final report, an independent external evaluation of
TRANSCRIPT
Final Report, an Independent External
Evaluation of
funded under Erasmus+ KA3: Support for small and medium sized enterprises
engaging in apprentices.
Presented by
October 2018
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INDEPENDENT EXTERNAL EVALUATION completed on behalf of
Project APPRENTICESHIP ALLIANCE (RAISE)
Number 572713-EPP-1-2016-1-PL-EPPKA3-SUP-APPREN
Co-ordinator Północna Izba Gospodarcza - Northern Chamber of Commerce
Contact: Leszek Grez
Authorised Signatory Dariusz Więcaszek, Andrzej Martuś.
Address: Wojska Polskiego 86 Avenue, 70-482 Szczecin, Poland
Email: [email protected]
Internal Evaluation Lead Letterkenny Institute of Technology
Contact: Padraig Gallagher Karen McCormick
Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Evaluating Company: Friel Consulting
Contact: Stephen Friel
Address: Legland, Drumkeen, Co. Donegal, Ireland
Telephone: +353 87 6374431
E-Mail: [email protected]
"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
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Contents
1.0 Introduction and Background 4
1.1 Introduction 4 1.2 Description of the Project and Basis for Need 5 1.3 Erasmus + Knowledge Alliance Programme 6 1.4 The Project Foundation 6 1.5 The Project Partners 7 1.6 Evaluators Review of the Apprenticeship Alliance Partnership 9
2.0 Evaluation Purpose and Methodology 11
2.1 Evaluation Purpose 11 2.2 Role and Function of the Internal Evaluator 11 2.3 Role and Function of the External Evaluator 12 2.4 External Evaluation Methodology 12
2.5 Summary of findings of Interim Evaluation Report 14
3.0 Review & Assessment of AA Work Packages 17
4.0 Review Quantitative and Qualitative Indicators 60
5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations 63
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1.0 Introduction and Background
1.1 Introduction This report details the findings and conclusions of the final (year two) independent external evaluation of the
Erasmus + Knowledge Alliance: -
Project title: Support for small and medium sized enterprises engaging in apprenticeships:
Regional Apprenticeship Alliances for SMEs;
Acronym: RAISE
The project was subsequently rebranded as Apprenticeship Alliance at the first partner meeting. It was
contracted from 01 September 2016 to a completion date of 31 August 2018. This report has been
prepared by independent evaluators Friel Consulting, a strategy consultancy working primarily in the fields of
entrepreneurship, small business development and employability. We are competent evaluation specialists
with extensive and directly applicable experience in Erasmus + projects.
What did the project try to achieve?
Over its 2-year duration, the project worked to build the capacity of intermediary bodies to develop and
operate support structures to facilitate SMEs, especially small and micro enterprises, to become apprentice
employers. It was a project of scale which sought to generate a tangible impact on:-
• Equipping 80+ intermediary organizations to liaise with key actors and to provide information,
guidance, training and accompaniment to SMEs, who as a result, will be more likely to become
apprentice employers.
• Assist more than 370 SMEs to ain a greater knowledge of the structure of contemporary
apprenticeship programmes and will understand “the business case” for becoming an employer of
apprentice(s).
At the conclusion of the project, Friel Consulting reiterate our interim evaluation finding that this is a very
worthy project – at a time of stubborn youth unemployment, intermediaries and SMEs need to better
equipped to become involved in apprenticeships by exposure to step by step guides. Such resources can
boost the ability of intermediary organizations to inform, guide and train SMEs to become apprentice
employers in the short term.
The Apprenticeship Alliance project had 4 key deliverables, to be achieved across 10 defined work
packages, To synopsize the deliverables:
Deliverable 1: Establish 6 Regional Apprenticeship Alliances involving 80+ intermediaries, VET
providers and wider stakeholders to:
- map current apprenticeship programmes, incentives, support structures, actors,
and levels of SME participation in their region;
- identify opportunities and needs particular to the skills (mis)match and supply-
demand of apprenticeships in their region;
- share best practice, locally and internationally, about the role of intermediary
organizations;
- develop the “business case” to encourage SMEs to become apprentice employers;
- build sustainable, face-to-face relationships between intermediaries, VET
providers and SMEs;
- develop a concrete action plan with individual and collective commitments in a
defined time frame.
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Deliverable 2: Create a Regional Alliance Toolkit
to share the findings and successes of the project and enable other intermediaries/
stakeholders to replicate the model at regional, national or EU level.
Deliverable 3: Produce and disseminate information resources, a teaching course, and practical tools
which make the business case for SMEs to become involved in apprenticeships and provide
step by step guides.
Deliverable 4: Ensure the long-term exploitation of the project results, information and teaching
resources and tools via their publication on a multilingual, interactive European
Platform, which also serves as access point to the online learning modules.
The project was progressed by a transnational multi-actor partnership across seven countries, comprising the following nine organisations:
• Northern Chamber of Commerce (PO) - lead partner
• Barcelona Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation (ES),
• Stichting Business Development Friesland (NL),
• Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Nantes (FR),
• Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council (UK),
• Canice Consulting (UK),
• Letterkenny Institute of Technology (IE),
• Momentum Marketing Services (IE),
• European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BE).
1.2 Description of the Project and Basis of Need
As highlighted in the project application, persistently high youth unemployment and a recognised
education-employment skills mismatch have spurred governments throughout Europe to undertake VET
reform to increase the quantity and quality of dual system apprenticeships. In many countries, particularly
Poland, Netherlands, France and Ireland this generated an excess supply of apprenticeship seekers over
employer demand. Only 4-10% of European employers are actively involved which falls to just 1.4% in
Poland.
It is interesting to review the multiple and indeed complex reasons cited by employers for their weak
demand: -
- a lack of information regarding the incentives and benefits of apprenticeships;
- a lack of awareness of the apprenticeship training in the locality and a perception that the
provision would not meet their needs.
These issues are compounded by the fact that Apprenticeship support is often entirely missing from
Enterprise Intermediary services provision. In an Enterprise Northern Ireland survey less than 5% of
enterprise agencies provided apprenticeship information and partners confirm this is consistent with their own
countries. Given SMEs access most of their development advise and information from Enterprise
Intermediaries E.g. Chambers of Commerce, Enterprise Development Agencies, this is a very clear challenge
and opportunity to affect real change. It is therefore appropriate that the Apprenticeship Alliance project
aims to enable integrated action among VET providers, enterprise support agencies and wider stakeholders
to produce and disseminate information resources, a teaching course and practical tools for SMEs.
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It was in this context that the Apprenticeship Alliance was delivered by 9 partners from 7 countries in which
dual system apprenticeships are new or have been subject to recent reform. The four target beneficiary
groups for the project were determined as-
1. SMEs including small and micro businesses
2. Enterprise/business centres providing support for entrepreneurs.
3. HEIs and VET providers that deliver vocational and craft courses of all types
4. Wider stakeholders: economic development agencies, local governments, chamber of commerce’s
and industry representative bodies.
1.3 Erasmus + Knowledge Alliance Programme
Erasmus+ is the EU umbrella programme for education, training, youth and sport from 2014 to 2020. The
programme was designed to enable organisations to access funding for exciting and innovative projects to
boost skills, employability and support the modernisation of education, training and youth systems. The
Apprenticeships Alliance project was approved in 2016 under the first programme strand of the Erasmus +
Knowledge Alliance funding stream. Knowledge Alliances are transnational, structured and result-driven
projects, notably between higher education and business that are expected to have a short and long-term
impact on the wide range of stakeholders involved, at individual, organisational and systemic level.
Knowledge Alliances partners are expected to share common goals and work together towards mutually
beneficial results and outcomes through implementing a coherent and comprehensive set of
interconnected activities which are adaptable to different current and future contexts and developments
across Europe. The Apprenticeship Alliance project was funded under KA3 – Support for Policy Reform,
Support for small and medium sized enterprises engaging in apprenticeships under Lot 1 Partnerships on
building capacities for intermediary bodies or partnerships established by large companies to support
SMEs.
It is useful to review the key features of Knowledge Alliances in the context of the Apprenticeships Alliance
project’s adherence to same :
• Apprenticeships in higher education and Apprenticeships through higher education in enterprises
and their socio-economic environment: Apprenticeships is considered as state-of-the-art project-
specific and related to the partnership context and analysed needs.
• Sustainability of university-business cooperation. A strong and committed partnership with a
balanced participation from enterprises and higher education institutions are pivotal for the
success of Knowledge Alliances. The role and contribution of each participating organisation and
associate partner must be specific and complementary.
• Impact going beyond the project’s lifetime and beyond the organisations involved in the Alliance. It
is expected that partnership and activities persist. Changes in higher education institutions and
enterprises must be measurable. Results and solutions must be transferable and accessible to a
broader audience.
1.4 The Project Foundation
The Apprenticeships Alliance partners came together to design and seek funding for this innovative
Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project. The project was originated by Northern Chamber of Commerce
(NCC), Poland in recognition of the Polish SME engagement in apprenticeships – one of the lowest in
Europe at 1.4% compared to a European precedence of 4-10%. NCC reached out to their existing partner
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network which they built through previous Erasmus + Strategic Partnership projects and a specific partner
search through its Chamber of Commerce network in the countries that would most benefit from sharing
knowledge and resources in this area. NCC brought on board UK technical partner Canice Consulting and
VET organisation and training content developer MMS from Ireland. Bringing on board new partners to
add further value was strategically focused. Attracting a strong network of Chambers of Commerce was
also vital to ensure the needs of SMEs were to the fore of the project from the outset. Hence, in additional
to Northern Chamber of Commerce, two other Chambers joined the partnership, the Catalan based
Barcelona Chamber (ES) and Nantes Chamber in France. In turn, MMS and CC expanded the partner
consortium to include representation from key stakeholder groups – regional enterprise development
agency (BDF, The Netherlands), HEI (Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Ireland) and local government
(Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, UK).
To complete the partnership and provide a pan European dissemination platform, Brussels based European
Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training joined the project. It was absolutely key that
each partner was invested in the subject matter with expertise in the area and networks of influence.
Through the application process, their very tangible commitment to collaborative working and
apprenticeships promotion is obvious. Project development bilaterals and Skype meetings led to robust
project development foundations for the eventual development of The Apprenticeships Alliance.
1.5 The Project Partners
The Apprenticeships Alliance partnership was formatted as a cross-sectoral multi-actor partnership drawing
together experts from SME support organisations, the VET and Higher Education sector, non-profit private
and public enterprise development agencies, local government and a pan European VET network. Many of
the partners were involved in promoting apprenticeship progression in their respective countries and acted
as advocates of apprenticeships prior to the development of the Apprenticeships Alliance application.
While partners had individual responsibilities as Work Package leads, partners were expected to participate
actively in all other packages.
Lead Partner Northern Chamber of Commerce (NCC), Poland – Work Packages 1 and 2
Northern Chamber of Commerce led The Apprenticeships Alliance project. With more than 10 years of
experience in transnational cooperation under Erasmus+, Leonardo da Vinci, and European Social Funds,
NCC is an experienced EU collaborator. Established in 1997, and representing 1500 companies, NCC, based
in Szczecin, is the largest chamber of commerce in Poland. It works to provide services to member
companies, including training and education, the organization of cooperation visits and the facilitation of
networking opportunities, financial assistance and interest representation and lobbying; hence it is well
attuned to SME training and development needs.
As project lead, NCC carried responsibility for Work Packages 1 (Preparation) and 2 (Project Management),
it was their responsibility to establish robust procedures established for project delivery, especially the
pursuit of deadlines, the financial management of the project and the fulfillment of the requisites agreed
between the partners for the deliverables. Project lead Dr Leszek Gracz has over 17 years of experience in
project management in various commercial (public sector) and educational (public sector) entities. He
holds PhD in economics (specialization services marketing) and in addition to his role in NCC he also works
in the University of Szczecin at the position of assistance professor (adiunkt) in the Chair of Services
Marketing.
NCC’s networking reach to their counterpart Chambers of Commerce and their reach into regional
enterprise and education organisations was seen very important for dissemination to the SME and business
advisory bodies. It was their responsibility to supervise the progression of all work packages while also
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carrying out all the administrative aspects of the project, including careful budget management and
financial administration.
Partner Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council (UK), – Work Package 3
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) led the complex work involved in Work Package 3, the
Implementation of Regional Apprenticeships Alliances and the development of the Toolkit. This was apt
given their experience of championing SME Apprenticeships in Northern Ireland and their track record of
managing complex, multi actor projects. LCCC is a local government authority in Northern Ireland with a
population of almost 137,000 residents. Although LCCC is a relatively new council, having formed from the
fusion of Lisburn City Council and Castlereagh Borough Council, its staff has significant experience and
resources in the field of skills’ development and entrepreneurship support. It’s Economic Development
Unit works to develop the region as a prime location for business growth and start-up and runs a
comprehensive range of business support programmes. Of relevance to this project it works with various
partners to improve skills needed by employers in the region. These include the Business Solutions
Entrepreneurs Network for small and up-and-coming start-ups, and the Invest in Jobs Initiative, to improve
the employability of those furthest from the labour market.
LCCC and this work package benefited from the experience of four other partners with direct experience of
implementing the Alliance model in 3 successful Erasmus+ projects (CC in www.innovationalliance.eu, BDF,
MMS and LYIT in Restart www.restart.how and NCC, CCL & MMS in Creative Entrepreneurs Online www.ceo-
project.eu.
Partner Momentum Marketing Services (Ireland) – Work Package 4
Momentum (MMS) is an Irish training organisation focused on developing progressive vocational education
programmes and platforms to enable entrepreneurs, employees and young people entering the world of
work to participate as fully as possible in the contemporary labour market. Founded in 2003, MMS is
particularly strong in authoring tools, content generation, marketing and dissemination and attracts high
profile attention to their programmes. Momentum has also helped many SME organisations to design,
develop and deploy best practice learning platforms, hence it was appropriate that MMS led WP4, the
development of the SME information and teaching materials and tools.
