"Young people face uncertainties about their future, as a result of technological change, demographic trends, discrimination, social exclusion & their exposure to the fake news & increasing populism, with yet unknown effects on jobs, skills or the way our democracies work. Despite the temporary economic upturn in the European economies, leading to lower unemployment across the countries, the emergence of the pandemic is enforcing a deepening recession, which leads to heavy & long persisting inequalities, including between generations. For the first time since the Second War, there is a real risk and serious possibility that today's young generation will end up less well-off than their parents. In line with the EU Youth Strategy 2019-27, the GenY/Z-SCOODLE project recognises the need to enable young people to be architects of their own lives, build their resilience & equip them with life skills to cope with a changing world; to encourage them to become active citizens, agents of solidarity & positive change for communities across Europe and, ultimately, prevent youth social exclusion. Youth workers, mentors & coaches act and are perceived as role models & therefore need to show that they are lifelong learners, active citizens & innovators, in order to promote similar attitudes in their youth constituencies. 7 partners from 5 countries- Greece, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Portugal-aim to build, pilot and validate sustainable solutions, in order to upgrade the capacity of youth organizations through state-of-the-art second chance education (“SCE”) methods and practice and by deploying the European legacy & know-how in this field. Specifically GenY/Z SCOODLE aims to support the capacity building of youth workers and other professionals by developing & sharing effective methods in reaching out to marginalised youth, especially those with fewer opportunities (including NEETs) with particular emphasis on those at risk of marginalisation, with a migrant background, ex-offenders, former addicts etc. The project recognises the diverse competences needed for the youth worker to deliver the multi-faceted role of the ""mentor"" & aims to extend, develop, recognise & validate SCE Mentor’ s Competences by developing:•“Youth SCE Tutor” (professional) Competence Framework - to strengthen the professional awareness & identity of youth stakeholders by identifying and recognising the areas of competence (knowledge, skills & attitudes) that underpin the youth professional's diverse & multifaceted role•“Youth SCE Tutor (professional) Competence Development Courseware” - to provide a diverse offer of professional development opportunities specifically developed to meet the needs of youth professionals•“GenY/Z SCOODLE Learning Hub” online platform - to encourage the establishment & further development of cross-European networks of youth professionals to strengthen professional identity, providing access to the -•“Gen Y/Z - SCOODLE Transferability Toolkit”, embedding terms of quality reference to the “Youth SCE Tutor Competence Framework” & “Youth SCE Tutor Accreditation Scheme”, the learning design of the “Youth SCE Tutor Competence Development Courseware”, coupled with the “Youth SCE Tutor Courseware Quality Framework” (accrediting “Youth SCE Tutoring” Courses).Objectives are:•To promote and recognise the professional development of youth workers deploying second chance education practice - by building Competence Framework and modules for on-going CPD & piloting & validating solutions at community level in four EU Member States, with the participation of 15-20 Youth workers & the engagement of some 40-50 young people in need of support for social inclusion•To produce high quality tools & resources that promote equity in learning, by working with youth professionals, mentors, coaches & teachers of second chance education experts & tutors to adapt existing tools & develop new ones to local contexts so that they reflect the needs of marginalised youth;•To sustain a European online, federated “resource centre” for youth professionals populated with relevant & transferable tools - through open access to an on-line repository of tested good practices with explanatory media-based guidelines•To build a European community of youth professionals - by setting up local networks in partner countries & working with European networks. These communities enable youth professionals to meet, exchange knowledge & experience, & join forces to promote their collective interests. Youth professionals will reflect on their own practice, develop, adapt & test tools and work collaboratively both at local & European level to share good practice.The impact will ultimately be the enhancement of methods & effectiveness of rehabilitation/ re-engagement practice, through the provision of high-quality learning experiences for marginalised youth resulting from improved professional development of youth practitioners."

