Digitalization in the VET sector

Digital transformation is a key priority across all major EU directives and policies. The European Commission has prioritized digital skills development and recognized education and training stakeholders as key players in making innovations mainstream to meet the education sector’s needs (EC, 2018). VET is an integral part of education providing lifelong learning systems equipping individuals with skills responding to the needs of the economy but also with skills important for personal development and active citizenship. Thus, the European Commission emphasizes the need of VET to become more fit to the digital age and align with the technological progress and market’s demands as it has a crucial role in helping people to find jobs, especially after the pandemic.

The GROOVE project aims at building the capacity of VET providers/trainers to digitize, modernize their practices and build VET learners’ digital literacy. The specific objectives are to:

• Improve VET providers’/trainers’ competences to prepare and implement a digital education action plan.
• Build VET teachers’/trainers’ capacity to modernize their teaching practices through pedagogically-driven digital technologies, online education and support remote teaching.
• Build the competencies of VET learners to be digitally competent in the modern era.
• Develop innovative quality resources for VET providers, teachers/trainers and learners.
• Promote awareness on the importance of digital literacy for low-skilled adults in Europe.

Why is Digitalization in the VET sector important?

The use of digital skills in education significantly influenced the quality of education as well as its forms and methods as they have altered the way people communicate ideas, learn and work. Yet, digitalization in the educational sector is a phenomenon that still requires new knowledge and skills to remain aligned with the rapid technological progress, the needs of the market, and the competencies required for individual learners and workers to excel.

The Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, similarly to most of the industries today, is being challenged to remain aligned with the rapid technological changes and the digital world. With extensive lockdowns due to COVID-19, this digital transformation accelerated the past years. Nowadays, due to the aforementioned reasons, the professional activity of laborers incorporates an additional intellectual component associated with working with advanced electronic devices, artificial intelligence systems, computers etc. At the same, not only the learners’ but also the educators’ digital competencies need improving. As a result, the issues of digital transformation for educational institutions became highly important.