We are now fully living in a digital world and all the economic sectors, from agriculture to education, are impacted with the digitalisation of their tools and practices. For most of the VET actors, digital learning are two words generating enthusiasm and scepticism amongst them depending their digital skills and experiences but two words they cannot run away because they are now a central part of their everyday work. All their stakeholders are asking for more digital learning: -Learners and not only millennials and generation Z are more and more confident to use online tutorials and digital tools for learning. They are quite often asking for it as they don’t understand why they should go into a classroom to learn some general notions that can be easily taught online. Travels are also getting more and more complicated for them for many reasons: costs, availability, pollution…-Training financing organisations want to increase the number of learners and at the same time their quality with individualisation. Digital learning make it possible to reach those objectives.-Schools management want to be competitive and offering the same digital services as their competitors.So, trainers and teachers are meeting many new consultants and new IT companies specialized into developing software, apps, learning management systems, serious games, virtual reality tools…to help them implementing digital learning. And most of them are confused with all those possibilities and tools and don’t basically understand how to integrate them in their everyday job and own pedagogy. The vocational education and training (VET) sector needs to be modernized and digital learning is a key player of the VET modernisation process. But digital learning is implying digital skills and according to EC, almost half of Europeans (45%) don’t have basic digital skills (using a mailbox, editing tools or installing new devices). The Commission has addressed digital skills and training as part of the EU Skills Agenda alongside the modernisation of VET.The 2019 European Semester: country-specific recommendations is also tackling those 2 issues:-“…A large number of Member States are therefore recommended to strengthen and modernise their education and training systems…”-“…Digitalisation is a key lever of productivity, competitiveness and growth. Traditional sectors and small and medium-sized enterprises are particularly lagging behind in their digital transformation…”Teachers and trainers are not spared by lack of digital skills and as the cornerstone of VET modernisation success, it is important to implement useful and realistic solutions to help them developing and increasing their own digital learning skills and knowledge. The INTROduction to digital learning project (INTRO) objective is to create digital trainings for teachers and trainers: Learning how to teach with digital learning.The INTRO project training is based on 3 specific modules:1 – Sharing skills & knowledge on innovative and digital learning2 – How to teach with digital learning3 – How to learn with digital learning The INTRO training will be spread using a Facebook Group as a Learning Management System (LMS). The INTRO project digital contents will be tested with about 400 trainers and teachers all over EU. Expected impacts are:- Teachers and trainers’ self-confidence with digital learning- Modernising their training contents - Increasing their skills & knowledge with digital tools

"Given the prolongation of life expectancy and retirement age and the aging population, a group of citizens over 50 is becoming very important in several aspects of the EU national economy. However, the education, training and lifelong learning system as such is not very flexible, and this causes the exclusion of this group of citizens in terms of employment. In fact, people over the age of 50 suffer from high unemployment rates and are usually discriminated when it comes to training provision. The training institutions did not adapt their offer and methodology to this target group. The seniors were educated in the education system where digital skills, communication skills and many others either did not exist or other priorities were set in their teaching. It is therefore desirable to identify the missing skills of the 50+ people and provide them with training that meets current needs and expectations in order to ensure that this workforce is maintained or reintegrated into the labour market.The aim of the SILVER project was to promote new and innovative methods of education that will contribute to improving skills that affect the employability of people over 50 years of age. The project also aimed to open a debate between relevant stakeholders to identify the barriers that this population group has to face. It was also important to emphasize the importance of lifelong learning, the silver economy and age management in the current EU demographic situation.Partners from four countries - TREXIMA Bratislava (Slovakia), LENO Consulting (France), Endurance (the Netherlands), Human Profess (Hungary) and the Cooperation for a Better Future Veľký Meder (Slovakia) - were involved in the project.The main objectives of the project were:-Identifying the missing basic transversal skills of seniors and discrepancies between what seniors have and what is expected of them in the labour market-Improving the skills of citizens over the age of 50 through the creation of an innovative educational tool.To meet the objectives, the project partners implemented activities that can be summarized in the following 4 stages:1. Preparation - In preparation, the partnership carried out discussion forums and a questionnaire survey, identifying the main areas of skills that seniors feel that they need to improve and, on the other hand, employers express what skills they expect from older workers. The results of these surveys as well as a summary of initiatives and policies and the situation of the elderly in the labour market are available in one of the project outputs entitled ""Situation of seniors in labour market in selected countries and EU"". Outputs from the first phase of the project served as a basis for the creation of outputs in the second phase of the project.2. Creating a training program - based on the results of questionnaires and discussion forums, the project partners have built a training program structure - defined 7 main topics that form the basis of the training program. Each topic contains several areas deepening the knowledge of the topic in the form of short videos, additional documents, quizzes, respectively exercises. The training program consists of the following topics: generation gap, networking, job strategy, personal development, professional development, lifelong learning, entrepreneurial skills.3. Implementation of the training program - creation of an electronic platform through which the training program is implemented. Once registered, the platform is accessible to both the general and professional public at www.moodle.silver-skill.eu. As part of the implementation of the training program, its testing and pilot training sessions were also carried out in each of the partner countries. Feedback to the platform was positive from all participating countries, where more than 90% of users (106 users) rated the platform as useful, deepening skills and knowledge of the topic, and visually and user-friendly.4. Availability - creation of a project guide that summarizes individual outputs and gives guidance on how to use the results even after the project is completed.The target groups of the project were mainly citizens over 50 years of age, regardless of their situation on the labour market (unemployed / job), also employers, education providers such as counseling centers, non-profit organizations and the like. These target groups can also benefit from the results of the project in the long term through the use of open educational resources available on the e-learning platform, which can be used in different environments and through different media."

One of the groups most affected by crisis are the young people, to whom we should pay special attention. Increasing the willingness of career starters and young people to venture and the support of the acquisition of competences related to it can give a boost to the rise of the economic activity of the new generation, and thereby, indirectly, it may contribute to the economic role-taking of young people. Therefore, with the project “Innovative Development of Entrepreneurial Skills of Youth” (INDESK) we reviewed the policies, programmes and best practices that help to develop youth entrepreneurship, organised discussion forums and surveys with the participation of target groups and converted their results into a newly developed innovative blended learning programme which supports youth entrepreneurship, in particular by means of awareness raising of young people and development of their entrepreneurship competencies.Five partners from four countries – TREXIMA Bratislava (Slovakia), LENO Consulting (France), Endurance (Netherlands), Human Profess (Hungary) and Teamwork for a Better Future Veľký Meder (Slovakia) – implemented the following main activities: 1. identified programmes to develop youth entrepreneurship, including different methodologies in the field of education, tools of active labour market policies for increasing business support and employability of young people as well as mentoring programmes for this target group in the partner countries (development of an international comparative analysis); 2. organised local discussion forums with relevant stakeholders in the labour market on rising business literacy of young people, coupled with the questionnaire survey, and created international recommendations for the development of youth entrepreneurship on their basis; 3. created, tested and disseminated an innovative modular (face to face and online) training based on international experience to promote the integration of young people into the labour market through business; and 4. extracted instructions on how to implement an innovative training programme in various institutions which are summarised in the Project Handbook.The part of training programme can be implemented through the e-learning platform: https://moodle.business-skills.eu/. Its aim is to focus primarily on those who want to start doing business; as well as those who do not immediately want to start doing business but are interested in entrepreneurship. The developed curriculum has 10 separate modules, which make up the individual steps on the way to doing business from creating a business idea to practical steps of launching a real company.The intention is that the training programme should be preceded by other formal business education, since the programme is intended primarily to discover and learn about the concept of entrepreneurship, but also to develop the key competences of a start-up entrepreneur such as creativity, communication skills or brand building. And although it is possible to go through the e-learning platform using self-study materials, normally, input of a supervisor or a teacher is important to explain the subject, to discuss it, to practice or to provide feedback. Individual modules can also be used separately according to the focus and needs of the respective educational institution. Project results are summarized in the Project Handbook which provides instructions on how to implement such training programme in a multitude of institutions which can have a positive impact on introduction of an effective training and/or incorporation of innovative features into education programmes supportive of development of youth entrepreneurship. The project activities have reached out to a wide array of participants coming from the primary target group of young people as well as from other stakeholders including employers, educational institutions, counselling centres, non-profit institutions and more. 111 students (learners) and 24 trainers were included in the testing itself, with 87.5 % of students and 100 % of trainers expressing satisfaction with the assessment of the educational programme as a whole (pedagogical materials, e-learning platform and mentoring).In the long run, key target groups and stakeholders, such as students, schools, educational institutions, labour offices etc can benefit from project results using open educational resources available through an e-learning platform that can be translated and used in a variety of environments and across different media. Educational institutions also have access to guidelines on the implementation of an educational programme that can help organizations to modernize their offer of entrepreneurial education.

