"There are 15 didactic hours devoted to the subject ""Nutritional trends"" in the curriculum for the profession of nutrition techniques and catering services. For some, it may seem too much, because in a busy schedule, the teacher wisely manages time for other, very important contents, without which a graduate of this profession will not exist on the current job market. Of course, there is no doubt that nutritional trends are a novelty and knowledge directed to minorities (including those suffering from insulin resistance or Hashimoto). However, can not the time devoted to this department be sacrificed for interesting and absorbing knowledge lessons in this topic? And then redirect to current studies in this topic, let those who are affected by this problem, or link their future with dietetics, could learn something more?Dietotherapy is, in addition to pharmacological treatment, one of the most important factors affecting the treatment of many diseases. It is also an inherent element in the treatment of diet-related diseases such as, for example, autoimmune diseases (Hashimoto) or diabetes and insulin resistance. We would like to explore this topic by entering into a partnership of vocational schools with a public vocational training center from Vilnius. In recent years, public awareness and interest in nutrition, healthy diet and healthy cooking techniques have reached incredible levels. Cooking specialists face challenges every day to meet the needs of customers with different dietary needs: from diets designated by doctors to treatment of serious disease conditions to fashionable diets (vegan), not to mention the numerous diets related to food allergies, food intolerances and weight control. Therefore, educators of future professionals in the catering industry must be well educated in health and be creative in offering a variety of meal options to meet all customer needs.The main objective of the project is to bring the results of vocational training in the catering industry to the needs of the labor market over a period of 24 months. The main objective will be achieved when we achieve the following specific objectives:- improving the quality and effectiveness of vocational education in the catering industry in response to current trends,- developing new skills for already practicing educators and equipping them with competences and knowledge necessary to provide high quality educational services and in response to current trends,- increasing the social mission to promote vocational training that meets the needs of European employers and a healthy lifestyle.TARGET GROUPS AND NEEDS WHICH PROJECT APPLIES TO:- vocational education teachers in catering departments from Polish and Latvian schools (cook, confectioner, nutrition technician and gastronomic services) who are required to implement the subject department ""Nutritional trends"" and need to update their workshop on healthy diets, healthy diets and healthy cooking techniques and trends in dietotherapy and need to pass this information in an attractive way for students, due to the small amount provided for in the PP for this department,- entrepreneurs from the gastro industry, working as educators in the practical forms of acquiring competences by vocational school students and cooperating with these schools, in need of meeting the needs of clients with various dietary needs,- other people providing training and mentors of vocational education and training in schools and at workplaces, in need of developing knowledge in the field of dietotherapy for students who have acquired basic knowledge at school and want to develop it in after-school activities.The preparation of a report on trends in nutrition and then participation in practical training in Vilnius on this topic, will affect the adjustment of the education process to the market demand and will be a response to trends. If the teacher updates his workshop, knowledge and skills, then he passes it on to pupils in the subsequent years, because the students ""go through"" the next stage of education and it is up to the teachers what kind of graduates the school releases on the market.During the project, teachers and entrepreneurs (as trainers of vocational subjects) will participate in the training on the importance of diet in human chewing and diet therapy, which is an inherent element of diet-related diseases treatment (unfortunately, but we can use the word ""civilization"") run by a very experienced training unit in Vilnius . During the training, they learn the results of research and experience on new trends in human nutrition, learn the main types of diets and how they can solve, for example, the problems of people with diabetes. In connection with the above, they will develop new skills at home and equip them with the competences and knowledge necessary to provide high quality educational services and in response to current trends."

