“IF YOU COULD MAKE ONE CHANGE TO THE SKILLS SYSTEM TO GET MORE ADULTS LEARNING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?”
the ARISE project’s answer awarded in the “Voch Tech Future Skills Award 2023” event
The ‘Voch Tech Future Skills Award 2023’ has recently taken place: “Voch Tech” is the new competition that shares and celebrates innovative ideas on how to transform/improve the skills system in the UK through technology.
The competition asked participating projects to answer this very simple question:
“If you could make one change to the skills system to get more adults learning, what would it be?”
The answer given by the ARISE project, whose training platform will be used by RES2 project for the organisation of Living Labs, was considered the most innovative and visionary. The project coordinator emphasised the importance of focusing on micro-skills. All learning ‘transactions’ have a value associated; as new skills are developed, they can be ‘cashed in’ for accreditation. In order to technically manage this process of progressive recognition of micro-skills, the now well-known blockchain technology was proposed, which would allow a continuous exchange of ‘value’ (recognised skills) among students, companies and the education system.
The jury considered the response proposed by the ARISE project coordinator as a provocative and bold vision, capable of improving the system and stimulating a productive debate among the various stakeholders in the skills system. We quote from “Voch Tech Future Skills Award 2023”:
“The judges felt this was a provocative and bold vision for an innovative system that seeks to give greater learner agency, advance micro-credentialing and other flexible and modular forms of learning, and change the debate about the value of skills. They felt that it challenged thinking about the way skills are valued and the motivation and incentive for adults to learn. They believed it would provoke debate, elicit strong responses, and stimulate extensive engagement.
This “innovative and provocative” vision of the skills system was also transferred to our RES2 project, thanks to IBIMI (RES2 lead and ARISE project partner). The Living Labs that we will organise in 2024-2025 will be based precisely on this way of working, which is particularly innovative when applied to the construction system.
These issues will also be discussed, during the workshops organized by RES2 since 2024, among training centres/public authorities/businesses/workers, in order to understand how this vision can also be transferred to the Italian national system.
Here in the picture, Paul McCormack, general coordinator of ARISE project where IBIMI is a partner, receives the award during the “Voch Tech Future Skills Awards 2023”.
For more information about ARISE project, please click HERE.
For more information about “Voch Tech Future Skills Award 2023”, please click HERE.