The Employers Meeting was held at the OAED Apprenticeship Vocational School of Aghii Anargiri (EPAS), Athens, Greece, on 21 December 2016.
The NAAGRCY Project is an initiative of OAED, aimed at improving the quality of Vocational Education and Training (VET), particularly Apprenticeship, in Greece and Cyprus, by closely cooperating with social partners and transferring know-how form the Germany, a country with a long tradition and experience in the Dual System of Vocational Education and Training.
The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to developing quality Apprenticeships as an effective tool for the smooth transition of young people form Vocational Education and Training to the labour market. It focuses, therefore, on the role and characteristics of companies as quality learning venues for training future skilled workers and qualified company staff members.
The Project will also help companies invest in their human resources and enhance their involvement in Apprenticeship programmes. This will be achieved by providing specific guidelines and a methodology about the development of in-company training (on-the-job training) regulations, the cooperation of Vocational Education Schools and companies, the (further) training of in-company trainers, the conditions of VET provision by companies, and the apprentice examination and certification procedures. One of the NAAGRCY Projects key deliverables was the development of a Methodological Guide that can help companies become quality Apprenticeship venues.
The main objective of the specific Employers Meeting, held at the OAED Apprenticeship Vocational School of Aghii Anargiri (EPAS), on 21 December 2016, was to inform the employers, which already cooperate with the EPAS, providing apprenticeship placements, about the Methodology proposed and developed within the context of the NAAGRCY Project, as well as about the objective of its implementation, i.e. the upgrading of companies to quality Apprenticeship venues. At the same time, this Meeting was also a cooperation invitation to the companies to participate at the Project Pilot Implementation.
During the Meeting, there was an exchange of views on the advantages and possible difficulties may occur on applying of the specific methodology, to be taken into account in the completion process of the Project Deliverables. The importance of the in-company apprenticeship standards was also analyzed.
Besides the employers, the NAAGRCY Project manager, Athanasia Theodoridou, the member of International Relations Service OAED, Eugenia Laina, the Directors of EPAS of Aghii Anargiri and Moschato, Dimitrios Pappas and Nikolaos Poulakos, as well as the EPAS responsible for the specialty of Car Mechanics, also participated at the Meeting.