Partner Canice Consulting, UK – Work Package 5
Northern Ireland based Canice Consulting (CC) is a small business specialising in online learning and digital
marketing to predominantly the EU market place. Given it’s vast experience of developing high
performance digital learning platforms, learner management systems and virtual classroom training, CC
coordinated Work Package 5, the technical transfer of SME information and teaching materials and tools,
and acted as webmaster, providing technical support for WP9, Implementation of Dissemination Activities.
Partner Chambre Commerce Industrie Nantes Saint Nazaire, France– Work Package 6
Established in 2008, the Chamber of Commerce Nantes (NCC) is part of the Regional Chamber of
Commerce and Industry of the Pays de la Loire representing the 44,000 businesses in the Loire-
Atlantique region. It works to strengthen the business environment and voice of companies in their
territory. Given the organisation has a long tradition in education, research and Apprenticeships, it was
responsible for the preparation of a robust, highly participative pilot test methodology to optimise the
effectiveness of the training tools. They coordinated the pilot test process and implementation by partners
in their countries and were mandated with providing robust feedback mechanisms to ensure WP4 and WP5
learner content and experience undergo strict analysis prior final publication.
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Partner Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Spain – Work Package 7
Barcelona Chamber of Commerce is an organisation that groups together economic operators from all
sectors of activity. They represent approximately 300,000 companies (including the self-employed,
entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises and corporations) from the city of Barcelona and the
outlying areas. Its function is to advocate and support business interest and encourage business
competitiveness. As a government-owned legal corporate entity, Barcelona Chamber of Commerce is an
active European collaborator. It’s European Projects Office ensures the technical efficacy of the products,
contributing to the effective communication of the results and overseeing financial and administrative
matters. Given their active participation in European projects across numerous themes and sectors and
attests to its vast network of contacts and fields of expertise, they were well placed to execute a very
focused and practical Quality Assurance work package.
Partner Letterkenny Institute of Technology Ireland – Work Package 8
LYIT is an inspirational HEI that attracts a creative mix of 3,000 students and encourages strong academic
learning and career-focused practical experience. Importantly for this project, all of the programmes have
been developed in conjunction with industry which makes LYIT graduates very attractive to employers.
Over 67% of students come from low income families. The Institute was voted amongst the top 2
Institutes of Technologies in Ireland in a national survey, hence they were well placed to lead Work Package
8, Evaluation.
Partner EfVET, Belgium – Work Package 9
EfVET is a leading European umbrella organization for TVET institutions will disseminate the project via
direct presentations and material distribution at conferences and meetings in Brussels and throughout
Europe. They were ideally placed to lead Work Package 9 Implementation of Dissemination Activities
Partner Stichting Business Development Friesland, The Netherlands – Work Package 10
Established in 2002, BDF is a foundation established to support the development of the regional economy
and employment creation in the Friesland region. They actively support over 200 start-up companies and
over 100 established SMEs to grow and internationalise. BDF has also set up its own incubator in the city of
Leeuwarden. They are involved in key business support programmes and are regarded as specialist on
business (education) support in the Province of Friesland. It is appropriate they led Work Package 10
Exploitation and European Platform. In addition to a strong regional network in the quadruple helix, BDF
has a large European network. In 2015, BDF became official member of the Enterprise Europe Network
(EEN). EEN is the largest network of contact points in the EU with information and advice for European
Entrepreneurs about Entrepreneurship and EU-related topics (een.ec.europa.eu). Furthermore, BDF is a full
member of the EBN network with 250 incubators in Europe, and therefore an accredited BIC, a Business
innovation Center, as recognized by the EC-label.
1.6 Evaluators Review of the Apprenticeship Alliance Partnership In the best practice of formatting transnational Knowledge Alliances, the Apprenticeships Alliance provided
a rich combination of skills and resources from across its constituent organisations representing VET and
higher education sector, public bodies, non-profit private and public enterprise development agencies, SME
support bodies and SMEs. The expertise within the partnership was very evident, representing a suitable
blend of experience, knowledge, skills and expertise suited to the successful design and delivery of this
particular project. It is impressive that while many of the partners had collaborated under previous
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Leonardo da Vinci and Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership programmes, other partners were new to this
funding stream. The transnational reach of the project was particularly impressive bringing
• added value to a well-designed proposal which is clearly based on a solid need’s foundation
• access to an extensive network of contacts across the knowledge triangle thereby aiding
developmental, testing and dissemination activities.
The Apprenticeships Alliance structure extended beyond the project partners to the creation of six Regional
Apprenticeships Alliances in Poland, Netherlands, Spain, France, UK Northern Ireland and Ireland. The
formation of these new entities under Work Package 3 is assessed in full later in this report but importantly
they brought together the key stakeholders involved in the subject matter, i.e. relevant actors from SME
support bodies, VET and HE organisations, Apprenticeships and employment specialists, SMEs enterprise
development organizations, local and regional authorities and European networks.
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2 Evaluation Purpose & Methodology
2.1 Evaluation Purpose
Evaluation has a very important function with Erasmus+ projects with 2 key methodologies adopted to
ensure project's activities are assessed and understood, an internal monitoring and evaluation function (led
by LyIT) and external evaluation function (led by Friel Consulting).
Consistent with the requirements of the EU Erasmus + Knowledge Alliance Programme, Northern Chamber
of Commerce and LyIT on behalf of the partnership issued Terms of Reference for the external evaluation
of the project with the principal objective of ‘examining the extent to which the project met the objectives
laid out in the application and work-plan agreed by the partners and the funding agency.’
Following this tender process, Friel Consulting was appointed as External Evaluator of the project, charged
with the production of Interim and Final External Evaluation reports. Friel Consulting has considerable
experience as an EU funded programme evaluator and has completed several EU external evaluations.
The evaluation findings are relevant to a wide audience, specifically:
• The transnational partnership for Apprenticeship Alliance itself and the resultant Regional
Apprenticeships Alliances
• SME representative bodies
• VET and HEI representative bodies
• Enterprise support organisations and policy- makers
• Apprenticeships drivers
• Intermediary beneficiary groups
• Other Erasmus projects and the European Commission.
2.2 Role and Function of the Internal Evaluator
LyIT was responsible for the internal monitoring and evaluation role in the project. The Apprenticeships
Alliance partners were keen that a robust and very practical internal monitoring and evaluation function
would:-
• Generate learning for partners involved;
• Stimulate active participation of partners so that they play an important role in the evaluation and
monitoring function;
• Identify any critical issues and to jointly and collaboratively/cooperatively introduce
corrective/improvement measures;
• Systematically gather data and information on progress of project activities;
• Guarantee internal and external efficacy;
• Identify any variances as regards what had been planned;
• Timely suggestions for any corrective and improvement measures to adopt to fulfil project objectives
and aims.
Early in the project, LyIT published a very comprehensive Evaluation Strategy which we review under Work
Package 8 review later in this report. Over the two years, LYIT completed 8 quarterly evaluations which are
also reviewed in Work Package 8 review later in this report.
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2.3 Role and Function of the External Evaluator
The role of the external evaluator is to provide an independent and objective view of the progress of The
Apprenticeships Alliance project as it works to meet its objectives as laid out by the partners in the funding
application document. Given the scale and strategic importance of the Erasmus + Knowledge Alliance
programme, the evaluation format needs to provide a very robust framework within which to measure new
outcomes, Work Packages and deliverables.
The evaluation needs to capture not only the deliverables but also the process of establishing the 6
Regional Apprenticeships Alliances, how they are formed and how they will function. In particular we are
looking for ...
• Establishment and performance of six separate sustainable, collaborative Apprentices Alliances
including VETs & HEIs, SME support bodies, policy- makers and Apprenticeships drivers in Szczecin
(Poland), Friesland (Netherlands), Nantes (France), Lisburn – Castlereagh (Northern Ireland/UK),
Barcelona (Spain) and Letterkenny/North West (Ireland).
• How each alliance is formed and will function. How is sustainability built in? What best practice comes
forward from the Alliances?
• The experience of 16 + high level staff in intermediaries organisations and 120 SME owner managers
who will pilot the Apprenticeships Alliance training course across multiple platforms and languages.
• How does the Apprenticeships Alliance share its approach through international launches of the
training materials, multimedia case studies and the publication of ‘Best practice’?
Friel Consulting sought to play an active role in the project by providing a real time analysis of project
progression and where appropriate providing suggestions for improvements. We offered ourselves as a
resource to the Apprenticeship Alliance partners for the duration of the project while remaining
independent from all activities. This was designed to assist partners with project delivery throughout all
stages of project delivery.
2.4 External Evaluation Methodology
The evaluation methodology was formed using the following key guiding principles:-
• Relevance: How relevant are the project’s objectives in relation to evolving SME engagement in
Apprentices priorities at a national and EU level? How transferrable is the project approach?
• Efficiency: What mechanisms have been used to turn resources into outputs or results?
• Effectiveness: How far has the project achieved its specific and global objectives?
• Utility: Does the project have an impact on the target group of intermediaries and SMEs in relation
to their needs?
• Sustainability: To what extent can the changes (or benefits) be expected to last after the
programme/project has been completed?
• Added Value: Would the intervention have happened without financial assistance?
• Impact: How has the project complemented and enhanced the objective of Apprenticeships and
the exchange of good practices?
The external evaluation process followed a 5-phase approach for the purposes of carrying out this
assignment. We now review each phase:-
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Establish Base Line
At the outset of this assignment to gain a clear understanding of the objectives
of our role, we held a kick start meeting with LyIT in order to verify the key
issues to be addressed, finalise methodology and to select suitable reporting
methods. Handover of project background files and project deliverables was
also instigated. We used this meeting to absorb all information needed to
provide a robust and very effective evaluator function.
Desk Review
In order to ensure the evaluation process was focused and efficient, detailed
ground work was undertaken through desk-based research to assemble all
background information relating to the implementation project. On a regular
basis we examined all data and statistics gathered through internal monitoring
and procedures, thus allowing for a detailed quantitative assessment of
programme impacts. We were given access to the Dropbox document
repository from the outset giving us full transparency of project progression.
As a guide, this project phase involved continuous assessment of :-
• Achievement of the objectives set out in the project plan/funding
contract
• The project’s contribution to the principles and aims of ERASMUS +
Knowledge Alliance programme and priorities but also the strategies
of project partners and wider national and EU strategies
• What are strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)
arising from the experience of the project?
• Specific attention on the Regional Apprenticeship Alliances impact
Measure the performance of the dissemination strategy from the
outset
• Review the effectiveness of the operational aspects of the
programmes assessing the efficiency of the delivery/funding
arrangements and a value for money analysis
Impact Analysis
Our analysis of the impact of the project involved reviewing the following
issues in order to clearly identify the performance of each of the programme
activities and deliverables as compared with the contractual milestones. In
particular this activity examined the following key areas:-
• Assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of the project
deliverables adopted to achieve the Work Packages outcomes
• Process and experiences in project delivery including communication,
finance & administration
• The product outputs of co-operation, i.e. objectives reached e.g.
were outcomes as useful as expected, unplanned results obtained
• Detailed review of the Regional Apprenticeships Alliances x 6 and the
engagement between with key stakeholders in same
• Measure the impact of WP4 and 5 training resources and access
• Risk Assessment: Detail the related risks identified for the project,
highlighting if any of these had an impact on the outcome of the
project – this tied in with WP 7 Quality Assurance
• Financial information was interrogated on a 12-monthly basis. This
involved measuring expenditure against targets. Financial procedures
were also be checked to ensure that best practice is being maintained.
• What, if anything, should have been done differently? Learning
outcomes and best practice lessons. In this phase also, we focused on
examining possible enhancements for the project
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• Possibilities and perspectives of further value adding projects after the
life of the current Apprenticeships Alliance project
• Added value and Synergy: How did the project complement other
work being carried out in the area and the sector?
• Quantify what new ways of working/ partnerships had been created as
a result of this project
• European Value-Added dimension
Consultations
This important phase of the evaluation involved a series of consultations with internal and external stakeholders including: -
• Friel Consulting instigated and managed an evaluation process in the
format of an external monitoring evaluation questionnaire.
• Attendance at transnational partner meeting 2 in Lisburn, UK 23rd
February 2017 to consult with representatives of the project team
• Attendance at a Regional Apprenticeships Alliance event in year 2
• Consultation with a sample of the Regional Apprenticeships Alliances
to assess the quality, significance, and commitment of stakeholder’s
engagement and report on its progress against targets.
Report Compilation
This stage brought together all aspects of the work performed during the study
in the form of interim and final written reports.
• October 2017 - Interim Evaluation Report.
• October 2018 - Compilation of Final Evaluation Report.
2.5 Summary of Findings of Interim Evaluation Report
It is useful to recap on the summary of our evaluation findings at the end of year one. Through our close
examination of the process and deliverables at the end of year one, we were very satisfied that excellent
progress had been made in the realisation of the core objectives of the Apprenticeship Alliance project. We
reported it was making excellent progress and had laid working foundations across several European
countries to build the capacity of intermediary bodies to develop and operate support structures which will
facilitate SMEs, especially small and micro enterprises, to become apprentice employers. Considerable
progress was made in year one across each work package and we made recommendations that we felt
would enhance The Apprenticeships Alliance in its second year of operation:-
Work Package Conclusion Recommendation
1 Preparation This well executed preparation work package has laid robust foundation for all the other nine work packages.
