Boarders of European Union continue to evolve and the development of skills for our European workers is essential for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Indeed, crafts and companies are dealing more and more with international exchanges and facing a multinational competition, for both professionals and production technics. Qualifications and skills are therefore need to be updated. In order to move on that direction, it is primordial to provide each apprentice with the possibility to be trained and to work on a European level. Les Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France which train apprentices and young professional, by traveling, community living and knowledge transmissions, have always had a strong commitment to European mobility programmes. Long-term mobility projects have always existed in our Association. It is part of our specific professional training “Le Tour de France” to have a one-year experience abroad. So far, almost 7400 of our young graduated have already benefitted from such an amazing experience.Since 2004, more than 17350 apprentices have therefore benefitted from a 3 weeks mobility project in European Union, owing to our trusted partners, in any of our trades (industry, construction, building, baking, leather and textiles trades). Driven by our strong desire to institutionalize the mobility project abroad for our apprentices, we have mention the European mobility period into the training program for all our level 4 apprentices, under the framework agreement signed in 2009 with our ministry of National education.Thanks to Erasmus + agreement for 2017-2019, we exceed our objectives and financed mobility for 1222 apprentices in gathered mobility projects together with their class and their trade teacher (107 teachers in total); 152 young professionals gone for a one-year individual mobility; 8 post-apprentices who went abroad from 6 to 12 months in order to continue their apprenticeship; 39 young participants in a 2 weeks technical training and 4 staff members, gone for a job shadowing or a training.The enhancement of the quality of our project is owing to the pedagogical projects developed by our trainers and hosting partners, who suggest a precise program compatible with the specificities of the host country. This approach is necessary as mobility period are included in our training programs in France and comforts also the employers of our apprentices, worried about this mobility project abroad of their employee. Indeed, the project allowed our participants to acquire professional, language, intercultural and cross-disciplinary skills. Indeed, apprenticeship and trades are different from one country to another. Travelling is also a way to develop its adaptability and flexibility, two qualities required in the labor market. Our partners involved in our projects are training organizations, companies and intermediate organisms in 23 countries. Mobility is more and more recognized in those countries; therefore most of the previous work placements are renewed year after year. Years of experience with our partners allow us to organize those projects in mutual trust and prepare at best each participant for his mobility.Each apprentice’s mobility has been validated and recognized through a Europass, and for our post-apprentices, their skills and competences are highlighted on our online pedagogical platform “Aquisav”. With the mod-term puropose of using ECVET system, our partners already signed the “Memorandum of Understanding”. For this project, the International Service has maintained relationships with partners and developed new partnerships, ensured the administrative and financial monitoring of the fellowships, created necessary tools to help pedagogical teams. The service also helped their training centers in France for organizing the gathered mobility projects if needed and they supported young professional going abroad for one year (individual mobility) and the ones who were following a 2-weeks technical training.This ambitious project couldn’t have been organized without the considerable investment of our staff members involved, in particular educational staffs and trainers, for which we are very grateful.

Boarders of European Union are quickly expanding and the development of skills for our European workers is essential nowadays. Indeed, crafts and companies are now dealing with international exchanges and facing a multinational competition. Qualifications and skills are therefore put into question. In order to contribute to this expansion, it is primordial to provide each apprentice with the possibility to be trained and to work on a European level. It is our duty to offer our learners such training. Les Compagnons du Devoir have always given priority to the long life learning and perform to value on-the-job learning and mobility, mainly through shared experiences, human relations and knowledge transmissions. Long-term mobility projects have always existed in our Association. It is part of our specific professional training “Le Tour de France” to have a one-year experience abroad. So far, almost 7000 of our young graduated have already benefitted from such an experience.Since 2004, more than16120 apprentices have therefore benefitted from a 3 weeks mobility project in European Union, owing to our trusted partners. Our experience allows us to choose the most suitable partners to provide our apprentices quality trainings in any of our 29 trades (industry, construction, building, baking, leather and textiles trades). Thanks to Erasmus + agreement for 2016-2018, we financed mobility for 733 apprentices in gathered mobility projects together with their class and their trade teacher (66 teachers in total); 138 young professionals left for a one-year individual mobility; 24 apprentices and post-apprentices went abroad from 6 to 12 months in order to continue their apprenticeship and 30 young participants in a 2 weeks technical training.In September 2009 we managed to officially join in the learning annex of the apprenticeship contract the 3 week mobility project abroad for all our level 4 apprentices, which show our strong desire to institutionalize the mobility project abroad into the training program of our apprentices.The enhancement of the quality of our project is owing to the developed teaching skills of our partners, who suggest a precise program compatible with our apprentices’ modules in France, with the specificities of the host country. This approach brings a value to our programs in France and comforts the employers of our apprentices, worried about this mobility project abroad of their employee. The project allowed our participants to acquire professional, language, intercultural and cross-disciplinary skills. Indeed, apprenticeship and trades are different from one country to another. Travelling is also a way to develop its adaptability and flexibility, two qualities required in the labor market. Our partners involved in our projects are training organizations, companies, social partners, consular chambers and intermediate organisms in 23 countries. Mobility is more and more recognized in those countries; therefore most of the previous work placements are renewed year after year. Years of experience with our partners allow us to organize those projects in mutual trust and prepare at best each participant for his mobility.Each apprentice’s mobility has been validated and recognized through a Europass, and for our post-apprentices, their skills and competences are highlighted on our online pedagogical platform “Aquisav”. With the idea of using ECVET system, our partners already signed the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU). For this project, the International Service has maintained relationships with partners and searched for new ones, ensured the administrative and financial monitoring of the fellowships, prepared and coordinated the pedagogical projects if necessary. The team also helped their training centers in France for organizing the gathered mobility projects and they supported apprentices who were following a 2-weeks technical training or going abroad for one year (individual mobility).This ambitious project couldn’t have been organized without the considerable investment of our staff members involved in those actions, in particular educational staffs and trainers, for which we are grateful.

