After experiencing the shock of the Brexit vote we have to enthuse our youth for the EU in order to prevent a further decay of the EU. In this project students of five European countries have worked together intensively for 31 months. They cooperated and developed an affinity for the concept of a united Europe. This will enable them to act as ambassadors for the European Union.An intercultural competence was developed by evaluating differences of European customs and reflecting on their own customs. The students experienced the similarities and differences in European customs and participated in activities comparing these customs.Communication competence was developed as the students had to communicate their own ideas to students of other nationalities. Team building skills were improved as workshop tasks were carried out in multinational teams and migrants were included when possible. In these teams the students had to develop a common position for the point of discussion. Student maturity was strengthened by cooperating with students from other countries. The students took over all responsibility for presenting results in front of multicultural audiences in different countries.The students used English as the working language for the entire project time of 31 months and this improved their English language skills.A guidebook was developed that would enable migrants and locals to achieve a successful integration. Migrants, companies and organisations were interviewed in all partner countries and our students analysed the issues faced by migrants.Within the guidebook you will find, among other things, ways of making friends in a new country as this is an important skill for integration. Raising awareness for cultural differences through the guidebook will support migrants to cope with these differences.The project strengthened the ability of empathy in our students by looking at the life experience of refugees, gained by interviewing refugees at all partner schools. We organised meetings and exchanged ideas with migrants of similar age in order to reduce prejudice towards foreigners. Especially as prejudice towards foreigners may have been a big factor in the Brexit vote.

"A crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak has led to the drastic questioning of many things, including the mainstream forms of thinking, the application of teaching and learning, the duration and structure of teaching. With the interruption of education in all arund Europe and the world, distance learning has begun. Still it has not taken the place of face to face education.With the development of information technology in education, it is possible to access many digital learning resources, such as videos, e-books, simulations, graphics, games, e-activities, e-tests. However, it is very difficult for students to choose suitable resources from this pile. While making a selection many criteria must be taken into consideration. For the students, out of so many different learning tools, not only the use of appropriate learning tools, to access or create information and to collaborate with their peers, but also to manage learning is very important.Particully in Vocational Education which requires application, teacher-student interaction, and the traditional master-apprentice relationship, distance learning is far from being a solution to this situation. However, when we leave the COVID 19 Pandemic behind, many teachers and students will have used new distance learning tools as they have never used them before, and will have gained new experiences and skills.In order to realize a complete learning; both the source of learning and the method of learning need to be diversified according to the training steps and the learner himself. The vocatinal students who has been attending to vocational schools should be provided with e learning resources enabling them to take a more active role in their learning process.In order for distance learning to be successfully used in vocational education, the training must be conveyed in a structural way that is unique to each student by discovering how the individual learns.LRTRO is a teaching method that detecs how an individual learns with different learning activities as well as social learning exercises; it drives the learning process accordingly, and supports a structural approach.Love: It starts with making the student love the subject. The basic logic is, ""If you do what you love, you won't work for life.""Read: With small research projects, one is directed to research, then by talking to him we will understand what he has read, that means we will listen to himTry: The student will be able to recognize the equipment he will use with the simulations prepared for distance learning and will be able to apply it in an interractive way. The Vocational education which is the basis of the professional training, can be effectively used in this phase of our method. Review: By giving certain amount of time to the student it is provided to review the acquisitions of the subject over various examples. The topics and timing are distributed in a mixed way. Thus, individuals with different learning and application speeds will be able to review the subject at different speeds. Multiple project-based samples will be prepared for the same subject, these samples will be transferred to each student by different methods, and students’ feedback will be used to determine which method is suitable for each student.Observe: In this process, the individual will be monitored continuously and will be subject to evaluation. At the end of the training period, the goal is to achieve the same acquisitions acquired in face to face workshop.The digital training content to be developed will be prepared with a structural approach and LRTRO teaching method. With the use of these training content, the aim is to contribute to the continuity of professional training in the process of distance learning. The training program to be offered will be provided along with individual observing and coaching support. The interactive simulation environment supported by the experimental and applicable projects to be prepared with this project will support the student-centered learning process in distance learning.As a result of the needs analysis and literature scan in our region,In the scope of this Project; it is planned to prepare the training content of the Smart Home Systems courses in the field of Electrical-Electronic Technology with the support of simulation.With this project, the central control unit of Smart Home Automation systems, numerical input sensing units, numerical output units, model input sensing units, key units, model output units and electromagnets related to electromechanics Controls, Panel Design and Installation, Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems will be the simulations(virtual labs) that will achieve the learning acquisations of the courses and also a student-centered LMS will be set up to follow this process."

