WISE (Working in Soft Skills for Employment) is an exchange of good practices with the aim of supporting the trainers of VET organizations in finding ways to transfer soft skills for the labour market to participant of VET courses, especially initial VET education. In order to promote VET “as a first choice” for learners to discover their talents and to advance in learning and career, is necessary that VET provides high quality curricula and skills needed in the labour market. In addition to adequate technical and professional skills, companies nowadays look for employees owning a wide range of "soft skills" (e.g. creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, emotional intelligence, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, time management…). VET Providers then have the commitment to facilitate the acquisition of soft skills within the VET pathways. As for technical skills, learning is generally based on theoretical lessons and then practical examples followed by a work-placements in a company but, in the case of soft skills, the learning process is not the same and requires very specific and innovative teaching methodologies. Some countries have adopted reforms that have structured innovative VET systems, some are struggling to overcome regional differences some others have just started focusing on these topics. The partnership aims at exchanging good practices on tools and methodologies to improve and empower soft skills in trainees. The nine partner organizations come from Italy, the Basque Country, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Portugal and their core activity is the training of vocational subjects to students (14-19 years of age). The methodologies for transferring soft skills will be exchanged keeping in mind that they will be useful for the insertion in the labour market. Each partners will involve stakeholders coming from the business sector so as to have a point of view of the companies that normally insert the students for work- based learning experience (WBL). The "success factors" will be identified, as well as the needs of the companies and the trainers. During the first phase of the project the partnership will exchange and analyse methods and tools according to indicators agreed during the first transnational meeting: in accordance with the priorities set by the European Union to raise the competencies provided by VET organizations and their trainers, 2 learning activities ("Short Term staff Training Event) will be organized. The events will take place in the Basque Country and in Finland, which have in the past few years developed innovative methodologies supported by VET systems reforms and are the frontrunners in this field. Trainers from all the partner organizations will be involved: they will mainly be trainers who are normally the link with companies but they can also be trainers of general or specific subjects inserting the soft skills focus in their lessons. Three transnational project meetings are also foreseen to manage the project. Therefore, the main aims of the project are on the one hand the exchange of good practices and on the other hand, starting from the findings, also the building of a future project of "development of innovation", developing tools and methodology that can be transferred to other contexts and courses of the partners.
The project had the intention of exchanging practices and methodologies that were useful to trainers involved in initial training for the transfer of transversal skills to students. The ultimate objective was to give students, through more trained trainers, skills to strengthen them in the job market and to strengthen their ability to learn to learn, work in groups and understand contexts. To do this, one of the objectives of the project was to strengthen the trainers' skills through comparison with European colleagues and visits to organizations located in geographical areas that have a strong training system, supported by local policies. The project coordinators and contact persons of each partner also had the aim of increasing their network of contacts for future projects.
The project originated from the need to work on soft skills for iVET students and to learn, through the exchange of good practices, what the best ways were for their transfer. There is a general weakness and fragility in students and in the VET systems in general, often perceived as a "second choice" by parents and citizens in general. Hence the need to strengthen organizations to offer high-quality training courses supporting students in a fragmented and difficult job market. To do this it is also necessary to have trainers who are prepared, updated and themselves strengthened in the transversal skills to be transmitted. The request also comes from the corporate world, with which VET bodies deal daily for internships and apprenticeships and that prefer to train employees on specific technical skills but which require a range of already trained transversal skills upon entry. To acquire the latter, a course in a practical laboratory or theoretical lessons is often not enough but it is necessary to acquire ad hoc, innovative and always adaptable methodologies and tools. Some European countries, present in the partnership, have adopted reforms that are at the forefront of VET systems, while others are still struggling to find their dimension. The rather large partnership had the aim of exchanging tools and methods as much as possible to support the acquisition of soft skills in students, the latter being (especially aged 14-19) the common feature of the activities of each organization. The partners come from Italy, Spain (Basque Country), Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Portugal. The need to have trained trainers was the reason why two training activities for trainers (Learning Activities) were included in the project, in the Basque Country and in Finland, both at the forefront of their training systems.