The project idea was born within a context characterized by the mass arrival of refugees in Greece, from Turkey and other countries, mainly during the period 2015 to 2017.Thus, there was a great need to intervene for the benefit of the group of young refugees, aged 16-24, based on their characteristics and problems, as well as their wishes, such as relocating to a EU country. Relevant intervention should facilitate their integration into society and labor market, handling their difficulty to communicate in the Greek language, their difficulty to find a job, due to lack of relevant skills, as well as their difficulty to be integrated into a formal educational context, due to lack of relevant documents.In view of the above, at a time when other National Authorities’ relevant action was not yet developed, with the exception of the Ministry of Education, the Manpower Employment Organization/OAED, the Greek PES, in conjuction with Strategic Partners, designed and implemented this two-year project, under Erasmus+ for Youth (2017-2019). In this strategic partnership, OAED had the leading role. Partners were the GSEE Center of Educational Policy Development/KANEP/GSEE, the Turkish Ministry of National Education/ MoNE, and the German Training Organization “DEKRA”.I.Ref.SoS scope was to develop an effective transnational system of reception, social support and rapid integration of young refugee populations, inspired from the empirical finding about limited use of the long time period required from arrival in the countries of entry to the time of final settlement in the host countries. It was, therefore, considered that, this period should be positively used to support the steps for social and occupational integration in host societies.The project objective was to develop and test innovative VET pathways, methods and tools to enhance skills of young refugees and professionals in the field, in order to achieve development and implementation of a rapid integration mechanism and relevant good practice, at national and transnational level. Within the framework of the I.Ref.SoS project, studies were initially carried out on young refugees, aiming at gathering the necessary information, on their profile and needs, as well as on the labor market needs of potential host countries. Based on a specific methodology, process and appropriate criteria, forty persons, young adult asylum seekers with legal residence in Greece, were selected to participate in the pilot implementation. An intensive/accelerated language and intercultural training package was designed, for Greek language learning and teaching, enriched with intercultural elements, including tools addressed both to Trainers and Trainees, published in print and digital form, for use on tablets. The program of linguistic and intercultural training was implemented, at pilot level, testing the training methodology and tools. Both the participating young refugees and their trainers used the tablets and the printed material during the lessons. The participants’ needs were analyzed during Guidance/Counseling parallel implementation, based on personalized approach, via interviews with each trainee. The participants’ skills acquired during these interventions were reflected in an individual E-portfolio, whose design and production were also supported by the project. A Vocational Guidance Package was subsequently designed and implemented, oriented to technical and tourist occupations and entrepreneurship, including visits of young refugees at VET schools and laboratories. The action included development of material for vocational guidance counselors. A methodology was furthermore developed to promote the integration of young refugees into the labor market of potential host countries.All the above mentioned project outputs and products cover a wide range of methods and tools for young refugees’ social support, to be further used and/ or transferred to better prepare target group(s) for integration in the host society and labor market. Project results and relevant impact, however, are wider, including important networking and debate, at local, regional, national and transnational level, through multiplier events, with all the involved stakeholders, public authorities, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, social partners’ organizations, practitioners in the field, policy makers. A post-project dissemination strategy is adopted by all the four partners to sustain produced impact.In Greece, interaction with relevant actors, at local/national/transnational level, led to finalization of the project’s results and to a proposal for national strategy. This was an essential result of high importance, which is already yielding results, as it has paved the way to a wider project in the field, at national level, making use of the project lessons, practices, tools and networking, but also including actions to promote refugees’ integration in the labor market.

