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13 October 2021

The WOODigital project members held their second focus group sessions during the summer months of 2021. 

All project partners organized events in their own country, based on the guidelines created by GMIT. The focus groups served to create a link between competences, learning units, and learning outcomes divided into knowledge, skills and responsibilities – based on the findings of the first focus group of the project. 

43 participants from 5 countries were consulted about the methodology, training content, curriculum and overall quality of the project. The organizers ensured that the whole woodworking and furniture sector was represented during the sessions – entrepreneurs and managers of SMEs, representatives of local, regional, and national authorities, employer associations, entrepreneurial associations and hubs, trade unions and labour officers. Due to the ongoing pandemic, most sessions were held online or by phone, while some consultations were held at outdoor locations.

The continuous process of collecting feedback from professionals through focus groups will help improve the project content, ensuring the training material in development contains up-to-date knowledge relevant to the furniture and woodworking industry.

The main findings from this focus group were:

• The project needs to ensure that the focus is on quality over quantity when developing the learning materials
• The project should focus on practical examples, making sure it covers real needs and shows case studies from existing companies
• Some topics are at too high a level for the proposed learner profile