While there in internal and external satisfaction
level with this Work Package, we suggested that
the Project Management Handbook was reviewed
and updated to ensure applicability going into
Year 2.
2 Management We were satisfied that project management and financial administration by Northern Chamber of Commerce was effective and professional.
3 Implementation Of Regional
• It was clear that in year one there was significant progress in establishing the
• It was clear from our review of the formatting and membership of the Alliances that they had brought on board a most impressive cohort of
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Apprenticeships Alliances
Regional Apprenticeship Alliances but progress for some (e.g. Northern Ireland, UK) had been slower than anticipated.
• In all, 13 meetings of the Regional Apprenticeship Alliances were held in year 1.
• 39 stakeholders were involved in meeting 1 (excluding the Dutch attendees), a strong start in building to the target of 80+ members involved.
cross representation from the knowledge triangle.
• Given each Alliance represented a new and influential structure to mobilise and effect more and better incidence of SME based apprenticeships that will instigate innovative regional actions for positive and long-lasting effect on the enterprise support system and VET system in each region, this was a process that was taking time to embed. We made the point that the application form was over ambitious to expect to form 6 Alliances, engage 80+ members and hold 3-5 meetings each and sign 6 action plans within the first year.
• While not all Action Plans were available to us to review in draft form, we recommended that the WP lead LCCC and NCC ensured that partners progressed their meeting target of 3 to 5 and compete and sign their Action Plans early in Year 2.
• We also urged LCCC and NCC to ensure that the Toolkit that was to be the foundation for the establishment and management of the Alliances would be published in all languages early in year 2.
We concluded that the establishment of 6 Regional Apprenticeship Alliances can only realise a positive and long-lasting effect on the enterprise support system and VET system in each region. Year one had created a level of enthusiasm and opportunity and in year 2 this work would be enhanced by the publication of the online course and the promotion of the one stop shops.
4 Development of SME training content
We were impressed with the scope and calibre of the training modules: it was tailored (specifically in terms of its language and content) for SMEs will gain new knowledge of how to take on their first Apprenticeship. Likewise it was suitable to guide intermediaries in guiding SMEs to consider apprenticeships as part of their growth.
The renaming of the course ‘Apprenticeships in Action’ was commended
• The development of the core training content
had taken one more month than envisaged.
This time was an investment to ensure
consistency within the individual course
modules in the context of the overall course
and the inclusion of SME video testimonials
which were under development by all
partners at the time of writing.
• We made the recommendation that the work
package leaders of WP4, WP5 and WP6 work
very closely together to yield best results – we
were satisfied that this was already happening
so we were confident no issues would arise.
5 Technical Transfer of SME Training Content
While Work Package 4 was
somewhat delayed, Canice
Consulting had been busy
putting the foundations in
place. The deadline for the
WP had been shortened from
No recommendations.
Page 16
4 months to 3 months to
make up for time delay in
WP5.
6 Pilot Test of SME teaching materials and tools.
Due to start in November 2017 and complete by the end of May 2018.
No recommendations.
7 Quality Assurance
We were very impressed with the QA Strategy and how the process was serving the project well in terms of underpinning and realising the quality delivery of the Apprenticeships Alliance project across all work packages. Likewise the Quality Assurance Performance Reports published in year one were impressive.
No recommendations
8 Evaluation Was playing an important role since the outset to provide a real time analysis of project progression and where appropriate provide suggestions for improvements.
No recommendations
9 Dissemination Impressive commencement with a good strategy, an excellent brand and a strong performance in year one with the highlights being the project brochure in all languages, a database of over 30,000 contacts and 2 ezines.
Overall the dissemination work package was progressing well. Some recommendations: -
• Given the branding of the project is so strong, future ezines would benefit from a design overhaul.
• Social media could be stronger.
10 Exploitation and European Platform
A high calibre Exploitation
Strategy document was
developed and finalised. An
impressive Guidelines Set Up
Apprenticeship One Stop Shops
was published. We
commended the partners for
the excellent work in laying the
foundations to set up 6 one
stop shops. Given the Regional
Alliances were playing a
directing role, it had taken
longer than anticipated but will
be more sustainable as a
result. Once the learning
materials were ready , CC will
evolve the website to function
as a European Platform.
Going into year 2 we recommended that a strong branding package of signage and information materials were developed.
Page 17
3 Review & Assessment of The Apprenticeship Alliance’s
Work Packages
This section takes us through the Apprenticeships Alliance’s Work Package deliverables in sequential order.
We examine the final outputs of the project and comment in respect of each action.
3.1 WORK PACKAGE 1 PREPARATION and PLANNING
Responsible Partner Northern Chamber of Commerce
At the first partner meeting in Szczecin, November 21- 22 2016, lead partner Northern Chamber of
Commerce led the partners through a number of resources which they had put in place during the project
preparation phase. We now review progress across the tasks involved in this WP:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Convert the overall plan, work package by work package, into a detailed schedule of activities and outcomes.
A very clear Tasks Update document was prepared which sets
out each WP in terms of its associated tasks, the timeline for
same, the expected deliverables and a status column which is
updated in advance of each partner meeting.
Task 2
Prepare Project Handbook This was completed in two parts: -
Part 1 Project Management Handbook which sets out
guidelines in 6 key areas: -
1. Communication Channels
2. Project management area
3. Transnational partner meetings
4. Project website and logo
5. Publicity obligations: EU, Erasmus+ logo and disclaimer
6. Task and work of all the partners
Part 2 Financial Information Guide (with reference back to
the Erasmus+ Guidelines for the Administrative and Financial
management and Reporting of the Project document. This
document sets out the financial management policies,
procedures and rules that are adopted to ensure the smooth
running of the project over the two-year project lifespan.
We evaluate these documents as well constructed which
must be used in conjunction with the Erasmus+ Guidelines for
the Administrative and Financial management and Reporting
of the Project document.
Task 3
Decide the domain name and hosting for the website and prepare a branding proposal
NCC worked with Canice Consulting to secure the domain
name www.apprenticeshipalliance.eu and with CC and EfVET
in developing a brand. MMS took this brand and developed
the branding proposal – see WP 9 Implementation of
Dissemination Activities for full review.
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Task 4
Set up the project management software to operate as a central server for project resources and communication
In September 2016, NCC set up the project Dropbox with
access given to all project partners, external evaluator and
the EU Project Officer.
Task 5
Give formal presentation of each organization and individuals involved
Covered in detailed at Partner Meeting 1.
Task 6
Review, adjust and approve detailed work plan, budget, Project Handbook, branding proposal, Quality Management Strategy, Dissemination Strategy and Exploitation Strategy.
All partners were involved in reviewing all documents set out in Task 6 before sign off and completion.
At interim evaluation stage, our survey consultation with the project partners revealed a high satisfaction
level with Work Package 1 with a 100% rating the work package as excellent. The regular review and
update of the Tasks Update document served the project well given dynamism and accountability beyond a
standard Gannt chart.
WORK PACKAGE 1 PREPARATION and PLANNING
3.2 WORK PACKAGE 2 MANAGEMENT Responsible Partner Northern Chamber of Commerce
Using the Project Management Guide and Erasmus + guidelines as the foundation of Work Package 2 ,
Northern Chamber of Commerce led the project.
3.2.1 Project Management
Based on evaluator observations through a review of documentation, internal monitoring procedures and
the feedback of the other partners it is clear that project management by Northern Chamber of Commerce
was competent. As part of our external evaluation consultation, we asked partners to rate project
management
Excellent Good Fair
End of Year one 75% 25%
End of Year two 45% 33% 22%
Comments make in the final evaluation give insight:-
• Overall project management was very good, partners were supported if required and issues were handled with a light but effective touch.
• It started off very strong, however when we hit challenging times in the project more/stronger leadership was required in my opinion.
• The Lead Partner showed adequate leadership during the meetings. During the periods in between there was a bit lack of leadership.
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3.2.2 Project Communications & Management Tools
As per WP1, Task 4, early in the project, NCC established a project Dropbox so that all partners (and
external evaluator and EU Project Officer) could have access to all project resources, including financial and
administrative guides documents. This resource was actively used to share all evidence of project activity
and was actively used by all partners as a smart methodology to ensure that the latest documents was
available to partners and the external evaluator. While the project benefitted from strong
communications in year one, there was less interaction in year 2. However, Skype calls were actioned at
critical times and were effective to bring Work Packages to a final conclusion.
As part of our external evaluation consultation, we asked partners to rate communications
Excellent Good Fair
End of Year one 60% 25% 15%
End of Year two 60% 20% 20%
Partners overall view of communications at the end of the project are reflected in the following comments.
It is clear that some partners prefer a greater level of communications while others need less
communications in the fulfilment of their tasks. This very much reflects the difference in the experience
levels of the partners.
• All the meetings were very effective, and the Skype meetings came at the right time
• think the communication between lead partner and partners could have been more frequent.
• Lead partner and partners built good relationships and have been working together well to
complete final work packages
• I would prefer to give "Good" for this rather than fair or very good. The first 18 months of the
project, communications were good. However, this was lacking when the partners and project
needed it most. However, skype meetings were not always attended by all partners, therefore it
cannot all lie with the project leader. Communications is a two- way process and partners should
also be committed to it.
3.2.3 Project Meetings
Project commencement is a truly critical phase of any European project. Taking a project concept as
articulated in the successful application involving a diverse collective of partner organisations and their
staff from plan to reality requires a robust and systematic and goal/task approach to project delivery. Friel
Consulting use three sources of information to assess performance of the project meetings:-
• Partnership progress as ascertained from meeting minutes
• The quarterly internal evaluation questionnaire which captures feedback of each meeting
eliciting feedback from individual partners on their views of meeting progress, usefulness and
meeting management
Page 20
• meeting attendance and observation at meeting 2
In year one, The Apprenticeships Alliance met twice for transnational project meetings.
3.2.3.1 Szczecin, Poland, November 21- 22nd 2016 Both internal evaluation feedback and external evaluation consultations show a very high level of
satisfaction with the commencement meeting for the project. In terms of meeting partner expectations,
partners recorded a 60% EXCELLENT and 40% VERY GOOD rating with the following comments:-
• The meeting exceeded my expectations. I was delighted to meet the partners in person and get to know
them a lot better.
• Very satisfied with the team dynamic and motivation within the group. All partners were punctual, well prepared in advance of the meeting and participated fully in the meeting and were open to networking afterwards.
• It was really beneficial to meet all partners for the first time and to get a feel for the potential that each partner could to bring to the project as a whole.
• It was very well planned and managed as a kick-off meeting.
• Everything was fine. There was just one aspect. It was the absence of the French partner representative (this was cited by more than one partner and saw a lower rating of 40% given)
In terms of this meeting contributing in a substantial way to the planned progress of the project, partners
recorded 80% EXCELLENT and 20% VERY GOOD rating with the following partner insights:-
• Yes - It gave me a clearer overview of the project as a whole and what our key contribution would be.
• It was the kick-off meeting and it was substantial as the project was explained to partners and crucial
division of work (according to the application) was made.
• We went through all WPs in detail.
In articulating the strongest elements of the meeting, partners cited:-
• The opportunity for all partners to contribute to the discussion and the opportunity at all times to ask
questions for clarification.
• Not only meeting personally the other partners but also realising that we shared the goals of the
project
• Meeting the partners in person and getting to know about their organisations, what they do, their
experience and how they can contribute to the project above and beyond the project requirements.
Having met the partners, I feel more confident in their abilities and commitment to the success and
future dissemination of the project.
• All partner got to know each other. There was a mutual understanding of tasks among the
partnership
• Good presentation of tasks
• Good atmosphere, thanks to the Lead Partner/host.
In terms the weakest element of the meeting, all partners focused on the same issue,
• The fact that the Chamber of Commerce of Nantes could not reach the meeting was a little
problem, though it was fully solved at the second meeting
• The absence of the French partner
Page 21
This absence was unavoidable but a subsequent partner Skype call allowed for the introduction of NCC to
partners. Partners evaluated the way in which information was shared at the meeting, partners recorded
60% VERY WELL SHARED and 40% WELL SHARED rating with partner comment ‘ the meeting was very well
facilitated by the Lead Partner Rep’.
3.2.3.2 Lisburn, Northern Ireland, UK February 23-24th 2017
Continuing the strong internal evaluation rating from meeting one, the Lisburn meeting lived up to the
expectations of the partners recording a 80% excellent satisfaction rating (a 20% increase on meeting 1).
and 20% over good rating with strong commentary coming forward:-
• Again - It was an excellent opportunity to revise the project work packages and seek further
clarifications particularly as we embark on our first work package.
• The Lisburn meeting was very useful to understand and share the actions that must be
developed by the project and, somehow, made us realise that we were fully involved in its
success.
• The organization was extraordinary. Everything was smooth and as scheduled.
• Great host, interesting programme and meeting venues.
• Goals of the project became much clearer as the meeting progressed.
Day two meeting was held in the impressive venue of Hillsborough Castle while the partner dinner was
attended by leading publicly elected Council representatives. Partners were clear that the second meeting
contributed in a substantial way to the planned progress of the project with an 80% EXCELLENT and 20%
VERY GOOD rating, (the same rating as meeting one) with interesting partner insights:-
• Face to face discussion is the most effective way to reach agreement and solutions, it is
particularly useful for brainstorming ideas.
• It was particularly good to touch base again - One key realisation was that the focus of the
training would be more for intermediaries than actual SME businesses so that will change our
focus going forward. It also allowed us to think of ways we could maximise the product for
SMEs in our area.
• Yes, we updated the project achievements; we are mostly on schedule and all partners know
what their tasks are for the next months. I hope the financial aspects are clear for all the
partner.