The context and objectives of WorkAble are to develop 12 good practice case studies through knowledge exchange visits between four partner countries; UK, Poland, Greece and Romania. The case studies are designed to give teachers, both within the project and across the EU, guidance in preparing innovative work programmes for disabled young people to strengthen opportunities for sustainable employment after school or college. Partners are chosen carefully, as each have innovative work based learning practices to share but also because disability employment is a key issue in each partner country. A Eurostat poll of October 2019 indicated the percentage of population of young people aged 16 and over at risk of poverty and social exclusion because of inactivity in the labour market because of disability in Greece at 32.3%, Poland at 29,5%, Romania at 37.6% and the UK at 32.2%. With the Highest in North Macedonia at 50.7%. Improving opportunities for young people with disabilities to enter employment is a key objective in vocational education and training. Professional development of teachers to deliver innovative work programmes through VET is essential, and this project aims to do just that. This project aims to provide guidance through developing and publishing 12 models of good practice across four partner organisations in the VET of people with disabilities. The focus will be on those schemes that provide innovative training and work programmes that support employment opportunities for disabled learners. These will include best practice in; •Giving advice and guidance services for future employment for persons with disabilities: •Work skills teaching programmes for Persons with disabilities •Employer engagement models •Setting up social enterprise models for employment •Developing Entrepreneurship •Establishing a work based learning curriculum •Learner voices – Models of student engagement and capturing feedback. Stories of successful employment placements and placements that have not worked well. •Good practice examples of specific vocational work suited to person with specific disabilities.Teachers will see 12 innovative models of best practice hosted by each partner and be able to develop their own working practice – Each partner will develop three case studies in detail and publish these in order to share through a project website to other organisations working in VET with disabled learners or trainees.The overall aim is to promote inclusion within employment for young people with disabilities across the EU – to look at what is working well and share this to enable others to develop opportunities in VET for greater innovation and inclusion in working practice for young people with disabilities.To do this the project will schedule one week long visit to each partner country by three representatives from each partner over two years of the project in order to observe specific examples of innovative work-based learning or and employment practice. The project will give opportunities for 12 professionals working within specialist work based learning from each country, to see and share examples of good practice. These will be developed into 12 case studies, 3 from each partner country and published to a project web site. Case studies will aim to give practice guidance on innovative methods and schemes that are successfully supporting employment and inclusion for young disabled people. It is envisaged that these case studies will provide an incentive of ideas that will be a legacy for all VET teachers working with young people with disabilities and employers looking for ways to improve access to the labour market across the EU.

AT work in Europe - is a knowledge transfer partnership to improve the knowledge and skills of teachers, therapists and technologists in the support and delivery of assistive technology (AT) services for learners with disabilities undertaking vocational education, training and work. The partnership consists of four partners who have expertise in working with learners with disabilities but in a range of education and training contexts. Partners from Finland, Greece, Croatia and the UK span the length and breadth of the EU and represent different methodologies and approaches to using technology to support learners with disabilities. Two teachers, therapists or technologists for each partner organisation who work with learners with disabilities will share best practice and transfer their skills and knowledge through reciprocal visits. 32 professionals will be involved in knowledge transfers. Each hosted visit will involve a two day seminar workshop exploring assistive technology use in learning , how it is delivered and by whom. Delegates will explore different technology solutions and meet and hear from learners who are using technology to support their work. Two further days will be spent shadowing and working alongside assistive technologists or support staff working with technology understand assessment methodologies and the nature of the role. The final day will be working with specific technology and listening to learners in order to see the impacts of technology in practice. Case studies of effective practice will be developed following each knowledge sharing visit by participants. These will be available on a project website. An expert management group will meet for three days to develop an outline of the assistive technologist role, outline different assessment methods for assistive technology and relate these to the case studies. Four national dissemination events will be planned to showcase the project outcomes and promote the assistive technologists role. These will involve a minimum of 30 delegates (Teachers, Therapists, support personnel and managers from organisations working with learners with disabilities). A project report will describe the the impacts on the professionals that have been involved and how they will develop their roles in supporting learners in their use of assistive technology. These resources will be available for downloading fro the project website of which a link will be available on Erasmus + on-line platforms for dissemination across the EU.

