"The European Council in its informal meeting in January 2012 agreed that Member States should increase ""substantially the number of apprenticeships and traineeships to ensure that they represent real opportunities for young people, in cooperation with social partners and where possible integrated into education programmes"". In addition, according to the newly adopted ""European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships"" (October 2017), European Commission identifies 14 key criteria that Member States and stakeholders should use to develop quality and effective apprenticeships. Among the specific criteria, is made a concrete reference on the necessity to exist a specific procedure for teachers, trainers and in company mentors to ""update their skills and competences in order to train apprentices according to the latest teaching and training methods and labour market needs"". In-company WBL mentors are in the core of quality WBL. However, in-company WBL mentors, in most European countries, lack standardized support and guidance which will set the expectations and boundaries clarifying and ensuring their successful contribution in the learning process. Thereby it poses administrative barriers to achieving the EU's targets for the promotion of a coordinated, unified network system on vocational education and the targets of the LLL-program to bolster cross-border mobility of workers. Based on the above and also the identification of the WBL needs and gaps by NetWBL, there is a significant need for the development of standards and qualifications identifying certain knowledge, skills and competences providing adequate assessment that will lead to valid certification ensuring quality in-company WBL mentorship by enterprises providing apprenticeships and internships. This proposal aims to: -develop ECVET compliant qualifications for trans-sectoral vocational skills, knowledge and competences necessary for qualifying high quality in- company WBL mentorship -boost the skills of in- company WBL mentors, while recognising prior learning which is now underdeveloped and non-qualified, through on-line training based on innovative learner-centred approaches incorporating the use of ICT -develop VET business partnerships for ensuring labour market relevance through high quality WBL provision from companies and accessibility to continuing VET learning -enhance, through a European certification scheme for workplace mentors based on a European skill card for mentors, transparency, recognition and validation of skills and qualifications via innovative e-assessment methods through the development of an online platform dedicated to competences examination -enhance prior learning facilitating the transition from education to work. Under the aforementioned rationale, #Mentor4WBL@EU project's partners were chosen based on their previous or current EU projects' involvement, their skill sets and their ability to deliver the project outputs. The consortium is composed by partners experienced in EU-projects such as, employers organizations (IME GSEVEE), public authorities (OAED), Certification bodies (EFCoCert), SMEs (ViaSyst and C4FF), Universities (BAU) and VET providers (IEK Aigaleo). The methodology followed by the project aims in the fulfillment of a twofold target. The first, to assure the validity and acceptability of project's results among the partners. The specific procedure will be guaranteed through the creation of a Steering Committee composed of project's partners, that will meet on a regular basis (e.g. managerial meetings, virtual workspace). The second to involve as many related stakeholders as possible, in order project's outputs to gain in validity and expertise. Thus, three multiplier events (i.e. United Kingdom, Turkey and Greece) and a final conference (Greece) will take place, in order a broader debating procedure to be implemented. In the framework of the project a number of IOs will be produced: -Course and Syllabus design for WBL mentors -Mentor Certification Scheme -E-course content development and platform -IT platform for online competence certification -Testing of the training and of the certification scheme -Exploitation report Finally and based on the previous mentioned activities, project's main impact can be summarized as follows: -development of skills and competences of in company WBL mentors -Improving the quality of apprenticeship and traineship -Transform of SMEs into quality WBL venues -Boosting of the ""culture"" of cooperation, LLL and certification for in-company trainers based on a common methodology -usage and dissemination of e-learning platform (and course) by the involved partners within national level -certification of mentor competences available in all Europe; - increase number of mobilities of certified mentors in Europe; - exploitation of the mentor certification scheme manual and of the e-assessment platform by other stakeholders (e.g. PCBs, national relevant authorities);"

