SPŠCH Brno, the Czech Republic and DSZC Vegyipari Szakgymnáziuma, Hungary will cooperate in the project. The project is focused on short term students´ exchange supporting secondary education in science, chemistry, laboratory work, international cooperation in foreign languages (English / German). Fundamental for this project is mutual willingness to develop, learn new methods and share experience of good practice. The students will get extra-curricular professional experience, will have better chances to continue in their studies at universities and will be more motivated in their future career. They will also acquire international experience broadening their language and communicative skills. In the project, there will be two groups of students (the English speaking one and the German speaking one) each of 5 Czech and 5 Hungarian students aged 16 - 19. They will work not only in the labs at school, but in external scientific labs as well using the latest methods, tools and equipment (e. g. meat DNA analysis, analysis of proteins in milk, instrumental methods, microbiological methods). The students will be introduced with the university and business approach to chemistry. They will also learn new facts about different culture. They will be able to cooperate in team in foreign language at highly professional level. Students involved in the project can continue in their work by writing the Long-Term Maturita Thesis based on their project experience. The schools plan to attach the lab sheets, lab reports and presentation to the school e-learning portal and school web pages so that the methods can be theoretically studied by other students. The results will be shared and disseminated via e-Twinning, school web pages, school Facebook, regional newspapers, posters in schools, schools will inform regional gouvernement and representatives cooperating with the schools.

STEMSOFT launch pad is an integrated digitalised service addressing the development of 21st century SOFT SKILLS and TRANSVERSAL competencies needed in the labour market targeting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) candidates through open and innovative practices to enhance their employability.Due to the increased demand on STEM jobs in a changing European labour market, especially in an Industry 4.0 perspective, employees need a more diverse skills profile comprising both hard skills, core transversal competences like digital skills and soft skills. Recent research (Deming, D. 2017) showed that since 2000, jobs that require “non-cognitive” skills, such as the ability to communicate and work in teams, grew much faster than jobs mainly requiring skills measurable by IQ or achievement tests. Soft skills are much more valued in the labour market than any time before.The project aims at preparing STEM candidates with non-technical skills such as critical thinking, idea generation and interdisciplinary ways of working alongside their technical hard STEM skills. The consortium comprises different work cultures and training traditions and with input from international perspectives through the range of associated partners. This STEM employability skills project aims to address this by defining relevant non-technical soft skills and transversal skills, described in an EQF/ECVET format, targeting the following groups and delivering them in different digitalised forms: - Migrants with a STEM background who are unemployed or underemployed- Mobile workers seeking employment opportunities in another country or region- NEETs (regardless of gender)- Undergraduates or graduates with a STEM background who are finding it hard to get a STEM job due to ethnicity, disability or gender- People in career transitions (people without a formal STEM background wanting to move to a STEM field as an alternative career) facilitating permeability and flexible learning and training pathwaysBased upon a survey to explore to what extent non-technical skills, soft skills and transversal skills are integrated elements in existing STEM provisions, a competence map of STEM-oriented learning outcomes covering these skills will be developed in an EQF/ECVET format. This mapping will correspond to a Skillsbank and ESCO system to secure transferability between existing training provisions and the additional STEMSOFT training. This in turn will boost the employability of candidates and their access to the labour market. The partnership will collate more than 5,000 OERs (including MOOC-type resources) to be made available via a learning environment which will cater for a wide audience and will provide in addition training courses in soft skills tailored to the above target groups. Wider stakeholders will also be addressed such as employment agencies, HR managers, recruiter, trainers/coaches, educational institutions.In order to reach the project’s objectives, the partnership will develop a range of intellectual outputs: I01 “Competence Matrices and recognition of prior learning” will develop EQF and ECVET compatible qualification matrices and align previous learning acquired to transversal skills sought by the industryIO2 “Training programmes based on OERs (Online Educational Resources)” will design a learning environment with a provision of more than 5,000 OERS and training paths for specific target groups. IO3 “Online platform with Skillsbank” will set up a user service combining the OER provisions and recognition of (prior) learning towards a certificate.IO4 “Piloting Training” will prepare a first rollout of training materials aimed at all target groups through MOOCs and other digital channels , including a facilitator handbook. The main areas of impact which we will see through the project are:-A direct impact on the lives of the candidates who directly take part in the project, in terms of boosting their employability through their soft skills development -An improved knowledge among candidates of the importance of soft skills development to secure a job in the labour market in the STEM sector-An improved knowledge among stakeholders of the value and recognition of soft skills in the STEM sector.-Increased knowledge of soft skills accreditation and recognition of prior learning- Improved digital skills through involvement in a diversity of training and upskilling provisions

