"<< Background >>When low-skilled adults - long-term jobseekers - start a pathway to integration, they need a personalised framework, allowing them to acquire skills, personalised guidance and defuse the psychosocial and economic obstacles they encounter (mobility, debt, addiction, precariousness, etc.). The work-based training approach corresponds to this multidimensional challenge, in particular because it is characterised by a ""socialisation of learning"": peer education, continuous sharing and a relationship of trust with supervisors, empowerment, social legitimisation through the performance of a professional activity, etc. In addition, the work-based pedagogy establishes a framework facilitating the acquisition of technical competences, while allowing basic and transversal competences and soft skills to be worked on in a professional situation. The training aspect of these schemes is therefore a key element of their success, and this pathway must be ""pedagogised"".Within integration companies, they get their feet back on the ground by benefiting from adapted, individual support within a group. On the ground, those who supervise them - the integration assistants - multiply experiences and resources at their level. Their profile varies, as do the roles and missions they take on. It therefore seems relevant to work on clarifying their professional posture and the resources they mobilise to achieve the social and professional emancipation they aim for.<< Objectives >>Low-skilled adults are less likely to find employment or participate in learning, although these are key elements for their empowerment. It is crucial that they have access to adequate solutions to improve their skills, such as the schemes for (re)integration through economic activity.In this context, the ACTION project aims to enrich and formalise the methods of support in work-based training courses for low-skilled and vulnerable adults, in order to improve their social and professional inclusion, thanks to an increase in skills allowing access to classic, sustainable and quality employment and/or to qualifying training. In this way, we intend to develop the training-through-work method, a form of learning and integration adapted to the target groups because it allows them to be more motivated and hooked on to the system (offering practical and concrete action), and allows them to work on the development, or even the recognition and validation, of their skills. We want to formalise the support given to workers in integration, to better define and manage their pathway and lead to more positive outcomes. ACTION thus has the operational objective of clarifying the roles and missions of the inclusion advisers, and then equipping them to implement these missions.<< Implementation >>ACTION is based on the meeting of a consortium of experts in the field, who pool their expertise and experiences, their strong local and practical achorage to emulate pedagogical and methodological innovation involving front-line actors. The project is therefore intended to be concrete and pragmatic, by directly involving its target group: integration counselors. The project will be anchored in the reality of the field, with constant feedback to develop results and achieve the targeted objectives.Through the results produced, ACTION follows a global logic, responding to the issues raised by the project: to clarify the posture and function of the Integration Counselor, and to provide them with concrete tools to carry out their functions.Once the results have been developed, they will be returned to the field in two ways. Firstly, via testing phases with educational experts in the targeted sectors, to refine them and ensure their relevance and consistency. Secondly, via a dissemination phase, targeting professionals and experts in the sector, to present them the results and help them appropriate them in order to have a lasting impact on their practices.<< Results >>The ACTION project aims to help the ""integration counselors"" by : - Formalising the procedures for supervising the integration process of the target group- Promoting learning through work - ""Pedagogising"" their approach, in particular by equipping them for the positioning, monitoring and (self-) assessment of the skills acquired by the workers in integration - Providing recommendations for vocational guidance and sustainable integration of the target group into the labour market in order to foster their transition and sustainable inclusionThrough its implementation, the project follows a global logic, responding to the issues raised by the project: output 1 allows to clarify the role of the ""Integration Accompanist"", i.e. the persons in charge of the accompaniment of the target public in the integration structures. This result will clarify the profile, the objectives and the missions of the function of the integration counselor. Once this function has been clarified, the following outputs will constitute tools for the realisation of the missions of the integration coach: - Output 2 will establish the ""ideal integration pathway"", setting out the key stages of this pathway for the target group. It will serve as a guide for the Accompanist, to better organise his missions, giving him advice and recommendations to guide his daily work. - Output 3 will be a practical tool to be used for the follow-up of the target group, which is the main task of the FDW.- Output 4 will bring together ideas, advice and good practices to achieve professional guidance and integration into sustainable employment for the target group, which is the final objective of the host structures, and therefore of the counselorIn the long run, thanks to the implementation of its results, ACTION aims to improve the support of people in integration, and to develop the methodology of training through work as an innovative and integrated response to the needs of these people and to contemporary social and economic issues. These audiences will then experience greater professional mobility, thanks to their increased skills, and smoother paths towards sustainable socio-professional integration in quality jobs."

