Soft skills are recognized to be the success factor enabling individuals’ well-being, self-confidence, autonomy and responsibility, the fulfilment of education/social and professional lives, career development and higher income. However, the set of soft skills is often referred to be as non-measurable skills by conventional tests or exams, as they include a wide range of skills related to the individual mindset, such as: capacity building, learning to learn, persistence, resilience, creativity, self-discipline, self-reflectiveness, acting autonomously.Considering this, the VET_GPS was launch aiming at developing and presenting a wide set of tools, guides and materials addressed to trainees, VET managers, VET counsellors and VET trainers/teachers, fostering the holistic development of trainees. The project was focused on the trainees' soft skills acquisition, development and assessment, essential for their personal development, social participation and workplace success (holistic development).Involving 8 partners from 5 Portugal, Spain, Austria, Italy and Belgium, during the 26 months of the project, the consortium had the opportunity of structuring, testing and validating the following main results:• “Guide for the integration of the Soft Skills in VET offer” (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) addressed to VET managers to support them in the definition of a strategy for the assessment and development of trainees’ soft skills.• “Soft skills self-assessment too”l (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) – Online questionnaire to support young trainees in the assessment of the level of development of their soft skills.• “Success@work manual” (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) – Addressed to trainees, providing 25 activities that can be easily implemented by them in different places, that can support them in the acquisition and/or strengthening of their soft skills; • “Soft Skills Profile” (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) - A structured interview scheme for counsellors to support them in the communication and explore of the trainees’ results from the questionnaire mentioned above.• “Training course for VET Professionals” (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) – Allowing them to develop knowledge and competences to integrate strategies and activities in their sessions/schools, fostering the assessment and development of trainees’ soft skills, according to the project’s methodology.• “Youth Empowerment Handbook” (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) - Designed to inspire and support VET trainers in the identification and definition of practices and activities to be implemented in their daily classes, fostering the assessment and development of trainees’ soft skills.• Quality Framework for the Cooperation in VET System (EN, PT, ES, DE and IT) - Document with quality standards and examples of good practices for the establishment, reinforcement and maintenance of VET-Business Cooperation in the VET system.All these materials were prepared, tested and validated by VET managers, counsellors, trainers and trainees at the national level and are available for download in the project’s website - https://www.vetgps.eu/ - in English, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Italian.

Under the impression of the crisis phenomena and the rise of right-wing populist tendencies in the member states of the Union, the understanding of the common values of the EU, the principles of unity and diversity and its social, cultural and historical heritage is becoming increasingly threatened.Studies show that right-wing extremist attitudes are not only to be found in socially disadvantaged, educationally deprived milieus, they are affecting society as a whole.The freedom that democracy has brought us is also confronting us with new challenges. It seems that we European citizens first have to grow into the outer shape and learn new skills that are fundamental for democratic behaviour, such as taking responsibility for oneself and others, having empathic access to oneself and others, being able to think critically and actively participate in society.The project partnership is convinced that these major challenges can be overcome not only by raising people's awareness of the context of the European Union and its social, cultural and historical heritage, but also by enabling people to develop a personal and emotional relationship with European values. Through the approach of basic needs we start from a level where all people are equal. With this new approach, students learn to develop an empathic approach to themselves and to others, and at the same time acquire a critical distance to emotionalising rhetoric. The values and achievements of our democracy are perceived in a new light and understood not only with the head but also with the heart. Civil society engagement and participation arise from enthusiasm for shared values, the importance of which becomes a personal concern.On the basis of the produced materials, students and teachers learn which inner-personal processes lead to action strategies and how these can be designed in a beneficial, future- and public welfare-oriented manner. In working on the topics, the diversity within the classroom should be consciously used to develop an own understanding of democratic values, participation and personal responsibility.Pupils train•social and intercultural competences, engaging in dialogue with others at the level of basic needs•self-empathy and emotion regulation•to distinguish adaptive and maladaptive strategies•to develop adaptive and functional strategies•critical thinking and media competence•civic engagement and participationBenefits•Inclusion by strengthening the shared values and sense of belonging of students and teachers•Reduction of the readiness to use violence through reflection on one's own needs and strategies•Reduction of susceptibility of young people to manipulation, propaganda and fake news.•Activation of young people for active democratic participation.