At an imposing ceremony, in the context of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the winners of the inaugural #CedefopVideoAward, the ‘Storytellers’ team from Portugal, were presented with their awards on 8 March.
Beatriz Silvestre, Jordana Gasparinho, Margarida Cintra and Tiago Brito, who study filmmaking at the Escola de Tecnologias Inovação e Criação do Algarve, received their prizes and certificates from Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel and Thessaloniki International Film Festival General Director Élise Jalladeau. The school director, Nuno Ribeiro, received a prize on behalf of the team’s teacher José Jesus.
Around 200 guests, including students and teachers from the 2nd VET School of Thessaloniki-DYPA and the Thematic Public IEK of Thessaloniki, attended the ceremony, watched the winning and runners-up videos and followed a panel discussion on young people’s skilling and career prospects in the current, fast-evolving education and labour market environment.
Cedefop Head of Communication Maurizio Roncaccia welcomed the guests and talked about the award, which started life in 2016 as the #CedefopPhotoAward, proving a big success with European vocational education and training (VET) learners. A few years later, videos were added to the mix and, last year, the focus shifted to videos only. The theme of the first #CedefopVideoAward was ‘European Year of Skills: share your skills’.
Congratulating the winners, Mr Siebel said that ‘The aim of our award is to showcase the skills that people acquire through VET; skills that help them get interesting, fulfilling and quality jobs.’
Ms Jalladeau thanked Cedefop for the cooperation throughout the years, adding: ‘For the Festival, young people are always very important. We work on the next generation; we have volunteers and educational programmes.’
In the panel discussion that followed, which was moderated by Cedefop Press Officer Rosy Voudouri, young people’s skilling and career prospects took – literally – centre stage at the Festival’s Frida Liappa screening room, named after a well-known Greek cinema director.
Follow your passion
Jordana Gasparinho, the protagonist of the inspiring winning video, talked about leaving school at 18 and going back six years later to become a filmmaker: ‘We should be doing things in our life with a meaning. Back then, in my studies there was no meaning and I felt a bit lost. After six years, I asked myself what makes me happy every day and filming and taking pictures is what makes me happy. It is better to risk what makes you happy because you only live once, so do what you want to do with your life and don’t be afraid, risk.’
Reacting to that, Mr Siebel noted: ‘Maybe that’s the best piece of advice you can give to a young person, to try and find their vocation. That’s where we come in as Cedefop, because vocational education and training offers many opportunities that lead to a fulfilling and exciting life, not only in the creative industries, but also, for instance, in green and digital which are expanding sectors constantly looking for people.’
From the practitioners’ point of view, Mr Ribeiro said that ‘The idea of our school is simple: learning by doing. We don’t have teachers, we have professionals who teach, we don’t have students, we have future colleagues. And sometimes we act as a complement to university.’
The Director of the 2nd Vocational school of Thessaloniki-DYPA, Angeliki Filippidou agreed, offering an example: ‘This school year we have a student with a Master degree in theology; she is doing a doctorate and started with us in the textile and clothing speciality. Her apprenticeship is in a company that produces vestments for priests. She combines her previous higher education with this vocational course.’
Cedefop expert in microcredentials Anastasia Pouliou, a former teacher herself, explained to the audience the ways microcredentials can help them in their career and outlined the transversal skills they need to have the best chance in their learning and working lives. Closing the event, she also took questions from the learners.
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