The Junior On The Job Coach project aims to combat the human and financial cost of Early School/College Leaving (ESL). The project is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of work-based learning and apprenticeships; offer leadership opportunities to higher-level students; and support employers in providing work placements and apprenticeships.Three new products will assist young people at risk of ESL. The first will be a Competence Framework which will describe in development steps the key skills required to be an on the job coach. Drawing on the latest research literature and by means of field research in Austria, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the UK, the Competence Framework will inform a JOTJC Training Programme and a Tool Kit for employers.Young people who are considered to be at risk in work placements and apprenticeships will be matched with a higher-level student in a speed-dating session to gain maximum compatibility with needs and skills. The higher-level students will have experience of work placements and have undergone a JOTJC training programme based on the Competence Framework. Support for the in work placement student will be provided face to face and by text or a preferred social media.Employers will be given the opportunity of attending a workshop that will offer them information on the training programme and provide them with all the training material in a customized Tool Kit. The JOTJC project will seek to obtain accreditation for the JOTJC Training Programme beyond the scope of the project partnership.These three products will be rigorously tested and made available free of charge. They aim to promote excellence within VET by increasing retention and completion rates; by offering inspiring workplace opportunities to more able students; and by supporting employers in their quest for better-qualified apprentices. The products will meet the needs of all three target groups.
For a young vulnerable student at the lower levels of vocational education the first steps into the workplace are daunting. This is a whole new environment for them and they often lack the social skills and the social experience to adapt and function properly and quickly. They will often feel insecure and are likely to react in unacceptable ways in difficult situations. For example, when they face criticism. Often the consequence is that either students leave the placement or are sent away. In either case this nearly always means the end of the training course as students generally drop out completely. The Junior Job Coach programme has been set up In order to prevent this common event from happening by providing a student at risk with a “buddy”, a trained coach, who at a distance from the workplace can offer immediate support and advice. Having been carefully matched with a well-trained junior coach, a vulnerable student can call on support at the workplace by using social media such as WhatsApp and text, so that any problems or difficulties become manageable and the student at risk always has ‘friend” at hand to fall back on. The Junior Job Coach project has developed a successful support methodology along with accompanying materials to assist and retain students at risk of dropping out from work experience and apprenticeships. This innovative project has made available three new products: a Competence Framework for peer coaches; a flexible and modular training programme for junior job coaches; and a toolkit for employers to complement and strengthen their own support structures for new employees. An implementation guide also accompanies these materials to assist in their introduction. The materials are freely available in English, Dutch, Spanish German and Romanian on the project website. Each of these products has involved the close participation of employers, students and school/college staff and have been rigorously piloted, tested and validated. Based on the competence framework developed with employers in the five partners countries using VQTS methodology, the project partnership has achieved in the JJC Training Programme an engaging and effective training course that has been rated very highly by staff and students. The support that the trained and certificated Job coaches provide remotely by social media to students at risk delivers benefits for all participants. Employing the Junior Job Coach methodology and to improve retention rates and the performance of work experience placements and apprenticeships will undoubtedly contribute in meeting these highly ranked VET priorities in Europe.