The aim of the project is to analyze the problems of training in vocational schools with regard to students and their motivation to study, which in many cases is very low for several reasons. 1st - students generally have low motivation and engagement to study, 2nd - they are coming from socially disadvantaged families and often from excluded communities, 3rd - some students are coming from minority groups and from immigrant families whom may not be aware of opportunities available. This situation needs to be addressed by creating a system for the preparation of future teachers and teachers of these schools in order to enable young teachers (graduates of pedagogical faculties) to be prepared not only as teachers of vocational subjects but also as pedagogical and social counselors who are able to motivate students to participate in the study and to protect them from unfinished studies. In order to achieve these results, it is necessary to know the situation in schools and that is why all types of educational institutions (trans-sectoral) are involved in the project. This requires systematic preparation of teachers and trainers for apprenticeships. Vocational education is the most endangered category, as it does not give many opportunities to take part in education at another school when leaving vocational school before graduation. That is the reason why this project will deal in particular with the working activities of teachers in these educational establishments.The entire consortium consists of partners who have the necessary experience in project activities. Educa International as the project applicant has dealt with this issue in 3 projects (Erasmus, European Structure Fund Project). The school in Malmö (Sweden), participated in a joint project with Educa International in 2012-2015 and both institutions still continue to work together. Vocational school in Sezimovo Ústí (CZ) implements a drop-outs support programme and has excellent experiences and very good results from this work, which will be used for the objectives of this project. The Slovak partner is very interested in drop-out prevention, too. Austrian partner has a lot of practical and theoretical knowledge to support the project.Dissemination activities will be targeted at all training centers, vocational schools in participating countries and also in the other countries of the EU. The aim of the project team is a stronger influence in new EU countries who joined the EU in 2004 or later due missing the big EU pilot project Second Chance School realized in EU countries in the period between 1997-2000. The new EU countries have not benefitted form the project and drop-out prevention system is not developped. Therefore, the interest is to target dissemination activities mainly at Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. It is important to promote the project results not only in schools, but also in regional offices, Ministries of Education and other stakeholders.

The ATEST (Assessment of Traineeships within the European credit transfer SysTem) project was proposed as a two year project and looked for a solution and recommendation around ECTS credits award for internships. Partners of the project were 9 universities from 9 EU countries, coordinator was Educa International, o.p.s. (NGO).The traineeships are for students a part of their university education to gain practical experience in their field of study through practical activities in companies and other institutions . This is very important and essential for their further professional development and better emloyability after the graduation.The current practice used for recognition of traineeships results shows a huge differences between universities and also within the same university. We can see large differences in the attitude towards allocation of credits for internship performed within the Erasmus programme (from 0 ECTS to 30 ECTS). If we accept the Erasmus programme traineeships as an integral part of study, it must be objectively evaluated in accordance with recognized rules, i.e. ECTS. For traineeships there was no model how to evaluate and recognize participation in Erasmus traineeships under the ECTS, mainly of volutary traineeships. The project partners analyzed their own credit allocation systems at their universities, universtities of Educa Consortium and also all partners asked other universtities in their countries to fill in a project questionnaire which was distributed also to other countries participating in Erasmus traineeship activities. Project team prepared analysis, and outcomes present a possible solution and recommendation how to approach traineeships based on ECTS according to the period, results and other aspects of traineeships.Project found also other problems that should be addressed by another analysis of data. The attitude of companies toward traineeships and evaluation of traineeship.

"The Euroformation project is a project of mobility of Vocational education and training learners that occurred from June 1st 2016 to July 31st 2017. This project has been implemented by a consortium of 4 sending organisations : the CFA of the CCI of Nîmes, le vocational high school Jules Raimu, th training centre of the Red Cross and the Mission Locale of Lozère coordinated by the Maison de l'Europe of Nîmes that has applied for the Erasmus + grant. This project has allowed 19 vocational education traning learners to make internships in 5 programme countries of Eramsus + VET. A group of 4 learners in ""Hotel reception"" training have had a 8 weeks internship in Barcelona (Spain). The participants have been placed according to their wills in 2 prestigious hotels and one Youth hostel. A group of for learners in electronic and digital systems training have had 4 weeks internships in 2 companies in Prague, 2 of kthem were placed in an on-line Newspaper and 2 of them in a 3D printing company.8 apprentices and learners from the Red Cross had internships in UK and Germany.A group of three young job seekers of the ML of Lozère had 8 weeks internships in Kalamata (Greece). They have had internships according to their professional project and accordind to their competences. One has been placed in a Youth center, one in a Horse therapy organisation and one in a restaurant. Before each travel, the House of Europe of Nîmes along with the sending organisations has organised a preparation session of 1.5 days dealin with the following aspects: logistics and practical aspects, linguistic and cultural aspects, intercultural aspects. For participants going to Czech Republic and Grece, a linguistics preparation in Czech and Greek have been organised."

