The ITER (Improving Transitions - Enabling Results) Project. NEET is a pan-European challenge; 14.3% of Young People (YP) aged 16-24 in the EU (5.3million) are NEET; (Eurostat 2018) the aims and objectives of the ITER project are directly linked to EU Youth Strategy (2019 - 2027) core priorities to fight the social exclusion and poverty affecting large numbers of YP in Europe. NEET YP across Europe are at serious risk of poverty and social exclusion; the ITER Project will contribute to opportunities and resources necessary for NEET YP to participate fully in economic, social and cultural life. The ITER project is designed to improve methods to engage NEET YP in identifying their needs and barriers to mainstream vocational education, empower them to co-design and implement their personal action plan to address their needs and barriers across 4 ‘Zones’: Learning, Life, Leisure and work, building in the customised assistance needed to support their transition from NEET to mainstream VET and support them & their receiving VET College with a transitions action plan which sets out the YP's support needs and agreed plan that prepares them for transition, supports them during transition and offers support to the VET organisation. The ITER project will focus on developing, testing and implementing innovative approaches and practices for study programmes, learners, staff and organisations; ITER is a partnership of 9 organisations/institutions representing 5 European Countries: UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Hungary. The partnership has the optimum skills, knowledge, experience and expertise that will be applied to develop and test innovative approaches and practices which support YP aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to successfully make the transition from intensive support programmes/specialist NEET provision to mainstream Vocational Education and Training (VET Partners involved in the ITER project are:Antares (IT) ; Békés County Government Office (HU) Desincoop (PT) Eulab (IT) Extern (UK) GEMS (UK) lead partner, Polytechnic University of Bucharest (RO) Time (UK) University of Huddersfield (UK) The ITER project has been developed and designed to build on the innovative approaches of two previous Erasmus+ projects EC-YP (Extended Choices for Young People in VET) and DayPlot ) Diagnosis and Actions for Young People Looking for a Better Future) The ITER project will consolidate and improve the EC-YP collaborative mentoring model with specific emphasis on developing an improved initial point of entry NEET needs and barriers diagnostic and developing guidelines and practical solutions to improve the transitions of YP who are NEET to mainstream VET; the ITER project will develop a web-based platform and interface/dashboard using the DayPlot gamification methodology to encourage the engagement of NEET YP in the initial assessment, action planning and transitions readiness stages of their customised assistance and support their transitions to mainstream VET reducing dropout/withdrawal and increasing completion/qualifications rates for previously-NEET students/trainees. The ITER project combines the development of an innovative model, piloting it in UK, Italy, Portugal and Romania with 60 YP and 12 IAG Practitioners/Mentors, and impact analysis to measure the pilot outcomes at regional/national level. The ITER project will be realised through the delivery of 5 Intellectual outputs each led by the designated IO lead and supported through a project management and implementation framework based on PRINCE2 IOs are: IO1NEET isn't Neat - Challenges and Opportunities & lessons for policy & Practice Result: Comparative Analysis, Presentation of Findings of the measures that have been introduced at national level in the UK, Italy, Romania, Portugal and Hungary in relation to the NEET challenge & the identification of good practice models . IO2The ITER Platform Result: online YP friendly and exciting interactive platform adapting gamification methodology to support initial needs and barriers assessment, action planning, review and transitions management support IO3 The ITER Handbook: Bridging the Transitions Points between customised assistance for NEET YP and Mainstream VET Result: A handbook with practical support and guidelines for partnership working to improve transitions.IO4 Pilot Testing the ITER Model - Pilot Study Report Result: analysis of the pilot testing of ITER involving 60 YP and 12 IAG practitioners/Mentors in 4 European countries. Potential longer-term benefits are A tried and tested innovative approach and model which creates meaningful VET pathways for NEET young people who experience complex barriers to participation in VET; Open Source access to ITER platform and increased social inclusion through Enhancing access to training and qualifications for all & increasing the quality in VET through feedback loops to adapt VET provision.
By implementing the ITER project we wanted to: 1) Develop an online platform and game to support IAG practitioners and mentors with additional tools and resources to help them when working with NEET-experienced young people. The game was designed to promote dialogue with a young person and help their decision making in relation to their employability specifically in relation to the issues and barriers they experienced in learning, life, leisure, and work. 2) Design and publish a Transitions Management Handbook to provide guidance for supporting the transition of NEET-experienced young people from customised assistance to mainstream Vocational Education and Training 3) Pilot testing of the ITER model and an Evaluation of the findings of the Pilot and recommendations for practice. 4) Provide a suite of free and accessible online tools, materials and resources including user guidelines that support IAG Practitioners/Mentors in their work with NEET-experienced young people.
Youth unemployment and the high number of young people who are not participating in education, vocational education and training and employment on completing their post-primary education remains a challenge throughout Europe. Many young people, particularly but not exclusively those from economically and socially deprived backgrounds who are NEET, face long-term unemployment and/or economic inactivity as adults. Whilst this results in labour market skills shortages it also impacts negatively on the life chances, health and wellbeing, resilience, and economic self-sufficiency of young adults. We applied for the ITER project because we wanted to develop innovative tools and resources to help IAG practitioners and mentors in their work supporting NEET-experienced young people to reconnect with learning and employment. We wanted to build on our experience of developing gamification as a method to support the integration of marginalised young people and our experience of the collaborative mentoring approach as a model that focuses on 4 Zones: learning, life, leisure, and work to support NEET-experienced young people to reconnect with learning and work and successfully transition to mainstream vocational education and training.