"VET towards ECVET covers the consideration of ECVET in trainings related to tourism. We notably focus on 2 sectors : hotel receptionist and seller in touristic areas. This project involves French, Northern Irish, German, Portuguese and Italian partners to implement a certifying mobility of 45 days in order to validate learning units of the professional titles ""Seller in touristic areas"" and of ""Hotel receptionist"". The project meets the needs in both sectors to prove mastery of a foreign language and cross-cultural approach to customer service.In 2009, the European Parliament and the Council recommended that member states ""create the necessary conditions and adopt measures so that, as from 2012 [...], it is possible for ECVET to be gradually applied to VET qualifications at all levels of the EQF, and used for the purpose of the transfer, recognition and accumulation of individuals' learning outcomes achieved in formal and, where appropriate, non-formal and informal contexts"" (cf. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:155:0011:0018:EN:PDF)The target audience consists of people in VET, unemployed or low level qualifications, seeking to maximize their employment opportunities in the tourism sector. Participants will do a 45-day professional internship in one of our partner countries. This period spent abroad will be certified in the learning of the ECVET system defined in advance with our European partners through units.Developing an ECVET project for VET providers with agreed learning outcomes and assessment criteria allows all stakeholders to see the development of professional competences and transversal skills which takes place during the mobility and training period. This gives an added value to the Mobility. Tools are developed, modified and agreed upon which suit the individual learning needs of the participant - they are put at the centre of the mobility. Such a project also helps focus the efforts of the host companies and the participants providing a more meaningful placement with tasks that would help develop the skills required by the sending companies. It creates a win-win situation for all.With quality mobilities being offered we hope that more participants from across Europe in the field of sales and tourism would elect to take a mobility abroad within the partnership and if the project aims and tools created were adopted by other sending and hosting companies and VET provideres then there is an even greater potential that the number of Mobilities in Europe would increase."

Curiously, even though mankind enjoys an unprecedented access to information these days, finding the truth seems trickier than ever. In 2018, 10% out of the 400 thousand Polish children eligible for compulsory vaccinations were not immunized because their parents deemed the procedure harmful (Medonet.pl, “Efekt działania” A. Rojek-Kiełbasa, 13.02.2019). In the USA, one in six people doubt that the Earth is spherical and prefer the disc theory instead (YouGov, a 2018 survey on a sample group of 8000). The pre-referendum debate over Brexit and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign were filled with statements of, let’s say, questionable credibility and fraught will allegations of external influences. A closer look at the history of Cambridge Analytica – a company behind some of these scandals – suggests that similar tools could have been used to affect the outcome of “over 100 election campaigns in 32 countries on 5 continents” (forsal.pl, “Firma-matka Cambridge Analytica…”, 29.03.2018). Democratic societies are vulnerable to manipulation, for instance through voter profiling in social media or the spreading of conspiracy theories. Given the multiplicity of opinions, the lack of mechanisms for instant verification of information and the absence of long-standing, commonly accepted authority on a given subject, this has become a major problem. Brussels is well aware of it and has been ringing the alarm bell in recent years. Last year there were multiple reports urging European countries to protect themselves against Russian influences (www.theguardian.com, “Now is the time”, D. Boffey, 16.05.2019). At this very time, the European Parliament is trying to curb the spread of fake news on the coronavirus. This is the world that young people face upon entering adolescence. Unfortunately, schools are unprepared to help them navigate the maze of fake news, disinformation and manipulation of data. In Poland, there is no school curriculum that includes and combines competences needed to recognize the truth, verify data and assess its credibility. Young people lack the knowledge which is absolutely essential for them to make informed decisions about the future – their own and that of their families, countries or the EU as a whole. The Internet - particularly social media - tends to be their primary source of knowledge which makes it necessary for them to rely on somebody else’s selection of data and knowledge (and often opinions). The need to equip young people with tools to navigate the world of media, with all their diversity, complexity and importance for understanding the world around us, is urgent and dire. However, any action that is to be taken should be based on sound knowledge. So far, we have been