The project 'Sustainable development- our way of life' will be implemented in partnership between schools from Lithuania, Poland , Norway and Turkey. The project is addressing to vocational schools students and staff. The purpose of the project is to raise students' awareness about sustainable development (social-ecological, cultural and economical), which is the key aspect in the world development strategy. We all partners see the need to create a methodological material which could be used in educational institutions practically. We are planning to create a webpage which will be accessible for everyone. In the webpage there will be placed information about sustainable development; ways and suggestions how can everyone contribute to sustainable development; video and practical and online activities for curricular: Natural and Social sciences, English.We have planned these practical activities which we think would contribute to sustainable development in every day life: -to reduce consumption we will organize a market of not necessary items (clothes, books, toys etc.); -to encourage sustainable cultural development we will promote ecological tourism;-to reduce pollution, caused by transport, we will organize activities to promote using local products, students will cook dishes of local products and create an online recipe booklet; students will collect recyclable materials (plastic, paper, metal etc.) and will create artifacts;- to exchange good practices in enterprices the schools cooperate with we will conduct prepared visits to various companies to study how they face the challenges of consumption, pollution and sustainability.- to motivate students' active involvement in sustainable society, so that everyone felt important, useful and able to contribute to the creation of a better life not harming others, each host country will challenge partners to live one week environmentally friendly.-to encourage students think about sustainable way of life, we will ask students to write essays.As a result of implementation of project activities we expect students with practical skills how to contribute to the sustainable way of life. The webpage will be disseminated to other schools teachers and students in each partner country, so we hope to educate more responsible, respectful and environmentally friendly students.

Five secondary vocational schools from 5 EU countries - Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Romania - cooperated in the project. The partnership was created based on previous contacts that have joined partners from new organizations.The need to participate in the common project was supported by a weak perception of the culture and traditions in regions and partner countries, communication problems of young people as well as imbalance and early termination of education which have a negative impact on the social relations. The target group of the project were teachers and students of secondary schools, the wider regional community involved in the presentation of national culture as well as representatives of regional self-government, cultural and social institutions.The main objectives of the project, which we achieved by implementing the project activities were:• to support the understanding among young people about the diversity of European cultures and languages• to enrich the students' knowledge of the culture in partner countries• to motivate students to expand their knowledge through their own creative work• to encourage and create interest in other cultures of Europe and to identify with them• to improve communication competencies of the participants, especially in foreign languages• to improve skills in ICT• to connect the formal and informal education in partner schools with an emphasis on comprehensive development of student´s personalityDuring the project we organized two transnational project meetings and 5 short-term exchange of students of partner schools. During these meetings, but also in the education process in schools, students prepared the final outputs of the project:• cookbook of national cuisines• presentation about national folk culture• presentation about national folk traditions• brochure about the system of protection of cultures and traditions of each country.• competition about the culture and traditions of the partner countries• online quizzes using ICT• presentation about family habits• opinion survey on the status of cultural heritage• ethno - calendarImplementation of the project created a strong partnership that we will use for further international cooperation in the future. All partner schools use and will the project results within their educational process: presentations, survey and all information and materials obtained during implementation of the project on within subjects as geography, history, tourism, social sciences, tourism, cultural preparation. Schools can use project´s results for other projects and activities in further or lifelong learning.

According to Eurostat and other European sources, youth unemployment is one of the major problems in Europe, the southern countries being the ones that most suffer from this situation. Therefore, a decision was taken by a group of different stakeholders to carry out a project that might contribute to improving this situation. The first decision was to form a partnership from diverse parts of Europe that faced different rates of youth unemployment. The second decision was to form a partnership made up of VET centres and administrative or economic institutions as it was considered that working together could achieve much better results than working separately and the third decision was to identify areas of work that could lead to solutions. Three major areas were identified and four operational plans were drawn up. Action plans were also devised:1. Improving professional competences by means of professional orientation and internationalization of the professional experience. The partners of the project observed that there are many existing publications and materials related to orientation and guidance but they are not adequately systematized which makes it complicated to search for and select the most suitable materials and resources. This is more evident when it comes to looking for resources elaborated in other countries. And as for international mobility, evidence was found (European Commission) that, five years after graduation, the unemployment rate of young people having studied or trained abroad is 23% lower than that of their non-mobile peers. Consequently, actions to improve both professional orientation