21st century soft skills for teachers in VET is an innovative project aiming to equip teachers involved in VET schools with knowledge and ability to apply most essential 21st century skills. Nowadays European economies are driven by globalization, development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the diversity of values in society. Future is becoming more and more unpredictable in a wide variety of areas. Students, who are at schools now, should learn to live in a world that is constantly changing and in the future be prepared unprecedented economic, political, social and cultural environment. No doubt, arrange of 21st century skills is needed to be developed in the students, to address the ever-changing future for their well-being. There are guidelines, curricula and methodologies introducing the training of soft skills in vocational education. For majority of teachers, this kind of approach is new. Neither they acquire such skills themselves, not they have methodology how to include the skills in their educational activities and train the students. Moreover, project partners – schools, have experienced that new approaches, training the skills are lot easier accepted and developed for students rather than teachers in the framework of “Future of Education and Skills 2030” gained by OECD and used by each partner country and educational institutions as education guidelines for new educational approaches. Therefore we decide to focus on teachers in this project. The objective of this project is VET teachers who are able to work with core set of skills - skills that they master themselves and are capable to assist in development of the skills with their students. Teachers who want lifelong learning and can inspire students to that; teachers who can master ICT tools not staying behind their students, teachers who can address challenges and be a role model in the eyes of the students. We aim to achieve above described targets with several steps:-involve partner schools’ teachers, students and key employers in research to narrow down OECD’s list of 21st century on most essential skills-develop practical guidelines and set of training material, including digital, interactive materials and education videos and training program for teacher training- design a training course - train the trainers approach-involve focus group of teachers in training activity within the project-involve teachers in multiplier events where teachers who already trained will train others -all teachers (within consortium and outside) to have access to research results and training materials-key persons involved in project learning teaching training activities will be doing training events after projectTarget group of the project are VET teachers within participating organizations; their needs are confidence in a work with students to prepare them for the unknown future. What are the needs of the teachers - real training of the skills for themselves through learn how to teach method to learn how it can be done with students during their theoretical and practical VET training. The project will be implemented by three partners - FU Academy in Tenerife, Spain, ROC van Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Riga Technical School of Tourism and Creative Industry, Latvia (project coordinator). All involved partners are working internationally and have been partners in Erasmus+ KA1 mobilities and Erasmus+ PRO mobilities and staff exchanges for a long time. Many of challenges concerning the lack of skills are revealed in international work – activities that require teachers to step out of the comfort zone and think outside the box. This is where we believe those challenges can be overcome.

Four vocational colleges in sports education, based in The Netherlands, Finland, Spain and Germany have discussed the possibility to create a concept for a transnational curriculum which allows students to enhance their professional Skills and Knowledge with a very specific subject through international exchange. Note: vocational education in this situation is at EQF 4, not at higher education.For this purpose a carousel with modules is to be developed. Each module is explicit characteristic for the college performing the module. The Skills and Knowledge is not available as such within the other colleges. The modules will be designed with several European assumptions/tools for VET and transnational relations/insights (such as eTwinning, ECVET, Skills Agenda, badges, etc.).The module carousel in vocational sports education provide secondary vocational students in sport a better entry to the European realm in sports and/or a higher education in sports. And the development process will deliver a blueprint for constructing similar settings in other VET domains.The intention is to have both test runs with teachers and students, leading to a integration of the carousel in the regular educational program before the end of the project. And that other colleges will join the carousel after the first multiplier event using the concept blueprint. This way we create a real product in operational form with the carousel, which can be evaluated once more in a ‘live’ situation and an additional test stage of the blueprint.Several EU-tools for VET will be incorporated in the module carousel. Though the intent is also to experiment with different digital tools to experience