In articulating the strongest elements of the meeting, partners were wholesome in their praise of the
meeting:-
• It allow us to share doubts and get a clear vision of the key factors for the success of the project
• The exceptional organization. The true hard work of all the partners
• Group working session on the content of the training materials was very productive
• WP10 - it was good presentation and discussions
• Good organisation and all partners were there, well prepared.
• It was well structured and organised.
• The project brand is very strong and I like it’s use on powerpoints etc
In terms of the weakest element of the meeting, some minor comments were forthcoming: -
• I personally did not experience any weak elements
• Dissemination - evaluator comment – not other detail was provided to back this up
• Wifi quality. Also meeting on day one could have finished earlier than it did.
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In year one, six Skype meetings were held to advance partner communications. It is not surprising that
given the size of the partnership, not all partners were able to attend all meetings but the lead partner was
diligent in bringing all partners up to speed should they be unable to attend a meeting.
In year two, The Apprenticeships Alliance met for three transnational project meetings. The internal
evaluator LYIT conducted a very thorough and pragmatic evaluation of each of the meetings
3.2.3.3 Barcelona, Spain September 21- 22 2017 This third meeting came at a crucial period at the start of year 2, it gave partner the opportunity to reflect
on year one and prioritise actions for year 2. The internal evaluator highlights that “while slight delays
were been recorded in terms of development of SME information & teaching material in Q4, the partner
meeting in Barcelona ironed out any potential problems and there was a lot of ground gained in terms of
materials development”. The developers of WP5 Momentum highlighted to partners the findings of the
year one Commission assessment which highlighted that all partners had a role to play in the development
of the materials and not just the lead. While the core content was ready, the addition of country specific
case studies and localisation content were a priority in the coming months. There was some concern
expressed about the establishment of the One Stop Shop and how they will work in reality. Lead WP BDF
led a review of the WP and the important role of marketing and profile building which will be a priority in
year 2. Dissemination was also a key discussion item for the 3rd meeting as the ongoing emergence and
publication of materials will give the project multiple dissemination opportunities in year 2. In anticipation,
social media platforms were discussed, a Twitter account was established and the further integration of
platforms such as website and social media were agreed. Videos were shot explaining project benefits in
each partner language (except Dutch) and post editing will be uploaded to each country website.
Feedback from the partner evaluation forms suggested that more information/direction on dissemination
would be helpful.
Partners’ view of the effectiveness and quality of the working relationship of the partnership continued to
be positive. The transnational meeting was seen as very positive and partners reported that it was
extremely useful in mitigating against potential delays . Barcelona Chamber of Commerce were
commended on being great hosts of a well organised meeting. The internal evaluation highlights that any
potential problems were openly discussed and easily resolved.
3.2.3.4 Nantes, France 24-26 April 2018 The fourth meeting concentrated very firmly on realising WP3 Toolkit and Regional Alliances. Best practice
was the theme of the discussions and LCCC confirmed the imminent finalisation of same. MMS support for
same through graphic design was forthcoming. Translation to Dutch, Polish, Spanish and French was
discussed and a clear timeline set for same. In terms of Regional Alliances, LCCC outlined what is required
from each partner in terms of Apprenticeship Alliance information and created a spreadsheet for
completion by all partners. The supporting evidence on Drobox was highlighted as a priority. BDF were
facing some challenges due to a change in personnel but were supported by partners to prioritise key
actions that would overcome same.
A review of WP4 learning materials was led by MMS. LCCC outlined the results of the initial pilot test with
the Department of the Economy and a local FE college. It was very encouraging they “were very pleased
with the content that they received and felt it and would be useful”. They suggested some improvements
which will be actioned by MMS and initial feedback was very positive. It is very commendable that LCCC
were able to get the involvement of a Government department/policy maker. MMS highlighted that the
final modules in English were on Dropbox and outlined the outstanding information required from all
partners. French and Spanish translations were complete. Pilot testing was a key area for discussion at
meeting 4 and following an update to the methodology, a draft report will be required from CCI Nantes
Page 23
before the final meeting in Brussels. CCL confirmed the WP4 assessment tool had also been added to
Dropbox and requires input/feedback from partners before CCL works it onto an online tool/package.
The internal evaluation report highlighted that “while some slippage is natural in projects, it was
highlighted that we are at a crucial stage of project delivery and need to keep our energy up particularly in
the latter stages of the project”. To overcome these challenges, we are impressed the partners committed
to a clear plan of action:
• Commit to update Dropbox twice per month or preferably at the time of completion of each task.
• Short term, ‘smart’ dissemination plan for the remainder of the project.
• Specific Skype workshop dedicated to brainstorming ways to overcome challenges presented by
One Stop Shops for those partners who would like support.
• Overall list and list by partner of outputs and indicators required to meet between now and the
end of the project.
• Fortnightly skype meetings between now and final project meeting
The value of face to face meetings and direct partner engagement was very clear to see at the Nantes meeting.
3.2.3.5 Brussels, Belgium 20 - 21 June 2018
The fifth and final partner meeting in Brussels (20th June) was designed to coincide with the final event for
the project “Engaging Regional Apprenticeship Alliances for SMEs” organised by EfVET which we will review
under dissemination WP. In summary, as highlighted in the Q8 internal evaluation report, the event was
professionally organised and was well received. Attendees were key informants and decision makers in
the apprenticeship arena. An impressive schedule of presentations was followed by a lively panel
discussion and networking lunch.
In terms of the partner meeting, the internal evaluation report for Q8, it gave the partners the
opportunity to review the considerable progress since meeting 4 in Nantes, just 2 months earlier. The
development of SME information and teaching materials and tools and the technical transfer of same was
complete. It is clear that the complexity and work involved in this project was challenging. This was mainly
due to the transnational nature of the project and the many differences in how apprenticeships are viewed
and supported in different countries along with the corresponding varying stages of progress in
apprenticeship reform in the participating regions. The challenging nature of development of materials
that would be valuable across six countries with vastly differing apprenticeship systems was the core
reason for that delay. While this led to a delay in some of the pilot test, the initial/preliminary statistics
are very encouraging. The implementation of the regional alliances and one stop shops have been
completed successfully and provide a bridgehead to exploit the outcomes of the project going forward.
The internal evaluators assessment of the meeting shows
• There was a minimal decrease in the mark for completion of planned activities from 87.50% in Q7
to 80% in Q8
• Partners’ perception that deadlines were feasible had decreased slightly from 87.50% to 80%
which is still remarkably high.
• The partners’ view of quality of working relationship for Q8 remained consistent with Q7 results –
in Q8 20% said Excellent; 60% Very Good; 20% said Good.
• The effectiveness of the working relationship between partners remained high at very effective
40% and effective 60%.
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• There remained some small concerns on ability to produce deliverables.
• 100% of partners believe we are quite effective at promoting the project.
• Communication among partners is effective - 40% effective and 60% quite effective;
Interestingly, the meeting highlighted the positive experiences of belonging to the project as follows:
• Course materials will have an impact and contribute to more people choosing apprenticeship
as a career path
• Making international connections
• Making local/regional stakeholder connections
The challenges were cited as:
• Linking the stakeholders (this was bound to be a time consuming and intense process)
• Dissemination and ensuring materials have an ongoing impact
• Aligning the project results to other similar EU initiatives to help increase the number of
apprenticeships.
3.2.4 Financial Management
Lead partner Northern Chamber of Commerce managed the project finances. The Apprenticeships
Alliance financial budget and spend performance at the end of year one was on track and progressing as
anticipated as part of the Work Package inputs. In year two, an independent auditor is mandated to
undertake a thorough review of all finance, so we defer to their expertise in this area. Their report is not
available at the time of writing this report.
We reiterate that in year one, we found that the project has established and maintained a compliant and
effective system to meet the requirements of the exacting requirements of the EU. Partner contracts were
issued at project outset and included total budget, breakdown of costs within each category and payment
schedules for each partner. The partners utilise a claim form and timesheet template and completed
claims are checked by the lead partner to ensure that the information is correct, and the costs are eligible.
All of the partners indicated that financial reporting mechanisms are well understood and relatively
straight-forward.
3.2.4 Outcomes of Work Package 2 Finally, we review progress across the tasks involved in Work Package 2:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Present guidelines for 5 full partner meetings and assist in their coordination
All necessary templates were provided by NCC who
supported host partners in drafting itineraries and agendas.
Task 2 Establish dedicated project website
and ensure it is kept up to date.
Working with CC, this was achieved in year 1. At meeting 3,
record partner videos were recorded across all languages
(except Dutch) that added to the vibrancy of the website.
Task 3
Supervise the work of all other partners as they progress in their respective work packages as well as reviewing all provisional and final materials and providing feedback to partners
NCC were diligent project managers in year 1 giving
supervisory oversight, support and guidance to all partners
in the progression of their work packages. In the first part
of year 2, it was clear that some of the less experienced
partners needed more attentive support – the meeting at
Nantes was a turning point in terms of new ways of
Page 25
communications to progress the work packages and tasks
and proved to be very effective as going into the final
meeting in Brussels, all actions had been completed (pilot
testing was ongoing).
Task 4
Assist in the development of deliverables, supervising partners, providing feedback and ensuring their congruence with project aims and stipulated outcomes
NCC gave sufficient supervisory oversight, support and
guidance to all partners in congruence with project aims
and stipulated outcomes
Task 5
Fulfil reporting requirements and act as main liaison between partnership and the funding agency
NCC established a strong working relationship with the
funding agency which included a comprehensive Monitoring
Visit held in Brussels on 17th August. All feedback to that
monitoring visit was addressed in a detailed letter from NCC
on 29.09.2017. NCC and the entire partnership benefitted
from the exchange and feedback.
Task 6
Manage the financial aspects of the project, keeping records and papers for the final reports and/or inspections.
As per section 3.3 Financial Management.
######### WORK PACKAGE 1 PREPARATION and PLANNING
3.3 WORK PACKAGE 3 IMPLEMENATION OF REGIONAL APPRENTIESHIP ALLIANCES Responsible Partner Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council
This was a multifaceted work package that encompasses two key outcomes: -
• Development of a Toolkit designed to support the establishment of Regional Apprenticeship Alliances.
• The development of 6 Regional Apprenticeship Alliance entities each of whom develop an Action Plan.
LCCC led the strategic approach to forming the Alliances. The learning from their logistical experience of
convening and resourcing the first Regional Apprenticeship Alliance in Northern Ireland/UK and the
structure and formatting of the first meeting was used to guide other partners in effecting their respective
Alliances. LCCC also led the process to capture and articulate of the learning experience of the evolution of
the TIAs in the format of an online resource “Toolkit” which will allow further replication of the Alliances,
not only by the 6 Alliances that are part of this funded project, but also other regions in European which
are suitable for adoption of the formula.
What is meant by a Regional Apprenticeship Alliance?
The development of 6 Regional Apprenticeship Alliance sought to realise new support structures for SME
owners and those intermediaries who advise them. They were envisaged as discussion and action platforms
comprising apprenticeship intermediaries, SMEs and other stakeholders (VET bodies, employer groups,
local authorities, HEIs, small enterprise, youth organisations). The aim is that they would act as mobilizing
conduits to effect more and better incidence of SME based apprenticeships. Further, they sought to
realise a positive and long-lasting effect on the enterprise support system and VET system in each region.
The project indicators specific to Work Package 3 are as follows:
• 6 Alliances with 80+ members and 3-5 meetings within the first year and signed action plan
• At least 12 SMEs to be members of Alliance
Page 26
We now review progress across the tasks involved in this WP:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Strategy guidance
Development, presentation and ratification of overall Regional Alliance strategy.
This was presented and refined at partner meeting 2.
Task 2
Develop RAISE Toolkit, a document containing guidelines for the establishment and facilitation of Regional Alliances
The Toolkit is completed to a very high standard. Professionally designed, the
content spans-
Development of a Regional Alliance at a Glance
Step 1: Planning the Process
Step 2: Defining the region
Step 3: Identifying Key Stakeholders
Step 4: Establishment of a Regional Alliance
Step 5: Identifying current programmes/ strategies
Step 6: Action Planning
Resources
Task 3
Design and send personalized invitations.
Based on the stakeholder list developed in WP1, the final section of the Toolkit
consists of the proven practical resources used by LCCC and the 5 other partner
countries to help set up and run a Regional Alliance.
Task 4
Coordinate 1st Alliance meeting in Northern Ireland
This meeting was held on 14 February 2017 with 4 key stakeholder attendees with strong representation from NI/UK partners LCCC and CC. The consensus was that employer knowledge is limited, and the majority of business owners often recruit staff when they are required ASAP and invest little to no time in researching potential apprenticeship schemes. Detailed examination of the scope of the Apprenticeship Alliance project was welcomed and a commitment given to support the project as it evolved through all work packages.
Task 5
Coordinate the first Alliance meetings in Szczecin (Poland), Friesland (Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain), Nantes
YEAR ONE The first Alliance meetings were held as follows:-
Poland 30st January 2017 with 5 key stakeholder attendees with focus on determining the local needs and potential functions of the alliance in the framework of apprenticeships in the region.
Ireland 21st February 2017 with 7 key stakeholder attendees
Spain 30th May 2017 with 10 key stakeholder attendees
France 4th May 2017 with a really strong attendance of 13 key stakeholders. Meeting focus was on mapping of what is currently done about apprenticeship and specifically concerning
Page 27
(France), Letterkenny/North West (Ireland)
SMEs. The main point emerging was the lack of information concerning apprenticeship given to the SME managers.
Netherlands No meeting date or attendance list provided in year one . The focus of this Alliance is the progression of WP10 one stop shop as a key deliverable.
