The project was developed and submitted to provide a platform to encourage social inclusion. Being employed is not only a source of income but also an important tool to be part of the community for any group. This is clearer in groups at risk of 'dropping out' such as disabled individuals. Traditionally, these groups have had on-going equality problems in integrating into working life. Moreover, managers and workers have admitted that generally they do not know how to act/what procedure to follow with employees/colleagues with disabilities. For this reason, people with disabilities, sometimes lose out on job opportunities.At least 16% of the EU27 working age population has a disability, many with the ability and the desire to work. In the light of the current EU demographic situation, the occurrence of disability is expected to increase, especially as some disabilities degenerate with age. It is therefore crucial to address the needs of people with disabilities in order to facilitate a better integration into the labour market and into society itself. One of the disabled collectives which has more trouble than many in securing employment are people with Down Syndrome (trisomy 21) and this is the single most common cause of a learning disability. Consequently, the main focus of output one and the pilot test of this project was based on this collective and for that the project was entitled “Working Tri21”. The ultimate objective was to promote, with training, the equality and the inclusion of collectives with some disability (especially trisomy 21), to prevent those groups from 'dropping out' of working life; social inclusion through job inclusion.As a result of preparation, research and implementation, Working Tri21 has developed bespoke training courses designed specifically for acquiring skills, knowledge and competences by different collectives with some disability, to increase the possibility of them being recruited into the furniture industry and become active members of the workforce. In order to achieve this overall outcome, Working Tri21 analysed the skills, capacity and knowledge needs in each identified job position in the furniture field. In addition the project analysed twenty different collectives with some disability in regard to skills, the competences and potential skill mismatches. The huge research effort on matching skills and job positions was crucial to the success of the project, as was the partnership developed between the furniture sector and the disability associations, particularly in Spain.The additional disabilities targeted, were for example deafness, blindness, ataxia and diabetes (Ref: Pages 27/28 of the Application Form). The information gleaned from the research (IO’s 1, 2 and 3) informed both the development of the courses and also the two pilot training courses which were done to check the methodology. The impact on the ten trainees has been hugely positive and it is hoped two of the trainees at least, will secure on-going employmentTo deliver the outcomes summarised above, Working Tri21 brought together a strong multi-disciplinary and transnational partnership formed by four entities (Ref: Pages 3 to 16 of the Application Form):•Associazione Italiana Persone Down onlus (AIPD): an association supporting people with Down Syndrome disabilities from Italy. •BFM Ltd (British Furniture Manufacturers Limited): a trade association from the UK representing the furniture industry to give advice on integration into factories.•Asociacion empresarial de investigacion centro tecnologico del mueble y la madera de la region de Murcia (CETEM): a Technical and Training Centre specialising in the Furniture and Woodworking sector in Spain•Centro Studi Città di Foligno (CSF): a VET Centre for the development of courses from Italy.The target groups that will benefit from the project are:•People with some disability trying to obtain or maintain contact with the labour market.•Service providers for disabled people and vocational education and training (VET) institutions working with this target groups e.g. therapists, social workers, teachers, trainers and related institutions and organisations.•Professionals from the furniture and woodworking sector e.g. employers, employees, entrepreneurs, VET trainers, human resource staff etc. who are interested in the inclusion of disabled workers in traditional industrial sectors.•Policy makers in the field of vocational education and training, work and social inclusion at regional, national and EU level.•Volunteers and related institutions providing services to people with some disability.Through on-going dissemination, use of the website (workingtri21.eu/) and follow up activities the intention is for the outcomes (available in three languages) to be used by the consortium members and/or other associated organisations for implementation post project, in the three countries represented and other EU countries.

