"This project is relevant because all four partner countries send a lot of students abroad every year, but we all have different ways of preparation/coaching students, who want to go abroad. It provides some different expectations of all the parties. Sometimes it creates misunderstandings and frustration for stakeholders. When we have the same frame of reference as a common toolkit, all stakeholders will understand each other better and our students will feel more secure and confident and better equipped and also having a feeling of being more professional when they take an internship abroad. Students will be more confident with their objectives, they have an idea of what is expected of them from the internships.The project is innovative because the outcome involves participants from internships/ labour market, employers and students during the process of this strategic partnership and also after the expiry of the EU funding. The new element is that we establish a local student board to hear their views and experiences on how this toolkit works best. The student board is an equal partner and is participating and giving feedback. The students will bring their opinions and also act as a pilot in the project in two levels (locally/nationally and internationally)The main objective of this project is to improve the preparation proces for students who want to go abroad in internships in the collaborating countries. The project partners want to develop and to test a toolkit in a project period from September 2015 to spring 2018. Project partners consisting of four partner countries from Finland, The Netherlands, Estonia and Denmark (all VET schools/ colleges) and several assistant partners as local work placements /local internships will also participate in this project.- Finland´s representative is an ECVET expert. In addition, the Finnish school (Omnia) has for the last 2 years worked with ""Individual learning pathway"".- The Netherlands (Vitalis College): has a long experience working with innovative cooperation exercises and teamwork.- Estonia (Kuressaare Ametikool): Big experience in using information technology in teaching students in VET-programmes.- Denmark (SOSU Nord College): The teachers teach daily in innovative learning methods like: cooperative learning and ""Theatre of the oppressed"" (Forum Teater)A phased project model implements the project. The project is legally anchored in the applicant organization SOSU Nord where a steering committee has been established to ensure that the project is implemented according to the Danish rules for ERASMUS +.The coordinating group has divided the project activities in 6 phases.The six phases vill ensure coherence and clarity for all parties in the project. At each phase transition the coordinating group discusses whether the milestones are reached and weather activities are managed well. Then the group plans in detail the next phase. The steering committee approves the coordinating group´s coming things to do.The tangible result of the project will be a toolkit. The toolkit will be a flexible and dynamic open online platform. The project partners will ensure the existence of the toolkit after the expiry of the project period. It means that after the project, other VET schools with related internships in Europe have the opportunity to contribute and add materials and create databases and therefore the toolkit remains to the benefit of all European stakeholders. Activities related to the toolkit are the other intellectual outputs mentioned in this project. These intellectual outputs are essentials elements in the toolkit and they are connected to a lot of activities.One of the milestones is a beta version of the toolkit, which will be ready for the national pilot beginning 2017 and later on the toolkit will be fully functional for the international pilot (2018) Another milestone is (C1) Learning/Training Activities in innovative learning methods, for teachers only, which will support the project's objectives: ""Improving the preparation proces for students who want to go abroad in internships"". This training/learning activity is necessary for the project's results and further implementation.The final result = the toolkit will have a positive and enhancing impact of students´:- social skills- personal skills - foreign language skills - professional skillsThe project partners use an online web portal based on a CMS-System to create our toolkit, because it is a free web software. This is beneficial for the long term benefits of the project based on the assumption that there will be a greater chance of continuity and maintenance after the expiry of the EU funding. The final result of this project is sustainable because the online open toolkit will be relevant in the future because of its its relevance usefulness and function. Form and contents of the toolkit will probably change according to the needs and wishes of the future Europe."

"Context/background of the projectClothing is a basic need; people all over the world deal with clothing every day and this global industry has a significant influence on several countries ‘ economies, environment and everyday life.We think therefore, it is important to invest in young people learning for a job in fashion and to invest in this way in the industry’ s innovations. It will turn the negative aspects of this business into positive ones ( Blue is the New Black, M. Hoitink 2012). The heart of every fashion company is design, development and production. These are in most cases the teams that work together most intensively with all other departments – from design to legal , sales and marketing. Number and profile of participating organisations;The Lette Verein, specialized in Design, Vitalis College, specialized in development and Ege University, specialized in production. Ekoten Textile A.S. has an excellent and unique fabric library with more than 3.700 fabrics registered, complete with all their specification & performance histories. The Partners agreed to cooperate and exchange knowledge , skills and competences in order to create a new Fashion learning traject module in a blended learning environment and a learning mobility in each EU region. Each partner in Fashion, each with specific expertise in design, development and production will exchange specific knowledge, skills and competences about this information flow from the start of the development process to the end of production and cooperate in this with Ekoten Textile A.S. the biggest knitted fabric manufacturer in Turkey and in Europe. Description of undertaken main activities;The partners in this project developed: a flexibel blended learning pathway with clusters of learning outcomes, modules in English for this crucial element of successful internal workings of the brand and for the external relationships with factories, trim suppliers and customers: each partner developed content which is complementary for the others and cover the Design, Development and Production aspect in Fashion and Textile vocational education. The partners developed the blended tool in Specific English language and content learning in English ( CLIL and ESP module)All learning outcomes will be registered in the Roc abroad database which is developed on with a cluster of StinFash Learning Mobility in this project by ROC West-Brabant and was used for registering the results of learning activities ( Learning outcomes) and link them to the EU framework of Key competences. All Fashion students were invited to test and train and built the digital portfolio, showing learning outcomes of a learning mobilities. Results and impact attained;The complementary aspects in this cooperation of international partners has a great impact for participants and participating organizations. It improves quality and attractiveness of the courses by implementing a blended learning pathway ""Plus"" in design, development and production with an international learning mobility. Work based and with specific skills for each region: for future employees in Fashion Industry this could mean going on to a wide range of jobs in both industry and services, offer better options for employment and further study. Longer-term benefitsOn local , regional , national and European level the cooperation of international partners creates transparency in EQF qualification levels 3, 4 and 5 of Vocational Education. The complementarity also improves possibilities of continuing training in courses with specific skills, going into higher education. The internationalization of the curricula gives a wider range of provision and allows learners to continue their studys at a higher level and reduces early school leaving in vocational education."

Obtaining an education and a diploma are valuable instruments in today’s society. It is shown that people without a secondary diploma are unemployed for a longer time than people who have acquired a secondary diploma. In 2015, 58.2 % of 18 to 24 year old early leavers from education and training were either unemployed or inactive.Still, a significant number of students drop out of secondary education before obtaining a diploma (=early school leaving). Some of them decide to go for their diploma of secondary education later on in life. Second chance education in Europe is often successful in helping young people who have failed to accomplish secondary education.But also adult education faces an increasing number of drop-outs. Combining an adult life with studies remains challenging. Adult educators have a sense of what causes adult learners to drop out but they are merely assumptions. Because of this lack of information, the prevention of drop-outs in adult education often does not tackle the real causes and therefore fails. Adult education in Europe was in need of concrete, practical measures to deal with dropout in both second chance education and adult education in general. By developing and applying specific measures, the project 'Dropping in the drop-outs' (DIDO) aimed at increasing the chances of succession of adult students throughout Europe and, that way, hopes to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy which sets out a target of reducing the share of early leavers of education and training to less than 10 % and increasing the share of the population aged 30 to 34 having completed tertiary or equivalent education to at least 40% by 2020. To achieve this objective, DIDO developed the following two results: 1) Requirements analysis report: based on the research efforts of the DIDO consortium the following two questions were answered: a) Why do students in adult education drop-out before graduating? b) Which good practices in the field of drop-out prevention in adult education exist in the partners' organisations, the partners' countries and Europe? 2) Dropping in the drop-outs toolkit: this toolkit contains concrete tools and tips and tricks, turning it into a practical instrument for adult education providers in Europe to decrease the dropout rate in adult learning. The tools were developed and tested within the DIDO consortium. This project focused on adult learners at risk of dropping out their educational pathway and leaving school without acquiring a diploma. More specific, the focus of this project is on younger adults under the age of 30, with a low income and without a job since research has proven that this group is especially vulnerable for dropout. The DIDO consortium consisted of the six following partners across Europe:- GO! CVO Antwerpen (Belgium): adult education provider- Axxell (Finland): VET provider offering education for e.g. adults - Curio (the Netherlands): secondary VET and adult education provider- AidLearn (Portugal): training, action-research and consulting company - HF & VUC FYN (Denmark): adult education provider- The Swiss Federation for Adult Learning (Switzerland): umbrella organisation for general and vocational adult learning (associated partner supported and financed by Movetia Switzerland)The toolkit has been a great result and is, due to its user-friendliness, currently being used by both the staff that participated in the project and others in and outside the organisation. Tackling dropout can now be done in a more holistic context by linking dropout policy to concrete tools already available. Adult learners benefit from improved career guidance and competent support in crisis situations as organisations have gained insight in their challenges and now have tools available to overcome these challenges. In the long term, the DIDO project should contribute to a reduction in the number of people dropping out of education and thus to a higher number of people graduating from adult education. This will have an impact on long-term unemployment and the employability of graduates.

"The European project, Erasmus + ""4ever 2gether"", is a project aimed at promoting the exchange of good practices for the social and labour market inclusion of young adults at risk of social exclusion. This project will run for 24 months and will involve five European partners: CPEPA Cuenca Minera (Spain), CURIO (Netherlands), Seinäjoen koulutuskuntayhtymä (Finland), FONDAZIONE MONDO DIGITALE (Italy) and Galway and Roscommon Education & Training Board (Ireland). All partners have identified a common need i.e. that there are many young people at risk of social exclusion in our areas due to a lack of academic training. This project will focus on helping our students with their social inclusion through lifelong learning in adult education as a second chance to become active citizens. In order to achieve this goal successfully, we will also count on in this context of work with external partners from institutions that work directly with this profile of students as social workers, psychologists, youth institutions all of whom will help us by acting as a link and support mechanism during the whole project.The three pillars or general objectives on which this project is based are, first of all, to know, learn and apply motivation strategies and educational guidance for young people between 18 and 30 years old who may have difficulties (academic, social, personal and work related) that do not allow them to develop adequately in their local environment. Secondly, to know, learn and apply new active work methodologies that will allow students to maintain a positive attitude towards their studies and consequently towards an active and productive life thus showing them all the possibilities that adult education offers them through individualized training itineraries. The third pillar that supports the project is to know, learn and apply techniques on how to reach the young adult population, to bring the school closer to the society in order to build an open and accessible school for all by promoting the participation of local entities that actively collaborate in the project. This is one of the strongest points of the project: to be able to establish relationships that are maintained over time and allow to join the efforts of all the different agents involved in the achievement of a common objective: the social inclusion of young people at risk of exclusion. The project deliverables will be carried out through regular communication between teachers, students, collaborators from the external associations and the inspiring figures, called ""mentors"" in the project. Materials will be developed using a digital platform where everything developed during the project will be stored, as well as the drafts, studies carried out and evaluations of the results of the implementation of these studies. The application of the active methodologies will be carried out in ""open classrooms"", where teachers, mentors, students and external collaborators will work in a collaborative way. The project will conclude with two European mobilities involving students where knowledge and exchange of ideas, problems and solutions will be strengthened. The ultimate aim of the exchange of good practices between the European partners will be to learn from each other and to be able to experiment with similar problems, presenting different points of view to try to solve them, reaching, as far as possible, a consensus on them. Likewise, the partners will share and be enriched by the cultural aspects of each country, promoting European and global citizenship and promoting the use of languages.The results and long-term benefits expected from the development of this project are - To improve our educational practice thanks to the professional enrichment that we will obtain from this exchange of good practices and from sharing our strengths and weaknesses.- To strengthen ties with nearby institutions to continue collaborating and working together in the future with the aim of helping the social inclusion of those who need it most. This work will lay the foundations for collaborations that will be maintained over time and even extend the collaboration networks to other institutions.- To learn techniques for guidance, motivation and creation of individualized learning paths that we will put into practice and constantly evaluate in order to improve them.- To have more young students between 18 and 30 years old in our classrooms who obtain successful results in their academic training and, above all, feel motivated to continue with this training. - To make other adult education centres and institutions that work with young people aware of the work in order they can benefit from the results to put them into practice. We hope that the impact of the project will go beyond our institutions."