Vocational skills competitions aim to develop the quality and attraction of vocational education and training. This project is designed to develop further a training program for the needs of the top skill workers that want to compete. Helsinki Vocational college has developed a training model for the practical nurses in a Nordplus Junior project which would now be tested in various professional fields and with a new partner group. The effectiveness and further development is based on the models of training of the partners and experiences gained in this project. The partner group consists of five colleges out of which three offer training in beauty care and three for cooks. Each of the partners are enthusiast in participating in skills competitions and want to improve the training they have to offer for the learners that aim to the top. The project layout gives students a chance to test their limits in a secure environment. 72 young talented students in Europe will test their competences in 5 training camps where there will be a three days Skills competition simulation. These project weeks are the key for the training and give the learners a chance to test how it feels to work with strict limits, with a time pressure and under constant evaluation. The training in the camps project layout allows the learners to learn more of their future profession in a natural way, by normal daily tasks formatted into cases which will work as the base of the project learning teaching training activities. As the learners will not only be the competitors but are also asked to work as judges for one another with a similar criteria as in the skills competitions, learners will have a chance to reflect the methods used in the tasks not only technically but also from cultural point of view. To support the study path of the top skilled workers varied pedagogical approaches are needed. Achieving top expertise requires goal-oriented and long-term preparation which regular vocational training offers few chances for. The purpose is to support the curricular development and learning methodologies so that student can complete a vocational qualification in a manner that takes into consideration one's individual needs, areas of emphasis and learning methods. The knowledge gained in the project aids each participating organization to plan and develop their path for the top-skilled workers as well as develop a common training model for the learners. The produced cases for competitions can be taken into daily use in the teaching but also can lead to use skills coaching as a pedagogical approach to general teaching. After this project the model of the training program and its suitability has been tested in different professions. This should secure that it can be implemented to any vocational qualifications the colleges offer.

Staff in VET often lacks the skills and tools to address the career needs of learners. This was evidenced in recent projects implemented by the partners. Although there is an increasing recognition of the importance of education-business partnerships, there is little emphasis on the labour market and industry settings for these types of initiatives. There are also still several obstacles for young women and students with special learning needs who are interested in STEM careers. Our project aimed at several issues related to the low interest in STEM careers among young people. The proposal was made by a strong partnership of regional authority governing education (including VET) on the regional level - Zlínský kraj in the Czech Republic; VET providers - GRETB in Ireland, UTC in Italy; two enterprises with strong track record in VET and cooperation with companies – Trexima in the Czech Republic and SES13-19 Ltd. in the United Kingdom; CPIP - a centre for teachers training and supporting young people in Romania; and University of Cyprus bringing a great experience in the area of applying ICT tools to engage young people in STEM. We wanted to promote STEM careers among young people in a modern, interactive, and attractive way (with special attention to girls and young women and students with special education needs), to develop and strengthen cooperation between schools and companies in order to increase the quality of VET, to support young women and students with special learning needs to follow the career in STEM fields, and to reach the highest level of education possible and to upskill teachers and companies in work with talented students. In order to achieve these goals we organized two physical short-term joint staff training activities plus one online which, through observations, visits, seminars, discussions, and other methods, enabled exchange of know-how and presentation of best practice, contributed to up-skilling of the project target groups such as teachers, school leaders, and other school staff like career counsellors, Companies representatives, Chambers of Commerce, and Professional Associations representatives, Local, Regional and National Authorities with competence in Education, and also members of the academic staff at universities. These participants were actively involved in development and promotion of the project outputs - Training course for new STEM Supporters, Methodology for Teachers on Interactive, Attractive and Modern Ways of Engagement Young People in STEM Education and Publication with Proven and Suitable Strategies for Talents in STEM Support and Development. All project outputs were disseminated widely through existing promotional channels like the partners’ websites, national and local events related to STEM and VET education but mainly during the Final Conference, that was organized as a virtual activity due to the Covid pandemic issues. All partners are committed to maintain and update the project web site when the project is finished. All materials were produced in sufficient numbers for all partners to enable them to distribute these after the end of the project on seminars, meetings and conferences – this makes our project sustainable.