"<< Background >>The project aims for ADULT ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION with a focus on DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCES for 100 LOW-QUALIFIED ADULTS,current/potential entrepreneurs that wish to develop or improve their businesses and productivity, by using cloud technologies and software in their practices.Reflecting on the EU Digital Education Action Plan priorities and considering that an average of 57% of European citizens has no received the right education on basic digital skills and that EU countries are still facing challenges regarding digital development, resulting in a disproportionate impact on social inclusion, business internationalization and social and economic sustainable development in the partner countries.""Digital transformation"" has been a trend over the last few years, with SMEs as well as large enterprises moving operations to the cloud and adopting online productivity and collaboration services. The lockdown and remote working imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic were an unexpected reality check for organizations of all sizes, many businesses going bust or experiencing survival challenges.Organizations had to design a new course for their business toward cloud computing and digital transformation, the global health crisis serving as a de facto catalyst for establishing the value and flexibility of cloud computing.In the past, cloud computing was about modern infrastructure for quicker innovation, faster time to market and cost optimization. However, the pandemic has brought factors like flexible computing power, high availability, disaster recovery, lower cost for backup and disaster recovery, resilient core for business process and business continuity, legacy skill risk, remote workforce management, safe return to the workplace, and business agility into focus to allow for resilient business functions. In many cases, business operations had togo for the socially distanced era as a result of increased demand for e-learning, telemedicine, robotics, composite artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) scenarios, intelligent chatbots, digital payments, virtual retail experiences, etc.There’s been an exponential escalation in the e-commerce industry as more people shifted to shopping online, as well as in video-streaming services, with more people staying home and bereft of other entertainment options. This has led traditional retailers and brick-and-mortar stores to pivot to online ordering, curbside pickup, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store) and home deliveries to preserve their customer base. The pandemic and remote working scenarios have underlined the vitality of the cloud for business continuity with remote workforces and seamless online collaboration.The project will address THESE PROBLEMS BY DEVELOPING AND OFFERING BLENDED TRAINING SESSIONS ON CLOUD & FREE OPEN SOFTWARE FOR EBUSINESSINTEGRATION, EXTENDING AND DEVELOPING THE COMPETENCES IN THE DIGITAL AREA, IMPROVING AND EXTENDING THE SUPPLY OF HIGH QUALITY LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES TAILORED TO THE NEEDS OF LOW-QUALIFIED ADULTS and IMPROVING THEIR CHANCES TO BETTER FIT THE SOCIAL AND LABOR MARKET NEEDS.<< Objectives >>“A NEW SKILLS AGENDA FOR EUROPE” states that “too few people have the entrepreneurial mindsets and skills needed to set up their own business and Europe needs digitally smart people who are not only able to use but also to innovate and lead in using these technologies”. Cloud computing is one of the strategic digital technologies considered important enablers for productivity and better services. Also, starting with 2020, european countries were thrown in the face of an unknown obstacle - the covid pandemic, that threathened the status qvo of the economic aparatus all over the world. New ways of ""doing things"" were needed, to avoid economic and social blockages, and to blend social distancing with telework, and health safety measures. Therefore, it was observed an increased use of cloud computing and cloud software usage, but still the EU level remain slow: 26,2%.Scope of the project: train the actual and future e-entrepreneur which incorporate e-business and cloud solution into their own practices for achieving the common European goal to develop a smart and inclusive growth based on knowledge and innovation and reap the benefits of a digital single market.Specific objectives:1. Wide dissemination and raising awareness in using cloud-based software among a minimum of 1000 current or potential entrepreneurs, especially young adults and women’s, from partner’s countries and at European level, in order to encourage new start-ups creation and increase business competitiveness through producing and dissemination of creative handbook for digital entrepreneurs2. Enriching partners’ training offers and increase adult education quality through development of innovative blended learning curriculum and educational materials that address to their target needs in the field of digital entrepreneurship and which will help integrate e-business3. Increasing the digital entrepreneurship key competence of minimum 50 entrepreneurs from vulnerable groups and minimum 50 entrepreneurs through training provision in all partners countries4. Strengths partners' capacities to introduce digitization into education by implementing a common learning management system, developing and running e-learning courses and digital materials and by enhancing peer collaboration and self-evaluation5. Enhance the communication, exchange and flourish of good practices between partners through an active participation of staff into all project activities.At the level of partnership 100 persons will be trained into this project, 20 for each partner, belonging to a category of adults which are already entrepreneurs and need to include ebusiness practices and cloud technology into their current practices increasing the productivity of their business or wish to become entrepreneurs in the future.The activities proposed envisage obtaining the project, testing the course with vulnerable potential/current entrepreneurs and raise awareness of cloud software at alllevels.