"SCRIPT contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Euro 2020 interrelated and mutually reinforcing social inclusion, education and employment targets. Specifically: - The European cooperation in education/training (ET2020) - The European social inclusion framework (2016) - Supporting the objectives of the EU Development of Skills Policy & 'Rethinking Education' (2012) initiative - Supporting EU leaders Covid Recovery Plan objectives SCRIPT also contributes to the promotion of European values, in accordance with Article 3 of the Treaty of the European Union. ""Youth unemployment is a European-wide phenomenon... and NEET rates are alarmingly high"" (Better in Europe). Criminologists have concluded that such extensive poverty and social exclusion is a ""...strong driver of offending amongst young people."" Young people (aged 18-25) have been found to be at the greatest risk of offending in European statistical analysis. Since the Covid crisis, marginalised people have been hit hardest, particularly marginalised young people. The power of using drama and creativity based learning programs to tackle social exclusion - particularly when engaging with young offenders and those risk of offending is championed by most criminologists, as an effective means to counteract their sense of isolation and exclusion. Following the impact of covid, there is a significant lack of covid suitable outreach youth work projects on a European scale. SCRIPT addresses these European needs.SCRIPT is a drama, performance and multimedia program, specifically for practitioners working with marginalized young people aged 18-25 - in particular young offenders, those at risk of offending, NEET's, those with addiction issues, and those from migrant communities.Using a European model of co-production, SCRIPT has developed, tested & embed a package of mutually reinforcing digital training & educational resources to improve the learning opportunities of socially excluded young people, suitable for delivery within post covid Europe. The SCRIPT methodology provides a bespoke approach to learning, to suit the different, complex needs specific to the individual young people participating to provide alternative pathways into further learning, education, training and employment. 605 participants have taken part in the co-production of SCRIPT across the partner countries, including 165 marginalized young people, as well as youth work practitioners, youth work organisations, delivery settings and policy makers. Activities within the SCRIPT project have included – -3 transnational project meetings in the UK, Greece, & Spain -1 online EU Multiplier Event -3 Local Multiplier Events in the UK, Greece & Romania -1 Short term learning mobility for youth workers. -1 Blended Learning Mobility for 2 marginalized young people from each partner country. - 2 Piloting phases of the SCRIPT resources, producing 6 original Pod Plays, written, recorded & performed by the marginalized young people participating. The SCRIPT Results - O1 - The SCRIPT Handbook: an innovative informal learning resource for the use of outreach youth workers, detailing a program of drama exercises and multimedia techniques, through which marginalized young people can design, create, perform and produce their own Pod Play. O2 – ME: A self evaluation toolkit for the socially excluded young people participating in O1. O3 – EQUIP: A training module for youth work practitioners, engaging with the SCRIPT target group. O4 – JOURNEY: An impact assessment guide for youth work practitioners and organisations delivering the SCRIPT program The SCRIPT results can be used as part of a set of mutually reinforcing resources, or as stand alone tools. Throughout the lifetime of SCRIPT, 3 specific groups were targeted:-Marginalized young people aged 18-25, in particular young offenders, young people at risk of offending, NEET's, those with addiction issues & young people from migrant communities (specifically the Roma community)- youth workers from a variety of youth work fields/expertise including: NEET support, addiction support, prison education, arts practitioners.- Delivery settings including: community centres, prisons, young offenders institutions, residential drug & alcohol centres, education settings. The quality & innovation of SCRIPT’s training products for outreach youth workers, not only supports new practitioners but also offers opportunities for continued professional development in this field, which can be transferred to engagement with other marginalised, socially excluded groups, in a variety of delivery settings within post covid Europe. Users of SCRIPT have also benefited from the cross-pollination of ideas across Europe, sharing experience of what works in the field of outreach youth work for 18-25 year olds, & development of training modules – improving the outreach youth work provision across Europe, now & in the future."