Rapid digitalisation over the past decade has transformed many aspects of work and daily life. The digital transformation is reshaping society, the labour market and the future of work. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has heavily impacted education and training, has accelerated this change. As outlined in the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-27) published by the EC: “digital technology, when deployed skillfully, equitably and effectively by educators, can fully support the agenda of high quality and inclusive education and training for all learners”. It can, in fact, facilitate more flexible and user-centred learning as well as engage learners in a more collaborative and creative learning experience, by helping both educators and learners access, create and share digital content. However, the type and design of digital technologies, as well as the digital pedagogy used, impact directly on the way learners are included from learning. When technology is referred to as “open source or FLOSS”, it means that people can modify and share the code because its design is publicly accessible. These technologies combine the free availability of technical artefacts and information with powerful community-based development and maintenance. They change the way we learn by fostering online communities, by enabling personalised learning experiences, by supporting the development of soft skills such as problem solving, collaboration and creativity, and by making learning fun. Open education has the potential to make educational systems more innovative and efficient and allows individuals to engage in new and more flexible ways of (lifelong) learning. These two components made of the integration of open education into EU education systems a policy objective, as argued in several EC plans and strategies.In this context, the “Promote Open Source Technologies in non-formal Adult Education” (Open-AE) project wants to promote open source technologies in non-formal adult education to support the digital upskilling of both educators and learners. It aims to build the capacity of training organisations to deliver high quality and relevant digital skills training to adults by improving staff competence on open source technologies.Open-AE achieved this by developing the Open-AE Curriculum addressed to trainers working in non-formal training sector to reinforce the digital skills of adult learners (e-facilitators). It consists of 18 modules mapped to DigCompEdu framework that cover transversal and specific digital skills by utilizing open education approach. Open-AE project produced an online Toolkit (https://open-ae.eu) that enables the implementation of the Curriculum by using several Open Educational Resources (OERs) and learning scenarios available on Open-AE Online Academy in 6 different languages. These project outputs were tested in four countries (Belgium Italy, Spain and Switzerland) through the Open-AE Course pilots which were completed by 89 e-facilitators in total. Based on the results of the piloting phase, the project produced the Guidelines for transferability and up-scaling of project results, aimed at both educators working in non-formal adult education sector and policymakers. The guidelines include recommendations for using the Open-AE methodology and mainstreaming the use of FLOSS in non-formal education and other fields. Open-AE project is the first structured attempt to promote the FLOSS culture as a whole in adult education. The high number of participants directly involved in the Open-AE training activities (twice as much as planned) and their overwhelmingly positive feedback on this experience, proved the effectiveness of Open-AE in improving teaching and digital skills of e-facilitators through a modular blended course for adult learners based on open source education.

The European Knowledge Center for Mobility (EUKCEM) II project aimed at contributing to a European Area of Skills and Competences and increased EU mobility by offering a one-stop shop for important mobility processes including ECVET.While the participation in EU mobility for students in higher education has already become very common, the numbers of VET learners are still far lower - even if work and learning experiences abroad are recommended by many stakeholders, VET schools and more and more also companies. The barriers to apply for and manage EU funded mobility projects besides other tasks are high for all VET providers - companies and schools. Besides, there are doubts about the recognition of learning contents and outcomes. The EUKCEM II project therefore aimed at addressing those doubts and further facilitating the management of mobility projects, with ECVET as integral part - from practicioners for practicioners.The project was a follow-up of the LLP Leonardo da Vinci project EUKCEM that supported quality in mobility through structured step by step information about mobility processes for all actors involved (host organisations, sending organisations and beneficiaries) as well as through a partner search database of quality organisations, that assured to follow certain quality standards and agreed to get rated for their performance by beneficiaries.Based on the feedback gained for the initial web contents, EUKCEM II did a relaunch of the platform www.eu-mobility.eu and added structured information on four aspects: 1) Mobility Management including practical checklists, templates, practicioner advise and video tutorials for the five important parts of every mobility project, such as application, preparation, implementation, evaluation and finalisation.2) ECVET: Besides video tutorials and information, the project designed a growing database of ECVET learning units and outcomes that can be either seen as source of information, as inspiration or already as part of learning agreements (transfer option). 3) Are you ready: Beneficiaries are addressed in a more targeted way with information, videos (mobility stories) but also an interactive tool for preparation.4) The partner search tool was kept from the first EUKCEM project. The partnership, composed of experienced mobility coordinators from Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Germany brought in their experiences and best practices as sending, intermediary and host organisations in EU mobility. The main contact person at the Dutch partner in addtion is national ECVET expert. Each partner organisation was responsible for at least one of the intellectual outputs and contributed to the contents of the web platform in addition to organising webinars and face-to-face workshops.In the last year of the project, since 25.09.2017, the web platform www.eu-mobility.eu reached ca. 31.000 visitors. EUKCEM Facebook posts partly reached more than 3.000 persons (Step by step through all phases of an Erasmus+ KA1), the same post at the facebook page of the coordinator reached more than 4.600 persons, a post about mobility partnerships more than 4.100 persons, etc. Also more than 400 people directly participated in the project through face-to-face workshops, webinars and events and provided positive and valuable feedback. Local, regional and also European partnerships were established that last also after the end of the project. The project partners integrated the materials created within the EUKCEM II project into their regular activities, use them for their own mobility projects and also together with their partners from other European countries. Therefore, the partners as well as other organisations involved in mobilities across Europe will benefit also in the long term. All web resources will be kept and also synergies are built with a project about quality in mobility.