Boarders of European Union are quickly expanding and the development of skills for our European workers is essential nowadays. Indeed, crafts and companies are now dealing with international exchanges and facing a multinational competition. Qualifications and skills are therefore put into question. In order to contribute to this expansion, it is primordial to provide each apprentice with the possibility to be trained and to work on a European level. It is our duty to offer our learners such training. Les Compagnons du Devoir have always given priority to the long life learning and perform to value on-the-job learning and mobility, mainly through shared experiences, human relations and knowledge transmissions. Long-term mobility projects have always existed in our Association. It is part of our specific professional training “Le Tour de France” to have a one-year experience abroad. So far, more than 6276 of our young professionals have already benefitted from such an experience.Since 2004, almost 14900 apprentices have therefore benefitted from a 3 weeks mobility project in European Union, owing to our trusted partners. Our experience allows us to choose the most suitable partners to provide our apprentices quality trainings in any of our 29 trades (industry, construction, building, baking, leather and textiles trades). Thanks to Erasmus + agreement for 2015-2017, we sent 825 apprentices in gathered mobility projects together with their class and their trade teacher (72 teachers in total), 168 post-apprentices for a one year mobility and 65 apprentices in a technical training for 2 weeks.In September 2009 we managed to officially join in the learning annex of the apprenticeship contract the 3 week mobility project abroad for all our level 4 apprentices. The enhancement of the quality of our project is owing to the developed teaching skills of our partners, who suggest a precise programme compatible with our apprentices’ modules in France, with the specificities of the host country. This approach brings a value to our programmes in France and comforts the employers of our apprentices, worried about this mobility project abroad of their employee. The project allowed our participants to acquire professional, language, intercultural and cross-disciplinary skills. Indeed, apprenticeship and trades are different from one country to another. Travelling is also a way to develop its adaptability and flexibility, two qualities required in the labor market. Our partners involved in our projects are training organizations, companies, social partners, consular chambers and intermediate organisms in 21 countries. Mobility is more and more recognized in those countries; therefore most of the previous work placements are renewed year after year. Years of experience with our partners allow us to organize those projects in mutual trust and prepare at best each participant for his mobility.Each apprentice’s mobility has been validated and recognized through a Europass, and for our post-apprentices, their skills and competences are highlighted on our online pedagogical platform “Aquisav”. With the idea of using ECVET system, our partners already signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The International Service maintained relationships with partners, prepared and coordinated the pedagogical projects if necessary. They helped also their training centres in France for organizing the gathered mobility projects and they supported apprentices following technical training or going abroad for one year (individual mobility).This ambitious project couldn’t be organized without the considerable investment our staff members involved in those actions, in particular educational staff and trainers.