In total, 39 stakeholders were involved in meeting 1 (excludes the Dutch attendees), a strong start in building to the target of 80+ members involved. In all 13 meetings of the Regional Apprenticeship Alliances were held in year one , the subsequent meetings in year one can be reviewed as follows:-
Coordinate follow up meetings in each region
Poland Meeting 2 26th April 2017 with 6 key stakeholder attendees with focus on determining the local needs and knowledge sharing on current structures and best practice. Meeting 3 23rd May 2017 with 6 key stakeholder attendees with focus on preparing for the joint actions on the basis of the local needs.
Ireland Meeting 2 4th April 2017 with a very strong attendance of 12 key stakeholder attendees Meeting 3 28th June 2017 with 9 stakeholder attendees Meeting 4 planned for early in year 2
Spain Meeting 2 20th June 2017 with 7 key stakeholder attendees. It concentrated on key ways to reach SMEs and promote the idea that they are active agents and promoters of the demand for apprentices. In this sense, local campaigns to highlight the opportunity for SMEs to gain capacity in anticipation of the needs of qualified personnel and training support for the implementation of training cycles in a dual modality in a specific territorial area. This "grouping" would positively affect the change of perception of the responsibility of the company in the training of future workers (without excuses of the type "it is the State who should train them") and facilitate joint work with the training centres. Meeting 3 planned for early in year 2
France Meeting 2 2nd June 2017 with 9 key stakeholder attendees Meeting 3 will to be held early in year 2 – delays in convening the Regional Alliance due to changes of presidency in the CCI and in the Region. The dates have had to be changed several times. A meeting with the new president of the Region is planned for the 17th of October when a date will be set for the meeting. This poses a challenge to keep the Regional Alliance members committed to the project.
Netherlands Meeting 2 had been held but we did not have access to the detail of same.
Northern Ireland, UK
Meeting 2 planned for early in year 2.
At the end of year one we concluded there was very significant progress in establishing the Regional Apprenticeship Alliances but progress for some (e.g. Northern Ireland, UK) had been slower than anticipated. Our external
Page 28
evaluation reviewed the composition of the regional alliances. It was interesting to review how the Alliances had attracted cross sector involvement with partners outlining their experience as:-
Very
strong Strong Good
Could have been
better
Employer Groups
28.5% 57% 14.5% Taken the involvement of employer groups with SMEs and small enterprise networks, SMEs were very strongly represented in the Alliances in year one
Enterprise development agencies
43% 43% 14% Given a key target group is intermediators working in enterprise development agencies in an SME advisory capacity it is encouraging that there is a strong involvement from this cohort.
HEIs 40% 40% 20% Encouraging interest and commitment from HEIs in the Alliances
Local Authorities - local and regional
40% 20% 20% 20% Involving local and regional government and authorities was proving to be a ‘slow burn’ depending on the partner that is leading the Alliance.
Small enterprise networks/ professional bodies
43% 43% 14% Very strong commitment evidence from this group with access to intermediaries
SMEs 50% 33% 17% The requirement to
have at least 12 SMEs
as members of
Alliance will be easily
surpassed.
VET enterprise advisors and educators
37.5% 37.5% 25% Again, an important access point to the key target group of intermediators, very strong commitment evidence from this group.
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Youth organisations
25% 25% 50% Given the challenges of youth unemployment, it was important that this target group are well represented in each Alliance.
Our survey consultation with the project partners at the end of year one
revealed a high satisfaction level with this Work Package with 12% rating the
work package as excellent, 76% rating it as good and 12% citing it could have
been better.
YEAR TWO The Alliance meetings held in year two are reviewed as follows:-
Poland Meeting 4 was held on 14th of September 2017 with a focus on
preparing the action plan. It was attended by 6 high profile
organisaitons including the German - Polish Chamber, SME
representative organisaitons, Polish Ukrainian Chamber of
Commerce and Creative Cluster in Szczecin.
Meeting 5 was held on 28th September 2017 with the signing
of the action plan.
In all, the Polish Regional Alliance attracted 13 members, all
very well connected to the Polish apprenticeship, VET and SME
sectors…
Name Institution
1. Małgorzata Stopa "Dom Gospodarki" Szczecin -
Branch of IHK Neubrandenburg in
Szczecin
2. Krystian Stopa "Dom Gospodarki" Szczecin -
Branch of IHK Neubrandenburg in
Szczecin
3. Bartosz Ścibor WZDZ Szczecin - Voivodeship
Vocational Training Centre in
Szczecin
4. Maria Ścibor -
Szczepan
WZDZ Szczecin - Voivodeship
Vocational Training Centre in
Szczecin
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5. Krzysztof Osiński WZDZ Szczecin - Voivodeship
Vocational Training Centre in
Szczecin
VET School
6. Michał Zawadzki Stowarzyszenie Szersza
Perspektywa - Broader Perspective
Association
Intermediary
organization
7. Michał Kostyk Stowarzyszenie Szersza
Perspektywa Broader Perspective
Association
Intermediary
organization
8. Kamil Zieliński Polsko Ukraińska Izba Gospodarcza
- Polish Ukrainian Chamber of
Commerce, branch in Szczecin
Intermediary
organization
9. Bartłomiej Szejba Construction Cluster in Szczecin Intermediary
organization
10 Maciej Borowy Creative Cluster in Szczecin Intermediary
organization
11 Katarzyna
Brzychcy
Voivodeship employment office Self-government
organization
12 Przemysław
Olewnik
Socatots Sp. z o.o. SME
13 Bartosz Markowski TCS International Sp. z o.o.
SME
Ireland Irish membership of the Regional Alliance very firmly attracted
strong membership across 3 key themes of Government
bodies/support agencies, the education sector and enterprise-
Meeting 4 took place on 23rd October 2017 with 7 key
stakeholder attendees . The agenda covered an Update of the
RAISE project & Apprenticeship in Action Workshop and two
key stakeholder contributions
• Employers’ Perspective: Charles Cavanagh, Cavanagh
Hooper Dolan
• Employees’ Perspective: Keara McGlinchey, Hickey
Clarke & Langan
The change and reform of the apprenticeship system in Ireland
was discussed as were potential policy changes which could
lead to the improvement in uptake of apprenticeships in
Ireland.
Meeting 5 took place on 24th January 2018 with 7 external
attendees and 3 representing different departments of LYIT.
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LYIT brought stakeholders through a detailed update of
Apprenticeship Alliances progress followed by a Regional Skills
Forum update on a regional skills audit carried out including
face to face interviews and surveymonkey. Most companies
(28 in total with under 50 employees) were aware of the
apprenticeship system. A discussion took place around the
challenges facing employers in employing apprenticeships and
an SME outlined the difficulty their company has in securing
apprentices. Attendees also contributed to plans for pilot
testing and the national launch event. It was suggested that
both the employers perspective and the student/potential
apprentice perspective would be presented. It was suggested
that any event should be done in cooperation with the
Donegal ETB and maximise existing networks such as the
chamber of commerce, ProfitNet Engineering Group (Donegal
LEO).
Meeting 6 (final) took place on 7th June 2018 with 8 external
attendees and 2 LYIT personnel. It was an opportunity for the
stakeholders to review all actions and deliverables of the
project across Europe.
Spain 13 key stakeholders participated in the Spanish meetings from
leading and influential organisations
Nom Entitat
1 Melcior Arcarons Departament d’Ensenyament
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2 Xavier Badia Curtidos Badia
3 Eduard Barcons Agència de Desenvolupament del Berguedà
4 Francesc Colomé Fundació Catalunya Europa
5 Joaquim Colominas
Ajuntament de Sant Celoni
6 Oriol Homs Notus
7 Joan Boix Serradora Boix
8 Anna Mates Indústria21
9 Eduard Requena CCOO
10 Anna Romero Agència de Desenvolupament del Berguedà
11 Montse Sala Consell de Cambres de Catalunya
12 Esther Roselló Ajuntament de Granollers
13 Mercè Mayol Departament d’Ensenyament
France Meeting 3 was held on 19th January 2018 with a very strong attendance of 53 key regional stakeholder attendees with the purpose of signing the French Apprenticeship Alliance Action Plan.
Netherlands The Dutch Regional Alliance was formed with the following
membership of 13 organisations spanning government, education, enterprise support organisations and end users.
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They met on 4 occasions.
Northern Ireland, UK
Meeting 2 was held on 29th May 2018 with 4 external attendees while the final meeting was held on 31st August 2018 with 6 attendees- this followed the national launch event of the Regional Alliance which was held on the morning of 31.08.18. Action points:
• Seek further links with DfE to promote apprenticeships using the online modules and Toolkit
• Further links to be made with local college SERC on using the online modules and Toolkit as part of their apprenticeship offering
• Similar links to be made with local Council’s across NI to further promote and disseminate the online modules and Toolkit
Task 7
Inclusion of results and key learning points in RAISE Toolkit and publication.
This was achieved in year 2 based on the feedback of Alliances as they progressed to publish their Action Plans. The publication of the Toolkit was primarily through the project website with a download counter tracking the dissemination of same. We find that the
• English version has 356 downloads
• French version has 95 downloads
• Polish version has 93 downloads
• Spanish version has 135 downloads
• Dutch website has 304 downloads of the English toolkit Hence, the distribution reach of the Toolkit in just one year of publication is 983 downloads.
Task 8
Evaluate Regional Alliance achievements and include in final project report
We are satisfied that overall, excellent progress was made by the Regional Alliances, with the exception of the Netherlands. Given each Alliance represents a new and influential structure to mobilise and effect more and better incidence of SME based apprenticeships that will instigate innovative regional actions for positive and long-lasting effect on the enterprise support system and VET system in each region, this is a process that will take time to embed. While the application form was over ambitious to expect to form 6 Alliances, engage 80+ members and hold 3-5 meetings each and sign 6 action plans within the first year, we are happy to report that as a Final Outcome, 6 Alliances involved 99 members and held a total of 21 meeting.
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Partners highlighted that their main challenge was the task of getting all
regional partners together at a fixed time for a meeting. Consequently, partners
often held additional bilateral meetings to catch up with missing partners and to
collect their input. We are satisfied that this additional effort ensured that the
Alliances are robust and influential.
Action Plans
Just a selection of the Action Plans launched …..
France
Northern Ireland, UK
Highlights of the Action Plans include
• a shared commitment to work together to
deliver WP3, the new Apprenticeship in
Action SME course
• Online modules to be disseminated through
L&CCC Business Solutions team business
database reaching 1985 businesses in the
L&CCC area.
- Ongoing Action Plan efforts include mapping
current provision of apprenticeships,
support structures, key players, current
levels of SME participation , needs
analysis to determine skills
(mis)match and supply/demand
issues for apprenticeships in
the region
- Develop case studies of employers who
have successfully grown their talent pool
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through the apprenticeship system.
In our final partner evaluation questionnaire, we asked partners to rate the final membership of their Regional Apprenticeship Alliance across the key target groups. The findings are very mixed across the partnership areas, with some partners finding it easier to reach some target groups easier than others . As evaluaors, we feel the partners are quite harsh in their scoring as our review of the constituent members of the Regional Alliances are very strong – with the exception of the Netherlands.
Very Strong Strong Good Could Have Been Better
VET enterprise advisors and educators
66.67%
11.11%
22.22%
Employer Groups 37.50% 0.00% 37.50% 25.00%
Enterprise Development Association
50% 25% 25%
Local Authorities - local and regional
33.3% 33.3% 33.3%
HEIs 42.86% 14.29% 28.57% 14.29%
Small enterprise networks/ professional
bodies
50.00% 0.00%
33.33%
16.67%
Youth organisations 28.57%
28.57%
14.29%
SMES 55.56%
11.11%
22.22%
11.11%
We asked partners to rate their Action plans with the following result:-
Excellent 33.3% Good 55.5% Could have been better 11.2% Partner comments are insightful:-
• We are very proud of the cohesiveness of the regional alliance membership and publication of our action plans. We have taken it a step further and have delivered upon many of the actions in the action plan as we have moved through the project
• It has become a clear document
• We agreed an alliance with few but very strong partners that will make a good job promoting the participation of SME in apprenticeships
• Change in presidency, government, Regional government and apprenticeship reform
• There are objectives within the plan that are only starting to be realised and could be built on after formal project completion
We asked partners to rate how APPRENTICESHIP ALLIANCE regional partnership evolved in year 2? What
were the main challenges and how did they overcome same? Partners comments give a very clear
overview:-
POLAND- There are four main results of the Alliance achieved: -
1) One barrier for SMEs in participating in the apprenticeship programmes is the need of having the mentor
(apprentice supervisor). It has to be either a person with vocational title or after the specific training.
Understanding this need, The Voivodeship Vocational Training Institution in Szczecin, the member of the
RA in Szczecin, prepared a dedicated course for apprentice's mentors that is a part of the Database of
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Development Services (Polish: Baza Usług Rozwojowych), which means there is a possibility of refunding up
to 80% of the cost of such training. - All the Alliance's members appreciate the fact of personal contacts
that were possible due to the meetings. FO example there is already an ongoing cooperation between
chamber of crafts and enterprises from the region in the field of looking for apprentices, that is the result
of the Alliance's meeting. It seems that face to face meetings are important for SMEs to start the
cooperation. - There was an analysis of vocational education potential and enterprises' needs conducted.
