Europe is experiencing a rising wave of unemployment. As a result, a greater emphasis is being placed on the development of VET to meet industry needs, so learners can access and gain qualifications in their chosen vocations that are trusted and recognised both within their own and other EU countries, thereby supporting labour mobility. The European VET system must be capable of providing learners the knowledge and skills needed to become productive and valued members of the European workforce within their chosen sector. Implicit within this challenge is the need for effective employer involvement in the design and development of VET. This will ensure that VET is “fit for purpose”, future proof and addresses the technical, green and digital skills relevant to employers, as defined by each industry sector through its representatives. The project “Employer Engagement in Design and Development of VET (ED2-VET)” therefore set out to investigate the factors that determine the extent and impact of employer involvement in VET design and identify good practices for sharing. The project resulted in tangible outputs that have been disseminated to support relevant organisations and individuals, leading to improvements to employer-led VET development within the EU. Project outputs comprise an evaluative report on employer involvement in VET design and development, including the influence of nationality, the nature of each sector and company type and size. Any issues to be resolved, as well as benefits and successes, have furthermore been identified, analysed and presented. An online portfolio of good practices has also been published, which includes 18 case studies, based on questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders. This portfolio was designed to present transferable models of good practice and includes tips for employer involvement in the design and development of sector-relevant VET programmes. The project, completed by the partners UK NARIC (ECCTIS Ltd), Pisces Learning Innovations, the Bulgarian Development Agency and DIMITRA, focused on the target groups of employers, and VET qualification / programme designers. In order to adequately provide a comprehensive set of results and address the complexity of the VET systems and the issues surrounding the possible contexts for employer involvements in VET development, the project followed a methodological approach incorporating staged data collection and analysis, developed from both primary and secondary sources, preceded by an initial research phase enabling the opportunity to frame the questions, definitions and other background information necessary for clear and consistent results. Interviews with stakeholders, supplemented by short-term joint staff training in each partner country, ensured the best results were achieved. The approach enabled the elaboration of in-depth case studies for the online portfolio, highlighting tips for replicating these examples of good practice in other contexts. Final multiplier events ensured the project outcomes were shared with relevant bodies, including VET qualification designers, employers, employer associations and sector bodies, and policy-makers. Expected impacts, both short- and long-term, include improved engagement by employers in the process of designing and developing sector-relevant VET programmes in cooperation with qualification awarding bodies, ministries of education, and other educational sector organisations; improved understanding by all parties of the challenges to engaging with employers, and the possibilities for fostering improved cooperation and engagement; improved policy and regulation with regard to employer involvement in the qualification and programme development process; the development of new VET programmes which have been developed with employer and industry support and involvement. Ultimately, these improvements may lead to a reduction in skills mismatches, greater satisfaction among employers regarding the skills which VET learners have upon programme completion, and greater mobility for VET learners in Europe.

ContextAccording to the 2017 Digital Economy and Society Index, 44% of people in the EU have very low digital skills and an additional 27% have only basic digital skills. 19% of the people in Europe do not use the Internet. Europe is undergoing a digital transformation and citizens must be equipped with the appropriate skills to perform jobs and increase economic growth.The specific situations in the 4 countries involved are rather different since in some cases the level of digitalization (SE) is higher than other (IT, EL, RO). However, there are some common aspects that need to be underlined: 1. the digitalization level of low skilled adults is in all cases, is lower than the national average level; 2. in all participating countries there is a dynamic trend in providing public services to adults through digital channels (e.g. health, education, culture, etc.); 3. all countries involved have a common goal to increase economic competitiveness also through digitalization of production.Problem addressedKeeping these aspects in mind, in the proposed project, the partners will address the need to provide low skilled adults with necessary digital competences for supporting them in becoming more employable and socially integrated. The consequences of delaying improvements in the key areas could lead to the incapacity of Member States and Europe as a whole to reach the 2020 targets related to education and training, and digital skills.Target groupThe primary project target group consists of: low skilled adults (employed or not); Adult Training Organizations; Adult Trainers; Public institutions offering services to adult individuals (e.g. e-health, local/territorial centres for adult people, etc.). Project aim and objectivesThe project aims to strengthen adults’ capacity to efficiently use digital instruments as a precondition to improve their personal and professional lives, reducing significantly the inter-generational digital divide trend. In particular, the project will provide friendly learning tools for low skilled adults in order to support them in reaching specific digital competences, in line with DigComp foundation and intermediate levels.Project activities are organised in three outputs with the aim to develop:- Map of digital competences (O1) – specific key digital competences required by low skilled adults in order to improve the quality of their professional and personal lives- DInSAd Board Game (O2) – an interactive board game that will allow low skilled adults to acquire fundamental digital knowledge, skills and competences.- DInSAd Virtual Game (O3) –a virtual learning game for helping low skilled adults in acquiring digital competences at intermediate level, as described by DigComp 2.1.PartnershipThe project brings together 5 partners from 4 European countries, forming a transnational cooperation partnership with a balanced regional geographical representation of the Erasmus+ Area.Impact and long term benefits- improve low skilled adults’ digital competences and capacity to benefit from public services available in digital format- raise awareness regarding the importance of developing digital skills through innovative and interactive learning instruments- stakeholders dealing with adult education will have at their disposal practical learning tools for the development of digital competences that they can promote to their networks- the opening of dialogue concerning the subject of reducing digital divide and enhancing digital capacity of adults as precondition for their higher employability and wellbeing, will contribute to create a culture of cooperation among the different stakeholders with mutual benefit.

