BackgroundTalentjourney partners from Italy, Germany, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia aim to narrow and close skills’ gap in IOT in smart manufacturing, to innovate and improve the responsiveness of VET system to the needs of industry 4.0 and new era society. We also want to bring VET stakeholder collaboration to the excellence in content and ways of VET provision. All developed Talentjourney services focuses on user-oriented, user-friendly and eco-friendly solutions.Objectives To achieve the aims of the project the partners have defined the two following main objectives: establish the Talentjourney Platform of VET excellence in the field of IIOT that will provide user oriented, user- and eco-friendly solutions; and develop trans-national curricula and life-long trainings in the selected field.ImplementationThe two-year project was launched in November 2019. To get the necessary data on skills needs and gaps in the IIoT field and to get directions for the development of Talentjourney services we have performed interviews in companies and made global desktop research. Obtained information allowed us to start establishing fundamentals of a joint curriculum, lifelong training, trainings for professional development, ecosystem mapping.Results The developed deliverables are: IIOT skills data collection; joint curricula ideation; 8 training and 4 masterclass training for the professional development of trainers; starting points for the EQF 4 and EQF 5 modules of joint curriculum and life-long training in the IIOT field which connects holistically: AI, cybersecurity, data science, robotics and production process development; regional ecosystems mapping, personas and user journeys; project website, media channels for Talentjourney.

This project is the latest in a series of successful projects of the ESA partnership. It builds on previous work about inclusion, volunteering and solidarity and now moves into the world of work emphasising entrepreneurship and the opportunities that are available to our students in a pan-European context.This project provided a number of benefits to students, teachers, schools and their wider communities including business partners. It promoted creativity and enabled students to focus on their own strengths to make good choices on future career paths, to develop necessary skills, to create global networks and to broaden their horizons.As there are ten schools from nine countries across Europe, there have been several hundred participants every year the past three years, including students, staff, stakeholders and businesspartners. We've particularly encouraged the participation of target groups such as those facing significant disadvantages.Project activities have included field and desk research, the creation and manufacture of services or products, student participation in international competition and the completion of the evaluation process, both to inform the current project and as a basis for future initiatives. Methodologies employed in the above activities have emphasised teamwork and collaboration across borders. Skills development and confidence builiding were also a key focus.The results and impacts included international interaction between participants and an enhancing of student creativity and other business skills. The website www.beee.eu includes a learning platform, which will be available as a resource for participants and others. We anticipate a more international ethos and entrepreneurial spirit as a result of the project.From the students survey analysis we have found that students develop an awareness of the skills necessary for work and are motivated to achieve these skills. In some schools students have chosen more business related classes as a direct consequence. The students have encountered the merits and opportunities of starting or joining the business sector. This has broadened their horizon and brought insight in what the business sector has to offer. We believe that partnerships formed between students themselves and between students, schools and businesses will lead to long term sustainable benefits. Overall schools and students will foster closer international ties and a more international outlook on the business sector as a whole.

The project STEP (Strategies Towards European Plurilingualism) draws its strength from the fact that the advantages of knowing more than one foreign language are multifold: students and teachers not only increase their knowledge about cultures and about languages, they also enrich their own lives and surroundings, they increase their job chances and their mobility, and they promote tolerance and understanding.Our project partnership is composed of secondary schools from five countries:Vammalan Lukio (Sastamala, Finland), Ühisgümmnasium Lähte (Lähte, Estonia), Peebles High School (Peebles, Scotland), Istituto Statale di Instruzione Superiore F. Enriques (Castelfiorentino, Italy) and Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Ostfildern (Ostfildern, Germany). It is aimed at general and vocational students aged 15-18. We see the need for increasing the speaking skills and oral proficiency of our students so that they are enabled to prove their qualifications in European standardised tests. Test results have shown that foreign language classroom teaching often enables students to achieve adequate levels in the understanding and in the writing part of standardised exams, but that they fall behind in the speaking part. In order to achieve higher language proficiency and expert knowledge, we cooperated with language test institutions and with members from The English Academy (TEA), a language educator think tank in Giessen. We stayed in contact and improved our language and intercultural skills with all the partner schools via the e-twinning platform, in online video conferences and in intercultural project meetings. We adapted existing didactic material, but we laid great emphasis on our students creating material like games, phrase cards and 'speaking prompts' for each other because this makes them personally involved in the topics and they identify more closely with the speaking situations and their context. When creating for example a pair of 'speaking prompts' for the topic of 'health vs. drugs, alcohol, smoking', they followed the requirements for the Speaking Part of European language exams, and created two A4 sheets with their own photos presenting different situations, and with opposing statements/quotations. This material was used in the foreign language classrooms in our schools and when preparing the topics for the meetings and for further work.In order to create plurilingual speaking opportunities in CLIL-like surroundings, the students' meetings were organised as workstays. The first day of each meeting was consecrated to language workshops so that students were familiarised with the host country's language and introduced to the workstay. English was the communication language in this project and the language used on e-twinning and in publications. The level aimed for in the final language tests depended on the years of teaching and ranged from B1 to B2/C1, whereas the other country languages reached levels from basic/A1 to A2/B1/B2. During the workstays English was used at B1/B2 level, with specific terms (Fachsprache English). The workcamp in Germany, at the industrial control and automation company FESTO in Esslingen, dealt with mechanics, electronics and engineering; the work stay in Finland focussed on schools and educational topics. The science work stay in Scotland concentrated on sciences and ecological topics like pollution and water supply, but also included foreign language tourism; the workstay in Italy approached agriculture art and tourism. The final workstay in Estonia dealt with media and future work places. Video-conferences helped the students interact and use their language skills.All these topics are relevant for the speaking parts of European standardised exams at B1, B2/C1 levels and should be achieved in English. The aim for the other languages was that students could speak about themselves, their family, their hobbies, favourite food, holidays and plans for their future to various degrees (basic to A1/A2), so that they felt confident to take language exams and felt at home in intercultural surroundings, and so that they feel prepared to work in the EU-wide job market.In order to experience the learners' viewpoint and to live lifelong learning, some of the teachers prepared for language tests alongside with students, took them and passed them. We evaluated the project and published our findings on the project results platform and on e-twinning. These results give insight into the language situations created. The material and the methods applied are made available as Open Educational Resources; some of the material will also be published in a methods guide by Diesterweg. The findings have been shared in an international conference and teacher training sessions; an article on our ideas and materials has appeared in OPEN!, the publication organ of English teachers in Estonia.

