All countries in Europe under-perform with regard to the percentage of persons with disabilities participating in employment. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be supportive in VET and in getting and maintaining employment. But if professionals in vocational education, training and support are not sufficiently equipped with ICT skills and competences, or even deny the relevance of digital tools for both their own professional work as well as for the development of the competences and skills of their learners, they may obstruct the future of those for whom they are responsible. BELVEDERE will address professionals who support young and adult people with disabilities on their way towards employment. The organisations in which these professionals work are facing the challenge to provide meaningful in-service training, to exemplify with real world examples how digital tools can enhance their work and to deal with the large diversity in the clients’ population, to render the processes towards employment more inclusive and to encourage all staff to move forward in this direction all at once. The OBJECTIVE of the project is to equip professionals who assist and support disadvantaged young people and adults at different stages in a qualification and placement process with the ICT skills needed both to increase the quality of their work as well as to empower their learners so that they are better prepared for working life. To achieve this, BELVEDERE aims at strengthening their digital literacy and provide them with relevant pedagogical, methodological and organisational strategies. Professionals will explore available tools and appropriate them to their specific requirements, will describe the use cases and develop teaching and training materials and courses for other professionals from a practitioner's point of view. The PROJECT CONSORTIUM consists of seven partners from Germany, Austria, UK and Spain. Five of them are employers to approx. 250 members of the target group of professionals responsible for implementing guidance, training and placement for disadvantaged clients and hence can ensure their involvement in the project. The consortium’s expertise is complemented by a university as an expert in the development of online media and by a research institute as an expert in digital transformation processes. With regard to ACTIVITIES and the applied METHODOLOGY, the projects will develop a shared understanding of a high-quality professional support process, followed by a detailed requirements analysis in the four participating countries within the first six months. On the basis of the analysis results, the project will then test ICT tools in real-life scenarios by the project’s target group and develop practice-oriented descriptions, transferable use scenarios, and supportive learning resources in four loops each lasting for six months. In the final phase of the project, results will be consolidated and disseminated in multiplier events in all four countries. KEY RESULTS are: * A set of approx. 40 tested ICT tools and respective descriptions of the use cases * A BELVEDERE Course Curriculum for awareness-raising and qualification for a modern, inclusive vocational training and placement * Flexible digital teaching and learning materials for courses for selected tools and topics (approx. 20 in total) * Micro learning units or bits (approx. 40) like quizzes, videos or online exercises * One BELVEDERE-MOOC * Digital readiness self-assessment tool * Recommendations for organisations to shape their digital transformation The IMPACT ENVISAGED is that the level of digital literacy of professionals in vocational education and training will increase, and that they experience an increased access and confidence to use digital tools in vocational settings. Technical and organisational barriers will have been identified and can therefore be removed, so that professionals have access to effective tools to support their clients. Finally, clients with disabilities will use digital tools to gain professional qualifications in the general labour market. On an organisational level it is expected that organisation active in VET feel confident to introduce digital tools to improve their performance and level of quality. The POTENTIAL LONGER TERM BENEFITS are seen in frontline professionals in vocational education and training who continue to use the tools identified, described and trained in the project, and that they will be able to work with digital media and increase their own digital skills and competences. Ultimately, it is also expected to open new opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged groups of job seeking clients, e.g. through new ways organisations use technology in the Supported Employment Sector.
The aim of BELVEDERE was to increase the level of digital competence of skilled workers in vocational education and training and to provide them with relevant pedagogical, methodological and organisational strategies so that they achieve improved access and self-confidence in the use of digital tools in the professional environment. And thus also to be able to sustainably support their customers, mostly disadvantaged people with disabilities, in terms of social participation, for example to gain professional qualifications on the general labour market or even to provide innovative, digital tools that did not previously exist. At an organisational level, BELVEDERE aims to make organisations active in vocational education and training more secure and strengthen them in the introduction and optimisation of digital processes and tools in order to improve their performance and quality level.
Digital skills and competences of professionals are crucial to engage and learn together with disadvantaged people. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can support in vocational education and training and in entering and maintaining employment. But if professionals in vocational education, training and support are not sufficiently equipped with ICT skills and competences, or even deny the relevance of these, they can hinder the future of those they are responsible for. BELVEDERE saw a need for this and focused on the three interacting levels of "organisation - people - technology". The aim is to enable vocational education and training specialists to use ICT effectively in their respective work contexts in the long term, to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning and to identify factors in the organisation that are beneficial or obstructive. Organisations are therefore faced with the challenge of developing, communicating, adapting and promoting meaningful and appropriate digitalisation strategies. BELVEDERE is designed to support them in this task.