The adoption of energy efficiency measures for buildings has created a strong demand for digital and green skills for smart metering and home automation technologies. Electricians, apart from technical proficiency, require a combination of digital and environmental skills to respond to the installation, maintenance, and programming of smart metering and energy efficiency home automation systems. SMARTEL aimed to tackle this challenge by delivering a modular VET course and OERs on smart metering and home automation to empower electricians across the member countries of the consortium with modern digital and environmental knowledge, skills and competences. In particular, project objectives involved 1) Enhancing the labour market relevance of VET for electricians, to address smart metering and home automation skill needs, 2) Introducing modern training delivery methods and open access innovative pedagogical resources, enabling learners to acquire and self-assess relevant skills,3) Facilitate mutual recognition of the developed learning outcomes across the EU.The partnership comprised 6 organisations from 5 countries, from the world of VET, the electrical installation sector, energy efficiency research, as well as learning innovation experts. The Panevezys College (PANKO), VSRC and XABEC brought the expertise in the design and delivery of engineering and electricians VET programs and courses; the European Association of Electrical Contractors (AIE) represented the needs and workplace realities of the electrical sector at EU-level; EXELIA contributed as an expert in R&D and delivery of innovative ICT-based methodologies for VET and Sofia Energy Agency (SOFENA) brought experience from the area of energy efficiency.Main project activities involved: analysis of current and future workforce training needs to develop updated and tailored to sectoral needs smart metering and home automation learning outcomes, development of modular learning units for a comprehensive VET programme in smart metering and home automation, development of pedagogical resources and assessment tools to be offered as Open Education Resources, development, testing, and delivery of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on smart metering and home automation, promoting the adoption of innovative practices in vocational training, involvement of authorities and stakeholders for the endorsement and mutual recognition of SMARTEL units of learning outcomes and sharing and validation of outputs with multiplier events, inviting target groups to uptake SMARTEL results and to act as further disseminators.The SMARTEL project led to the following results and impact: - VET world and sector validated learning outcomes for training provision in smart metering and home automation technologies for electricians in the building installation sector.- Formal VET learning units on smart metering and home automation and VET integration guidelines.- Pedagogical resources and assessment tools for smart metering and home automation technologies, offered as OERs.- SMARTEL Massive Open Online Course on smart metering and home automation for electricians.- A signed agreement on the validation, endorsement, and mutual recognition of the SMARTEL units of learning outcomes.- A sectoral recommendations paper to support decision-making and pave the way for future developments in VET and skill development policies.- Two demonstration workshops and three national information days to promote project results and validate all developed educational resources.Finally, long term benefits of the project involve: the uptake of project materials and open educational resources from relevant VET providers across the EU, participation of a growing number of initial and continuous VET learners in courses based on project outputs, expansion of the strategic partnership towards a network of collaborating VET and sector stakeholders, including electrical enterprises, in-house training centres, and large VET providers, and further maturing and development of national and European VET policies targeted to the construction sector influenced by SMARTEL recommendations paper.

<< Background >>In order to fight against climate change, the European Commission has planned to reduce Europe’s emission of greenhouse gases by 80% to 95% in 2050. The environmental protection will lead every European country to use more and more renewable energies. The renewable energies are characterized by their intermittence. They will consequently bring some needs for energy storage on the network, that will make the network management far more complex. The solutions aren’t easy to find but for sure they will lead to interconnections between different energy networks: electricity, gas, heat, etc. This transition, between current energy networks and the one needed tomorrow, will require new knowledge. This is especially true for technicians who will need to be more versatile in their day to day activities. They will require to understand not only the problematics of one specific sector, but also see the whole picture.Current teaching courses across Europe are not constructed that way. The courses are generally separated (some dealing with electricity, others with gas production or treatment) dedicated to different students with no particular interactions.This leads to labour market problematics that can be already seen today. According to the study “Employment in the EU-28 by Member State and RES employment per population” published by the European Commission in July 2020, the renewables sector accounted for over 1.5 million jobs in 2018 in the EU. Implementing the Paris Agreement, in full worldwide, which would limit global warming to 2°C by the end of the century, could create 18 million net additional jobs by 2030 due to changes in the production and use of energy. The consequence is that about 1.5 million highly skilled people must be trained every year in Europe.In France for instance, according to a study from EDEC, ordered by the Energy strategic committee, it was demonstrated that 200 000 jobs should be created before 2030 in the electrical field. However, the study clearly highlights that the technician job, and especially jobs related to maintenance and operation, are already very difficult to find. These profiles are already quite rare and will be in even higher demand tomorrow. In the Netherlands the SER (Socio-economic council) stated in 2018 that there is already a shortage of around 20.000 technicians in the country. The need to prepare these professionals, or by initial training or by vocational training is then viewed as a priority for universities of the energy field. Thus, there is a clear need for more advanced training programs, handling the above-mentioned topics, and targeting more specifically technician level students.