The issue of social inclusion as a major target – especially the different education acts of the different countries and the individual school policies make it one of their primary goals to face and challenge discrimination based on ethnic diversity. Here, our schools had and have a key function and a diverse school, a school without discrimination, a school, which supports the personality development, a liberal minded school, a tolerant and democratic school was the overall objective.At each school many different actions have already accepted the challenge and we all engage in different projects that spread the message that all people are equal – regardless of ethnicity, ability, skin color, socio-economic background, appearance, educational level, language spoken etc. With our project we supported understanding and acceptance, we created positive experience and with this project we made step forward and worked on the issue on a higher level. 6 schools from 6 different European countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Italy and Portugal – wanted to make a change by addressing different topics in the field of interest. We wanted to show that egoism and nationalism are not a solution – we can only benefit from a diverse society.To reach our goals in the years of the project we had 5 different meetings with students and teachers, which included different activities. The first meeting in Germany concentrated on self-awareness and the question how we see and define ourselves. It was interesting to see that the ethnic background was not the major issue when defining your identity and we defined the term identity for us. Of course, the first meeting was also used to introduce each other and our schools and we presented how diverse our schools are on a map.The second meeting took place in Portugal and centered around the image of the other and how we see and perceive others. E.g. prejudices, stereotypes, traditions and religion were looked at with an artistic approach. The schools also introduced their countries and we wanted to find out what distinguishes us from the other. After getting to know the others and us it was time to change perspectives and to walk in someone else’s shoes to enhance understanding, acceptance and tolerance at the third meeting in Spain. We focused on the question “What does it take to feel at home?” by interviewing immigrants and refugees and by simulating the different stages from being a migrant to being a citizen. A creative approach came in handy as well. Consequently, it was now time to question how we can benefit from a diverse society and what our schools can do to welcome diversity. At the meeting in Denmark we set joint goals for everyone to be put into practice until the next meeting. Also, we created a board game in Denmark (“Trivial Pursuit Europe”) to be used at school.The last meeting in the Netherlands focused on global and personal goals with regards to migrant issues in the future. Students and politicians were addressed and questioned.During the project, different methods and approaches were applied to reach our individual goals and to create many different products, which are distributed to be used in classes, other schools and communities (e.g. slideshows, booklets, posters, shirts, presentations, calendar, recipe book, book, videos, comics, simulated game, board game). A project homepage and a Facebook page still documents our project and its progress (www.welcomingdiversityatschool.weebly.com).The impact was and will be positive in many ways and our encouragement will motivate them further.For students as well as for teachers the project established a consolidation of the foreign language and the intercultural competence. The contact with students from other countries was also interesting for the parents of the native students. They learned about the customs of the European countries. We implemented our achievements, results and the learnt input in our schools’ curricula. In the end we hope that we could make a lasting impact on the European Union and that we made a change to ensure that our students are prepared for Europa after their school life.

<< Objectives >>Our HELP ( Highly Engaged in Life Projects) project starts from the students’ needs in particular after the pandemic effects. In our Secondary Education Schools, the long period of isolation and online learning has caused a lack of relationships among our students and little self-esteem. Our project aims to foster civic engagement, encourage them in participating in volunteer work, in working together, respecting the principle of inclusion for all the participants, also with fewer opportunities<< Implementation >>Activities to help students to explore the different possibilities of volunteer work both at home and in the partners’ countries. First, students will visit the volunteer centers, meet the volunteers, make reflections, and share them with their correspondents. They will also compare the different forms of volunteer work in the different countries. Later, students will participate in volunteer activities. Then, they will produce a documentary to describe their experience to the community.<< Results >>We hope that by international interaction between participants, they will gain benefits for themselves like to get more self-confidence and will be encouraged to take an active part in society for the common good. The final product will be a documentary uploaded both on the Erasmus platform and on the websites of each school to produce long-term sustainable benefits and spread out by local newspapers for making the produced materials long-lasting and accessible to anybody.