The immediate aim of the project is to investigate which vocational guidance procedures the partner organisations use to promote and improve the reputation of VET. After getting to know them, we want to learn from each other by examining the possibilities of implementation. The partnership consists of five organisations active in both VET and vocational guidance.In the application coordinated by the Heves County Chamber of Commerce and Industry we have planned complex learning processes. The project is based on mutual learning; our common goal is that the participants acquire new knowledge that they can apply directly in their work. We believe that the partner organisations have a unique and specialised knowledge in the field of VET and vocational guidance. In this way, each partner can learn a lot from the others. International project meetings are intended for this purpose, where everyone can present their own good practice to the partnership members.- Heves County Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Involving enterprises in vocational guidance, matching education and labour market needs.- Aspire-Igen Group Limited: Career guidance in VET- Ballymun Job Centre, theme: Quality assurance in VET- Berufsschule für Baugewerbe: Motivation in VET- Gymnázium Kráľovský Chlmec: VET in the grammar schoolIn this way, all types of institutions dealing with VET and vocational guidance are represented in the partnership.In those areas where we need further joint development, we organised 2 Short-term joint staff training events. Accordingly, we focus - through the organization by the HKIK - on how we can use social media to enhance the reputation of VET.We also analyse - through the organisation by Aspire-Igen Group Limited - the topic on which the project mainly focuses. During the training, we analyse effective reaching out techniques in vocational guidance.These activities underpin both our short- and long-term goals.After all, our goal is to increase the effectiveness of the information that reaches students and we believe that this new communication will spark their interest. Our long-term goal is to increase the number of enrolments in VET. This is an important issue not only at national but also at EU level.The collection of good practices produced as a result of the project will include the good practices of the partners and a feasibility analysis of the projects per country.The collection will be available to a wide range of professionals, as the target group ranges from primary school students to adults changing careers.

Professional activities in modern societies are subject to the claim of continuous optimisation. Learned knowledge quickly becomes obsolete and needs to be updated, technical systems follow rapid innovation cycles and needs and expectations of customers and users. Failure to follow and to cope with fast paced optimisation requirements can lead to strong negative consequences for the individuals as well as for the organisations. Therefore, it is highly important for professionals to own strategies and tools to better cope with stress at the workplace.The VOCIS project aims at increasing competences and skills for self-regulation of professionals and professionals to be and to implement coaching for self-regulation in order for them to achieve a better coping with increasing professional constraints and a higher efficiency at work. The VOCIS consortium is formed by 5 partners: 3 NGOs from the social sector, a university and an SME.At the end of the VOCIS project, a set of high quality instruments for the Vocational Education and Training of self-regulation skills is ready for VET teachers and trainers (in both continuous and initial vocational education and training), coaches, students and professionals. This set of instruments includes a diagnostic toolkit, frameworks and methods for individual coaching and peer coaching, training frameworks, methods and materials for initial and continuous vocational training of the inner self. They are available in the project's consortium national languages (English, French, German, Italian and Croatian). Furthermore, the project's own website vocis.org presents all materials and all elements of good practice derived from the project are compiled in a publication in English. A user friendly online questionnaire is the starting point for all individuals interested in improving their competences in self-regulation. The link to recommended exercises depending on the profile of the participant is the second feature that the consortium added to the initial project and allows not only to broaden the target groups, but to give the individual the opportunity to start a development process even without a coach or trainer. These additional features help to increase the impact of VOCIS and have been tested as central to the project and with a demand for a version in the local language. Therefore, the online version of the diagnostic toolkit has been translated and added as a multilingual tool. The website holds as well platforms for all partners to further develop the site in their language and adopted to their target groups. The development of a virtual classroom including this online questionnaire for the diagnostic toolkit and links form the results to exercises is a strong added value not initially part of the project.

<< Objectives >>Dys in education, professional life and work focus on the inclusion challenges of young people with learning disorders or Dys job seekers and workers, in their transition from the VET sector to the labour market. By targeting relevant stakeholders we aim to raise awareness about the barriers faced by neurodivergent people in the workplace and encourage reasonable accommodations and adaptation of the recruitment process to support young people with Dys disorders advance in their careers.<< Implementation >>The project consists of 4 working packages and contributions of 5 partners including guidance services, VET providers and researchers specialised in supporting people with learning disorders. An initial desk research of EU-policies and interviews with target groups will inform the development of an eLearning platform for Dys workers and job seekers they will test, with relevant modules, adding a neurodiversity support guide for employers and recruiters consulted, including tools and resources.<< Results >>We will produce a guide adapted to key actors in VET and the labour market to show the benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace and how reasonable accommodations can help productivity, inclusivity and overall well-being. We will create an EU-policy analysis, online tools to measure inclusivity in the workplace and a tool for recruitment specialists to support neurodivergent workers in career advancement and the long-term expected outcome of better employment of neurodivergent people.

<< Objectives >>The project aims to develop career guidance framework based on a forward thinking and a way of working for guidance practitioners which facilitates quality future focused career plans for job seekers already marginalised in the labour market, so as to ensure their inclusion in a technological and digitalised world of work.<< Implementation >>Partners will use their existing networks at local national and EU level to ensure the successful implementation of the project strategy. Partners will use appropriate opportunities to disseminate, creating awareness of soft skills and competences for a future workplace identified through the project methodology, to improve employment outcomes for disadvantaged job seekers as the core message within the project.<< Results >>Awareness of the pressing need of quality future oriented guidance leading to future relevant VET will be decreased. The project aims to contribute towards this provision by ensuring that this type of information and support is available at national level to those most distant from the future labour market. This project will use a bottom up impact approach, by developing the work packages from the ground up and using the knowledge translation approach to impact at regional and national levels.

This project produced the following results: • Develop transversal skills for career guidance practitioners, by the provision of training, use of a dedicated online course and manuals offered through the eGuide Practitioner platform, available for all EU member states. • Introduce eGuide User Assessment platform and tools to an additional three EU member states, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, along with the respective training of local practitioners, required for the tools to take effect. • Update and refresh guidance practitioners in Ireland and Greece who are already using a version of eGuide in their practice and provide support to new practitioners in using the materials and tools. • Expand the existing multi-language materials and tools by three more languages (Romanian, Bulgarian and Croatian). • Develop an online course dedicated for Consulting Principles and methodology. • Create an online Quality Assurance Framework for career guidance practitioners (QAF) making it more accessible and easy to assimilate. • Create for the first time a standardized Career Guidance Principles Aptitude Test (CGP/AT) for certifying the practitioner’s ability for counseling youth, and a Quality Assurance Framework Aptitude Test (QAF/AT) for identifying knowledge of QAF principles. • Promote both eGuide platforms to national and European, educational systems and employment services, trying to get all the above material and tools incorporated within the official VET systems available for all practitioners to use across Europe. • Upgrade the existing eGuide User Assessment platform by identifying and collecting tools and resources from other previous and on-going projects that have a bearing on career guidance or that have produced innovative tools to one available site. Existing tools’ software is to be upgraded too, since the programming code it was initially written in has been rendered obsolete. The above metioned result a long-term change towards improving the quality of skills of practitioners and the career guidance services provided to individuals. It is also expected that the tools developed in this project will be integrated in the VET systems of the project countries of this proposal and eventually lead to official policy initiatives, which is a long term process in terms of bureaucracy, but not impossible to achieve.