"The overall aim of the project Virtual Reality in Teaching (VirTrain) is to bring modern technologies and especially virtual reality directly to the hands of teachers to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in VET. Project goal is to map the training needs, show the benefits of Virtual reality (VR) to the full extent, train the teachers and develop their teaching skills and especially overcome the potential barriers to the use of VR in Teaching and Learning. The idea behind the project is to also tackle the challenge of decreasing people´s attention span that actually the technologies are generally lowering. Since the use of (VR) can make students not only more engaged but especially more concentrated and makes the lessons more lively. It is known that the more entertaining and interactive the learning, the more we learn.We want to show through the project how easy and accessible it is to use these technologies for teaching the professional languages in the VET sector. The project will bring to VET institutions and their teachers methodology how to use VR in language teaching and also inspirational teaching materials. The project will focus on developing VR-related ICT competencies of language VET teachers to provide insight into the available possibilities and to enable independent use of VR in the classroom as well as distance mode of language training. The project responds to the ""Recommendation from the European Commission on Languages"" (2018) in that it explores how virtual learning environments may be used as digital tools to develop collaborative and creative learning environments. The project also follows the Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning as it will provide VET language teachers with a low-threshold ICT training course focused at state of the art VR, tailored to their methodological needs. Furthermore the project builds on and is informed by previous experience from the research and projects both from VR as well as Personalized learning environment (see section INNOVATION).The project will directly involve at least 15 VET language teachers (5 from each project country CZ, I, E) from at least 10 VET schools who will participate in VR course and will be preparing example VR lessons plans. Also at least 150 students will be direct beneficiaries of the lessons in VR. The methodology will be used by at least one national VET association and 2 regional bodies and at least 10 VET schools from 3 countries and the outputs would be also used for lifelong learning. Finally all of the outcomes will result in a multilingual one stop show website dedicated to VR in Teaching and learning full of free resources. Concrete project activities and outputs entail: 1.Mapping the landscape to inform VET language training practitioners of the applicability of VR. 2.Developing original methodology for both onset and online course on VR3.Purpose-built train the teacher course 4.VR lesson plans database5.Final methodology: How to teach professional language skills with virtual reality6.Multilingual One-Stop-Shop website - all for VR in VET from beginners to practitioners (all of the project material and outcomes available at one place).On the institutional level, we expect the impact being the enhancement of the body of knowledge of the institution, opening up to be more innovative and attracting more focused students into education. Also VET institutions will be able to improve the quality of the language teaching they offer, by assuring that their language teacher delivering the training has advanced and appropriate pedagogical competence and technical skills to deliver the training in VR. Students of VET will be the ultimate beneficiaries of these activities, benefiting from a more diverse and technology advanced and entertaining experience in language training, and consequently, higher quality E&T and better prospects for practical use of the embedded knowledge.The participating institutions will get deeply tested methodology and database of good examples of VR language lessons usable straight away in teaching. It brings significant extension in the project partners’ scope of activities, as well innovative solutions to embrace further new technologies for institutional, regional and national levels. (See section IMPACT for details). To sum up VirtTain aims to fulfil the following long term benefits: •establishing a ‘low-threshold’ approach towards the introduction of VR in teaching practice •provide hands-on experience with the technology (and) to enable VET practitioners familiarize themselves with its different forms •make the affordances of VR applicable in the sub-field of VET-related Language Acquisition accessible to a wide professional audience •make this promising new approach applicable in everyday practiceThe end result being a multilingual one stop shop website serving as repository as well as practical tool for the VR in E&T."

