Creating a collaborative environment in VET

The CollaboratiVET project started with a simple observations that led to a need identified across VET institutions of the consortium: many students struggle with assignments outside class, lacking support, motivation, and engagement, which leads to high dropout rates and poor performance. According to Eurostat, in 2022, 12.2% of young Europeans did not complete school, a number that clearly highlights the need for innovative methodologies. Though flipped learning, personalised learning, and gamification offer effective solutions, they are rarely implemented due to the additional time and resources they require. The partnership aimed to address these gaps by integrating the flipped approach into VET education. Our aim was to foster a supportive, personalised learning environment where VET teachers are equipped to inspire active participation and increase students' sense of responsibility. Collaborative and engaging can lead to reduce dropout rates and discipline issues but also raise educational levels and performance, especially among diverse student populations. VET teachers, as key enablers, were central to this project, preparing students to meet labor market needs and creating a well structure educational system.

CollaboratiVET aimed to bring the flipped approach into VET institutions to equip VET teachers with 21st-century skills and collaborative activities that enhance student engagement, motivation and maximise learning potential. This approach was designed to improve the attractiveness of VET and reduce dropout rates by preparing teachers to. To achieve this, our objectives (s.O.) were interconnected across the 5 Work Packages. As a first objective, we identified the skills needed to foster collaboration through the flipped approach in VET (s.O.1 - WP2), establishing a foundational framework that defines the contexts where this approach would benefit VET classrooms (aligned with the 1st field-specific priority). Next, we supported VET educators on implementing the flipped approach (s.O.2 - WP3), with a curriculum designed to promote collaboration, innovation, and VET’s attractiveness (2nd field-specific priority). Following this, we equipped educators with the latest collaborative tech tools (s.O.3 - WP4), supporting sustainability, inclusion, and effective learning (horizontal priority). Finally, CollaboratiVET aimed to raise awareness of this student-centered, active learning method across European VET institutions (s.O.4 - WP5).