<< Implementation >>The partnership will implemented the following activities:A1- Project management; - Carry out all managerial aspects which will conduct in achievement in good conditions of all project objectives. -Developing the Project Handbook, Communication Plan, Quality Plan, Deliverable Acceptance Plan. Planning, execution and follow up meetings will be realized. The status and progress reports will be drafted periodically.A2 - Quality Monitoring & Evaluation;All activities will be monitored and controlled all project duration. The specific procedures will be defined in the Quality plan and will be related tomeasuring ongoing project activities. Cost, time and efforts will be analysed and improved. The partner responsible will produce Quality Review Reports with theconsolidation of the results and recommendations.CLOSING- Ensuring that all deliverable are realized in time and are high quality.A3 - Project Dissemination & Communication;A detailed dissemination plan will be drafted and dissemination activities will be carried outMonitoring the results of dissemination activity will be also carried out checking whether the planned actions were put in place and indicating correctionsDissemination impact measurement it will be a major concern; an impact strategy will be drafted; specific indicators for each action will be measured in the reporting stagesA4 - Exploitation of results;Exploitation Plan: will present in detail a roadmap of sustainable activities for the future that partners intend to implement for futureexploiting the project results to support their own activities, including communication channels to be implemented in the future.A5 - Pilot testing the training course with learners;- Developing the project results as they were described in the application form- choosing and applying the best adapted methods to find trainees: direct communications, searching on existent clients’ databases; promotional activities, like: advertising on project/partners’ web-site, social networks, e-mailing campaigns, others; each partner will follow the own methodsRunning the training activities, both for face to face and in the on-line environmentA training schedule it will be designed for each partner and coordinator. Each partner will run their own module/units of training; 5 days training dedicated to face to face training will take place; learners will study at their own pace; at the end the learners will be evaluated and be certificated on the Moodle platform.A6 Engage cooperation regardless digital education integration; O4SELFIE organizational self-assessment: partners will self-evaluate using SELFIE assessment for identify the actual level of their digital development,renewed in the closing phase.<< Results >>The main results of the project are:1. Cloud and free open software for e-business integration. Handbook for digital entrepreneurs.2. Digital entrepreneurs’ curriculum3. Digital entrepreneurs’ blended training courseProject RoadmapProject Management Handbook4 Minutes of the project meetingsInterim and Final ReportsQuality Management PlanQuality Monitoring and Evaluation ReportsOver 200 satisfaction questionnaires filled by participants at the multiplier events15 self-evaluations of partners organizations with SELFIE toolDissemination & Communication Strategic PlanProject dissemination materialsProject Branding: Will include 1 logo, 1 brochure, templates – presentations, 6 newsletters, 1 poster and drafting of 10 press releases tobe delivered to online media, radio, TV, 1 project website, 1 social media profile page; Production of 1 promotional video about the project.2 annual dissemination reports20 news/articles into partners European web-portals and partners web-sitesminimum 60 posts into social media channels1 project YouTube channel and minimum 10 video-tutorial disseminated1 trainer course space on Moodle platform; minimum 1 forum set2 blogs articles on EPALE platform1 poster, 1 flyers or brochures, 1 map , 1 DVDs produced5 multiplier events organizedExploitation PlanOther results:5 promotional materials produced 100 learning agreements produced and signed5 training schedules produced5 sessions of face to face training organized1 LTTA of 5 days organized100 feedback questionnaires filledThe project will work with Open Project Management Methodology offered for free by European Union to potential beneficiaries.The main impacts:- Increased awareness of cloud-based software among current or potential entrepreneurs- Improved digital entrepreneurship competencies of potential/current entrepreneursLong term impacts:- increased business competitiveness- better labor productivity of entrepreneurs- new women’s/youngest/old’s in business- new start-ups cre"

"<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of its spread in the community and the closure of VET centers brought distance learning to the forefront. Some European countries, which had already included distance learning in the educational process found themselves in an advantageous position over other countries that are now seeking to learn how to use these tools and are working to establish such mechanisms (Huffpost, 2020). According to Glushko, Romanova and Romanova (2020) 90% of VET centres all over the world had to terminate on-site activities and start applying digitalised strategies to continue delivering trainings. The same authors are highlighting the significant disparities that were present among VET centers in different national contexts, as high-income countries had the essential technological and economic capacity to utilize and incorporate digital practices that can facilitate and enhance the quality of the distance-learning experience, while low-income countries were merely delivering the learning material in a broadcasting way, where VET learners had less opportunities to interact with the deliverable teaching materials and consolidate the knowledge through the experiential learning process.The current consortium strongly