The CREUS project will develop and apply new, innovative ways for young people who are disadvantaged and NEET to develop transferable and transversal key competences for the labour market by engagement through non-formal, cultural and artistic learning. The project will improve the prospects for young people (aged 16-24) who have been alienated by traditional educational experiences and/or as a result are at risk of severe social and economic exclusion. The project also introduces its innovation by locating its development and experimentation featuring learning with young peers (aged 19-24) in 'unconventional places' -festivals, clubs, business incubators and micro business workspace, film and video locations, youth clubs, community centres, shelters, playgrounds, town halls, churches, adapted industrial spaces, museums and art galleries, open air spaces tunnels, farmyards, sports centres - locations and spaces which are not associated by the end user target group with traditional education. CREUS seeks to develop Intellectual Outputs that support the creation of new pathways to initial vocational education. By fully utilising peer mentors as motivators, the CREUS approach combines these elements to bring ‘back’ into learning and engaging disaffected young people NEET who have been alienated by traditional education and are experiencing labour market exclusion. The CREUS approach will place the key competencies of the European Reference Framework for Lifelong Learning (ERF) concerned with communication skills, sense of initiative & entrepreneurship, cultural awareness and expression and social and civic competences. The activities will improve the personal development/life skills (confidence, communication, team-working, presentation, problem solving, time management, responsibility, attitude and motivation) of 120 disadvantaged young and unemployed people aged 16-24 directly in the project activities, and the development of a further 25 young peer mentors (aged 18-24) to enable them all to experience achievement and success. It will equip the trainers, tutors and peer mentors that support the young people to implement ECVET and Youthpass in their provision. This innovation has been designed in a way that responds to a range of research studies (e.g. Work-based learning in Europe: Practice and Policy Pointers, EC Education & Training 2013; Identifying What Matters, CEDEFOP 2014) which all call for innovation in the design of post-statutory, employment-related VET through transversal skills, in order that young Europeans are enabled to effectively participate in and appreciate lifelong learning, to access initial VET and employment as a result and to gain sustainable careers.
The CREUS project developed and applied new, innovative ways for young people who are disadvantaged and NEET to develop transferable and transversal key competences for the labour market by engagement through non-formal, cultural and artistic learning. Led by Collage Arts (UK), CREUS was delivered by seven Vocational Education and Training partners in five European countries, UK, The Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus and Italy. The project aimed to improve the prospects for young people (aged 16-24) who have been alienated by traditional educational experiences and/or as a result are at risk of severe social and economic exclusion. One of the project’s main innovations was to focus on learning located in “unconventional places”. These included creative industries workspaces in London, refugee centres in Cyprus, a market forum in Greece, a housing project, shopping centre and theatre in Rome, and an Academy for Community and Talent in the Netherlands which works with young people who have dropped out of conventional education. CREUS was implemented in a way that reflected a range of research studies that call for innovation in the design of post-statutory, employment-related VET through transversal skills. The CREUS methodology had at its heart the deployment of peer mentors in motivating disaffected young people and bringing them back into learning. In the context of CREUS, peer mentoring is defined as learning from individuals with similar backgrounds, enhanced experiences, through cooperation and shared practices. CREUS explored how space is important as a factor potentiating the interaction and exchange of knowledge between mentor and mentee, between peers. The CREUS partnership engaged 138 disadvantaged young and unemployed people aged 16-24 directly in the project activities. Key to the process were 25 young peer mentors who worked with the Creus methodology to develop the young people’s motivation, confidence and transversal skills. The key activities of CREUS were: 1) testing pilot activities; 2) writing case studies and recommendations; 3) developing a modular learning curriculum; 4) building recognition tools for peer mentors; 5) producing an e-Learning guide for young peer mentors. The professional development of the 25 participating peer mentors was highly impactful, both on informing the content of the project's IOs but also in terms of the transformative experiences in mobilities and transnational exchange of practice. The peer mentors participated in a peer to peer mentoring process which enabled them to reflect upon their practice and equipped them to support learners with new and improved processes for recognition of transferable competences, providing a rich vein of experience and content for the intellectual outputs. Evaluation, both internal and external, demonstrated the positive impact for the young learners from participating in creative learning outside a formal educational setting. By delivering the pilots in refugee centres in Cyprus, a peripheral housing project suffering from failed infrastructure on the outskirts of Rome and in urban settings where unemployed young people gather in Larissa, London and Arnhem, CREUS was able to reach marginalised and isolated groups who would not have attended vocational training in a conventional setting, and to test and demonstrate new creative approaches to engaging young people in vocational learning. Spaces used in the project ranged from disused warehouses to museums and galleries to a community music festival within a housing estate or at an immersive theatre event in a shopping mall, or an arts session within a young people's hostel or refugee centre. Mentors attested to the impact of CREUS upon inclusion of vulnerable young people, which arose from the powerful combination of non-formal education in unconventional spaces, cultural awareness, exchange and creative learning. Finally, the European perspective in CREUS has also enabled participating VET organisations to innovate in their training. Through the process of developing the CREUS modular curriculum they have deepened their understanding of the potential of non-formal learning. As a result they have been able to strengthen learning resources and the skills and experience of staff in this area. The transnational mobilities, exchange and transfer of experience have had a particular impact. At the end of the project there was a shared conclusion that there is further potential for empowerment of the young people in co-design and co-creation activities through which they take more of a lead in shaping the provision to effectively fit their needs, and that this is an area that the partners will seek to build upon.