The aim of the project is to analyze the problems of training in vocational schools with regard to students and their motivation to study, which in many cases is very low for several reasons. 1st - students generally have low motivation and engagement to study, 2nd - they are coming from socially disadvantaged families and often from excluded communities, 3rd - some students are coming from minority groups and from immigrant families whom may not be aware of opportunities available. This situation needs to be addressed by creating a system for the preparation of future teachers and teachers of these schools in order to enable young teachers (graduates of pedagogical faculties) to be prepared not only as teachers of vocational subjects but also as pedagogical and social counselors who are able to motivate students to participate in the study and to protect them from unfinished studies. In order to achieve these results, it is necessary to know the situation in schools and that is why all types of educational institutions (trans-sectoral) are involved in the project. This requires systematic preparation of teachers and trainers for apprenticeships. Vocational education is the most endangered category, as it does not give many opportunities to take part in education at another school when leaving vocational school before graduation. That is the reason why this project will deal in particular with the working activities of teachers in these educational establishments.The entire consortium consists of partners who have the necessary experience in project activities. Educa International as the project applicant has dealt with this issue in 3 projects (Erasmus, European Structure Fund Project). The school in Malmö (Sweden), participated in a joint project with Educa International in 2012-2015 and both institutions still continue to work together. Vocational school in Sezimovo Ústí (CZ) implements a drop-outs support programme and has excellent experiences and very good results from this work, which will be used for the objectives of this project. The Slovak partner is very interested in drop-out prevention, too. Austrian partner has a lot of practical and theoretical knowledge to support the project.Dissemination activities will be targeted at all training centers, vocational schools in participating countries and also in the other countries of the EU. The aim of the project team is a stronger influence in new EU countries who joined the EU in 2004 or later due missing the big EU pilot project Second Chance School realized in EU countries in the period between 1997-2000. The new EU countries have not benefitted form the project and drop-out prevention system is not developped. Therefore, the interest is to target dissemination activities mainly at Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. It is important to promote the project results not only in schools, but also in regional offices, Ministries of Education and other stakeholders.

STEP IN project reacts to current situation at secondary technical schools in Slovakia, Czech republic, Italy and Finland, and generally across Europe, caused by COVID - 19, that puts schools, teachers as well as students under the pressure of completely new, unexpected challenges, with the demand for the use of digital tools for teaching all the content online. The experience from spring 2020 brought several issues that teachers and students need to face, revealing problems, such as lack of ICT skills and experience on the side of education providers, lack of skills to exploit available online tools in greater extent, lack of teaching materials that would enhance online teaching, lack of cooperation among schools in sharing the teaching resources and methods and other issues. Also, one of the key problems, common across Europe (learnt about from the talks with project partners) is the unaccessibility of, and difficulties in providing vocational practical training that students from secondary technical schools, as well as from other vocational fields, could undertake during lockdown and online teaching, as there aren´t available teaching resources ready to use with this purpose. The difficulties caused by this fact, result in the lack of students´ skills and competences which they needed to acquire through practice, that would prepare them for their practical jobs and labour market needs. From these reasons, we would like to tackle this problem by focusing our attention on-15 teachers of 5 secondary technical schools, vocational subjects Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, and Logistics, including teachers of practical training related to this field, who will be directly involved in project activities, outputs development and pilot testing of materials, tools and methods related to online teaching-50 students of secondary technical schools, aged 15 – 19, undertaking theoretical and practical training on the above subjects, who will also contribute to development of the outputs and their pilot testing, from at leat 5 schools in SK, CZ, IT, FIN while developing project outputs:O1/Needs Analysis in the target groups of the teachers and students, related to online teaching and practical training in the fields of Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, resulting in setting priorities, content, methods and proven tools related to online teachingO2/Educational Video materials/learning units to teach these topics, including online modules, supporting practical training on:1-Machining, eg. metal processing, turning, milling, grinding and drilling, CNC machining2-Hydraulics and pneumatics, eg. hydraulics, pneumatics, electrohydraulics and electro - pneumatics3-Logistics, eg. truck transport, eg. accessories and equipment for loading, unloading and transporting groupage goods (such as rear or side-lift, forklift, general cargo crane, hook and demountable containersO3/Tests for reviewing incoming and outcoming knowledge and skills of students, related to the machinery use, before and after the use of online educational resources, developed in O2, for the grades of 1 – 4 of secondary technical schools, with sets of questions, for each of the