The EC communication(Nov 2012) ‘Rethinking education: investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes’ encourages EU Member States to ensure that young people develop the skills and competences required by the European labour market, particularly focusing on combating youth unemployment and promoting educational mobility. Young people’s interest in mobility is clearly shown by the success of programmes such as Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and Erasmus+ KA1.Between 2014 and 2020, some four million people are expected to have benefited from Erasmus+, including around two million higher education students and 650,000 VET students. Mobility is already an established phenomenon in higher education but in second chance education this is a relatively new concept i.e. to integrate a vulnerable target group into society and the labour market International mobility is a challenge for disadvantaged young adults, evidenced in their low participation rate in international mobility (less than 8%).Several studies show that young people are the group most likely to move to another country, yet a number of obstacles hinder mobility for disadvantaged young adults. The purpose of work based mobilities in second chance education is to facilitate the small step progress in living and working in another country that is peculiar to disadvantaged young adults. However E2C-Europe members and partners within the INCAS consortium expressed that needs of disadvantaged young adults are not being addressed as existing actions & tools either focus on recognition of vocational learning outcomes (ECVET),require a certain degree of engagement and autonomy (e.g.EVS, European Solidarity Corps) or are non-transferable tools bound to an education provider. Furthermore existing paper based materials mean that progress during mobility cannot be monitored until the beneficiary returns, often too late to address problems. INCAS has two main objectives 1)To provide services that improve the quality of international work placement. 2) To provide tools and resources that support quality through all stages of preparation, implementation and evaluation of international work placement. INCAS selected and improved best practices from a variety of national/European resources and actions, making these resources available to disadvantaged young adults in a more engaging and practical manner, resulting in a mobile phone app ( i-phone and android compatible) to be used while on mobility, a range of e-learning courses for preparation, 4 toolboxes of resources to support all stages of mobility for learner and teacher, a quality monitoring system for sending and hosting organisations, and a database of European placement providers.(www.incasproject.erasmus.site) Teachers/trainers and work -based mentors will raise their understanding of the support needs of disadvantaged young people in preparing them for mobility and supporting them during the mobility. They will be equipped with the tools that satisfy the needs of the target group and the accompanying resources that will support the implementation of a learner - centred work based training mobility .

DISCO focussed on the quality improvement of second chance education, targeted at the NEET-group. The development of an online knowledge and quality centre was positioned centrally. In this centre digital assessment tools, good practices and trainings are made available. In that way DISCO focussed on the quality of curricula/tools, the quality of teachers/trainers and the organizational setting in which the NEET-group education takes place. Via a state-of-the-art European wide online platform for second chance education a knowledge and quality centre was set-up. In this knowledge centre all experience and expertise is bundled gathered from previous projects and updated to online available tools to invest in trainers, teachers and beneficiaries themselves on a European level. The developed tools (user-driven, online grading system for good practices; self- and peer-assessment system for organisations; tailor-made e-portfolio tool for (international) placements; self-assessment tool for teachers/trainers) created the opportunity to think and act borderless in European second chance education and upgrade national development to a European, transversal, setting. Next to the development of the online knowledge and quality centre it is important that those involved in (the development of) training and teaching processes contributed themselves and share ideas, knowledge and experiences. An online and offline European community of teachers/trainers in second chance education was targeted and built. In this community teachers and trainers can share, discuss, develop and value their practices and ideas. In this way a bottom-up movement is started based on social network activity and user involvement. The continuous education of teachers and trainers is fostered making all teacher trainings in the second chance network visible (connecting supply and demand) and by exploring good practices for joint (European) curriculum design and international guest lectures. In that way DISCO impacted beneficiaries of the NEET-group, the organizational/educational settings involved and the trainers/teachers active: local expertise and experiences was transferred to open digital European quality tools.Partners from UK, PL, IT, BE and NL cooperated in DISCO. The diversity in the partnership proved highly effective as mutual learning was possible: partners with strong management skills, with strong educational experience, with strong networks and partners with direct access to teachers//trainers and learners were active. Not only their specific skills and experience concerning the content contributed, but also the cross-cultural learning over teaching/learning systems and personal strengths were visible.All tools/outputs on secondchanceeducation.eu are will be used