<< Objectives >>The GREEN TECH project aims at breaking down the barriers that exist today between individual energy system training courses in order to train more versatile technicians. This broad knowledge and skill versatility are a key competence that industrials working in the energy field are requiring more and more on the labour market. The consortium wants to create a full course, composed of training units on Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Green Gas. Moreover, it is planned to also highlight the necessity of the connections between those units with two more units on Network Management and Storage and Different Usages based on real world industrial use cases. These units will be shared by every member of the consortium and will create new higher education courses, as well as potential for vocational training. The consortium will also share the knowledge through a MOOC allowing to make the content created within the framework of the project available to high education actors involved in initial or continuing training.<< Implementation >>The project will produce a large survey, deployed in all partner countries, giving information on Energy transition strategy of the country, technical developments and innovations, new competences needed for energy transition (M1-M6 / January 2022 – June 2022). This survey will be used to adapt the content of the different training units. It will also have great added value as such, allowing a comparison of different European countries strategy.The project will produce training units, mixing theoretical content, practical exercises and real use cases study, in line with the results of the first phase (M5-M18 / May 2022 – June 2023). The originality of this course being to gather different notions that are normally trained separately, as expected by the objective that this project intends to reachThe testing phase will cover over 18 months, 2 sessions will be organized (M19-M36 / July 2023 – December 2024). Each university will be in charge of testing the introduction module. Partners having developed (or co-developed) a module will test them on their site. For those who do not have the competency, module leaders will be invited to test their modules in 2 to 3 other universities as visiting teachers. Using this method, good practices and contents will be shared across universities. Two generations of students (80 per year during two years of experimentation, hence 160 students) will obtain this broad view and at least 20 teachers per year will learn new competencies. The described barriers will slowly break down.Finally, the dissemination actions which will be done in the frame of this project will make sure that as many industrials as possible, including all of those who were involved in the initial survey, will be made aware of the existence of this European made broad content. They will be aware of where to look for their employee needs.<< Results >>The main project results are the training courses and the MOOC created by the end of the project. The survey and the mapping of the different stakeholders acting in the energy transition will be an added value for a better knowledge of this changing environment and of the interconnections between the different energy sectors. Moreover, the project could be an open window through a long-term interconnection between members of the consortium. This could lead to other common trainings, to student’s exchange, etc. This project is a key to train the new generation of technicians ready to work for the European energetic mix. Indeed, it will create bound between universities and between future technicians as well. To enable Europe to meet its commitments, Europe needs to work as one. This project is a real answer to this problematic.

"<< Background >>Investments in the training of VET teachers and trainers to improve their knowledge and ability to use Digital Technologies are generally insufficient, as recently analysed by OCSe (2021) and ILO (2021).This inadequacy is even more relevant if we consider that the priorities of Next Generation EU insist on the need for technological infrastructures and the strengthening of education and vocational training systems, in line with the objectives of full implementation of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021/2027.Digital transformation is already reshaping society, the labour market and the future of the economy. Technology innovation is the main driver of this transformation.Employers face challenges in recruiting highly qualified workers in different economic sectors. Vocational education and training (VET) systems are consequently undergoing an unprecedented impact that has made it necessary to rethink teaching methodologies based on experiential learning, including: workshop-based teaching activities, work-based learning, apprenticeships and all learning experiences in conditions of direct use of skills in the work environment.<< Objectives >>The project partnership, composed of different actors active in the vocational training sector, identified the following strategic objectives:1.To develop a framework of innovative pedagogical approaches and an appropriate quality framework to support the digital transformation of work-based learning experiences;2.To develop a competence framework on emerging digital skills for the VET trainer needed to innovate Work-based Learning methodology, laboratory and experiential online learning. The competence framework will be modular;3.Encourage VET trainers to acquire specific competences to design, deliver, evaluate and validate skills learned through Digital Work-based Learning experiences;4.To develop a training course to enrich the digital skills of VET trainers, available at a distance on the ""Deal with Digital Work-based Learning"" platform, aimed at integrating the use of Digital Technologies in Work-based Learning experiences;5.Create stimulating and inclusive opportunities for VET trainers to further their professional development;6.Enrich and make more attractive to learners the training opportunities based on Digital Work-based Learning;7.To innovate and make more attractive the cooperation instruments between training actors and enterprises, making work-based learning experiences more accessible through digital tools<< Implementation >>In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the partnership will carry out the following activities:1.Definition of a