Context & backgroundSoft skills are closely connected with employability and it is also seen that EU countries have different methodologies and approaches to assessment (Cinque, 2016) of soft skills competences and furthermore in the train of teachers. Skills development is one of the four main areas of the European Union. The labor market is constantly evolving and therefore competences and qualifications that educators need change over time. These interpersonal skills are seen as a one of the key competencies in EU policy. The Cedefop (2014) defines competence as the ability to apply learning outcomes adequately in education, work, personal or professional development; these outcomes include knowledge; skills; and personal, social, and/or methodological abilities. European Commission has published new recommendations (2018) for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, which was adopted in 2006. An agile competence development is seen as a key factor when developing European education. Competence needs are not static; they change throughout life and across eras.Easily accessible learning outcomes promote adult educators development, indirectly students in adult education benefit from the results. Objectives, activities & resultsThe objectives of the project were: a) to recognize needs of soft skills competencies through 2 Delphi rounds, b) to identify and describe 15 key soft skills competencies , c) to develop a self-reflective online test, and d) to co-create an open badge-driven learning process to improve missing soft skills.The project team consisted of six European partners from five countries; Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) Finland, Formacion Para El Desarrollo E Insercion, Sociedad Limitada (Defoin) Spain, Universidad De Cordoba (UCO) Spain, Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca (FVM) Italy, Orange Hill Sp. Z o.o. (OH) Poland and Centrul Pentru Promovarea Invatarii Permanente Timisoara Asociatia (CPIP) Romania. The common definition for soft skills was reached by the first survey (398 responses) and the second survey (216 responses) by which the most important soft skills for adult educators and HR people in their daily work were identified. In total 15 key soft skills were identified. Translations of the badge names and descriptions into national languages were conducted. The landing page (online) was created and badge icons were composed. The landing page was updated by self-directed learning materials (such as new created podcasts, learning materials, videos) in partners’ languages (Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Italian, Spanish) and in English. The links for the badge application with detailed competence criteria as well as instructions for skills demonstration was shared via the landing page. The self-reflective online test was created and implemented in the landing page. The purpose of the online test was to assess persons’ skills related to chosen soft skills (15). In all, 274 badges were issued to the participants in all languages (Finnish 48, Polish 30, Romanian 27, Spanish 40, Italian 28, and English 101). The project team arranged three short-term staff learning, teaching and training activities during the project, twelve multiplier events and was able to achieve all set objectives. Participants, impacts & sustainabilitySOSTRA project succeeded in supporting adult educators, training companies, school-based training centers, training consultants and HRs teachers in achieving a better understanding of the soft skills competencies, as well as adapting learning process more transparently and consistently into practice, seeking an innovative way to intertwine digital and competence-based education into soft skills development in the field of European adult education and to further model competence-based adult education approaches in open digital badge-driven learning approaches.During the project, approximately 38 000 people were reached through dissemination activities. The feedback gathered from piloting the open badge-driven learning process suggested that the learning and teaching situations were conducted well, the process was straightforward and all participants used soft skills daily, finding them to be important skills for educators. The Participants found the project innovative, appreciated the involvement of many countries and that it could be linked to EQF levels. There were some concerns regarding the official recognition of the badges and the evaluation process. The partners found the project results useful for their own self development and will use this type of learning process in the future. Sostra has inspired several new European projects to include digital badges or soft skills development.All materials including self-reflection tests and 15 podcasts in six languages produced during the project are available on Sostra.eu webpage.

<< Objectives >>The goal of the EMPROVE project is to support the quality of assistance for elderly by creating an innovative curriculum for the people who would like to train to become a Professional Relative. Professional Relative is a profession of a profession of a geriatric care manager: someone who is with the family, who plans and supervises care. He/she has the appropriate preparation, experience and does not struggle with emotional baggage.<< Implementation >>The activities will be carried within 4 WPs:1. Project Management2. Development of the EMPROVE Training Course and Manual3. Development of the EMPROVE e-Learning Platform4. Dissemination and Sustainability<< Results >>1. A training course aimed at the acquisition of the skills and competencies of a Professional Relative of the elderly with various symptoms of old age or mental or physical illness who need assistance with everyday activities. The training materials will be developed as an e-learning content.2. A Manual addressed to the participants of the Course describing the general knowledge about the profession of a Professional Relative3. An e-Learning Platform giving access to the training materials.

