Problem addressed

We have the opportunity to improve vocational education, but we need to start teaching it in a way that helps young people in their careers right from the beginning. The economy is changing quickly, making it hard to keep up with what skills employers need. Instead of training students for one specific job, we should focus on teaching them a variety of skills and entrepreneurship so they can adapt to different tasks and roles.

Therefore, the innovation addresses several key social issues:

• It connects vocational training to current job market needs by teaching students valuable skills in furniture design and production.
• By encouraging cooperation between learners from varied disciplines like forestry and industrial design, it promotes interdisciplinary learning and expands students' professional outlook.
• The initiative aims to reduce high unemployment rates among vocational education graduates by providing them with practical experience and a portfolio of work to improve their chances of getting hired.
• It helps build important soft skills like teamwork, time management, and client communication that are essential for success in the workplace but usually not taught in traditional schools.
• The project encourages creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in vocational training to prepare students for various career opportunities in their industries.

Innovative solution

The aim of the innovation was to develop a new standard for conducting practical classes in vocational schools with a woodworking profile that guides students through the entire production process, from designing and prototyping to working with clients, creating the product, and delivering it. The innovation uses two teaching methods: collaborative teaching by a teacher and a university student, and solo teaching by a teacher using materials like textbooks, videos, and graphics.

The first teaching method involves cooperation between pupils of vocational schools and university students from furniture design-related fields. These teams are to jointly create small collections of furniture tailored to customer orders. This approach enables both groups to test their skills in a real market scenario and develop essential workplace competencies. Emphasis is placed not only on their technical skills, but mostly on collaboration between these two groups, expanding their horizons beyond the confines of education within a single institution. Participants must also develop their soft skills, as they need to engage in client discussions, manage time, and co-organize group work. Moreover, completing a project that both groups can showcase in their portfolios will support their future job searches.

In the second teaching method, the main resource is a textbook that explains the whole production process, from idea to final product. After each lesson stage, apprentices’progress are assessed and recorded on a Student Knowledge and Skills Assessment Sheet. At the end of the project, students' overall knowledge and skills are evaluated using an Assessment Sheet provided with the materials.

The textbook with innovative lesson plans was developed using the Design Thinking method by a 13-member expert group, which included representatives of various institutions and organisations: a center for research, prototyping and product design, teachers from vocational schools with a woodworking profile, representatives of design-related fields at universities, as well as design companies from different parts of Poland.

Originally, the solution was developed by innovator Przemysław Zembura as a micro-innovation in one of the Polish incubators for social innovations dedicated to the labour market (see also: case study on incubators for social innovations in Poland, ID: SIM1474). It was initially tested on a small scale (8 vocational-school apprentices and 2 university students). The project for scaling "The Craftsmen Design" innovation provided an opportunity to refine and test its implementation on a larger scale (63 vocational-school apprentices and 5 university students).

The innovation includes lesson plans for students in the second or higher grades of technical and service-production trade schools in the field of carpentry or wood technology. It is important that students have basic knowledge of woodworking, which they acquire in the first year of classes, so that the process can be understood by them and the teacher can work effectively on the prepared materials. 

Important recipients of the innovation are also students of design and wood technology. With support from scientific and teaching staff, they develop skills in working with customers and collaborating with designers, contractors, and clients. Students deepen their knowledge of the design process by working on real business examples. They learn all stages of the process, including iteration and staying in touch with the client after the project is completed for needs analysis, customer satisfaction surveys, and handling complaints. 

Key results and benefits

„The Craftsmen Design” innovation was created to meet the need for schools to equip graduates of technical schools specializing in carpentry and wood technology with the competencies demanded by both the job market and consumers. The evaluation confirms that all participants enhanced their competencies.

In terms of knowledge and skills:

• vocational students know the process of creating customer offers,
• vocational students are familiar with the process of visualization,
• vocational students understand the stages of the design process,
• vocational students can use design software and create technical documentation,
• teachers understand Design Thinking methodology and can apply it in teaching,
• teachers can effectively use innovation’s materials (an innovative textbook and evaluation sheet for assessing student’s knowledge).

In terms of social competencies, all students understand:

• effective communication and teamwork,
• task delegation,
• methods of motivating a group to work,
• collaboration between the executor, designer, and client.

Potential for mainstreaming

„The Craftsmen Design”  innovation was implemented on a large scale in 5 service-production trade schools. The results of the evaluation reports confirm the effectiveness of the method. The product is highly rated and fully ready for use in schools (currently, the materials are only available in Polish).

The innovation demonstrates how practical classes for young people can be diversified in a simple and cost-effective way. By combining vocational-school students with university learners, it bridges two thematically related yet distinct environments, broadening their horizons and providing opportunities to face real-life professional scenarios. We believe that this approach can also be applied in other fields e.g. healthcare or construction, and can be successfully scaled in other member states.