People with disabilities (PwD) are the most disadvantaged group with regards to labour market inclusion in Europe. In accordance to the 2012 last official data of the EU Commission in Portugal they are 875 000 (more than 42% unemployed), in Turkey they are about 8 500 000 (more than 80% unemployed), in Bulgaria 681 000 (more than 60% of them unemployed), in Belgium 1 125 000 (more than 72% are unemployed), in Slovenia they are 172 000 (more than 89% are unemployed, in Lithuania 307 000 (more than 77% are unemployed). It is one of the key areas of both European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and Europe 2020 to allow full accessibility to education as well as to the labour market for people with disabilities. This corresponds to the annual priority related to the increase employability of the EU Commission listed in ET2020 & Official Journal of the European Union, C 72/5 . From this is evident that still in many European countries and beyond accessibility to the labour market is still not given because of the lack of suitable and powerful implemented support concepts. Taking into account existing career guidance services around Europe - supported employment, sheltered employment, work-based mentoring etc. is still evident that they cannot reach as a final result to reach improvement of the rates of employment of people with disabilities. That's why our consortium is offering a novel holistic guidance model called "JobCircuit" which will combine: - individual support based on person centered approach; - vocational guidance towards job readiness and applying for a suitable job; - on the job follow up and support; - strengthening employers’ engagement - follow up on the relations between employer and employee with disability. The method will suit the diversity of the job-seekers with disabilities depending on the severity of the disability, their abilities and strengths as well as their employability. This model does not use predefined techniques but relies on the personal qualities of the career counselor/person to build a non-judgmental and empathic relationship. This model will further strengthen the skills and competencies of career counsellors, case managers, job coachers, mentors etc. in terms of successful provision of labour market advices to their disadvantaged from the labour market clients, who from other hand will improve skills and competencies via work-linked guidance and support which will be relevant to the nowadays labour market needs. Through participation in the JobCircuit VET learning course the above mentioned VET professionals (learners) will enhance their: KNOWLEDGE: - About the barriers towards employment that different types of disabilities may cause - About the impact of the disability which can reflect on the work performance - Successful practical hints to strengthen the employers' engagement SKILLS: - Improved communication skills (including strengthening of empathy, listening skills and assertiveness) - Positive reassurance and provision of critical feedback in a positive way - Improved negotiation, mediation, consultancy and negotiation skills COMPETENCIES: - Improved ability to apply individualized and creative techniques in the career guidance process - Improved supervision ability to conduct the JobCircuit model with all involved actors - Open-minded towards new initiatives and ways to support clients with disabilities - Improved ability to manage different perspectives and expectations - Strengthen decision making process - Improved impact assessment ability The proposed "JobCircuit" methodology will be implemented in Portugal, Turkey, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Belgium and Lithuania taking into account national and cultural differences of all involved partner countries in accordance of the current labour market needs. The project consortium involves : VET institutions, National inclusion institute, vocational rehabilitation centres, counselling bodies and governmental institutions. We will implement the piloting phase with target groups (our VET learners): minimum 60 mentors/counsellors and beneficiaries: 120 job-seekers with disabilities, 30 employers and 20 involved training or counseling organizations are expected. The concrete intellectual outputs of the project will be: IO1: Manual for policy liasion and incorporation of the JobCircuit method for career counselling of people with disabilities IO2: JobCircuit guidance model - practical manual for career guidance providers IO3: Measurment impact tool of the "JobCircuit" model IO4: Manual "Training the trainers" on JobCircuit model IO5: Interactive JobCircuit learning portal These outputs will be adapted and directly integrated and used within on-going programmes of VET actors at training centres, career counselling bodies, vocational rehabilitation centres and NGOs and their trainers, job coaches and employment officers which will adapt and use the project outputs during and beyond project lifetime.
People with disabilities (PwD) are the most disadvantaged group with regards to labour market inclusion in Europe. In accordance to the 2012 last official data of the EU Commission, in Portugal PwD were 875 000 (more than 42% unemployed), in Turkey they were about 8 500 000 (more than 80% unemployed), in Bulgaria 681 000 (more than 60% of them unemployed), in Belgium 1 125 000 (more than 72% unemployed), in Slovenia they were 172 000 (more than 89% were unemployed, in Lithuania 307 000 (more than 77% unemployed). In 2017-2019, the situation became better but far of being positive. It was one of the key areas of both European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and Europe 2020 to allow full accessibility to education and to the labour market for people with disabilities. This corresponded to the annual priority related to increase employability of the EU Commission listed in ET2020 & Official Journal of the European Union, C 72/5 . From this was evident that still in many European countries and beyond, accessibility to the labour market is not given yet due to the lack of suitable and powerful implemented support concepts and schemes. Taking into account existing career guidance services around Europe - supported employment, sheltered employment, work-based mentoring etc. is still evident that they cannot reach, as a final result, the improvement of the employment rates of people with disabilities. That's why our consortium is offering a novel holistic guidance model called "JobCircuit" which combines: - individual support based on person centered approach - vocational guidance towards job readiness and applying for a suitable job - on the job follow up and support - job rotation - strengthening employers’ engagement JobCircuit methodology focus on strengthening cooperation among the labour market representatives, the educational institutions and the social services providers, with the goal of enabling and creating work possibilities for people with disabilities. The main goal of this methodology is to offer to PwD a complete support programme to achieve relevant work experience and become employed. JobCircuit methodology is a combination of individual follow-up services and a job rotation concept. The target group is constituted by PwD who need relevant work experience. JobCircuit supports the target group through short periods of different job activities. PwD can try different companies or different jobs within the same company, i.e., they experience different job possibilities during the job rotation. As a key differentiating factor in relation to other working methodologies with people with disabilities, the job rotation or circulation stands out as an approach not used in most of the partner countries and which is innovative in the European area. The impact of job rotation was very important for reaching sustainable retention of the job of the employees with disabilities.Skills and competencies of PwD were improved through the work linked to vocational training and apprenticeship and follow up support. This model strengthened the knowledge, skills and competencies of career counsellors, job coaches, mentors etc. in terms of successful provision of guidance and support to their disadvantaged from the labour market clients, who from other hand improved skills and competencies via work-linked guidance and support which are relevant to the labour market needs. JobCircuit methodology was pre-implemented with success in Portugal, Turkey, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Belgium and Lithuania taking into account national and cultural differences of all involved partner countries in accordance of the current labour market needs and legal framework. Project consortium involved VET institutions, national inclusion institute, vocational rehabilitation centres, counselling bodies and governmental institutions. Piloting phase with target groups was carried out: 80 mentors/counsellors, 124 job-seekers with disabilities, 45 employers and 27 training and social services providers were effectively involved, exceeding the established goals. Feedback was very positive. JobCircuit measurement impact tool supported the evaluation process that career guidance and service providers conducted at the end of the service provision to clients with disabilities. By improving the quality of service provision and measuring the impact of the JobCircuit model implementation within the career guidance service providers, we ensured better results, benefits and best value for PwD and relevant stakeholders. The concrete intellectual outputs of the project were: IO1: Manual for policy liaison and incorporation of the JobCircuit method for career counselling of people with disabilities IO2: JobCircuit guidance model - practical manual for career guidance providers IO3: Measurement impact tool of the JobCircuit model IO4: Manual "Training the trainers" on JobCircuit model IO5: Interactive JobCircuit learning portal