With this project we intended to increase the trainees’ motivation, so that they will finish their training course successfuly, reducing early school leaving that, along with failure rate, stood at 60%; increase the placement rate in companies in the vocational training area that was at 30%; promote the students’ softskills so that, when they enter the world of work, employers give levels of performance satisfaction to values above 3.6 (on a scale of 1 to 4); provide new life goals to students with disadvantaged contexts (students whose parents are unemployed - 21% or have low income - 38%); develop students' critical thinking on the most varied issues, making them active citizens, strengthening their European identity and participation of young people in democratic processes. Furthermore we intended that the experience in the program and its dissemination would encourage the other vocational students to get better results, not to leave the course early and to participate more in the school activities.
The Gaia Nascente School Group covers levels of education and teaching from pre-school to the 12th grade. This project was designed to integrate vocational education students, who were in the 11th grade (Technical Kitchen/ Pastry, Multimedia and Sport) at the time of application. It was intended that the students would perform part of the Training in Work Context under ERASMUS+ Mobility after finishing the 12th grade. The age of the target audience of the program varied between 15 and 20 years, and 53% of these had failed at least once during their school career, 11% were immigrants or descended from immigrant families, 38% had economic help from school, 8% had Special Educational Needs, 10% had unknown or deceased parents. Regarding the family, 64% of the parents had a school level lower than the 9th grade and only 9% had higher education, 21% were unemployed and 17% had their own business. The completion rate of vocational courses was around 40% and only 30% obtained placement in the area. These characteristics of the target audience reveal our students’ weaknesses and the importance of implementing a mobility program in improving their skills and increasing the motivation of the other students of the school.