and students’ mobility should be devised in the project.2. Adapting profiles to the real demands of companies, by means of implementing and increasing the dual learning offer. The Declaration of Riga (2015) stated that, in order to increase employability, work-based learning should be promoted. But, a CEDEFOP study pointed out that, while this had been timidly introduced in some European countries, it had not yet been implemented in most of them. So, the partnership decided to look for ways to contribute to its implementation.3. Fostering the entrepreneurship initiative and self-employment. We believe that the approach to this issue in most VET centres in Europe is mainly theoretical, focused mostly on entrepreneurial management rather than on the product and we believe that efforts should be made to improving the abilities of our trainees in the creation of sustainable entrepreneurial projects. Eight partners from seven different countries comprised EROVET:• GlobaLleida, an entity of economic promotion in Lleida (Spain)• Five VET centres: Ortaköy 80.Yıl Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi in Ankara (Turkey), Escola Profissional Amar Terra Verde in Vila Verde (Portugal), IISS des Ambrois in Oulx (Italy), Vilnius Tourism and Commerce School in Vilnius (Lithuania), and Institut Escola del Treball in Lleida (Spain).• Two administrative entities: Dieythynsi Deyterobathmias Ekpaideysis N. Rodopis in Komotini (Greece) and Landkreis Osnabrück Fachdienst Bildung in Osnabrück (Germany). The Results attained are:• Result 1: Orientation White Paper• Result 2: EROVET Job Pool• Result 3: EROVET Mobility Network• Result 4: Work-based Learning Guide• Result 5: EROVET Entrepreneurship Prize• Result 6: EROVET Entrepreneurship Label• Result 7: EROVET Entrepreneurship Business Management Course• Result 8: EROVET communityA well-established management structure and periodical Management Meetings (MM) were devised in order to guarantee the correct development of the project. The following meetings have been held:• 1st MM in Vilnius (Lithuania) from 6 to 8 November 2017. Host partner: Vilnius Tourism and Commerce School.• 2nd MM in Vila Verde (Portugal) from 1 to 2 March 2018. Host partner: Escola Profissional Amar Terra Verde• 3rd MM in Mamak, Ankara (Turkey) from 21 to 22 May 2018. Host partner: Ortaköy 80.Yıl Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi• 4th MM in Osnabrück (Germany) from 25 to 26 October 2018. Host partner: Landkreis Osnabrück Fachdienst Bildung• 5th MM in Lleida (Spain) from 8 to 10 May 2019. Host partner: GLOBALleidaTraining Activities (TAs) were also planned in order to enlighten all partners and provide information and insights into all the issues of the project:• 1st TA in Vila Verde (Portugal) from 26 February to 2 March 2018. Host partner: Escola Profissional Amar Terra Verde. Topic: Orientation• 2nd TA in Mamak, Ankara (Turkey) from 21 to 25 May 2018. Host partner: Ortaköy 80.Yıl Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi. Topic: internationalization of the professional experience – mobility network and job pool.• 3rd TA in Osnabrück (Germany) from 22 to 25 October 2018. Host partner: Landkreis Osnabrück Fachdienst Bildung. Topic: work-based learning• 4th TA in Lleida (Spain) from 25 February to 1 March 2019. Host partner: INS Escola del Treball de Lleida. Topic: entrepreneurship

The EURspace Project: European I-VET Recognition Portal, reference number 2015-1-EN01-KA202-013119, financed by the Erasmus + Key-Action 2 programme, has fulfilled the general objective of facilitating European youth mobility in IVET, contributing towards the development of a European skills and qualifications area, and promoting transparency in the processes of recognition, validation and certification of learning outcomes acquired abroad.The EURspace Project (https://eurspace.eu/) was developed by a European partnership consisting of 8 organizations from 7 European countries: five are schools providing Initial Vocational Education and Training courses (Portugal, Italy, Romania, Lithuania and Turkey); an association of vocational training centres (Spain); a polytechnic institute (France); and an organization specializing in e-learning training solutions and educational platforms (Spain).This project underpins the need to value, give credibility and recognize the acquired learning developed thanks to European mobilities, through the recognition of competencies within the Initial Vocational Qualification’s scope. The Project contributes to the mobility of citizens in Europe, transparency within the recognition of competencies and qualifications in VET, and towards the promotion of the implementation of ECVET, through tools that support the process of recognition, evaluation, validation, credit assignment and certification of learning outcomes units carried out in other European countries, allowing the combination of theoretical and practical approaches and extending the national “vision” to the European “vision” within the context of the initial vocational qualification of young people..Throughout the project, three intellectual products were developed for the target-groups, considered to be of high interest and usefulness, which contribute strongly towards the sustainability and multiplication of results. The main intellectual products and outputs are as follows:- ECVET European Platform (Intellectual Output No. 1) - https://eurspace.eu/ecvet/. This output is a digital platform that provides pedagogical and logistical support to organizations involved in European mobility projects and want to implement ECVET. It contains open educational resources; a database of organizations working with mobility projects, project and forum discussions, reference examples based on learning outcomes, matching matrices, a pedagogical circuit with tools for the management of mobility projects and the implementation of ECVET.- EURspace Pedagogical Kit (Intellectual Output No. 2). This output consists of a Methodological Guide for Professionals and a battery of pedagogical tools, designed to implement the matching methodology, support the implementation of ECVET and support the management of European mobility projects.- Guide to Support ECVET Understanding for Learners (Intellectual Output # 3). This output is a guide for students who study IVT Courses, and provides them with information about ECVET in a creative way by giving them clues in order to make good choices about quality mobility programmes, which ensure recognition and validation of learning outcomes;- Matching Methodology - conceived in parallel to the implementation of a pilot project in the Hotel and Restaurant Management area; aims at the elaboration of a matrix with Learning Outcomes Units that are equivalent to a qualification, among several countries. It follows the EQF principles and the technical specifications of ECVET. The matching methodology is sustainable in the sense that it is transversal to different qualifications, training areas and countries.