The aim of the Live Skills project was to tackle skills gaps in the Creative and Cultural Sector (CCS) and more specifically in the Audio Visual (AV) and Live Performance (LP) sectors and offer new innovative training to upskill students and cultural professionals in the areas of digital and new technologies, arts management and cultural entrepreneurship, responding to current market needs and modernising VET systems in the UK, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria. The Live Skills Alliance was composed of a consortium of nine partners across 4 countries - including expert VET providers in the sector, associations of both employers and cultural professionals, a national accreditation and certification body, a cultural organisation and two European wide associated partners. Live Skills project has designed and delivered three comprehensive and innovative vocational education and training programmes for students and professionals in the Audio Visual and Live Performance sectors, after a thorough research which included desk research, surveys, personal interviews and focus groups, as well as evidence-based process and qualitative findings which identified current trends and skills needs in those sectors in the countries in focus. These results fed into the design of the three new training programmes/curricula, which were then tested through a two-stage pilot of courses and seminars following a blended learning methodology and culminated with a number of short work placements in cultural institutions and creative businesses. More than 655 learners have taken part in the training in the four countries and approximately 100 of them have been offered short work placements in about 25 cultural organisations in Bulgaria, Greece and the UK. The curricula have been made available for free use under creative commons licence on the project’s website that will remain operational for two more years in order to reach and impact a maximum number of stakeholders and learners, alongside with all other resources produced at various stages of the project addressed to students, cultural professionals, teachers, VET providers, employers in the sector as well as education authorities and policy makers. These 200+ free resources altogether, make a significant and holistic contribution to modernising VET education in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and the UK and boosting the cultural sector’s capacity to grow and respond to current and future market needs.The project also disseminated its outputs through the organisation of information days, participation in events organised by other stakeholders, a final international conference turned into a webinar during the COVID19 confinement, and the organisation of sustainability taster and demonstration workshops and policy symposia during the last phases of the project’s implementation, engaging other VET providers, education authorities and stakeholders at large. More than 5000 people in the EU accessed information and materials via the project’s events, website and social media pages. A robust Quality Assurance mechanism has accompanied the project throughout, and a Quality Assurance report was one of the project’s deliverables. In addition, an Evaluation and Quality Assurance Panel was formed, which had regular meetings, offering reviews and recommendations for every deliverable of the project, ensuring that the three curricula were of high quality and aligned with ECVET and EQAVET and that accreditation and transferability could be pursued further following the official closure of the project. Long-term procedures for Quality Assurance and accreditation of the curricula were among the outputs and will potentially support recognition and accreditation processes beyond the lifespan of the project. Finally, an Evaluation Report was produced by an external independent Evaluator which has followed the project throughout, and which reports very positive assessment of the project’s achievements and its quality.

TOURing, aims at establishing and sharing a common model for skills in Tourism sector in the EU in order to address the skills mismatches and “invest” for the future developments. We are going to establish an effective mechanism where partnering VET Institutions and Tourism Businesses are going to engage mutual learning, peer counselling, and capacity building, aimed at raising the quality and attractiveness of VET provision and a European, National, Regional and Local Level. TOURing, is the answer towards bridging the gap between the market needs in terms of skills and competences in the Tourism Sector, and the ability of the VET to provide more tailored Curricula and Up-Skilling opportunities that would create balance in the booming tourism sector.Based on the above our main goals are:• To support Tourism Stakeholders to respond immediately to the fast changing and increasing skills gaps in digital and green skills sets;• To contribute to the Knowledge Hub of Pact for Skills by providing updated and state-of-the-art curricula addressing the need for digital and green skills in tourism sector;• To create the ground for partnerships and cooperation structures between VET/Education Providers and Labour Market Representatives in Tourism Sector;• To raise the awareness of VET systems and Tourism Industry in digital and green transitions in tourism;• To increase the quality of the VET Curricula related to Tourism which nowadays goes hand in hand with digital technologies and environmental sustainability;