CONTEXT AND PROJECT BACKGROUNDLabor market mobility in the border regions is very important topic not only for individuals applying for a job or companies that employ workers from neighboring countries. It is also a very important signal for the education system from neighboring countries whose task is to prepare for the occupation in the appropriate quality. The increase in cross-border international labor mobility within countries of partnership since joining the European Union is significant. For the general public however, is not easy to obtain in a simple way, information about the number of people who get a job abroad, respectively occupations in which workers from the partnership applied most frequently. The education program quality of preparation training and the professional requirements of employers are not compared yet, especially from the point of international mobility.PROJECT OBJECTIVEThe main aim of the project is to gain better overview of initial and further education outcomes in occupations in which the most frequent cross-border job mobility within the partner-countries, in the region of Lower Austria - South Moravian Region - South Slovakia, and for other relevant regions of Vienna, Brno, Bratislava is realized.PROJECT PARTNERS- Czech Republic - Czech Chamber of Commerce (HKCR), The Regional Chamber of Commerce of South Moravia (KHKJM), TREXIMA, spol. s r. o. - Slovak Republic - TREXIMA Bratislava, spol. s r. o.- Austria - ConPlusUltra GmbHMAIN ADDRESSED PRIORITIES• Developing partnerships between education and employment• Aligning VET policies with national regional or local economic development strategiesTARGET GROUPS• General public • Employers from each country of partnership from the surveyed region• Initial VET and further education training providers ,• Regional and national authorities in the field of education or labor marketPROJECT RESULTS (Outputs)O1 - Project Web Pages O2 - Analysis and comparison of the VET results in chosen occupations O3 - Feedback from employers to the competencies of migrantsO4 - Summary of the project outputs and a suggestion of recommendations for authorities.O5 - Comprehensive project summary MAIN PROJECT ACTIVITIESFollowing major project activities were realized for achieving the project results :O1 RELATED ACTIVITIES:•Programming and maintaining of the Project Web Pages.O2 RELATED ACTIVITIES:a)To o identify and select occupations with the highest mobility in the specified trans-border regions in countries of partnership:•Provision of source data for identification of the most frequent occupations•Communication with responsible bodies and data mining (local labor offices and Public Employment Service Austria)•Collecting of the results•Final selection of 16 mobile occupationsINITIAL OUTPUT ACHIEVED: Methodology and initial selection of occupations typically migrating in partnership´s cross-border regionsb)To compare VET results within chosen occupations:•Collection VET systems data in the countries of partnership•Data analysis of VET policies and VET systems in the countries of partnershipINITIAL OUTPUT ACHIEVED: Methodology of description and comparison of the VET resultsc)To complete the O2 intellectual project output - Comparison of key parameters of vocational education and training in partnership countries and Comparative analysis of qualifications in selected occupations:•Criteria description and definition to compare results of initial and further education for specified occupations.•Collection and analysis of educational standards upon the publicly published training standards were used •Description of results of IVET and CVET for selected occupations according to agreed criteria the were described O3 RELATED ACTIVITIES:To provide opinions of companies employing workers from other countries of cross-border partnership, with attention paid to selected occupations. Employers´ view brings complementary angle to test the qualifications and represents the practical experience with the performance of migrating workers.•Survey questionnaire preparation •Employer companies identification•Questionnaire verification by 46 employers employing workers from the countries of partnership in occupations with the highest cross-border labor mobility •Survey summary and evaluation O4 RELATED ACTIVITIES:Setup of outcome analysis and recommendations for recognition of initial and further education created based on data obtained from the above described activities POTENTIAL LONGTERM BENEFITSIn the relevant cross-border regions the project results are ready for further use with multiplier effect for the ongoing exchange with existing and potential employers and labor market institutions for awareness raising about ongoing adaptation of VET programe in the neighboring countries as well as needs for adapting national educational systems.