"<< Background >>When thinking about future perspectives for the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) beyond the COVID-19 crisis, a return to the ‘old normal’ is not considered a viable option. Given the vulnerabilities that characterised the sectors already pre-COVID-19, the crisis has provided a unique momentum to re-think dominant structures and practices and to experiment with possible alternatives, often in intra- and inter-sectoral collaboration. We apply for “Paint the Bit” project mainly because it grasps at an early stage some critical aspects of the arts and culture sector, exacerbated by the global pandemic. According to the Research of CULT Committee (2021), the main consequences that the COVID-19 containment measures have generated for the CCS can be clustered under two main groups: • direct economic effects on the CCS, including negative trends in income, revenues, employment, business opportunities and business models in the sector;• wider social effects and changes in consumer behaviour impacting the CCS, related to socio-cultural indicators, such as changes in cultural demand and consumption, skills, cooperation, well-being, diversity and professional status of cultural and creative workers.Linked to these two topics, two other macro considerations can be developed.For many CCS workers, such as artists and freelancers, the cultivation of their professional networks during events, fairs and festivals is crucial to attract new work and to secure future income. Since most of these events were cancelled or postponed, the number of physical opportunities to network and start new professional relationships drastically decreased, with important negative effects on future income. The new social distancing measures resulted in the shrinking of physical consumption of culture and thus limited demand for this kind of products and services, marking instead a growing consumption of culture through digital media.The market potential of many digital opportunities born in COVID-19 times would also raise the question of the shift towards commercially driven economic models that, before COVID-19, heavily relied on public funding.The increased use of digital tools raised other concerns as well about the degree of digital skills of artists and CCS professionals and their readiness to digitise. While some digital formats and solutions were easy due to the availability of basic expertise, the uptake of digital solutions for competitive e-creation and e-distribution has not been an easy pathway to follow.In this framework, the future crisis resistance of the art, media and creative professionals strongly depends on their way of doing business, the degree of digital innovation, the set-up of new collaborations, the re-thinking of relationships with audiences and customers for the development of new revenue models.<< Objectives >>""Paint the Bit"" project aims to strengthen and contaminate Cultural and Creative sector professionals' skills for a digital, innovative and inclusive production and distribution in a renewed labour opportunities. New job profiles will be identified and a VET curricula will be defined to better responding to the current market framework of artistic and creative production and fruition in the era of digital transition. A blended training and capacity building path for CCS professionals aims to reinforce their digital and transferrable competences so that they can increase their efficiency and acquire career adaptive competences. It will enable them to become more resilient and competitive in their professional offerings, strengthen networking capacities and cross-sectoral collaborative approaches, as necessary skills to provide cultural and creative services more responsive to renewed market needs and social trends.<< Implementation >>“Paint the Bit” project foresees 5 main activities packages.The first work package (WP1) intends to frame the renewed social and market context linked to CCS sector, maps the training needs and offers for CCS professionals at national and European levels, and describes emerging job role profiles for CCS professionals. It will include the following tasks:T1.1 Specify renewed job role framework T1.2 Mapping professional needs T1.3 Synthesis of emerging job roles This WP will lead to the delivery of the Project Result 1 – Identification of emerging roles for Cultural and Creative Sector professionals. WP2 aims to design and develop VET curricula that can be used to train according to the job role profiles specified in WP1 and their “ingredients”, namely the methodology, the training modules and the handbooks. It will include the following tasks:T2.1 Design of the learning outcomes T2.2 Design of VET methodology T2.3 Validation and standardization T2.4 Development of training modules for transferrable competences T2.5 Development of training modules for digital competences T2.6 Development of training handbooks T2.7 Curriculum upgrade after the pilot This WP will lead to the delivery of the Project Result 2 – Modular VET curriculaWP3 foresees the design and development of a collaborative E-learning platform. This platform will reflect the methodologies and tools identified