quality framework for digital WBL and lab-based learning. The partnership will carry out research on innovative pedagogical approaches on digital technologies to support the design of Digital WBL;This will be followed by a mapping of quality standards for the design and delivery of digital experiential learning and learner competence certification systems, including the formulation of ILAs Individual Learning AccountsThe partnership will collect and systematise 50 best practices for lab-based digital learning, following criteria related to application domains (mainly Mechanics, Green Jobs, Medical Professions), replicability, learner skills certification processes, digital skills sought by Trainers;The Guidelines for integrating quality standards in the design of Digital Work-based Learning paths will be reviewed and validated by the project stakeholders;A Learning Activity will be realised at the Cooperative State University of Baden-Wuerttemberg;2.Definition of the main emerging digital skills for trainers, and promotion of self-assessment tools for trainers' digital skills;3.Definition of a joint training pathway and curriculum for achieving the learning outcomes necessary to design, deliver, validate and certify competences for VET learners through Digital Work-based Learning experiences;4.Development of learning and training materials (along with methods, pedagogical approaches and tools);5.Implementation of a collaborative training and e-learning platform to ensure that all developed materials are accessible through the creation of an open online course;6.Piloting of the ""Deal with Digital Work-based Learning"" train-the-trainer course;7.Experimentation of pilot actions of Digital Work-based learning through delivery and involvement of learners;8.Development of blueprint and action plan for the innovation of VET programmes towards Digital Work-based learning<< Results >>The project deliverables are organised in the following Intellectual Outputs:-IO1 Guidelines for the design of blended VET training courses: Digital Work-based Learning and Distance Experiential Activity;-IO2.1 Emerging digital competences model to support VET trainers in the design, delivery, evaluation and certification of competences acquired through Digital WBL-IO2.2 Blueprint for the development of digital competences applied to the design, delivery, evaluation and certification of blended learning of VET trainers-IO3 Cross-media platform for educational learning pathways-IO4 Training of Trainers course ""Deal with Digital Work-based Learning"". -IO5 Toolkit for the implementation of Digital WBL in VET learners' learning pathwaysThrough the implementation of the project activities the following results are expected to be achieved:-200 VET trainers from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Germany involved in digital skills awareness and assessment activities, -50 Trainers trained through the ""Deal with Digital Work-based Learning"" course-50 Good Practices of Digital Work-based Learning design, responding to the pedagogical and qualitative framework and validated by the Stakeholders-200 VET students from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Germany, sensitized to experimentation opportunities related to Digital Work-based Learning-50 students involved in the experimentation of Digital Work-based Learning pathways-60 NEETs made aware of Digital Work-based Learning opportunities-100 Stakeholders involved in the validation of the project deliverables. The main stakeholders that have already signed letters of adhesion as associated partners to the project are: an international association of VET providers; a national association of Parents; experts of innovative pedagogy approaches; experts of Digital Technologies; the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research; the Emilia Romagna Region."

Vocational education has lost much of its attractiveness. Especially in EU countries with predominantly school-based vocational training (e.g. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia) the participation rate is low, dropped to an alarmingly low level, and is perceived by many young people as a dead end. At the same time companies complain about the lack of skills of graduates. The consequences are an unemployment rate of 20-25% of the 15-24 year olds in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.Due to the demographic change, the number of school leavers is dropping fast significantly in all member states, except for Sweden. By 2030, the number of 15-44 year olds in the labor force will decrease by up to 25%. Already today, a shortage of skilled workers exists in most countries. This increasingly affects the future and limits any growth development.Increasing qualifications and at the same time eliminating the shortage of skilled labor is the most important task and key to a sustainable strengthening of innovation, competitiveness and growth of SMEs. The German dual system of vocational training, which leads to a comparatively low youth unemployment, can make a large contribution with a lasting impact on the achievement of these objectives. Therefore, by introducing Work based Learning in vocational education, the project pursued the following overall objectives: a) Greatly improving integration of young people in vocational training and reducing youth unemployment andb) Providing qualified staff and thus promoting innovation and competitiveness in SMEs.The following action objectives served this purpose:1. The development of specific concepts for the realization of Work based Learning in VET on the basis of the German system of dual vocational training for three countries with predominantly school-based vocational training (Poland, Lithuania and Hungary). 