All over Europe, unemployment figures for young people (16-25) are alarmingly high and still rising. Among the young unemployed, those showing low qualification levels are at risk of social exclusion, sometimes for the rest of their lives. This challenging situation applies for all countries the UPDESIGN project brings together: UK, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain. More than 50% of Spanish youngsters are out of job. The situation in Greece and Italy is currently developing into a similarly bad direction: in Greece, for instance, 60% of all unemployed are under 25. Even in Austria, the percentage of young unemployed is considerably higher than the overall unemployment (almost 10% for young, compared with an overall 4% in AT). In some countries of the partnership, high youth unemployment has led to enormous social conflicts and even riots (EL, ES, UK). How can adult education and VET react? Educational concepts focusing on the empowerment of low-qualified young adults for efficient, practical, motivational and joyful acquisition of employability skills are still rare, or at least not implemented enough. The majority of teachers, trainers and counsellors in the partner countries are not sufficiently equipped with respective approaches and instruments. Therefore, UPDESIGN is targeted at adult education and vocational education & training providers dealing with disadvantaged, low-level educated young adult learners who do not dispose of qualification and skills sufficient to (re)enter the labour market. The project will equip education providers and their staff with innovative methods and tools for basic/employability skills delivery, entrepreneurial spirit and motivation training embedded in the thematic world of design and based on the idea of "upcycling", i.e. initiating processes where waste materials or "useless" products are converted into new materials or products of better quality or - simply speaking- "where old products are given more value, not less" (Thornton Kay, Salvo News 94). On a transversal level, the pedagogic outputs of UPDESIGN will also introduce elements of eco-friendliness and environmental sustainability and, by this, raise respective awareness and initiate behavioural changes among their users (e.g. appreciation of material values, waste management etc.). The main pedagogic outcomes, the UPDESIGN CURRICULUM, the Teaching and Training HANDBOOK and the TOOLKIT on how to support and motivate young disadvantaged adult learners by employability skills will offer guidelines on the underlying concept for adult and vocational education providers and their staff, as well as hold didactic teaching (and learning) materials to practically use with their final beneficiaries. The products will focus on how to empower young learners in terms of their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit/aptitude, basic skills (reading, writing, product descriptions), ICT skills (internet research, design of magazines, creating texts and pics), organisational and communication skills (reporting, interviewing), financial literacy (purchase of materials, calculations) etc. Pedagogically, the project will follow principles of self-organised and self-directed learning in order to enable learners to gain ownership of their educational and personal pathways. Teachers and trainers will be easily able to introduce this learning concept into their educational and counselling activities to make learners benefit. The didacitc material will be collated in the UPDESIGN PLATFORM that will offer Open Education Resource materials for education providers and their staff, as well as learners, free of charge in 5 languages (i.e. English, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish). Users will be able to simply take and implement the material and they can design and upload own OER based on the provided material. In the course of the funded lifetime of UPDESIGN, the partnership aims at actively involve at least 240 educators working with at least 180 learners. UPDESIGN shall improve the quality in adult education and VET systems by offering innovative approaches and contents. The main and first project impact will be that V/ET providers, their teachers, trainers and counsellors will have innovative materials to empower young adult disadvantaged learners by employability skills via motivational methods and practical tools. They will also be able to multiply the results into other organisations in their countries and beyond. The long-term impact envisaged is increased participation in lifelong learning and society of groups otherwise excluded from educational measures and the society, as well as the improvement of their employability. Furthermore, the fact that, in this way, materials will be used for upcycling processes will help to save energy, money and gain new products. The project shall have a positive impact at VET systems and programmes on local, regional, national level in the partner countries, as well as on a wider European level.
All over Europe, unemployment figures for young people (16-25) are alarmingly high and still rising. Among the young unemployed, those showing low qualification levels are at risk of social exclusion, sometimes for the rest of their lives. This challenging situation applies for all countries the UPDESIGN project brings together: UK, Austria, Italy, Greece, Spain. More than 50% of Spanish youth are unemployed, the situation in Greece and Italy is currently developing a similar trend, in Greece for instance 60% of all unemployed are under 25. Even in Austria, the percentage of young unemployed is considerably higher than the overall unemployment (almost 10% for young, compared with an overall 4% in AT). In some partner countries high youth unemployment has led to enormous social conflicts and even riots (EL, ES, UK). Educational concepts focusing on the empowerment of low-qualified young adults for efficient, practical, motivational and joyful acquisition of employability skills are still rare, or not implemented. The majority of VET providers in the partner countries are not sufficiently equipped with respective approaches and instruments. Therefore UPDESIGN was targeted at adult education and VET providers dealing with disadvantaged, low-level educated young adult learners who do not hold qualifications and skills sufficient to (re)enter the labour market. The project was designed to equip education providers and their staff with innovative methods and tools for basic/employability skills delivery, entrepreneurial spirit and motivation training embedded in the thematic world of design and based on the idea of "upcycling", i.e. initiating processes where waste materials or "useless" products are converted into new materials or products of better quality. On a transversal level, the pedagogic outputs of UPDESIGN also introduce elements of eco-friendliness and environmental sustainability and, by this, raise respective awareness and initiate behavioral changes among their users. The project was led by Springboard Opportunities (springboard-opps.org) and involved 5 partners: BEST Institut GMBH (best.at), Consorzio Sociale Abele Lavoro (csabelelavoro.it) Institouto Ekpedeftikou & Epagelmatikou Prosantolismou (iekep.gr), FVA Sas Di Louis Ferrini & C (fvaweb.it) & Instituto para el fomento del desarrollo y la formación S.L (infodef.es). The partnership consists of VET providers and innovation experts, adult education and research organisations from UK, Austria, Italy, Greece & Spain. The selection of partners was been based on their expertise and the work known for, providing training and guidance to low qualified, disadvantaged young adults. The core activities and individual strengths of each partner were also reflected in their main tasks within the project to ideally contribute to an effective transfer into the VET sector. The main activities and results undertaken on the project include: O1 Analysis and Conceptual Framework, a research analysis to report on: • A catalogue of recommendations • Trend indications • Materials for further integration as good practice samples • Matrix of key competences and skills related to employability defined according to European Qualification Framework (EQF) • Learning Outcomes - Knowledge, Skills and Competences. O2 UPDESIGN Curriculum, a curriculum to provide disadvantaged young adult learners employability competences and environmental and social responsibility skills embedded in the 'world of DESIGN', setting activities in upcycling of industrial waste and its preparation, aesthetic upgrading, marketing, reflexion upon activities and lessons learnt. O3 UPDESIGN teaching and training Handbook, a handbook to help educators understand how to implement the UPDESIGN methodology into their teaching practice. Final Learning Outcomes and units were defined according to the O1 research results. O4 UPDESIGN Toolkit - teaching and learning materials, this comprises learning material for disadvantaged young adults offering practical, motivating learning activities/exercises embedded in upcycling activities improving their employability skills (entrepreneurial spirit, social and communication skills, personal competences) O5 UPDESIGN Platform, our virtual platform and OER repository accessible on the internet (at www.updesign-platform.eu) Multiplier conferences were also held in each partner country. In the short term our project has had a greater than expected impact with the results used to date with over 2000 learners and 500 trainers across the partner countries and beyond. Visits to the virtual platform in 2016 have averaged 240 per month, nearly 5 times our target and we are also continuing to disseminate the results to key stakeholders to ensure they are adapted by as many providers as possible. The platform will be supported for at least another 3 years enabling new materials to be uploaded and utilized by current and future users.