<< Background >>Europe is facing its greatest threat since World War II. The COVID19 outbreak is triggering unprecedented social & economic consequences. We are faced with a ‘new normal’; a previously unfamiliar or ‘atypical situation that has become standard, usual or expected’, bringing established practices into question.The integration of digital tools and immediate transfer to distance training and learning has caught in surprise the centres of Vocational education and training. It is obvious that the VET system has suffered because of not only the improper preparation of the VET providers but also the lack of the materials has played an important role.The pandemic has been accompanied by a rise in nationalist sentiments in EU member countries. It has re-ignited debates about national-versus-European identity.The negative impacts of these changes have had disproportionate effects on professional courses such as Wellness and Cosmetology, with the result that teachers from these courses are facing the real need of digital, interactive and user-friendly materials for better delivering of the courses. As Cedefop reports ‘Digital gap during COVID-19 for VET learners is at risk in Europe. An entire partner organisation of VET learners has seen their education and training being interrupted. This population could suffer severe disruption of their learning if continuity of distance learning is not ensured.These preliminary conclusions raise awareness on the need to develop further the digital competences of teachers and trainers, promoting their participation in continuous professional development, facilitating their mobility, involving them in future policy design and fostering their wellbeing. To test these observations & support the clear need for this project, the project partners undertook a Needs Analysis based on internal survey: More than 50 teachers of Wellness and Cosmetology VET courses replied to the survey from all participating countries: This internal research has shown that 80% of activities in Wellness courses have turned online without proper digital materials. 75% of the teachers from partner and applicant organisations have pointed out the lack of digital materials especially in the field of Wellness and Cosmetology courses and the need of interactive, inclusive and free access online sources for both teacher and learners. Another 95% of the participating teachers have selected the fact that it has been their first experience in distance teaching, and that many of them have never used any European platform or portal for searching teaching materials.44% of them think that teachers don’t have proper preparation to teach online and use distance learning materials. Whereas 90% of them are quite sure that there is a need of a proper methodology, strategy and plan for distance teaching in VET. For 81% of the participating teachers the highest challenge they faced in distance learning was to attract the learners attention and motivate them to participate. For 95% of them the challenges with learners are due to the lack of materials, digital interactive components and the lack of methodology/strategy in distance teaching. Very often learners take the activities for granted and try to foresee the upcoming lessons.These results highlight the transformation that digital materials can bring to Wellness and Cosmetology VET sectors and how these learning materials would create a ‘win-win’ scenario where each partner brings its competences & knowledge that could benefit the others, demonstrating the potential added-value of the project.Our research underlined the urgent need for innovative solutions and digitalization in VET system.<< Objectives >>The primary objective of the project is to facilitate innovative, digital & inter-European collaboration so as to encourage Wellness and Cosmetology VET course providers, teachers and staff to learn from each other & to create new digital materials for distance teaching in VET. By connecting inter-national teachers to the European community, the project aims to improve the digital learning process of VET students through the upskilling of key competences & reinforce the ‘values of supporting development of professional networks across Europe, International dimension, Recognition and validation of skills and qualifications, multilingualism, essential parts of European identity’ (European Parliament Press, March 2021).The partners believe passionately in the concept of community of practice. However, a community of practice model should not be limited to the local area or the regional area or even within member states. The potentially most useful & impactful CoP, is a community built around the entire European Area. Each partner has competences & experiences which if shared with other groups, learning can be maximised & opportunities for fulfilling employment dramatically increased. One of the key themes running through the project is the articulation of local & European dimensions. Thus, the project starts with work at a local level within national organizations & then expands its scope to the European level through work with transnational European partners.The project addresses the 3 strategic issues of digital Erasmus, Internationalisation in VET, & Green Erasmus specified in the ‘Erasmus 2021-2027 Enriching lives, opening minds booklet’.’ These are areas where ‘EU cooperation adds value & delivers results’ (Vassilou). In this way we will ‘create and promote education opportunities & exchanges of experiences for more innovative, inclusive, digital and open access education in VET. The preliminary research undertaken partners has allowed us to prioritise the development of 3 highly pertinent key competences to meet the identified challenges facing our target groups.<< Implementation >>We will design pedagogical modules to counter the negative impacts of the pandemic & the current context identified as priorities in our research to allow VET providers and teachers better prepare for upcoming training years. We will promote digitalization in VET, internalization values and promote an awareness of the added-value of European citizenship & the Erasmus programme through international organisational & pan-European learning , tailored to meet the specific current needs of our target groups. We will take into account cultural differences & educational methodologies and requirements of partner countries to produce an adaptable programme for effective implementation throughout the EU. In this way, the project will feature international organisational groups of teachers, staff members and teaching programme Coordinators working together in a language that is not their native language.We encourage exchanges between different partner organisations and between different countries between VET educators, coordinators & tutors, VET learners; Wellness course managers. The cooperation between partners will facilitate the process of redesigning, refocusing & adapting existing tools & methods to the current rapidly changing environment. This will represent a true vehicle for promoting innovation & quality in learning systems at European level, in line with the European development policies. Situations differ across European countries & research done by partners in the 5 partnership countries before submission plus the continuing research that will be undertaken will be of value here.Teamwork between European partners allows a more comprehensive approach to needs & solutions, as it promotes a greater understanding of different realities, bringing benefits to the project in all stages of implementation in terms of quality of work & results achieved. There is a cross-sectoral element to the project through links to the VET sector, because we aim to improve access to further training & qualifications, thereby facilitating employability.We will undertake 5 pilot studies in 5 European countries involving groups of VET learners from target age-groups and Wellness and Cosmetology companies or centres. A significant number of learners will come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. We will implement an innovative sharing, promotion & exploitation strategy relevant to the current context in order to maximise the impact of our project.<< Results >>Towards Variable-Access & Digitalization of Wellness Courses (TOVARDIGWELVET) in VET will ‘develop smart thinking ‘tangible results, based on a modular, interactive learning, with peer-to-peer & problem-solving to facilitate both individual, autonomous & group & autonomous remote/blended/face-to-face solutions.Firstly, we will design Smart Varied-Access Pedagogical Programme with adaptable varied-access approaches; Teaching Resources; Learning Resources for Wellness and Cosmetology Course providers (R1). The target groups are VET teachers. The Pedagogical programme will be available in English and in all 5 languages of the participating partner countries.A big percentage of our pedagogical staff needs to learn new technologies and tools (video conferencing, communication software, use of key software, presentations, edit and use images and video clips) in order to work and delivery quality online or blended courses. Secondly, we will design an eBook with 6 inclusive digital didactic modules for initial vet programmes. It will be a variable-access interactive E-book For Initial VET Wellness and Cosmetology courses with 6 learning modules (R2) The eBook modules will cover the following topics: Science and Medicine, Chemistry and Cosmetology, Manicure, Pedicure, Hair removal treatments/epilation, Face treatments.The eBook will be available in English and in all 5 languages of the participating partner countries.Our main focus will be on VET teachers, VET course providers with maximum accent on Wellness and Cosmetology course providers, and VET learners’ groups aged 15-17. The project resources will be digitally-based, open-source, freely downloadable & available in 6 languages. They will empower educators, VET teachers to offer high-quality learning opportunities to their learners. They can be tailored to the needs of specific target groups, adaptable for any type of learners & used in countries not actively involved in the project, thereby dramatically increasing the project impact.As Irene Caratelli said ‘The COVID-19 crisis is an opportunity to reimagine Europe, but the ultimate responsibility will rest on people to redefine what it means to be “European”. The project aims to make a significant contribution to this process.