Based on a successful methodology to support labour integration of low-skilled mature workers implemented in Spain, which has adressed 900 people in the last two years with a insertion rate of 41%, we aim take this experience at European level enriching and expanding it with the experience of Germany, Sweden and Lithuania. Taking as starting points the materials and methodology used in the Labora45 + program and its associated partners and the extensive experience of all EU partners we adapted these materials at European level. The materials to support labor integration are oriented to adults over 45 years and structured to be used by training and / or career guidance professionals. We also developed 4 functional APP's (1 for each participating country) to support quick access to specific information of interest validated by both jobseekers aged over 45 years and professionals dedicated to them. The materials will were developed to be used on internet and mobile platforms. Their content is aimed at developing 3 key competencies determined by the adult education policy in the EU: Digital Skills, Learning to learn, and sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. Making use of a work plan we developed the materials and the mobile application with inputs from all partners, proceeding to the adaptation of the content in digital format and testing with 32 professionals and 64 people aged 45+ who are participating in training programs and / or career guidance pathways.The products are available for free to be use by both entities to users over 45 years. The MATURE platform, the tutorials and the APPS were very well received by the educational and labor community. Since its publication and until September 2018, they received around 30,000 visits. The APPS had about 17,000 searches in online stores.

Qualified workforce is one of the key elements currently for the industry to ensure sustainable competition both in global and local scale. The emphasize and importance placed by the providers of vocational training and education, the policy makers and private sector enterprises on the vocational education and training and cooperations established in this regard are decisive to a greater extent for ensuring qualified workforce. SMART COMET Project, accomplished accordingly and supported by Turkish National Agency within the scope of European Union Erasmus + Program, aims to reinforce the cooperation between the vocational high schools and enterprises through the life-long learning perspective and therefore contributes to the sustainable development of qualified workforce. Providing the vocational training and education system with the capability to respond to the requirements of sector-specific employment market on a high-level and contributing to enterprises on an ever-increasing competition environment within the sector is among the main objectives of the project. In addition to this, enterprises provide support and assistance to vocational education and training through various activities and opportunity to reinforce and consolidate the theoretical knowledge with practical practices and applications is offered to the students. The main objective of the project is to reinforce and consolidate the reciprocative benefits, namely win-win practice between the schools and enterprises. The Project is realized by means of a partnership established between the providers of vocational training and education of Turkey, Germany and Spain and the national and international enterprises towards enhancing the international cooperations. The Project is realized under the partnership of Ministry of National Education Directorate General for Vocational and Technical Education (Turkey), MESS Training Foundation (Turkey), DEKRA Akademie (Germany), FLM Fundacion Laboral del Metal (Spain) and the strategic partnership with the Turkish Employers Association of Metal Industries. SMART COMET is consisting of two main components; first one is the competence management model and the competence development platform (IT Tool: http://www.cometittool.com) as the output of this component and the second one is to develop the school-enterprise cooperation and proposal of the school-enterprise cooperation model. Within the process of establishment of the project outputs of these two components, five study visits were performed covering three countries for the purpose of making observations and exchanging views and opinions. The report was further revised and finalized by the evaluations of the Ministry of National Education, observations of the project partners, current European Union regulations and practices, endeavors of technical specialists and substantial contributions of the human resources specialists. As a result of this, an innovative competence management model supporting the sustainable vocational development and addressing to the entire sector and the industries of 3 participant countries is established and a competence development platform (IT Tool: http://www.cometittool.com) is accomplished to support this model. The overall results reached through this project are:•A pilot basis for school and enterprise cooperation system for the metal sector companies using a competence management (COMET) approach is developed and piloted,•A model is created for metal enterprises to better manage their workforce through learning outcome-based competence management,•Enterprise and school capacity to analyze, understand, express, address and manage human resource challenges including, but not limited to the ability to better manage and anticipate skill needs over a strategic horizon is improved though the model,•Upgrading skills and qualification of all employees in metal sector in partnership with schools is facilitated,•Schools’ participation in the cooperation model to better adapt themselves to evolving labor market needs by working closer to metal enterprises is piloted.The involvement and evaluations of Turkish Ministry of National Education in project was advantageous for the success of dissemination and exploitation of project results. This created an impact for the VET teachers and school administrators in the way of generating close ties with the private sector. The second output of the project, competence management IT tool has started to be operating in order for the sector to evaluate the development of the employees.

