Crafts act as an important buffer in economic downturns and play a central role in providing VET on the job, both highly relevant for the transition from education to employment and to ensure a qualified workforce. In the last two decades, some traditional Crafts have declined due to mass production and rising consumerism. Others have evolved, embracing the digital age, particularly in marketing their products and engaging with new clients, collaborators and audiences. Furthermore, the traditional distance between craft sectors and ICT technologies is disappearing. The new generation of high tech digital tools and cutting edge machinery, like 3D printers, is transforming and leading the applied arts and craft sectors to a new digital age. To lead this transformation Europe needs to count with skilled handicraft teachers and trainers, equipped with the necessary competencies and resources to integrate these digital tools into innovative ICT based teaching and learning practices. VET teachers and trainers in craft sectors are usually handicraft professionals with expertise in their respective areas, and teaching in VET craft courses is frequently a secondary occupation. In many EU countries, initial teaching education is not compulsory for these VET teachers and trainers or some minimum training is required. They tend to acquire their teaching competencies through their teaching practice or through some continuous VET courses on train the trainers, usually not adapted to the specific needs of teaching crafts. The situation with regard to the training on ICT-based teaching skills is even worst, due to this lack of training opportunities and because many traditional Crafts do not use ICT and, as a result, neither handicraft teachers and trainers use ICT for teaching VET. The consequence is a lack of innovative ICT-based teaching practices in traditional handicraft VET, losing all the potential benefits of using ICT in education. The aim of this project has been to support the professional development of handicraft teachers and trainers in Europe in their transition to the digital age by improving their teaching competencies on innovative VET education through ICT based methods and tools. The project has prepared handicraft teachers and trainers to adapt also their teaching practice to the next generation of high tech digital tools and cutting edge machinery, like 3D printers, vinyl cutters or laser cutting and engraving. To this purpose, an alliance of Craft sectors organizations and VET experts and providers from 7 countries (Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and United Kingdom) have worked together to lead the project and co-create and test the following innovative methods and freely accessible OER: - A European ECVET Curriculum (IO1) on ICT skills for teaching Crafts. - Training Modules (IO2) on ICT based teaching methods specifically adapted for Crafts. - An innovative Mobile Instructional Learning APPs (IO3) designed to train handicraft trainers and teacher to use and design their own Mobile Learning APPs (IO5) for teaching Crafts. - A Multilingual e-learning platform (IO4), with innovative e-Learning courses and OER on ICT-based teaching methods for Crafts. - A Guide for validation, certification & accreditation (IO6) of innovative teaching learning methods through ICT in VET for craft sectors in Europe. Handicraft teachers and trainers are the main target users of the project products and final beneficiaries are craftsman students, learners and apprentices. During the life time of CRAFTS 3.0 project, the partnership have directly involved 99 handicraft teachers and trainers (32 partners staff / 42 experts involved / 25 target users in pilots), 125 I-VET and C-VET craftsman students, learners and apprentices (in pilots) and 500 stakeholders. A wider audience of more than 1000 recipients has been reached at local, regional, national and European level through all the partnes dissemination activities. The project applies European frameworks and instruments, like EQF, ECVET, EQAVET, Europass and EPALE, to promote and boost transparency and recognition of competences and qualifications, transnational mobility and the transferability of the project outputs to other Craft and VET organizations at local, regional, national and European level, with the support and active cooperation of a network of key associated partners and relevant stakeholders involved during the project. CRAFTS 3.0 supports the professional development of handicraft teachers and trainers in order to improve their teaching competencies in innovative education through ICT. The project has proved to have a direct impact in the improvement of the ICT skills of handicraft teachers and trainers. The long term impact envisaged is a strengthening of the VET system and programmes to fully exploit the potential benefits of ICT to support the transition of handicraft teachers and trainers to the Digital Age in Europe.

