> Background of project Migration inflows are currently challenging the social and economic architecture of the EU: Frontex estimates that 710.000 migrants entered the EU in the first nine months of 2015. The EU economy can absorb migrants in its productive fabric. The statistical data proves that migrant labour demand in Europe is mostly concentrated on low-skilled sectors such as cleaning, catering, caring jconstruction, agricultural and semi-skilled jobs in manufacturing. There is an immediate need to properly and quickly identify appropriate VET paths that suit - and match - both migrants’ expectations and hosting economy’s needs. The recognition of non-formal and informal learning (particularly the identification and assessment phases of competences NFIL) is fundamental to identify the training more suitable insertion and can enhance the integration of marginalised groups such as migrants by giving them a “second chance”. > Objectives of project The project aims to develop and validate an INNOVATIVE NFIL MECHANISM focusing on the needs of the migrant that will help VET's educators to identify and assess the NFIL professional competences of migrants groups and allow migrants to play a central role in the integration process. The ENSEMBLE NFIL MECHANISM will use media (pictures, videos and sequences of images) to allow VET providers (i.e. trainers) and users (i.e. migrants) to identify the areas and degree of competence (benchmarked with EQF) explicitly, swiftly and cheaply. Video and simulation-based approaches allow for a valid and reliable assessment of professional competences. ENSEMBLE will empower the migrants to self-assess their skills levels. This feature makes it an instrument able to overcome the disadvantage of traditional instruments that make the process of foreign credentials recognition frustrating for all but particularly for migrants.ENSEMBLE will develop and deploy through OER Platform. > Participants During implementation, IMVEST will directly involve at least 100 VET educators and 100 low skill migrants (see Section C for definition) who are extra EU people aged 18 to 55 arrived in the EU in less than 1 year (whenever possible) so as to capture: - trainees at the entry level in the labour market (age 18-25) - workers already in the labour market in the country of origin (age 26-45) - workers with considerable previous work experience (45+) > Number and profile of participants The project will be carried out by the following partners: - Institut Corse de Formation et Recherche en Travail Social (France) - IAL Innovazione Apprendimento Lavoro Friuli Venezia Giulia srl Impresa Sociale (Italy) - LIGUE DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT DE HAUTE-CORSE (France) - Scuola Centrale Formazione (Italy) - Community Development Institute (Macedonia) - IWSInternet Web Solutions SL (Spain) - Institut de Haute Formation aux Politiques Communautaires asbl (Belgium) These organisations are active in the field of VET and migrants integration: the partnership represents the public, private and social sectors, excellence at academic level and includes also policy stakeholders. > Description of activities Production of INNOVATIVE NFIL MECHANISM to facilitate the process of NFIL and KC7 competences recognition (identification and assessment) in VET migrants beneficiaries with learner- centered pedagogical approaches and tools Production of a Guide for educators Testing phase of products in VET institutions Dissemination meetings in all partner countries Final dissemination conference with the presentation of the project results > Results and impact envisaged and the potential longer term benefits The recognition resources will be translated in 5/3 languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish and Macedonian) and available also after the conclusion of project on the www.IMVEST.eu website. The long term impact expected : - enhancement of the VET services of educators - increase of the NFIL recognition instruments and methodology.
The project « ENSEMBLE : Expectations and Non-formal Skills to Empower Migrants and to Boost Local Economy » responds to an immediate need to effectively identify vocational education and training (VET) streams that match the expectations of migrants and the economic needs of host countries. Indeed, there was no mechanism to identify and assess rapidly and accurately the NFIL professional skills most valued by industrial and commercial sectors. The project ENSEMBLE proposes today an innovative tool ("ENSEMBLE NFIL MECHANISM ") of mapping of non-formal and informal skills that allows to benchmark migrants’ professional profile against the EQF. The work was focused around the most requested skills in three key sectors: catering, industry and building, and around key KC7 skills, which are the most sought. The ENSEMBLE NFIL MECHANISM uses media (images, videos and image sequences) to enable VET professionals and users (migrants) to identify the level of skills explicitly, quickly and at a lower cost, to facilitate their professional integration in the three key sectors. The ENSEMBLE consortium is composed of actors with complementary skills and expertise (VET organizations specialized in training of low-skilled adults and people from disadvantaged backgrounds, including migrants - IFRTS - FR, IAL - IT, FALEP2B - FR, SCF - IT, IHF - BE and CDI - FYROM) and a company with expertise in the development of e - learning platforms IWS - ES) and it directly involved in the project activities more than 200 professionals (VET educators, guidance professionals, ...) and more than 140 low-skilled migrants (extra EU people aged 18 to 55 whenever possible arrived in the EU in less than 1 year) developing the following productions available today in FR , EN, IT, ES, MK: - Report on Migrants’ and Educators’ Needs and Learning Dynamics - Mechanism for identifying non-formal and informal skills adapted and tested by the project target group - User manual of the mechanism for identifying non-formal and informal skills adapted to the needs of trainers and migrants - OER Platform: http://www.projectensemble.eu/. Le MECANISME ENSEMBLE NFIL permet d'augmenter les compétences clés » et notamment la compétence N°7 « sens de l’initiative et entrepreneuriat » et améliorer l’accès à la formation et à la qualification via la formation continue. The target population is vulnerable and working on key skills has proven to be an effective way to improve the integration of migrants, in addition to working on the limited professional skills they have. Synergies between different fields of education, associations, institutions and employers were built during the implementation of the activities and the ENSEMBLE tools are now used in other experimental projects and territorial projects coordinated by regional authorities or VET institutions.