The integration of ICT in all social and economic spheres and the development of the population’s digital competences is one of the main factors of the country’s development in the information era.

The increasing pace of changes in society, in the job market (a growing ICT-sector; a higher demand for engineers and data analysts, for specialists with digital skills – a key competence for the 21st century job) and in the technological landscape (IoT, AI, big data) puts a pressure on educational systems around the world. The Republic of Moldova faces an increasing ICT skills gap and a low level of digital literacy. These drawbacks remove many citizens from an ICT-based society and economy, thus reducing their access to public and social services, which will be increasingly online, and will hinder Moldova‘s opportunity to participate in the global digital economy.

Despite some progress at policy level in education, investments in infrastructure and curriculum development for IT specialties, there has been a minor progress in the use of technologies to improve management processes, teaching and learning in schools. Despite the fairly good access to IT infrastructure in almost all general education schools, half of them are outdated, and IT technologies are less used in teaching and learning.

The project’s intended impact is to increase the number of VET students, both girls and boys, who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

Implementation period: December 2018 – November 2021
Funding organization: Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC)

The project’s scope: Integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in VET, by: increasing management support, improving teachers’ digital competences, developing digital content for selected VET trades and specialties, equipping the institutions properly to deliver a higher quality educational process.

Beneficiaries: The teachers and the management of 6 VET institutions including the Centre of Excellence in Informatics and Communication Technologies (CEITI)..

The final beneficiaries are about 3,000 students, boys and girls.

Outputs and activities

The project will be implemented throughout a 3-year period and result in the following 4 outputs:

Output 1: Digital skills are acknowledged and continuously supported by VET institutions at strategic level as part of teaching and organizational culture.

Activities: Capacity development of VET institutions’ management of 6 beneficiary institutions through trainings, coaching visits, etc.; consultation in the purchasing process of IT infrastructure, IT management systems development and maintenance; design and adjustment of modern spaces.

Output 2: VET teachers and instructors have better digital skills for an efficient teaching, learning, assessment and class management.

Activities: Develop, include in the CEITI in-service training offer and implement ToT programs, mentoring program, digital competence training program for teachers; organise one study visit.

Output 3: Digital content for VET trades and specialties is developed and open education resources are increasingly used in teaching, learning and assessment.

Activities: Develop guidelines on implementation of curricula from ICT integration perspective; develop digital content for 3 trades and specialties; implement training programs on the development of digital content and copyrights and OER promotional campaign;

Output 4: Modern learning spaces created to foster the integration of ICT in education process as well as the student centred learning.

Activities: Purchase of modern digital devices in 5 VET institutions and CEITI; organising trainings on modern teaching methods using spaces and IT equipment; organising 6 online and offline network meetings for teachers.

INITIAL EVALUATION STUDY ON APPLYING ICT IN TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION