The European “Step4-SFC” project: A methodology and tools for developing behavioural know-how (SFC)All business areas and countries agree that soft skills are essential and complementary to technical skills, but they often highlight difficulties addressing this. It is in this transnational context that it appeared to us necessary to pool our exchanges, our practices and to develop tools related to awareness, observation, training and the evaluation of behavioural know-how (SFC) in a professional context. This SFC terminology has its meaning in the idea of considering the SFC as a behavioural resource to be mobilised along with know-how and knowledge in keeping with professional skills. The project and all contributions from partners are based on a 4-stage co-construction method and associated key tools. The methodology structures the thinking on the SFCs in an adherence process marked by the profession’s references. The tools allow agreement on essential professional SFCs; defining them and identifying the contextualised observable indicators. To meet the needs of users of the methodology, the project has developed different specific and practical tools accessible on the site: https://step4-sfc.eu/Productions-du-projet: - a Mooc (Massively Open Online Course) (https://mooc-forem-sfc.eu/), a massively open participatory learning community and federative device particularly well adapted to the cooperation objective in terms of innovation and the exchange of good practices;- An IT application: the Visi-sfc allowing the automated observation and evaluation of SFCs in a context of formative evaluation (accessible at https://step4-sfc.eu/Titre-de-votre-application-a-changer;- Face-to-face training sessions, educational resources meeting awareness, guidance and training targets of learners and trainers accessible in PDF and integrated in the Mooc;- An individual SFC remedial tool selection guide https://step4-sfc.eu/IMG/pdf/br-brochure_opcsfc_a5-2019.pdf. This tool selection guide has allowed the creation of a register of all the tools developed to guide the user to select the appropriate tool. This structure has been integrated in the Step4-sfc site to allow any user to find the specific tool based on the objective set;- A methodological guide for integrating the SFC work into the activities identified in the training and evaluation references https://step4sfc.eu/IMG/pdf/io6_guide_integration_referentiels_vf_fr.pdf . This guide meets a SFC identification need that must be developed and observed in training in line with training standards. It complements Visio4 SFC and allows the completion of the performance criteria and commonly observable indicators to facilitate dialogue between its users;- A SFC recognition feasibility study. This study proposes actions and opportunities for recognition and ethical validation of behavioural know-how https://step4-sfc.eu/IMG/pdf/io7_vf.pdf;- A community of practice on EPALE (www.epale.eu);- The project site https://step4-sfc.eu/ where all the project information can be found. - A FB page https://www.facebook.com/Step4SFC/, a community of 215 subscribers in which various project release events are reported as they progress, monitoring articles, exchanges and user feedback in the form of photos, videos, messages, notifications, etc.

CONTEXT OF THE PROJECTThe demand for jobs in the Transport & Logistics sector(s) which require ever increasing levels of qualification is growing. Additionally, national dynamics tend to extend to the European level: standardisation and certification, cooperation and coordination through social dialogue and exchange of common approaches, tools, and standards across different fields and Member States.OBJECTIVESThe ETL4ALL project (European transparent Transport and Logistics EQF level 4 qualifications for All) responds to these developments by ensuring that Transport & Logistics EQF (European Qualifications Framework) level 4 qualifications are available in the four partner countries (France, Belgium, Italy and Spain) and by making them compatible with the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) to allow recognised mobility at EQF level 4.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS•AFT (France) – coordinator of the project : Professional association in the transport and logistics sector•Le FOREM (Belgium) : Public Service for Employment and Training in Wallonia•CCGPE (Belgium) : Department of the Ministry in charge of secondary education (Federation Wallonia-Brussels) •GENCAT (Spain) : Government of Catalonia – Regional Ministry of Education•ITL (Italy) : Research institute in the fields of mobility, transport & logistics DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT To reach its objectives, the first step was the development of shared references at EQF level 4 that are accepted and validated by all the partners of the project for the two profiles: transport and logistics and road freight driver. The second step was the drafting of concrete mobility tools to support learner mobility such as quality charters for training centres and companies hosting learners, the selection of training centres which will test and implement our results to organise recognised mobility and a template for the description of their organisation, as well as a learning agreement template.RESULTS AND REACHED IMPACTSDevelopment of shared references at EQF level 4 in transport and logistics and for the road freight driver:•National reports on the existing job profiles•Common job profiles corresponding to EQF level 4 •Occupational standards corresponding to EQF level 4•Competence standards for EQF level 4 qualifications in transport and logistics •Knowledge limitsDevelopment of mobility tools which have been adopted by NETINVET:•Quality charter for training centres•Quality charter for companies hosting trainees •Learning agreement template to support mobilityCreation of a network of training centres and schools ready to test our results and to implement recognised mobility at EQF level 4 in transport and logistics and for the road freight driver.Integration of these training centres and schools in the existing mobility network NETINVET. NETINVET is a mobility network of more than 70 training centres and schools from eight European countries. Mutual trust has been established to make learners mobile in the sectors of International Trade and Transport & Logistics.

