It is accepted that people gaining qualifications has an impact on economic growth, and on promoting social inclusion and sustainable employment. Skills have become the key drivers of individual well-being and economic success in the 21st century. The pace of innovation, technological transformation, digitalization and globalisation requires all people to engage in lifelong learning for upskilling, re-qualification or skills updating purposes. Nowadays, there are no jobs for life, therefore lifelong learning (LLL) is crucial for people to acquire the necessary skills to stay employable. More than ever, LLL is the key to face globalisation and its challenges. This is exactly the focus of the project aimed to define and validate innovative models, approaches and tools supporting personalized, active and engaging adult learners' personal development processes, based on self-awareness, reflective and participate based learning models, preventing ESL and NEET phenomena, contemporaneously addressing: - Adults’ engagement and motivation by implementing self-awareness/evaluation tools, inclusive guidance and learning solutions supporting reflective, engaging and active behaviours; - Trainers guidance and learning role empowerment: by adopting the new framework for Competences which are defined as a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context. Key competences are those which all individuals need for personal fulfillment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. The project goes one step further for the results of the T4TEMP project and is dealing with the following main key competences: a) Personal, social and learning to learn; b) Citizenship; c) Entrepreneurship; d) Cultural awareness and expression and e) Digital. Although the key competences are all considered equally important, because each of them can contribute to a successful life in a knowledge society, the partnership has selected the aforementioned competences as they are more close to their experience and professional capacity. The overall aim is to bring adult educators and adults’ learners together in the face of new societal challenges towards a brighter, more connected future. The objective of STONE is to work and focus on the number of adult educators who work with NEETs and vulnerable groups with adult learners, by upgrading their skills through: - the adaptation of the T4TEMP training courses with new key competences framework (Targeted Training Package for Adult Educators -Working with NEET groups IO2- validated within a wide piloting framework, in all partners countries (RO, EE; IR; CY; GR; LT) - a Capacity Building Training Course on new key competences (IO1) with 4 different skill levels: introductory, intermediate, advanced and expert, - an Assessment Tool on self-evaluation and learning personalization (IO3) for both target groups, - a Good Practices Toolbox for upskilling adult educators and NEETs (IO4). The project's expected results are the following: •Partners will understand better what NEETs need in order to be integrated into the society and the labour market. •Partners gain an in-depth understanding of good practices in engaging NEET through counselling, training and employability opportunities in the project countries. •Partners support improving the Quality and Innovation of NEET engagement methodologies in training systems, institutions and practices. •Partners will gain in-depth understanding in engaging NEETs through internal adjustments in labour offices, NGOs, career guidance offices, public authorities etc. •Increased level of skills and competences of educators, objectively proven by validation and certification of acquired skills. The expected impact includes the following: - Highlighting the importance of new key competences to the training of NEETs and the adult educators; - The usefulness of these materials for educators, teachers, counselors, youth workers; - Improve the position of NEETs in the labour market through the training on new key competences; - Understanding and recognition of skills and qualifications in European and beyond, as well as interconnections between formal, formal education, vocational training and other forms of learning and labour market respectively; - Improve the quality of training material for educators, teachers, counselors, youth workers; - Increase the professional competences of adult educators, teachers, counselors, youth workers; - Strengthen the engagement of adult trainers; - Improve the position and social perception of NEETs in the labour market and education; - Improve the social and professional development of NEETs; - Strengthening of occupational/career profiles of job seekers and young adult professionals; - Increase motivation of NEETs (people with disadvantaged background and fewer opportunities) to learn by providing information on validation of non-formal & informal learning.
The project aims to prepare adult educators with essential learning skills, focusing on Personal, Social, Learning-to-learn, Citizenship, Entrepreneurship, Cultural Awareness, and Digital Competence. By enhancing adult educators' competencies, we plan to bridge the gap between existing adult skills and those demanded by the education system and employers. The primary goal of our project was to address the growing skills gap affecting adults and NEETs in today's job market. We aimed to empower adult educators with essential skills, enhancing labor market readiness The project introduces training courses targeting key competences framework tailored for Adult Educators working with NEET groups across several countries, as well as an assessment tool for both educators and learners, complemented by a Good Practices Toolbox for upskilling adult educators and NEETs. The project is expected to foster a deeper understanding and adaption of training resources to NEETs' integration needs, enhance the skills and competences of educators and generally increasing the motivation and resilience of NEETs, leading to their enhanced competitiveness in education and labor market.
STONE project acknowledged the importance of new critical soft skills for success in the modern world and identified high discrepancy between current young adult skillsets and what's expected by employers and educational systems, a gap prevalent in our partner organizations’ countries putting at risk young adults to complete their eduction or secure employment. Our intention was to narrow the existing skill gap, ensuring educators can better support learners towards resilience, motivation to learn and enhanced competitiveness in the labor market, specifically enhancing their proficiencies in Personal, Social and Learning-to-Learn, Citizenship, Entrepreneurship, Cultural Awareness, and Digital Competence. A consortium made up of partners from 6 countries (RO, EE, IR, CY, GR, LT) experienced in working NEETs successfully addressed these needs in a practical way, developing innovative training resources adapted to various levels of competences, complemented by a self evaluation tool and best practice collection to maximize the impact at local, regional, national level. After implementation, trained professionals will be empowered to make a better difference, facilitating education and being multipliers of innovative ideas. With increased competence, educators can offer pedagogically coherent methods tailored to learners at risk, ultimately contributing to a more equipped, inclusive future workforce.