Digital VET Upskilling for Trainers and Women Beneficiaries [DIGIVET] European Commission Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP) 2021-27: "The COVID-19 crisis shed light on the key enabling factors for effective digital education and training: connectivity and suitable digital equipment for learners and educators; teachers and trainers that are confident and skilled in using digital technology to support their teaching and adapted pedagogy; leadership; collaboration and the sharing of good practice and innovative teaching methods." The DEAP outlines the European Commission’s vision for high-quality, inclusive, and accessible digital education in Europe. It is a call to action for stronger cooperation at the European level with a stated priority of "Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation". The DEAP also refers to the need for: "advanced digital skills which produce more digital specialists and also ensure that girls and young women are equally represented in digital studies and careers." There is a recognised gender imbalance regarding women with the level of digital skills necessary to move closer to the labour market. The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey in 2018 showed that only 39% of educators in the EU felt well or very well prepared for using digital technologies in their daily work. The Europe 2020 Strategy recognises entrepreneurship and self-employment as key for achieving smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan: Section 4.2.4. Unemployed, in particular, women: Given the significant number of unemployed people across Europe, entrepreneurship support schemes should be put in place to encourage business creation as a route out of unemployment. Few business development support schemes target unemployed women specifically. Women face a variety of barriers: • Lack of awareness of the potential for entrepreneurship among role models results in a lack of encouragement or even a negative social attitude • Education and training programmes generally do not do enough to nurture entrepreneurial attitudes and skills • Lack of prior work and entrepreneurship experience is detrimental to business start-up and entrepreneurship performance • Limited business networks and business-related social capital have consequences for business start-up and obtaining legitimacy • Gender bias/inequality We will: • create a VET digital curriculum focusing on developing entrepreneurial mind-sets (E.G. recognising and acting on an opportunity) • encourage attitudinal changes DIGIVET will promote the following entrepreneurial qualities: • Skills and attitudes: women may have the determination and enthusiasm to run a business but may not have the appropriate skills-set and leadership qualities • Meta-qualities: to be developed through action learning sets; developing the ability of learning-to-learn; and identifying self-weaknesses for subsequent development Partners will meet in Month 2 to agree upon a draft curriculum to be presented to local VET stakeholders and women focus groups for feedback and review. Each partner will engage with a minimum of 5 local VET stakeholders and successful entrepreneurs, and engage with women focus groups (minimum of 5 women), and use the Plymouth Development Tool for Vocational Training (PDTVT) to underpin the curriculum development. Target Group: VET educators and trainers who can engage with women who are furthest from the labour market. We will use non-formal education methods to train 24 VET trainers/educators, from the UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Romania at a short term staff training event (C1) held in Romania in Month 12. We will use Kolb's Experiential Learning Tool to monitor the 24 VET "trainees" as they return to each work with 10 women beneficiaries (240 in total). 6 Partners: Germany: AUL UK: WSX Enterprise Austria: VAEV UK: Make A Dream Publishing Ltd Italy: CASC Romania: BUCOVINA Partners will meet 6 times during the 24-month project. At project end, each partner will host a local multiplier conference event, to a minimum of 30 attendees, to promote and disseminate the results and outcomes of the project. These events will be live-screened online for those who cannot physically attend these events. We will develop digital training resources that include 6 training webinars hosted on the internet. The project website, training platform, and resources will be available for a minimum of 5 years post-project. We will look at mapping the co-created VET digital curriculum to the EQF at level 3 at the project end. We expect 30%+ of the women to move into further training/employment or self-employment and 60%+ to improve their socio-economic and mental well-being (WEMWBS evaluation) following upskilled VET educator support. In the long term, DIGIVET will provide an innovative solution to the EU's declared challenge of improving levels of digital skills amongst VET educators.
The DIGIVET project sought to bring together EU partners to make a positive difference to the socio-economic outcomes of disengaged women in their local communities by joint action and collaboration. We wanted to create an innovative, motivational, entrepreneurial training package, based on Digital and Entrepreneurial Skillsets for VET educators, trainers, and staff working with women furthest from the labour market. It was to comprise key concepts and skills designed to enhance motivation and self-efficacy in people that are low in self-confidence and ambivalent or fearful about embracing change, in line with the 2021-27 Digital Education Action plan that builds on the 2018-20 priorities to: "1. make better use of digital technology for teaching and learning; 2. develop digital competencies and skills".
In recent time, all businesses have had to close with work activities needing to be at home (online) which has added to the skills gap in disadvantaged women – they do not know how to use basic virtual communication programmes (skype, zoom), or to register for and send emails, watch videos materials, etc. which are essential in this current situation and will be useful for them in the digital world of the future. Across the EU there is a serious gender inequality where women are under-employed and/or have low self-confidence, low skills, and competences (identified in Europe 2020 Digital Agenda). The primary target group of the project was made up of 24 educators and trainers, who have little or no experience in delivering training to improve entrepreneurial and digital skills. The secondary target group of 240 women who are low-skilled and furthest from the labour market.