The European Economic and Social Committee hosted the NERDVET project final event

On March 28th, the European Economic and Social Committee hosted the NERDVET project final event, opened by the President of EVTA, Giorgio Sbrissa, and the Director and Secretary General, who welcomed the audience and highlighted the importance of the event for VET. This was followed by a keynote speech from Tatjana Babrauskiene, a Section for Employment, Social Affairs, and Citizenship member, who set the tone for the meeting by introducing the topics of critical thinking and media literacy.

Silvia Belotto, ENAIP NET Project Manager, then took the floor and explained the significance of the NERDVET project and how it could enhance these skills. The first panel discussion was led by Joana Xhemali, followed by Anna Barbieri from the European Commission, who provided insights on the main policy initiatives undertaken at the European level to promote digital awareness and readiness in VET. Giuseppina Tucci, OBESSU Secretary General - Lifelong Learning Platform President, answered Ms. Xhemali's questions on the education system's active citizenship and digital participation challenges.

Victoria Sanz Villazan, ALL DIGITAL Financial and Administration Officer, concluded the first panel discussion by providing a comprehensive overview of the current research and trend analyses on supporting young VET learners to use digital tools for active civic participation. Additionally, she outlined the initiatives that ALL DIGITAL is developing to close the digital skills gap.

Silvia Belotto, who moderated the interactive roundtable, facilitated the discussion, which began with Andrea Ceschi, an Associate Professor at the University of Verona of Work and Organizational Psychology. He presented the main findings of the NERDVET state-of-the-art analysis and scientific literature review and further discussed how these findings had been integrated into the Educational Toolkit. Marco Angeli, ENAIP NET Project Designer, then detailed the Toolkit's components and how best to exploit them as trainers for their students.

Jaione Santurtun, a Project Manager for the Centro San Viator, described the NERDVET project's success in implementing the Educational Toolkit. At the same time, Lara Meijer, a VONK Docent, discussed the benefits to both trainers and students derived from using the NERVET Educational Toolkit.

As the conference ended, Project Manager Paula Pedro from Inovinter discussed the critical lessons learned from the pilot action experience and how they can be leveraged when assessing the Educational Toolkit. The second panel discussion culminated with Dean Konstantinos Rotsios from Perrotis College - American Farm School providing an uplifting speech highlighting the need for sustainability and further use of the Educational Toolkit and a few innovative ideas for accomplishing this.

EANAIP NET International Area Director Monica Verzola followed with her three key messages, offering insightful insight on how international, national, and local governments can positively affect VET. The event concluded with Giulia Meschino and Silvia Belotto emphasizing the importance of collaboration to create a better future for VET. The event was a success, proving to be a stimulating and educational platform to discuss critical thinking and iVET.