The project rationale is rooted within the in the objectives of ET 2020, Rethinking Education, the Bruges Communiqué as well as the Riga conclusions of June 2015 that invite companies, social partners and VET providers to promote work-based learning in all its forms and to make WBL approaches more effective and more targeted to the labour market needs. Within this context the project partners, according to their everyday experiences in the field of I-VET and therefore through a direct contact with the stakeholders, identified common challenges and related needs to be addressed:Within these activities the project partners highlighted the following common challenges and related NEEDS:- VET providers need to ameliorate the cooperation between them and companies to provide a market oriented training offer and driving learning paths to VET students.- VET providers needs to provide VET students with enhanced Work Based Learning methods and tools based on the full exploitation of ICT and multimedia communication potential and on the involvement of company managers, to motivate VET students to learn- Need to improve apprenticeships’ effectiveness as they are usually related to a small (or anyway insufficient) number of companies at international level when internationalization is at the contrary a key issue for the qualification of web design and social media management within a globalized market.In order to answer to these needs the project aims to:- Improve the cooperation between VET providers and companies so as to provide a market oriented training offer and business driven learning paths to the students of the web design and social media - Answer to the need of motivating VET students at risk of dropping out, by providing them with enhanced Work Based Learning methods and tools based on the full exploitation of in person and virtual traineeships using ICT and multimedia.- Enhance the participation of company managers in work based learning initiatives to match their with the training of the future human resources overcoming the barriers that obstacle their full commitment in cooperating with the VET providers- Improve the internationalization of the VET training offer and of Work based learning approaches through the exploitation of ICT in order to match the needs of the companies and the expectations of the trainees when organising the transnational apprenticeshipsThe project will involve:- 50 VET trainers - 100 VET students - 50 companies’ manager In the creation and testing of 3 Intellectual Outputs:- IO 1 - Repository of e-learning video lessons and interviews collecting Video lessons for the web design and social media market companies, delivered by managers and experts and providing VET students with specific knowledge, competences and skills coming directly from the market.The repository will also give access to interviews focusing on different real life success stories to be used with with students to highlight the importance of completing VET for being successful at work and in life.- IO 2 - On line platform for the organisation and management of virtual internships.The Platform will support VET providers and companies in organising and managing national and transnational internships, as part of a structured work based Learning methodology for delivering Vocational education and training offer. The Platform will provide direct access to a consistent and easy to use set of tools to be used by VET providers to cooperate with companies in order plan and monitor work based learning experiences and assess and validate the knowledge, skills and competences acquired by the students during apprenticeship - IO 3 - Guidelines for the organisation of international placement providing VET providers, directors and administrative staff, students, companies, policy makers with a package of easy to use guidelines and tools to effectively plan and manage international placements.The project will achieve the following long term results- Motivate VET students at risk of dropping out, by providing them with enhanced Work Based Learning methods and tools based on the full exploitation of ICT and multimedia communication potential. - Provide VET students with knowledge, competences and skills coming directly from the market preparing themselves to international work placements- Provide VET students with awareness, through real life cases, of the importance for companies that human resources have both the technical and professional skills to perform the specific task and the basic and transversal skills that can be acquired only by completing VET education, so to gain motivation to continue their studies.- Creation of a transnational network of VET providers, companies and social partners for implementing effective Work Based Learning methods
Context/background of the project The economic crisis that affects all European countries had a strong impact on the already existing "skills gap" in the EU labor market. The following challenges and related needs are identified: - ameliorate the cooperation between VET providers and companies to provide a market oriented training offer - provide VET students with enhanced Work Based Learning methods and tools to prevent demotivation due to the lack of practical application of what they learn in a real business environment - Apprenticeships lack in effectiveness Objectives The project identified the following objectives to be reached in order to answer to the identified needs: - Improve the cooperation between VET providers and companies and enhance the participation of companies in planning and delivering training so to better match the job market needs - Motivate VET students at risk of dropping out, by providing them with enhanced Work Based Learning methods - Improve the internationalization of the VET training offer Participating organisations The WBL 2.0 project involved: - 6 contractual partners including training agencies, companies associations and no profit organisations - 57 Companies interested in cooperating with the VET sector - More than 60 trainers and more than 1 200 students - 45 Associated partners including VET schools, associations, companies, no profit organisations public bodies, school associations, universities and youth organisations Activities The project activities were organised as follows: Activity 1: Creation of the Intellectual Output contents: Repository of e-learning video lessons and interviews The project partners produced the Repository of e-learning video lessons and interviews, delivered by company managers and professionals according to a Work based learning approach, to provide VET students that want to become web designers and/or social media managers with an innovative ICT based training offer for better understanding the expectations of the market and of the companies. The partners contacted companies’ managers and experts to collect Video interviews and Testimonials. The Video were edited and subtitled and made available on the Project Portal through in-depth description of their contents and didactic potential. Activity 2 Creation of a Virtual Platform for Internships hosted within a dedicated section on to the WBL 2.0 portal providing accessibility to: - Profiles of companies interested in host a transnational internship. - Profiles of students that are interested to carry out their placement at international level - Monitoring and assessment tools Activity 3 Creation of Guidelines for the organisation of international internships identifying and mainstreaming innovative successful strategies to ensure that work placements reflect the needs and expectations of the business world and the needs and expectations of the VET students and VET providers. Activity 4 Organisation of 5 Multiplier events to disseminate the results reached, methodology implemented and output produced in the WBL 2.0 project. Transversal Activities: All project partners were involved in the carrying out of the transversal activities related to the effective implementation of the project: Coordination, Reporting, Dissemination, Exploitation and Evaluation. Results and impact attained WBL 2.0 impacted on: - VET TEACHERS providing them with innovative work based learning teaching methods for enriching their classroom lessons with Video based materials facilitating students understanding of what are companies expectations in real life business scenarios and motivate them students to finish their VET training paths Also WBL 2.0 results implemented effective alternance between training and work through transnational apprenticeships and established fruitful cooperation with companies for organising international and virtual placements - VET STUDENTS who acquired knowledge, competences and skills in the fields of the latest trends in web designing and implementation and raised their awareness on the importance that companies give in the selection of their human resources. Students also got in contact with European companies of the sector in order to carry out transnational apprenticeships virtual or in person and also experimenting forms of teleworking - COMPANIES managers and trainers, by involving them in the creation of the Video collection of training contents. Companies reinforced their participation to the definition of VET training contents addressed to their future workforce, making sure that VET students get trained to be prepared to match their needs of human resources. Longer-term benefits The project outputs have all a strong transferability potential and are expected to have long term benefits on the VET sector through a strong cooperation pattern between companies and Vet providers.