AEROVET

The AEROVET project will run from 2009 - 2012, so please feel free to start new discussions or to add to the existing ones.

This discussion topic will focus upon issues concerned with AEROVET. AEROVET is a European comparative project funded under the Leonardo programme, which looks at how aircraft maintenance technician training is carried out in France, Germany, Spain and the UK and the scope for trainees to take some modules in another country and receive appropriate credit (and whether in future this could be facilitated under the auspices of ECVET).

These four countries were involved in a previous project which involved the development of holistic Typical Professional Tasks (TPTs) for use in initial training in Airbus. The idea was that mastery of the TPTs would give a basis of developing expertise (and be a more reliable indicator than achievement of learning outcomes, because of the level of aggregation of the tasks), but it is possible to move from TPTs to LOs in order to construct modules, assign credit etc. which could be part of the ECVET system.

This work is developmental and will feed into how the ECVET system evolves.  

TPTs have to be expressed in terms of skills, knowledge, understanding and competences which are already implied in the descriptions of the TPTs. The result will be that the TPTs are expressed in terms of (potentially Europe-wide) units – that is, the TPTs are turned into a form acceptable to accreditation bodies and potentially of use within ECVET.

Each national team compares the units with the national regulations (in order to see whether there are any possible additions to be made to the units or whether there are any divergences. Each national team will calculate the relative weight of (each unit) of the national qualification and then ascribe notional credit points. This process will allow a comparison to be made between the ratings given between countries and it could also be linked to progression to higher level qualifications. The intention will then be to develop some (European) core profiles / common units.

At the next stage the project will be concenred with the technical development of European sub-units etc. with the aim to allow progression to HE and the sub-units will be compared to the ECTS scheme (in a process of validation).
 
This should facilitate the interchange of apprentices across countries (whcih should be easier because of the common units) and there will be an evaluation of outcomes (some tests of apprentice decision-making), with an examination of solutions offered by apprentices in tests (of the extent to which they are able to engage in independent problem-solving) and judgements will then be made about the the application of the whole approach to ECVET. 

See attached file for details of:

 Certifying competences of TPT 1:
Production of metallic components for aircraft or ground support equipment

Documents starting the discussion about TPTS are attached here.

The first contribution came from our French colleagues who have mapped the extent to which the German TPTs make sense in a French context.

The French training route to the “skilled workers” profiles foresees a 2-step training programme. The first one lasts for 2 years after the end of compulsory general education and leads to a diploma called CAP or BEP. Those with the BEP or the CAP may continue to the second stage, that lasts a further 2 years and leads to a Baccalauréat Professionnel (Vocational Baccalaureate or BacPro). For the sake of the AERONET project, only the BacPro profile has been chosen. They will be our 'skilled workers'. In Airbus St Eloi, these two last years to the BacPro are conducted within an apprenticeship contract. Those having stopped with a CAP or a BEP (70%) do also (mostly) work at Airbus but in other positions than those we chose to qualify 'skilled workers'. There are two different qualifications at this level of BacPro : the airframe mechanics and the avionics.

For a continuation of this commentary, see the following document:

• LSA [ Download ] (06-11-24-LSA-english-edited.doc - 254.50 Kb ) Preview

The main topics covered in the Broughton meeting included: EASA-integration in VET; Overview: Questionnaire-results; TPT- presentations of the results in the countries; Evaluation and other upcoming steps.

Typical Professional Tasks (TPTs)

Mechanical:

1. Production of metallic components for aircraft or ground support equipment
2. Production of components of plastics or composite materials for aircraft or ground support equipment
3. Operating and monitoring of automated systems in the aircraft production
4. Surface protection of components for the aircraft construction
5. Joining and dissolving of structural components and aircraft airframes
6. Assembly and disassembly of aero engines
7. Assembly and disassembly of equipment and systems in/at the aircraft airframe
8. Functional checks and tuning at the aircraft
9. Functional checks and tuning at the engine
10. Maintenance and inspection of the aircraft
11. Analysis and recondition of malfunctions at system components
12. Analysis and reconditioning of damage on structure components
13. Analysis and reconditioning of malfunctions at the engine
14. Reconditioning of engine components
15. Reconditioning of accessory equipment
16. Independent quality inspections

Electrical:

17. Production of bunched circuits for aircraft systems
18. Production or modification of electric devices
19. Passing bunched circuits in aircraft systems
20. Assembly and disassembly of subsystems and devices at aircraft systems
21. Modification of aircraft systems
22. Functional checks and system audit of supply units and control systems
23. Functional checks and system audit of information and communication systems
24. Analysis and repair of malfunctions at bunched circuits in aircraft systems
25. Analysis and repair of malfunctions at supply units and control systems
26. Analysis and repair of malfunctions at information and communication systems
27. Maintenance and inspection of aircraft systems