Since every EU member state is committed to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it follows that every country will be looking to close down the old-fashioned institutions and move people (and staff) out in community based services. It is crucial to empower the PwD in order to reach their full potential and achieve full participation in the society. Also a demanding challenge alongside is to form the attitude of the supporters around them. STEPS project was set up to deliver a training method what effectively able to influence both.STEPS project main objectives were helping the transition and everybody who might get involved the process: people preparing to move out, those who have moved out, staff supporting them, the families and friends. The partnership built up from five partners in different stage of the deinstitutionalisation for Sharing the European Pathways with each other. The coordinator was the Hungarian Hand in Hand Foundation specialised in educational social care and training projects and supports the Hungarian efforts to de–institutionalise its national care services. Fundatia Alpha Transilvana (FAT) is the Romanian partner what is a major service provider in Transylvania. Kehitysvammaisten Palvelusaatio from Finland has a long-term history of innovation in service delivery and experience of training staff whilst closing down large institutionalised services. Social Care Training is the UK partner in the project. It specialises in learning disability services and staff training. inproof is our Belgian partner. It covers monitoring and quality control and valuates the project.The project had created 13 Intellectual Outputs which contain 5 universal materials, 5 localised materials with country specific contents and 3 evaluation reports on each year and manager’ feedbacks. The training materials are not just the usual training materials. An important new element (among many) is the role of the ‘co-trainer’. This is someone with a learning disability who has been trained to act as a co-trainer alongside another trainer in delivering the STEPS training materials. Not all the modules need a co-trainer, but where this is appropriate we use the skills and insights of co-trainers. The training is designed for use in the actual workplace. The materials are all broken up into roughly 3 hour training sessions in small modules clustered around a specific topic which they will need to cope with when living in the community (e.g. managing money). This means that all the materials can be accessed within a single shift by staff or residents with relative ease. The training materials had been tried and tested on two short term joint staff teaching/training activities and on two training cycles in partner countries and they really work. De-institutionalisation is a long process involving many challenges for people with disabilities, staff and families. Changing attitudes and opening up minds to different ways of supporting people to move out of institutions and live in the community is a long-term task.

De-institutionalisation and the increasing personalisation of services are changing the skills and attitudes support staff need in the EU care sector. Social care employers across the EU see that big changes are required so that services become person centred & driven by the values of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) such as rights, inclusion, choice & independence. The workforce is huge and will continue to grow, with a strong tradition in many places of the medical model of care – explicitly rejected by the UNCRPD as inappropriate – which needs to be replaced with a new set of values and attitudes based on the social model. This project (EMiSC) is about helping bring about that attitudinal change by delineating and supporting the mentoring role in the social care workplace, aimed directly at front line workers who in some cases have had very little training or support, even though their ‘hands on’ role is critical to the well-being of people with disabilities.It’s a contribution alongside other EU wide products (such as the Basic European Social Care Learning Outcomes (BESCLO) and the European Care Certificate (ECC) which are now available in 20 states) to the creation of a European Area of skills and qualification in social care. It offers formal recognition for a role which many experienced staff already undertake when they guide and help new staff. It also opens routes for mentor and mentees to formal recognition of their learning and skill. EMISC produced a set of learning outcomes (LO) covering the mentoring function, with related assessment criteria, a mentoring assessment tool (MAT) and a Mentoring Training Course (MTC) to train new mentors. The consortium also produced a formal curriculum to support the EMISC LO. A Train the Trainer Course was produced as a start-up device for new countries, and a formal report on the issues facing the acceptance of transnational learning outcomes, using the experience of our partners.These training products were tested during 3 cycles of mentoring, with a control group of un-mentored candidates. All were initially assessed and re-assessed at the end via the European Care Certificate exam. Results were compared to demonstrate the beneficial impact of mentoring can be shown to be. Universal (in English) and ‘localised’ versions of all products are freely available on the EASPD E-learning HUB. A total of 387 people were involved in the project training and piloting. A total of 233 people were trained and twice assessed, of which 113 mentors were trained and involved in assessing candidates. In addition, 25 senior trainers were trained and are now able to use the MAT and undertake mentoring.The project’s products will be used alongside the BESCLO & ECC and gets promoted by the circle of ECC users in 20 states as well as via the umbrella body EASPD’s wider membership across the EU. The aim is to spread the use of mentoring as a means of driving changes in services. Interest is already big. During the second training activity in Slovenia, 6 external ECC partners from Spain and Germany followed the training for a week.In our study on formal and informal learning, we explain what a common European qualifications framework is about and reflect the current situation of learning from a more technical and formal viewpoint. We also give more insight into how the partner organisations of the EMiSC project have been dealing with formal and informal learning and recognition/validation in practice, in their country or region. We look at the relevant project outputs over a period of three years, i.e. since the start of the project in Sep 2015 until July 2018. We continue by mentioning how the partners have foreseen the use of the current project outputs after project end, i.e. their sustainability strategies or actions. And we finish with some critical reflections and conclusions on the outcome of our research.Via the End User Impact Tool feedback from 89 users of support services was obtained on the difference the project had made to how their support staff worked with them. The results showed that staff mentoring had a positive impact on the quality of the service users support. Together with the results from the MAT, we can show that EMiSC makes it possible that individual new staff and mentors will be immediate, personal and professional. Implementing EMISC is a low cost means of improving care services and marks a beginning of the transfer of power to people who use services. Issues of power and control lie at the heart of attitudes of staff in care services and the UNCRPD is clear with its slogan of ‘Nothing about us without us’ that staff must be prepared to empower users to get a ‘real life’ – with all that means.