unable to find proper, comprehensive research that identifies the scale of manipulation that the youth is exposed to or provides guidelines for policies to tackle fake news, disinformation etc. This is why we have made an examination of the issue our first priority.Under the proposed project, we are going to draft a report that will shed some light on how and to what extent young people’s view of the world is shaped by incorrect information or lack of awareness. We wish to find out how well the youth understands the world and whether it is equipped in competences it needs to gain such understanding. We will look at how different countries approach educating youngsters on how to use information. We will examine how effective are fact-checking organisations in addressing young people as a target group. Crucially, we need to find out whether (and if so, to what extent) the youth is aware of the problem itself. What kinds of manipulation can it recognise? Discussions on which topic are particularly fraught with fake news or distorted data? We will ask young people about their preferred ways of verifying information and learning how to detect disinformation. Finally, we will check whether educators and youth workers are prepared to guide the learners in an effort to find and correctly interpret credible data.The research will allow us to identify the key areas for future action: aspects and threats that need to be addressed, possible solutions. The report, containing statistics, conclusions and guidelines, including ideas for activities to be used by youth workers and educators. The publication will be disseminated among stakeholders in the youth sector. Partner organisations will have a chance to develop a series of further undertakings in this area. he ultimate goal is to contribute to the construction of a more educated, aware society, capable of exercising its liberties and making wise use of the democratic framework. The project is meant to instigate a debate over how to fill a competence gap which is quickly becoming a substantial threat to the fundamental tenets of democracy itself.Let’s begin with the most logical step - by gaining a better understanding of the issue.

"With the Europe 2020 Strategy of the European Commission, one frequently noted critique on the “European Project” was that from a citizen perspective it appeared to be elitist and lacking popular support. Some perceived the activities and organizations around the “Brussels bubble” promoting the European idea for young people to be addressing and reaching only an already well-informed part of young people that are politically interested. We believed that bringing young people together from diverse cultures serves them to learn about each other and allows them to express openly their hitherto hidden capabilities and open European mind. Since 2008 IHKPG and their involved project partners ALFMED (FR), FOYLE INTERNATIONAL (UK) and HERMES (Malta) have been supporting EU VET mobilities in a very high performance and with great European added value. The project idea of Skills#EU started here by using the existing enthusiasm of the trainees to equip them with the skills necessary to motivate and activate their European citizenship. The Skills#EU project was initiated by IHKPG as VET provider and sending organization in DualVET mobility and partner EUROSOC#DIGITAL (E#D). E#D had high expertise in political education with a strong EU focus and an extensive experience in reaching out to those youngsters. Partner Auxilium belonged to IHKPG's network of providers of non-formal education and has gathered considerable expertise in developing approaches and training programmes related to European citizenship and participation. The six project partners were coming from 5 different countries: Germany, Malta, UK, France and Austria. While the German project leader IHK-PG was a further training institution with lots of experiences in sending young people abroad, ALFMED and FOYLE International have been mainly receiving organisations. HERMES from Malta had great experience in both preparing students for their mobilty program as well as welcoming them. EUROSOC#DIGITAL had complemented the partnership by its profound experience in training civic education to youngsters in German schools. In summary the whole partnership was permanently working with a big number of VET learners from different countries and cultures. The overall aim of Skills#EU was to develop and establish a blended-learning training scheme for young VET learners that accompanied them before, during and after their mobility abroad and equiped them with the means to activate a motivated, positive attitude as European citizen. In order to design a training concept tailored to VET trainees we collected data on the state of the art regarding the trainees´ needs and expectations related to various dimensions of social and civic competences, cultural awareness and expression with the aim of ensuring that our project promotes the acquisition of key competences (IO1 Whitepaper “Skills#EU meets VET in European mobility”). Based on this IO1 we developed IO2 “Curriculum Skills#EU, inluding guidelines for trainers and assessment of learning outcomes”. The curriculum was structured by three provided learning modules: M1: Challenges and Opportunities as European citizen; M2: Understanding, negotiation and decision-making; M3: Intercultural communication. Each module contained separate teaching and training material as attractive collection packed in a special “Skills#EU"" training suitcase and additional as online material. This suitcase included instruction cards for teachers, pack of cards, flags, caps, and additional hints on learning material to be used. All material has been tested in piloting and short term training events in order to guarantee highest quality and flexibility in use. More than 1000 VET learners throughout the project consortium with its mobility networks were using the Skills#EU suitcase to better prepare students for their mobility stay.All project material as well as guidelines referring to the respective methodologies are stored on the website www.yourskills.eu and as OER in the EU project results platform VALOR. Our website is linked to our IO6 “European Peer Learning platform Peers#EU”. VET learners in ERASMUS+ mobilities learned a great deal by explaining their ideas to other participants and by taking part in activities in which they could learn from their peers. Go abroad – talk about – and learn from experiences! We built a bridge between VET and policy thus promoting European citizenship, youth participation, cultural diversity within VET mobility. Therefore, the project outcomes were contributing to the development of a European attitude, norms and values. This required a European dialogue which was taking place within the Skills#EU project. The project was innovative because it connected “formalized” VET learners mobility with the informal learning goals of the ""Youth in Action"", a new challenge across sectors. All material is free for use and available both on Moodle and on the Website www.yourskills.eu."

<< Background >>The 2021-2027 program gives high priority to people with the fewest opportunities. Young adults with the fewest opportunities and job seekers are particularly targeted by training mobility opportunities. In 2019, NEETs (Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training) represented more than 12.5% of 15-29 year olds in the EU, and the percentage of NEETs among 24-29 year olds is even higher (source INSEE). Some countries, including Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, France (and further more Reunion Island) are particularly affected by this rate of young adults without a stable situation or solution. Long-term unemployment is an aggravating factor: ranging from 30% in Cyprus to 57% in Italy (source OCDE 2019).The Erasmus + program is a vector of integration for this audience. Mobility through internship in companies improves the employability of these adults and their entry or return to the labor market. However, the involvement of local companies, the link between the results of mobility and the labor market or entrepreneurship are still mild. With regards to the Erasmus + projects which target this public seeking employment through NEET, the rest of the integration pathways remains insufficiently supported. With this TRIED and TRUE project, we wish to create an opportunity for cooperation between several European organizations in order to exchange good practices in terms of post-Erasmus monitoring and support (and or other international mobility) for the jobseeker public (NEET adults and long-term unemployed). The project brings together 6 countries : 5 EU Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Reunion Island (France) et 1 partner country, Northern Ireland (UK).The general objective is to improve the capacity of the organizations involved or responsible of Erasmus + mobility in terms of support. We would like to allow them to create a series of post-Erasmus + (or any International mobility) actions or non-formal training for this audience. Also, we would start a dynamic to develop these ideas or initiatives with the learners directly, to involve them in these follow-up activities and to develop their participation in the local community.<< Objectives >>The specific objectives are to: 1-Develop the capacity of educators, trainers, integration advisers in the six partner countries by exchanging good practices through the promotion of skills acquired in mobility, with the involvement of companies in mobility and through their support for the public after their Erasmus + experience, or any else international experience.2-Reinforce the skills, training and mentoring competences of adult educators, trainers, social counsellors and tutors to boost vocational and social inclusion of their public, by developing a Guide of Good Practices.3-Improve adult learners access to the labor market by enhancing and capitalizing on their new soft, vocational, intercultural, language skills, acquired during their mobility. By meeting others learners and organizations who are involved in the field of mentoring NEET and jobseekers. 4-Raise awareness of the labour market, the companies involved, international experience, the benefits and to promote the Erasmus+ programme to the business world.5-Create a network of professionals in the field of formal and non-formal education who work with this target group and/or on Erasmus + mobility.These objectives match with the priorities published by the 2021 Program Guide with, the priority to promote an even more inclusive Erasmus +.