Educa International, o.p.s. is a non-profit organisation focused on the support of student mobilities, recent graduates and employees of the universities. Consortium Educa was established in the year 2008 and since that time have realized more than 900 mobilities within the Erasmus programme. There were cooperating more than 20 universities from the whole Czech Republic within the years 2014 and 2020. Consortium Educa sends abroad not only students, but also recent graduates and employees of the universities to almost all of the Programme countries of the Erasmus programme. Consortium Educa is sucessfully involved in the cooperation with Partner countries (KA107) and provides anually grants for universities involved in the Consortium. Consortium Educa organizes meetings for the partners of the Consortium in order to exchange experience, workshops or organizing other activities like Staff Weeks with the participation of international partners. Consortium Educa also manages the participation of the international fairs with the dissemination of promotional materials of the universities involved in the Consortium. There were active participation in the international fairs in Slovakia, Georgia and Russia in the past. Educa International prepares project applications within KA2 in which are involved also partners of the Consortium. It supports, above all, smaller universities without enough experience in the field of Strategic partnerships. Beeing partner in the Consortium is for some universities only the extension of their project activites. Other universities do not apply for grants themselves, they use the support of the Consortium in terms of the mobilities from the Educa International´s budget. Being a member of the Consortium helps smaller universities not only to gain needed experience, but it helps also Erasmus coordinators as they usually have other activities and changes of the responsible people in these positions even make it harder. Being a member of the Consortium helps new Erasmus coordinators with gaining needed information from the director of the Consortium or other Consortium partners. Consortium Educa is being known between universities, companies and other institutions in Programme countries due to realisation of the student and graduate traineeships within programme Erasmus. Due to professional approach of the Consortium employees some long-term bilateral agreements have been arranged for cooperation between sending traineeships and companies.

"<< Background >>Art and culture are central factors of socialisation, instruments of access to the world and the basis for the acquisition of key competencies. Cultural education promotes tolerance, broadens the view of the world, invites reflection and differentiated discourse, and is an essential cement for a united European society. We live in turbulent times, the migration crisis, advancing digitalisation and the COVID19 pandemic create a lot of uncertainty - especially among people affected by obstacles such as educational distance, long-time unemployment, language barriers or economic obstacles. Challenges of our time can only be solved together, and this requires cohesion and a common cultural understanding of a colorful, diverse, common Europe. But when it comes to European culture, to understanding that everyone is an important part of Europe, especially the group of young adults with restrictions face some difficulties. They perceive culture as something abstract and elitist that does not touch their own life reality, and they do not feel interested in participating in cultural events. Therefore, it would be important to shorten the distance between this group of people and European culture, to show them that culture can be fun and that they can shape culture easily on their own. A cultural education that guides these people would be of high importance.But at the moment, educational measures for adults are limited in most cases to concrete ""on the job"" applicable skills or to the acquisition of language. In the field of cultural education, there are not freely accessible and digitally available materials for adults, according to the preliminary research for the project. Therefore, the project CisU provides awareness raising and cultural education for a large target group (adult learners with diverse restrictions). The project supports people in developing their abilities to participate in and contribute to society. Culture should not be (mis)understood as something abstract and elitist, but is part of the common identity to which all people in Europe belong and which should be shared and shaped by everyone. We want to show these people that culture is not the preserve of a particular group of people, but that everyone can easily contribute to European culture, we want to show them that CULTURE IS YOU.<< Objectives >>The OVERALL GOAL of this project is to foster cultural awareness and understanding among young adults with restrictions (low level of qualifications, long-time unemployment, economic obstacles, migrant background, etc.). We want to contribute to making culture more accessible for this group of people and to integrate them better into society.Providing basic cultural education for all people in a society has positive effects on the whole society as well as on the individuals. People who are trained in this way are better integrated into society, gain easier access to culture, gain self-confidence, but also access to the labour market or opportunities for career advancement are increased. For the society as a whole, it is expected that this project will have a positive impact on integration efforts, help to reduce polarisation and division and contribute to building a European sense of community.