SSPICE IT! project intended to: - raise awareness among educators and learners of the centrality that sustainability has assumed also in the food sector and the implications of this in terms of new skills required at different professional levels; - update and adapt VET courses in the food and catering sector to the changed labour market scenario, introducing training modules and learning moments centred on the acquisition of green and digital skills, as well as of entrepreneurial skills; - facilitate the assessment and recognition of acquired competences through the use of an innovative assessment tool that enables a more comprehensive assessment of acquired skills through the use of gamification; - foster the experimentation of innovative sustainable practices in the management of VET centres; - create a community of practice that fosters stable cooperation between VET centres, research centres, enterprises, agencies/authorities responsible for programming and agencies/authorities responsible for curriculum planning and updating; -provide guidelines to VET providers and planning authorities on how to update VET curricula with modules and learning moments aimed at the acquisition of green and digital skills required in the sector
Sustainability, understood as economic, social and environmental sustainability, is at the heart of European strategies and policies, as well as the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. All major production sectors are adapting, in terms of transforming production processes, organizational systems and more generally business models. Such radical transformations obviously also require professional figures with greater green, digital and transversal skills. In particular, the food and catering sector is facing radical changes in Europe, with an exponential need for workers with sustainability and digital skills. VET Centres that train professionals at different levels in the hotel and catering sector have only partly begun to address these challenges. In particular, they are facing the following needs: - deepen the implications that sustainability and new technologies have in the organisation and management of enterprises in the sector; - increase the specialisation of operators through the acquisition of transversal skills, capable of increasing their adaptability and innovation capacity; - create new and long-lasting collaborations with innovative realities on sustainability issues; - internationalise their training.