<< Implementation >>In order to achieve the set objectives and result, we plan the following activities:Activity 1 - Project Management: This activity guarantees the smooth project implementation and will directly lead to achievement of set objectives and results, and especially to Strategic Objective, Short-term Result, and Long-term Result. To ensure it, several management bodies will be involved – Project Manager, Local Project, Coordinators, Steering Committee, Quality Manager, Communication Designer and Dissemination Coordinator. All partners will be involved and the leading role will be with ICI & AILLEURS;Activity 2 – Organisation of 4 LTTAs for exchange of good practices. The organised LTTAs will be as follows:* 1st LTTA: Topics: Virtual Erasmus+ Community ; Partner: ICI & AILLEURS; Skills valorization by the ECVET Credits ; Partner : Foyle International ; Place: Reunion Island/France; Period: November 2021 ; Duration : 4 days* 2nd LTTA: Topic: Seminar on how to create a professional CV and ePortfolio and Europass ; – Partners : Microkosmos ; Recruitment process and skills recognition by companies ; Parner : Eurosuccess Place: Italy ; Period: April 2021 ; Duration 4 days* 3rd LTTA: Topic: ICT and open Educational resources in Education, Training and Erasmus+ and European values ; Partner: DOMSPAIN ; Place : Spain ; Period: September 2022 ; Duration : 3 days.* 4th LTTA: Topic: Boosting Art Entrepreneurship and Human resources after pandemic ; Partner: EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION ; Place : Bulgaria ; Period: March 2023 ; Duration 3 days. Each LTTA will include a 3 or 4-day training and 2 days for travel. 4 participants from each country will take part in the training – 2 representatives of the partner organisation and 2 – representatives of adult learners. Each partner will be responsible for selection and recruitment of their participants, according to preliminary agreed criteria, described in the LTTA section of the Application Form.Activity 3 - Development of a Best Practice Guide: . All shared mentoring practices will be collected, and a Best Practice Guide will be developed. EDF will prepare a common template how practices will be described and a general layout of the Guide. Each partner will be responsible for describing their practice, following the common template. EDF will compile the practices into the Guide. The Guide will be developed in English, will be translated in all partner languages and will be uploaded on the project website. It will be used in follow-up and exploitation activities. All partners will be involved in description of their practice and in translation of the Guide in their language.Activity 4 – Dissemination, communication and organisation of local dissemination events: At the beginning of the project, a Project Dissemination Plan will be developed by the Dissemination Coordinator and a Strategy how target groups will be continuously involved throughout the project . Social media accounts and project website will be created. Different channels, including partners' websites, social media, events of other organisations, creation of a newsletter, etc will be used. Local dissemination events in each partner country will be organised to present the developed Best Practice Guide and the shared practices, and to lay the foundations of the network of professionals in the field of formal, non-formal and informal education, who are familiar with or interested in improving the exploitation and the valorization of the Erasmus+ new skills (or any international mobility). All partners will be involved in the dissemination activities at an in-country.<< Results >>In this project, we expect the following results : Short-term results, which will be achieved during the project : 1-Six practices about the valorization activities and follow-up activities after an Erasmus+ pathway2-Six LTTAs will be organised by all partners 3-Twelve (minimum) internal educators, counselors, trainers, tutors will enrich their competences in the field of mentoring after an international mobility4-Forty eight adult learners will be involved in the LTTA to improve their own capacity to manage their post-Erasmus+5-A Best Practice Guide, summarizing the exchanged practices, will be developed.6-Six Local dissemination events will be organised to present the Guide and the exchanged good practices to stakeholders, educators, trainers, tutors who work with job seekers or young adults.7-Four Transnational Project Meetings will be organised and conducted.Long-term results, which we expect after the completion of the project :1-Capacity of the partner organisations in the field of project management will be increased2-Training and mentoring competences of all LTTAs participants will be increased3-Best practices will be disseminated among the project countries 4-A network of professionals in the field of formal, non-formal and informal education will be created5-Innovative ideas will emerge to build upon in the next step as a post-Erasmus pathway, including specific curricula to accompany the public in their social and vocational inclusion and to promote the ErasmusPro benefits.