ACCenT aims at supporting career counselors, guidance practitioners and coaches working with “hard-to-reach groups” by an innovative online learning environment offering support, training and a peer-community. Europe struggles for adequate approaches for preparing and integrating hard-to-reach groups in the European labor market. One the one side European societies are struggling with the lack of qualified workforce on the other side the long-term unemployed are not (re)-entering the labor market. Additionally over the past years millions of migrants came to Europe that could enter the European society and fill-in the labor market gaps if adequate support via counseling, guidance and coaching is provided. Therefore counseling and coaching practitioners need being supported for developing new skills and competences in order to cope with the multiple challenges European societies are facing. The challenge is a European one. Since Europe’s labor market is an open and mobile one, solutions need to be developed from a European perspective. And they need to integrate innovative concepts in terms of training provision (e.g. online) and counseling approaches (e.g. using e-tools). Counseling practitioners working with hard-to-reach groups face three main challenges: 1. increasing number of migrants entering Europe. Counselors and coaches are keystones in the process of integration in order to provide opportunities to migrants to prove their competences develop new ones and increase their chances into the labor market. 2. Long-term unemployed persons that due to multiple biographies can only be supported at a very individual level and 3. high number of young people facing difficulties moving into a first job. For a better help on both sides – counselors and beneficiaries- it is crucial to provide these career counselors and coaches with motivating further training, information, knowledge, peer-community and support. And that is the motivation of the project ACCenT! It seems crucial that European countries collaborate, accomplish shared learning progresses and gain competences to cope with this very topical subject. Countries can learn from the approaches and solutions of others in order to reach a common higher standard in counseling for challenging target groups. The main output of the project will be an online training seminar, presented in a user-friendly online learning environment, for counseling practitioners. The online training respects the need of the target group for flexible training in term of time and customizable in term of contents, comprising four main topical areas: 1. Information: The main aim of this area of the online seminar is to enable the career practitioners to accelerate and facilitate the integration process in to the labor market and thus: support long-term unemployed to re-enter, help young people to get first access and to prepare the newcomers for a successful long-term integration. 2. Social-communicative and intercultural competence: This part of the seminar supports counseling practitioners in getting aware of communication processes and cultural barriers and helps them to handle difficult cultural situations. Which are the most common cultural challenges a specific group has to face? How can the work of counseling practitioners be influenced by cultural barriers? How communication skills and styles influence motivation? How to detect cultural and social barriers? And how to overcome those barriers? Social-communicative and intercultural competence is a key factor for working successfully with hard to reach people. This area of the online course aims at providing counseling practitioners with the necessary sensitivity and awareness for their work with people from different backgrounds. They get enabled to act as mediators between different cultures and social groups, understanding the background, thinking and acting patterns of a person. 3. Coaching skills & competences: “hard-to-reach groups” of becoming & staying unemployed build a very heterogeneous group. Support is very demanding and challenging and must be provided very individually and often only be fulfilled by individual coaching. Therefore the training will be focusing on the development of coaching competences, especially technical-methodical competences: targeted restatements, identifying, listening, questioning, clarifying to help individuals shift their perspectives and thereby discover different approaches to achieve their goals 4. Using e-Tools in counseling and communication processes: The training approach will use a set of e-Tools (online meeting tools, video-chat, video, social media, scheduling, self-reflection and self-assessment, online cooperation tools, etc. for the communication and counseling process. The tools are both learning tools and learning content. All experiences and outcomes of the project will be compiled in an interactive eBook that will accessible and free to use (cc-license).