Publication of the CirCLER Report on the Circular Economy Transition Manager (CETM) Curriculum Development.

CirCLER – Circular Economy Transition Manager: guiding companies of the furniture value chain to deploy their transition strategy for a more circular economy

                                                                                                               

T4.1

The Circualr Economy Transition Manager (CETM) Curriculum Development

WP 4 / T4.1

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

This report presents the development of deliverable 4.1 of the CirCLER project which entails the development of the Circular Economy Transition Manager (CETM) Curriculum. The curriculum is developed from the results of the CirCLER deliverable 3.1, which identified the Skills, Knowledge and Competency (SKCs) gaps and needs of a CETM.

The curriculum is developed with two main target groups in mind:

  • VET and HE providers.
  • Employers, employees and other stakeholders interested in CETM qualification, regardless of entering the labour market or for lifelong learning paths.

As such, the curriculum developed for this project must ensure that prospective CETM gain the necessary SKC’s to ensure that they are ready to face the challenges of implementing CE in their furniture operations.

The curriculum is also to cover three levels, as outlined in the Grant agreement, which  correspond to the European Qualification Framework (EQF). The EQF is an 8 level framework that sets out the capabilities of graduates in each level and the Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies (SKC) they should be proficient in. This ensures standardisation of academic awards across Europe (Europass, 2024). Using this framework, the curriculum was structured to train what is termed a Junior CETM (EQF Lvl. 4), an Intermediate CETM (EQF Lvl. 5) or an Advanced CETM (EQF Lvl. 6).

The curriculum is based around several modules, as outlined in the Grant Agreement. These are:

  • Manufacturing Processes
  • Voluntary Instruments
  • Legislative Instruments
  • Circular Design
  • Circular Business Models
  • New and Sustainable Materials
  • Key enabling Technologies
  • Circular Economy Transition Strategy

These modules were to be populated by individual partners based on the results of D3.1. To do this, a curriculum mapping template was created by ATU to aid partners in populating not only the module topics, but also in outlining the learning outcomes, pills and categorising whether a topic is for the Junior, Intermediate or Advanced CETM.

Learning outcomes were to be identified that align with the SKCs outlined in D3.1. Learning outcomes are written beginning with a verb (to know, to understand etc.), denoting what the learner is expected to know at the end of the module. Once the learning outcomes were identified, the learning pills were populated. These pills outline what the learner needs to understand and it is expected that 50 pills will be identified. Pills are further broken down into pill topics. These pill topics are populated by individual partners based on the outcome of D3.1. Finally, each partner was to outline which topics they felt were relevant at the junior, intermediate and advanced level (levels 4, 5 and 6).

With each of the partners having populate the Curriculum mapping Template, ATU reviewed the document and looked for areas of overlap, areas where information was absent and areas where some clarification was necessary. ATU then reissued the Curriculum Mapping template with some suggested changes for partners to update by the 6 November. With this deadline met, the curriculum is now in its most up to date version and ready for use in upcoming work packages.

To follow the progress of the project and access the project deliverables, you can subscribe to the project news alert and visit the project website https://circler-furniture.eu.

 

Reference

Europass, 2024, The European Qualification Framework, accessed 07th November 2024 from https://europass.europa.eu/en/europass-digital-tools/european-qualifications-framework#:~:text=The%20EQF%20is%20an%208,between%20different%20national%20qualifications%20frameworks.