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES of this project are:- Bringing European culture closer to people with disabilities and letting them actively experience and shape culture- Providing adult educators with a teaching concept and materials regarding cultural education they can directly use in their trainings- Raising awareness of the importance of culture- Supporting the acceptance and understanding of cultures of different European countries- Preventing exclusion through the inclusion of young adults with different restrictions in a cultural Europe- Supporting cultural institutions by opening up for a new target group<< Implementation >>ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGY: To create materials tailored to the target group of young adult learners that face different restrictions and educators who are training these learners in cultural education, it is crucial to involve them in all activities of the project. In PR1 we will create a DIDACTICAL CONCEPT and a CURRICULUM as basis for the learning materials, the videos and the game that are developed within the other results. To assess the special needs of our target groups and ensure a high practical relevance of these results, we conduct INTERVIEWS with at least 3 adult educators and 3 adult learners per partner organisation regarding the contents and methodology that should be included in the materials.The results of PR2 are LEARNING MATERIALS and VIDEOS that contribute to the further development of the cultural competences and the raising of interest in cultural activities of adult learners with restrictions. To ensure a high potential of use and attractiveness of these materials and videos, we organise a PILOT TESTING with our target groups (trainers with their young adult learners) in each partner organisation.In PR3 we develop a HAPTIC BOARD GAME and INSTRUCTIONS for this game. This game will also be PILOT TESTED by the target groups when we organise the testing for the learning materials and videos because our aim is to make it as userfriendly and fun as possible.PR4 contains the creation of a WORKSHOP CONCEPT that can be directly used by trainers in their educational programmes. Furthermore, we compile a GUIDE for adult educators on how to use all the developed materials and tools in the most effective way. To ensure again a high practical relevance, there will be at least two TRAINERS per partner organisation that USE THE MATERIALS and tools WITHIN THEIR COURSES and give feedback on the quality and impact of the results. In addition, we organise an INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE EVENT where adult educators that have tested our materials can exchange their experience and build new networks. This event will be held online via an appropriate communication tool and is part of this project result.MULTIPLIER EVENTS:To disseminate the results of this project as widely as possible, each partner organisation will organise a Multiplier Event with the involvement of key stakeholders.<< Results >>In the project CisU, we realise the following four project results:PR1 – Development of a DIDACTIC CONCEPT and a CURRICULUM for the learning materials and videos (PR2) as well as the board game (PR3): We create a concept and curriculum based on the latest didactical and methodological findings to be able to develop user-friendly learning materials, videos and the game. These outputs include the contents of the following results, but, what is of the same importance, they also show HOW these contents can be taught in the best way to the target group.PR2 – Development of LEARNING MATERIALS and LEARNING VIDEOS to bring our target group closer to European culture: We create learning materials and videos that contain information about culture in general, about different cultural fields and about how the learners can participate in cultural events. But we do not only give them information on these topics, but we create interactive contents where they can learn by doing and trying new things out. The goal is to show them that culture can be fun and to raise their interest in participating in further cultural programmes.PR3 – Creation of a HAPTIC BOARD GAME: We create a board game that can be played in educational contexts, but also in private context. It should bring them closer to culture in a playful and fun way and make the players experiencing and enjoying culture. To ensure a smooth gameplay, we also develop game instructions that are visually appealing and easy to understand.PR4 – Development of a WORKSHOP CONCEPT and a TRAINERS’ GUIDE: To give trainers an idea on how they can include our developed materials into their teaching, we develop a workshop concept for an online as well as for an offline course. In addition, we compile a guide that explains how the developed materials and tools are interrelated and how they can be used in order to exploit their full potential. The CisU project will have the following impacts and long-term benefits on all geographical levels: - adult learners get access to cultural education, get into social dialogue, understand European culture better and thus get better included into society - adult learners become more motivated to participate at further educational programmes - adult educators know how they can train their adult learners in cultural education - awareness of diverse target groups for the importance of being part of European cultureThe OPEN SOURCE ACCESS to all project results will be guaranteed for at least 5 years after project end. Our aimed impact is to bring young adults with disabilities closer to European culture, to support them in shaping culture by themselves and thus to contribute to a better inclusion of these people into society."