The joint EQAVET project team, comprising members from Finland, Croatia, Estonia, and Slovenia, successfully hosted a Transnational Peer Review Criteria Workshop on Thursday, September 26, 2024. Held online via Teams, the three-hour workshop focused on evaluating the quality of activities promoting sustainable development among Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers.

The primary aim of the workshop was to update the European Peer Review Quality Area and Criteria for VET, particularly from the perspective of sustainable development. This initiative was part of a broader effort to integrate sustainability into various operational quality areas of VET providers, rather than treating it as a separate quality area.

The Croatian project partners from Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education moderated the event which proceeded as follows:

• Welcome and Goals: Representatives from the Finnish National Agency for Education outlined the workshop’s objectives, and colleagues from Slovenia’s Institute for Vocational Education and Training discussed the goals of the joint EQAVET project.
• Introduction to Sustainability: Insights into sustainability in VET operations and quality management were provided by the OKKA Foundation from Finland.
• Joint Discussion: Participants engaged in discussions on the meaning of sustainable development in school activities, ways to promote sustainability, and current implementations in their institutions. This part included active involvement of participants using the Padlet app.
• Conclusions and Next Steps: The Estonian Quality Agency for Education summarized the discussions and outlined future steps.

The workshop was part of a series of events aimed at collecting feedback on the updated criteria through core project team reviews, online workshops, and peer review events. The updated handbook is expected to be published online in spring 2026.

Upcoming Events:

• Peer Review Method Training: Scheduled for October 10, 2024, this open webinar will focus on the peer review method and its role in promoting sustainable development.
• Organizing Peer Review Events: An invitational webinar on November 22, 2024, will guide VET providers on organizing peer review events during the project in 2025.

For more information, contact the EQAVET NRP project team representatives from Croatia, Estonia, Finland, and Slovenia.