- Matching Matrices - available on the European ECVET Platform. Organizations registered on the platform can design their own matrices and make these available on the platform;- Qualification benchmarks based on Learning Outcomes - the references of the Cooking Technician qualification, adapted from the original references provided by each partner country, are available on the digital platform;- Pedagogical Circuit - virtual route of the stages and processes involved in the European mobility of students for learning purposes. Pedagogical instruments are associated with each stage.The tools devised serve the interests of a multiplicity of national and European actors and organizations, around national qualifications systems and bodies responsible for implementing ECVET, including national and European management bodies. It is in the interest not only of students participating in the European mobilities for formal learning purposes, but of the professionals of the organizations that promote European IVT mobility and of the schools and centres promoting IVT, but the results have also highlighted a high interest from national management bodies of the national qualification systems, which are responsible for the implementation of ECVET in various countries.

In 2017 a group of VET stakeholders envisaged the need to create a European community of practice (EROVET) with the aim of devising tools to increase youth employability in Europe, mainly in countries, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy where youth unemployment rates were and still are very high. Eight partners in seven countries decided to join efforts and use their knowledge, experience and power to help reverse the situation. Although currently some countries such as Spain have improved their youth unemployment rate, the situation is quite similar and still much more needs to be done. EROVET partners still believe they can contribute to this important priority.Four working lines were then outlined with the belief that internationalisation, orientation, work-based learning and entrepreneurship could help improving the employability of our youngsters. The partnership has so far contributed with the creation of a European mobility network, a European job pool, an orientation resource bank and a guide on work-based learning. Nevertheless, this project aims to go a step further and expand the existing work of the partnership with new resources and training activities. Now in 2019, we recognise that skills regarding people, project and personal management are often not a feature of VET, but nonetheless a feature which businesses increasingly require. In response to this we anticipate the introduction of a fifth priority in our proposal, which focusses upon counteracting this recognised weakness and enabling both learners and businesses to succeed and develop faster. We expect that this innovation will help learners to manage people, projects and their own personal development enabling them to access better employment and careers. This element of work is aligned particularly to the European Commission New Skills Agenda which aims to reduce the difference between the training undertaken and how this relates to employment opportunities. According to all this, our objectives for this project are: -Complementing the existing work of EROVET and expanding the work with new projects, to support more young people, training centres and businesses across Europe.-Ensuring that the EROVET network is recognised throughout Europe as a leading edge partnership, becoming a reference point for VET stakeholders.-Ensuring that young people are more “work ready” and secure employability, technical and soft skills to meet employers current and future needs -Promoting education and skills provision that better aligns to employers needs, especially in key sectors respective to each partner country’s economic demands-Sharing best practice across a transnational footprint to enable the mobility of young people, their skills and employment.In order to make the most of the partnership eight different VET stakeholders from eight different countries will now contribute with their different strengths and specialisms towards the benefit of the partnership. This will ensure a holistic approach to partnership project activity encompassing fourteen particular specialist areas: electricity and electronics, energy, the environment, business, logistics, carpentry, hotel and tourism, health, ICT, metal work, car maintenance and repair, construction, engineering and design. This ensures a diverse range of opportunities and experiences for young people, training centres and businesses alike. The eight results of the project will be related to four of the five lines of the partnership and will complement the existing ones. Among others, we aim to produce:1.A video that will particularly promote VET training and emphasize on the different role models to counteract issues of gender stereotyping and also promote positive opportunities in key economic sectors of each partner country. 2.An Innovation platform where joint innovative projects developed by learners in the partnership will be uploaded. The platform will be also be the means to find mentorship, financial support or practical support to improve or develop the projects. 3.A course on managerial skills to train students for the identified gaps in their existing project learning related to the three P´s of management – project, people and personal management4.An app to support guidance and orientationAs for the impact, we aim to reach differing target groups at local, regional and European level: VET Training centres and teachers, VET learners (this being the main target), companies, employment entities, educational institutions and authorities, associations of training centres, other European networks and the European Commission (by participating in the VET Skills Week).We are confident that the project dissemination plan will ensure both a great impact on the improvement of the employability opportunities of our youngsters and a successful continuity of a partnership born from VET stakeholders that aim to contribute to VET European prioriti