It is alarming today that many young people do not manage to pass successfully through the school system and make a transition into further education or training opportunities, or into employment. According to the report of Eurycide and Cedefop, “Tackling Early Leaving from Education and Training in Europe: Strategies, Policies and Measures” (2014), one out of seven young Europeans leaves the education system presenting lack of skills and qualifications necessary to prepare them for the labour market. Currently, more than 4 million young people in Europe are classified as early school leavers, only 40% of whom are employed. The overall goal of motivatEyoUth is to support professionals working with young people (14-24), and build their capacity through competence oriented learning in preventing and reducing Early Leaving from Education and Training as well as inspiring youth to continue on viable progression pathways. To achieve this goal, the specific objectives of the project are to: •create an identification, prevention and intervention programme for ESL through innovative tools and activities •provide opportunities for continuous education to professionals directly involved with youth through open education and innovative practices •educate and support professionals to recognise, prevent and deal with ESL •build high-quality training materials and methodologies for professionals •motivate youth with innovative methodologies that better respond to the diverse needs of young learners today and encourage the development of their skills and pre-dispositions •reduce ESL levels on a local, national and European level •build a bridge between youth and work field concerning ESL •create innovative ways of communication between the target groups and relevant professionals The main target groups of the project are: young people between 14 -18 years old, youth 18-24, classified as Early Leavers from Education and Training & experts: teachers, educators, youth workers, trainers, social workers, healthcare professionals, coaches, social workers etc. It is estimated that more than 3000 youth and experts will be involved, directly and indirectly, within the project activities. Four main Intellectual Outputs will be designed and developed: O1: Experts Programme Toolkit by the University of Porto; O2: Online game “Journey to your Future” by COMCY; O3: ICT Tool for Competence Assessment by OIC POLAND; O4: Online educational platform by Open Europe. The project results will be available in English, Italian, Greek, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish languages. They will be developed in such a way and method so as to have the availability to be transferred and adjusted appropriately to other EU countries in the future. Overall, the project will seek to address the risks of early school leaving and to build innovational material to support youth. The expected, long-term, impact and benefits which the project explores are: A. For the youth involved in the project: 1) They will develop digital skills through their involvement and use of the project’s digital tools and material 2) They will be motivated and encouraged to continue on education and training through innovative material, tools and activities 3) They will develop their interest in Educational opportunities and other opportunities in entering the labour market B. For the experts and other stakeholders: 1) Increase their awareness of ESL, the factors that create it and the risks that derive from it 2) They will have new educational tools and methods that will be applicable in their daily work and will support them in addressing the risks and issues raised by ESL/ELET (both for prevention as well as intervention purposes) 3) Development of their digital skills and opportunity to make better use of digital technology C. For the partner organisations: 1) They will update, improve & widen their educational and training offer, putting their competitiveness ahead 2) They will have new tools that will be applicable to their daily work 3) They will exchange know-how and define the best practices in the field of ESL/ELET so as to incorporate them into the project products 4) They will participate in an international network across diverse professional fields and will gain expertise in a demanding and important field D. For the countries involved in motivatEyoUth: 1) The number of the people in the ESL/ELET group will potentially decrease 2) The national education and training systems will be able to make better use of the innovative methodology, findings and results as well as the digital tools of the motivatEyoUth project 3) National growth rates will improve The partnership for the proposed project consists of 5 organizations coming from 5 EU countries (IT, CY, PL, ES and PT) representing NGOs, youth organizations/associations and universities. All partners already offer training, education, advice and guidance to the target groups of the project.
CONTEXT Early leaving from education and training (ELET) is a serious issue in many EU countries and has attracted the attention of many researchers, policy-makers and educators. Although the situation varies between countries and the underlying reasons for leaving early differ from student to student, the process leading up to it has a number of common elements. According to the report of Eurycide and Cedefop, “Tackling Early Leaving from Education and Training in Europe: Strategies, Policies and Measures” (2014), one out of seven young Europeans leaves the education system presenting a lack of skills and qualifications necessary to prepare them for the labor market. Currently, more than 4 million young people in Europe are classified as early school leavers, only 40% of whom are employed. In the last two years, due to the pandemic, this problem has been emphasized, especially as regards Italy, one of the worst countries in Europe. Research shows that leaving education early leads to reduced opportunities in the labor market and an increased likelihood of unemployment, socio-economic disadvantage, health problems, as well as reduced participation in political, social, and cultural activities. On the other hand, abundant research indicates that a higher level ofn education can lead to a series of positive outcomes for the individual as well as for society. The benefits of young people staying longer in school are improved employment prospects, higher salaries, better health, less crime, improved social cohesion, lower public and social costs, and higher productivity and growth. Dealing with the underlying causes of early leaving and developing ways to overcome them has become a central issue in Europe. OBJECTIVES The overall goal of motivatEyoUth is to develop a multi-intervention program for youth and youth workers and focus on the early school leaving phenomenon, to reduce the factors that create it and draw direct and indirect actions towards the target groups. MotivatEyoUth is based on two key pillars: Early School Leaving (ESL) Prevention and Intervention; through the project, prevention actions for youth prone to present high-risk behaviors was developed, as well as intervention measures and actions for youth classified as Early Leavers from Education and Training” (ELET), to prevent, remedy and reduce Early School Leaving. TARGET GROUP The main target groups of the project have been young people between 14 -18 years old and youth 18-24, classified as Early Leavers from Education and Training & experts; teachers, educators, youth workers, trainers, social workers, healthcare professionals, coaches, social workers etc. It is estimated that more than 1200 youth and experts have been involved, directly and indirectly within the project activities, and around 90.000 have been achieved, through dissemination activities, during the three years of the project. ACTIVITIES Four main Intellectual Outputs are been designed and developed: O1: Experts Programme Toolkit O2: Online game “Journey to your Future” O3: ICT Tool for Competence Assessment O4: Online educational platform The project results are available in English, Italian, Greek, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish languages. They are developed in such a way and method so as to have the availability to be transferred and adjusted appropriately to other EU countries in the future. RESULTS AND IMPACT Youth involved in the project have been developing digital skills; they have been motivated and encouraged to continue on education and training through innovative material, tools, and activities; they have been developing their interest in Educational opportunities and other opportunities in entering the labor market Experts and other stakeholders have increased their awareness of ESL, the factors that create it, and the risks that derive from it; they have new educational tools and methods that will be applicable in their daily work and will support them in addressing the risks and issues raised by ESL/ELET (both for prevention as well as intervention purposes); they have been the development of their digital skills and opportunity to make better use of digital technology. Partner organizations have updated, improve & widen their educational and training offer, putting their competitiveness ahead; they have new tools that will be applicable to their daily work; they have exchanged know-how and define the best practices in the field of ESL/ELET so as to incorporate them into the project products; they have participated in an international network across diverse professional fields and gain expertise in a demanding and important field.