•More young people understand “by the heart” the context of the European Union, in particular with regard to the common values of the EUOutputs:IO1Work materials “Human needs and adaptive and maladaptive strategies to fulfil them”Based on William Glasser's Five Needs and Elements of Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, an experiential-oriented concept will be developed to explore one's own needs and those of others. Pupils learn to distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive strategies to meet their own needs.IO2Short moviesShort movies, produced by pupils, make important historical episodes on the way to democracy tangible by allowing pupils to slip into the perspectives of different people and empathetic with their motivations, needs and choices. IO3Active Citizen Team-Game (ACT-Game)With this cooperative boardgame with interactive online elements, pupils reflect their own basic needs and understand the motives/basic needs of others. Playfully and experience-oriented they train competences for a tolerant and peaceful coexistence as well as active participation in democratic processes.IO4Module Guide for the implementation of the materials in schoolFour online modules for teachers, programmed in a virtual learning environment, describe the use of the learning materials in a lively and practical way, to show possible applications in the classroom, and present further possibilities of lived democracy within the school culture.IO5HEART Online Platform and AppThe platform can be used as a virtual learning environment. Users will be able to find the resources and online modules, participate in learning activities and communicate with other users.The materials can be used at school (secondary level) in the subjects history, social studies, political education, English, arts, ethics, religion, psychology and philosophy.They can also be used in interdisciplinary projects and workshops on democracy, human rights, personality development, social skills media literacy, and similar.Target group:Pupils, teachers, lecturers in teacher training centres and their students

The nature of this project stems from the educational deficits observed in our societies, which in turn have been pointed out by different governing bodies across Europe. European contemporary societies have for the past years been challenged by an economic crisis that has contributed to austerity measures being put into place to counterbalance financial deficits. The fields of education are by no means an exception and educational systems around Europe are today being challenged by migratory fluxes, increasing numbers of pupils that do not cope with formal educational demands and eventually become early school leavers. The “All Aboard” project is to be seen in the light of these alarming rates of early school leavers across Europe and on the need to creating a space for discussion and cooperation at EU level, particularly within the Erasmus+ programme on matters referring to ESL. Research, dissemination and development are the core issues that guide this project. They refer to creating challenging educational environments and innovative methodological or pedagogical strategies that are consistent with both local circumstances and the globalization of our communities. To tackle ESL we need therefore to understand the causes behind early school leaving, remove obstacles within the educational systems that prevent the youth from completing upper secondary education, encourage schools to develop supportive learning and environments, promote multi-professional teams and increase their continuous training. We also need to adapt educational guidance and vocational counseling to pupils’ and societal needs, support cooperation between schools and local communities and involve relevant stakeholders.The added value of this project is that we do not only do research on ESL, but we guide all the process in the schools, from prevention, early detection, case studies and results analysis to the implementation of new methodologies derived from the outcomes resulting from the work in this project.The preventive perspective that we want to implement is one of the outstanding points of our approach. We believe that fighting ESL needs adopting early detection ESL strategies, implementing preventive dropout programmes, fostering the improvement of the emotional climate in the classroom, and/or integrating the development of skills in the curriculum, which are key pillars of our approach to cope with ESL.Our ultimate objective is to reduce the number of early school leavers. The basis of our project is to look into the causes of ESL in our contexts and to provide detecting tools, guidance and training to the persons in direct contact with students (teachers, guidance providers, educators, management teams, etc.) and who can detect at an early stage possible cases of school dropouts.The 4 participating organizations are involved in supporting other educational institutions in their own contexts, be it as teacher training providers or as organizations responsible for the general education in their municipalities. The nature of the partners involved in this project will guarantee a multiplying effect and transmission of results among the schooling contexts and among our communities. The participating organisations' daily contact with schools assure that the benefits will reach the target groups mostly involved with ESL: mainly students and teachers.The 3 main tangible results of this project have been the development of 3 intellectual outputs: the Detection Model Tool (IO-1), the Best Practices Guide (IO-2) and the Online Course (IO-3).Amont the intangible results and impact, we have: --Better understanding of the process students follow before dropping out from school.--Identification of the critical elements in our contexts that determine possible cases of ESL.--Promotion of problem-solving strategies among students, school staff and families.--Improvement of the skills and professional qualification of the persons paticipating in the project.--Consolidation of our organizations to tackle not only the problem of dropping out from the schools, but also to cope with other dailyproblems in our schools: absentiism, violence, integration, special education needs, etc.--Strengthening of our organizations as ones capable to take part in other national or international projects.--Better knowledge and experience gained on how to use emotional intelligence and other strategies to prevent ESL.--Increased capacity to provide support to other insctitutions in cases of ESL.--Increased awareness on the importance of treating possible cases at risk of ESL at the early stages.The line of work adopted by this partnership is of recent appearance and it is likely to gain acceptance in the coming years. It can open a new collaborative line of work with other institutions or with policy makers. In this sense it is due to become a sustainable line of work that surpasses the expectations set in this project.