The analysis showed that there are many convergent points that can be explored. - The SMEs that are
members of the Alliance have started preparation for taking their first apprentices. There is also an
important rationale: In December 2016, the Minister of National Education in Poland introduced reform
that would change the structure of upper secondary VET. From the school year 2017/18 it established two-
stage sectoral VET schools (Polish: dwustopniowa szkoła branżowa) replacing the so-called basic vocational
schools. Stage one comprises three-year programmes leading to a vocational qualification. Stage two
comprises two-year programmes leading to a vocational qualification. It also allows graduates to enter
higher education after passing matura examinations in three compulsory subjects and a qualification
examination. The change created some difficulties for enterprises seeking for apprentices. By participating
in the Regional Alliances, the SMEs - members of the Northern Chamber of Commerce - receive up to date
information and guidance on participation in the apprenticeships programmes. On May 2017 Polish Prime
Minister stated that in a dynamically changing labour market, "(...) there is no more important matter than
matching the learning structure and the needs of our vocational schools, industry schools, technical schools
for particular industries. We put great emphasis on this". The labour market in Poland is undergoing some
unexpected changes. The unemployment rate in May 2018 was 6.1%. When it comes to vocational
occupation, the rate is even smaller. In fact, the demand for vocational employees often exceeds the
workforce supply. The enterprises are interested in collaboration with VET providers and need guidance
and support in these activities. By participating in the Regional Alliance, The Northern Chamber of
Commerce can be a hub for such collaboration, therefore contributing to the growth of the regional
economy.
IRELAND It is difficult to recruit and keep stakeholders engaged. We tried to develop strong working
relationships with the stakeholders and we kept them engaged through regular theme-based meetings and
bringing in keynote speakers. We also listened and responded to their suggestions such as bringing SME's
on to the alliance and also the social welfare body. We also designed national launch events based on
feedback and advice they gave us.
THE NETHERLANDS The partnership became more complete with additional partners. The main challenge
was to get all partners together in one room, since everyone has busy schedules. Fortunately, all partners
are regularly in the Kanselari where business, government and education come together.
3.4 WORK PACKAGE 4 - DEVELOPMENT OF SME TRAINING CONTENT Responsible Partner Momentum Marketing Services, Ireland
Led by MMS this work package was charged with devising a new dynamic learning course in the format of
focused information resources, high impact training modules (60 hours) and other practical tools to equip
SMEs to become apprentice employers. The tools sought to build the capacity of intermediary
organizations to impart the information, guidance and training to SMEs in blended learning format, as well
as for direct online use by SMEs. We review the final progress on this WP through the completion of WP
tasks:-
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TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1 Research existing materials for outreach to SMEs on apprenticeships
Each country completed a research audit of existing materials
which was compiled and presented to partners at meeting 2.
Task 2 Produce and present a briefing on the learning objectives, content and pedagogical strategies of the materials, to be discussed at a partner meeting.
WP4 learning objectives, content and pedagogical strategies
were progressed both at the first partner meeting which was
followed up be a very useful partner workshop at the Lisburn
partner meeting 2. MMS together with partner input
evolved the module names from that set out in the
application to to be more attractive to the target group (yet
keeping all the assumed content). In many cases (e.g.
Northern Ireland and Ireland), the content was also shared
with the Regional Alliances who input suggestions.
Task 3
Write new content for materials, favouring graphic, multimedia and interactive learning techniques
We are impressed with the scope and calibre of the training modules:
• Module 1 The Untapped Potential of Apprenticeships for SMEs (including benefits for SMEs from Apprenticeships) sets the scene from an SME perspective and contains explanation of apprenticeships, overview of occupational apprenticeships and why apprenticeships work for SME’s, supported by SME Video Case Studies and Spotlight on a number of European Apprenticeship Strongholds.
• Module 2 The Nuts and Bolts of Apprenticeships (including designing and resourcing an Apprenticeship and Success factors to Effective Recruitment) contains The steps for SME to getting started with Apprenticeships, Apprenticeship and Workforce Planning, the key to which is finding the right apprentice, Finding the right provider for SME training needs or developing SME's own training programme and costs involved in engaging in apprenticeship. Use of video throughout is very engaging e.g. the video interview with Irish SME is very rich in terms of shared learning
• Module 3 Cultivating an Apprenticeship Culture in SME’s (including Addressing a lack of work readiness and Training and Mentoring, key to success), contains the explanation why cultivating an apprenticeship
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culture in SME is important, How learning can transform an SME, the value of peer learning and connections and proposes Tools to help SME’s grow and develop an Apprenticeship and Learning Culture in their companies.
• Module 4 Employ Our First Apprentice contains a plan template, designed as a go-to resource to guide an SMEs as they take on their first apprentice.
• Module 5 : Keys To Success - Practical Tools and
Resources for SME’s Apprenticeships in Action is a
set of resources bringing together key learning tools
to add to the success of an SME taking on their first
apprentice.
Module 5 augments the key learning in Modules 1 -4
through the use of a Video Library of Resources,
Regional Apprenticeship Alliance Toolkit, Case
Studies and Testimonials and SME Apprenticeship
Templates and Resources.
Task 4
Coordinate translation of materials into Polish, Spanish, Dutch, French.
Completed in Polish, Spanish, Dutch and French. When
translating the partners localised content specific to their
countries while retaining the best practice examples from
across Europe to ensure maximum learning benefit.
Task 5 Make any changes to course content after receiving pilot test results report.
Changes were made to reflect recommendations put forward during polit testing.
The course was renamed ‘Apprenticeships in Action’ and was launched in English, Polish, French and
Spanish (the Dutch website offers the course in English).
At the end of year one, our survey consultation with the project partners revealed a high satisfaction level
with this Work Package with 40% rating the work package as excellent, 40% rating it as good and 20% citing
it is too soon to say.
We are very impressed with the marketing materials produced to promote the course:-
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Our thorough review of all course modules verifies that the course is tailored (specifically in terms of its
language and content) for SMEs will gain new knowledge of how to recruit their first Apprenticeship in their
enterprises. The development of the training content took longer than envisaged. While Momentum had
the core content ready at the end of year one, the Commission were clear that all partners needed to
contribute content to the course. We find this has been completed . While partner feedback criticises
delays to WP4, we are clear that this was not the fault of Momentum, rather delays were caused by the
late supply of content by other partners. Overall, the extra time has been an investment to ensure
consistency within the individual course modules in the context of the overall course and the inclusion of
high impact SME video testimonials, ensuring learning is embedded through peer role models. Partner
comments at Final Evaluation stage are very positive:-
At the end of year two, survey results were 40% excellent and 60% rating the materials as very good.
Partner comments give background to this high satisfaction:-
• The content of the course is very well prepared.
• This was not an easy work package as the remit wasn't quite as clear cut when we began discussing
it and the reforms in apprenticeship are at different stages in different countries. However, as a
team, the partners were able to help define the modules and the WP leader delivered strong
content.
• MMS did a great job in developing the materials and tools
• The teaching materials and tools were good quality, though they were delivered later than
expected
• It would be good if minor tweaks to information could be made after pilot initiatives undertaken
(note – this was done)
• Materials and tools developed were of an excellent standard. MMS very willing to take on any
constructive criticism and work in line with partner requests
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3.5 WORK PACKAGE 5 TECHNICAL TRANSFER OF SME TRAINING CONTENT Responsible Partner Canice Consulting
Canice Consulting were responsible for technical realisation of the training materials into an e-learning
structure and resource. While Work Package 4 was delayed, Canice Consulting had worked to create the
learning platform in place through the design of the backend Learner Management system structured to
provide content through embedding self-hosted media including image slider, media player,
downloadable file attachments and other enriched functionality. The draft modules were online at the
end of year one (enabling the Commission to review same) but were replaced to incorporated modules.
The development of the brand graphic for the project (which we assess under Work Package 9) will lead
many of the website design decisions. Our review of the completion of WP5 tasks is presented as
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Integrate the digital learning
platform and learner
management system with the
project website
This has been achieved on
http://www.apprenticeshipalliances.eu/online-course/
Screenshot shows integration achieved
Task 2
Design virtual classroom training
environment
This has been achieved on
http://www.apprenticeshipalliances.eu/online-course/
The keys to the cousrse platform are
And as seen across each module…
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The modules are externally linked to Slideshare which gives the
content that extra reach and traction. The platform also features a
lesson workbook for each module to test and embed learning. When
entering a module, a side bar appears with an overview of additional
materials, learner’s workbook.
Task 3
Develop a sample module which
is distributed to partners for
feedback and amendment if
required
Module One was presented to partners in online format at the 3rd
partner meeting in September 2017.
Task 4
Commission/Script/Shoot/Collate
video and multi-media content
as required
Recorded at the 3rd partner meeting in September 2017.
Task 5
Develop, code and programme
remaining modules in English
Language
Completed
Task 6
Develop, code and programme
remaining modules in the other
partner languages; Polish, Dutch,
French, Spanish.
Completed
Task 7
Make any necessary changes to
all languages based on feedback
from the pilot test
Edits were made post pilot testing,
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Our assessment of the online learning platform is very positive. We like with the site interface in terms of
style, font, and layout. We have examined the learning platform across
multiple devices and it is very attractive as a mobile site also. In terms of
navigating the site, the site structure is clearly understood and the
information that is on the site is clear, pertinent information, well-
structured and classified. Loading times are excellent.
We are particularly impressed with the Self-Assessment Tool, content
developed by Momentum and technical realisation by Canice Consulting.
The self-assessment tool is designed to help Small and Medium Enterprises
self-evaluate their suitability and readiness to become an Apprentice
Employer. It operates on the basis that if the SME is suitable and ready, the
tool suggests next steps. If the SME is not ready they are signposted to the
specific content in the course modules giving them the information and
supports where they can learn more. The Tool is structured across 10
sections each with 2 questions with the following competence areas
1) Workforce Planning - Do you forecast a need for additional skilled
staff in your organisation in the future?
2) Potential of Apprenticeships for SME’s - Are you familiar with Apprenticeship Programmes and
how they could benefit your SME?
3) Apprenticeships in your Country- Do you understand how Apprenticeships work in your Country?
4) Roles and Responsibilities - Do you understand where your apprentice is going to fit in your
workforce and that they may have little or no experience in your field of work?
5) Recruiting and Retaining Staff - Do you understand the importance of a clear recruitment plan and
how to recruit the right candidate for your organisation?
6) Resourcing your Apprentice - Do you know what resources you need to host and successfully run
an apprenticeship programme in your SME?
7) Place of Work - Is your workplace a good and safe practical environment for your new apprentice?
Are their policies and procedure in place to safe guard the health and wellbeing of your workforce?
8) Collaboration and Peer Learning - Do you understand the value and importance of Collaboration
and Peer Learning?
9) Partnering with Education Providers - Most Apprenticeship Programmes require SME’s and
Education Providers to work together. Are you prepared to collaborate and cooperate with an
education provider in the development and delivery of the apprenticeship programme?
10) Evaluating and Reporting - An important role of the Apprentice Employer is assessing competence.
Are you comfortable with performing this role?
Example report – highly visual and
directs learners to the specific learning
resources they need. This creates a very
personalised and powerful learning tool
and partners are to be commended for
its realisation.
See the layout of the assessment tool on
the next page.
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At the end of year one, our survey consultation with the project partners revealed a high satisfaction level
with this Work Package with 20% rating the work package as excellent, 50% rating it as good and 30%
citing it is too soon say.
At the end of year two, our survey consultation with the project partners revealed a strong overall
satisfaction level with this Work Package with 45% rating the work package as excellent, 33% rating it as
good while 11% cited it as could have been better and poor respectively. The comments give insight:-
• The technical aspects of the course are very well done
• The initial development of the platform went smoothly, and the transfer of draft materials was ok,
however revised materials were slow in being put online which had a serious knock-on effect to
other partners ability to complete their commitments.
• Everything is on the website now.
• The transfer of the French version on the site is not yet done, even though all materials have been
translated since March.
• This work package would have been better completed in March 2018 – but I understand there was
difficulty in information being provided by partners
• While some partners express frustration with some delays, they are not taking into account that
the technical partner can only upload what information they are given. Overall, we think the
learning platform is excellent.
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While there is a level of dissatisfaction from partners in their comments, the technical lead makes the valid
point that materials were not supplied in a finished format which lead to delays. These delays were fully
addressed by the end of the project and a very effective learning platform will remain in place for many
years to create impact.
3.6 WORK PACKAGE 6 PILOT TEST OF SME TEACHING MATERIALS AND TOOLS Responsible Partner CCI NANTES
The objective of the pilot testing work package is to allow for the ‘perfection’ of the resource. Its purpose
is to guarantee the training course’s quality and responsiveness to needs by carrying out a thorough pilot
testing process with target group users to ensure relevancy, quality and ease of use. This work package was
led by CCI Nantes. With their expertise in pedagogy (their representative Frederique Orpen is also a
lecturer) and the Chamber’s long tradition in international work, CCI Nantes were ideally placed to lead the
pilot test output ensuring optimum appropriateness of the projects learning resources.
Due to start in November 2017 and complete by the end of May 2018, the pilot test tasks were delayed but
completed to a very high standard none the less. The methodology is a robust approach highlighting the
pilot testing had two principle aims:
1. To ensure the high relevancy and quality of “Apprenticeships in Action ” with targeted end users
thus facilitating the achievement of desired project impacts.
2. To ensure both the relevance of “Apprenticeships in Action” training resource course content and
ease of use of delivery mechanisms – most notable on mobile devices and tablets.
Pilot testing events help projects to acquire:
a) an objective evaluation of the ability of the course to achieve the desired learning outcomes;
b) direct feedback from representatives of the target group as to their opinions on the usefulness,
relevance and user-friendliness of the course, complemented by statistical analysis of their
navigation and interaction with digital materials;
c) informed commentary from VET trainers regarding the appropriateness of the curriculum, content
and delivery mechanisms for the target group.
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1 Produce and present the pilot test methodology for partner review
The pilot test methodology was prepared in draft format,
discussed in detail in September 2017 at Partner meeting 3
and subsequently completed by November 2017.
