Finding people with the right experience and skills continues to be a challenge across Europe. Skills mismatches and occupational shifts have worsened as jobs are opening up for technical professionals in Europe. It is a well-known fact that programmers are the most sought professionals in almost all European countries. Software development in a wider sense is becoming an integrated part of many different jobs in the modern society. Different sources declare thousands and tens of thousands developers needed in the labor market. Until recent years in majority of European countries software development jobs have been regarded needing educational preparation on Master’s or minimum Bachelor’s level. Today there are many successful examples of teaching programming starting already in primary schools. Examples of successful software development curricula on EQF levels 3, 4 and 5 can be found in different European countries, but they are not common yet. Also the employers are sometimes still hesitating whether the vocational training provides the skills needed in labor market.The partnership is composed by 3 members; all of them are active in ICT related training and education.Partner 1 - BCS Koolitus is ICT training and consulting company established in 1993 in Estonia, offering a full training process, from assessment of needs, till measuring the training results. BCS has been the awarding body of the professional qualifications in the field of IT since 2010.Partner 2 - CEIPES is a non-profit European organization with antennas in more than 8 European countries. Partner 3 - EUC - European University Cyprus is a private university, member of Laureate International Universities, a worldwide network of Higher Education institutions founded in the United States.The JobIT project focuses on meeting the needs of the employers with developing innovative and effective software development teaching methodologies for Vocational Education and Training on EQF levels 3-5. For this the consortium took the following actions. To study the labor market needs and the views of employers a focused analysis is a first and an integral part of the project. The study analyses the numerous ICT labor market research studies carried out in the partner countries and other European countries and study the needs for EQF level 3-5 software developers in participating countries. One focus of the study was to disseminate the understanding that vocational schools are capable of preparing skilled to start take their first job as junior programmer.Based on the study a conceptual framework was put together innovative integrated teaching methodology of the crucial subjects of software development. Crucial subjects are not just directly programming-related subjects, but also mathematics and social behavior related subjects tackling team-work, cooperation, project management etc. Good cooperation and close interaction with employers and real customers is crucial in developing the relevant methodology. Thus the methodology strongly rely on engaging field working practicians in the teaching process, but also providing real-life tasks and mentoring during practice period. The innovative methods were collected into handbook as a set of principles for the VET teachers. Based on the research results the consortium worked out a package of learning materials for web programming subjects (PHP and Javascript, testing). The accordingly developed courseware is using innovative educational technologies (mainly Scrum in Education) and gives teachers also guidelines how to use software development tools. The project also included a training component for VET school software development course teachers. The training were carried out in all three partner countries with the field specialists as lecturers. As a result of the training the participating VET teachers were confident in their knowledge and skills on teaching software development as having acquired the knowledge from specialists and straight from the companies during their practice. The VET schools now have guidelines (the handbook and web programming learning materials) to execute the innovative methodology for the crucial subjects of software development. After training and internship in companies, the VET teachers have better understanding of the employers needs and the field labor market. The European labor market will benefit from the skilled and competent VET graduates.

<< Objectives >>In order to be a good socially responsible entrepreneur in today’s world, one needs to take a place in the digital world. And this requires some important features and basic digital entrepreneurship skills besides social entrepreneurship skills. This project is designed to provide training and support to young social entrepreneurs to equip them with the most important and necessary digital entrepreneurship skills.<< Implementation >>The following activities will be realized in order to achive the aims and objectives of the project.-Preparation of Training content for Digital Social Entrepreneurship -Comprehensive Training Course on Digital Social Entreprenuership (DSE)-Follow up/ support young digital social enterpreneurs through an online learning environment-Project Meetings (In-person & Virtual)-Activities to better share project results and reach more audience-Ensuring quality and sound management of the project<< Results >>The following concrete results and learning outcomes are expected during and after the project;-Training materials on DSE skills-A comprehensive training course on Digital Social Entrepreneurship (DSE) to train youth in Social Entrepreneurship and DSE skills.-An online learning environment with the space to follow up/ support youth-To create awareness on young people on digital social entrepreneurship-To equip young social entrepreneurs of the day with necessary digital entrepreneur skills

COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on many sectors of employment. Cultural and creative sectors are among the most impacted, as cultural activities traditionally require people to come together. The above mentioned has deemed very difficult in many countries and many cultural sector employees have lost their jobs or been forced to switch careers. However, vibrant cultural life is a cornerstone of a community or a society, and thus creating and spreading digital innovation in the cultural sector is pivotal. Our aim with this project is to aid cultural organizers and cultural (and creative) sector employees in finding alternative means to create and deliver culture to the people. This is done through enhancing various digital skills of cultural organizers and sector employees, as well as introducing and teaching design-thinking methodology as a foundation in finding new activities and outputs to carry out and spread cultural and creative activities. Many cultural sector employees work outside big cities and increased digital skills and knowledge in design-thinking are pivotal for them in reaching a bigger number of audience and clientele. Also, many cultural sector employees are older and may lack necessary digital skills to succeed in today’s work environment. Thus, the project also aims at increased equality and inclusion, offering cultural workers better opportunities despite their age, gender, or location. A small research will be carried out for mapping the needs of cultural sector in every partner country. Based on the research, a multilevel training program (for mentors and employees) is created for cultural sector employees. The training course is supported by the creation of an online learning platform and a progressive app. The mentor course is designed in a way which enables its graduates to act as trainers for their colleagues, making the impact of the project even greater.The online learning platform (with educational modules and a handbook) together with a progressive web app help us to reach more audience inside and outside of partner countries. All of the materials are free, which enables all interested people to educate themselves on the above mentioned topics, as better digital skills and more developed design-thinking can come to use for all of the cultural sector during the COVID time. The materials will be available in 4 project languages (incl English). The learning platform will be available for 3 years after the completion of the project and will be free for use. A new skill-set of competencies will be added to the to the current framework of competencies in Estonia. The competency model of the Estonian cultural leaders could be used as an example in creating similar competency models in other EU countries. As one of the outputs of the project, a blueprint for a completely new profession – a cultural technologist will be created in Estonia with the support of The Estonian Ministry of Culture. This serves as a basis for the creation for a new job/area of expertise and possibly a basis for a study curriculum for this job.Participating organisations:BCS Koolitus has been carrying out national ICT and digital competence enhancement programs for citizens since year 2000, the latest, ongoing program “E- Citizenship” (2018-2022), procured by the Ministry of Commerce and Communication, aims at raising awareness on ICT literacy of 6000 inhabitants, of whom 1/2 are elderly people ( aged 55+) and 1/2 various sectors employees with poor IT competencies. Training course program and materials are developed by BCS Koolitus and delivered via face-to-face training courses.ECFC has been the leading training partner on folk culture in Estonia for 30 years, offering in-service training for cultural sector leaders, cultural organizers and members of cultural ass. across Estonia. The project supports ECFC’s aims in increasing digital competencies among leaders and employees on different levels, as well as providing effective support in introducing and rooting innovative technological solutions throughout all the cultural sector. The project enables to concretize the needs of the target group, increase their technological competencies, and establish communities of creative networks, thus opening up new horizons for cooperation between different sectors and also internationally.Efektas Group (Lithuania) has been working in education and training field for adults and educators since early days of its’ establishments and one of the most crucial topics is critical judgement on daily activities and habits people have. This project is supporting this purpose by educating our organisation and stakeholders to be more aware of digital applications, online threats, develop habits that prevent from loses.Prios Kompetanse from Norway is an educational software and web applications provider, who will be responsible for creating a website and an online application for the project.

<< Objectives >>The project is aimed at the increasing of digital competences and skills of trainees and employees (digicomp) in the retail sector by using modern retail-specific e-learning units. These units should prepare them to cope with the challenges oft he digital transformation processes of the retail sector. The project also supports and expands the digital competences (digicompEDU) of teachers and trainers by using the e-learning units for vocational education in retail trade.<< Implementation >>Development of case studies in different learning sites and a specified competence matrix on qualification deficits regarding digital competences in retail. Development of micro learning units to reduce competence and skills gaps in order to meet the future needs of the qualification profile in retail. Workshops for teachers and trainers to promote the systematic use of e-learning units in vocational education and training and thus ensure higher learning success.<< Results >>Provision of 40 to 60 retail-specific e-learning units that can be used in terms of flexible deployment options for both the national and the European retail education landscape in terms of availability and use of ICT in different learning scenarios and at different learning locations such as companies and educational institutions, depending on the needs of the potential users. Promote the use of eLearning on a European scale.

New ICT technologies are transforming the way of accessing information and therefore the way people learn. Education is going through a major transformation. The main challenge for the 21st century education is not only to provide ICT infrastructure, but to develop teacher professional development programs that will provide them with knowledge and skills on how to use ICT to support pedagogy appropriately and meaningfully in enhancing learning experiences among students. Teachers have to understand how to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, support creative and innovative thinking, engage students in exploring and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources, and promote student reflection using collaborative tools and engaging them in knowledge construction while learning with other students in face-to-face and virtual environments.The 2-year project “Creative Classroom” was launched in September 2014 with the main goal of assisting Estonian schools in their digital turn. The consortium brings together European top experts on the field of innovative learning and teaching to enhance the skills and knowledge directly of a group of Estonian teachers. Partners from Estonia, Finland, Slovenia and Croatia worked together to design and deliver innovative training for Estonian teachers in order to enable them to use tools and methods for innovative learning that 21st century education requires. Under the guidance of European educational technology experts, the group of Estonian teachers participated in four workshops on topics concerning ICT and teaching methodologies such as trialogical learning, flipped classroom, project-based learning, game-based learning, problem-based learning, and inquiry-based learning. They developed innovative lesson scenarios which were published as an electronic collection and shared with other teachers in Estonia and across Europe. The main tasks of the project:• Gathering and interpreting evidence of readiness of the shift to innovative education from the aspect of teachers, students and schools in Estonia;• Designing and delivering up-skilling workshops for Estonian teachers with the combined knowledge from Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Finland;• Developing a web-based tool for describing lesson scenarios;• Developing an electronic guidebook of innovative ICT learning and teaching methodologies and tools for an open use in schools Europe wide;• Organizing school visits and a video materials to showcase and disseminate the developed guidebook.The main result of the project was the developed electronic lesson scenario collection in Estonian and in English, developed in the LePlanner environment. A lesson scenario building tool LePlanner was co-developed with the teachers’ involvement during the Creative Classroom project. The tool allows constructing digital lesson scenarios and sharing them. LePlanner allows developing scenarios from sequential learning activities, connecting learning activities with particular learning outcomes, enriching scenarios with digital resources, tools and applications, and viewing both the teachers’ and students’ activities in the same timeline. The interactivity level of learning activities according to the trialogical learning principles can be added to each activity. After each workshop, the teachers prepare their visual learning scenarios. Even though the main result of the project is the development of the electronic lesson guide book, another result is important as well. The project will provide teachers with a community to exchange ideas and experiences on innovative ICT in teaching practices, which will strongly support the further development of the field. The project’s consortium is hoping that the project will be a Europe-wide encouragement for the shift to the 21st century education.