the effects of such application for future devlopments (i.e. Open Badges). Vier onderwijsinstituten binnen de sector sport, komend uit Nederland, Finland, Spanje en Duitsland, hebben de mogelijkheid besproken om een concept te maken van een transnationaal curriculum dat MBO-studenten sport (NLQF 4) de kans biedt om hun Kennis en Vaardigheden te vergroten met een zeer specifiek onderwerp door internationale uitwisseling. Opm: beroepsonderwijs is in dit geval op MBO Niveau 4 en niet het hoger onderwijs.Hiervoor is een module carrousel uitgedacht dat ontwikkeld moet worden. Elke module is kenmerkend voor het college dat de uitvoering verzorgt. De daar aangeboden Kennis en Vaardigheden zijn niet te verkrijgen bij de andere colleges. De modules zijn vormgegeven met allerlei Europese uitgangspunten voor VET en transnationale relaties/inzichten (zoals eTwinning, ECVET, Skills Agenda, badges, etc.).De module carrousel in het MBO Sport en Bewegen biedt MBO-studenten sport een betere toegang tot de Europese arbeidsmarkt en/of een hogere vervolgopleiding. Het ontwikkelingsproces zal ook een blauwdruk opleveren, waarmee andere domeinen binnen VET ook een gelijksoortige ontwikkeling kunnen doen.De bedoeling is dat er test sessies gedaan worden met docenten/specialisten en met studenten, die er toe moeten leiden dat de carrousel al voor het eind van het project geïntegreerd zijn in het reguliere onderwijsaanbod. En dat andere onderwijsinstituten zijn aangehaakt na het eerste multiplier event gebruikmakend van de blauwdruk. Hiermee realiseren we een operationeel eindproduct dat feitelijk in een ‘live’ situatie nog eens kan worden beoordeeld, en een test van de ontwikkelde blauwdruk.Diverse EU-gereedschappen voor VET zullen toegepast worden in de carrousel. Echter er zal ook geëxperimenteerd worden met andere digitale gereedschappen om de effecten te kunnen vaststellen voor toekomstige ontwikkelingen (bijv. Open Badges).

This project tried to transfer the ideas and knowledge on sustainability through information, education and training to students, schools, employers, employees and other stakeholders in the Hair and Beauty sector to provide insight into sustainability: Health & Safety, environment, equipment and entrepreneur skills.The hairdressing sector in Europe employs more than one million people across 400.000 hairdressing salons, receiving 350 million potential customers. The H&B often has more affinity with knowledge about their profession than with other aspects of the business. Attention to labour, health & safety, environment, marketing, service and services are crucial for successful entrepreneurship. The aim of this project was to develop innovative ways of learning about sustainability and to promote sustainability in schools and companies in the sector. The educational products we have generated, which are matching the goals, includes workshops on sustainability and innovation, teaching materials for schools and extracurricular education about sustainability in the 'green' salon (3 learning modules, on sustainability and entrepreneurial skills), a study of sustainability in the sector in Europe, a diagnostic scan for businesses and schools, a roadmap for introducing sustainability in the salon, a physical sustainability game for use in schools, companies and other educational purposes, an internet awareness game about sustainability, a scan on strategy, a final sector conference and student participation, with the aim of developing a magazine on sustainability in the H&B sector and a demo of sustainable hair creations. We also communicated on the results through a brochure, articles and press releases, meetings with stakeholders: social partners, educational institutes etc., a project website and the final conference in Amsterdam. By informing students, teachers and policy makers, we wanted to take steps towards more sustainability. Vocational education is in close contact with the companies in the local community and can open doors to changes in the industry. Therefore, activities were organized with students, workers and employers in the partner countries. Several classes with students and teachers are actively involved in the activities in each country. Through this project we want to demonstrate that -in Europe- we need to act sustainably in the sector in a striking way.We gathered facts through research on sustainable developments in the participating countries, aspects of management systems with a focus on health & safety and environment, the desired situation in a sustainable salon (possible core of a simple certification system), competences needed to reach this situation and research on a diagnostic scan to map the current situation on sustainability in a school or salon. The outcomes of the research were discussed with experts and the results were input for developing the scan, the internet awareness game, the learning material in 3 modules and a final sector conference with student participation along the project. Using the competences of the different partners, their network, the experts, entrepreneurs in the sector and the teachers and students in the conferences and at home in the schools, we combined knowledge and perseverance to finalize the task in a good way.Long term benefitsThe effect of working sustainable in a ‘Green salon’ bottom line, is reducing risks and having more pleasure and satisfaction