"The main objective of the project was to bring the results of vocational training in catering to the needs of the labor market within 24 months. The main objective was realized becasue we reached the following specific objectives: - improving the quality and efficiency of vocational education in the catering and tourism industry, - developing new approaches to improve the competence already practicing teachers and providing them with all the expertise and skills necessary to provide high quality services, - increasing access and promoting generated in Europe, open educational resources, - increasing social mission for the promotion of vocational education with the needs of employers.In the context of the objectives of the project as the most important priority we decided together with our partners, ""The development of business partnerships in the field of vocational education and training (...)"". Our project assumes implementation action to better adapt the learning outcomes to employers' expectations of the catering and tourism industry and the changing labor market needs through the preparation and training of teachers. The process of adjusting takes place when teachers have the knowledge, skills and qualifications which reflect the needs of employers. Employers are looking for specific skills, well-prepared to carry out specific practical tasks. This is possible only if we modernize workshop consulting and - qualification teacher. Partnering in the project focused on innovative methods of learning based on the experience of cross-border cooperation (Poland - Latvia) and international (Spain - Poland - Latvia). The project prepared an innovative pilot program course in the kitchen of ecoproducts in catering for teachers based on an earlier diagnosis and tests described in the form of reports and recommendations.Another priority, the implementation of which is part of the project concern the strengthening of key competences in educational programs and training and promote learning in the workplace for all, with special emphasis on vocational training at the employer. Analysis of data obtained in the course of preparation of the Development Strategy of Vocational Education Podlasie Region indicates that only one-third of all teachers (30%) had previously worked in the profession. Also, unfortunately, a small percentage (12%) of teachers working in vocational schools have the opportunity to take advantage of internships in companies in order to improve professional skills. Much more is while the percentage (52%) of teachers working in vocational schools in the province. Podlasie, who raised the qualifications for vocational courses. The analysis results indicate that a significant proportion of vocational schools do not sufficiently care about the qualifications of teachers. During the project, teachers and trainers of vocational subjects participated in training on ecological products in the field of gastronomy conducted by the CSHM in Valencia. During the training they learnt the results of research and experimentation on new products and trends in food production, learn about the main issues of ecological cuisine. These issues of innovation in the development of catering and prepared a training program based on the needs of employers affiliated Perfect Project.Implementation of the project respond to the need to know, identify and apply remedial action in the field of matching the competence of the student in the catering industry schools associated within PP and DTS in cooperation with operators on a daily cooperating with employers and who know their needs.Partners through joint implementation of the project gained new experience of international cooperation, increase their prestige, become thus better known in Poland and in their countries and can count on new partners, encouraged example of the successful implementation of the project. Participation in a large international project positively affects the employees of the partner institutions. They benefit from the experience developed in the project. Other benefits to partners: - exchange of experience, knowledge and good practices through synergies and cross-sectoral cooperation; - learning practical solutions in teaching applied in the European institutions; - raising the professional qualifications of teachers according to international standards.The resulting project materials, documents and other products are available free of charge and promoted on the basis of open licenses and made available using information and communication technologies on the project."

Project Leader: Zespół Szkół Ekonomicznych i Ogólnokształcących nr 6 w ŁomżyProject partners: Vilnius School of Technology, Business and Agriculture, Daugavpils Tirdzniecibas profesionala vidusskola, Business partner: Perfect Project BialystokThe main goal of the project – to modernize the educational system of the project partners through the preparation, testing and promotion of innovative teaching and learning methods and techniques in vocational education, using a modern tool for assessing skills and qualifications, introducing innovative teaching methods and techniques with the use of multimedia and ICT and the development of materials for vocational education, including professional foreign language and designing of training programs in which pupils from partner schools will participate.This objective was broken down into sub-objectives / outputs that were developed by the project partners.Result 1 - developed by the Project Leader: - an innovative tool for assessing skills and professional qualifications with the use of online tools and mobile technologies.Result 2 - developed by the school from Latvia – innovative teaching method in vocational school supported by innovative multimedia and ICT technologies, focused on teaching with the use of mobile technologies (d-learning and m-learning).Result 3 - developed by Lithuanian school – innovative materials for learning general and horizontal skills, especially for marketing, ICT, multilingualism with multimedia elements, eLearning module and other teaching methods available during the project implementation.Result 4 - developed by Perfect Project – an innovative program of three training courses to increase educational mobility and collaboration with employers, tailored to the needs of students and employers; the program has been developed with the use of the tool for assessing skills and qualifications, and with the use of innovative learning methods and materials developed by project partners.Result 5 - adapted to the needs of partner schools and employers and implemented by the members of the partnership (the schools from Poland, Lithuanian and Latvia) – Strategic system: EVALUATION OF PROFESSIONAL SKILLS OF FUTURE WORKERS.Within the project, based on previous assumptions and diagnosis, innovative methods and techniques of teaching were prepared, tested, implemented with the use of the modern tool which is, adjusted to the needs of