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MET-VET – Metacognition for
Environmental Thinking in VET
Project number:
2021-2-PL01-KA220-VET-000050783
No. of VET teachers/trainers 6
involved
No. of Managers of VET 2
organisations involved
Total no. of respondents 8
Profile of the respondents The respondents represent six VET trainers and two VET
managers with a diverse experience in vocational education
and training (some of them with more than 20 years of
experience, other with just a few years) and working in two
different VET institutions in Cham, Germany. The VET trainers
teach various subjects: ethic, soft skills, entrepreneurship,
etc.
Methodology adopted Online questionnaire
MAIN FINDINGS
The results showed insufficient implementation of integration and change management
strategies in the VET centre. Only three participants think their VET centre already implemented
such strategies, unlike five participants who disagree. Two of the three participants who
answered positively to this question are VET managers, who, concerning their role, perhaps
have a clearer insight into the management and quality assurance plans and strategies. One of
the managers mentioned introducing the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality
Management) quality system, which supports organisations in change management and
performance improvement, along with strategies as part of the school curricula (but only to a
small extent).
The other two participants mentioned strategies focused on digitalisation, such as investment
in equipment, digital media, teaching materials, and project development in the area of ESD.
The lack of integration and change management strategies, according to three participants, is
justified by lack of personnel, lack of time, and the organisation’s approach focused on
addressing immediate needs of the labour market, not having comprehensive planning as a
priority. At last, two participants could not think of any reason.
Furthermore, almost all participants (7) think that the VET centre they work/manage has not
implemented strategies for promoting metacognition skills in the context of digitalisation and
green transition strategies. The reasons they provided are lack of (mandatory) teacher training
on the topics of sustainability and digitalisation; lack of knowledge; lack of time and high
workload; capacity issues; low commitment to those topics in training courses; language
barriers of students or no interest in those topics; different departments and different
requirements of the school; heterogeneous composition of employees. The participant who
thinks such strategies are implemented, gave an example of having metacognition partially
evident in the subject “Lebensgestaltung” (in English: “Life Design”) which focuses on critical
thinking, reflection and self-reflection. The subject positively affect the students who express
high satisfaction with being able to reflect on themselves and get an insight into how others
see them. The weakest point might be that it requires concentration to reach success.
At last, all participants agreed on the usefulness of adopting the MET-VET project results. Some
participants showed a welcoming attitude towards new tools that they perceive as useful,
supporting the improvement of the learning process and pedagogical approaches and
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not
necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither
the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.