Young people (YP) are often encouraged to develop the technical skills needed to enter the labour market, but competencies on how to conduct themselves in the workplace, as well as create opportunities for employment mobility for themselves can be neglected, despite disadvantaged young people having few opportunities to be exposed to these key skills. The YEC project aims to help yp & youth workers identify key gaps in employability competences & address these through youth worker led training modules. The objectives of the project are: Increase employability of yp Increase validation of yp’s employability competences Increase engagement of yp & employers in competency tool development Increase the focus on yp's employability among yp & their practitioners The partnership was drawn together to create a diverse range of partners who have an evidenced commitment to youth engagement, upskilling & training of youth workers/practitioners & yp along with validation of these skills, as well as sharing & promotion of best practice in the area of youth work & employment These following actions form the main tasks within the project & involve, research, content development, engaging stakeholders & advisory boards, development of training programmed, piloting, external & internal monitoring & evaluation. 1 Develop & pilot a methodology which creates a space for dialogue between yp, employers & the project partnership when developing project tools 2 Creation of employability competencies training modules for yp, with particular focus on the personal, social & learning to learn competency from the Council of The European Union. 3 Creation of train the trainer course with specific focus on youth workers & guidance practitioners engaging with yp who are seeking employment 4 Creation of a guide for local youth workers & practitioners to map the modules from the train the trainer course, or any employability skills training, onto current validation systems under ET 2020. 5 Creation a communication methodology focused on raising awareness of the importance of lifelong learning, with focus on employability competencies for yp which can engage with multiple stakeholders in an effective manner These actions will create results through the following IOs: IO1: Youth & Employer Advisory Boards Methodology: a full outline of how to engage young people & relevant stakeholders in tool development will be produced. This will result in more organisation having the information they require to include yp in their programme development stage. This will increase the usefulness of tools developed for yp & increase the opportunities for youth empowerment. IO2: Employability Competencies Training Modules: a full suite of employability training modules will be produced. These will be piloted with yp in Ireland, Poland, Italy and Finland, resulting in their increased employability. These modules will also enhance the skills of youth workers & practitioners who partake in piloting them. IO3: Employability Competencies Train the Trainer Course: this IO will result in a comprehensive master training course for the YES employability competences. This will result in a quality assured exploitation of the tools developed. This will also result in a sustainable rolling out of the YEC tools post project lifetime due to master trainers within the partnership committed to providing the training to youth workers who request it & meet the competency criteria set out. IO4: Competency Validation Guide; YEC tools will be mapped onto European & National frameworks where they are applicable, resulting in any yp who partakes in the training course having validated skills after completion. This guide will also promote the use of validation methods within the field of youth work & increase the use of these scales among partner organisations & anyone who chooses to download the guide. IO5: Communicating Employability Competences: this will result in a how to guide for youth workers to translate to their young clients about the importance of employability competency development. This will enhance the buy in from yp to engage in training that results in competences other than those of a technical or hard nature. We will have 5 transnational meetings to collaborate on the development of our outputs. The tools will all be piloted in our partner countries before they are finalised. We have a clear dissemination strategy in place to share our tools with youth practitioners & yp across all partner countries & more widely at European level. If the aims & objectives of the YEC project are met it is expected that there will be impacts on all participants mentioned, the partnership organisations & relevant stakeholders. The overall impact for these mentioned groups will be an increased awareness & knowledge of the importance of employability competences, training opportunities, methods for validation of these skills & the importance of engaging yp in tool development
Young people are often encouraged to develop the technical skills needed to enter the labour market, but competencies on how to conduct themselves in the workplace, as well as create opportunities for employment mobility for themselves can be neglected, despite disadvantaged young people having few opportunities to be exposed to these key skills. The YEC project aimed to help young & youth worker professionals identify key gaps in employability competences & address these through youth worker led training modules. The objectives of the project were to: Increase the employability of young people Increase the validation of young people’s employability competences Increase the engagement of young people and employers in competency tool development Increase the focus on young people’s employability among young people and their practitioners The partnership was drawn together to create a diverse range of partners who have an evidenced commitment to youth engagement, upskilling & training of youth workers/practitioners & young people along with validation of these skills, as well as sharing and promotion of best practice in the area of youth work and employment. The project set out to: • Develop and pilot a methodology which creates a space for dialogue between young people, employers and the project partnership when developing project tools. • Create a suite of employability competences training modules for young people, with focus on the personal, social & learning to learn competency from the Council of The European Union. • Create a train the trainer course with specific focus on youth workers & guidance practitioners engaging with young people who are seeking employment • Create a guide for youth workers and practitioners to map the modules from the train the trainer course, or any employability skills training, onto current validation systems under ET 2020. The final products developed by the YEC Project through 4 Intellectual Outputs: IO1 – Youth & Employer Advisory Boards – The partnership created a Methodological Guide which includes case studies of the YEC experiences of advisory board participation. This can be used as a “how to” guide for external organisations who which to develop and run their own youth or stakeholder participation schemes, resulting in more organisations having information to include young people in programme development. IO2 – Employability Competences Training Moules – a full suite of Training Modules, which are dynamic in nature and practitioners can utilize either in totality or pick selected modules according to the groups or young person needs has been developed. The modules can be used in either a classroom or online setting and have been piloted with young people in Ireland, Italy, Finland and Poland, increasing their employability. These modules also enhance the skills of youth workers and practitioners who partake in delivering them. IO2 is available in English, Finnish, German, Italian and Polish. IO3 – Employability Competences Train the Trainer Course – A Train the trainer programme including a training compendium, tool development documents and module session plans, so that anyone delivering the modules has access to step by step guidelines on how to do so. This will also result in a sustainable rolling out of the YEC tools post project due to master trainers within the partnership committed to providing training to youth workers who request it and meet the competency criteria set out. IO3 is available in English, Finnish, German, Italian and Polish. IO4 – Competence Validation Guide – The YEC tools have been mapped onto European & National frameworks where they are applicable, resulting in any young person who partakes in the training course having validated skills after completion. This guide will also promote the use of validation methods within the field of youth work and increase the use of these scales among partner organisations and anyone who chooses to download the guide. IO4 is available in English, Finnish, German, Italian and Polish. A clear dissemination strategy is in place to share our tools with youth practitioners and young people across all partner countries and more widely at European level. All final products along with a number of videos showcasing the work of the project were produced and are available on the project website www.yecproject.eu The partners had 5 transnational meetings to collaborate on the development of the above outputs. The tools were all piloted in each partner country before they were finalised. The advisory boards were responsible for reviewing each IO before they signed it off as being complete. Evaluations of the effectiveness of the advisory boards were carried out internally and also by an external evaluator whose role was to draw conclusions on the added value of facilitating youth and employer advisory participation. A copy of the final report is attached and available on the project website.