in the framework of the sustainable development of the European quality centre in second chance education. This centre is developed under the auspices of E2C-Europe: all tools (and the centre itself) will be exploited by the members of E2C-Europe. Both content and community of www.secondchanceeducation.eu will be further developed via projects: the community is still growing and is expected to grow by at least 50 members per year. E2C-Europe is expected to be a driving force behind this development: this is relevant as the European quality centre in second chance education needs to be dynamic, so continuously more community members, more services and tools need to feed in.Currently the follow-up project EPODS will start in November; In E-PODS focus is put on the elements of resources and trainings in secondchanceeducation.eu. These elements will be further developed for teachers/trainers working in second chance education. E-PODS will promote European integration of professional development of teachers/trainers in second chance education and set up an organic / growing database connecting tools, schools, teachers/trainers and beneficiaries. DISCO targeted three out of five objectives of the Europe2020-strategy:• In terms of employment (EU2020: 75% of the 20-64 year-olds to be employed (now youth unemployment over 25%) increases employment opportunities for youngsters at risk by offering them international work experience and making it possible to evidence this experience digitally. • Looking at education (EU2020: Reducing school drop-out rates below 10% (now 15,3%) and at least 40% of 30-34–year-olds completing third level education) DISCO invests in a vulnerable target group, who is at the highest risk of drop out and has the lowest chances in completing third level education.• In fighting poverty and social exclusion ((EU2020: at least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion) DISCO offers concrete opportunities and develops tools for teaching and training in a community and network based integrated environment to avoid exclusion and to promote their chances in the European society and labour market.

"Digital technology and education are evolving at an increasingly rapid pace, both separately and together. For example, there have been significant developments in new digital technology platforms such as mobile technologies, cloud computing, social media, open educational resources (OERs), free and open-source software (FOSS), as well as the associated hardware (e.g. mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, interactive whiteboards). Opportunities and demands of globalisation and technology are fuelling transformations of educational practices and school infrastructure quickly t. The evolution of educational systems and digital technology also provide additional challenges to framing our perspectives, including the emergence of virtual and networked schools that share courses and programmes within countries and across regions (Davis, Eickelmann & Zaka 2013). Utilising these technological advancements to support good-quality training and reflective professional development are fast becoming essential parts of a teacher’s professional life. Supporting teachers in their professional development leads to improved outcomes for teachers, trainers and learners alike.The project consortium was made up of 8 partners from The Netherlands, UK, Greece, Italy, Germany and Cyprus with expertise in second chance education, technology and e-learning and teacher/trainer education.EPODS had two objectives:1.To promote European integration of professional development of teachers/trainers in second chance education2.To set up an organic / growing database connecting tools, schools, teachers/trainers and beneficiariesIn former projects many good tools were developed, in relation to the special needs of disadvantaged youngsters,with great enthusiasm and piloted in the area of second chance education that supported teachers to become more confident, responsible, reflective, innovative and engaged. The EPODS project aimed to build on the successes of previous projects and move to the next level of development in terms of its content and service delivery- by building an online European infrastructure in second chance education (www.secondchanceeducation.eu.) founded on three elements of services, resources and trainings.Activities included an in depth analysis of professional development needs in the partner countries, the development of online CPD courses, testing of online courses and implementation of 2 training events to introduce the online CPD platform and to present the opportunity to develop own CPD courses.Results:SERVICES - Development of a European professional development service: This includes an online environment (a professional development profile) where teachers/trainers have their own online environment for development and guidance. With the online environment, the teacher/trainer can a) set long term development ambitions, b) determine development goals and c) register/log/capture learning curves/moments. The Impact has been a more vitalised online teacher/trainer community via the provision of e-content for teacher/trainers -the community needs to be more interactive and more driven by content. RESOURCES -. Development of 10 e-learning courses to enhance and complement CPD of teacher/trainers. SERVICES/RESOURCES - Development of a tool to create your own e-learning course: to support the bottom-up development of e-learning was created for teachers/trainers in which they can develop their own e-learning course. The tool was tested and at least ten bottom-up e-learning courses were developed as pilot. TRAININGS - 2 training events provided up to 40 teachers with the opportunity to ""test-drive"" the online CPD courses and also the knowledge how to develop their own on-line courses to be shared on the platform for other professionals to use."