what kind of activities, including support tools, are you developing and how will take into account regional / local development strategies to improve the provision of apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning
4. how will your project contribute to increasing the attractiveness of work-based learning and apprenticeships.

In the fourth topic Mr. Grassos was appointed as Rapporteur, because of his great involvement in the field of WBL and apprenticeship. In this topic the main points was the knowledge transfer from countries with high attractiveness and penetration of WBL and apprenticeships to those with less attractive business and apprentices. Also, the development of coordination and communication tools were involved in this topic, analyzing that the lack of communication tools influence the low image of WBL and apprenticeship. A higher attractiveness of WBL and apprenticeship will be achieved through the sectoral approach and the involvement of social partners and associations matching the actual needs.

Under the supervision of Mr.Grassos in this topic also it was discussed the need to raise attractiveness through demonstration of sectoral perspective and employability and the improvement of curricula and teaching methods  so as to eliminate the skills mismatches. In order the attractiveness to be increased, it had been noticed the necessity to enhance the attractiveness campaigns through workshops and the creation of the National Focus Learning Groups. The low attractiveness of WBL and apprenticeship will be also tackled by capacity building in SMEs and the improvement of the working conditions.

For more information read: Business Partnerships on Work-based learning and Apprenticeships - Kick-off Meeting - Outcomes of world café discussions

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