The need to improve the quality and relevance of the skills and competences with which young Europeans leave schools has been recognized at EU and national level. The labor market is really hard to reach, especially for young people, as they are not adequately prepared to enter the world of work, lacking not only experience and knowledge, but also basic key competences. This affects tertiary level students not that much as it effects secondary level VET learners, who upon graduation, if not continuing studies for acquiring higher education, are about to enter the world of work. Today, having increased competition within labor markets and with increasing impact of ICT, employers need not only practically-skilled employees, but resilient, multi-skilled, good communicators, who understand how to work as part of a team, being able to sufficiently communicate in foreign languages, especially English. VET schools not only need to carry out their standard, practically-oriented educational programmes, but to help their learners to develop also the other skills needed for the competitive labor market, which are inalienable attributes of todays best employees. Within the project, the three partner institutions from Latvia (Liepaja Marine College), Germany (Berufliche Schule des Kreises Nordfriesland in Husum) and Italy (IIS BARSANTI MASSA) came together to address the above described problem and united their forces to enhance future employability of their vocational secondary education programmes’ learners of the latter courses (aged 17-20), as well as to master to them the key competences – especially, skills of communication in foreign languages; digital competences; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; cultural awareness and expression. The main objective of the project was to enhance employability and master the other job related skills to VET learners, that are not sufficiently covered by the VET programmes provided to them.Another important aim of the project was to improve the English language skills of the learners, for this reason all the activities were carried out in English, actively involving the participants. The project included 3 blended mobilities with intensive and informative curriculum tended to develop key competences. In total, 60 secondary vocational education learners and 12 accompanying persons had the opportunity to visit other European countries and schools to learn more about the different cultures and get acquainted with the labor market and job opportunities in other countries, gaining the opportunity to reinforce the sense of European belonging and awareness of the Community.The training was combined with educational and inspirational visits to companies and institutions, seeking to promote initiative and entrepreneurial spirit among the learners of VET. Involvement of entrepreneurs in education is essential.The results of the project are positive and the desired objectives have been achieved. The participants have widened their horizons, practiced their English skills and become more open, the young people are more involved in school life and want to participate in similar projects, have made new friends abroad. In order to determine the impact of the project on the participants individually, the participants received and completed the evaluation surveys. According to the participants, it can be concluded that the interest of the participants in entrepreneurship has grown - it is considered as a career option, the project improved their team work skills, communication skills in a foreign language, self-representation skills, educated the participants on the importance of digital competences in the modern education and work environment. Participants point out that an active learning approach with games and discussions is more effective than listening to lectures. As a result of the project, the partners found further common interests and continue their cooperation. New joint project has been submitted as a logical continuation of the ongoing work. The accompanying persons say that the experience of mobility has inspired them to modernize and diversify their teaching approach.The institutions involved have gained new partners, promoted the recognizability of themselves and their region's abroad. The partners hope to inspire other similar institutions to implement similar projects.

<< Objectives >>The project purpose concerns the creation of innovative didactic tools, in order to facilitate the learning and evaluation of the soft skills by people with disabilities, unemployed or people involved in the near future job placement. The soft skills are identified transversely within the professional classes showing the greatest employment impact on the labour market in the medium and long-term. The learning workshops will be identified among the more representative areas in the territory.<< Implementation >>The project is divided into 5 activities, one of which is totally dedicated to the management. The first activity involves the identification of the professionals required in the labour market, the soft skills and the learning contexts. The following phases will develop some learning tools, the soft skills evaluation and certification in the identified outodoor areas. The feedback of the experimentation developed by trainers and participants will contribute to the final promotional product.<< Results >>The project results will concern:- a survey of the 20 relevant professionals in the Spain and Italy labour market, in the medium and long-term and the 10 soft skills direcltly connected to the defined human resources;- the analysis of 35 territorial contexts in Spain and Italy suitable for outdoor training workshops;- the creation of 30 exercises for peolple with different disabilities; the training and the related assessment and certification tools could be proposed in 10 selected contexts.

