As in many European countries, it is also difficult to recruit staff for mobile technology in Sweden. Working together in a European context is the best way to save costs and to share experiences and teaching materials. In anticipation of the granting of an Erasmus+ subvention, Tim Europe made five countries enthusiastic to participate in a European education platform for mobile equipment. The partner who clearly saw the benefits of a cooperation, is Sweden. Just like Belgium, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands, the trade association in Sweden recognises that this project will contribute to reducing the shortage of well-trained technicians in the sector.
Lina Tuvesson Hallman from the Swedish trade association and CLIMMAR member MaskinLeverantörerna (ML), contacted Tim Netherlands directly after reading an article about the project on the CLIMMAR website. In response to the article, Lina informed the board about this promising project, and it was quickly decided to join the European platform. “We have been promoting the profession of mechanic for decades, hoping to encourage young people to choose a technical vocational training. We see that many of the teaching materials are not up-to-date and teachers often do not have sufficient knowledge of modern tools and vehicles. We would like to modernise education and make it better. We already work closely with companies to achieve this. However, making textbooks and learning materials is expensive and very time consuming. The offer to use Tim Europe’s “ready-to-use” learning tools has therefore been decisive for us”, explains Lina.
Translation to Swedish
To get started immediately, a translation agency was contacted that will initially translate five textbooks from Dutch into Swedish. Lina: “We are going to start now and we hope that these books will be ready in October so that schools can start using them at the end of this year. We work together with fifteen qualified technical schools who are eagerly looking forward to this!”
At ML, Lina is responsible for legal counselling, statistics and agricultural matters. She is also the coordinator for Tim Europe and is assisted by her colleague Björn Bäckström who supports her with the technical background of the mobile tools and vehicles. In her role as coordinator, she keeps in contact with other European partners. She monitors progress for Sweden and informs schools about the results of the Erasmus+ project.
What else do you expect?
“As mentioned, we will start with the translation of five textbooks, but we also hope to use the digital teaching material in the future. At the moment, we see, due to the Corona crisis, that working and learning from home is booming. Not all teaching materials can be implemented in this way, certainly not the practical lessons, but it offers many opportunities for students and schools. Another thing I hope for is that the Erasmus+ project will also connect us more with other countries in Europe, in order to organise, for example, exchanges for our students. That would be an interesting plus in this project. I really hope that more Climmar members will join this project in the long term”, adds Lina.
Other challenges
“Well, no matter how enthusiastic I am about the project, I am also realistic and hope that I, and the other partners, will find the time to work on it. We must prioritise to make it successful. And another challenge might be working together at long distances. You can do a lot with video conferences, but you also want to meet from time to time and learn from each other. It is an interesting project for which I commit myself, and I think that this can give our sector in Sweden a huge boost”, concludes Lina.