The problem of wellbeing has been recently brought to the forefront of the agenda for improving quality of VET in Europe. There is a growing recognition that for teaching and learning to be effective, students should have high levels of wellbeing (OECD, 2018). The latest research, however, proves that students’ wellbeing is an issue of concern.The WHO Europe estimates that there is a high and increasing rate of mental and behavioral health problems (depression, anxiety, excessive irritability, frustration) among 15-19-year-olds at population level, with some of the highest suicide rates in the world, which makes self-harm cases in this age group an important public health problem in Europe (WHO, 2018). The European Mental Health Action Plan, endorsed by all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, recognizes the importance of resilience for young people’s mental wellbeing as an essential determinant of mental health later in life. This is further addressed in the European Child & Adolescent Health Strategy 2015–2020, which highlights the need to strengthen protective factors in schools, homes and local communities and improve the quality of mental health care for children and adolescents. It is a well-researched issue that VET systems tend to attract more students from social risk groups. This requires additional attention on wellbeing promotion in VET institutions due to higher rates of disruptive behaviour, poor student engagement and low motivation for learning. However, EU VET providers report limited capacity to provide effective support to students experiencing mild to moderate levels of psychological distress due to adverse fiscal, familial, social and school situations. What could prevent them from mental distress and risk behaviors is social-emotional learning (OECD, 2019), which has been shown to improve VET learners’ social-emotional functioning and academic performance. Yet, for the majority of them, building social-emotional skills remains a matter of luck, depending on whether this is a priority for their teacher and school (Study on Social & Emotional Skills, OECD, 2018).Thus, StayWell project sets the overall aim to develop an innovative web learning approach for advancing and sustaining VET learners’ wellbeing and mental health through the acquisition of social-emotional skills that would help them study effectively, master their life and enter the job market. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES~To provide VET learners, teachers and community with a thorough understanding of the factors affecting and skills favouring students’ wellbeing through the development of a pioneering 4-pillar mapping frame of wellbeing; ~To foster VET learners to get aware, verify and continuously improve their level of psychological, cognitive, social and physical wellbeing through the development of a new to date approach for self-reflect upon the skills, which could help them improve their wellbeing and mental health;~To boost and sustain VET learners’ wellbeing skills through the creation of a virtual challenge-based learning environment to promote wellbeing practices at school; ~To enrich VET teachers’ pedagogical approaches related to challenge-based learning and wellbeing promotion in the classroom through the elaboration of a full-cycle navigation tool to support them in the application, adaptation and transferability of the project innovative web approach.TARGET GROUPS1.Secondary VET: learners; teachers, educators, trainers and professionals; psychologists and leaders2.Representatives of organisations promoting mental health and wellbeing in secondary VET3.Public bodies involved in secondary VETStayWell innovative approach will comprise: O1: Wellbeing Mapping Frame providing a thorough understanding of the factors affecting and skills favouring students’ wellbeing shaped in a pioneering 4-pillar frame.O2: Wellbeing Skillbox opening up VET learners’ minds about the importance of their mental health and wellbeing and fostering them to discover and continuously improve the skills, which could help them improve their psychological, cognitive, social and physical wellbeing.O3: Digital Wellbeing Lab creating a virtual challenge-based learning environment for boosting and sustaining VET learners’ wellbeing skills through collaborative work and guided discovery in the classroom. O4: Digital Wellbeing Lab Navigation Guide equipping VET teachers with a full-cycle navigation tool to apply, adapt and transfer the project innovative web approach.To ensure visibility and encourage wider uptake of project IOs there will be held:+Small-scale Conferences in the UK, BG, GR, TR and SI +Speak Up Event in Brussels +Final Conference in LTStayWell project will result in raising the issue about the importance of tackling students’ health risk behaviours in VET schools, thus contributing to the creation of a favourable environment in Europe for developing, nurturing and sustaining VET learners’ wellbeing.