agrees that distance learning is an outstanding teaching methodology, but a mere online streaming teaching approach is not effective as more online interactive methodologies should get applied. In all training centers of the current consortium there is a high need for interactive distance learning methodologies that will sender the learning more enjoyable and prevent drop outs, and another need is also present for specialized training on interactive distance learning skills addressed to VET educators. For that reason, d-ICT project aims at creating an innovative gamified asynchronous eLearning experience addressed to VET educators to strengthen their distance teaching skills and enhance the distance learning experience, in order to prevent drop outs.To sum up, the current partnership tried shed light on the COVID’s lockdown implications on the VET education and found some significant gaps that led them to apply for the project. The fast-moving transition to the distance learning education caught the VET educators unprepared as many of them have not built the capacity to provide interactive lessons online so far. For that reason, the current project seeks to deepen its knowledge about the needs of VET educators, through a second-stage bottom-up analysis and address those needs by compiling, developing and disseminating interactive digital educational experiences and tools.<< Objectives >>Through the current project, the consortium partnership aims to achieve the following objectives: -To meliorate the digital skills and competences of VET educators in the field of distance learning-To create an innovative gamified asynchronous eLearning experience-To combine the assets of gamification and distance-learning -To boost the interest and curiosity of VET learners and keep them captured in the process of teaching, thus, reducing the phenomena of drop-outs due to the boredom non-interactive distance-learning creates-To empower interaction and teamwork with classmates under distance learning circumstances-To raise awareness about the significance of facilitating the distance learning methodology through interactive approaches like digital gamification<< Implementation >>The activities planned can be categorized under 4 classifications: MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES that include:•All activities organized by the Coordinator, such as the Transnational Project Meetings, the Work plan settlement, the Project Management Kit establishment, that are ongoing processes to which the consortium needs to pay the appropriate respect. These activities will ensure fair collaboration among all partners, as well as regular communication. Moreover, risks are going to be identified and been kept to the minimum, while all partners will feel free to discuss their problems at any time.MONITORING ACTIVITIES to ensure KPIs, milestones and results have been reached, t include:•The subcontracting of the External Evaluator (EE) to unbiasedly assess the project•The establishment of the Quality Action Plan by the EE•The establishment of the Internal Evaluator which is University of Peloponnese and will collaborate with the EE to provide feedback to the Steering Committee •The overall assessment of the project and its Project Results in three phases: a) at the begging (FIRST) b) during the project/project results (INTERIM) and c) at the end of the Project/ Project Activities (FINAL) PROJECT IMPLEMENTAION ACTIVITIES that include:•The production of 3 Project Results a) Lessons Learned: Exploring the taken resolutions aimed at facilitating distance learning in the COVID-19 era (PR1), b) “d-ICT e-Toolkit”: Introducing distance learning practices and digital tools to facilitate the e-Learning experience and prevent drop outs (PR2) and c) Gamified asynchronous eLearning Experience (PR3)•The implementation of 7 national piloting of PR2 & PR3 toward VET educators who will utilize the aforementioned materials in real e-classroom circumstances and provide meaningful feedbacks•1 C-Training Activity that will be hosted by the technical partner of the Project, ISQe in Portugal, and partners will test and validate the PR2 & PR3 resultsDISSEMINATION ACTIVTITIES to achieve the maximum dissemination/exploitation of the results, include:• 7 National Multiplier Events with at least 20 participants per partner (ISQe is excluded as will be the technical partner)•Dissemination plan construction by the Leader•Construction of Project’s Social Media accounts•Design of e-flyers and other dissemination materials•Translation of products and materials for dissemination and exploitation purposes•Posts of the project through social channels of partner organizations •Participation in European wide dissemination activities conferences and/or in-network meetings by all partners•Involvement of Associated partners to the project<< Results >>With regard the Project Results:PR1: Lessons Learned: Exploring the taken resolutions aimed at facilitating distance learning in the COVID-19 era vPR2: “d-ICT e-Toolkit”: Introducing distance learning practices and digital tools to facilitate the e-Learning experience and prevent drop outsPR3: A Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience With regard the project outcomes:-The video-recording of Digital Storytelling interviews by 5 VET educators, as a significant experiential and educational material through the distance learning engagement with their learners. Through these interviews, VET educators can talk about their struggles during the lockdown, the digital resolutions taken per country, while they can also clarify points for improvement. The participants-storytellers of the Digital Interviews will play the role of ""Role Models"", who will influence others having the same concerns and facing similar barriers, in order to initiate a journey through their personal and professional development in VET distance learning innovation.