CONDAP project
CONDAP project
Digital Skills for Workplace Mentors in Construction Sector Apprenticeships (CONDAP) is an EU-funded project with the objective to enhance the digital skills of mentors in construction apprenticeships. Instructus Skills are working together with other European partners from Greece (Exelia), Lithuania (VSRC), Belgium (EBC) and Spain (Polytechnic University of Valencia).
Employers in the construction industry are regularly and increasingly vocal about skills shortage and their misalignment faced by the construction industry. To face the gap between VET students’ training and employers’ expectations, the modernisation of construction apprenticeships is crucial for the development of key skills and an improved employability of young construction workers. This framework aims to make construction training more flexible and effective though training trainers and mentors. Such an approach could effectively address the misalignment between VET offerings and the demand for skills and innovation in the construction sector.
In the context of the ongoing digitalisation of the construction sector, CONDAP project aims to ensure that construction mentors’ technological skills and competences are up to highest standards.
About The Project
The construction sector is consistently reporting skills shortages and a relatively low attractiveness towards young people, despite its increased use of apprenticeships as a training path. The dropout rate of apprenticeships is relatively higher than that of other sectors. One of the key challenges identified and associated with these issues is that apprenticeship mentors in the construction sector often lack themselves modern digital skills required to match the sector’s and young workers’ expectations and requirements. Construction apprenticeship mentors appear reluctant to introduce new digital methods during their teaching practices, and sometimes also find that their role as trainers is not specified well enough to allow for such approaches. It is thus essential to develop professional development opportunities of high quality, and to train workplace mentors on how to introduce new digital methods and innovative content during their teaching practices, in order to make training effective, address misalignments between VET offerings, skills demand & learners’ realities.
OUTPUTS AND METHODOLOGY
CONDAP delivers the following Intellectual Outputs:
- O1: Evidence based learning outcomes (Output Leader: INSTRUCTUS)
- O2: CONDAP learning units and training methodology for mentors as trainers (Output Leader: VSRC)
- O3: CONDAP Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Vocational Open Online Course (VOOC) (Output Leader: EXELIA)
- O4: Framework for the validation and systematic use of CONDAP learning materials (Output Leader: EBC)
The project comprises of the following expected results:
- Analysis of training requirements of workplace mentors in construction apprenticeships.
- Development of learning outcomes for mentors’ professional development and upskilling with digital skills and innovative teaching practices.
- Development of Vocational Education and Training (VET) learning units teaching methodology for in-company mentors in construction apprenticeships.
- Creation of pedagogical materials to be offered as Open Education Resources (OERs).
- Development, testing, and delivery of learning materials and the Vocational Open Online Course (VOOC) infrastructures on the digital skills and competences of in-company mentors.
- A road-map for the systematic integration of CONDAP learning outcomes into VET.
- Development of Memorandum of Cooperation to support the enhancement of the digital skills of mentors in construction apprenticeships and to establish a relevant EU strategic partnership.
- Running 2 demonstration workshops & 3 information days to promote project results and validate educational resources.
Partners:
- INSTRUCTUS
- EXELIA
- European Builders Confederation (EBC)
- Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
- VšĮ Vilniaus Statybininkų Rengimo Centras / Vilnius Builders Training Centre (VSRC)