Young people today lead varied and active digital lives, using the internet -and especially social media- to explore, connect, create and learn in ways never before imagined. However, social media is a double-edged sword and our young people are increasingly exposed to online behaviours that erode their confidence, interpersonal relations: online peer pressure and abuse, the search for aesthetic perfection, the over-sharing of personal information, the “echo chamber” effect and risks of radicalization all pose serious risks to the development of positive, confident, active young citizens. In addition, research shows that the complex social situations presented by social media require young people to have not only basic technical competences but also more highly developed critical thinking skills, as found in a media literacy approach. For these reasons, the aim of the Healthy Social Media project is clear: improve the ability of young people to critically assess and engage with digital and social media they are consuming and creating to become responsible, confident, digital citizens. In order to achieve this, we believe that suppliers of nonformal education to the youth sector have a key role to play. However, today’s adult youth leaders and trainers are at a disadvantage having grown up in a pre-digital world. Healthy Social Media projects has successfully completed as of 30.04.19. During the project timeframe all required targets have been completed as follows:IO1 Needs Analysis Study This Intellectual Output is complete, available on Dropbox and project website. All translations for IO1 have been completed and are all live online - http://www.healthysocialmedia.eu/social-media-study/IO2 HOME Open Educational Resources. All partners have agreed that Intellectual Output 2 is complete, fit for the purpose and no adjustments are required. Final Open Educational Resources in all partner languages are now available on Dropbox, Nearpod and project website. All translations for IO2 have been completed and are all live online - http://www.healthysocialmedia.eu/social-media-study/IO3 Phone APP All partners have agreed that the Intellectual Output 3 is complete, fit for the purpose and no adjustments are required. All translations for IO3 have been completed. According to partners‘ comments the quality of HOME App is very good and should be fit for the purpose, additionally MMS has created excellent resource.Project Management managed by NLDCHP via its participation in all project meetings and its robust financial management expertise.Quality Management & Evaluation managed by Drustvo SPES quarterly reports for the 8 quarters were produced on basis of survey monkey results- results show consistently that all partners(8) are fully familiar with their roles and responsibilities. Project communication has been handled efficiently and effectively in disseminating information and directives. Partners (8) have been able to complete all planned activities in accordance with the timetable. “This has been a fantastic opportunity for us to be involved in some international work that is both rewarding and provides tangible outputs-learning resources and phone app to share with young people and educators alike - this is a luxury not often enjoyed by the CVS sector.“Dissemination & Sustainability activities managed by EfVET through a partner dissemination template top capture all dissemination activites. 4 Ezines produced during project timeframe and the production of 2 project videos, one for multiplier events and one for continued promotion of HSM objectives. To check unique visitors to websitesDownloads of app from itunes/playstore/project websiteContact form enquiries5 Mulitplier events have taken place as per project targets- in total 217 stakeholders from key youth organisations, VET, NGO's and public bodies in social development policy & practice- exceeding our target by 11%. 82% of respondents to muliplier evaluation were satisfied with events. Over 50% of respondents felt their expectations had been exceeded. Over 65 % of respondents stated that they were informed and learned about the goals of the project HOME at the conferences that were held. 52 out of a total 62 respondents stated that they will continue to use the resources and tools in the future. In the light of the foregoing, it can be concluded that multiplier events have been carried out with a very high level, being especially significant the impact they have had.As will be clear from the above the impact of this project has been seismic both in the partners regions but cumulatively as a whole. The project was timely and relevant at a time when even expert opinions are often contradictory, providing some much needed tools that can guide educators and young people alike through the social media maze.

