Quality vocational education is not possible without cooperation, is one of the most important conclusions of the conference called “Cooperation to better education”, which was organized by the Chamber of Crafts of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, held on October 2, 2023 at the Gervais Center in Opatija.
Vocational education is one of the key prerequisites for the development of a successful and competitive state economy. Due to its specificity, rapid changes in the labor market and the need for new knowledge and skills in accordance with new technologies, vocational education requires a combination of financial and non-financial measures at all levels, from national to local, and at the center should be the cooperation of all stakeholders: from the educational system and from the economy.
The conference “Cooperation for higher quality education” was organized precisely with this aim, in order to propose improvements to the existing cooperation of stakeholders in vocational education, primarily businessmen, business mentors, vocational school teachers, the chamber system, who actively participate in the implementation of vocational education for related trades and defined possible new models of cooperation.
During the conference, models of vocational education, especially apprenticeships, in which the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce play an active role, new digital tools in the field of vocational education for related trades, as well as the perspective of cooperation between higher education and the economy, were presented.
In addition, a panel discussion “Strengthening partnership and cooperation in vocational education” was organized as part of the conference, in which representatives of vocational education stakeholders participated: Vesna Anđelić, assistant director for the development of vocational education at the Agency for Vocational Education and Adult Education, Loredana Grdinić, director Craftsmen’s school Opatija, Ivona Obrić, president of the Guild of hairdressers, beauticians and pedicurists of the Rijeka Association of Craftsmen, Antonija Tretinjak, president of the Committee for Vocational Training of the HOK, Andreja Uroić Landekić, head of the Department for the Promotion of Vocational Education in the Ministry of Science and Education, and Danijela Žagar, head Sector in the Directorate for Industry, Entrepreneurship and Crafts in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.
In the conclusions of the conference, it was pointed out that it is necessary to harmonize the curricula with the needs of the economy in such a way as to ensure, first of all, a sufficient number of hours of practical teaching in the economy. In addition, it is necessary to ensure vertical mobility for people who have completed a three-year education in such a way as to design partial qualifications that would enable those who wish to take the state matura. It is necessary to encourage the professional training of teachers from schools in the economy in order to familiarize them with new technologies, as well as the pedagogical training of mentors from the economy in order to make it easier for them to work with students. It is necessary to strengthen cooperation at all levels, including the implementation of apprenticeships, i.e. work-based learning, as well as the promotion of enrollment in craft occupations as the first choice of students when entering secondary school.
