"For people from disadvantaged groups and low-skilled persons, Informal Transversal Skills are often the ""key"" to access a job and are likely to become essential in today's work environment: Whilst digital and technological developments replace many low skilled jobs, it is increasingly important to have skills that can not be replaced by computers or robots. Disadvantaged and low-skilled persons often lack formal qualifications and are not aware of their often high levels of transversal skills such as teamwork, customer orientation and work under pressure.The first step for these groups is therefore to have their personal informal transversal skills recognised and then to either use these to find employment or to learn new skills and improve existing skills. The VALITS 2.0 project will develop three tools that a) provide low-skilled workers with a detailed and objective assessment of their informal transversal skills ,b) suggest pathways to learn and improve those skills, and finally c) train professional qualification consultants in the better use and assessment of informal transversal skills. Through these tools, the VALITS 2.0 project will enhance access to training, qualifications and employment for low-skilled workers by1.) assessing their Informal Transversal skills with a tool that guarantees objective results (the user does not self-assess and is not aware of which skills are tested),2.) validating their skills by making their Informal Transversal skills visible and documenting them in a credible Skills Certificate that employers can trust,3.) supporting them by connecting the VALITS 2.0. Assessment Tool to a Learning Guide that helps to find resources to improve their skills (online courses, group training courses, MOOCs, national support systems) tailored to the individuals’ needs, and4.) providing a Training Manual for professional qualification consultants of how to support disadvantaged and low-skilled persons in identifying and better using these skills. The partner consortium brings together five partners from five EU countries who are closely linked to working with low-skilled persons, have close ties to employment services and are experts in qualification and skills analysis. They will jointly:a) develop an innovative free informal skills assessment tool that uses fully interactive test, gaming elements and 3-D environments to detect and assess users' skills,b) identify learning and training options and pathways for the users to learn and improve these important skills,c) compile and design a Training Manual to support qualification consultants in their use of informal skills,d) organise 5 national workshops and an international conference to disseminate and multiply the use of the developed tools. The immediate expected impact of the VALITS 2.0 project is to generate for disadvantaged groups and low-skilled persons (target group a) through the VALITS 2.0 Assessment Tool and the Skills Learning Guide - a diminutive effect on unemployment or job insecurity ,- to generate a positive effect on their job mobility, and- through this to foster social inclusion.The impact for professional qualification consultants (target group b) will be in the provision of an effective new tool-set, combined with a training directed especially at them. At the same time it will offer employers an objective tool to assess informal skills of future and/ or existing employees.In a wider perspective, the VALITS project will be designed with scalable and transferable outputs. By incorporating components of several EU tools into its methodology (such as ECVET, Europass and ESCO), the project will develop a model that can transferred to other target groups in order to support the mobility of workforce across different sectors and create flexible pathways in line with learners' and employees needs and objectives. The project will thereby deliver an important contribution to the “New Skills Agenda for Europe”, that aims at “making better use of the skills that are available” as well as fulfilling the requirements of the ET2020 strategic framework."

The IRENE Project aims at structuring and testing a methodology, in order to facilitate self-learning of a foreign language and culture of LD adults, migrants too, through carrying out and implementation of an e-learning multilingual interactive platform at a transnational level.The main target of the project consists of adults (18-35 years) with specific learning disabilities, also migrants, often non-diagnosed, discouraged in learning a foreign language and L2 and with few opportunities and little support to develop a “second and positive chance” to learn outside the traditional school paths.The constant exposition of LD individuals to anxious situations has the consequence of a stronger refusal emotional barrier towards studying languages, which represent a key competence for any European citizen and for their insertion in a more and more globalised and multicultural labour market.From the point of view of applied research to didactics and of the implementation of support tools to language training of LD adults, little has been done so far, not only in each single country, but also at a transnational level.For these reasons, the objectives of the project are as follows:- mapping and comparing the studies in the different European countries in the area of LD adults and identifying the specific needs- make LD adults able to approach a foreign language learning with the use of virtual technologies and realities, and automatic speech and recognition- enhance the achievement of key citizenship competences (language and digital), the inclination to mobility and “guidance towards Europe”- improve the teachers’ skills from a didactic and methodological point of view and of the use of e-learning tools.The IRENE project intends to fill the knowledge and methodological gap through the production of 3 main outputs: 1. Comparative research on the LD adults’ needs and on the existing teaching methodologies in the partner countries of the project2. Didactic project (Curriculum design) containing the model to develop learning contents and guidelines3. E-learning platform structured in four separate and interdependent sections (Pronounce; Study; Explore; Learn together).The project has a length of 36 months. 105 LD adults and 14 teachers will be involved in the platform testing phase.The partnership consists of 7 organisations from 7 EU countries: a multidimension network which can cover the whole process bringing diversified skills and experiences. This partnership guarantees the transnational dimension of the project.The methodology used to carry out the project refers to shared and participated project design in which all parties share their experiences and competences and contribute to define a transnational tool to facilitate LD adults’ foreign language learning. The participative approach envisages the active involvement of all partners in all phases of the project, from analysis to strategic decision and implementation.The expected results are:- for participants: achievement of citizenship key competences (language and digital) of LD individuals, increase of the sense of belonging to the European society, better social inclusion.- for partner organisations: methodological innovation and improvement of the teaching quality; reinforcement of the relationships- for stakeholders: improvement of the dialogue and communication in the single areas and at a transnational level among training providers, schools and social operators who work in the field of adults’ specific learning disabilities.