Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship is one of the four core objectives of the ET2020 strategy and all member states are asked to emphasise the equal opportunities in access to the education systems. The reduction of drop outs and low performers in the education systems and especially in the initial VET systems is a core indicatore for this objective. The benchmark for the drop out rate from the education systems is set at 10% until 2020. Some of the European member states have to make a huge effort to reach this benchmark in the next years, others seem to be on a good way or have already reached the benchmark, however with a closer look it is obvious that also in these countries drop out rates from initial VET which is based on a dual apprenticeship system, drop out rates are still above 30%(!). So this benchmark could be a false friend for these countries also. All this shows that current education systems and especially VET systems do not meet the requirements and needs of all potential learners especially in initial VET and didactical models in use are not able to motivate all learners, especially not learners with some fomrs of disadvantages (migration background, socio economic disadvantages, ethnic background etc.) Looking at this target group shows clearly that our current approaches in VET fail to motivate and involve learners on broad level. Research has shown that existing didactical models in use in teaching in initial VET have in fact two main sources. One is school pedagogy and the other one is adult pedagogy (andragogy). Both are not really able to provide convincing and satisfying solutions for a target group that is growing bigger and bigger and creates more challenges for the VET teachers, the VET schools or companies with responsibilities in the VET system every day. The New-D project is going to search for a new didactical solution. The main objective of the project is the developmemt of an innovative didactical model to be used in the VET training of disadvantaged young learners to get them back into the VET system, to motivate them to continue and which is reflecting the life realities (motivating factors) of the target group. The project will develop four main intellectual ouptuts (besides a number of additional outcomes for dissemination and exploitation support) which are: a) a research study, showing latest research results from learning psychology, development psychology as well as neurophysiology together with the results of a broad empirical research with representatives of the target group b) New-D didactical guidelines: are a short collection of about 10 major principles of a new didactical model for young disadvantaged learners in VET which are easy to disseminate, easy to follow and are built upon the research results c) New-D training curriculum: a training curriculum for VET teacher, trainers and responsibel persons from companies for the VET process to learn about the new didactical model in a 30 hours training course involving practical exercises and a collection of innovative learning materials in relation oto the didactical methodology d) 6 training courses for VET teacher and trainers: in 6 partner countries min. 10 VET teachers will be participating in a test imlementation of the New-D training programme developed The direct target group of the project are: VET teachers and trainers from VET schools or VET centres, responsible persons from companies for the VET process (in dual VET systems), political decision and VET policy makers as well as guiding and counselling experts working with the target group of disadvantaged young persons in the initial VET process or NEET persons (not in employment, not in education). The final beneficiaries are disadvantaged young persons inside or already outside the initial VET systems in the participating countries and beyond. Only with an innivative didactical methodology it will be possible to make the VET systems more open, accessible and equal and offer a perspective for disadvantaged learners to return, engage and find a place for themselves. The project partnership consists of well experienced VET providers, VET schools, company representatives, political bodies, social partners. All partners have profound knowledge in the subject and excellent access to the target group. To emphasise the dissemination potential of the project and its results , an own organisation will be responsible for the marketing and dissemination of the project intellectual outputs and will co-ordinate partners with their dissemination and exploitation work.
In their efforts to promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship (one of the four core objectives of the ET2020 strategy), the EU member states also need to ensure equal opportunities regarding access to the education systems and the labour markets. One essential element to reach this aim is the reduction of dropout rates in the education systems and, particularly, in initial VET. A benchmark of a maximum of 10 % of dropouts from the initial education pathway by the year 2020 has been set by the European Commission. With dropout rates of up to and above 30 % in various member states, it seems that current methods in education systems in initial VET do not fully meet the requirements and needs of all learners. Particularly disadvantaged learners (e. g. learners with a migration background or with socio-economic challenges), often, cannot be sufficiently motivated to follow their initial educational pathways up to the end. Didactical models in use seem inadequate to some extent: Existing teaching models in initial VET are either based on school paedagogy or on adult learning paedagogy, and neither of them seems to be able to provide convincing and satisfying solutions for a target group that is constantly growing - thus creating ever bigger challenges for VET teachers, VET trainers and VET tutors in VET schools, VET institutions and enterprises (the direct target group of the project). Based upon the above-mentioned facts, the NEW-D project set out to find new kinds of didactical solutions. It was the main objective of the project to develop an innovative didactical model to be used in the VET training of disadvantaged young learners (the final beneficiaries of the project) - in order to keep them in or, even, to bring them back into initial VET. The model should, on the one hand, reflect the life realities (motivating factors) of the learners and, on the other hand, provide easy-to-use tools for the VET teachers, trainers and tutors. In order to reach the project goal, the partnership created the following products: (a) A research study, which reflects both latest research results from the fields of learning psychology, developmental psychology and neurophysiology as well as the results of an empirical research with the disadvantaged learners themselves. The study was published in English; a summary was published in the partner languages. The NEW-D Research Study and the summary can be downloaded from the project website. (b) The NEW-D Didactical Guidelines are a collection of seven major principles for a new didactical approach in dealing with young disadvantaged learners in initial VET. The NEW-D Guidelines are based on the research results, they provide explanations and examples, and they are colour-coded, which makes them easy to follow and use. The NEW-D Guidelines were published in all partner languages; they are available as hard copies from the project partners and can be downloaded from the project website. (c) The NEW-D Training Curriculum offers a 30-hour training course for VET teachers, trainers and tutors in VET schools, VET institutions and enterprises to learn about the NEW-D didactical model and its implementation in everyday work with disadvantaged learners. Based on the guidelines, the curriculum (7 modules/10 units) includes both practical exercises as well as a collection of innovative learning materials and is ECVET-based. It was piloted in six partner countries with ten participants from the target group per country. The curriculum was published in all partner languages and is available for download from the project website. Within the project, dissemination played a crucial role. Besides channels and materials such as project website (www.new-d.eu), posters, brochures, direct contact, conferences, and social media, the partners organised two conferences. While the focus of the first (national) conference was placed on the NEW-D Guidelines, the second (international) conference focused on the NEW-D Curriculum. Both conferences took place in Graz, Austria. The project partnership, lead by Jugend am Werk Steiermark GmbH as the project promoter, consisted of well-experienced VET providers, VET schools, representatives from enterprises, and political bodies from seven countries (Austria: Jugend am Werk Steiermark GmbH and ENTER GmbH; Denmark: Fritid&Samfund; Germany: Oscar-Tietz-Schule OSZ Handel II; Ireland: Meath Community Rural and Social Development Partnership Ltd; Italy: Formazione Co&So Network; Slovenia: Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije; Turkey: Egitim ve genclik calismalari enstitusu dernegi), thus allowing access to the major stakeholder groups. The short-term impact was measured via a three-stage feedback process during pilot implementation. The feedback was excellent and demonstrated both the success of the project itself as well as the need for action in this field. At this point, it is not yet possible to speak about a medium- or long-term effect of the project.