"Buildings are the major source of global demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). Slowing and reversing the growth rate of GHG emissions is crucial to address climate change. One key way to reduce and, ultimately, phase out the greenhouse gases produced by the construction industry is transforming the way buildings are designed, built, and operated, as stated at the Europe 2020 Strategy. To reach climate 2020 goals within the construction industry the need to improve skills of all workers in relation to energy efficient and environmentally-friendly processes, materials and technologies is widely acknowledged. Vocational teachers hold a crucial role for the transfer of knowledge to current and future workers at the construction sector, as a great part of its labour force comes from VET pathways. For that reason, BuS.Trainers’ goal is to design and provide ‘green training’ to Vocational trainers to overcome skills mismatch and boost sustainability in the construction sector. Based on existing evidences, building up VET trainers’ skills in Energy Efficiency and Renewable energies is the required breakthrough to address the weak link between education and green innovation in the sector, because of the effect of this occupational profile in the whole training supply chain.With the main objective of jointly develop and deliver a thorough training system for Vocational Trainers to better perform teaching in sustainable construction, several interconnected activities have been implemented:*Research and analysis of green skills demands (labour market and EU policies) and related skills gaps in the occupational profile ‘VET trainers of construction industry’: Report on skills gap (WP2).*Design of a new qualification based on skills needs identified: “Eco-Trainer in the construction industry"" qualification (WP3), a trans-national and sectoral qualification for VET trainers in the construction industry, directed towards sustainable and efficient construction in South Europe.*Learning outcome-oriented modularity of the qualification, with 8 modules in a total of 200 learning hours, which allows partial or total accreditation, as well as accreditation through prior learning/experience by means of ECVET (WP3).*Definition of learning outcomes, assessment method and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) following the EQF methodology and underpinned with EQAVET principles (WP4).*Deveolpment of the Eco-trainers online course (WP5).*Development of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the sustainability of the course and its accreditation system (WP6). *Addition of the Eco-trainers course into the Official Maltese Qualification system, thus becoming an official curricula (WP6).*Delivery of the training course for testing the product for a better adjustment to final users –trainers, with the enrolment of more than 170 trainers (WP7).*Involvement of stakeholders at local Info-days and endorsement seminars, paving the way for the uptake of project outcomes, generating interest, raising awareness and attracting attention of key actors, target groups and industry in general (WP8).*Dissemination actions to spread project results and share solutions, enabling a wider community to take advantage from EU funding (WP9).The project shows a positive impact on VET providers enhancing the quality and adequacy of their trainings/classes portfolio and their net of trainers, on vocational trainers that will upgrade their teaching skills according to market needs, on VET trainees and workers who will receive up-to-date knowledge in green skills, on companies who will have better skilled workforce and, finally, on the rest of industry and society who will benefit from the added value of cooperation in green curricula design and delivery to address climate change."

"TourX is a 48-month project, under the call for Centres of vocational excellence – KA2 Cooperation among organisations and institutions. The general objective of the project is the development of a bottom-up approach to excellence in the Tourism Sector, where the partnering Educational Providers (VET, HEIs) are increasing their ability of rapidly adapt skills provision to evolving economic and social needs, while its specific objectives include the a) fostering of national/ transnational collaboration (WP2) b) increase of skills anticipation in the tourism industry and of sectoral employability (WP3,5) c) increase of investments in tourism related human resources (WP3) d) achievement of a fairer, sustainable and resilient model in tourism (WP3, 4) e) fostering of internationalization to address long standing structural weaknesses (WP2) f) creation of feedback loops to adapt VET provision (WP3) and g) increase the image of VET in the sector (WP6). In order to achieve these objectives, we are to implement the following activities: •Creation the of TourX - Transnational Ecosystem for Excellence in Tourism. •Design of a TourX ""Hospitality Labs"" ToolBox•Pilot Operation of ""Hospitality Labs"" for the Creation of Excellence at a Regional Level•Creation of Sustainable Systemic Impact and•Dissemination and Exploitation Activities.During these activities, we are to involve institutions and individuals to create “knowledge triangles” (KT) among VET providers in Tourism (along with their learners and staff), Market Representatives (tourism enterprises, EU associations, Tourism Chambers) and Regional Authorities. Through the creation of 4 KT, we are to train 1500 learners and award 5000 microcredentials, while 280 persons will participate in short-term mobilities. In this context, the following results are expected after the end of TourX: a) 1 platform for CoVEs b) 4 KTs c) training programmes, Mooc, WBL d) ILAs e) 1 Skills anticipation Mechanism Box."