topics:•Machining (manual metalworking, turning, milling, grinding and drilling), CNC machining•Hydraulics and pneumatics (hydraulics, pneumatics, electrohydraulics and electropneumatic)•Logistics, eg. truck transportO4/ Examples of good practice for teachers with overview of suitable tools / technologies and methods for online practical training and teaching concrete vocational topics, tested during the project, Also, we will focus on testing the outputs and implementing them in practice, in 5 pilot schools and/or organisations from SK, CZ, IT, FIN and subsequently enabling their use among other schools from the same vocational field, as well as transferability and adaptability in other vocational fields. Project should be carried out transnationally due to identical problems the schools face and needs created by COVID – 19 in all partner countries, and due to first common experience with online teaching gathered by schools during lock – down in the spring time, as well as the common will to provide high quality incusive digital education across Europe, through mutual cooperation, under the new circumstances. In the project, we expect the following impact: -Detailed needs analysis carried out, identifying teacher´s and students needs in relation to online teaching of vocational subjects (O1)-New educational resources developed for online practical teaching and training - interactive learning units, video – based, on the topics of Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, Logistics, including assesment tools – incoming and outcoming knowledge and skills tests for students (O2 & O3)-Cooperation skills developed, sharing of experience and teaching resources, supporting each other and enhancing teaching togehter in a time of crises

In March 2020 the traditional education model was switched over to distance education, and most schools have been successful in implementing online technologies (strategies, methods, techniques, tactics) in the teaching of theoretical subjects. However, secondary vocational schools still lack a methodology for online practical education. According to the Schools Act, practical training in the Czech Republic is divided into training for students of two- or three-year courses, training for students of four-year courses and on-the-job training. For the project purposes, we have therefore approached secondary vocational schools of the same focus in the European area, because we are aware of the importance of confrontation of procedures and methods especially at the time of a non-standard and untested teaching process such as digital education in fields that include practical training and are linked to the application sphere. As far as fast-evolving fields with innovative technologies are concerned, experience sharing, mutual confrontation and inspiration, and consequently the creation of a network among organizations are important accents of a successful education process. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis and the introduction of distance education, the teams of experts in the field of information and communication technologies, field-specific didactics and school psychologists have been working on an optimum implementation of online education, an embodiment of teaching principles and didactic rules into digital education, and introduction of innovative technologies especially in the field of vocational training of students. These school teams of experts also need to draw inspiration from partners abroad where schools and institutions have, due to the dual system, different options and solutions concerning the use of digital tools and methods (Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Belgium). With respect to the long-term use of a constructivist approach in the work with students with specific educational needs, and in connection with the emergency measures associated with COVID-19, new challenges and tasks have appeared with regard to the inclusion of such students in the education process. The main objective of the project is to update older education paradigms, which means to gradually switch over from a transmission approach to the education process to a constructivist approach based on the activity of students for whom the teacher is only a facilitator, tutor of the education process. One of the project outcomes is a comparison of the digital education systems in secondary vocational schools with practical training in selected European countries and a panel discussion on effective inclusion in a high-quality education process. International cooperation and individual project meetings will be focused on particular topics. The project involves 6 institutions from 5 European countries (3 secondary vocational schools with technical fields, a pedagogical university, a technical university and an educational institution focusing on corporate and further education). From each organization, 3 participants will always be involved in project activities: teachers of vocational subjects, ICT coordinators, experts in subject didactics, employees of counselling centres and workplaces, school management. The partner organizations have communicated via email and video conferencing already during the project preparation and have defined the partial activities and priorities of the project so that they will benefit all involved organizations. Within the individual activities, the project will compare how the individual participating organizations approach the changed situation in education. The subject of international cooperation and individual meetings will be specific topics. There are a total of 7 international meetings, 2 project management meetings and 5 professional educational activities.The main topic of strategic partnerships of participating organizations is the comparison of ideas, plans and thoughts on how to solve the fundamental problem revealed by the experience with the immediate switchover of schools to distance education: How to secure, in pedagogical and, above all, technical terms, meaningfulness and effectiveness of the online teaching of vocational subjects implementing practical education in the education process.