The project '3Es for youths in VET: Engagement, Empowerment, Employability' focuses on providing adequate programmes and courses for students who were disengaged by compulsory education and for whom vocational education can be a 'second chance' opportunity. The objectives of this project are to increase the youth retention rate in post-secondary education; to give equal opportunities to youths to continue or return to education; and to ensure that the programmes they follow are relevant and increase their chances for employment. A total of five participating organisations will take part in this project. These institutions from Malta, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands have a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Vocational Training (secondary level)' while the fifth participant is an Institution from England (U.K.) with a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Adult education'. The project has three main activities:1. Distinctive CharacteristicsDevelopment of customised Communication Programme and Pastoral Care Programme through reviews of systems already in place, synergy maps, testing & implementation and evaluation.2. Curriculum DevelopmentDevelopment of curricula and key competences for specialist programmes related to vocational fields according to the local context, following research and identification of skills gaps, developing of learning content for potential students & lecturing staff and assessment strategies.3. Development/Upgrade of e-Management Systems for students & staffThrough review, design, development and testing & implementation, an e-management system will be setup to help organise administrative work, facilitate sharing of resources and improve student access.Apart from the above mentioned methods, training events for staff on Attitudes, Teaching Methods & Techniques as well as Design & Evaluation of Curricula will be organised.This project is expected to improve student retention rate especially at lower levels, help students develop stronger citizenship skills, multicultural awareness and employability skills hence increasing students' chances of full employment and/or further education.As a result of this project, the NEETS rate will be targeted such that it continues to be lowered towards the targets set by EU. This is in line with The Europe 2020 flagship inititiative (2011), 'An Agenda for New Skills and jobs, which calls on member states to ensure that people acquire the skills needed for further learning and the labour market through general, vocational and higher education as well as through adult learning.'
The project '3Es for youths in VET: Engagement, Empowerment, Employability' focused on providing adequate programmes and courses for students who were disengaged by compulsory education and for whom vocational education can be a 'second chance' opportunity. The programmes of study compiled were various in nature tackling both soft skills that would help them in their studies but also other skills directly linked to employment. A total of five organisations took part in this project. These institutions from Malta, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands have a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Vocational Training (secondary level)' while the fifth participant is an Institution from England (U.K.) with a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Adult education'. The project had three main Intellectual Outputs: 1. Distinctive Characteristics: Development of customised Communication Programme and Pastoral Care Programme. Indeed this output involved producing the above mentioned programmes targeting soft skills of students. Once produced these programmes were reviewed within the partnership piloted twice and also reviewed to produce the final outcome 2. Curriculum Development: Development of curricula and key competences for specialist programmes related to vocational fields according to the local context, following research and identification of skills gaps, developing of learning content for potential students & lecturing staff and assessment strategies. Through the partnership the following programmes were produced and reviewed within the partnership; MCAST: Three new awards of study in the following areas: (Retail, Hospitality, gardening & pet-care) It can be proudly said that two of these programmes have already been implemented in the scholastic year 2018/19 Havering College: One new programme of study called the LINKS programme which deals directly with disengaged students being given a taster of other vocational areas in different parts of the scholastic year within the college to help decide what they would like to study in the future AFBB: No new programmes were produced but they did give input in the review of the programmes for all colleges and also translated the mcast programmes as well. They also started adopting credit system in place at other colleges. Forth Valley College developed new units in the correct format as highlighted by the partnership 3. Development/Upgrade of MOODLE system for students & staff at the Learning Support Unit at MCAST. Through review, design, development and testing & implementation, a MOODLE system was setup to help organise administrative work, facilitate sharing of resources and improve student access. In this case Havering College acted as a consultant to MCAST throughout the project due to its vast experience in using this system. Apart from the above mentioned methods, training events for staff on Attitudes, Teaching Methods & Techniques as well as Design & Evaluation of Curricula were organised. This project is expected to improve student retention rate especially at lower levels, help students develop stronger citizenship skills, multicultural awareness and employability skills hence increasing students' chances of full employment and/or further education. Indeed this project has served as a very good learning curve for staff of the five institutions involved. It has also improved the learning support offered by these institutions and through this project a very good working relationship has developed.