The objective of Co-CIVIC was to strengthen cooperation between Vocational Education & Training (VET) institutions and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) through an innovative collaborative project-based learning approach with a strong social impact dimension. The project sought to enable teachers, tutors and CSO staff to jointly design and deliver collaborative learning pathways that connect educational objectives with real societal needs. Through this cooperation, students were expected to develop not only vocational and technical skills, but also key competences such as creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, initiative and social responsibility. A further objective was to create meaningful and complementary work-based learning opportunities by connecting educational processes with the real needs of civil society organisations. Overall, the project intended to generate lasting change by embedding cooperative, socially oriented learning approaches into institutional practice and making the developed methods transferable and scalable across different European contexts.
Co-CIVIC was developed to strengthen cooperation between Vocational Education & Training (VET) institutions & Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) while creating more effective, socially relevant & practice-oriented learning opportunities for students. The project addressed a key VET challenge: providing meaningful work-based learning & equipping students with multidisciplinary & entrepreneurial competences increasingly needed by society & the labour market. At the same time, CSOs often lack the resources to access innovative solutions. Co-CIVIC responded through a collaborative project-based learning (PBL) approach centred on real societal challenges. Through VET–CSO cooperation, students engaged in the ideation, design, development & prototyping of social projects & innovation initiatives supporting participating organisations. To enable this, the project delivered tailored training & practical tools for teachers, tutors & CSO staff, incl. an online Teacher Training programme, a Cooperation Handbook, supporting resources & an online Accelerator. Co-CIVIC aimed to innovate work-based learning, strengthen school-to-work transition, increase student motivation & civic engagement, & build sustainable cooperation models across Europe.