SK.IN is a project aimed to share and develop educators' competences and learning methods for skills development and inclusion, addressed especially to low-skills learners or to those with obstacles in education and inclusion in society and job market (inmates, NEETS, unemployed, early school leavers, minorities,...).The project arises from the daily needs of the organisations involved, shared in the planning phase of the project, underlining the need of lifelong learning opportunities for these learners, especially on key-competences and soft skills, and the need for adult educators to develop a wider range of tools to motivate their learning process and get effective achievement of results.Project OBJECTIVES are:1. For adult educators: to share good practices and tools to better support and improve competence development of their low-skills adult learners, aiming to inclusion in society and to the holistic personal development. 2. For disadvantaged adult learners: to practice and develop basic skills (literacy, numeracy, ICT,..) and transversal skills (as for example: social skills, communication skills, leadership, negotiation, conflict management, ..) improving learners self-esteem.3. To test and apply innovative tools to motivate adult learners from different ages/backgrounds (prisoners, NEETS, unemployed,..) to develop basic competencies and transversal skills and validate and recognise their achievements with Open digital badges. 4. To obtain a deep impact in dissemination and quality in Adult Education by creating a Website and a PDF Booklet about the methods and tools developed. 5. Strengthen the cooperation between different types of organizations involved in this project (Companies, Youth organisations, Public Bodies,..) developing their capacities through a multisectorial cooperation.The direct participants in the project activities will be 10 Adult Educators and 5 coordinators from the 5 Participating organisations and 60 adult learners with fewer opportunities/low skills.The project foresees the following milestones:1. Preparation phase (December 2016 - February 2017)2. 1st Transnational Meeting - (Portugal - February 2017) 3. Training Course for adult educators from the 5 organisations (Italy - May 2017 ); 4. Local workshops with adult learners in 3 countries (6 workshops with a group of 20 learners each- May - November 2017), 5. 2nd Transnational Meeting - (Romania - December 2017); 6. Products creation (2 phases: May- August 2017 and January-march 2018)7- 3rd Transnational Meeting - (Greece - April 2018). 8- Dissemination of results (April-May 2018) 9. Final Evaluation (May 2018). We applied a methodology based on cooperation and on complementarity of expertise of each participating organisation, able to fulfill the learning objectives and to produce and disseminate proper and useful products for other educators and learners, also beyond Adult Education (Education and Youth field). We appied methodologies from Non-formal Education in order to guarantee development of soft skills and key competences for lifelong learning. Especially through “Life skills Education” methods - based on group exercises and games promoting social skills, cooperation, creativity, communication skills and leadership, conflict management. After each exercise was foreseen a debriefing time, in order to guarantee participants’ awareness and “learning to learn” development. Open digital badges have been the the main tool for recognition of the learning outcomes of the Educators in the Training activity and for adult learners in local workshops. We planned to use Open Badges for making visible the learning achievements (skills, behaviors, and attitudes) that first Adult Educators and then adult learners gained enhancing their awareness and their attitude for learning. We got the following main results:-Empowerment of the 10 Adult Educators competences in skills development (especially after the TC) thanks to the shared non-formal tools and methods, to apply with their low-skills adult learners.- Empowerment of the 60 Adult Learners on basic and soft skills (in 6 Local workshops)- Enhance the non formal skills recognition through the Open Badges- Empower the capabilities of the participating organisations. Adult educators and adult learners have been the longer term beneficiaries.

