Job coACh, supporTIng school studEnts with Autism Spectrum Disorder to acquire independency” – ACTIvE aims to promote social inclusion starting with school education through a holistic approach. Thanks to the external collaboration of the Job Coach educator profile, school systems as a whole will be empowered to support students with special needs. In particular, ACTIvE wants to:-Provide educators working in school contexts with innovative Continuous Professional Development opportunities to deal with ASD students (competences to increase social and personal autonomy of ASD adolescents using psychological and educational best practices);-Develop a long-lasting relationship among all actors in school (families, teachers, headmasters, NGOs working with autism, external stakeholders);-Promote social inclusion through talent development;-Create synergies at local and European level to develop innovative practices for inclusive Europe with a bottom-up approach.TARGET GROUPDirect TG: Educators working in school context (psychologists, professional educators) aiming to enhance their competences in relation to autism.Indirect TG: ASD students, teachers, headmasters, families.Stakeholders: local communities, employment agencies working with people with special needs, chambers of commerce, SMEs. To reach these project objectives, the consortium has designed a set of activities grouped into two innovative results (IOs) over a period of 30 months in total (start: 1st December 2019 – end: 31st May 2022). IO1 THE ACTIVE CURRICULUMThe first innovative result is represented by the curriculum to become JOB COACH, tailor made on the training needs of educators and psychologists working in a school context with ASD students (age 15-18). The curriculum includes key knowledge, skills and competences related to the educational profile of the JOB COACH. In order to reach this tangible result, project partners have foreseen three main activities:A1 Methodological Framework (M1-M2);A2 Job Coach Curriculum (M2-M5)A3 Active Validation (M5-M7).The last activity aims at creating an integrate system for the validation of competences, in full compliance with the “European Guidelines for Validating Non-Formal and Informal Learning” (CEDEFOP 2016).IO2 THE ACTIVE SOCIAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTThe second innovative result is represented by the development of a new online learning environment, enriched with training materials for educators, a collaborative space for the users (namely, the community of practice) and an Info Desk, which will serve as a contact point among platform users and project partners. The info desk will be active for at least 3 years after the end of project funding, in order to guarantee the sustainability of the project’s results. In addition, the online collaborative space (community of practice) will be supervised by a moderator appointed by project partners on a rotation base (approximately 5 months each).The Guidelines for Educators to Implement Job Coach Strategies with ASD Students (IO2/A5.2) will be also available on the platform as an open resource, ensuring the transferability of results.These second tangible result will be achieved through:A1 Training Plan (M8-M9)A2 Development of Training Modules (M10-M18)A3 ACTIvE Social Learning Environment (M17-M21)A4 Pilot Test (M20 – M26): C1 Train the Trainer (M20) + Pilot (M22 – M26)A5 Guidelines of Educators to Implement Job Coach Strategies with ASD Students (M26 – M28)Blended Mobility of ASD Students (M26) + Report (M26-M28)A6 Fine-Tuning of Platform and training modules (M29 – M30).