Task 2 With help of partners, recruit 16+ high level staff in intermediary organizations who in turn recruit 120 SME owner-managers
The target for each country was to recruit 2 managers and 20 SMEs without apprentices to participate in the pilot events. The partners used various methodologies to recruit the required numbers including
- call for pilot testers on the partner websites; - to send information about the course to the
potential stakeholders via e-mail, phone calls, direct contact;
- to share information about the pilot test process with members of the Regional Apprenticeship Alliances;
Task 3 Coordinate the implementation of the pilot test, facilitating user access to materials and
We have been assured this has been achieved.
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designing and implementing evaluation mechanisms
Task 4 Collate, analyse and present findings of pilot test to partners, including recommendations for improvements
We have been assured this has been achieved.
Task 5 Oversee implementation of changes after the pilot test
We have been assured this has been achieved.
Our year one survey consultation with the project partners reveals a high satisfaction level with this Work
Package with 34% rating the work package as excellent, 22% rating it as good and 44% citing it is too soon
to say.
At the end of the project, 70% rated the work package as excellent, 20% rated it as good and 10% cited it
could have been better. The comments arising are
• The Pilot Test methodology was really helpful
• The delay on the population of materials from WP5 caused delays and confusion for other partners
around this work package.
• Great pilot test methodology
• CCI Nantes provided excellent tools for the Pilot Test
3.7 WORK PACKAGE 7 QUALITY ASSURANCE Responsible Partner Barcelona CC
It is a clear requirement of the European Commission that funded projects plan evaluation and quality
assurance processes. But it is more than only a requirement: Quality Assurance or Quality Management
Strategies is an important instrument to ensure and improve quality of processes, products and results and
should be seen as supporting measure to projects irrespective of evaluation as internal or external process
or both.
This Quality Management Strategy was prepared by Barcelona CC as a key deliverable of Work Package 9
Quality Assurance with the input and approval of all project partners. We are very clear that it served the
project well in terms of underpinning and realising the quality delivery of the Apprenticeships Alliance
project across all work packages. We were impressed it included multi functionary Project Output Report
template, Project status report template, Risk assessment template and Scope Change Log template. The
quality assurance work package tasks were realised as follows:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Develop the Quality
Management (QM) Strategy
The Quality Management (QM) under WP7 supported the
successful implementation of the overall project, ensuring a
sufficient level of quality and transparency during the entire
period of the project with regards to all products and
deliverables concerned. Twice a year, it monitored
processes and outputs and react to divergences from
preliminarily defined objectives in terms of compliance,
budget provisions and on time submission.
From the outset, it specified its intention and purpose was
not to assess project results with respect to their content,
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but to monitor and control quality standards set by the
consortium, as the duly, timely and within-budget delivery
of outputs by all project partners. Information on QM was
provided to all partners via a QM workshop at the first
partner meeting to ensure all project partners were familiar
with the strategy and the process involved.
WP7 consisted of four data collection phases and four corresponding reports (half-yearly) on the quality of project processes and results.
Task 2 Implement robust monitoring
system based on Completeness
and Correctness Criteria.
The QM process was based on the techniques of self-
evaluation which are applied by the leaders of the WPs. The
Lead Partner of the WP thereby acted in a monitoring and
supporting role, assuring the execution of the QM-strategy.
Task 3
Quality Control Activities - The
specific quality control activities
that monitor and verify that the
project deliverables meet
defined quality standards
Quality Control activities outlined in the plan focused on
the results of the project and ensures their alignment with
the scope of the project. The task was well addressed
through:-
• Inspection and assessment of deliverables by
target-performance comparison
• In case defects are detected, initiate revision of
the output and conduct error analysis
• Provide justification for potential divergences
from targets
• Report on the overall level of quality achieved
Task 4 Quality Assurance Activities
monitor and verify that the
processes used to manage and
create the deliverables are
followed and are effective.
Quality Assurance was well addressed in the QM Strategy from a process-focused perspective. It spanned:-
• Detection of potential risks for the successful
development of the project
• Development and implementation of a strategy
to prevent potentially occurring risks
• Apply feedback- loop for continuous revision
and error prevention
• Monitoring of processes
Task 5
Quality Assurance Performance
Report published on an annual
basis
Completed in year one and year two.
In year one, our survey consultation with the project partners reveals a very high satisfaction level with this
Work Package with 45% rating the work package as excellent and 55% rating it as good. In year two, the
ratings had increased to 60% excellent and 40% good with the following supporting comments:-
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• BCC was thorough with the quality assurance which is extremely important for the success of this project
• The quality assurance allowed monitoring all crucial aspects of the project.
• This work package appeared to run very smoothly.
• Clear instructions
3.8 WORK PACKAGE 8 EVALUATION
Responsible Partner Letterkenny Institute of Technology
We outlined the detailed approach to this work package in Section 2 Evaluation Purpose and
Methodology. Evaluation has a very important function with Erasmus+ projects with 2 key
methodologies adopted to ensure project's activities are assessed and understood, an internal
monitoring and evaluation function (led by LyIT) and external evaluation function (led by Friel
Consulting).
The following overview gives insight into the internal/external evaluation process:-
What Who When
Monitoring questionnaires All partners Quarterly
Monitoring reports LYIT and External Evaluator
Quarterly
Questionnaire evaluation of independent stakeholders
All partners On-going
Project partner meeting questionnaires All partners 5 Meetings
Multiplier event satisfaction questionnaires
P1, P2, P3, P3, P5, P8, P9
On-going
Minutes for partner meetings Lead/Partner host
5 Meetings
Minutes for Regional Alliance Meetings
Partner host On-going
Interim External Evaluation Report
External Evaluator
Month 12
Final External Evaluation Report External Evaluator
Month 24
The evaluation tasks were progressed as follows:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Develop and present the Evaluation Strategy to the partners, it will act as the monitoring & evaluation framework for the project
Completed and agreed by partners by partner meeting 2.
Task 2 Instigate the tender process and selection of independent external evaluator.
A robust procurement tendering process was undertaken in
accordance with EU and LYIT’s own procurement rules and an
external evaluator was appointed in February 2017.
Task 3 Input into first quarterly monitoring report
Was completed and was circulated to all partners (also in
Dropbox)
Task 4 At each meeting, LYIT will present findings to date and lead discussions on the overall
Was an agenda items at all partner meetings and proved to
be main feedback mechanism through which partners could
vocalise and address issues of concern. It is very clear from
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evaluation of the project with an overall judgement of what has been done
the 8 internal evaluation reports, that LyIT ensured
evaluation was front and centre and real time solutions were
adopted to address issues arising.
Task 5 Interim External Evaluation Report (month 12)
Fulfilled through the Interim Report
Task 6 (External Eval) Final External Evaluation Report (month 24)
Fulfilled through the Final Report
Task 7 Disseminate the external evaluator's reports via website and final e-zine
CC will ensure this final report is included on the project
website and partners will circulate via ezine.
At the end of year one, our survey consultation with the project partners reveals a very high satisfaction
level with this Work Package with 60% rating the work package as excellent and 40% rating it as good. At
the end of year two, our survey consultation with the project partners reveals an even higher satisfaction
level with this Work Package with 80% rating the work package as excellent and 20% rating it as good.
The comments arising are:-
• Performance of LyIT in the project was far beyond what was being expected from them
• Clear surveys, clear reports(presentations) and well-founded advice
• Working well and in sync with programme
• Regular surveys and comments gathered from all partners to ensure quality of materials was high.
At the end of year two, LyIT shared the following perspective -
• After a slight delay (due in part to the later appointment of staff), we made up the time and we believe
we have delivered on our commitments to this work package. And where slippages and minor delays
were recorded, we attempted to offer real solutions by both contacting the Project Leader directly and
also by offering potential solutions during our presentation at transnational partner meetings.
As evaluators, we are very impressed with the diligence and insight of the internal evaluators with whom
we have worked closely since our appointment. Regular meetings, consistent open communications has
enriched the evaluation process, ensuring it is of real value to the partnership.
3.9 WORK PACKAGE 9 IMPLEMENTATION OF DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES Responsible Partner EfVET
Consistent and targeted dissemination has been central to implementation The Apprenticeships Alliance
project and never more so than in year 2 as the multifaceted deliverables came on stream. EfVET led the
dissemination role and supporting partners to maximise the reach and impact of a wide ranging
dissemination actions which we now review across the key WP tasks:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Present detailed
Dissemination Strategy to all
partners for feedback and
approval.
At the outset, EfVET produced a thorough Dissemination and
Exploitation Strategy which was refined and adopted by all
partners.
Task 2 Develop a project brand in
the format of an engaging
project logo that is carried
across all project actions
While the application name for this project was RAISE, the project
was subsequently rebranded as The Apprenticeships Alliance at
the first partner meeting. A very engaging project logo was
devised that is carried across all project actions.
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and underpinned by a Brand
Manual
We find that the logo is used in conjunction with the Erasmus +
logo on all internal and external documentation.
As Irish partner MMS has internal graphic design personnel, it has
worked with EfVET to devise an impressive brand manual and
suite of branded marketing resources to include:-
Branded
report cover
Branded
PowerPoint
Task 3
Compilation of
Dissemination Contact Log
Great marketing is based on compelling and very relevant content
and precision marketing. The basis for precision marketing is a
robust contact database. While cognisant of GDPR requirements,
each partner operates a stand allow Apprenticeship Alliance
database log which captures all the contact details across key
target stakeholder groups for dissemination purposes. This
information cannot be shared for data protection purposes but it
the categories that feature in the database are:- media, SMEs,
business representative bodies, HEI and VET bodies etc.. While
the application form cited a target of 1,800 contacts on the
database + 10,000 SMEs, it is commendable that the collective
database has well exceeded 30,000 contacts. This is based on the
large memberships of the 3 Chambers involved, a Local Authority,
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a EU network, HEI and VET bodies and regional development
organisations.
Task 4 Publication of Project Ezines
- It is planned that 4 x ezines
(email newsletters) will be
issued in the lifetime of the
project
In addition to direct circulation to the database, the ezines will
also be uploaded to the project website news section
http://www.apprenticeshipalliances.eu/ezine/ and shared on the
project’s social media stream (Facebook, Twitter). 2 ezines were
issued (February 2017 and June 2017)
At interim evaluation, we recommended that give the branding of
the project is so strong, future ezines would benefit from a design
overhaul. This was actioned in ezines 3 and 4.
Task 5
Brochure – To be published
early in the project lifecycle
A project brochure was created in the beginning of February 2017
with text by EfVET and design by MMS. Partners have printed
same for use at conferences, workshops, seminars and events.
The brochures are available in English, French, Polish and Spanish.
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Again, consistent branding delivers a very professional message.
Task 6
Digital Marketing including
Social Media
At the end of year one the Apprenticeships Alliance Facebook
page had a modest but respectable 75 likes and over 100 posts
reaching on average 300 people per post.
https://www.facebook.com/ApprenticeshipAlliancesEU/ Reach is
very strong – one post reached over 11,000 Facebook users. At
the end of year two, Facebook followers had increased to 111.
BCC set up the project Twitter page @Press_RAISE with 56
followers. Content and engagement on the Twitter feed is good,
hashtags were used at events and relevant content shared
directing back to the project outputs. Example ..
Posts have been re-tweeted, shared on FB etc with local/national
Government organisations, HEIs, LEAs, SMEs, Training organisations
who have also shared it out to their own channels. The social
media streams were also embedded in a dedicated section of the
website. This is highly visible and gives extra traction to the social
media activity.
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Task 7
National and International
Press campaign to national
and international media
2 press releases were issued by EfVET to their extensive media
network in year one. No press releases have been available for
our review for year 2.
It’s also important to mention, that EfVET wrote an article about
the project in an EfVET Magazine and EfVET News.
Task 8
National and International
Launch events to highlight
the work and celebrate the
achievements of the
Regional Apprenticeship
Alliances
Events are a very important dissemination tool for the project.
See next section for event breakdown per country. In addition to
own events, the project was presented at over 30 EU conferences
Examples of two strong National Launch Events
France The national event on 19th January
2018 saw the signing of the French
Apprenticeship Alliance Action Plan
and presentation on all project
outputs to a very well attended event
(53 leading policy makers, educators
and employers).
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Ireland
The national launch event was held
on 17/07/18 with a strong
attendance of 25 SMEs,
Intermediaries & schools.
Northern Ireland, UK
The Northern Ireland event was a well promoted
national event.
Overall the dissemination work package progressed well. Social media improved in year 2 and we were
impressed with final push through a very clear workplan.
Our survey consultation in year one with the project partners reveals a good satisfaction level with this
Work Package with 40% rating the work package as excellent, 50% rating it as good and 10% citing it could
be better. In year two, this improved to a rating of 23% excellent and 77% good with the following
comments:-
• We all embraced the dissemination activities and tried to maximise every opportunity to disseminate the project. Given the nature of the project, face to face meetings were the most effective dissemination tool for us. We have also used website, social media, conferences, meetings, etc.
• More coordination and direction at times would have been extremely useful.
• We found Twitter very useful in disseminating the project along with events that we involved ourselves in and delivered ourselves. We have gathered and documented evidence in dissemination activities, particularly around social media activity.
• Search engine optimisation strategy developed and implemented by CCL, this was highly successful as witnessed by the high number of visitors to the project website
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• Face to face meetings with stakeholders have been proven to be the most effective in promoting the project. Social media are nice for informing but are not always getting people into action. During face to face contact it's possible to activate people and involve them in your project
• Special mention for MMS who supported project dissemination with extremely professional graphic design
• Though is not easy to disseminate the results of a project like RAISE, EFVET did a good job
• All partners participated fully in the dissemination and this project was successfully disseminated
3.10 WORK PACKAGE 10 EXPLOITATION AND EUROPEAN PLATFORM Responsible Partner BDF
This WP spans 3 distinct deliverables:- European Platform (CC), One Stop shops (BDF) and Exploitation
Strategy (BDF). To summarise these deliverables-
Deliverable 22: The EU Platform
This is an interactive website with the following functions:
• access to all information resources, practical tools and online learning modules – available of the
project website
• important links to handy tools, organizations and people. In this way it adds value to the work of
the “one stop shops” who will act as local promotional points of the EU Platform.