"<< Background >>All sectors of activity, as well as actors from the training and socio-professional integration field, agree on the relevance of ""behavioral know-how"" in professional situations, which is commonly called ""soft skills"" in the framework of learning pathways. The impact of the health crisis has brutally reshaped our working world. Everyone has had to reinvent themselves, adapt and react. This insecure context, which has forced us to turn inward, has also created, as a reaction, a greater need for networking, cooperation and social contact, even more so for people with fewer opportunities, such as job seekers and adult learners with few qualifications and far away from the labour market. It has changed learning and highlighted the importance of continuing education and access to distance learning for all.<< Objectives >>All these new emerging needs have been taken into account to continue the work on behavioural skills undertaken in our previous Erasmus+ project ""Step4-SFC"". The aim of the new project is to provide operational responses by promoting interdisciplinarity, by fostering inclusion of the actors from the training and socio-professional integration field, and by allowing job seekers to be able to value and have their non-technical skills recognized by means of hybrid courses, whether distant or face-to-face.Our observation is that there are currently tools, methodologies, approaches, reference systems, etc. that have been developed to address soft skills in professional situations, both at the national and European levels. However, despite the large number of existing resources, we have not found a system that structures all these resources to integrate them into a learning dynamic.Moreover, counsellors, trainers, adult trainees and jobseekers are not sufficiently aware of the new forms of learning and evaluation as regards soft skills in professional situations.<< Implementation >>The project aims to respond to these issues by building on the achievements of the STEP4-SCF project, but also on the experiences and practices of the project partners. This new project is pragmatic and innovative.It will organize activities of preparation, development and validation of the results by involving the field actors (Experts, Trainers, Pedagogical supervisors) as well as the job seekers and adults in continuous vocational training (public very far from employment, low qualified and precarious).<< Results >>The expected results of the project will materialize through:•The development of an innovative collective intelligence system : the ""SFC Lab"". This device will make it possible to link a maximum of human and material resources related to the theme of behavioural skills and to co-construct answers to the problems of behavioural know-how/soft skills. It will be an integrator of a new learning dynamic that meets the needs of the job market.•The exploration of the contribution of Open Badges in relation to the recognition, but also the development and implementation of soft skills. Indeed, if the primary function of an Open Badge is to make visible something that would not be visible without it (Open Badges were invented to make informal learning visible), the fact of making this thing visible marks the beginning of a story to be built, whether it is that of the person ""wearing"" the badge, of the person wanting to obtain it (to be recognized) or to find a job or, for an employer, to find an employee. Moreover, for latent skills to be activated, the context (training organization, company, group) must be favourable to the activation of these skills - which is the purpose of the ""SFC Lab"" for their acquisition/recognition.•Multimodal learning pathways for awareness-raising, training and recognition of SFC (via Open Badges) for job seekers and adults in vocational training.•An online training system for supervisors (counsellors, trainers) on the methods and possibilities of recognizing and enhancing soft skills via Open Badges.In conclusion, the Next Step4-sfc project will allow to pursue the integration of soft skills for all in hybrid learning pathways adapted to various contexts. The project aims to be innovative in its supports and methods which will induce a paradigm shift in the way to acquire skills related to professional behaviours."

