Problem / need / context At a Further Education and Training (FET) centre in County Galway, trainers delivering a QQI Level 5 Early Childhood Care and Education programme began noticing a persistent challenge among their learner group. The cohort included recent school leavers, returning adult learners, and a number of learners from non-English-speaking backgrounds who […]
Problem / need / context At a SOLAS-approved apprenticeship training centre in Dublin, a team of electrical apprenticeship trainers began raising concerns about a communication pattern they were observing across multiple cohorts. The issue was not a lack of technical knowledge on the part of learners — standards on the craft skills assessments remained broadly
Problem / need / context Rarely do learners consider what could go wrong when initiating a project, since the framing is negative and seems to carry effort to the opposite direction. The lack of this approach, however, leads to avoidable mistakes, missed deadlines, equipment misuse, safety incidents, and projects that stall halfway because a risk
Pre-mortem Analysis Read More »
Problem / need / context VET learners tend to respond to difficult problems by repeating the same approach with more effort. When this method fails, they abandon the task. Trainers report this pattern across welding diagnostics, accounting exercises, recipe troubleshooting, and care-plan case work. Learners conclude the task is beyond them rather than try a
The Two-Mode Method — Teaching Problem-Solving Through Focused and Diffuse Thinking Read More »
Overview The studiecirkel, or study circle, is a peer-led learning format developed in Sweden at the beginning of the twentieth century and now embedded in adult education across Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It offers a useful reference point for VET trainers exploring mentoring approaches in which students take collective responsibility for inquiry into themes
The Scandinavian Study Circle (Studiecirkel) as a Model for Peer-Led Mentoring in VET Read More »
Problem / need / context Finland’s 2018 VET reform made transversal skill development formally inseparable from technical assessment. Every vocational skill criterion in Finnish upper secondary VET now implicitly covers applicable transversal skills — a task assessment may consider the student’s teamwork, communication, or problem-solving abilities alongside technical execution. OECD This means that the tutoring
Finland. The 2018 VET Reform practical teaching practices for guidance and mentoring Read More »
A government-funded, full-time programme delivered through Ireland’s Education and Training Boards, offering individualised, inclusive pathways that re-engage early school leavers aged 15–20 with learning, qualifications and employment.
Youthreach (Ireland) Read More »
A French network of second-chance schools offering individualised, full-time programmes that combine basic-skills revision, personalised coaching and company work placements to bring young people aged 16–25 back into education, training or employment.
École de la 2e Chance — E2C (France) Read More »