Although EQAVET has been published as a European recommendation a decade ago, its adoption by the VET market has yet to fulfil its potential. Reasons for this seem to rely in a self-feeding vicious circle of interrelated causes, such as difficulties of users in understanding the EQAVET Criteria; unavailability of practical tools in the market to facilitate their implementation; absence of capacity-building programmes to qualify EQAVET professionals; and non-integration of EQAVET in a quality infrastructure that would dynamize a whole market around it. (International Accreditation Forum, 2018, European Commission, 2016, 2017)In this context, the objectives of “A standardized practical toolkit to implement the European Quality Assurance Framework for Vocational Education and Training” are to provide the market with solutions that will mitigate these issues, in order to increase EQAVET adoption by VET and Higher VET (HVET) organisations.The project will be implemented by a consortium composed of six formal partners from four countries – Italy, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia - of which four are VET/HVET providers (EPA (AEVA), ERIFO, IPTrans (AETPL), MCAST), one is a VET/HVET Association (SKUPNOST VSS) and one is an SME specialised in quality in education and knowledge transfer (KIC). Supporting the consortium from the beginning are also three external associated partners: One National Agency responsible for the implementation of EQF and EQAVET (ANQEP), one National Standardization Body (IPQ) and one International Standardization Workgroup specialized in education (ISO/PC288/WG1).Together, these partners will collaborate to:- identify clearly the difficulties felt by EQAVET users in interpreting and/or implementing the EQAVET criteria; - determine the adequate competence profiles for EQAVET professionals; - design curricula for capacity-building of those professionals; and - develop a standardized practical toolkit that will facilitate and support EQAVET criteria implementation by VET/HVET organisations. Taking advantage of its professional-oriented nature, the consortium will use action research as a method to carry out the project activities, as this is one of the most adequate methods for professional practice development and promotion of continuous improvement (Thomas, 2013). It follows an iterative process, based on an action-reflection-action cycle, with the aim of causing positive impact to organisations and societies, beyond the mere literary academic production, insufficient to produce sustainable positive changes (Lewin, 1946, cited by Thomas, 2013), such as the envisaged by the EQAVET+ project. The consortium has high expectations in terms of results and its positive impacts, such as increased curiosity, awareness, understanding and mastery of the EQAVET criteria by management of VET and HVET organizations; launch of national accredited certification schemes for EQAVET and ISO 21001, supported by ISO standards such as the 17021 series; simplified peer-recognition between European and non-European VET, HVET/PHE providers; internationalization of European branded products such as EQAVET and EQF; growth the national qualification catalogues database and its usage; and increased mobility of EQAVET professionals across Europe and beyond, through facilitated recognition of their competences. Altogether, these impacts have the potential to sustainably dynamize the market, conducing to a widen adoption of the EQAVET criteria, which will contribute to the continuous improvement of European VET and HVET services and its worldwide recognition as a brand of excellence.References:European Commission (2017). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - The annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2018. European Commission: Brussels. Accessed at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0453European Commission (2016). Joint Initiative on Standardisation: responding to a changing marketplace. European Commission: Brussels. Accessed at: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/joint-initiative-standardisation-responding-changing-marketplace-0_enInternational Accreditation Forum (2018). 12 international organizations renew their commitment to promote quality through a global network. International Accreditation Forum: Cherrybrook. Retrieved from: https://www.iaf.nu/articles/INetQI_Meets_in_Geneva/604Thomas (2013). How to do your Research Project. SAGE: London

VETMO4TL was set up in the context of a growing demand for jobs in the Transport & Logistics (T&L) sector all over Europe, the need to attract new profiles to EQF level 4 qualifications that specifically meet the companies’ needs, and the will to enhance European mobility opportunities. The project lasted 30 months, starting in November 2017 and ending in April 2020, and brought together 11 complementary partner organisations, such as associations, T&L research centres, competent authorities and VET centres from ten EU countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain (Catalonia) and the Netherlands.The project objective was to develop harmonised standards, tools and methodologies to ensure transparency and recognition of the national qualifications with the purpose to promote structured and recognised mobility in Europe, for learners in vocational education and trainings (VET) at level 4 of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in the T&L sector. The project furthermore aimed to enhance cooperation between VET centres and to create new partnerships.Three main activities were implemented, enabling us to reach the following results and impacts:1/Development of shared referencesWe developed shared references, which allow mutual understanding and comparison of the existing qualifications and trainings in the ten partner countries. They are composed of 3 resources: job profiles (O2), occupational standards (O3) & qualification standards (O4). The first two resources illustrate the three relevant jobs that we identified at EQF level 4 in T&L: The transport technician who works in an office and participates in organising, coordinating and monitoring transport missions. The warehouse technician who works in a storehouse and receives, stocks and prepares goods for delivery. The Road Freight Advanced Driver who drives the truck and executes the transport of goods. The third document describes these qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes (based on the ECVET methodology).2/Design of bilateral mobility