on the work spot. Sustainability creates less problems with health & safety, less environmental damage, less waste and a better and healthier use of materials and resources, a more controlled use of energy and water, more sustainable choices in investing in equipment and a higher level of customer experience and employee satisfaction. This all has to be managed by an entrepreneur or self-employed H&B specialist with the right skills. Through the project we have created awareness on the risks on the health & safety and the environmental issues. In the contacts with other schools, Coiffure.eu (the international hairdressers association), the social dialog between social partners and the EU, regional entrepreneurs (organizations) the outputs have been spread. A more sustainable way of working in the salons can have a good start with education and training in regular VET and non-formal education accessible to people who are already working in the sector. Also the partners have contacted entrepreneurs and suppliers with the developed information.PartnersES-El Palo – Malaga, VET school: Hair & BeautyDK-Aarhus Tech, VET school: hairdressing department FR-IGS Lyon, VET & HE school: experienced in development of ICT games and entrepreneurial toolsUK- Bridgewater College, VET school: hairdressing departmentNL- ROC Amsterdam, VET school: hairdressing departmentNL-Stivako – VET school: entrepreneurial skills and sustainability in the creative industry

Final Report (abstract) CLOU1.BackgroundThe project has been conceived against the background of more and more young people who fail taking their final exams at school or in their vocational training programmes, who drop out of school and thus contribute to a growing number of young adults without any qualifying graduation. While the project was running a new educational objective arose caused by the current influx of fugitives. The project group has reacted immediately and managed to include this target group into their general work concept at short notice.Furthermore, we observe that the teaching staff often feels left alone and overburdened in such difficult and demanding situations, which results in the fact that little happens to effectively improve the learners’ conditions.2.AimsTaken as a whole the project dealt with general educational aims – including most recent ones which focus on improving the structural possibilities of educational institutions and on optimizing the success of the individual learner. Suggestions on specific actions to provide support are meant to develop the resource “education” and to increase young adults’ chances to find employment. It was agreed that there is a great need to support students in developing their individual talents, in improving their key competencies and in outlining personalized teaching concepts. Therefore the project partners found it expedient to share, compare and jointly develop innovative concepts in a transnational project in order to devise suitable arrangements which will satisfy the needs mentioned above. This resulted in a further aim, namely to awake and to improve the fundamental understanding of all people involved because as many teachers as possible were meant to be included by such an educational initiative into a discussion and reflection of the topic with the intention to make them realize and interested in further training programmes. The intention was to clarify the relevance of individual offers of support and learning arrangements and to take up catchphrases, like ‘equal opportunities’ and ‘inclusion’, which are discussed emphatically, but which are not always adequately realized. In our project we focussed on counteracting, on using and further developing existing patterns, for these patterns are based on past experiences which were shared, evaluated and put into context in the course of the project. Additionally it was important for the project group to discuss the promotion of examples of mentoring, of individual support and of modifying curricula, as EU countries differ considerably in furthering such processes. Therefore sharing their respective experiences and opinions is particularly attractive among transnational partners. While pursuing our aims we have reverted to results of a ten-year-old project which was realized in the context of a Grundtvig strategic partnership (“Aller Anfang ist leicht”), for the partners of this project had already dealt with topics like support, encouragement and with developing individual structures of support and mentoring. 3.Participating organisations Seven partners were involved in this project thus representing various forms of schools and ways of learning: the partners in Gothenburg (SE) and in Bartin (TK) represented schools teaching young people (secondary schools / grammar schools), the partners in Amsterdam (NL), Tallinn (EE) and the associated institution in Paderborn (DE) represented adult education / second-chance education; and educational associations or institutions of popular education were represented by the partners in Leitir Moir (IR) and Pleven (BG). Thus it was possible to cover, to analyze and systematically take into consideration the problems of learners (and teachers) independent of a specific school form and across all age-groups.4.Main activitiesThe work schedule outlined in the application of the project was implemented: there were three obligatory “transnational conferences” (kick-off Oct. 2014 / May 2015 and May 2016), in addition there were – as proposed in the application – further meetings when the project partners were focussed on working intensively, i. e. on compiling material, and on developing and outlining steps and activities for counselling and support. Each partner institution sent two to four representatives, who participated in the obligatory “transnational conferences”. Additionally all partner institutions again sent two participants each to two major meetings in The Netherlands (spring 2015) and in Estonia (autumn 2015), and furthermore there were two meetings on a lower scale in spring and summer 2016 when the partners from The Netherlands (NL) and Bulgaria (BG) were represented by one participant each. These meetings were mainly concerned with outlining and designing the homepage, therefore it was important to have a small group of workers committed to their task. The partners’ interests and activities were guided by their agreemen

MOKKA => MOdellentwicklung: Kunst und Kreativität als AlternativeDevelopment of Models: Art and Creativity as AlternativesThe institutions participating in the project have aimed at collecting and documenting material which will enable learners in various fields of adult education to be open-minded and to offer mutual esteem and respect when meeting others. Thus, they are then prepared to exchange ideas and work on them together.This project work has not only been about better integrating people into processes of learning and about optimising their performances, but we report on possibilities – and illustrate them with the help of case studies – how people who are responsible in the fields of work and education are able to better adjust themselves and their professional focus as they are confronted with vastly heterogenous situations and with challenges like the integration of refugees and people with migration backgrounds, which is why they then need access to corresponding individual measures of support, of enculturation, of mutual acceptance.The project MOKKA has tested and documented ways to improve people’s skills and abilities to make contacts und become integrated. Creative talents of people, their eagerness to experiment and ideas how to use their own knowledge were confirmed and widened in order to help children and young people develop and stabilize some profound self-confidence. Teachers / lecturers / social workers see their professional work more and more as being supportive and innovative. The project MOKKA has generated and provides small work samples; concrete creative ideas and their implementation are presented on the homepage of the project. The products are meant as basis for an ADD-ON-programme which focuses on social and cultural issues in diverse forms and situations of learning. => http://www.westfaelisches-forum.de/unsere-projekte/mokka/mokka.htmlIn the course of the project MOKKA best practise cases have been found (1), documented and explained (2), newly developed and tested (3), as well as collected in a pool for further training courses (4):1) collecting small work samples which reflect creative ideas in individual partner institutions;2) pooling and explaining of materials that have been generated by working on the samples (1);3) developing and implementing new materials and small modules within the participating institutes as well as in similarly structured institutions in the vicinity;4) conceiving and testing a module / a course as a competence course ‘MOKKA’, which is offered as a course of further training within the European context. (2 offers in 2018, s. https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu))The milieu of encouragement in which immigrants and persons with a tendency towards deficits in education live, is often not suited to motivate young adults and to encourage them to trust their own talents. Therefore, we here present concrete examples of such forms of support. We pursue our aim to improve, expand and develop the preconditions by offering suggestions and commentaries on suitable methods as well as specific materials. The capabilities and talents of young people are manifold and differentiated; as, however, an early emphasis on achievement – mainly concerning very basic competences – implies a narrow perspective in our competitive society, they often remain undetected. We have seen ourselves as “treasure hunters” and we now offer some choice examples of those treasures. We aim at focussing teachers’ / lecturers’ / social workers’ attention in such a way that they may resort to competencies and skills in order to prevent the alienation or exclusion of young people. Thus, the integration and possibly even inclusion of students who approach processes of learning in a rather more associative than cognitive way will be supported more successfully. The project partners are largely extra-curricular institutions (museums, art and music academies, educational associations) in which pedagogical programmes have been developed and are employed successfully. The proposed competence-course was successfully organized twice in 2018. Lectures were trained to apply an ADD-ON-programme successfully and to understand and accept that people will learn by making detours, sometimes even more successfully. More over the results have been presented in a congress in November 2018.