On July 3rd 2020, MODATEX promoted a Half-Day event to share the work developed by the CosTUmE partnership and a debate and reflexion about the current challenges faced by the Textile and Clothing sector, specifically the adjustment of the VET offer to companies’ needs and workers’ aspirations.

The ECVET matrix, the Tutorial Guide for Mobility, the Training Package for delivering the Clothing Technician profile and qualification, and the Train The Trainers in preparation, were the project results presented. Apart from the project’s objectives, European mobility and trainers’ preparation were the focus.

Invited speakers from a clothing company, the national institute for employment and vocational training, and the national regulatory agency, presented very interesting ideas on clothing companies’ qualification needs, future skills needed regarding the national qualification framework and the mobility system.

Given health restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic situation, both speakers and audience were safely distributed, attending through either room presence or on-line videoconference. This arrangement worked quite well.

From the 60 participants on the event (16 at the venue), nearly half of them (29) were clearly identified as being from target groups that the project aimed to reach, namely, 10 Vet trainers (half through on-line conference), 11 representatives from textile and clothing companies (mostly on-line, a remarkable number given the current stressed placed on companies by the consequences of the pandemic situation), 2 representatives of umbrella institutions, 2 from other VET schools, 1 from a business association of sectors’ companies, and 3 trainees.

A very interesting debate took place on the sector’s attractiveness and challenges. The main conclusions pertained to (1) the needed adjustment of the training offer to labour market needs; (2) the need to increase the interest and mobilization of young people to the sector; (3) a human resources management strategy at the companies that is able to increase notoriety of the professions involved; (4) youth mobility efforts in implementing this profile and qualification, between institutions and companies from Portugal, Spain and Romania; (5) the potential and importance of the ECVET system in building qualification paths and providing mobility between European countries; (6) the needed acceptance of the new profile and qualification from national regulatory agencies, recognizing its construction through learning results and the ECVET model; (7) the importance of involving trainers in the Train The Trainers action for delivering the Clothing Technician profile and qualification, promoting innovative practices in its implementation and, at the same time, providing feedback to the referential itself and the projects’ evaluation.

If you are a professional or a company from the clothing and textile sector, please contact [email protected] and find out how you can participate in the project’s activities and implement this new and updated clothing technician profile!

RECENT POSTS