The project is aimed primarily at supporting the promotion of vocational education and training. It will seek to motivate young people to learn a profession, inspire an excellence in skills and introduce youth to a variety of skilled careers available on the labour market through participating in national skills competitions.The project will be particularly devoted to preparation of an organisational model of the national skills competition in the construction industry, which will not only promote the power of skills but it will also serve as means to select national champions to compete in the international EuroSkills competition - a spectacular promotion of the professions, held every two years in one of the WorldSkills Europe member states.The partnership will seek to develop, transfer and implement innovative practices, as well as joint initiatives promoting cooperation and exchange of experience at the European level by promoting skills competitions as instruments to innovate vocational education programs in order to meet the European needs of today.Diverse institutions form the partnership will enable to share different experiences and specific expertise and achieve high quality results through the transfer and the exchange of information and best practices regarding the development of a common model of the national skills competition in construction industry. WeRskills project consortium was properly selected and includes 5 institutions from 3 countries: Poland (PL), Hungary (HU), and Cyprus (CY). Partners have been chosen according to the project's aims and the expertise needed. They represent different culture and traditions of vocational education, construction industry as well as assure geographical diversity of the partnership.The results of the project will have a contribution to the development of skills and qualifications of young people who will pursue technical and technological professions towards a skilled career and future. The results are primarily directed to national skills organisations, training organisations and educational institutions, young employees and entrepreneurs in construction sector, construction industry producers and employers’ associations, VET students, teachers and trainers, and local and central authorities responsible for vocational education and training. Planned results/products of the project are:1)Report on the identification of good practices related to the organisation of national skills competitions in partner countries on the basis of the construction industry 2)Skills tests for construction and building technology including assessment criteria, and expert/trainer requirements designed for national skills competition3)National skills competition pilot testing activity in Poland4)Best Practices Guide with advice on preparation of experts and competitors for international skills competitions 5)E-platform for the exchange of knowledge, experience and good practices among the national skills organisations, competitors, skills experts and businesses involved in national skills competitions.6)Publication on good practices and outcomes of the project with recommendations for local and central authorities regarding organisation of national skills competitionsWeRkills project addresses the international question of work mobility and in the long run it may influence the mobility and competitiveness of young people on the European labour market. The project may also be a source of knowledge and good practices for countries aspiring to become WorldSkills Europe members. It may facilitate the development of national/regional/sectoral skills competitions and greater involvement of newcomer organisations in EuroSkills. Finally, WERskills project promotes the idea of Lifelong Learning on local and national levels by inspiring school-aged youth, young employees and entrepreneurs to take part in a stimulating learning experience, as well as helping to develop the education and training sector across Europe.

The use of wood in the construction industry has continued to gain momentum in Europe in recent years. The prospects and development opportunities are promising and far from at their peak. At the same time, the associated challenges for companies and enterprises in the construction sector have risen sharply. This has reinforced the realisation that the future development of timber construction can only be mastered with a sufficient number of well-trained employees. Raising the level of training creates positive prospects in two ways: countries with high unemployment increase the proportion of highly qualified employees who make a valuable contribution to the national economy. At the same time, countries with high economic power and a shortage of skilled labour can offer promising employment opportunities to sufficiently trained workers from countries with weaker economic power and high unemployment. In order to offer companies, workers, educational institutions and associations in the timber construction sector better starting conditions for improving the opportunities for action and exploiting the opportunities for cooperation, it was necessary to carry out a comprehensive and transparent stocktaking of the background information on vocational education and training in timber construction, which had so far been insufficient, and to significantly expand the existing individual contacts with players in vocational education and training. This would create the necessary prerequisites for an expanded cooperation in the future on the basis of a European vocational training network in timber construction.The following project partners were involved in the implementation of the project:Timber Construction Europe, Luxembourg - Coordinator Berufsförderungswerk des Baden-Württembergischen Zimmererhandwerks, Germany Alppisalvos Oy, Finland Tyrolean vocational school for wood technology, Austria Épitési Vállakozók Országos Szakszövetsége (ÉVOSZ), HungaryHolzbau Letzebuerg Asbl, Luxembourg Associated Partner: Holzbau SwitzerlandThe