Construction companies in EU are facing difficulties due to skilled labour shortage and the main reasons for this are out-of-date and/or inflexible VET systems.The project Skills Sector Alliances for Transfer of Knowledge and Skills of VET Workforce in Construction – SKILLCO was a 39-project-months international project for addressing skills gaps in the construction industry in EU in an innovative way. Its consortium of 8 project partners involved social partner organisations and VET providers from Germany, Hungary and Slovenia, as well as FIEC (the EU umbrella organisation for employers in the construction industry). The project website: www.skillco.euSectoral skills issues addressed:1.MAIN FOCUS: Vocational skills: greens skills, OSH, literacy, numeracy related to 4th EQF construction profiles, using a practical example (the SKILLCO House) learning units and learning material have been developed for the four identified and selected key skill gaps, namely:a.Literacy (Plan reading and time scheduling of the SKILLCO House)b.Numerical literacy (Construction cost calculations for the SKILLCO House)c.Occupational health and safety - OSH (Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders for construction workers)d.Green skills (Reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste from buildings and their proper handling on the example of the SKILLCO House).2.PARTIAL FOCUS: Digitals skills (related to our newly developed, publicly available mobile app - SKILLgAPP) use and specific IT programmes/tools in literacy and numeracy modules)3.PARTIAL FOCUS: Vanishing (traditional) craft skills (typical for participating regions), We have also identified a few vanishing construction skills while working on the ground in the three countries. We have agreed to select two such skills that are common in all the participating countries and which we believe are valuable and deserve to be documented and remembered, especially in the light of the emerging professional needs for green skills. These are:a.Building a thatched roof (traditional skill common in Hungary and neighbouring countries)b.Making a wooden connection without metal screws or nails (to be able to build a farm structure, hayrack, in Slovenia and to build Traditional old German houses with timber framing).THE KEY PROJECT OUTPUT:Our mobile application SKILLgAPP is designed as an open source, a free mobile application, available for Android and Apple phones. It is a publicly available online educational resource and a digital learning platform for teachers and learners, with the OER feature. We followed that concept recommended by OECD and many other EU organisations. Instructions for using SKILLgAPP are available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPxUJAMR4HYMain results: 1.MAIN FOCUS ON SKILLS: The learning materials developed, divided into 2 modules: Module A (longer duration) for the common curriculum learning units for pupils/trainees and Module B (shorter duration) for the training course for construction workers/employees. In this way both VET students and already employed workers will benefit from the results. This will also foster trainee/worker mobility since these learning units and material can be incorporated/adapted on the EU level (Germany presenting the western EU countries and Hungary presenting the eastern part of EU).2.PARTIAL FOCUS ON SKILLS: Like the identified skill gaps the two vanishing skills have been described in detail and for each of them photographs, a video and a curriculum learning unit have also been made.

The use of wood in the construction industry has continued to gain momentum in Europe in recent years. The prospects and development opportunities are promising and far from at their peak. At the same time, the associated challenges for companies and enterprises in the construction sector have risen sharply. This has reinforced the realisation that the future development of timber construction can only be mastered with a sufficient number of well-trained employees. Raising the level of training creates positive prospects in two ways: countries with high unemployment increase the proportion of highly qualified employees who make a valuable contribution to the national economy. At the same time, countries with high economic power and a shortage of skilled labour can offer promising employment opportunities to sufficiently trained workers from countries with weaker economic power and high unemployment. In order to offer companies, workers, educational institutions and associations in the timber construction sector better starting conditions for improving the opportunities for action and exploiting the opportunities for cooperation, it was necessary to carry out a comprehensive and transparent stocktaking of the background information on vocational education and training in timber construction, which had so far been insufficient, and to significantly expand the existing individual contacts with players in vocational education and training. This would create the necessary prerequisites for an expanded cooperation in the future on the basis of a European vocational training network in timber construction.The following project partners were involved in the implementation of the project:Timber Construction Europe, Luxembourg - Coordinator Berufsförderungswerk des Baden-Württembergischen Zimmererhandwerks, Germany Alppisalvos Oy, Finland Tyrolean vocational school for wood technology, Austria Épitési Vállakozók Országos Szakszövetsége (ÉVOSZ), HungaryHolzbau Letzebuerg Asbl, Luxembourg Associated Partner: Holzbau SwitzerlandThe following main activities were carried out as part of the project:•Survey of the framework conditions for initial and continuing training in the carpentry trade•Comparison of educational systems and qualifications in European timber construction•Creation of structures for further education, promotion qualification and further education•Determination of the development of job descriptions and job profiles in the course of upgrading qualifications•Permeability of training systems •Competence fields and functions in timber construction companies in accordance with the entrepreneurial and economic requirements framework conditions•Inter-company training centres, training offers, training methods,•Lighting of exchange activities, international networks and partnerships•Future cooperation in a European vocational training Network•Follow-up projectAchieved results and effectBased on a high degree of basic transparency of education systems in the countries of the European Union and individual associated countries, typologies and education clusters could be developed that provided initial information on general system differences as well as on the type and extent of knowledge, skills and competences imparted. For the first time it was possible to make a more precise inventory of timber construction in which countries vocational training in timber construction/carpentry takes place and which knowledge, skills and qualifications are imparted in the course of further and advanced training and which are available in the curricula and course offerings of vocational training centres. The determination of the permeability of the education system could be described in individual best-practice cases. The project also provided initial insights into the dynamics of the development of vocational education and training in countries that have not yet had regulated vocational education and training.The long-term benefit of the project is that it can be expected that cooperation for the further development of VET in European timber construction, projects for the systematic acquisition of skills and competences and educational cooperation will be strengthened through the exchange of teaching and training methods and measures for the horizontal mobility of trainees, long-term employees and teachers and trainers. The partner network of European vocational education and training in timber construction established in the course of the project work could make a lasting contribution to this.