NEWS

PEM CONSULT supported the VET School `Sedat Simavi Endüstri Meslek Lisesi´ from Lefosa and its network partners within the EU-funded Program `Schools´ Initiative for Innovation and Change´ by training of trainers and practical trainings at VET institutions in Germany.

Employment in Electrical Engineering in general and in the Energy sector in particular provides ample opportunities for the Turkish Cypriot population, including youth and long term unemployed. Unfortunately, the development of modern teaching and learning methods (and materials) needed to educate competent and qualified graduates, lags behind the requirements of the labour market and business community. Frequent consultations with representatives from the labour market and the energy sector and related sectors (e.g. electrical contractors, engineers) have confirmed this mismatch and the proposed action is a direct result.

The action supported the overall objective for the EU program as it focused on strengthening the vocational and pedagogical competencies of Sedat Simavi Endüstri Meslek Lisesi´s academic staff, both in general as in three innovative subjects in Electrical Engineering in particular. The respective subjects can provide for the current and, more important, future competencies in Electrical Engineering required by the labour market / business community. As the action includes the development of modern teaching and learning methods (and materials) in and raises the capacity of educational practitioners – by adopting relevant experiences and best practices from Europe and beyond, it directly contributes to the programme priority: Modernisation of teaching methods in line with global and European Educational trends.

The vision and strategy paper for an improved Turkish Cypriot education system in the northern part of Cyprus emphasises the need for introducing methods in line with child / student centred teaching and learning as well as the need for reviewing teaching materials in order to provide education that is based on integrated skills, critical thinking and problem solving.

This issue was supported by a train-of-trainers action at PEM CONSULT Headquarters and following practical trainings at various VET institutions in Germany and comprised the enhancement of pedagogical and vocational competencies of educational practitioners (dealing with student-centred education methods, Competence Based Education), the development of competence based subject curricula (integrated skills) with special attention for soft skills (critical thinking, problem solving, decision making).
 
The action addressed the lack of contemporary teaching and learning methods in vocational education, specifically in Electrical Engineering. To combat these problems the ToT and practical training enhanced both the pedagogical competencies and vocational of the educational practitioners at the SSEML and its partner network. The lecturers in Electrical Engineering from SSEML taking part in the ToT program will in turn disseminate their gained competencies and experiences to their colleagues and the network partners.