Knowledge of foreign languages and cultures are key factors in equipping people better for the labour market. It is even more important for migrants and refugees, who need to learn the language of their new country, to be able to work and be integrated. However, they grapple with cultural and language barriers and risk of stigmatisation in education and the labour market. The EU Action Plan on Integration of third country nationals (2016) already pointed out that linguistic and cultural barriers in education and on the labour market contributes to the vulnerable position of the migrants and refugees. The project ”Work-VR: Piloting Virtual Reality for Language Learning in the Context of Employability” addresses the growing need for integrating migrants and refugees into the labour market by enhancing their employability. It will test state- of-the-art digital techonology (Virtual Reality or VR) to enhance the learning of migrant students improve their digital knowledge. The primary target group The primary target group of the project are unemployed migrants and refugees as well as European migrants. A secondary target group is the VET teachers. The project aims to: - support and enhance the learning of trade-specific vocabularies within the sectors of health, service and construction; - promote digital use in education, and thus enhance individuals levels of digital skills; - provide VET students with an innovative learning method; and - equip the users better for the labour market through an increased level of linguistic, cultural and digital knowledge. To achieve these objectives, the project will develop Virtual Reality (VR)-Platform with: 1) 3 skill-building sectors focused on each trade-specific vocabulary; 2) 3 trade-specific VR-environments for practicing vocabulary and job functions within specific sectors; 3) 1 skill building sector in job application and interview; and 4) 1 job interview VR-environment for training situation awareness The project is expected to: -Enhance trade related language competences and cultural knowhow of migrants and refugees; -Enhance the digital competences both of the students and the teachers; and -Offer a new methology for teaching language Potential longer term benefits: The project develops a learning platform and a user’s handbook that will remain available to use for 5 years after the project period. The project offers a supplementary digital learning material to be used in VET schools in all the European countries after the EU funding period. An effective dissemination plan will secure that the project results will be spread to relevant educational institutions.
Context and the background: The employability of migrants in the EU is one of the main concerns when we talk about the Social Inclusion and Integration of people with an immigration background. Learning a new language and understanding cultural differences are the first steps to increasing their employability. The main objective of this project was to create a platform that will provide the necessary language skills and cultural knowledge in three most easily available jobs for immigrants, which are jobs in the service sector (waitress, hotel reception, cleaning), construction sector (construction workers, plumbers and electricians) and health sector (care for elderly, nurses and child care). This project also included the Job Interview part to prepare them for their first job interviews and improve the chances of getting employed. All of these efforts were to help the EU Action Plan on Integration of third-country nationals (2016), which already pointed out that linguistic and cultural barriers in education and on the labour market contribute to the vulnerable position of the migrants and refugees. Objectives: - Support and enhance the learning of trade-specific vocabularies within the sectors of health, service and construction; - Promote digital use in education, and thus enhance individuals levels of digital skills; - Provide VET students with an innovative learning method; and - Equip the users better for the labour market through an increased linguistic, cultural, and digital knowledge level. Participants: Primary target group - unemployed migrants and refugees Secondary target group - VET teachers and professionals, language schools Development of materials: To ensure the relevance of the materials, some partners decided to use their own VET teachers or reach out to VET schools to help them develop the materials. There were 2 teachers from Sprogcenter Vejle, C1- Short-term Joint staff training activity: 30 participants were attending this activity in total (including the partners) with relevant background in VET or language learning in general. Testing of the VR and VCC platform: VCC total number of users: 2177 users External VR testers: Dissemination: Final numbers for each period and activity type (online and offline) can be found in the Annexes - Dissemintaiton Report. FB page followers: 336 FB page visits: 1.329 Estimated coverage rate: 27.928 The estimated total amount of users: 26.123 (this rate indicates how much people clicked, shared, liked, or commented on posts on the Facebook page) The total amount of posts: 110 The estimated total amount of reached people: 73.261 Activities - 5 transnational partner meetings (3 physical, 2 online due to Covid-19) - 2 workshops for partners (IO1- Curriculum and IO2 - Gamification and VR) - 1 teacher training activity (2 days, first day with presentation and knowledge sharing, second day with workshop and peer discussion) - Development of the Curricular framework (IO1) - Technical Development of VCC platform and VR experiences - 5 alpha testings ( internal testing for bug-fixing (making the platform work without problems) in several intervals - 2 different UX testings for each partner (online testing for VCC and physical testing of VR experience) Results: 1. Reusable Curricular Framework 2. VCC material: 5 languages (Greek, Danish, German, Italian, French) 3 main modules (Health care, Construction, Service) focusing on 3 job positions 8 Lessons in each module containing relevant materials Various mini-tests, mini quizzes and final test 3. 3 trade-specific VR environments for practising vocabulary and job functions within specific sectors VR: 10 levels total 3 Health levels (1. Immobile patient care, 2. Patient with Alzheimer, 3. Emergency) 3 Construction levels (1. Bricklaying, 2. Electrician, 3. Plumber) 3 Service levels (1. Receptionist, 2. Guest care, 3. Restaurant) 1 job interview VR-environment for training situation awareness Impact: -Enhance trade-related language competencies and cultural know-how of migrants and refugees; -Enhance the digital competencies both of the students and the teachers; and -Offer a new methodology for teaching language Potential longer-term benefits: The project develops a learning platform and a user’s handbook that will remain available 5 years after the project. The project offers a supplementary digital learning material to be used in VET schools in all the European countries after the EU funding period. An effective dissemination plan will secure that the project results will be spread to relevant educational institutions. All of which are available on the project’s website: https://www.work-vr.eu/