2. In two countries (Lithuania and Hungary) the specific introduction of a dual system of vocational training, which is tailored to the specific conditions of the country and includes experiences from all countries around the Baltic Sea.3. Development of adapted curricula for train-the-trainers in SMEs (in-company trainers educating the trainees on the spot in the enterprise) and implementations in Poland, Lithuania and Hungary.4. Development of coordinated concepts and the creation of an international network of 13 countries for permanent promotion and implementation of Work based Learning.5. Transfer of the project results to 68 education providers from 13 countries and the promotion of broad-based implementations.The project was led by the Baltic Sea Academy, which has successfully developed and implemented dual bachelor's degree programs in recent years (vocational training in SMEs while studying at a university) in different countries. Another renowned expert of the German dual system, the Chamber of Crafts Dresden was represented in the consortium to contribute all documents, materials and experiences for dual vocational training in Germany and the train-the-trainers seminars for SMEs.In order to identify and thus to improve the transfer success for other countries and evaluate different national conditions, with the selected countries of Poland, Lithuania and Hungary - where there is a great need for action as well as strong willingness for the realization of Work based Learning - the ideal implementing partners were chosen. From these countries the following partners participated in the consortium:a) A Chamber of Crafts, which itself operates two large vocational schools and can implement dual vocational trainings with their SME members.b) Two large professional schools that wanted to realize Work based Learning and cooperate with chambers that introduce SMEs to the operational parts of the training. c) Two universities that, with the other partners, developed region-specific concepts and curricula, and evaluated as well as advised the implementation process. Additionally, the universities developed concepts and curricula for the train-the-trainers seminars and permanently implemented them in cooperation with the chambers.Through the Baltic Sea Academy 18 colleges/universities and 50 chambers from 13 countries were involved as transfer partners. They received all project results, were advised on implementation, and were encouraged to continuously promote Work based Learning in their regions. Thus, a far-reaching effect and high sustainability were achieved.With the implementation of tailor-made solutions for dual systems, young people will be better integrated; they obtain the necessary qualifications in the labor market and youth unemployment is reduced. SMEs get the much needed qualified workforce and get prepared through the train-the-trainer measures for dual vocational training. Through the inclusion of 68 key education stakeholders from 13 countries a continuous support network for the implementation of Work based Learning was created.

About 200 countries including EU members decided to increase the usage renewable energy sources to fight with the global warming in the Paris Agreement. EU Member States have agreed to ensure that 27% of the energy consumed by the EU is obtained from renewable sources till 2030. Besides The EU aims to reduce the greenhouse gases by 80 to 90% by 2050 compared to 1990. These decisions increase the consumption of renewable energy and together with this, the researches, knowledge, production, employment, qualifications and education systems are changing and growing. In parallel of EU energy and climate goals, PowerUp MyHouse project aims to increase the knowledge and awareness in general about solar energy applications and in particular about Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) technology which is one of the excited application since is able to produce hot water and electric at the same time with less load to the building structure. PV/T technology is known and used in high level in relatively well developed EU countries in renewable energy but it is in early steps in other EU countries and the developments show us that the technology will be used in wide level in close future and it must be at the end. The project aims to investigate the PV/T from all sides. The best technological applications, manufacturing, installation, measures, calculations, legislation, incentives, supports, qualifications, experiments and vocational education related with PV/T is the subject of the project. All these will be resulted in the project as;- PVT Technologies Research aims to present the latest researches done in and out of EU related with PV/T technologies. The examples, experiments, products, researches are the topic of this report.- Legal face of PV/T aims to present legal arrangements on PV/T done in well-developed countries such as legislation and incentives. - Guidebook: The project would like to test PV/T system on a sample building with different design and climate conditions for nearly one year. The experiment will strengthen the scientific knowledge in the subject and the results will be shared with the researchers, scientists, training institutions and labor market. - Learning module on PV/T is totally innovative for the vocational training students in renewable energy. The labor market is needed to have qualified staff which could respond the sectoral developments. The training module will increase the knowledge and skills of the vocational training students and their teachers. Another activities of the project are short-term joint staff trainings. The scientists, lecturers, teachers and trainers will come together in Sweden and Denmark and will get a training related with PV/T technology. The results of the activities will strengthen the quality and content of the outputs and besides, will increase the knowledge and skills on the subject. The project also aims to increase the awareness and knowledge about renewable energy and PV/T on public and stakeholders. In parallel of this aim; four multiplier events will be organized in Turkey, Lithuania and Portugal. The decision/ policy makers, labor market, NGOs, training organizations, universities and R&D departments will be invited to these events. The project aims to reach different target group in different levels; - Renewable energy students will have training module on PV/T and will develop their vocational skills and knowledge which will improve their employment rate and conditions. - Renewable energy teachers and trainers will improve their knowledge and skills on PV/T and will have a training module to use in their current training programmes. - Scientists/researchers' knowledge about PV/T will be increased. They will have more extended scientific knowledge about PV/T. They could do research and R&D works on the subject and to share with their equals in their presentations or/and publications. - Labor market/decision-policy makers-NGOs (organizations and people) will have much extended information about PV/T and will develop their current applications’ quality and content. The project will be realized by the collaboration of 5 universities from Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Portugal, one NGO from Turkey, one SME from Sweden and one vocational technical high school from Turkey in two years. All results will be open to free usage of the target group and final consumers on the website of the projec