Current activities promoting employment in many EU countries are insufficient. ALMP expenses in eastern Europe are low compared with other countries. In many countries, programmes do not increase the employability of participants. Disadvantage in the labour market is persistent. It is notable that disadvantaged groups do worse than others during recession, and remain unemployed more at any time. Current approaches are ineffective at the level of individuals in need of help. Council Resolution November 2008 noted that ‘Member States should [...] consider:- including activities which foster the development of career management skills - preparing teachers and trainers to conduct such activities- facilitating access to information about skills needs - developing career management skills- making guidance one of the objectives of schools, VET providers and higher education- integration into working life.’There is a large and growing body of scientific evidence from around the world concerning the methods of guidance which are most effective in helping people choose and succeed in suitable careers. Many people in schools, colleges, organisations and NGOs for disadvantaged groups have responsibility or contribute to the transition to work, and have little or no training in career guidance.The aim of the project has been therefore to: - review the evidence of what works in career and employment advice- apply scientifically validated methods to support the findings and test the effective methods in employment advice for disadvantaged people - work with all those providing careers advice to school- and college-leavers as well as adult job seekers (schools, colleges, PES, NGOs, welfare-to-work service providers services, career centres) to establish effective usable ways to improve services- create, test, apply & disseminate training that will enhance the performance of careers advisors, VET staff with employment objectives- make training available online, in workplaces, in modular accessible form- develop a guide to help organisations adopt evidence-based methods, including guidance on training, installation, self-assessment and use of skills & activities that work in organisations - publish a Handbook of Career Advice Skills based on the project findings- make resources available as Open Educational Resources.The six partners from 5 countries – TREXIMA Bratislava (SK), VRC Ltd (UK), M.M.C Management Center (CY), Human Profess Közhasznú (HU), Institute for Sustainable Technologies – National Research Institute (PL) and Spoluprácou pre lepšiu budúcnosť Veľký Meder (SK) – reviewed scientific evidence from around the world about the most effective methods of guidance for helping people choose and succeed in suitable careers. Based on research results, we have created a curriculum to train counsellors, employment advisors and others working with disadvantaged groups, enabling them to apply the methods that research has shown to be effective. The curriculum has undergone controlled comparative testing in four countries, and has led to the publication of Handbook of Career Advice Skills based on the project findings.Partners have tested their products in two phases with about 120 learners/users working in the field of career advice. 24 persons took part in the first trial (in person training) and 85 persons took part in the second trial (in person training combined with distance and e-learning). Additional users took part in an e-platform testing and we are continuously receiving further feedback. Their experiences have been used to ensure usable and accessible products that develop skills for use at work and that complement existing practices and qualifications.The impact of the project has been mainly improvement of services to disadvantaged people looking for work and/or being in transition from school to work: - better empowerment in the labour market through more effective guidance support and advice skills- development of skills that support employability. The deployed evaluation questionnaires to measure quality and success of the developed training programme showed increase in confidence scores in all countries for advisors/learners, their managers and trainers (from project partners staff).In the long term, guidance services should benefit from project results by:- use of better skills for counsellors- access to guidance on implementation to help organisations modernise careers advice services- development of a definitive ‘text’ and toolkit for advisors, VET trainers on the evidence base, practice and ethics that underpin and energise vocational guidance and employment support- availability of extensive distance learning materials that may be translated and applied in different settings and through different media- application of behavioural assessment criteria for the learning of skills and for the award to advisors- provision of the products as ODL.