<< Background >>In our global society anything and everything is connected which is reflected in a growing need for innovative products, services and social innovation. E.g. an app monitors our heart rate, tracks and traces post parcels, offers online fitness services to elderly people, and very apt, monitors COVID-19 infections. Many online sources support our belief that education and industry have entered a new era in which teaching and gaining practical experience are the result of a much more comprehensive approach to what society needs and thus to what students need to learn. In the Human Capital Agenda e.g., top sectors in industry conclude that they are anxious to collaborate with education on creating crossover areas so that students may become water-architect, energy grower or garden technician. PISA states in their Handbook on Global Competence “that every school should encourage its students to try and make sense of the most pressing issues defining our times. The high demands placed on schools to help their students cope and succeed in an increasingly interconnected environment, can only be met if education systems define new learning objectives based on a solid framework, and use different types of assessment to reflect on the effectiveness of their initiatives and teaching practices.” The current relationship between VET education at secondary level and industry has been one of supplier (education) and provider (industry). It’s during their work placements that students witness the needs of industry for the first time. Industry’s influence on the aims of practical training is so strong that students may feel inept to meet the specific needs of their working place; the students’ expectations are often limited to whether they are able to apply the theory taught at school. However, the economy and society are changing rapidly, and the collaboration between education and industry needs to change accordingly. In EMEU4crossovers we will address 2 specific needs. A. The impact, partly due to this project, is to raise awareness of staff, students and industry regarding the need for and benefits of crossover cooperation between education and industry. The outcome will be that 1 staff and industry are able to create, test and offer crossover experiences in theory and practice; 2 students are able to offer solutions for observations out of their vocational area (flexible mindset). The output will be an array of developed and tested virtual activities and study modules to raise the students’ awareness. We will also address B. the need for all partners to help break down the walls between different vocational educations in their own colleges by developing the project results together and by implementing fixed crossover modules in their respective curricula, e.g. both in ICT and Health Care. These modules will also include a strong focus on a continuing contribution of the industrial project partners after this project. The EMEU network has experienced a long-lasting commitment from industry if they are involved in the project process from the inception-stage.The EMEU network has received 3 European Project Awards: for Best Practice (2016), for European Success Story (2018) and for European Innovative Teaching (2021) and actively shares results with vocational teams in their colleges, and amongst (inter-) national school-partners and industrial partners. As such the EMEU4Crossovers will be a logical continuation of the network’s activities and will therefore be able to guarantee the expected project results.<< Objectives >>The EMEU4Crossovers project aims to achieve the following results by implementing the project: firstly, we aim to be able to offer opportunities for students to become (more) aware of the challenges on the work floor in a fast-changing society and industry and, secondly, to be able to act upon them. Here important questions are: 1. How does VET-education ‘track and trace’ the required knowledge and skills our teachers need to prepare students for handling the aforementioned challenges? 2. What do teachers need to learn from Industry before they’re able to train our students as part of the educational programs? 3. What do we need to be able to realize a structural cooperation between vocational sectors in order to help develop more flexible mindsets of our students? 4. What opportunities in terms of virtual and physical activities can we offer to students to: a. become (more) aware of the need to study and prepare for the needs of a fast-changing labour market? And to b. experience themselves examples of a crossover work floor<< Implementation >>Implementation involves a number of important stages. It’s vital these stages are recognized and applied to ensure the project’s sustainability. These stages are: introduction, acceptance, embedment and ownership. 1. Introduction. The introduction should give a clear overview of all aspects of a KA2 project. The project manager and his steering group will therefore cover all elements of the project, including roles, tasks, budget, management, expected impact, outcomes, outputs, activities and facilities. 2. Acceptance. a. participating teams need to know that their course team manager and team colleagues are in full support of this project, e.g. it’s important that SG and staff members can attend the project meetings without worrying about substitution of lessons. Creating a sense of team spirit is a prerequisite from the start of a project. The vast experience we have gained over the years will help to create this sense amongst the new partners. b. We allocate old core partners to new EMEU partners. New partners will be supported by experienced partners. c. The EMEU website (https://em-eu.eu) will be used to show the format and examples of the virtual activities and study modules we aim to develop. d. Work arising from hosting students is also a shared responsibility, but most partners in the project have much experience in hosting students for Erasmus+ work placements. 3. Embedment. Besides embedding the developed virtual activities and physical study modules in the educational programs involved, it’s also our aim to have discussed at management level within the partner colleges how crossover modules can be embedded in the programs. Almost all partners are at an advantage here as in the previous two projects the virtual activities and study modules have already been successfully embedded.4. Promoting ownership. From experience we know that a successful project, after all products have been made, offered and tested, new partners have been attracted and everything can be viewed and shown on the website, staff feel great pride in what they have achieved. The project activities, which are going to be implemented, are: 1. December 2021: Kick-off conference (AARHUS TECH, Aarhus, Denmark); 2. March 2022: Work conference 1 (SAVO/Sakky, Kuopio, Finland); 3. October 2022: Work conference 2 (Uni-EIBAR, Eibar, Spain); 4. March 2023: Work conference 3 (GRADIA, Jyvaaskyla, Finland); 5. October 2023 Work conference 4 (Kerschensteiner Schulzentrum , Munich, Germany) 6. Final conference and multiplier event, April 2024 (Horizon College, The Netherlands).<< Results >>All results in the EMEU4CROSSOVERS will be made available on the EMEU website, copy-left as follows: 1. A listing of recommendations for creating crossover programs based on discussions, questionnaires and feedback (Manual 1);2. A listing of recommendations for teacher training based on discussions, questionnaires and feedback (Manual 2); 3. 20 Virtual Mobility activities;4. 20 Study Modules;5. Updated version of the existing ECVET/National VET-Teams manual 6. Updated version of the existing EMEU-Website https://www.em-eu.eu/ All outputs are aimed to raise the awareness of industry, staff and students towards the need for and benefits of cooperation between industry and different educational areas in order for students to develop a more flexible mindsets and to be able to provide suggestions for opportunities and obstacles on the work floor. Furthermore, teaching practices, implementation and the embedment of the tangible results of the project are of utmost importance.

