To succeed in today’s economy, modern society and personal lives, key competences and the related transversal soft skills are considered essential and complementary to formal skills. This postulate has been highlighted by many organizations and taken as a main thematic for this new project called JANUS+.The innovative approach of JANUS+ is however to focus on the importance of soft / transversal skills acquired within pathways in work-linked trainings to optimize the success of pathways, to prevent from dropouts and to favor employment integration and professional mobility in the long term. Work-linked trainings are the best crucible to identify these soft skills due to the succession of periods in training and work situation leading to a further rise in maturity. Three major stakeholders have to contribute to and beneficiate from the acquisition of soft transversal skills: the hosting company, the training center and the trainee. These soft skills, while important, are not always recognized –particularly in small organizations like VSEs (Very Small Enterprises), SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises), and small associations from whatever sector, where there are usually neither human resources department, nor people familiar with soft skills. They are also not subject to any certification, and therefore difficult to value. That is why each of the involved stakeholders must contribute to move forward on this vital issue for employability.Six partners have gathered to address the objectives of this new project. They include five training centers specialized in work-linked trainings and Key Competences: Cnam Pays de la Loire (France, coordinator), the SME DEFOIN (Spain), ibis acam (Austria), ITT (Ireland), CPIP (Romania) and another SME partner specialized in ICT solutions applied to education called BETI (Lithuania). It is important to outline that the three types of stakeholders and particularly small organizations (SMEs, VSEs and small associations) will be deeply involved in the project in various tasks even if they are not part of the JANUS+ partnership. Their point of views and advices will be crucial to obtain effective results so their involvement will be tightly controlled and monitored. All training centers will involve their networks which include a majority of SMEs in the project. The project will last 24 months and is organised around two types of activities, i.e. three Intellectual Outputs (IOs) and fifteen Multiplier Events. The IOs deal with 1) Transversal skills from small organizations’ point of view, 2) Transversal skills from the trainees’ point of view, and 3) Transversal skills from the training centers’ point of view. They include the definition in each of the three Key Competences of the most relevant transversal skills for employability and mobility. Then a work of appropriation will be conducted with the three types of stakeholders (small organisations, training centers and trainees), followed by a test phase and an evaluation phase. In order to strive for certification, a monitoring tool for the acquisition of transversal skills will indeed be developed and tested in the five partner countries during the test phase of the project. It will enable to identify training needs of trainees. The training(s) will take the form of small modules of awareness and learning which will also be tested by the trainees of the five countries. The 15 Multiplier Events will enable a presentation of the results obtained in the three IOs as well as a final exchange with the three types of stakeholders in all of the five countries. In addition, transversal activities as regards management, dissemination and quality plan will secure the methodology all along the project.
The Erasmus+ project Janus+ aims to evaluate, acquire and make recognize a set of 37 transversal competences (or soft skills) in alternation training courses, in three main domains: learning to learn, entrepreneurial and initiative spirit and civic and social skills. Janus+ gives the two following opportunities: to self-assess himself or to do it with his tutor during the alternating training period. At the end of the evaluation, awareness tools (or progress tools, rather than training tools) related to these specific skills will be available to tutors (who can lead group activities) and alternates (for individual or grouped activities). E-portfolio building methodologies, without recommendation of specific tools because of the multiple possibilities of use and evolving practices, will also be available. Thanks to the project, the link between students and tutors in companies got stronger. Indeed, both have been involved in the identification, the evaluation and the development of the non-technical (or transversal) skills. By promoting the use of tools, resources and actions, the project has made soft skills known and recognized. It also allowed to sensitize learners and tutors/mentors/employers, as well as teachers/trainers to the importance of transversal skills. These are now recognized for promoting access to employment or employability in general. As part of the project, assessment tools for 37 soft skills have been created. Thanks to the creation of a website and the development of a self-assessment platform, awareness and progress resources (group activities or individual activities) are now available to users, learners and tutors. Six partners have contributed to the project: five adult continuing education organizations in France, Austria, Spain, Ireland, Romania; and a technical partner, specialist in the field of training in Lithuania.