"Passport to the European Labour Market" has arisen as a direct response to the alarming situation of youth on the European job market, with the unemployment rates in Turkey (23%), Norway (10%), Belgium (___%) and Italy (12%). Moreover, many students attending the partner schools are disadvantaged as they come from rural or less-serviced areas. Some of them come from families of refugees, and there are students with special needs. The financial situation of their families is not good because they often struggle with unemployment, social and geographical obstacles. So first of all, on completion of the project, the students will be equipped with the skills and knowledge of looking after a job effectively, so that they could make use of the possiblities that common European market gives them. Secondly, as results from their economic situation, many students do not have easy access to some forms of formal and informal education, the participation in the project would help them boost self-esteem, which we perceive as a neccessary success factor, and then also develop social, civic and intercultural competences. The fact that the students will have to use ICT and English for work on the project products and communication would also add to the the greater chance of their future employability. Finally,this project will facilitate their transition from the level of education to the world of work. Communication and cooperation among all project partners (students and teachers) will take place through eTwinning platform, social media, emails, Skype and phone calls as well as during the mobilities. The methodology of the project is based on the idea of working on common goals (intangible and tangible ones) both in partner countries and during the meetings . These stages would be rhythmically intertwined. There are 5 transnational project meetings planned over the course of 2 years, happening every 2-5 months. The work in partner countries will be focused first on trainings and next producing the tangilble outcomes: 1) the Leaflet with samples of CVs, and covering letters in all partner schools's languages, 2) the European Guide for Applicants with the advice on 5 different areas of job interview:preparation for the interview, body language, dress code, proper behaviour and self-presentation in all partner schools' languages, 3) the films with "dos and dont"of Netyquette that is lookng for jobs online. The work during meetings will be centred on comparing, assessing and decision making (e.g. organising competitions) with regard to the products. The first transnational meeting will be of a more preparatory/introductory nature, the last one will also include some joint work on the Final Report. The project will have direct impact on the all partners' school communities such as students, teachers as well as parents. Students will improve different skills such as: digital skills, communication and language competencies, entrepreneurial and creative skills, cultural awareness and social skills.The implementation of the project will lead to change in the students’ way of thinking and perception of their future. Student-teacher and student-school relations will become much stronger due to the fact that such educational projects will increase the opportunity of participation and teamwork of both students and teachers. In other words, the students’ self-esteem and attitudes towards their teachers and school will increase remarkably. Moreover, the project will also lead to a broader knowledge and skills among teachers in developing different educational and learning activities. Teachers will also begin to use modern methods of teaching, improve their ability to work in team and become more active in school. The project will also increase the schools recognition as leaders in job-seeking tuition and increase interest in the schools through better public relations. The local, regional and international communities like other schools and universities, job agencies, career centres and the unemployed, will have the possibility to use all project products, both intellectual (experience) and more tangible ones (the Leaflet, The Guide, the films). The local and regional levels could also learn from thiw project's experience of the integrated approach of teaching job-seeking skills. What is more, the links between education and business will become stronger due to more regular contacts. Hopefully, the local governements and policy makers will notice the need for a more consistent approach towards teaching job seeking skills and thus help implement the EU most urgent policies regarding young people and our common future. In the long run, this project will possibly lead to increasing the job-seeking awareness among young people and a reduction of EU unemployment rate.
This Erasmus+ Project was initiated to address the disturbing situation for youth on the European job market, with the unemployment rates in Europe and in the participating countries from 23% in Turkey to 10% in Norway. Youth unemployment is a huge problem, not solved by this project only, but nevertheless important to face. The main aim has been to facilitate the young students’ way from education to work. Many students in our schools are somewhat disadvantaged, descending from poorer families, some are slow learners and some are refugees. So there are economical, social, pedagogical and geographical obstacles. The target group has been students in upper secondary vocational schools. We chose to involve them in our project as participants, both in activities at home and in the project meetings. Therefor it has been important to find tools of rising their self-esteem. Not all our students could join the international meetings, but we conducted various workshops in home country/school. Each partner brought at least 15 students (age 15 to 24) and 6 teachers to the 3 meetings abroad. In addition a lot of "local" students and teachers were involved when their school was hosting a meeting. During a period of 19 months we conducted 5 meetings, 1 for the coordinators to prepare the details of the project and 4 including students and teachers where we collaborated in several workshops, had lecturers visiting from governmental and private organizations to educate us on the topic chosen; to search for jobs, to write applications and CV, to promote one selves and conduct an interview. At home the partner schools did various local projects, giving seminars and courses to relevant classes / groups. On the meetings the local schools arranged various guided tours so that guests could learn more about the country/ city they were visiting. For some it was surprising to see the similarities between the schools and everyday life, for some there were strange differences. But still, doing practical stuff together like walking, sharing a meal, watching a cultural event or a historic building together, gives a feeling of togetherness that is not digitally accessible! The wonders of the Cappadocia landscape in Turkey, the bustling Brussels in Belgium, the furious volcano Etna in Italy and the fjords and waterfalls in Norway gave marvelous frames to our work. During these workshops and at home, we made various products, our own logo and examples of good applications, CV, job interviews and documents on netiquettes. But most important was the process of making these products, to guide the students’ development when learning to promote themselves, when preparing for an interview a.s.o. Originally we planned to create and print a leaflet, but for practical and environmental reasons, we decided to upload relevant products on our website. We made a shared Google instead of a leaflet because it is more elaborate. That will make our products easier accessible to new teachers and students, and Belgium are responsible for the website as a platform for all our outcomes. In the applications we wrote that “the students will have to use ICT and English for work on the project products and communication would also add to the the greater chance of their future employ-ability!” This proved important for several students in the project. The general ICT –skills were fairly poor, and to many students speaking English was difficult. Taking part in this project have motivated many of them to improve their language skills. Hopefully both students and teachers involved recognized the importance of knowing at least one “world” language to be able to cooperate with fellow citizens in the world. If we now ask our students what was the nicest about joining the project, most of them would probably answer; meeting peoples and making friends! In the long run, that is the most important thing to do, to secure friendship and peace between people.