<< Background >>The world of work is changing significantly with the green and digital transition. The green future needs to start with upgrading the peoples’ skills and understanding of what needs to be changed to achieve sustainable development. This means also big changes in education, training, and lifelong learning, as environmental awareness will need to be mainstreamed in all curricula. Vocational Education and Training (VET) has a prominent place as a driver for environmentally sound and sustainable social and economic development in Europe, and in achieving the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on quality education, good jobs, and economic growth. The transition to a more sustainable economy offers much potential for job creation and the promotion of decent work, however, requiring that specifically, VET will have to adapt to accompany and benefit from the opportunities arising from the green transition, and the emergence of environmentally friendly technologies in a wide range of professions. Teaching and learning are fundamental for making the green transition real, but it will not happen without the awareness, knowledge, and skills to drive it forward. To ensure the VET provider’s capacity to anticipate and readiness to respond, VET programmes must be developed for new professional profiles linked to greening, and VET teachers must be equipped with the required green skills and knowledge on the full sustainability potentials of their own field. On this basis, the aim of the GreenVETnet project is to spark interest and act as an agent in advancing the skills development among the VET teachers and institutions required for the green transition.<< Objectives >>In line with the goals of the new Erasmus+ programme putting priority on supporting the European Green Deal and reflecting the importance of skills, knowledge, and attitudes on environmental change and sustainable development as enablers to the green transition in the European Union (EU) and beyond, the proposed project aims to work on the overall development objective to further mainstream the integration of sustainability aspects in VET by enhancing the competences (of staff involved in VET) on sustainable development. One of the key questions is how, practically, education and training, and skills can develop and support the green transition, for what reason, the project aims to identify a set of so-called core green skills that should be incorporated in VET programmes. Based on the agreed consensus, the project plans to establish a methodology for educators’ skills training in some of the key sectors that come with the greatest opportunity for growth of green jobs that support sustainable development (including hospitality management and tourism, business and administration, logistics/transport, manufacturing, and construction sector) with the goal to enhance the VET educator’s skills and knowledge on sustainability potentials of their own field. Further, the project will create a platform for peer-learning, exchange of experiences and know-how, as well as identification of best practices on how VET can act as a bridge to the sustainable development of working life and supporting the green transition, finally making a wider impact on the society.<< Implementation >>To reach these goals and better equip the European VET to educate new generations of sustainable future agents, the GreenVETnet project plans activities at various levels. Throughout the project, with the goal to come up with a consensus on the core green skills in different fields of VET and establish a solid response to equip the teachers and institutes with the right tools, the consortium will work together by virtual means and physically during five planned transnational meetings. As one result of this work, the consortium will establish a common methodology to design and implement five strongly experimental learning, teaching and training activities (LTTA) targeted for VET educators from the above-mentioned fields. The project will design and launch a GreenVETnet online portal, showcasing the results and materials produced during the project. Further, the project will organise a high-level webinar gathering the VET leaders and experts advancing sustainability integration in the European VET institutes.<< Results >>Through the set of activities implemented, the project will further strengthen skills on sustainable development and knowledge on the green potentials of different fields of education among the VET professionals. Putting the focus on identifying the core green skills and making suggestions on how to incorporate them into different fields of study will harmonise their mainstreaming through VET programmes. By getting the professionals engaged and equipping them with the knowledge and tools enabling the effecting development of green and climate-responsive pedagogical and institutional capacities, the outcome of the project will be upskilling the European VET institutions in the development and implementation of green strategies enabling transform their learning and training environments prepared for skilling professionals for green jobs and greening of economies, finally, contributing into the wider green transition.