Bohaterów Westerplatte Electronic School Complex in Radom has joined the international educational and professional development program P-TECH, launched in Poland in 2019 at the initiative of IBM. The agreement on cooperation was signed by the program's partners, representatives of the Radom authorities, the Institute of Educational Research, and a coalition of local companies:
- Artex IT,
- Humansoft,
- IMD Pawelec Marcin,
- Masterdev,
- MRSolutions,
- Radwag Wagi Elektroniczne.
Under the program, Radom students will have the opportunity to obtain a marketable programming qualification after five years of schooling. The Polish edition of the P-TECH program takes place with the support of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The main aim of P-TECH is to support local communities by adequately preparing young people for STEM professions, regardless of industry, in line with the needs of the 21st century labour market. As a multi-stakeholder education initiative, the P-TECH program provides support for young people to develop scientific, technical, workforce and career skills. It is an example of the best use of a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership where technical and general education students can also thrive in a vocational environment.
As part of P-TECH, students will, among other things, follow the daily work of their mentor (job shadowing), getting to know the real business environment from the inside real business environment or by participating in lectures and work placements. work placements. P-TECH does not require changes to the core curriculum. Companies and partner institutions, in cooperation with the school's teaching staff, provide additional input or tools to the existing subjects and classes to equip students with the necessary skills. P-TECH does not require changes to the core curriculum. Students participating in the P-TECH program, after passing their high school diploma will receive Certificate of Matriculation, which is at level IV of the Polish Qualification Framework (PRK) (PRK) and, in addition, after meeting the requirements specified for the Programmer Technician qualification, they will receive a certificate confirming that they are a programmer. Programming Technician, they will obtain a certificate confirming possession of this qualification, which is at level 5 of the Polish Qualification Framework (PRK).
In Radom, we strongly bet on the development of vocational education and cooperation of schools with companies from Radom. The system of dual training in Radom gives excellent results. Our graduates are acquainted with the specificity of particular posts and prepared to take up a job. Today we make another important step. Electronics" graduates will not only gain knowledge at school, but also have contact with very good companies, which use this knowledge in their daily work. said, signing the agreement, the vice-president Jerzy Zawodnik.
The Electronic School Complex is already a leader when it comes to vocational education in our city. It is also one of the best schools in Poland. Now we address an additional offer to young people. I am convinced that the acquired competences, confirmed by appropriate certificates, will give the graduates an advantage in the labour market and will keep the young people in our city and in local companies. emphasized Vice President Katarzyna Kalinowska.
The idea of the National Education Day, when we signed the agreement within the framework of the international educational and professional development program P-TECH, is to emphasize the leading role of teachers in providing the highest quality education. The involvement of all partners, including the staff of the Complex of Electronics Schools in Radom enables students, future graduates, to have a better start in adulthood. We are convinced that the combination of vocational education with practice provides easier entry into the labor market and faster adaptation to changing conditions in the field of professional life. Graduates who after graduation enter the labor market with confirmed qualifications in programming, which is possible thanks to the Integrated Qualifications System, implemented by the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw, will have the opportunity for attractive employment in the area desired by companies in the IT industry concludes Robert T. Ptaszek, director of the Educational Research Institute.
We have decided to join the P-TECH program and take responsibility for training future IT specialists, because thanks to this we have a direct impact on preparing them for work in our companies.One of the advantages of participation in the program is the opportunity to familiarize young people with the characteristics of the profession and the rules of teamwork, and learning in real working conditions is a very valuable experience for them. We are aware of the fact that obtaining a qualified employee with competences required by the labour market is very difficult nowadays, therefore the programme we have decided to participate in is an opportunity to educate specialists with skills which are already or will soon be sought after by our industry. - emphasize representatives of companies participating in the program.
The Electronic School Complex is the seventh school in Poland where P-TECH classes will be conducted.
In joining the P-TECH program, I have high hopes for closer cooperation with industry representatives - in this case with IT profile companies. I strongly believe that thanks to the industry partners, students will gain additional qualifications resulting directly from the needs of the Radom job market oriented towards the profession of programmer. As part of the projects, students will participate in lectures conducted by representatives of industry partners, open days of befriended companies and will have the opportunity to complete professional practice. An important element that I would like to emphasize is the use of job shadowing and mentoring as forms of exchange of experience between students and mentors says Konrad Witkowski, director of the Bohaterów Westerplatte Electronic School Complex.
I am confident that together with our partners in Radom, we will create an educational environment that gives young students the opportunity to gain marketable technical skills. We are pleased to see such great involvement in the launch of the P-TECH program on the part of local business, local government and academic centers in Radom, a place with enormous talent potential - says Jolanta Jaworska, Director of Public and Regulatory Affairs, IBM Poland & Baltics.
P-TECH was co-founded by IBM in the United States. The first school joined the program in 2011 in Brooklyn as part of a collaboration between the New York City Department of Education York City, The City University in New York, and IBM. Since then, P-TECH has been been implemented in hundreds of schools in dozens of countries. Today, the program brings together hundreds of of partner companies and universities. In Poland, IBM is also a Partner In Poland, IBM is also an industry partner in many of these initiatives.