patternsThe shared references build a common framework but they do not provide individual propositions for mobility. We therefore provided 17 bilateral mobility patterns (O5) as an additional tool, which assists teachers and trainers in preparing appropriate mobility projects by determining possibilities of structured and recognised mobility between two partner countries: duration, level, type of mobility, learning outcomes to be achieved abroad, evaluation and recognition procedures. It is “ready to use” and facilitates the filling of the Learning Agreement inherent to every quality mobility project.In addition, we drafted clear guidelines explaining the methodology we used to ensure that it can be applied by other stakeholders to create their own mobility patterns. In this way, this tool is useful for any VET actor, even for countries or economic sectors that have not participated in our project.3/Elaboration of guidelines and organisation of a training workshopWe organised a workshop to train teachers and trainers in the use of the project resources and tools. This event gave the opportunity to reach stakeholders outside our consortium and supported the creation of new partnerships. To smooth the exploitation of our results and support the implementation of mobility, we furthermore provided guidelines (O6) detailing all our resources and tools and explaining how to use them, in a simple and practical way.All results are available on the project website: www.vetmo4tl-project.eu/en/page/deliverables.The VETMO4TL project was conducted in a way to ensure longer-term benefits:This strategic partnership contributed to strengthening recognition, transparency and comparability of qualifications at EQF level 4 in T&L in Europe. In parallel, the project activities lead to increased transnational cooperation of VET providers and the creation of new partnerships. These conditions are required to promote quality European mobility options for teachers, trainers, employers and learners with a view to contributing towards developing better understanding, knowledge and solidarity within Europe.To ensure the use of the project results and to continue promoting the implementation of mobility at EQF level 4 in T&L, they were integrated into the existing NETINVET network (www.netinvet.eu). NETINVET is a mobility network of over 100 VET centres and professional organisations from 13 European countries. Based on mutual trust and quality, NETINVET promotes European mobility in the sectors of international trade, transport and logistics and commercial vehicle maintenance.

The VECTOR project aimed at defining a high skilled professional profile and the related curriculum of Destination Manager valid for the tourism sector. The specific objectives of the project were:a) to explore the skills needs in tourism and exchange good practices, knowledge and experience among partners;b) to design an EQF based set of educational standards for destination managers based on project findings, on current European VET developments (with a strong focus on labour market needs;c) to develop an innovative and joined training curriculum related to the Destination Manager profile using the ECVET approach and EQAVET principles to be included in an online course (e-learning platform);d) to organize a pilot phase in Spain and Italy involving 24 trainees to test some of the most crucial and innovative modules included in the DM training curriculum. e) to validate the Destination Manager profile and related training curriculum.The project started its activities by developing an in-depth skills survey, addressing almost 500 stakeholders from all around Europe, in order to gather all the information related to the labour market needs and to analyze the skills and competences that were suitable for the Destination Manager profile. The following step has been the development of a survey, at the European level, related to the existing curriculums in the tourism sector (belonging to the 5th and 6th EQF level) in order to develop a synoptic reading of them as well as to identify evidence of mismatch between market needs and students performance.The DM profile has been designed as a standard: In this Standard, a competence is defined and assessed as a process. Each competence is conceived as the sum of different processes. In this way it was easier to link the profile with the DM curriculum structured, following the ECVET methodology, as a series of unit of learning outcomes. The competences are:1) To analyse the market and the touristic trend, getting the features of the touristic demand and offer.2) To organise the resources (natural/historical/cultural/economical) of the destination, also by achieving the engagement of the local stakeholders.3) To coordinate actors and stakeholders, by creating a network, identifying common goals and negotiating the different needs of the parties involved.4) To promote the territory. The DM takes promotional actions in order to enhance the touristic offer according to the demand of the various customers, increasing their motivation towards the attractiveness of the territory.5) To manage and solve problems, by monitoring profits and expenses, assuring the quality of the service provided and managing time and costs.After the definition of the profile it was possible to structure the related DM curriculum and the learning contents. The curriculum was object of a pilot-testing process, carried-on involving 24 students from all around Europe. that helped the consortium to test effectively the training course not only from the contents point of view, but also analysing the most suitable supply modalities of the course aimed at increasing the possibility for workers to join the DM course.The dissemination of the results has been done at the national and international level, designing 2 work packages dedicated on such topic. The consortium put particular attention in involving key stakeholders at regional/national level during the dissemination events, signing Memorandum of Understanding with such key players during three international conference on Destination Management held in the 3 partners’ countries. These agreements are an evidence of the work developed to assure a future to the project outputs beyond the project lifespan. Furthermore, at the international level, the consortium capitalized the project joining international conferences/events organized by its associated partners as well as cooperating fruitfully with other 3 Erasmus+ project focued on tourism.