(ANS - Sliema) - On 6-7 November, the second meeting of those in charge of European Planning and Salesian technical schools and vocational training centres took place in Malta. The meeting was sponsored by the Office for Schools and Training in the Department for Youth Ministry. It was attended by 25 representatives from Bosnia, Slovakia, Spain, Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Malta, Kosovo and Poland.

The meeting focused on awareness of the new European projects for the six years from 2014-2020. At the working sessions a summary was presented of the most important aspects to be evaluated and the group studied the possibility of new opportunities that Salesian works might avail of.

The discussion focused on possible concrete actions at EU and national level regarding three aspects: the promotion of awareness, innovation, education and the digital society; secondly, the involvement of young people in a society that encourages their participation;  and finally, the need to encourage participation in the labour market, the acquisition of skills and the fight against poverty.

The meeting was also an opportunity for participants to ask themselves what areas or issues are in need of greater commitment in the provinces and how we can implement partnerships with other countries.

At the end there was widespread discussion on possible procedures and ways of collaborating to be adopted in order to work well as a network of representatives of the various provinces, and to improve the level of knowledge and cooperation between the various Salesian centres. Some concrete commitments emerged with a view to greater visibility and efficiency for the future: the work could be shared and coordinated via a digital platform, and local training sessions could be arranged for teachers to facilitate the management of shared projects.

Published 14/11/2013