following main activities were carried out as part of the project:•Survey of the framework conditions for initial and continuing training in the carpentry trade•Comparison of educational systems and qualifications in European timber construction•Creation of structures for further education, promotion qualification and further education•Determination of the development of job descriptions and job profiles in the course of upgrading qualifications•Permeability of training systems •Competence fields and functions in timber construction companies in accordance with the entrepreneurial and economic requirements framework conditions•Inter-company training centres, training offers, training methods,•Lighting of exchange activities, international networks and partnerships•Future cooperation in a European vocational training Network•Follow-up projectAchieved results and effectBased on a high degree of basic transparency of education systems in the countries of the European Union and individual associated countries, typologies and education clusters could be developed that provided initial information on general system differences as well as on the type and extent of knowledge, skills and competences imparted. For the first time it was possible to make a more precise inventory of timber construction in which countries vocational training in timber construction/carpentry takes place and which knowledge, skills and qualifications are imparted in the course of further and advanced training and which are available in the curricula and course offerings of vocational training centres. The determination of the permeability of the education system could be described in individual best-practice cases. The project also provided initial insights into the dynamics of the development of vocational education and training in countries that have not yet had regulated vocational education and training.The long-term benefit of the project is that it can be expected that cooperation for the further development of VET in European timber construction, projects for the systematic acquisition of skills and competences and educational cooperation will be strengthened through the exchange of teaching and training methods and measures for the horizontal mobility of trainees, long-term employees and teachers and trainers. The partner network of European vocational education and training in timber construction established in the course of the project work could make a lasting contribution to this.

Construction companies in EU are facing difficulties due to skilled labour shortage and the main reasons for this are out-of-date and/or inflexible VET systems.The project Skills Sector Alliances for Transfer of Knowledge and Skills of VET Workforce in Construction – SKILLCO was a 39-project-months international project for addressing skills gaps in the construction industry in EU in an innovative way. Its consortium of 8 project partners involved social partner organisations and VET providers from Germany, Hungary and Slovenia, as well as FIEC (the EU umbrella organisation for employers in the construction industry). The project website: www.skillco.euSectoral skills issues addressed:1.MAIN FOCUS: Vocational skills: greens skills, OSH, literacy, numeracy related to 4th EQF construction profiles, using a practical example (the SKILLCO House) learning units and learning material have been developed for the four identified and selected key skill gaps, namely:a.Literacy (Plan reading and time scheduling of the SKILLCO House)b.Numerical literacy (Construction cost calculations for the SKILLCO House)c.Occupational health and safety - OSH (Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders for construction workers)d.Green skills (Reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste from buildings and their proper handling on the example of the SKILLCO House).2.PARTIAL FOCUS: Digitals skills (related to our newly developed, publicly available mobile app - SKILLgAPP) use and specific IT programmes/tools in literacy and numeracy modules)3.PARTIAL FOCUS: Vanishing (traditional) craft skills (typical for participating regions), We have also identified a few vanishing construction skills while working on the ground in the three countries. We have agreed to select two such skills that are common in all the participating countries and which we believe are valuable and deserve to be documented and remembered, especially in the light of the emerging professional needs for green skills. These are:a.Building a thatched roof (traditional skill common in Hungary and neighbouring countries)b.Making a wooden connection without metal screws or nails (to be able to build a farm structure, hayrack, in Slovenia and to build Traditional old German houses with timber framing).THE KEY PROJECT OUTPUT:Our mobile application SKILLgAPP is designed as an open source, a free mobile application, available for Android and Apple phones. It is a publicly available online educational resource and a digital learning platform for teachers and learners, with the OER feature. We followed that concept recommended by OECD and many other EU organisations. Instructions for using SKILLgAPP are available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPxUJAMR4HYMain results: 1.MAIN FOCUS ON SKILLS: The learning materials developed, divided into 2 modules: Module A (longer duration) for the common curriculum learning units for pupils/trainees and Module B (shorter duration) for the training course for construction workers/employees. In this way both VET students and already employed workers will benefit from the results. This will also foster trainee/worker mobility since these learning units and material can be incorporated/adapted on the EU level (Germany presenting the western EU countries and Hungary presenting the eastern part of EU).2.PARTIAL FOCUS ON SKILLS: Like the identified skill gaps the two vanishing skills have been described in detail and for each of them photographs, a video and a curriculum learning unit have also been made.