Numeracy and basic maths are key foundations for further learning and are a gateway to employment and social inclusion. Nevertheless, across the EU, 22 % of 15-year-olds underachieve in mathematics. Among pupils with low socioeconomic status, this is a worrying 36.6 %. There is evidence that early exposure to math education concepts, activities, ideas, and ‘math talk’ positively impacts later school achievement. Nevertheless, low-income students are more likely to be exposed to weaker math content in schools. This school inequality is part of a larger socioeconomic performance gap that also includes the students’ home background (OECD/2017)Families from the more disadvantaged social groups generally tend to collaborate less with schools. Specifically, those parents who live in urban environments, with low incomes and are immigrants or ethnic minorities are those who face greater barriers to collaboration. Achieving effective collaboration with the school is a particularly important issue for disadvantaged families, as it can be decisive in this group achieving academic success (EC, 2016).An insufficiently explored approach to overcome the difficulties to involve parents from disadvantaged families in the education of their children is the Family learning pedagogical approach. Family learning is an effective way of providing adults with the skills and knowledge to support their children’s education. NGOs and other social partners supporting disadvantage families can play also a key role facilitating the work with these families through Family Learning methods, strengthening their participation and engagement with the school system. Additionally, the influence of new technologies on children's mathematical competences should be explore, so as to ensure appropriate methods to exploit the potential of such teccnologies for new forms of learning (EC/2018)The aim of FAMILIES COUNT project is to promote the acquisition of skills and competences in Maths through innovative Family Learning teaching methods based on Digital Tools addressed to disadvantaged families. To do so, six organizations, including school authorities, entities supporting unprivileged families and experts in family learning and digital-based pedagogies from five countries (UK, Spain, Ireland, Turkey and Austria), will work together to equip family learning practitioners, tutors and headteacher with the necessary skills and innovative digital tools to support students and parents from disadvantaged families to acquire and improve their competencies in maths.The project partners will design and co-create the following outputs:- An Online Digital Database of good practices and resources on Family Learning of Maths (IO1), - A Training Curriculum on Family Learning of Maths (IO2)- The FAMILIES COUNT Pedagogical Handbook- The FAMILIES COUNT Digital Toolkit (IO4), a set of innovative tailor made digital apps and tools.Family learning practitioners, tutors and headteacher working at schools and entities supporting unprivileged families are the main target users of the project products and final beneficiaries are students and parents from disadvantaged families. During the life time of the FAMILIES COUNT project, the partnership will directly involve 79 family learning practitioners, tutors and headteacher (24 partners staff / 30 experts involved / 25 target users in pilots), 125 students and parents from disadvantaged families (in pilots) and 450 stakeholders. A wider audience, of a minimum of 1.000 recipients, will be reached at local, regional, national and European level through the planned dissemination activities.The project will use European frameworks and instruments, like EQF, Europass and SchoolEducationGateaway, to boost transparency and recognition of learning outcomes on Family Learning for Maths at School. FAMILIES COUNT will also strengthen the collaboration between schools, families and their surrounding communities, and will count with the support of a network of key stakeholders at local, regional, national and European level involved in the project. FAMILIES COUNT will have a direct impact on target beneficiaries, improving their competencies in maths and their participation and engagement in the school systems, and in the target groups of users, improving the pedagogical methods to teach maths to students and parents from disadvantaged families. The project will also improve the digital skills of both groups of users and beneficiaries thanks to the innovative digital tools created to facilitate the teaching leaning of maths. Schools and other social entities and external stakeholders will count with new methods and instruments to facilitate their collaboration for the benefit of disadvantaged families in their communities. The long-term impact envisaged is the strength of the School system in Europe with new forms of tackling early school leaving and disadvantage.

Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are at the heart of the creative economy: represent a 6.8% of GDP in Europe and 6.5% of EU workforce, approximately 14.0 million. The Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019 contributes to the Commission's new initiative on the Circular Economy, which promotes a transition towards a more circular economy in the EU. Product design is a key aspect in this respect and in future, Ecodesign should make a much more significant contribution to the circular economy (Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019.EC). CCIs, like all other industries, are dependent on the material world. Reuse, repurposing, recycling or upcycling are all examples of a broad and unstoppable movement which is reevaluating and maximising resource value through Ecodesign. At the 2nd Green Skills Forum 2014, OECD LEED-Cedefop presented some key challenges for meeting skill needs for green jobs, evidencing that there is an urgent need to support green job skills development strategies in order to prevent the emergence skills bottlenecks in our countries, supporting VET acquisition of Ecodesign and a smooth transition from brown to green jobs.There is also strong evidence that Work-Based Learning (WBL) helps to equip young people with the skills that can improve their employability and ease the transition from school to work. Nevertheless, existing analysis and policy papers in the countries of the project (France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Spain and UK) evidence that there is still too much distance between the educational environment and the workplace in these countries. Ecodesign4EU project aims to address these challenges designing a new European ECVET Curriculum of reference on Ecodesign for sustainable CCIs, promoting innovative WBL methods and pedagogies addressed to Initial and Continuous VET students, target beneficiaries of the project, in order to acquire and apply Ecodesign principles to CCIs, contributing to lead the transition to a Circular Economy in these sectors. The project will apply also successful and innovative VET methods and tools in Ecodesign principles applied to CCIs, previously tested by the partners.8 European VET experts and providers, companies and intermediary bodies of the CCIs from 7 countries (France, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Spain and UK) will work together defining common strategies design and carry out the following Outputs:IO1 - European ECVET Curriculum of reference on Ecodesign for sustainable Creative and Cultural IndustriesIO2 - ECOdesign4EU Virtual Campus. Includes the following Open Educational Resources: (i) an Online Instructional Guide on Digital Competencies for Virtual Learning; (ii) a set of structured Training Modules (iii) Vocational Open Online Courses (VOOC) IO3 - Ecodesign4EU Mobile Assessment App IO4 - Guidelines to foster transparency and recognition of Ecodesign for sustainable CCIsTarget users and beneficiaries are: (i) VET teachers, trainers and mentors (ii) Initial and Continuous VET students. Ecodesign4EU will involve directly 109 VET and in company teachers and trainers (32 partners staff /42 experts involved / 35 target users in pilots), 175 I-VET and C-VET students (in pilots) and 535 stakeholders. At local, regional, national and European level the project will reach a minimum audience of 1000 recipients through the project dissemination activities.The project will use European frameworks of reference, such as EQF and ECVET, to promote new learning pathways and boost transparency, recognition and mobility in the CCIs sectors in Europe. Key sectorial and VET associated partners and stakeholders of the CCIs, the VET sector and the Green Economy involved in the project will support the dissemination of the project products and contribute to mainstream the final results. The project will have a direct positive impact in: (i) Partner organizations and entities involved in the project activities. They will improve their training methods and tools; the teaching skills and competencies (including digital skills) of their trainers and teachers; the quality and relevance of their VET courses and WBL programmes.(ii) I-VET and C-VET students. They will improve their Ecodesign through better WBL programmes, opening new opportunities for training, job and mobility.(iii) CCIs sectors. They will count with new training instruments to improve the competitiveness of the sector and supporting its transition towards more circular business models.The envisaged long term impact of the project will be a strengthening of the European VET systems and a more sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe.

Tourism is very important for the European economy. It has one of the highest labour mobility rates, permitting discussion of the emergence of a truly European economic sector and a labour market with a truly European dimension. Nevertheless, skills shortage in tourism jobs is putting at real risk the employment in the sector. Thus, the identification of skill needs for the sector in Europe has a particular significance. The partners of CULTOUR project have identified that one main area of skills gap in tourism sector is related with the growing requirement of intercultural competencies necessary to deal with customers, co-workers and employees. This skills gap is transversal to the tourism sector and affects a wide range of professional roles, including employees, instructors and employers.A key factor to be taken also into account is that formal qualifications are not always required in tourism and there is a widely available opportunity to obtain qualifications by an alternative to formal education. Taking into account the very high proportion of personnel without formal qualifications, validation of informal and non-formal learning is crucial. The EQF is meant to address this problem and the ECVET tools and methodology should greatly assist with workers mobility. CULTOUR project aimed to overcome the skills gap and foster mobility in Tourism sector trough the recognition, validation and up-skilling of intercultural competences for tourism jobs. CULTOUR has integrated the intercultural competencies dimension in new VET training products, specifically addressed for tourism sector jobs and used innovative tools for the recognition and validation of these competencies. Six partner organizations (VET providers, companies and social partners) from six countries (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Bulgaria) defined innovative common strategies and products to reduce the skills gap of intercultural competencies in tourism sector trough VET.During the last two years, CULTOUR partners worked in tight collaboration to:- identify the specific intercultural knowledge, skills and competences required for tourism sector jobs (IO1 State of the art report); - increase transparency and mobility of tourism professional by means of recognition and validation of intercultural competencies for tourism sector jobs, based on the previous successful curriculum CULTOOL (IO2 ECVET Curriculum);- design new pedagogies and innovative methodologies to train intercultural competencies in tourism jobs (IO3 CULTOUR Handbook)- Upskill teachers and instructors of the tourism sector, both working on VET centers and/or in the industry, on new pedagogies and innovative methodologies to train intercultural competencies in tourism jobs. (IO4 CULTOUR Toolbox)-Empower tourism workers in their capacity to understand and cope with cultural differences (IO4 CULTOUR Toolbox)- Increase labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications in the tourism sector, reinforcing links between VET and the world of work (IO5 CULTOUR Open Online Center)The main target users of the CULTOUR project products and outputs are teachers, trainers and instructors of the tourism sector, both working on VET centers and/or in the industry. Also VET providers, companies and public and private entities active in the field of Tourism. Final beneficiaries are employees, apprentices, VET teachers and instructors, employers, students and other professionals working, or with previous experience, on the tourism sector.

