“E&E FASHION - Education - Employment Partnership for iVET in the fashion sector” (2016-1-RO01-KA202-024710) was a two-year European project aimed at developing a European teaching and training toolkit for supporting the implementation of work-based learning (WBL) in all stages of vocational education and training (VET). Moreover, the project supported the implementation of Quality Assurance mechanisms for WBL in VET in the fashion sector with a specific focus on feedback loops between initial (iVET) and continuous VET (cVET) systems.

The project was coordinated by Technical College “Ïoan C. Stefanescu”(Romania) and the project partners were Effebi Association, Confapi Association and Eurocrea Association (Italy), “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi and Katty Fashion (Romania), Vocational High School of Tailoring “Nedka Ivan Lazarova and Chamber of Commerce (Bulgaria) and Revalento (Netherlands).

On the basis of national researches in the different partner countries to compare existing approaches in organizing and offering WBL in the Fashion Industry, Partners set up some Guidelines to help VET institutes in the fashion sector to improve their WBL routines. 
These Guidelines consist of two elements: a quick scan and a set of instructions. The quick scan helps companies and educational institutions to make an inventory of their current arrangements on WBL and how these arrangements take into account the employer’s involvement, expectations and possibilities.
The instructions are instead general advices on how to improve WBL performance of the institutes in four areas: vision and policy, internal organisation of the WBL, learner’s preparation on the WBL period and employer’s involvement and arrangements needed for a high quality WBL position.

The purpose of the quick scan is to support Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutes which are interested in enhancing the effectiveness of their work based learning (WBL) offer: creating good learning outcomes of WBL which support the individual student and which are consistent with the curriculum it is part of. Apart from supporting an integral approach on achieving these objectives, the tool focuses on the establishment of so called co-makership: close collaboration between labour market and education to achieve learning outcomes which meet simultaneously educational objectives and labour market requirements. Therefore, the tool assesses existing levels of co-makership and provides feedback in the form of general guidelines to improve on its level.

For further information about the quick scan and the guidelines visit the project website: http://colegiulstefanescu.ro/eefashion/index.htm