In general, the flipped classroom methodology supports self-directed learning and has the potential of improving the quality of learning. However, this methodology can be challenging for adult educators with students who lack study skills, have literacy issues and/or have limited access to internet and technical facilities. This target group was our main interest as there was little existing material or guidance available on flipped learning in adult basic education context. The aim of the project was to promote the use of flipped classroom methodologies in adult education, and to create engaging and accessible content for adult learners with low digital competences and/or basic skills. In the project we produced open learning material for adult educators on flipped learning.In particular, the objectives included:- To develop practical tools for increasing adult educators’ competences in implementing and adapting flipped classroom methodology when teaching adults learning basic skills- To develop adult learners’ basic skills, particularly literacy, digital skills and independent learning skills through quality learning opportunities around blended and flipped learning- To increase the strategic and integrated use of ICT in adult education, using tools such as virtual learning environments and games (eg. Seppo, Moodle, Edmodo)- To develop Open Digital Badge process to recognise the professional development of adult educators in the area of flipped classroom and effective use of ICT in teaching of literacy, numeracy and basic skills- To network and share experiences with European adult education partners on using flipped classroom in practiceACTIVITIESThe learning, teaching and training (LTT) 4-day event benefited in total 27 participants ranging from second language teachers to vocational teachers and adult basic education teachers. Having these diverse target groups in each partner country allowed us also to change practices and ideas of how flipped learning can be adapted in different contexts to engage learners better. Partners shared their earlier expertise related to digital pedagogy and learnt new skills both through peer-learning and through external experts. The participants were accredited with an advanced level Open Digital Badge for their learning.After the LTT event, the 27 adult educators trained continued and pilot their learning in practical teaching work. These piloting activities were central in the creation and development of the Intellectual Outputs of the project: participants developed short videos for the online course (IO2) and descriptions of good practice (IO3). LTT participants also organised internal training sessions in each partner organisation to tutor their colleagues on flipped learning.Four Intellectual Outputs were developed to offer support for integrating flipped classroom approach in adult education.- IO1, Theoretical context: explores the pedagogy behind the flipped classroom method and looks at ways to adapt flipped classroom method for the target groups of adults learning basic skills- IO2, Online course for adult educators: presents cases and experiences from real-life on the use of flipped classroom with adults learning basic skills- IO3, Good practice guidelines: offers guidance to create good quality content for flipped classroom purposes in adult education- IO4, Open Digital Badge system: explains why and how to use Open Badges to accredit adult educators’ and learners’ skills and competencesRESULTS AND IMPACT By training educators, developing project outputs and disseminating the learning resources created in the project, we have increased adult educators' competence in implementing and adapting of the flipped classroom methodology for teaching adult learners basic skills (literacy, digital and learning to learn competences). The outputs provide educators with tools and approaches they can use for planning their lessons and delivering the content, and also increase awareness and knowledge of the challenges and benefits of using the flipped classroom methodology with adult learners.The project has also increased understanding of how to capture and measure impact of learning and professional development through Open Digital Badges. In total 130 Open Badges “FLIPing the Adult Classroom” related to project results were released between December 2020 and February 2021. Overall, the project reached:- 27 adult educators (4+ from each partner) trained in the flipped classroom methodology- 150 educators trained internally in our partner organisations- 244 adult learners involved in the piloting phase, hundreds more later on- Over 2300 stakeholders directly through project dissemination efforts: workshops, events or presentations - Thousands of people through the FLIP-IDEAL website, national EPALE sites, e-newsletters, and social media