The overall education process has a daunting task ahead: to teach students the 21st century skills, meaning to develop skills to face, adapt and solve problems that are not known yet and which will be visible in some years. The key point is to shift from acquiring knowledge to using it. It is high time for schools to develop their approach adapting to the latest trends in job-related skills and to offer the necessary support to students in considering their career prospects and developing their self-employability, according to their personalities and competencies. The main aim of our project is to develop students’ metacognition, which is cognition about cognition, while they expand core knowledge and skills. The project objectives are: 1. To create the ground for peer learning where participants can exchange best practice examples in the VET field during a two years project 2. To enhance the 21st century skills of students of 5 EU school during a two years project 3. To build up participants’ ability to foresee career opportunities 4. To boost students’ life, learning, and literacy skills, as well as their professional knowledge 5. To strengthen cross-cultural communication, respect and tolerance 6. To create the setting for participants to apply the new acquired knowledge and skills The project is addressed to VET students, and 20 and 8 teachers per country will be directly involved in the project activities. There are planned 5 LTTA meetings. 1st – project partner presentation (school, city, country); a comparative analysis of the VET education-economic context-work market in the partner countries; statistics illustrating the unemployment rates in the 5 EU countries; discussions about local and national initiatives and opportunities that help to face the unemployment issues. 2nd – seminars/lectures delivered by experts focused on discussing how and what the education should do for preparing students to face a more complex and demanding world; workshops to develop students 21st century skills; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; 3rd – organizing workshop meant to develop students’ literacy skills; group work that help student to adroit with using ICT; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; promote the use of pedagogical booklets; 4th – organizing workshops on how to develop life skills; group work that help students to develop tenacity, critical thinking and creativity; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; promote the use of pedagogical booklets; 5th – organizing workshops on how to help students to immerse on the job market; group work that help students to learn how to write a CV, a cover letter and prepare their personal portfolios, how to behave during an interview; exchanging best practices examples on how to help student meet the demands of the Innovation Age The project is based on student centered approach aiming to develop their life skills (Social Abilities, Efficiency, Flexibility, Initiative, Leadership), learning skills (Communication, Creative Thinking, Collaboration, Critical Thinking), literacy skills (Information, Media and Technology Literacy), so that they can upgrade their own chances to get a job when graduating. An added value to our project will be given by undertaking a pragmatical approach by asking students to apply the gained knowledge in job-seeking exercises. The tangible results are: -presentations of the schools -analysis of the VET education in all partner countries -5 sets of educational materials produced during the international exchanges -1 guide: Employability and skills development of European VET students -presentation of online tools used to identify job opportunities -meeting reports -promotional materials Participating to this project will bring multiple benefits to all partner schools. Schools will expand the VET network of contacts, exchange best practices examples and develop the school curriculum. Teachers will develop their teaching approach and will broaden their vision by observing what methodologies and tools are used in other EU schools. This will enable participants to enhance their ways to organize activities outside classes for VET students. Partners will have the capacity to build up long lasting collaboration. The project results will be integrated into daily teaching giving an international dimension of the educational process. The Erasmus+ project will contribute in promoting a positive image of our schools and staff. It is a real proof that teachers are interested in lifelong learning and being updated with the last trends in matter of education.
Sifting presented a challenge to all the teaching actors: to analyze and discover the gems in the process of training VET students in order to increase their employability in the working world. How to conciliate this process of detailing the study process and making it an ally for VET students to succeed. At this point, they have entered the world of school in its last phase thus the ability, the skills to face, adapt, and solve problems that are not known yet and which will be visible in some years. The challenge was to teach students 21st-century skills and the main task of our project was to develop students’ metacognition, they expanded core knowledge and skills, especially about themselves and the world around them. The project objectives were: To create the ground for peer learning where participants could exchange best practice examples in the VET field during a two-year project To enhance the 21st-century skills of students of 5 EU school during this project To build up participants’ ability to foresee career opportunities To boost students’ life, learning, and literacy skills, as well as their professional knowledge To strengthen cross-cultural communication, respect, and tolerance To create the setting for participants to apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills The project was inicialy addressed to VET students, and 20 and 8 teachers per country to be directly involved. in the activities. There were 5 LTTA planned with a common program, promoted by the posting school but with all partner's agreement and intervention. 1 presentation (school, city, country); a comparative analysis of the VET education-economic context-work market in the partner countries; statistics illustrating the unemployment rates in the 5 EU countries; discussions about local and national initiatives and opportunities that help to face the unemployment issues. 2 seminars/lectures delivered by experts focused on discussing how and what the education should do for preparing students to face a more complex and demanding world; workshops to develop students 21st-century skills; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; 3 organizing workshops to boost students’ literacy skills; group work using ICT; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; promote the use of pedagogical booklets; 4 workshops on how to develop life skills; group work that help students to develop tenacity, critical thinking, and creativity; exchanging best practices examples on the topic among the partners; promote the use of pedagogical booklets; 5 organizing workshops on how to help students to immerse on the job market; group work that helps students to learn how to write a CV, a cover letter and prepare their personal portfolios, how to behave during an interview; exchanging best practices examples on how to help the student meet the demands of the Innovation Age The project was based on a student-centered approach aiming to develop their life skills (Social Abilities, Efficiency, Flexibility, Initiative, Leadership), learning skills (Communication, Creative Thinking, Collaboration, Critical Thinking), literacy skills (Information, Media and Technology Literacy) so that they could upgrade their own chances to get a job when graduating. All partners were pragmatical and ensured an effective approach by asking students to apply the gained knowledge in job-seeking exercises and peer–learning activities. The tangible results are available in the result platform and they comply with the initial plan. The common tasks were performed by all countries and there was a visible effort to adjust to reality to serve the project goals in a better and more effective way. All those who took part in this project have received multiple benefits expanding their VET network of contacts, exchanging best practices examples, and developing the school curricula including non-formal activities on the daily practice. Teachers shared methodologies and tools from other EU schools. Especially in those where VET students were an important target, teachers had new approaches to enable participants to enhance their ways to organize activities. A good understanding between partners has enabled a long-lasting partnership whose results and products are being introduced into a broader dimension of education, making both targets aware of the possibilities to boost the dimension of training in Europe All evaluation and emotions felt during mobilities convey the idea that Europe is a wider space for people to be and to participate, dimming the space division among countries. All work done in 2 years was to provide a way to shift from acquiring knowledge to using it. It is time for schools to develop their approach adapting to the latest trends in job-related skills and to offer the necessary support to students according to their personalities and competencies.