The main objective of the project was to improve the quality of education in technical schools in Europe by implementing a tool for analyzing the competence gap of students studying in three fields of study: construction technician, logistics technician, renewable energy technician. The development of a tool for comprehensive assessment of competences in selected fields of study contributed to eliminating the problem of differences between the competences of graduates expected by the labor market and the actual scope of knowledge, skills and attitudes they offer. The use of multidimensional comparative analysis methods allowed for the presentation of results in a graphic form that is easy to interpret. The results contributed to increasing the motivation to act among young people and to undertake various forms of additional education. Schools gained competence profiles of graduates to promote their own activities and emphasize the quality of their activities among potential students. Additionally, career advisors and educators received a unique tool to help them support young people in designing and implementing career paths.
The project was a response to the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) and referred directly to the horizontal priority concerning digital transformation. The project implementation allowed for a more comprehensive use of various forms of education using IT tools within VETeducation. We identified three main needs for the implementation of the project. The first was the remote work in education forced by the Covid-19 pandemic and related hardware problems, teacher skills and unethical behavior of students. The second was the need for vocational education to keep up with the challenges of education in the digital era. The competences desired by employers are changing, and technological progress means that these changes are occurring increasingly faster. Meanwhile, schools do not have instruments to monitor what competences, apart from vocational ones, are acquired by students (especially in the context of the problem of measuring so-called soft competences). The third reason was the shift visible in employers' requirements from hard competences, the relevance of which is sometimes very limited for a very short time, to soft competences, such as concern for results, openness to development and learning or attitude towards work.