The European Union has high levels of school drop-outs (with significant differences between countries), which in many cases are associated not only or exclusively with a problem of pupils' ability (i.e. pupils with learning difficulties), but also are closely related to social, motivational and even family factors that surpass a merely educational area. This situation occurs more frequently at certain levels, such as vocational training (especially the initial training), and training on professional certificates. The profile of students in initial professional training usually presents particular characteristics, which make them more vulnerable to school drop-out and which sometimes manifest in problematic behavior.This is because this level of education picks up a type of students that comes from failed studies, and that in many cases face learning problems, but also behavior and coexistence issues (school failure, low motivation, drugs consumption, violence, bullying ...). Furthermore, immigrant students at this VET level reach a high level of representation. In Spain, for example, it is situated around a 35% (for students 16-17 y.o.), adding other vulnerability factors, such as social integration, language issues, etc. There is a clear indicator when dealing with this group: 35% of immigrant students in Spain dropped out in 2018, in front of the 15.3% of the local students.The presence of students with these risk factors, and who respond to a profile of low motivation and who present behavioral problems, has a high qualitative impact in VET centers. This impact is direct on trainers, staff and other students, and can lead to a spiral of discomfort and conflict that greatly reduces the quality of training. Furthermore, those students are highly vulnerable and in risk of drop- out and an unsuccessful educational (and even) professional integration. We, therefore, face a problem that responds to a casuistic with multiple dimensions and that must be approached in an integral way.With our InVET project we want to contribute to improving this situation, by focusing on the development of a complete Pack of Resources addressed to i-VET centers, managers and trainers, and that would include:1. Specific references on successful initiatives developed at education centers to fight against conflict and pro difficult students’ inclusion. We would offer trainers and managers in VET centers with complete examples (in the form of video testimonies) where the protagonists of those initiatives can explain the contexts, the measures, the impact and assessment carried out.2. Guidelines (and recommendations) to implement concrete measures in the educational centers at different levels: from the pedagogical point of view, to organizational aspects, including logistics and models for the design of active learning environments, etc.3. Resources that would help trainers and managers at the centers to implement the proposed measures.Project objectives, thus, include:- To fight against the exclusion factors that lead young i-VET students to drop out of school.- To provide the VET centers, their managers, trainers and staff with success references and commented examples that allow them to transfer these initiatives to their own contexts.- To offer a complete analysis of a complex problem, in which multiple factors and dimensions intervene, and which must also be addressed from a comprehensive approach.- Create a set of tools and resources that, with a practical approach, offer intervention models at various levels: pedagogical, organizational, logistic, etc.- Contribute to a better understanding of the European reality in reference to school dropout and its causes, so that this vision can be used and transferred to other educational sectors.Addressing the problem of school dropout is a European need. Even if the contexts and realities may differ between the Member States, the problem is common. And in the case of the students of i-VET, it is clear the need to equip the centers and trainers with practical and contrasted tools that allow them to address the problem, since the consequences for them as professionals (influencing the quality of their work) and for their students leaving school (with unemployment rates clearly higher than those of other profiles) highlight an important failure of the education system.The partnership is led by Maristak Durango, and composed of a set of organizations experienced in the work with young disadvantaged students in the VET system, and includes experts, from public and private sectors, on drop-out and early school leaving, on the development of training programmes and ICT-based learning environments, and on training trainers initiatives. This mixed expertise joint together and addressed to common goals are considered the key factor for the successful development of the project.