-One “d-ICT e-Toolkit” translated in consortium country languages (Excluding the technical partner language Portuguese [ISQe] who will use the English version) from English, as an introduction to the world of distance learning innovation including:1.An e-Currculum:•With e-Units•Learning Outcomes of each e-Unit, in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Responsibly & Autonomy•hours of learning and acquired ECVET points 2.an e-book with: •Practical interactive distance learning techniques •Introduction to Digital Gamification and its applications in distance learning•Digital gamification techniques•e-Tips for VET educators•Techniques to make e-Classrooms more enjoyable•Techniques to prevent VET drop outs due to distance learning •The theory behind the aforementioned•Assessment methodology3.an e-tool with:•Interactive educational tools•Digital gamification tools•Tools to facilitate distance learning experience-The construction of the Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience that will incorporate the products and deliverables of PR1 & PR2 as an example of the interactive distance learning innovation. The Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience will be available in .scorm format, while stakeholders will also have the chance to download the format as it can be easily recognized by almost any Learning Management System (LMS)-The “d-ICT Website” that will act as an Open Educational Resource (OER):•Providing access to Digital Storytelling Interviews •The deliverables of d-ICT e-Toolkit•Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience compiling the PR1 & PR2 materials in .scorm format-Piloting sessions in 6 countries, by 7 organizations to 20 target users per partner that will test and validate the produced material with a 5 beneficiaries each (per VET educator) in real e-classroom-7 national Multiplier Events"

"Diverse European works have highlighted the multiple forms of Work-Based Learning (WBL) organised in Europe and have developed recommendations in terms of key competences for trainers in WBL.However, despite a proven informal recognition of WBL, a persistent difficulty has been identified at the level of the recognition of learning outcomes. Indeed, although methodologies based on informal/non-formal learning have proved to be very relevant to enable low-skilled people to achieve efficient training pathways, the informal/non-formal character of these systems does not currently allow them to be certified.Therefore, the project ""Work-Based Learning Recognition (Reconnaître les Acquis en Formation par le Travail - RAFT"") aims to take part in the construction of evaluation systems that can support formalization of WBL evaluation with a view to certifying such skills while preserving the general informal context of training. Thus RAFT project aims to :- build a clear, precise and relevant reference framework; - develop an evaluation process consistent with the training process; - produce simple, concrete, objective observation tools;- produce simple, concrete and individualizable reporting tools.This new approach will enable people with low qualifications to highlight all their knowledge (knowledge, know-how, interpersonal skills, etc.). To do this, training and integration professionals will be equipped with RAFT resources namely, Assessment Reference Frameworks in the horticultural and catering sectors (O1), Guide on methods for assessing informal learning (O2), Quality Guide for recognition systems (O3) and Procedures manual for recognition/validation, including the production of Open Badges (O4). The Strategic Document for the recognition of informal/non-formal learning outcomes of low-skilled people (O5) will consolidate RAFT initiative by defining an implementation strategy for stakeholders, local decision-makers and sectoral actors.In total, nearly 30 trainers and 80 trainees in Europe are expected to test the developed tools.Thus, 8 partners from 6 European countries (AT, BE, FR, IT, LV, SL) will use their experience and expertise for 2 and a half years to develop and test RAFT tools with professionals and their trainees. From April 2023 onwards, all project outputs will be available free of charge in 6 languages (DE, EN, FR, IT, LV, SL) on RAFT website and Facebook page and on project partners' websites."

"In the aftermath of the pandemic there are a lot of questioning about the current educational systems in all countries considering on how to update the lifelong learning model and the evaluation processes, and make unemployed people integrate a new approach of ""learning to learn again"". The awarding of competencies has been challenged by the global lockdown and the limited access to training centres. Even if remote learning is regarded as a substitute for face to face training, for many adults the digital gap prevents them from acquiring new skills. Without any alternative training pathways, a lot of people are gradually marginalized from the Society of Knowledge. The classical schemes for evaluating competencies, such as the recognition of prior learning (RPL) or the practical workshops testing are also unattainable for the unemployed who are not able to attend full curricula continuously. The Green Deal is challenged by the current classical TVET tools, that need to be reviewed and updated with more individual short term training pathways awarded with new micro credentials schemes. It has been noticed that non formal training has little consideration for employers, past working experience does not match the contemporary RPL criteria and the duration of formal guided courses does not fit the ability of many adults to attend the full content of the training programs. In Europe, there are plenty of local innovative initiatives to take over the inclusion of put aside people. SKY, is focusing on those European inclusive experimentations dealing with opening jobs opportunities to long term unemployed (LTU), providing short training programs on skills and proposing innovative micro-credential patterns on short training sequences. The consortium composed of private territorial employment and training institutions from BE, FR, IT, SP and PL will collect all these micro innovative experimentations either completed or still in progress on selected human sized territories."