Life and Job Skills for successful Europeans (LJSSE) was a European project in which six partners from Greece, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Austria and Spain participated. The main objective of the project “Life and Job Skills for successful Europeans” was to establish a knowledge alliance which could allow us to share practices in the field of developing and improving skills and key personal competences of learners such us: wish initiative and responsibility, persistence in achieving goals, perception - learning speed, common sense, Self-test - resistance to pressure and stress, confidence, flexibility – adaptability ,effectiveness, results orientation class - diligence / attention to detail, creativity / innovation cooperation, willingness - disposal, determination consistency - conscience, responsibility - professionalism positive spirit, optimism - excitement, interpersonal sensitivity, giving special emphasis to the aid of the Information and Communication Technologies. The main objectives achieved were:-Promotion of dialogue, respect, participation, knowledge and decision making among countries in the European Union;-Better understanding and responsiveness to social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity;-Development and improvement of skills and key personal competences; -Providence of necessary knowledge and skills to search and find appropriate careers according to skills and talents,- Team work sharing information with other educational institutions;-Establishment of collaborative learning strategies and entrepreneurship among students and teachers;-Increase in English competency as a common language in the European Union & other languages.-Improvement at the level of digital competence. Most of the participating schools or the teachers being involved in the project had previous experience in the organization of European projects, or have participated in the former Comenius partnerships.Life and job skills for successful Europeans (LJSSE) was a project that in many ways promoted and ensured a European awareness and togetherness, that was only achievable by cooperating, communicating, sharing and working with other students coming from different educational contexts, different cultures and, in fact, different realities within the European “family” of countries. This project allowed our institutions and our people to make contact with a multicultural European reality where different languages are spoken with different traditions, but where we all share a common principle and same life values, as we all belong to the same community. The establishment of such a knowledge alliance in which six diverse partners were involved empowered us to accomplish the desired objectives, since it allowed our students to observe for themselves other learning environments and especially other cultures. By sharing ideas, practices and experiences around the topic of life and job skills, we could develop and reinforce a network which our whole educational community would take advantage of, since it created positive and long lasting effects upon those directly and indirectly involved, from our students to our teaching staff, as well as the students' families, our administrative staff and, what was more, the municipalities where our institutions are located.The ages of the students directly involved in the project were from 14 to 17 years old. The students' exchange enabled them to see for themselves how similar and how different we all are in this European family. The exchanges also had a motivational impact on our students and provided an opportunity to the ones coming from low income families to visit and and get in touch with other European cultures. LJSSE was a project designed by professional educators who understand the needs of the next generation and feel that it was necessary to empower our young students to be successful in tomorrow’s competitive world. Life skills are a must in the 21st century no matter what anyone decides to perceive in their future personal and/or professional encounters.During our project 6 TPM & 3 LTTA Meetings were performed. About 6000 benefited from or were targeted by the activities organised by the project. Over 110 students and 40 teachers partipated in the as well. Synergies between LJSSE and other related projects will be created in order to increase stakeholders' awareness of how to strength students to obtain life and job skills. Our project has open access for all materials produced in the following links:-Website: http://erasmusplus.gym-kokkinochoria-amm.schools.ac.cy-Facebook: Erasmus: Life And Job Skills For SE-Etwinning : https://twinspace.etwinning.net/51758/home-Blogger : http://ljsse.blogspot.com-Email : lifeandjobskills@gmail.com-Youtube: ERASMUS LJSSE-Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/lifeandjobskills/presentations

"""Planning a Green Environment"" (PAGE) is a European project in which six partners from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, France and Italy participate.PAGE focuses on the topic of sustainable energy sources in the areas where the centres are located, and on the improvement of the participants’ communicative skills in English thanks to the application of new and innovative teaching methodologies based on ICTs tools. The designed activities are committed to the spread of best practices and experiences among the countries involved in the field of the renewable energy each country uses.The main objective of the project is to establish a knowledge alliance which allows us to share best practices in the field of renewable energies, giving special emphasis to the aid of the Information and Communication Technologies. At the same time, we aim at raising our students' environmental consciousness, by focusing on the renewable energies each country stands out and on the effects the extinction of natural resources will have on our daily lives. The establishment of such a knowledge alliance in which six partners from six countries are involved will enable us to accomplish the desired objectives, since it will allow our students to see by themselves other learning realities and especially other cultures, as well as to interact with others in a real context, raising thus their interest in learning the foreign language.However, by sharing and confronting ideas, practices and methods around the topic of renewable energies, we would develop and reinforce a network which our whole educational community would take advantage of, since it would create positive and longlasting effects upon those directly and indirectly involved, from our students to our teaching staff, as well as the students' families, our administrative staff and, what is more, the municipalities where our institutions are located.The students directly involved in the project (globally 300) are from 12 to 18 years old, and they would also take part in a students' exchange which will enable them to get steeped into the different realities of each of the partners, benefiting from the enriching factor of being in contact with educational systems and cultural and social realities different from theirs. The exchanges would also have a motivational impact on our students and would also provide an opportunity to pupils coming from families with low incomes who would not be able to visit and get in touch with other European realities otherwise.The specific objectives we aim at achieving are the following:- Promoting dialogue, respect, participation, knowledge and decision making among countries in the European Union;- Understanding of the use of sustainable energy resources and awareness of the need to switch to them among families, staff and students;- Learning to work together and share information with European schools;- Strenghtening the European Dimension in Education;- Developing collaborative learning strategies and entrepreneurship among students and teachers;- Increasing competence in English as common language in the EU; - Increasing the level of ICT competence;- Underlining that European education is essential in fostering a sense of European belonging and identityThe main students' activities are the following:- presentations of the participant countries;- presentations of participants' personal profiles.- design of the project logo;- logo contest;- design of a campaign poster;- infographics about the main renewable energy each country exploits;- comics on the effects of global warming (collaborative work by using ICT tools);- interviews to family and friends on sustainable behaviours in their daily lives.- research on the use of renewable energy and its impact on the development of the countries;- video reports on the area each school is located, with emphasis on the renewable energy each partners stands out;- video reports of the transnational meetings;- preparation of an E-Book containing the results of all the activities carried outWe will make use of mixed group work, cooperative learning, practical and ""on the spot"" researches, guided visits to ""green"" plantsAll the material created will be published in a common E-Twinning Space, in the partners' school websites and in a E-BookThe project will contribute to raise students' environmental consciousness and their awareness of belonging to the European Union and the opportunities it provides them with. The dissemination of the project's results will have a long-lasting impact upon the partners as well as upon other relevant stakeholders, since the educational materials will be open and accesible to anybody interested in them.The schools themselves will acquire higher levels of quality in the teaching of foreign languages, which will contribute to their internationalization as well as to raisen their awareness of being part of the European Union as an essential added value."

