Access and Progression staff from Forth Valley College have once again been invited to share best practice on Employability, Engagement and Empowerment of disadvantaged young people – at a conference in Malta.
Held in the town of Paola near Valletta between 27 November and 1 December 2017, the ‘3Es Youths in VET’ event was attended by representatives of four European college partners including: Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (who hosted the event), Havering College for Further and Higher Education (England), Akademie fur berufliche Bildung gGmbH (Dresden, Germany) as well as FVC. Friesland College (Holland) are also involved in the prestigious international seminar, but were not in attendance at this the third meeting of its kind in 2017.
3Es Youths in VET – Vocation, Education and Training - is a project specifically targeting the engagement and development of the full potential of students with fewer opportunities. It lists strengthening the learning support offered to young people coming from all backgrounds, cultures, interests and abilities within a vocational college, among its aims. The activities, programmes and curricula developed through the project will revolve around their needs.
Representing FVC at the seminar were Lecturer Stewart Ritchie and Curriculum Manager Alan Ritchie from the Department of Access and Progression. Colleagues Ruth Davis (who attended in January) and Yvonne McKelvie (who attended the previous meeting in May), have also been instrumental in helping develop innovative materials that were shared at November’s event.
Alan and Stewart delivered a workshop sharing best practice in the process of ‘Curriculum Development’. They were also asked to give advice and to critique the work of their fellow participants.
Alan, a Curriculum Manager in the Department of Access and Progression, said: “We were once again delighted to be invited to participate in this seminar, share best practice, and bring our expertise to the table. Our primary focus is on disadvantaged or returning students and those with additional support needs and as a result of our trip, helping to inform our colleagues’ practice, we have a number of areas to follow up on.”
Lecturer Stewart, said: “This was a very worthwhile event and one that is showing the benefits of international cooperation and the sharing of knowledge in this field. We have already been piloting a couple of courses, that have been recommended to us by our Maltese colleagues, at our Alloa Campus. We will be looking to build on the success of these seminars and are currently looking at areas of further collaboration which will be discussed at a further event in June.”