Context/background of the projectFor several years the European Commission has stressed in each of its communiqués the importance of vocational education and training (VET) for the employability of (young) people as well as for the competitiveness and growth of the economy. In many countries strategies to foster VET focus, however, largely on initial VET. The project covers a wide range of European Life Long Learning objectives and priorities that are related to the core philosophy of Erasmus+:Contributing to Lifelong Learning:Apprenticeship is one of the key issues in Lifelong Learning and thus a flexible dual education system specialised for SME’s is going to be huge improvement. Not only from the perspective of education, but mainly from the perspective of individuals on the labour market: migrants, workers who want to improve their skills and/ or people who are looking for a (new) job.Contribute to the development of quality lifelong learning and to promote high performance, innovation and a European dimension in systems and practices in the field:The development of an innovative flexible certificated standard of apprenticeship system under European cooperation is going to set the foundations for the development of high quality apprenticeship systems. Additionally, project's results and dissemination activities will promote the development of common European and national policies related to apprenticeship and will enhance attractiveness of VET and Life Long Learning at European level.Lack of apprenticeship certification discourages young people to become apprentices. Additionally, lack of regulation framework discourages firms to benefit from apprenticeship programs. An innovative flexible certificated standard of apprenticeship system will improve the quality, accessibility and attractiveness for VET and lifelong learning opportunitiesSupport improvements in quality and innovation in vocational education and training systems, institutions and practicesThe project concerns an innovative apprenticeship system with improved quality due to its involving all interested parties .To enhance the attractiveness of vocational education and training and mobility for employers and individuals and to facilitate the mobility of working traineesAn innovative apprenticeship system integrating work-based and school-based learning promotes the mobility of employers, individuals and working trainees.Sector Skills AlliancesThe project will bring together bodies with metal construction companies' specific expertise in three complementary fields: the world of vocational education and training, the labour market, and VET policy makers with the help of a more flexible education system in order to identify skills needed by the energy sector and to integrate sectorial skills.Promoting equality between men and women and contributing to combating all forms of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation

"When the European Trainer Teacher Tandem project (ETT Tandem) was set up in 2014, Europe was undergoing a deep financial crisis which had a devastating impact on youth unemployment, especially in Greece, Spain and Italy amongst other countries. Germany, on the other hand, managed the crisis quite well and did not suffer higher unemployment among the youth. As a consequence, the interest in the German dual training system massively increased in Europe. It was this situation that brought about the idea of a tandem for teachers and trainers of different European vocational education systems. Partners of the European InnMain Network developed the idea to learn from each other through allowing the opportunity to participate in typical learning environments of the relevant partner organisations in order to improve the teachers' and trainers' professional, pedagogical and personal knowledge and skills. From its early beginnings, the idea to ""think out of the box"" and gain experience from European partners has been a fundament of the European Union as well as the Erasmus+ programme whose validity remains unchanged until today's date. Some of the ETT Tandem partners, who had been organising exchange programmes for their students over a longer time, came up with the idea not only to exchange students, but give their professional staff equal opportunity to enjoy international teaching and learning experiences. Hence, the objective of the ETT Tandem project was to develop a guideline for such Trainer Teacher Tandems among European partners in vocational education, the so-called ""ETT Tandem Model"". The model allows collaborative learning, exchange and transfer of good practice experiences made by trainers and teachers in a real training environment such as vocational schools or training centres (or by e.g. companies, chambers, schools) with focus on the practical parts of the vocational education and training.Partners from six European countries were actively involved in the ETT Tandem project. These included: BFI OOE - BFI-Institute for Vocational Advancement, an Upper Austrian vocational training institution. BFI Upper Austria provides vocational education and training in a wide context of areas. Part of its educational activities focuses on training schemes aimed at the (re-)integration of unemployed persons or persons disadvantaged in the labour market. Those pertinent educational and occupational schemes are designed and organised in close co-operation with the Austrian Public Employment Service (AMS) and companies. The vocational school Istituto Tecnico “Attilio Deffenu” of Olbia in Italy which provides research and experimentation in education, aiming at innovative teaching and methodology. The Οργανισμού Απασχόλησης Εργατικού Δυναμικού (ΟΑΕΔ) or Organismou Apascholisis Ergatikou Dynamikou (OAED), also known as the Manpower Employment Organization of Greece, is a public authority that handles vocational training, job search assistance, labour and policy development, as well as unemployment and maternity benefits. Teknisk Erhvervsskole Center (TEC) is a large vocational college, situated on 5 campuses in Greater Copenhagen, attending 25,000 students during a year. TEC has a history of more than 135 years – the institution as it looks today is a dynamic merger of six institutions, the first merger starting out in 1999. TEC has a staff of 750 and offers around 25 different VET programmes and 3 Higher Technical Examination Programmes and several Adult Vocational Programmes. XABEC is a vocational training centre operating since 2008 and is promoted by the EIFOR Foundation of the Region of Valencia. The EIFOR Foundation of the Region of Valencia aims at promoting, fostering and supporting social, welfare, cultural, research and development initiatives. The Central Agency for Continuing Vocational Education and Training in the Skilled Crafts (ZWH e. V.) is a service provider for all educational institutions in the skilled crafts sector and operates nationwide. It is supported by the 53 chambers of skilled crafts, the regional associations and the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH).In the course of the European Trainer Teacher Tandem pilot project, six transnational meetings took place in six different countries, five times with simultaneous tandem activities. The meetings took place at the partner organisations' places. The places chosen were very diverse ranging from vocational schools with only small practical workshops to public-private partnership training centres and work-based learning in companies. This variety had a deep impact on the development of the ETT Tandem Model. It proved that the Model has to be an open, flexible and inspiring model rather than a limiting one. It may provide recommendations, advice and ideas while simultaneously providing space for adjusting and widening the idea of European Trainer Teacher Tandems in relation to the local conditions and environment."