Europe 2020's targets state that in the EU 75% of the 20 to 64 year olds should be in employment by 2020 and at least 20 million fewer people should be lifted out of the risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020. However, a high percentage of young people in Europe fail at obtaining a vocational educational training of any kind. The youths in question often share a history of school and VET dropouts, have social issues or criminal or drug abuse pasts and therefore generally low chances on the labour market. Three main objectives are pursued in the project VETinCon: One objective is to enhance the equality of chances and the inclusion of disadvantaged young people, such as underachievers or early dropouts in school education, migrants, youths with deficits in social and interpersonal competences, with a lack in language or intercultural competences, histories of drug abuse or criminal pasts. These young people often have no or unrealistic occupational goals and thus generally miss out on their successful step into VET and the labour market. With the development of a practice handbook, best practices of integration of young people into VET in construction in the partner countries will be presented, checked in terms of employability within the specific national contexts, conceptualized in the form of concrete national realization plans and eventually disseminated. The handbook will be adaptable for different European VET systems and transferrable also to other educational institutions and sectors. Therefore, from a local to a European level the entry into a successful VET training will be promoted. Competences of educational staff and youth workers in VET institutions in construction will be promoted as a second objective. Disadvantaged young people generally share a demand for intense care in terms of youth work and educational/learning support. In the multiplier events educational staff and youth workers of the partners or associated institutions will receive substantial knowledge on the respective recipes for success and pitfalls of best practices used in other countries. This will enhance the quality of skills required by the staff that deals with the project's special target group on a daily basis. As a third objective the quality/labour market relevance of VET for both the young people concerned and the companies in the construction sector will be enhanced and supported. Not all partner countries have a clearly defined dual approach to VET in construction. A strong work-based learning component with strong partnerships between education and construction companies will be included in the handbook and thus help promote the quality of work in construction. The project will be carried out by 8 different institutions from seven different partner countries, namely Germany (coordinator), Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Italy and Sweden. All partners are either VET providers or associations of national construction industries, all of which with substantial experience and expert knowledge in the field of occupational orientation and the integration of disadvantaged young people in VET in the construction industry. In transnational project meetings a moderated exchange of experience will be employed. For all working activities other than the project meetings the partners are in charge of guaranteeing smooth internal working processes of all colleagues per partner institution involved in the project and the involved international project partners via personal or mediated communication. Seven national multiplier events will be held in the form of symposiums with direct instruction by presentations and shorter workshop-like elements such as group work activities and dialogic exchange in every partner country. Project results are five different intellectual outputs: Output 1: Systematic Overview of Best Practices of Integrating Young People in VET in Construction in Seven European Countries Output 2: Questionnaire to identify the most suitable best practice to use under given national/institutional circumstances with examples Output 3: National Realization Plans Output 4: Evaluation Report Output 5: Practice Handbook All outputs will be published in English, German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Italian and Swedish. A heightened equality of chances and an inclusion of disadvantaged young people will be the most important, long-lasting impact of the project. Continuously, more young people with lower chances on the labour market will be integrated in VET in the construction sector and in VET in general. Risks of youth unemployment and unemployment in general will be reduced.
A high percentage of young people in Europe does not participate in any kind of vocational training. The young people concerned often share a history of school and work absences, have social problems or a criminal or drug-related past, and thus generally have little chance of finding a job. The objectives of the Europe 2020 programme include increasing the employment rate of the population aged 20-64 from 69% today to at least 75% and reducing the proportion of citizens below the national poverty line by 25%. The VETinCon project had three main objectives: One objective was to improve equal opportunities and to involve disadvantaged young people in vocational training and the labour market. The practical handbook developed in the VETinCon project deals precisely with this target group: examples of good practice for the integration of young people in vocational education and training in the construction sector from six partner countries are presented, their applicability in the respective national contexts examined and conceived in the form of concrete national realization plans, partly tested and finally disseminated. The best practices presented are adaptable and transferable to various European vocational training systems and to other educational institutions and sectors. Thus, the project results promote an entry into successful vocational education and training, from the local to the European level. In addition, the competence of educational staff and youth workers in vocational training institutions in the construction sector should be promoted. In the multiplier and other dissemination events, the educational staff and social pedagogues of the partners or associated institutions were given knowledge about the respective recipes for success and pitfalls of the best practices used in other countries, and those responsible for training in construction companies and associations were also informed. The third objective was to improve the quality/labour market relevance of vocational training both for the young people concerned and for companies in the construction industry. Best practices promoting strong networks between training institutions and construction companies, are now part of the handbook and can contribute to promoting the quality of execution in the construction sector. The project was implemented by seven different institutions from six partner countries. All partners are either vocational training providers or associations of national construction industries with experience and expertise in the field of vocational orientation and the integration of disadvantaged young people into vocational training in the construction industry. A moderated exchange of experience was implemented in transnational project meetings and work steps agreed for the individual work in the partner countries. 16 national multiplier events were held in each partner country. They served to disseminate the five Intellectual Outputs created in the project: Output 1: Systematic overview of best practices for integrating young people into vocational training in the construction industry. Output 2: Questionnaire to identify the most suitable best practices. Output 3: National realization plans Output 4: Evaluation report Output 5: Practice handbook All results are available in English, German, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Italian and Swedish. The main project objective of improving equal opportunities and involving disadvantaged young people in vocational training and the labour market was decisively promoted by the project. More and more young people with fewer opportunities on the labour market were continuously integrated into vocational training or employment in the construction sector or into vocational training in general. Not least due to the best practices implemented by the project partners from other European countries, innovative measures could be taken to integrate disadvantaged young people into vocational training or employment in the construction sector at European level, which would not have been possible without the project. The most promising best practice examples will continue to be considered and developed in the partner institutions in the future. By directly addressing relevant decision-makers, the national or regional prerequisites for the implementation of these implementation plans can be improved and their implementation facilitated in the future. Communication with stakeholders in vocational education and training does not end at the end of the project, but will be supported in the long term by the experience gained in the project. The announcement of the project results to the social partners of relevant institutions and experts from other sectors will ensure the sustainable use of the project results in the construction sector and other sectors.