"""Winds of Change: A European Energetic (R)Evolution"" (WoC) is a European project in which eight partners from Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Germany, Cyprus, Austria and Spain participate. It focuses on the topic of sustainable energy sources in the areas where the centres are located, and on the improvement of the participants’ communicative skills in English thanks to the application of new and innovative teaching methodologies based on the implementation of ICTs tools. The activities developed were committed to the spread of best practices and experiences among the countries involved in the field of the renewable energy each country stands out.WoC's main objectives have been: 1) Promoting dialogue, respect, participation, knowledge and decision making among countries in the European Union;2) Greater understanding and responsiveness to social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity;3) Understanding of the use of sustainable energy resources and awareness of the need to switch to them among families, staff and students;4) Learning to work together and to share information with other educational institutions;5) Developing collaborative learning strategies and entrepreneurship among students and teachers;6) Increasing competence in English as a common language in the European Union;7) Increasing the level of digital competence.The participating schools are located in Massa (Italy), Winsen (Germany), Pafos (Cyprus), Mersin and Zonguldak (both in Turkey), Feldkirch (Austria), and the islands of Madeira (Portugal) and Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, Spain). Most of them have experience in the organization of European projects, or have participated in the former Comenius partnerships, except from Madeira, which have begun its internationalization process with this project. What they all have in common is the need to continue developing the valued added represented by the European Union in a multicultural context, paying special attention to the pursue of new sustainable energy sources. The Twin Space provided by eTwinning has been essential in order to develop common activities and share the results of our project. It has allowed us to use chat rooms, email, and forums, as well as to make use of a collaborative space in which all the resources employed in the development of the project are made accessible to all the schools involved. Some of the activities our students have been sharing include the project logo proposals; presentations about the renewable energies each country mostly uses; comics about the effects of global warming; and video reports on good practices in the use of renewable sources of energy. For that, we have employed ICTs tools which allow working collaboratively, such as Glogster, Prezi, Pixton, as well as video reports, infographics, and podcasts.The students who have been directly involved in the project are from 15 to 17 years old, and they also took part in short-term students' exchanges which enabled them to get steeped into the different realities of each of the partners, benefiting from the enriching factor of being in contact with educational systems and cultural and social realities different from theirs. The results have involved the design of innovative didactic units in which the use of ICTs is essential and which focus on collaborative and cooperational learning, as well as on new teaching strategies. We also achieved several strategic goals, mainly the acquisition of new teaching methodologies focusing on the implementation of ICTs in the teaching and learning of English, the development of an environmental consciousness in our students, their families and our staff, and a significant increase in the levels of quality in each of the partners involved. The students involved in the project have benefited from the opportunities of using English as a vehicle for communication in realistic settings, outside the ordinary classroom. They were highly motivated and engaged during the development of the project due to the chance WoC gave them to keep in touch with young people from different countries. It also contributed to raise their environmental consciousness and their awareness of belonging to the European Union and the opportunities it provides them with. As for the teachers, they had the opportunity of establishing professional networks, which continue nowadays (also with further Erasmus+ projects), and sharing ideas, beliefs and know-how with teachers from other educational realities. The development of an environmental consciousness has also been an important impact on the students' families, and it has contributed to raising their awareness towards looking after the natural resources. The educational materials are open and accesible to anybody interested in them, thanks to our website (www.windsofchange.com), contributing thus to promote their long-lasting benefits and dissemination."