The final VET@work meeting was held at the premises of Axxell and Villa Anemone in Karjaa, Finland. During this meeting we looked back at the road we had taken and analyzed how far we had come. We realized that we had all gained so many benefits of the project and that the project has had a major impact on the way we work and look at vocational education.
The external evaluator from Åland Islands took part in this meeting and gave us valuable input on the project and its usability when it comes to setting up collaborations between VET and to world of work
During the meeting we were introduced to the way chef Michael Björklund and Villa Anemone collaborate with Axxell and what these collaborations had given the employers (Michael Björklund and Villa Anemone) and Axxell. We spent most of the time finalizing the project and focused in depth on the benefits/impacts VET@work collaborations have on VET and work and what obstacles those setting up collaborations are likely to face. To help those new to collaborations we also gave suggestions on how to overcome the obstacles that we have divided into 3 different categories; external, internal and habitual obstacles
To sum up the process we have gone through during the project's lifespan and that we recommend that those thinking of implementing VET@work collaborations would follow is this ongoing evaluation circle described in the picture below:
When beginning the project we had a bridge in mind! We felt that the VET@providers and employers were standing on opposite sides of the bridges and had problems of implementing genuine and sustainable developments based on trust, respect, communication and collaboration. After the first meeting we created this bridge (see picture below) with 5 steps. Some of the partners felt that they were on step 1, some that they were on step 2 and only a few of us were of the opinion that had managed to get to step number 3. At the final meeting we evaluated how far we had progressed on the bridge and we all agreed that we had managed to come to step number 4 but that there was a long way to reach number 5. This resulted in us agreeing to continue collaborating and that our next online meeting will be held in January 2022 where we will plan the next steps
