Evidence-based approach in Erasmus+
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How do foreign vocational placements impact skills and future career paths?1
By Michał Pachocki
Since EU funds became accessible to vocational schools, learning mobility has arguably been one of the most important means of increasing skills in initial VET training. When looking at the results of the Erasmus+ selection rounds, it can be noticed that in most of the programme countries, schools and other VET providers are eager to send their learners to undertake practical training in other European countries. Hence, it is worth considering whether, and to what extent, the mobility projects support the development of students’ skills and to what extent they positively affect their further professional life.
Michał Pachocki is an educational researcher, philologist, anthropologist and evaluator. He is also an author of reports and articles about education and learning outcomes. He has been working for the Foundation for Development of the Education System since
1. Background and rationale The core objective of the present research is to assess a mobility’s impact on the skills and further career paths of mobility participants. Thus, the main research questions mainly aimed to determine to what extent the acquired competences have proven useful, especially in the context of participants’ current professional status and standing in the labour market. Not only occupational skills were taken into account when the graduates’ mobility experience was put under scrutiny, as the questions also covered both the soft skills and intercultural dimension of their mobility experiences. The sample concerned mobility training implemented under the Erasmus+ VET as well as the preceding Leonardo da Vinci programme for lifelong learning. Both initiatives were mainly addressed to vocational schools and other practical training institutions. To make the mobility eligible in accordance with programme rules, it needed to be consistent with the vocational training obtained by the learners in their sending countries. The mobility programme was to be commonly agreed upon between the sending institution and the learner’s foreign host. 1 This text is based on the full transnational research report presented in: Fassl, A., Kirsch, M., Pachocki,
2009. Initially, he supported quality assurance of projects implemented first under the Lifelong Learning Programme and later under Erasmus+. Currently, he works in the Research and Analysis Department of the Polish Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps National Agency.
KEYWORDS Erasmus+, mobility,
M., & Zabko, O. (2020). Tracing vet graduates with foreign mobility experience. Transnational research report.
vocational education,
Warsaw: Foundation for the Development of the Education System. doi: 10.47050/66515475
skills
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