From Development to Validation: Quality Assurance and Homologation in Green ASC VET
Developing innovative educational tools is only one part of a successful European project. Equally important is ensuring that the results are relevant, usable, accessible and effective for the people who will ultimately use them.
For this reason, quality assurance was an integral part of the Green ASC VET project from the very beginning. Rather than evaluating the project only at its conclusion, the partnership followed a continuous process of monitoring, evaluation, feedback and improvement throughout the different phases of the project.
Quality Assurance as a Continuous Process
The quality assurance approach accompanied both project management and the development of the project results.
Progress was continuously monitored against planned activities, milestones and deadlines. Project partners and work package leaders regularly reviewed the status of the activities and identified areas where adjustments were required. Project management tools, including Gantt charts and Trello, supported the consortium in maintaining an overview of tasks, responsibilities and progress.
Regular exchanges between partners also provided an opportunity to reflect on achievements, challenges, risks and opportunities.
In this way, quality assurance was not treated as a final control mechanism, but as an ongoing process that allowed the consortium to react and improve during implementation.
Evaluation and Stakeholder Feedback
A central element of the quality assurance process was the systematic involvement of the project’s target groups and stakeholders.
Feedback was collected during different project activities, including partner meetings, seminars, study visits, workshops and testing activities. Depending on the activity, different evaluation methods were applied, such as:
- online questionnaires and participant surveys.
- interviews and focus groups.
- pre- and post-training assessments.
- interactive workshops and testing sessions with target groups.
- peer review among project partners.
Particular attention was given to the perspectives of educators, project partners and people on the autism spectrum. Their experiences and feedback were essential for assessing whether the developed approaches and tools were understandable, relevant and suitable for practical use.
The collected feedback was not considered an isolated evaluation exercise. It was incorporated into the further development of the project results. Manuals, training activities and digital solutions were reviewed and adapted where necessary before their finalisation.
From Evaluation to Homologation
In addition to continuous quality assurance, key project results underwent a homologation process before being finalised and made available to the target groups.
Within the project, homologation served as a structured validation process. Its purpose was to verify whether the developed results fulfilled the quality requirements defined by the consortium and whether they were suitable for application in vocational education and training contexts.
The evaluation focused particularly on four dimensions:
Educational quality and relevance
The consortium examined whether the results responded to the needs of learners and educators and whether they provided meaningful support for vocational education and skills development.
Accessibility and inclusion
Particular consideration was given to the needs and challenges of people on the autism spectrum. The results were assessed with regard to their accessibility, usability and suitability for the intended target groups.
Alignment with vocational education objectives
The project partners considered whether the developed approaches supported the objectives and principles of European vocational education and training.
Usability and practical application
An important criterion were whether the results could be realistically implemented and used by learners, educators and training organisations beyond the project itself.
Which Project Results Were Homologated?
The homologation process was applied to key educational and technological outputs developed within Green ASC VET, particularly the project’s XR solutions, skills-training simulators and interactive educational applications designed for autistic learners.
Specifically, the following official project results were successfully homologated:
- The XR solution for autistic people’s career selection (integrated with 360-degree video views)
- Skills simulators that meet the specific requirements for the skill training of autistic people
- Integrated interactive programs designed for training the skills of autistic individuals
These outputs went through several stages of development, testing, stakeholder feedback and revision. The final versions therefore reflect not only the expertise of the project partners, but also the experiences and perspectives of the people for whom the solutions were designed.
Quality Through Participation and Continuous Improvement
One of the most important lessons from Green ASC VET is that quality cannot be created through a single final evaluation.
It develops through an iterative process: designing, testing, listening, reflecting and improving.
By combining continuous project monitoring, partner peer review, stakeholder participation and a structured homologation process, the Green ASC VET partnership aimed to ensure that its results were not only innovative, but also relevant, inclusive and applicable in real vocational education settings.
This approach helped transform project ideas into results that can provide sustainable value for autistic learners, educators and vocational education organisations beyond the lifetime of the project.