The need to improve the quality and relevance of the skills and competences with which young Europeans leave schools has been recognized at EU and national level. The labor market is really hard to reach, especially for young people, as they are not adequately prepared to enter the world of work, lacking not only experience and knowledge, but also basic key competences. This affects tertiary level students not that much as it effects secondary level VET learners, who upon graduation, if not continuing studies for acquiring higher education, are about to enter the world of work. Today, having increased competition within labor markets and with increasing impact of ICT, employers need not only practically-skilled employees, but resilient, multi-skilled, good communicators, who understand how to work as part of a team, being able to sufficiently communicate in foreign languages, especially English. VET schools not only need to carry out their standard, practically-oriented educational programmes, but to help their learners to develop also the other skills needed for the competitive labor market, which are inalienable attributes of todays best employees. Within the project being, the three partner institutions from Latvia (Liepaja Marine College), Germany (Berufliche Schule des Kreises Nordfriesland in Husum) and Italy (IIS BARSANTI MASSA) have come together to address the above described problem and have decided to unite their forces to enhance future employability of their vocational secondary education programmes’ learners of the latter courses (aged 17-20), as well as to master to them the key competences – especially, skills of communication in foreign languages; digital competences; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; cultural awareness and expression - that are not sufficiently covered by the VET provided within their educational institutions. The main objective of the project is to enhance employability and master the other job related skills to VET learners, that are not sufficiently covered by the VET programmes provided to them. The need to carry out the project transnationally is mainly based on the fact that another important aim of the project is to improve the English language skills of the learners – for this reason we have planned to carry out all the activities in English, as well as to actively involve the learners which will require them to use the foreign language. Besides the experience gained abroad cannot be compared to experience gained at a national level, as each country, culture and each country’s educational system has different approaches, methods and perception of things, which joined together can supplement each other making the best, most content-full and most educative experience to the learners. Other than that, through this project the learners would have the significant chance to visit other European countries and schools, to learn more about different cultures and get in touch with the labor market and job possibilities in other countries. Furthermore, the involved partner institutions see this project also as a chance to broaden the sense of belonging and awareness of being members of the European Union Community. We also hope to inspire other similar institutions to take our approach and carry out similar projects. Especially this relates to the methods used for achievements of our plans – particularly teaching through fun educative games, which is a tactic that is rarely used in today’s educational systems, but becomes increasingly popular among corporates. Big corporations are required to organize expensive corporate training courses for their employees to improve their teamwork, communication and leadership skills, as those have not been sufficiently addressed during the school years. During these courses the method of teaching through games is an integral part of the course program. We have borrowed this technique of teaching and training and will incorporate it together with content-full participatory lectures, knowledge tests and visits at national and foreign manufacturing companies, as well as public institutions. The project involves 3 blended mobilities with each partner institution organizing one, with each such mobility involving an intensive and informative learning programme covering the key competences.
The need to improve the quality and relevance of the skills and competences with which young Europeans leave schools has been recognized at EU and national level. The labor market is really hard to reach, especially for young people, as they are not adequately prepared to enter the world of work, lacking not only experience and knowledge, but also basic key competences. This affects tertiary level students not that much as it effects secondary level VET learners, who upon graduation, if not continuing studies for acquiring higher education, are about to enter the world of work. Today, having increased competition within labor markets and with increasing impact of ICT, employers need not only practically-skilled employees, but resilient, multi-skilled, good communicators, who understand how to work as part of a team, being able to sufficiently communicate in foreign languages, especially English. VET schools not only need to carry out their standard, practically-oriented educational programmes, but to help their learners to develop also the other skills needed for the competitive labor market, which are inalienable attributes of todays best employees. Within the project, the three partner institutions from Latvia (Liepaja Marine College), Germany (Berufliche Schule des Kreises Nordfriesland in Husum) and Italy (IIS BARSANTI MASSA) came together to address the above described problem and united their forces to enhance future employability of their vocational secondary education programmes’ learners of the latter courses (aged 17-20), as well as to master to them the key competences – especially, skills of communication in foreign languages; digital competences; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; cultural awareness and expression. The main objective of the project was to enhance employability and master the other job related skills to VET learners, that are not sufficiently covered by the VET programmes provided to them. Another important aim of the project was to improve the English language skills of the learners, for this reason all the activities were carried out in English, actively involving the participants. The project included 3 blended mobilities with intensive and informative curriculum tended to develop key competences. In total, 60 secondary vocational education learners and 12 accompanying persons had the opportunity to visit other European countries and schools to learn more about the different cultures and get acquainted with the labor market and job opportunities in other countries, gaining the opportunity to reinforce the sense of European belonging and awareness of the Community. The training was combined with educational and inspirational visits to companies and institutions, seeking to promote initiative and entrepreneurial spirit among the learners of VET. Involvement of entrepreneurs in education is essential. The results of the project are positive and the desired objectives have been achieved. The participants have widened their horizons, practiced their English skills and become more open, the young people are more involved in school life and want to participate in similar projects, have made new friends abroad. In order to determine the impact of the project on the participants individually, the participants received and completed the evaluation surveys. According to the participants, it can be concluded that the interest of the participants in entrepreneurship has grown - it is considered as a career option, the project improved their team work skills, communication skills in a foreign language, self-representation skills, educated the participants on the importance of digital competences in the modern education and work environment. Participants point out that an active learning approach with games and discussions is more effective than listening to lectures. As a result of the project, the partners found further common interests and continue their cooperation. New joint project has been submitted as a logical continuation of the ongoing work. The accompanying persons say that the experience of mobility has inspired them to modernize and diversify their teaching approach. The institutions involved have gained new partners, promoted the recognizability of themselves and their region's abroad. The partners hope to inspire other similar institutions to implement similar projects.