Deliverable 23: One Stop Shops
One-stop shops were designed as local focal points for SMEs to “drop in” and access up-to-date
information, guidance and training from friendly, knowledgeable staff. There will be 6 One-stop shops run
by the designated partners and they will provide comprehensive information and support on
apprenticeships for SMEs during the project lifespan, but this will grow continuously beyond the funding
period. The One-stop shops act as an actual meeting point for SMEs looking for information and ideas from
those who have experience to offer. They are hosted in the premises of the designated partner and/or local
incubators in the partner countries.
Barcelona Chamber of
Commerce, Spain
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The One Stop Shop was attended by a total of 113 companies from different
production sectors through the different information points of the Chamber's
territorial delegations: Badalona; Berga; CSE; Granollers; Igualada; Hospitalet;
Mataró; Mollet; Sant Feliu; Vic; Viladecans; Vilafranca; Vilanova. Companies
have received information regarding:
• General information on Dual and Alternative Vocational Training
(characteristics of the two subsystems: work and education, training
specialties and their suitability in the company, benefits to the company,
company obligations)
• Regulations (legal framework in Spain, information about regional
regulations) • Administrative management of apprentices in companies
(practical aspects of the Dual Training of the educational system, agreements,
scholarships, contracts, etc.) • The company as a training agent (planning,
organizing, supervising and evaluating training within the company) •
Guidance of students • Information about the role of the company tutor
(functions, required training)
They have validated 31 companies that have requirements to train
apprentices in the next months and require some type of support or technical
advice: management, tutor training, prospecting of centers, etc..
LyIT, Ireland The Irish regional alliance stakeholder group have been very supportive of the Apprenticeship Alliance One Stop Shop that can help provide information to SMEs interested in employing an apprentice and for those seeking an apprentice employer. After deliberation, it was agreed by the Regional Alliance, that the Donegal ETB should lead on the formation of a one stop shop and it should be incorporated within their current support service. All agreed that this was the logical and most cost effective way to set up the one stop shop and that setting up a separate entity or another organisation hosting the one stop shop would create unnecessary duplication and confusion.
Donegal Education & Training Board has 14 Training Centres located throughout the County. These centres specialise in the provision of adult and further education and training. The provision of apprenticeship education is now a key part of the ETB’s brief and are being resourced to provide such education.
LCCC, Northern Ireland Endorsement was received from the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council
Regional Alliance to set up the ‘One Stop Shops’, initially to be set up within
the Council to be run by the ‘Business Solutions’ team within the Economic
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Development departmental team. The hi8gh profile location for the ‘One
Stop Shop’ is based in the reception area of the Council headquarters. It is
hoped that the local enterprise centres, will open ‘One Stop Shops’ in the
near future, starting with the two local enterprise centres within the Lisburn
& Castlereagh City Council area, LEO and Inspire Business Centre. Results
include 15 SMEs who have trailed the course initially, with a further 15
expected to use the course in the coming year.
Business Development
Friesland
The Dutch one stop shop is based at Kanselarij, the center for government,
education and business in Leeuwarden. In this building also the headquarter
of BDF who have primary responsibility for the manning the one stop shop
benefitting from BDF project managers work with SMEs and VET and HE
institutes on a daily basis. The connecting role between both worlds
(education & business) suits us well and fits the running activities perfectly.
Nantes Chamber of
Commerce
The approach taken in France is to provide the One Stop Shop service through
the Ifocotep and Accipio VET centres. The people dealing with SMEs demands
are very qualified. The enquiry levels fluctuate during tthe year as the
courses start at the end of August for all the 1st year apprentices. The main
period of activity is between March and October, some apprentices can start
later than the official date because they found their company, and therefore
had their apprenticeship contract signed and registered later.
Northern Chamber of
Commerce, Szczecin
No report available at time of writing this evaluation.
Deliverable 24: Exploitation Strategy
A strategy which brings together the main exploitation activities and the responsibilities assigned among
the partners to ensure project impact is delivered during and in particular after its completion. We now
review year one progress of WP 10 across the key WP tasks:-
TASK DETAILS EVALUATOR COMMENT
Task 1
Development and presentation of Exploitation Strategy and presentation to partnership.
The Exploitation Strategy document was developed to facilitate the
Apprenticeship Alliance project plans for exploitation. It was
finalised by July 2017 and is a high calibre document.
Task 2 Development of guidelines to assist
Influenced by the work of VNG International, the International
Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities
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partners in implementing their one stop shops
who has supported numerous local governments in establishing ‘one
stop desks’. The Guidelines take their best practice toolkit for
establishing a local government one stop desk and that approach
involving a 6-step approach. To summarise:-
• Step 1 explains how to generate support from all the
relevant stakeholders to start the process of establishing a
one stop shop. Continuous support of these stakeholders is
essential throughout the whole process.
• Step 2 explains the creation of the project organisation
responsible for the implementation and the project plan
including objective, results, activities, budget,
communication plan, and risk analysis.
• Step 3 focuses on the organisational aspects of establishing
a one stop shop, mentioning the selection of products and
services, their process analysis, the creation of a front and
back office, and the embedding of the one stop shop within
the organisation.
• Step 4 explains the selection of the people who will be
working for the one stop shop. What are the job
descriptions?; Who are the people?; and What trainings are
necessary?
• Step 5 elaborates on the physical establishment of the one
stop shop. What is the proper location?; How should it be
furnished?; and What ICT hard and software is useful?
• Step 6 is the final step in the process. It explains how
sustainability can be assured.
Task 3
Establishment of One Stop Shops.
Led by BDF, progress across the one stop shops can be summarised
as:-
UK:- The physical location of the one stop shop was scoped out by the Regional Alliance meetings followed by one to one meetings with potential hosts, in particular the Economic Development Unit within Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council or in one of the two Enterprise Agencies in the area - Inspire Enterprise Centre (covering the North of the Region) and Lisburn Enterprise Organisation (covering the South of the Region). Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council’s Economic Development Unit was chosen as the main one but information booths will be established in the Enterprise Offices. Spain/Catalonia:- BCC have had talks and negotiations with the two more relevant stakeholders in this particular field including the Ministry of Education of the Catalan Government and its Public Service of Employment. They fully support the One Stop Shop. However, Catalonia has an enormous amount of SMEs (almost half a million) and an obvious lack of tradition of getting involved in apprenticeships. Moreover, there is no organisation or institution that could easily host the One Step Shops. To provide reach and impact, it has been decided at Regional Alliance level to create a number of information points that will also act as Secretariats . BCC is working to establishment an agreement among city councils, the Ministry of Education and BCC in 10 cities of the Barcelona Province. In addition to the Apprenticeship Alliance tools, it will also act as the
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public access to BCC’s own online tools in the field of apprenticeships (some of them shared with the Ministry of Education). Altogether is an ambitious project which goes far beyond the deliverable. It is an exciting opportunity with a real multiplier effect but will be time to be realised. Netherlands: Together with representatives of the Alliance De Kanselarij, IPF, EMS, De Koken, Uwerk and It Haskerfjild, BDF have explored key options concerning the one stop shops and what would suit the Friesland region. BDF will host and manage the one stop shop De Kanselarij, Center for Business & Education in Leeuwarden. BDF also has its main office here and has assigned two project as the main drivers of for the one stop shops. They will be supported by assistant project managers acting as as first line (basic) information providers and back office support officers. Ireland: After much research and deliberation, it was unanimously agreed by all Ireland Regional Alliance Members including and especially Donegal ETB that to enhance and add value to existing provision the One Stop Shop would be established at Donegal Education and Training Board. In the longer term, the recruitment of an Apprenticeship Information Officer would be very welcome but has huge resource significance. France: There are a number of one stop shops in the Pays de Loire region - the most relevant to this project is the Campus de l’Apprentissage based at CCI Nantes-Saint Nazaire which works for 2 VET providers: ACCIPIO and IFOCOTEP which are linked to the CCI. It is already resourced and a busy information point for the training of Apprentices. Poland: The one stop shop will be based in NCC building in Szczecin. The partners must be commended for the excellent work in laying the foundations to set up the one stop shop. Given the Regional Alliances have played a directing role, it has taken longer than anticipated but will be more sustainable as a result.
Task 4 EU Platform development and maintenance
The European Platform, as envisaged in the project application, is a
meeting point through internet, for exchanging tools, network and
experiences. It is a place for people. The platform seeks to inspire
users to look for role models in a larger European context, and to
broaden their ambitions. Once the learning materials were ready,
CC evolved the website to function as a European Platform,
according to project proposal.
Task 5 Development of partnership IPR agreement
In place.
Our survey consultation at the end of year one with the project partners reveals a very high satisfaction
level with this Work Package with 66% rating the work package as excellent, 12% rating it as good and 22%
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citing it is too early to say. At the end of year 2, the feedback was 20% excellent and 80% good with the
following comments.
• The exploitation ensures the sustainability of the project
• This is a difficult WP to measure but we all have fed into the development of it as effectively as we can.
• BDF should have react sooner when Frank left the company. Nynke did a remarkable job.
At the end of year one, there was 100% satisfaction across the partners for the quality standard of work
undertaken by other partners in the project and the input of other partners into all work packages. An
insightful comment - the apprenticeship policy is currently changing in many countries. It is a challenge for
developing deliverables. However, I do believe our project is an example of well management in changing
environment. At the end of year 2, the quality standard of work undertaken by other partners in the
project and the input of other partners into all work packages was rated at 90% satisfied and 10%
somewhat satisfied. Comments provide interesting insight:-
• The partners, in my opinion, were very collaborative and supporting during the implementation of
the WP
• I believe that all partners committed to the project and delivered their packages. Any slippage
which is to be expected, was recovered to the best of partners ability I believe until the final
months of the project. Delays in some work packages had adverse delays on others ability to do
their work which is very frustrating and very difficult to overcome. However, the project leader
should have taken a more hands on and leadership role in this regard. Instead we had less
communication from the project leader at a time when we needed more.
• Whenever I have asked for input, almost all partners delivered. It was workable input, I could use it
very well.
• In the last months we had problems with a few partners to deliver their information for the reports
of WP, but overall we are satisfied.
• WP4 & WP5 could have been completed and agreed earlier - but understand there was a delay in
information being provided by partners
• All partners have taken a real interest in this project and therefore have produced high quality
work
• All partners were very active and the input was very good
4 Review of the Apprenticeships Alliance Quantitative and Qualitative Indicators
Through our detailed review of the 10 work packages in section 3, we now present an assessment of the achievement of Apprenticeships Alliance Quantitative and Qualitative Indicators across the 24 project deliverables
WP # WP title Deliverables (number and title) Status at the end of year one Status at the end of year two
WP1 Preparation and Planning (1) Project Handbook Complete Complete
WP2 Management (2) Final Project Report
(3) Partner Management Area on Project
website
At the end of year two
Not yet in place, alternative
management repository operational
through Dropbox
Underway
Alternative management repository
operational through Dropbox
WP3 Implementation of Regional
Apprenticeship Alliances
(4) RAISE Toolkit
(5) Signed Regional Apprenticeship Alliance
Action Plans x 6
Advanced draft in place
3 plans signed by month 12, 3
awaiting signature early in year 2
This was achieved in year 2 based on the feedback of Alliances as they progressed to publish their Action Plans. The publication of the Toolkit was primarily through the project website with a download counter tracking the dissemination of same. We find that the
• English version has 356 downloads
• French version has 95 downloads
• Polish version has 93 downloads
• Spanish version has 135 downloads
• Dutch website has 304 downloads of the English
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toolkit Hence, the distribution reach of the Toolkit in just one year of publication is 983 downloads.
WP4 Development of SME
information and teaching
materials and tools
(6)Teaching materials curriculum
(7) Practical Tools
Advanced draft in place
Advanced draft in place
Completed to a very high standard,
the course is available in English,
French, Spanish, Polish and Dutch. The
practical tools are excellent with
specific commendation of the self -
assessment tool.
WP5 Technical Transfer of SME
information, teaching
materials and tools
(8) Online training course, information and
tools
Platform in place and awaiting final
materials
Completed to a very high standard.
WP6 Pilot Test of SME Teaching
Materials and Tools
(9) Pilot Test Report Methodology agreed, to start
November 2017
We understand this is completed.
WP7 Quality Assurance (10) Quality Management Strategy Complete and year one Report
presented at partner meeting month
13
We understand this is completed.
WP8 Evaluation (11) Evaluation Strategy
(12) Interim Evaluation Report
(13) Final Evaluation Report
In place
Completed as per publication of this
Report
For completion by month 27.
Completed
WP9 Implementation of
Dissemination Activities
(14) Dissemination Strategy
(15) Project Brand and Brand Manual
(16) Database of stakeholders and interested
parties
(17) E-zines
(18) Promotional brochures
(19) Digital Marketing including Social Media
(20) Press campaign
In place
In place
In place
2 ezines issued in year 1
Promotional brochure produced in all
languages
Underway with more focus required in
year 2
Completed
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(21) National and International Launch
events
2 press releases issued
Scheduled for early in year 2
WP10 Exploitation and European
Platform
(22) European Platform
(23) One Stop shops
(24) Exploitation Strategy
Scheduled for early in year 2
Six one stop shops established – this
could increase given Catalan efforts
In place
Completed