The situation in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries with stiff international competition requires a highly skilled workforce to secure quality and productivity. The sector represents a major part of the European process industry and where the industrial production employs 3,3 million Europeans in 94.000 enterprises with a multibillion turnover (2014: 1 078 billion €). This turnover is continually challenged by investments in the development of new products, the fact that patents are time limited, down to 10 years, with immediate releases of “copy products” from other parts of the world, intensifies the need for qualified staff rapidly taking on new tasks and challenges.Laboratory functions and process operation are responding to new requirements as concerns complexity and a safe and sustainable production. This is partly due to new methods and technologies, new types of equipment and respective operational procedures, but over the last years also the emphasis on safety and security in the processes and strict environmental and sustainability criteria.To be competitive in a fast developing market, the training quality, the relevance and flexibility of training provision between schools and work based learning is of utmost importance. Laboratory personnel and process operators with their skills and competences– tacit and tangible –represent a core part of the industry’s intellectual capital. This implies also that critical skills and crucial tacit knowledge acquired in workplace settings are central in the project. Video recordings of these performance based competences will be directly linked to the respective learning outcomes in the ECVET based multilingual qualification matrixes in Skillsbank.To meet the requirements linked to the shared responsibility between schools and companies in the securing of compatible standards between the training providers and in the work based learning, the ECVET principles are basis. Using learning outcomes carefully defined and organised in logical units, the core qualification criteria will be operationally defined. For transparency purposes these qualification definitions will be developed transnationally and in multilingual versions. They will be supported by video clips as best practice examples as well as for the documentation of individual learners’ performance towards certification and employability.A standard ECVET implementation is relying on precise definitions of learning outcomes organised in structured units. When the differentiation between Competence / Responsibility and Autonomy), Skills and Knowledge is activated in the description of individual LOs, certain elements of skills and competence documentation may be lacking. These characteristics are technically labelled as tacit knowledge – “silent knowledge” which forms the parts of a learning outcome which can only be seen, experienced and documented through practical performance.In the context of the priorities of the Erasmus+ programme, the horizontal one“Transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications”, is directly mirroring the project ambitions. With the focus on work based learning the idea is to update and develop in-school training through close interaction with the industry itself. This should secure the relevance aspect, and with the video recording of individual learners’ performance as well as best practice examples the quality aspect are covered as well. This is clearly asked for in the European VET priorities “Developing VET business partnerships aimed at promoting work-based learning in all its forms” and “increasing the quality of VET provision, the establishment of feedback loops to adapt VET provision based on outcomes, including by setting up or testing graduate tracking arrangements as part of quality assurance systems in line with the EQAVET recommendation”.This project pursue the following key objectives:• Improvement of training quality and relevance implementing video technology linked to ECVET oriented learning outcomes in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector;• Enhancing the ECVET defined learning outcomes with inclusion of tacit knowledge as documentation of performance of critical skills among process operators and laboratory technicians uploaded in the Skillsbank system;• Develop VET institutions and enhancement of VET-industry cooperation through work based learning;• Promoting recognition of work based learning, including prior learning independent of arena of experience, for permeability, flexible training pathways and alternative career options within the industry.The partnership comprises 10 partners from 7 countries (AT, CZ, DE, FR, IT, NO, SK)

Water is life. It is a precondition for human, animal, and plant life as well as an indispensable resource for the economy and fundamental in climate regulation.PoVE Water Scale-up is a joint initiative of 8 VET schools, 7 Water industry professionals, 4 academic partners and 3 support partners in Europe (NL,DE,MT,CZ,LV,EE,BE) and beyond (SA) to educate our VET students to become agile, digitally skilled and sustainable oriented water sector professionals that our future desperately needs.The aim of the project is to integrate Vocational Excellence in the Water sector, thus ensuring high quality skills and competences that lead to quality jobs and careers, meeting the needs of an innovative, inclusive and sustainable economy.Objectives and activities are:• Expand the holistic approach to Vocational Excellence in the EU Water sector by securing a central role of VET in the regional Innovation Ecosystems and further developing strong and enduring relationships between VET, research & the water industry.• To expand PoVE Water geographically in a sustainable way (environmentally and economically) in line with the EU Green deal by setting up and interlinking CoVE Water networks that operate on interregional level.• Drive innovation in water related VET on a regional and EU level by developing contemporary (Digital, VR) learning materials.• Ensure that current and future water sector professionals have the key skills & competences demanded by developing blended training programmes.• Increasing student’s, teacher’s and professional’s competence for international mobilities by organising international mobilities as common practise in Water related VET.• Building EU and global recognition for PoVE Water as a worldwide point of reference for VET in the water sector.• Future proof the workforce for the Water sector and avoid a brain- & skillsdrain by securing current and increasing future students in water related studies.