"Project EcoMentor concentrated on the situation in the eco sector in the field of work-based-learning (WBL). As it was pointed out by the European Ministers of Vocational Education and Training in the Bruges Communiqué, WBL constitute a foundation for the social coherence of the current and future employees as well as the base for their professional and personal development. It is worth and important to include WBL into the strategic activities on the national and international levels. The renewed European agenda for adult learning also calls for promoting WBL, as a form of vocational education and training, which assure achievement of the aims of the Strategy ET 2020. Partnership of the project was properly selected and consist of 5 institutions from 4 countries: Poland (PL), Greece (EL), Italy (IT) and United Kingdom (UK). Partners have been chosen according to the project's aims and the expertise needed. They represent different culture and traditions of vocational education as well as assure geographical diversity of the partnership. The main aim of the project was to use good European practices, increase the availability and improve the quality of work-based learning, through skills development of mentors - experienced staff of companies assisting in obtaining necessary professional qualifications, taking care of trainees in the workplace, including the trainees participating in internships or apprenticeships in companies of the eco-industry. The mentor’s responsibility is to facilitate, stimulate and support the development of employees and prospective employees (interns, apprentices) by sharing their knowledge and professional skills, values and attitudes.In order to achieve the abovementioned aim, a system of certification of mentor’s competences was implemented. The system focused on the employees of eco-industry. Its implementation enabled: - Recognition of learning outcomes (non-formal and informal) of experienced eco-industry workers in the area of mentoring competencies necessary in the process of work-based training- Complementing employees’ professional competencies in eco-industry with mentoring competence enabling them to build a master-trainee relationship in the course of work-based learning- Enhancing the competencies of workers in the eco-industry resulting in the increase of their competitiveness in the labour market and the increase of employment opportunities (for the unemployed) or job keeping.The results of the project were aimed at different audiences, in particular: at vocational training institutions in the ""eco"" area of industry, teachers/trainers preparing for work in the eco-industry, employees in the eco-industry, institutions involved in the development, validation and certification of vocational qualifications and competencies, HR employees as well as professional and personal advisors.Main results of the project are:1) The standard of professional competences (SPC) for mentors of eco-industry which was based on the framework of general mentors' competences developed in CertiMenTu project. The competences of mentors were defined at level 5 of EQF. 2) Training programme for mentors which was developed based on the standard of professional competence (IO1) available in English and in the national languages of participating partners. 3) Blended learning VET course for mentors in eco-industry which was based on the developed VET programme. Τhe training course has been developed as blended learning course, melding face-to-face activities and a Moodle e-learning platform. All the materials are available in e-learning platform and the Trainers Handbooks. The e-learning platform is based on Moodle, an open source course management system (CMS). 4) Certification system for mentors in the eco-industry (your short part)5) Methodological and organizational compendium of ECVET system for mentors in eco-industry which gives an overview of the current state of progress of ECVET tool implementation and other systems available for recognition of competences among different EU states. The Compendium has been conceived as a practical guide on how to use the ECVET system in eco-industry. 6) The monograph summarizing the results of the project. The aim of this publication is to make the project results available, especially to VET experts dealing with formal and non-formal continuing education and to people who are or want to become mentors in eco-industry.All the results are available in 4 languages: English, Polish, Greek and Italian."

The DVCI project aims increase the skills and expertise of professionals, including statutory commissioners and policy makers, who are responsible for leading and coordinating responses to domestic violence (DV) and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The DVCI project will develop, test and implement innovative, work-based CVET to support the crucial role of DV Strategic Coordination.The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the ‘Istanbul Convention’) recognises that an integrated approach is essential to enabling effective interventions to support and protect victims of VAWG, and that training should support multi-agency cooperation. There is currently no standard training focusing on strengthening competencies and skills to support the role of DV Strategic Coordination across partner counties (UK, Romania, Spain or Greece). The DVCI project addresses this gap. Our objectives are:1) To share good practice and develop an EU core curriculum and competencies for the DV Strategic Coordination role, involving relevant agencies with responsibility for dealing with DV and VAWG2) To develop nationally-adapted curricula for developing and delivering a coordinated community response to DV in the UK, Greece, Romania and Spain3) To pilot and accredit innovative work-based VET to 160 professionals with responsibility for leading or coordinating DV interventions in four national contexts (45 in the UK, Romania and Greece, 25 in Spain)4) To raise awareness of the need to improve skills of DV coordinators at a local, national and EU level national and assist member states to improve services for victims of DV and VAWG through training Target groups: 1. DV strategic and operational leads, including policy/decision makers, commissioners and managers of DV interventions, including from local authorities, judicial and police, health and education sector and housing associations. 2. DV Practitioners responsible for managing and coordinating DV interventions e.g. social workers, police, health workers, teachers, counselors and staff from NGOs The DVCI partnership brings together local and regional authorities, VET providers, and NGOs, enabling the development of high quality, innovative CVET relevant to national and EU labour market needs, promoting and supporting responses against DV and VAWG. Each partner will undertake training needs analysis, informed by Stakeholder Reference groups established in each country. We will promote cooperation and exchange of practice, knowledge and ideas via a transnational event programme, and jointly develop a core European Curriculum for DV Coordination and nationally adapted curriculums. The project will develop, pilot and evaluate national training courses, reaching 160 target learners. National training programmes will seek accreditation by nationally-recognised quality assurance bodies.Dissemination will be supported by project website, project publicity leaflets and targeted on-line PR strategy reaching over 2500 target individuals. Four multiplier events will promote the EU core curriculum and training (190 representatives including MEPs, politicians, DV VET providers, national/EU stakeholders). The DVCI project will add value at a European level as there is a common need to improve the coordinated response to DV across the EU, and this can be effectively supported by developing work-based VET in this area. Impact of the project: Partners will have increased capacity to support a coordinated, multi-agency response to DV and VAWG in their countries. Training participants will have improved skills competencies resulting in positive impact on local and national responses to DV; open access to the EU core curricula and training manuals will support adaptation of training across other member states, supporting an improved strategic response to VAWG across member states, ultimately ensuring victims receive better, more consistent and effective support.