to pursue the learning outcomes and curriculum requirements. For this reason, it will be structured as an operational tool for all training and capacity building phases, containing all OERs and training materials developed by the project. It will include the following tasks:T3.1 Design of the E-learning Platform.T3.2 Development of E-learning materialsT3.3 Development of the E-Learning PlatformT3.4 Improvement of the Platform after the piloting phaseThis work package will lead to the delivery of the Project Result 3 –E-learning platformWP4 refers to the Piloting of the overall capacity building path including MOOC, Specialised Course and Peer Learning, to ensure that the modularized curriculum is fit-for-purpose, relevant to the identified professional needs and highly consistent with EQF-ECVET. The learning-outcomes approach will be applied to the creation of job profiles and the design of training modules taking into account the ECVET principles. Planned activities within each training phases will foster, in a progressive way, the acquisition of the competences and further application to specific situations. It will include the following tasks:T4.1 MOOC T4.2 Selection, targeting and matching of participants for specialised capacity buildingT4.3 Specialised Digital/Virtual Courses T4.4 Peer-to-peer learningT4.5 Assessment and validation This work package will lead to the delivery of the Project Result 4 – Pilot test.The last WP5 is transversal to the all project activities foreseen and directly contribute to the creation of a transnational Community of practice involving VET organisations, CCS freelancers and professionals, stakeholders and private actors to promote a cross-sectorial collaborative model that can meet the current challenges of the arts and creative sector.WP5 will place as overall support of the project a sound dissemination and exploitation plan, with tailored activities addressed to target groups and stakeholders. It includes the creation of the project web site; the production of dissemination material and dissemination of project outcomes by providing versions adapted to national contexts.<< Results >>The project will expect to achieve these main outcomes:•Development of a VET curriculum and methodology linked to the emerging job profiles in the current societal and economic context;•Reinforcement of digital and transferable competences (including entrepreneurial, managerial and collaborative skills) of CCS freelancers and professionals;•Creation of a transnational Community of practice involving VET organisations, CCS freelancers and professionals, stakeholders and private actors to promote a cross-sectorial collaborative model that can meet the current challenges of the arts and creative sector.To reach these results, “Paint the Bit” will produce a range of fruitful and innovative outputs:- Report on needs and training offer - Job role profiles, freely available via the platform - VET curricula, including adapted version to five national contexts (France, Cyprus, Italy, Austria and Spain) - Learning methodology and handbooks - Online platform to support all blended learning phase as well as discussions, exchange and knowledge sharing- OERs, translated and adapted to national contexts- Web site and social software - Standards on learning outcomes and eCF, ECVET and EQAVET standards"

"While the role of civil protection organizations is particular crucial during disasters and major emergency situations, these events are fortunately rare and a significant part of the daily work in civil protection regards often prevention and preparedness in situations less dramatic but nevertheless important. The development of disaster prevention and awareness in the civil protection is closely linked to the ability of drawing in the experiences and learning of this daily work as well as using the daily operation in non-disaster situations to create networks with and broader awareness among other key stakeholders and the public on risk-management, disaster prevention and preparedness. Having said this, the overall rationale of the CiProVoT project is to provide:a. Free Access to and Open Educational Resources in different languages (English, Portuguese, Italian and Greek).b. Knowledge, skills and core competences for CP volunteers.c. Supporting integration Services (i.e. self assessment tools like mini games, a coaching session) for informal CP volunteers with lower levels of qualifications In general, the consortium decided to work on the development of basic and transversal skills because is crucial for Nature Conservation and Social Safety facing Natural Disasters.The most important results of CiProVot are:a. Report on practices and skills identification of Civil Protection volunteers.b. Comparative training methodology for dealing with knowledge, skills and core competences of Civil Protection volunteersc. A MOOC with four modules and orginal training material and videos for those who are approaching CP actvities for the first time, The MOOC has been validate by both experts and volunteers in the field of the CP and it is now freely available through the project website https://ciprovot-project.eu/ under the ""Learn"" section."