At 218 million, average EU employment in 2012 was 2.6% less than in 2008. Only five countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Malta and Sweden) have recovered both their pre-crisis GDP and employment levels. Young people with low qualifications were worst affected by the crisis - hiring fell by one third (-31%) between 2013 and 2008. Young people generally enjoy a high rate of hiring, but this is not reflected by a significant reduction in youth unemployment due to high turnover (European Vacancy and Recruitment Report , EC, 2014). The main findings of the Report highlight that low-skilled workers encounter increasing difficulties to find a job, face lower job stability and are out-competed by medium-skilled workers even in elementary occupations. In contrast, job opportunities are growing in some high-skilled professions. The report also unbderlines the increase in temporary and part-time work during the crisis and underlines the need to better support school-to-work transitions, to decrease segmentation of the labour markets and to up-skill jobseekers, particularly the low qualified (EC, 2014). Most of the low-skilled workers come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Professionals working with learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities are mainly social workers but also other kinds of professionals. As the public support for employment (known as "social employment") has increased in the past years to face the difficult social and economic situation, their professional profiles have been more and more various. They usually work in associations but also in local authorities or Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs). Whatever their educative and/or professional background, they are not trained to support learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities. A relevant social and educative support is most needed in order to sustain the employment of low skilled workers in the long term. The Key Tutors project will address two publics, taking into account the diversity of the profiles (in the professional environment of the partners and the adult education context of the countries) 1. Direct public: Tutors (Professionals and trainers) working with learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities in associations , local authorities and Small and Medium Entreprises (SME) 2. Indirect public: learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities insisting on their status( employed, unemployed…). Tutor is understood here as tutor in enterprise (professionnals) and tutor in adult education (trainers) Professionnal tutor support adult in the acquisition of professional and social skills. He works in a local enterprise, association or public authority and train adults in the same organization. He materializes a link with society and work for the unemployed, fragile, in inclusion and thus contribute to the fight against social exclusion and the fight against unemployment. E. Savary, consultant at Center for Continuing Education (CAFOC) France, wrote in 1994"it is not enough to be a good professional to be a good tutor! Thanks to the Key Tutors project, these tutors (professionnals and trainers) will be offered: 1. a tool & method to identify and assess the key competences of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities. Each country will be focused on a combination of one basic competence/one transversal competence (reference is made to the 8 Key competences enhanced by the European Commission and the European Parliament, Brussels, 2006) depending on their selected field of activity. 2. an appropriate education guidance to support learners from disadvantaged backgrounds/with fewer opportunities in their transition into the labour market taking into account their profiles (education/status) and professional conditions of work (private, public, not for profit…) The transnational approach is mots important for the Key tutors project as a comparative approach will be made depending on the field of activitiy to which belong professionals (tutors) and learners. France will be mainly focussed on learners working in associations (field of Education for all, network of the Federation Familles rurales), Lithuania and Finland will be focussed on local authorities, Spain will be focussed on associations and Small and Meditum Entreprises (SME); Poland will be focussed on both associations and local authorities (public administration). Moreover, the Key Tutor project reflects the diversity of the European regions: France (Western Europe), Spain (Southern part), Lithuania and Finland (Nordic part) and Poland (Eastern part) with different policy and strategy in the social field and VET.
The Europe 2020 strategy is the EU’s agenda for growth and jobs for the current decade. That is why the key policy component of the Europe 2020 strategy is poverty reduction. By setting a poverty target, the EU put social concerns on an equal footing with economic objectives. Achieving the target to reduce the number of disadvantaged people of poverty risk and social exclusion will depend on successful implementation of other priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy, such as providing better opportunities for employment and education. Keeping in mind the framework of the Strategic partnerships of the Erasmus+ programme, the specific priorities in adult education aim to reduce disparities in learning outcomes affecting disadvantaged learners. That is why the Key Tutors project wishes to promote the development, testing and implementation of innovative practices in the field of adult education: to develop basic and transversal skills among adult learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. 6 partners from 5 countries (France, Spain, Lithuania, Finland and Poland), with actors in the field of adult education, working with learners far away from training and / or employment, worked collectively during two years. The Key Tutors project addressed two main publics, while taking into account the diversity of professional profiles and context of the partners and the tradition of adult education in their different countries. 1. "Direct" Target public: Tutors (trainers & professional educators) working with learners away from training and / or employment on a temporary or permanent basis in associations, local authorities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) 2. "Indirect" target publics: Learners who are temporarily or permanently removed from employment or training, employed or not ... The Key tutors project has thus trained European trainers and tutors to evaluate and improve the key competences that are essential for the professional and social integration of their adult learners. The project reached nearly 120 trainers and tutors: social workers, socio-cultural animators, psychologists, trainers, etc .; and more than 300 learners encountering difficulties in accessing training and employment: employees and job-seekers from the field of socio-educational activities, migrants, home-care professionals, vulnerable families in rural areas, unemployed young adults The Key Tutors project was based on learning-in-action for tutors who are responsible for designing, testing and validating tools, teaching methods and practices to assess the key competencies of adult learners and thus promote the acquisition of these key competences. The project included national and transnational activities. The national activities consisted of 3 "learning in action" - sessions organized in each country for at least 10 tutors and 2 phases of experimentation with adult learners with particular difficulties of access to employment or training. At a transnational level, 2 European seminars (transnational training sessions) organized in Finland and Poland have made it possible to work on the results of the experimentation and to validate the tools. Three European meetings in France, Lithuania and Spain enabled good management and exchanges between the partners. These activities resulted in the development of an educational tool and approach for tutors working with learners away from employment and training to promote the key competency approach. Indeed, thanks to the project Key Tutors, tutors and trainers have at their disposal: - A tool & process for identifying and assessing key skills of learners away from employment or training. Each partner has experienced a combination of a basic key competence / cross-cutting or complex key competence (Eight Key European Framework Competencies published by the European Commission and the European Parliament, Brussels, 2006) chosen according to their field of activity. - A methodological guide to support learners far from employment or training in their return to the job market, taking into account their profiles (education / status) and their professional environments (private, public, non-professional, lucrative or associative ...).