secondary school, the educational MOODLE platform, for assessment of skills and vocational qualifications, with the use of innovative methods and techniques of teaching exploiting multimedia technologies and ICT. The materials for teaching vocational subjects have been prepared, especially e-marketing (the effect of the activities of Lithuanian school) as well as the materials for learning Business English. Additionally, a system of training of professional skills has been created in the areas of ICT, business ethics and communication, that is, in the areas of “deficiency of skills and competences” stated on the basis of diagnosis which had been carried out among Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian entrepreneurs.In the stage of implementation, the system of training of professional skills and qualifications was tested by students and teachers from the cooperating schools. However, it should be highlighted that everyone interested in modern professional training, from all over the world, can use and take advantage of the training sessions developed in the project (all the materials are accessible in English). Project participants, that is students and teachers of cooperating schools, methodological advisers in teacher improvement centres, professional advisers in schools, institutions supporting educational process, local entrepreneurs and other social groups interested in modern education, will receive, apart from traditional method of teaching, the possibility to gain, enhance and consolidate knowledge and skills through mobile and distance learning, that is:•freedom to choose place, pace and time of learning,•steady access to learning materials,•diversity of material presentation,•access to selected source materials,•implementation to independent learning,•putting acquired knowledge and skills into practice,•contact with the teacher and other students,•development of language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing), implementation to independence in the process of learning a foreign language,•sharing and exchanging knowledge between the participants of the courses,•efficient communication between the users.Additional advantages resulting from the project are as follows:•strengthening professional image of teachers – improving their competences, especially in ICT,•developing key and cross sectional skills,•increase of both national and international educational mobility,•reduction of early school leaving,•improving professional skills and competences.

ContextThe global economy has been transformed by the Internet in the last two decades. In the developed world, there has been a shift towards a post-industrial model of employment, where factory work and routine office work is routinely outsourced or automated by robots and software. The career path of 21st-century careers allows us to create our own job opportunities by freelancing, testing out our ideas by building our digital brands, getting creative with our talent development and how we create value for other people.Our students become professionals in their fields but, most of the times, encounter difficulties in identifying job opportunities, especially since some of our areas are predominantly poor and lack career opportunities. The job markets have now been digitalized and unless we adapt soon, we will find it increasingly difficult to catch up. Given these circumstances, we believe that the time has come for us, secondary and VET schools, to upgrade our approach to the newest trends in job-related skills.Project's Objectives1. To enable students and teachers to exchange practices and experiences in the VET field2. To improve students’ 21st century job skills – learning, literacy and life skills3. To create the context for students to apply the acquired skills4. To increase students’ ability to identify career opportunities and boost students’ employability 5. To improve language, ICT and professional skills6. To develop intercultural competence, tolerance and respect for other culturesParticipantsStudents and teachers will participate directly in the project. The target group we are addressing is made up of approximately 600 students aged 15-18. They are on the point of graduation at the end of the project and we will be better able to observe the impact on them as a result. The students we target are all training in different professional fields and we aim to design all activities so that they apply to all of them irrespective of their specialization. From this group, we will select a number of 114 students at the level of the partnership (22/23 per country) who will attend the exchanges, accompanied by 39 teachers.ActivitiesMainly carried out during 1-week workshops/exchanges in each of the participating countries:C1 - Developing learning skills for students (LV, NOVEMBER 2020)C2 - Developing literacy skills for students (SRB, MARCH 2021)C3 - Developing life skills for students (PT, MAY 2021)C4 - Job seeking and job applications in the field (IT, NOVEMBER 2021)C5 – Start-up business (TR, APRIL 2022)ResultsThe project is going to have a series of results – tangible and intangible. The intangible results refer to students’ acquisition and development of knowledge, skills and abilities, improved cooperation among schools in European states which can result in future project initiatives and collaborations.Tangible results:- Workshop written output related to activities meant to develop sets of skills. There will be 5 such sets of workshop materials, one produced during each exchange. These materials will be published and made available online, for other schools to use. They will also be used in our schools with other students in future years- Step-by-step guide to boost employability of graduate students- Presentations of job market trends in each countries- Presentation of online tools and lists of search engines for the identification of job opportunities in all partner countries- Pictures from the events- Reports of the transnational meetings- Project dissemination tools- Promotion materials- Presentations of schoolsImpact The partner schools will have visible benefits from the participation in this project. First of all, we will expand our VET network and be able to exchange practices and experiences with similar institutions all over Europe. This will help us improve our approaches to teaching, our practices and methodologies, in such a way so as to obtain optimal results. We will exchange experiences related to Erasmus+ projects for students, will learn about the results of partners from previous projects which will help us in current activities with students. We will therefore be able to establish long-term cooperation. We will enlarge our material basis and our international dimension. We shall use the materials developed within the partnership with future generations of students and share them with other schools in our areas. We will therefore be better equipped to bridge the gap between school life and work life.