"In the EU, while almost three quarters of the population has at least an upper secondary qualification, basic literacy and numeracy skills cannot be taken for granted. Challenges persist for large parts of the adult population in most of the European countries. In 2017, around 61 million adults aged 25 to 64 had stopped their formal education before completing upper secondary education. Also, 43% of the EU population has an insufficient level of digital skills and 17% has none at all. The digital skills of the Romanian population are among the lowest in the EU, especially among the elderly. In 2017, only 29% of the Romanian population and 13% of 55-64 year-old had at least basic digital skills (compared to the EU average of 57% for total population and 41% for 55-64 year-old people). The OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) also shows us that around 20% of the adult population in the participating countries struggles with basic skills like literacy and numeracy. Participation of adults to education and training in EU has slightly increased in the last years reaching 11.2% for 25-64 year-old population in 2019. Romania registers a huge gap in this indicator (1.2% in 2019), with the lowest value in the EU. While Austria is among countries with participation level above European average, all the other countries participating to this project display levels much lower than European average. Moreover, in 2017 more than one third (35.4%) of 25-54 year-old migrants born outside the EU had completed at most lower secondary education and upskilling their language and other skills will be necessary to ensure their smooth integration and to tap their potential.The project AIMS to support the acquiring of key competences, including basic skills for all through the development and transfer of innovative learning methods for low-skilled adults, including but not limited to vulnerable groups.The main OBJECTIVES of the project are: strengthening key skills, including life skills, through introducing innovative methods useful for teachers and trainers; supporting the development and uptake of innovative approaches in learning methodologies and digital technologies for teaching and learning; improving the access to training for low skilled adults, with focus on vulnerable groups by increasing quality, supply and accessibility of learning opportunities tailored to their learning needs; providing opportunities for professional development of teachers/trainers through the development of effective digital, open and innovative methods supporting the work with low skilled adults.The Team2Share project's TARGET GROUP consists of: trainers, teachers, mentors who work with low-skill adults and low-skilled adults with a focus on youth, women, low-skilled seniors.Team2Share project will include 120 low skilled adults, 50 teachers/trainers/mentors, 15 expertsThe project will develop during 2 years of implementation 3 INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS:- Training programme for trainers/teachers/mentors working with low skilled adults, consisting of a training curriculum and content that will be inserted in an ICT state of the art tool ""Android application - App1"" which will be based on an innovative methodology ""team-oriented learning in interactive working groups"" that was developed based on the principle ""reproduction of the learning material in its own words deepens the acquired knowledge"". App1tool will answer to the need of teacher/trainers/mentors to have and use various other tools, methods, methodologies suitable for low skilled adults that have (maybe quite serious) problems to learn or train in the classic/formal system. - Training programme for low skilled adults aiming their Team2Share, consisting of a training curriculum and content developed and included in second app, namely ""Android application - Team2Share App2"". It will answer to need of low skilled adults for more suitable learning/training methods that help them to learn and fix their knowledge more easily and thoroughly, things that are difficult for them to achieve in the classical/conventional learning and training systems. The application will include speaking/story telling Avatars presentations of learning/course contents as well as practical hints for those users; that is an innovative method appropriate not only for little children but also for adults and especially for low skilled adults.- Guidelines for Formative Monitoring and Assessment of learning outcomes, consisting in a collection of methods for formative performance monitoring, including numerous methods of performance assessment in various formats, aiming to increase performance motivation through targeted and helpful feedback.Team2Share products will be disseminated by 8 MULTIPLAYER EVENTS.The direct IMPACT will consist in professional development of teachers/trainers for more efficient work with low skilled adults; learning/training and fixing knowledge more easy and thoroughly by low skilled adults"