The InPROVE project (Initiation du PROcessus de Validation des acquis de l’Expérience par l’enseignement supérieur en Algérie) aims to develop and implement a framework for the assessment of prior work experience (non-formal learning) as the basis for a partial or full validation of a university diploma in Algeria. The InPROVE consortium consists of the Ministry of Higher Education, six Algerian universities, two partners representing the Algerian socio-economic community and six European partners.The main outputs of InPROVE include:- guidelines describing a management structure able to support a Validation of Prior Experience (VPE) application, together with their access portal,- a methodology for evaluating VPE applications,- 15 educational programmes described in terms of business skills blocks.In addition, the project foresees and supports the introduction of:- a network of fully trained VPE counsellors, able to inform and support efficiently the candidates- a network of teachers trained in skills assessment,- a network of teachers able to transcribe educational programmes in terms of business skills blocks,The final objective of InPROVE is to perform, on the 15 formatted educational programmes, the experimentation of the whole developed structure and methodology by offering VPE opportunities to real candidates.The expected impacts of the project are:- for the Ministry of Higher Education, examples of fully reusable good practices regarding VPE, currently recognized as a key priority in the context of the specificities of the Algerian society,- for the Algerian universities, the availability of fully trained staff able to support another way of delivering diplomas while strengthening continuing education,- for the socio-economic sector, new opportunities to enhance the career development of their staff.

"Eure.K has set itself the aim of producing a recommendation document based on experience developed during the course of the project on the procedures applied for recognizing, validating and certifying European key competences in the field of vocational training and adult education.Initiated in 2016, Eure.K thus conducted its studies concurrently with the development of the 2016 European Parliament and Council Recommendation revision that provides a Reference Framework on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. The recommendation revision resulted in the new Recommendation of 22 May 2018 which advocates in particular “further developing the assessment and validation of key competences acquired in different settings (…)” (see § 3.3 of the recommendation) by an application of best practices. The Recommendation specifies in its annex that “different approaches to assessment of key competences in non-formal and informal contexts could be developed” (see Annex, C,c). The Eure.K project thus anticipated the new recommendation by providing the first contribution to the sharing of practices called for by the European Council. The Eure.K project has involved university professors and researchers (Lisbon and Algarve; Padua, Italy; Le Cnam, France), training organizations and networks (APap in France, Le Forem in Belgium), business training resource centre organizations (Politecnico Calzaturiero, Italy) and knowledge dissemination institutions (Istituto Sturzo). Each partner was involved in the development and analysis of one of these practices. Partners were also involved within the Steering Committee in a general reflection: the Committee thus operated as a collective player, members of the committee being collectively responsible for specific projects led by their colleagues. The diversity of member profiles within the Steering Committee was therefore a source of enrichment and a significant asset. The committee first examined the use of the European Reference Framework by actors and institutions working in the field of vocational and adult education. The framework cannot and should not be applied “mechanically”. On the contrary, starting from the actual context of actors and institutions, from the purposes they pursue and from the target audiences involved is necessary to understand the use of the reference Framework, even if this means amending it to fit the context.This is what the project undertook by conducting 10 “action-research” studies.Each partner within the consortium was involved in the implementation of schemes in the 4 countries represented in the project so as to give an account, taking their own specificities into consideration, of the use of the Reference Framework. Target groups varied from people with low levels of education but with a significant life experience to doctoral students. Implementation contexts were diverse, varying from the field of social inclusion to company or professional development contexts as well as formal training. Objectives of the schemes could be the empowerment of individuals through self-recognition of prior experience, employability, professional qualification or simply assigning a value to prior learning acquired from remarkable experiences.The project therefore provided to all actors and institutions concerned a restitution of unique experimentations which showed, based on the experimentations themselves, the multiple possible uses that can be made of the reference framework. Although it may be amended, supplemented or clarified, the framework nevertheless serves as a reference without imposing a normative “Framework”.By formalizing strengths and points of concern which emerged from the great variety of experiments, the project also contributed in a first sharing of findings. This is the subject of the document called the ""Memorandum"", in which six recommendations are thus set out. Its aim is to share with all the actors and institutions wishing to be involved in processes and schemes for the recognition, validation and certification of skills, the lessons learnt from the experimentations themselves as well as from their collective analysis. The recommendations are only valid within the scope of the 10 "" action-research "" studies. They simply have the ambition of being useful in the design and ""engineering"" phase of these schemes."