<< Objectives >>This project aims to develop a gamification based learning management system with micro-credentials embedded to provide teachers of various fields professional learning opportunities to develop their resillience and capacities to create and implement effective digital learning materials.<< Implementation >>The learning management system, Empower Teacher Platform as we called it, includes materials for improving teachers' knowledge of digital tool use as well as the pedagogically effective ways of integrating digital learning materials into teaching. As teachers learn about, create learning materials with digital tools and implement them, the Platform will allow teachers to collaborativelly critique each other's works and improve their practices of teaching with digital learning materials.<< Results >>At the end of the project, we expect to have an effective and user friendly Empower Teacher Platform where teachers can collaboratively and collectivelly improve their knowledge and practices of digital tool use for creating online learning materials for their respective fields. In the long term, Empower Teacher Platform has potential to create a strong learning community for teachers to effectively integrate digitalization into their teaching professions.

<< Background >>Over four in five employers state English is by far the most important foreign language in industry (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/6e68f7e0-dd4a-11e6-ad7c-01aa75ed71a1). However, one third of employers find it difficult to fill positions due to applicants’ insufficient foreign language skills. In fact, a Council Recommendation of 22nd May 2019 states national governments should support VET providers to better align language learning with the foreign language needs of occupations that they train students for (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019H0605(02)&from=EN). It’s not only language skills deemed crucial in the labour market, though. A European Commission report on ‘Promoting Adult Learning in the Workplace’ states that people entering the workplace should acquire a combination of transversal core skills, English foreign language skills and specific skills needed for a job (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/71427d31-7b46-11e8-ac6a-01aa75ed71a1/language-en). These transversal core skills include (among others) problem solving, communicating, leadership, and collaboration (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/71427d31-7b46-11e8-ac6a-01aa75ed71a1/language-en). How, though, can we develop VET learners’ foreign language and transversal core skills more effectively?<< Objectives >>Research advocates for a task-based learning (TBL) approach, which argues language teaching should be delivered through the context of ‘real-world’, authentic tasks. In doing so, language proficiency and transferable skills develop due to the approach’s ability to facilitate language learning through relevant task performance that aligns with a learner’s existing language knowledge (Long, 2015). A needs analysis identifies relevant target tasks the learner will have to do in the foreign language, which are then broken down into pedagogic tasks. A syllabus is designed around this sequence of pedagogic tasks and is implemented according to certain methodological principles, which include encouraging inductive and collaborative learning, and a focus on linguistic form. What about materials design and assessing learning outcomes, though? This project sets out to not just address these points through creation of a materials bank and a teacher training course that among other things covers material design and learner assessment, but to ultimately foster greater employability prospects for VET learners.<< Implementation >>This very innovative project will focus on providing language teachers all over Europe with the knowledge and tools that are necessary to effectively implement a task-based syllabus within their own teaching contexts. This will involve the design of a task-based syllabus, the design of a materials bank which will support the implementation of the task-based syllabus, and the creation of a teacher training programme which will be adapted to the needs of those active in the tourism sector. It will equip teachers and trainers with the skills needed to both successfully implement a task-based syllabus and convince other stakeholders of the importance and relevance of a task-based approach to English foreign language learning. Through greater targeting of support for these teachers using this approach towards English foreign language learning, those active in tourism industry will be better able to acquire the language and soft skills required by sector and or in the workplace of their selected vocation. The desired outcome is that they will then be able to achieve higher levels of employability, showcase their businesses and be more resilient to crisis situations due to the fact that they will have a core set of foreign language and transversal competencies that make them a far more lucrative asset in the European labour market.<< Results >>The project is looking to achieve the following results, and they are describe and justified in much detail in the project results sector, so we are laying out here some different aspects of their use and value:1. TBL tasks for tourism: A comprehensive identification of jobs in tourism as well as needs analysis and identification of series of target tasks. It is of key importance to teacher and trainers to have a clear view of the needs analysis to help them easily create lessons.2. TBL pedagogical syllabus with previously identified target tasks that will be synthesised to a series of pedagogical tasks and then be organised into a syllabus. The design of the syllabus will also involve the creation of a series of example materials to support the delivery.3. TBL training course that will help VET language trainers deliver a task-based syllabus. This course will be delivered in a training session towards the end of the project, and those trained will then be accredited to deliver it to trainers in their own contexts/countries.There is one learning, teaching and training activity planned, lasting 3 days in Barcelona (Spain). This is of criticial importance for the success of the project. Also it is important to have a list of participating staff, who have the potential to use the tools developed, and thus have maximum impact measured by the changes in their teaching practices and the number/variety of learners they influence.