The name of the project is ‘Career without borders' and it addresses secondary students aged 15-19 from the following countries: Poland, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Latvia. All the countries are facing similar problems. The participants agree that their countries struggle with a growing number of young graduates unable to succeed in the labour market. The long-term objectives of the project are based on the outcomes of distributed online and analysed questionnaires among all participating schools (teachers and students). (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1zjNMXEHJlsyrYDBoHe0MHwfQ6f5T2y9JAKgdjPsmu1o/edit, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1PteIRnGsXIgyUIZX1A_XBiuUWscKU_R8LJSsBPvLYNY/edit) We believe we can benefit from each other, because every partner country can support the others with great knowledge and experience. We've already started theTwinning project to share our examples of good practices.The main objective of the project is to develop employability skills and competences which are essential for successful professional and personal life in the EU, and which are often neglected in formal education and thus we would like to make a bridge between educational system and the world of work, to modernize education systems. We want to teach young people studying different courses how to overcome fears and doubts facing their future career, how to start their own companies that might operate on global market and help them to gain all the necessary competences (social, cultural, foreign language, ICT). We also wish the teachers would improve their competences in teaching employability and ICT skills and also their foreign language competences.The goal of the project is to create workshops and activities on Moodle Platform. The participants of the project are going to prepare them and try them out in order to offer them to other European schools and then to integrate them into the school curricula.The project comprises of one short-term joint staff training in Poland and four short-term students’ exchanges in Italy, Cyprus, Portugal and Latvia. The teachers’ meeting in Poland will involve the teachers’ training in Moodle platform and other ICT tools and exchange of good practices teaching employability skills. During this event teachers will also create workshop activities for future students' exchanges. At each students’ mobility we will hold workshops on given subtopics. They will be: Communication skills, Cooperation, Setting up a business and Solving problems. Before the exchanges of students each country will be responsible for creating their own modules on Moodle platform. Modules will consist of tutorials, presentations, interactive activities, worksheets, self-assessment tests and many others that will be later available to students, teachers and public not only in participating countries but worldwide. Through implementing innovative approach – using advanced technology, activities via Moodle, concepts of blended learning and flipped classroom, introducing methods to improve teaching and learning languages: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), we will be able to deliver all the necessary skills and competences. Between the exchanges, apart from Moodle activities, teachers will arrange visits to firms and institutions where students will explore how important employability skills are in real surroundings (interviews with employers and employees, doing research). The tangible result of the project will be workshops and learning activities on Moodle platform, presentations, project posters and brochures, evaluation reports, an eTwinning group. To promote and disseminate the results of the project we will do a lot of local activities (press articles, social media postings, web pages) and we will also organise local events where local authorities, parents, school community etc. will be invited.We are certain the project will make an impact on participating schools, teachers’ methodology competences, ICT and foreign language skills and students’ future careers and their competences needed for future work life. New forms of work will be started not only in partner schools but in other schools too. The project should also develop students’ global skills since it will be carried out in multinational surroundings and it should enable them to work in multinational environment in the future. Other European schools should benefit since it will serve as an open source learning platform and thus ensure its long-term sustainability . All participating countries plan to share the project outcomes in other projects and cooperation on different platforms, such as eTwinning and other programmes of European Union.