The Learning2gether project’s scope is twofold: 1. to promote and improve the employability of NEETs (young people Not in Education, Employment, or Training) at a local, national and European level by increasing their knowledge of the latest digital tools for business and developing skills-sharing opportunities with older employers and employees in SMEs 2. to improve the social media knowledge, and digital skills of older employers and employees in SMEs by developing skills-sharing opportunities with NEETs. This proposed project tackles the problem of youth unemployment and an ageing population by improving the digital toolkit of NEETs and improving their employability skills and awareness of the competences needed when entering a professional setting, through a skills-swap with older employees or owners of SMEs. They will receive holistic digital media and employability skills training, developed by the Learning2gether consortium. At the moment, about 41.5% of people in the UK aged 55-74 would say they are fairly digitally literate and have used the internet at least once a week, this increases to 65% of older people in the Iceland, and reduces to 33.4% in Belgium, 13% in Spain and 6% in Bulgaria (evidence from Eurostat). Younger generations are better able to use and adapt to the changing technical environment and pick up new skills in this sector. Older workers on the other hand, are less likely to be familiar with the fast-changing technologies and pick up new technological skills needed to successfully run their business as they did not grow up with them or had only limited access to it. In Iceland, according to Eurostat, when asked, 99% of young people (16-24) said they had used the Internet in the last week, 88% of young people in Belgium had, 83% in the UK, 77% in Spain and 58% in Bulgaria. During the project a special training methodology will be used to support NEETs. First, they will be able to take part in hard-skills training sessions which will aim to increase their knowledge about digital media in a professional context and enhance their consultancy and tutoring skills. These training sessions will be face-to-face with an added online dimension through the eLearning Platform where participants can revise the training through webinars and find additional information through OERs provided. NEETs will furthermore be able to connect with SMEs who are looking for extra training in digital media for their older employees. The methodology of this training is innovative because after the training sessions the NEETs will have the opportunity to tutor at least one older SME worker, recruited by the partners, on how to use digital media. Through this the NEETs will put their training into practice and will be able to test their consultancy skills. Together with the tutoring sessions organised by the NEETs to the older SME workers, the former will come together in Reflective Practice Training, which is based on the Circles™ methodology developed in the UK. Here, participants can share their experiences on tutoring, elaborate on the challenges they faced and set tutoring goals for the upcoming sessions. The expected impact on participants, participating organisations, target groups and other relevant stakeholders can be divided between short-term and long-term impact Short-term: - The impact on the target group of unemployed young people will be increased self-confidence and self-belief and increased confidence to enter and compete in the labour market as a result of improved motivation; - Increased general employability skills in the field of digital media will have great short-term impact on skills levels of target groups; - Increased skills in communication skills (via tutoring and consultancy skills) of target group - The impact on micro-businesses will be enabling employees to have access to state of the art training materials and knowledge regarding using digital media for business; - In addition, the intergenerational communication skills of both young unemployed and older workers will strongly improve. This could lead to greater levels of understanding between generations and wider support networks e.g. mentoring from the older SME workers to the young unemployed people and introducing them to valuable contacts in the world of work; Long-term: - Long term impact will be felt in the following groups: Education providers, career services, employment agencies, HR, unemployed young people, older workers, SMEs; - Increased job competitiveness, with greater inclusion of young people in the labour market; - Better understanding of intergenerational communication and bridging existing skills gaps in technological knowledge; - An increase in the number of young people working in SMEs, contributing to lowering levels of youth unemployment.
Learning2gether was a 24-month Erasmus + funded project aimed at promoting and improving NEETs' employability at a local, national and European level by increasing their knowledge of the latest digital tools for business and developing skills sharing opportunities with older employers and employees in SMEs. Additionally, the project aimed to utilize young people's knowledge and skills to improve the social media knowledge and digital skills of older employers and employees in SMEs by developing skills-sharing opportunities with the young NEETs. The project was implemented by a transnational consortium of 6 partners from 5 European countries. It was coordinated by Bifröst University, based in Bifröst, Iceland. The Learning2gether project was innovative as it promoted intergenerational education, by building on the strengths of different generations, specifically NEETs and older SME workers/owners. These groups were brought together to share their strengths and build their knowledge of skills that they needed to further develop to improve their employability (NEETs) and modernise their business (older SME workers/owners). The partnership built on previously adopted, successful tools, experiences and methodologies in order to ensure that the training programme had the right impact. The material that was developed was successful in reaching the project's objectives as it was based on strongly evaluated methodologies of other successfully implemented projects, so their effectiveness had been proven. Project partners have reached out to a great number of stakeholders, through research/teaching/training activities, through multiplier events and other dissemination activities. Overall, the project involved more participants than planned. Slightly fewer SME workers were recruited, but the number of pilot training participants exceeded plans, and so did the number of stakeholders reached through a successful series of multiplier events. How have we addressed the selected program priorities? The partnership has worked with young NEETs to specifically strengthen them as labor market participants and learners SME Workers have gotten to know the value and skills that youth can bring to the workplace, f.ex. in the area of digital marketing and networking Through the research, recruiting, events and dissemination activities, awareness has been raised among key stakeholders within education, for labour market institutions, NGOs, municipalities etc. With sustainable, open, and ready to use learning materials and resources, opportunities are there for many to take this work forward, adopt the methods, or perhaps apply them to similar/related groups The Guidebook from IO5, Policy makers guide greatly facilitates adoption of Learning2gether by anyone active in education and training The platform and all learning materials are openly available. The platform was built using open software tools The policy makers guide is a document that is essential to anyone interested in using the L2G outputs, and facilitates such adoption immensly The unexpected emphasis on distance/blended learning was immensely valueable to the partners, the NEETs, and onward to anyone interested in adopting the material How have we addressed the needs of the target group? The NEETs have developed their skills, being trained by both facilitators and SME workers The SME workers have developed their skills, being trained by NEETs The project participants have trained and developed high-quality diverse teaching skills, as already recorded. Both through developing and reviewing the material, through the Train the Trainers events, but also through the partnership's joint efforts to adapt the material for blended and distance learning. Learning2gether was an innovative project as it promoted intergenerational education, by drawing on the strengths of different generations, specifically NEETs and older SME workers or business owners. These groups were brought together during the project to build knowledge and develop skills that our competence framework suggested were important; for the NEETs on one hand to support them in finding their right track on the job market or education; and for the SME workers and business owners to hone their skills in digital marketing, social media and networking and even down to just basic computer skill set.