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Crafts act as an important buffer in economic downturns and play a central role in providing VET on the job, both highly relevant for the transition from education to employment and to ensure a qualified workforce. In the last two decades, some traditional Crafts have declined due to mass production and rising consumerism. Others have evolved, embracing the digital age, particularly in marketing their products and engaging with new clients, collaborators and audiences. Furthermore, the traditional distance between craft sectors and ICT technologies is disappearing. The new generation of high tech digital tools and cutting edge machinery, like 3D printers, is transforming and leading the applied arts and craft sectors to a new digital age. To lead this transformation Europe needs to count with skilled handicraft teachers and trainers, equipped with the necessary competencies and resources to integrate these digital tools into innovative ICT based teaching and learning practices. VET teachers and trainers in craft sectors are usually handicraft professionals with expertise in their respective areas, and teaching in VET craft courses is frequently a secondary occupation. In many EU countries, initial teaching education is not compulsory for these VET teachers and trainers or some minimum training is required. They tend to acquire their teaching competencies through their teaching practice or through some continuous VET courses on train the trainers, usually not adapted to the specific needs of teaching crafts. The situation with regard to the training on ICT-based teaching skills is even worst, due to this lack of training opportunities and because many traditional Crafts do not use ICT and, as a result, neither handicraft teachers and trainers use ICT for teaching VET. The consequence is a lack of innovative ICT-based teaching practices in traditional handicraft VET, losing all the potential benefits of using ICT in education. The aim of this project has been to support the professional development of handicraft teachers and trainers in Europe in their transition to the digital age by improving their teaching competencies on innovative VET education through ICT based methods and tools. The project has prepared handicraft teachers and trainers to adapt also their teaching practice to the next generation of high tech digital tools and cutting edge machinery, like 3D printers, vinyl cutters or laser cutting and engraving. To this purpose, an alliance of Craft sectors organizations and VET experts and providers from 7 countries (Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and United Kingdom) have worked together to lead the project and co-create and test the following innovative methods and freely accessible OER: - A European ECVET Curriculum (IO1) on ICT skills for teaching Crafts. - Training Modules (IO2) on ICT based teaching methods specifically adapted for Crafts. - An innovative Mobile Instructional Learning APPs (IO3) designed to train handicraft trainers and teacher to use and design their own Mobile Learning APPs (IO5) for teaching Crafts. - A Multilingual e-learning platform (IO4), with innovative e-Learning courses and OER on ICT-based teaching methods for Crafts. - A Guide for validation, certification & accreditation (IO6) of innovative teaching learning methods through ICT in VET for craft sectors in Europe. Handicraft teachers and trainers are the main target users of the project products and final beneficiaries are craftsman students, learners and apprentices. During the life time of CRAFTS 3.0 project, the partnership have directly involved 99 handicraft teachers and trainers (32 partners staff / 42 experts involved / 25 target users in pilots), 125 I-VET and C-VET craftsman students, learners and apprentices (in pilots) and 500 stakeholders. A wider audience of more than 1000 recipients has been reached at local, regional, national and European level through all the partnes dissemination activities. The project applies European frameworks and instruments, like EQF, ECVET, EQAVET, Europass and EPALE, to promote and boost transparency and recognition of competences and qualifications, transnational mobility and the transferability of the project outputs to other Craft and VET organizations at local, regional, national and European level, with the support and active cooperation of a network of key associated partners and relevant stakeholders involved during the project. CRAFTS 3.0 supports the professional development of handicraft teachers and trainers in order to improve their teaching competencies in innovative education through ICT. The project has proved to have a direct impact in the improvement of the ICT skills of handicraft teachers and trainers. The long term impact envisaged is a strengthening of the VET system and programmes to fully exploit the potential benefits of ICT to support the transition of handicraft teachers and trainers to the Digital Age in Europe.