Seeking to enhance work-based-learning and improve the practical training (especially, but not exclusively in the countries with school-based VET systems) there are being established and promoted specialised practical institutions equipped with the modern technologies and designed for the development of practical skills of the VET students, job seekers, employees and other groups of learners. Although such practical training institutions are designed to improve access to high quality training and competence development and to tackle the problem of mismatch between the skills demand in the labour market and VET provision, the achieving of these targets encounters multiple challenges and obstacles, especially in the countries where such practical training institutions have been established recently. These obstacles and challenges include the lack of know-how and expertise on how to develop curricula of practical training, as well as how to better organise the training process and adjust it to the requirements of the work-based VET curricula. The goal of APPRINVET project was to provide a methodical-practical toolkit for dual apprenticeship enhancement and pilot it through implementation of apprenticeship schemes in the school based VET systems employing the expertise of companies. The provided toolkit should contribute to exploit the potential of practical training institutions to enhance and implement dual apprenticeship schemes in the school based VET systems empowering the cooperation between VET providers and companies. To attain the goal, the following outputs were developed within the project: -Guidebook for the curriculum design, organisation of work-based learning and work-based vocational didactics for dual apprenticeship carried out in the practical training institutions; - Adjusted VET curriculum as best practice examples to apply dual apprenticeship requirements in the practical training institutions; - Training programme and teaching-learning material for qualification improvement of VET teachers and trainers working in apprenticeship schemes executed in the practical training institutions.In accordance to the project objectives and foreseen results of the project it was necessary to involve organisations with different profile, expertise in the field of vocational training and adult education, knowledge and experience of work-based learning application. Thus the partnership consisted of 6 partners from 5 EU countries with necessary knowledge and expertise to achieve sustainable results: -Lietuvos inovatyvių profesinio rengimo įstaigų asociacija (Lithuania) -Karaliaus Mindaugo profesinio mokymo centras (Lithuania) -Federazione CNOS-FAP (Italy) -Fundación Laboral del Metal (Spain) -MBO RAAD (The Netherlands) -EU-Geschäftsstelle Bezirksregierung Köln (Germany)APPRINVET project achievements helped to increase capacity of VET institutions (practical training units) in terms of how to initiate and manage the dual apprenticeship schemes/ dual pathways and measures in the systemic way as well as update professional skills of VET learners in relation to the labor market needs and improve skills and knowledge of VET teachers and trainers in the field of apprenticeship schemes/dual pathways and measures application, practical training curriculum development and cooperation with private sector.

Context/background: The “YouCareOn” action was an ERASMUS+ VET KA 2 Strategic “Partnerships for adult education/ Exchanges of Practices” under the priority “Developing VET business partnerships aimed at promoting work-based learning in all its forms” with the relevant topic “Early School Leaving / combating failure in education”, “Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment”, and “Regional dimension and cooperation”.The relevance of this project is confirmed by national and EU official papers and research, e.g. the EU ESIF Strategy “Europe 2020”, “Jobs, growth and investment”; the ESF “Youth Employment Initiative”.An early, corresponding to the regional demand career guidance for pupils/students under the slogan “Education and career in the region for the region”' has a growing importance across Europe, because qualified staff is an essential prerequisite for any economic development of a region. Guidance and counselling can help to prevent young people from becoming NEETs and unemployed. In this way the interaction between practice, research and policy is reinforced.Project Objectives: The action’s main objective was to exchange specific good practices and experiences in qualification and training gained in the action matter respective to the needs of vocational education and training institutions, schools, administrations as well as labour offices in the participating countries. Number/profile of participants: In total 103 direct beneficiaries and 387 indirect beneficiaries have actively participated in the 12 Learning, Teaching and Training Activities.:- Staff of the project partners, and - Principals/teachers which deal with early vocational guidance. Participating organisations: Six partners in general, two from Germany, Federal Land Brandenburg, Greece, Spain, Latvia and Italy were involved in this action. They represented Regional Development Agencies, a National University, a foundation and a vocational education and training centre. Activities: The project partners realised six Bench Mobility (five days each) in Wildau and Cottbus/DE), Trinec (CZ), Santander (ES), Riga (LV), Athens (GR) and Lecce (IT) as well as six Short-Term Joint Staff Trainings. These Mobility are characterised by visits to representative regional good practices. So, the participants got see by itself on-site solutions how and which way early stage career orientation is organised in the respective partner countries. The exchange of opinions, knowledge and expertise took place most of all in direct personal contacts with these regional stakeholders. At the end, the participants took home in practice gained experiences to use in their own activities. Methodology of the project:The Lead Partner methodology included all activities in project management, implementation, communication, dissemination, internal evaluation and follow-up arrangements.The method “Transfer of contents” was used when the partners shared their good practices about innovative and proven procedures, methods and approaches.The method “Capacity building” and “Common learning and training” was used especially during the Blended Mobility and Short-Term Joint Staff Trainings C1 to C12. Results and impact: There were specific tangible results, e.g. the reached number of direct/indirect beneficiaries; Intangible results of the project were:- Gained new competences and knowledge respective to some of the 8 EU key competences, e.g. Learning to learn, Social and civic competences, Communication in foreign languages in this case in English, Sense of initiative and entrepreneurships- Enhanced capacity to deal with the topic “early professional/career orientation and guidance” under different points of view- Increased opportunities in professional development for young people Potential longer term benefits: The shared recommendation, methods, curricula and expertise will remain after the end of the EU funding at disposition of each direct or indirect participant, and will be integrated into the regional educational qualification systems upon appropriateness. The project’s results will remain available on the internet presences at least for the next three years beyond the project end.