PROMETHEUS is the Greek god that gave fire to the people. His name in Greek means forethought. He stands as a symbol of the human progress and the gift of fire and hope. Hope helps human beings to struggle to improve their lives while fire, as the source of technology, makes success in that struggle possible. What better metaphor can one find for the nowadays career counsellors and guidance practitioners. Their expertise and experience ensures that they can transfer the hope of better personal and professional realization to the people they work with and for. The rapid technologies’ development changes the dimensions of the learning and counselling environments and methodologies and the fire they need to make the counselling process more relevant and adequate to the new virtual generation’s needs and attitudes is the next logical step in the development of their profession – the online environment. PROMETHEUS.EU is that One Stop Virtual Space for Career Counselling and Guidance Services they need – an innovative online platform with open educational resources. All the Intellectual Outputs of the project will be uploaded and implemented on and via the platform - Intellectual Outputs: Career Pathways Research and Analysis Report (O1), 100+ Enlightenment Best Practices e-Book (O2), PROMETHEUS Peer Network (O3), PROMETHEUS. EU(O4), Online Career Counselling Guide (O5) and PROMETHEUS Toolkit with career counselling mobile apps (O6). PROMETHEUS directly addressed the strategic partnership priority for re-skilling and up-skilling of adults through increasing incentives for adult learning, information on access to lifelong learning services such as career guidance and by offering tailored learning opportunities to individual learners. The PROMETHEUS Intellectual Outputs will facilitate the enhanced participation in learning as well as the employability by developing quality career guidance, counselling and support services. The project team will achieve these goals in compliance with the program priorities for innovating and increasing the quality and range of initial and continuing training, including new pedagogies, ICT-based methodologies and use of open educational resources as well as the production and adoption of open education resources in diverse European languages. The project team includes 6 organizations from 6 European countries: BFE (Bulgaria), CIAPE (Italy), BEST (Austria), IED (Greece), Aspire-i Ltd. (UK) and CIT (Ireland). The partners possess outstanding expertise and experience and the synergy of their professionalism, pro-activeness and commitment to high quality performance, teamwork in the spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and support is the solid basis for the successful implementation of the project idea. The activities PROMETHEUS strategic partnership will organize will follow the logical framework of the project implementation and progress and include: management, coordination and monitoring activities; activities dedicated to the production of the Intellectual Outputs and achieving the set objectives and outcomes and activities for dissemination, exploitation and provision of sustainability. The envisaged impact for the first main target group - the young adults will be their better employability. They will also become aware of the benefits of a constant development and the participation in lifelong learning possibilities for better personal and professional realization. The impact for the second target group - the career counselling and guidance professionals is that they will be able to improve the quality and widen the scope of the services they offer and thus improve their managerial skills and enhance their pro-activeness and sense of initiative. As a result of all these they will really become PROMETHEUSes and will distribute the knowledge and commitment to constant personal and professional improvement and realization among the receivers of their services. The whole society including the stakeholders, employers, individuals, etc. as indirect target group of the PROMETHEUS project will benefit from the innovative and practical solutions to some of the most challenging nowadays problems. The main impact of the successful implementation of the project for the society will be the reinforced interaction between practice, research and policy. The dissemination activities will be designed appropriate for the new virtual generation and to promote the PROMETHEUS.EU platform and the career counselling apps. All members of the strategic partnership expressed commitment to contribute with their networks of partners and professional contacts in their countries and across Europe for the dissemination, multiplication and mainstreaming of the project's outputs and outcomes. All projects partners are strongly committed that the PROMETHEUS.EU and all Intellectual Outputs will be maintained and utilized for at least 5 years beyond the funded period.
There is an old story about the three stonecutters. Once upon a time, a traveler came across them and asked what they were doing. The first replied sadly saying that he has the hardest job in the world. He said he was cutting a stone. The second one said his job was very hard but at least could earn the money to feed his family. He said he was building a stone wall. When the traveler met the third stonecutter, the man was covered with dust but looking happy and cutting a stone with a smile on his face. The traveler asked him the same question: What are you doing? The stonecutter simply answered with shining eyes: I am building a Cathedral. Exactly two years ago the Prometheus partners posted their first publication on the Peer Network and started this outstanding project together with the words: “We come from six different European countries – Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the UK. We put expertise, perseverance and heart in what we do, we are friends and allies, we are the stonecutters that build cathedrals. This time we invite you to join us in building the Temple of the nowadays Prometheuses – the career counsellors and guidance practitioners.” Two years later the project has been successfully implemented in the partners’ countries and has attracted interest and achieved impact beyond their borders. The partners named the project Prometheus after the Greek god that gave fire to the people and whose name in Greek means forethought. He stands as a symbol of the human progress and the gift of fire and hope and is the best metaphor one can find for the nowadays career practitioners. The project team includes 6 partners: BFE (BG), CIAPE (IT), BEST (AT), IED (GR), Aspire-igen (UK) and CIT (IR). They are all committed to adding value to people’s realization and actively working for their enhanced employability. The team launched and maintained the Prometheus Platform – PROMETHEUS-EU.NET - a One Stop Virtual Space for Career Counselling and Guidance Services. As a result of the team joint efforts 5 more intellectual outputs have been produced and uploaded on the Platform - Career Pathways Research and Analysis Report, 100+ Enlightenment Best Practices e-Book, Peer Network and Empower Talk Movies, Online Career Counselling Guide and Toolkit with 5 career mobile apps. All the intellectual outputs have been elaborated, validated and finalized in English, Bulgarian, German, Greek and Italian languages. They will be available for free of charge use at least until the end of 2021. The intellectual outputs have been presented through different publications, seminars, meetings, multiplier events and the Final Prometheus Conference that took place in June, 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The outputs elaborated and outcomes achieved are directly addressing the strategic partnership priority for re-skilling and up-skilling of adults through increasing incentives for adult learning, information on access to lifelong learning services such as career guidance and by offering tailored learning opportunities to individual learners. They facilitate the enhanced participation in learning as well as the employability by developing quality career guidance, counselling and support services. The project team also took into account the Erasmus+ Program priorities for innovating and increasing the quality and range of initial and continuing training, including new pedagogies, ICT-based methodologies and use of open educational resources as well as the production and adoption of open education resources in diverse European. The impact on the partners’ organizations and the other participants in the project activities is significant and the career practitioners are now equipped with professionally elaborated theoretical and practical solutions to their main challenges and needs related to high quality provision of career services with large variety of approaches and types of activities. These benefits contribute to the improved performance in their role on the labour market as the meeting and matching point between the market requirements and the employability of their clients. The impact for another one of the main target groups - the young adults is the enhanced potential for their employability as a result the project’s activities and results. They are better informed about the benefits of a constant development and the participation in lifelong learning possibilities for better personal and professional realisation and 10 of them shared own experience through the Empower Talks. The whole society including the stakeholders, employers, individuals, etc. as indirect target group of the Prometheus project benefit and will benefit in the long-term from the innovative and practical solutions to some of the most challenging nowadays problems. The main impact of the successful implementation of the project for the society is the reinforced interaction between practice, research and policy seen in the Peer Network.