"This Project is about reducing droput rate of students who continue their education in vocational and technical training due to variour problems. In the scope of the Project, which has three main objectives, a pairing program called ""buddy system"" in which an apprentice student is matched with an experienced one in order to ease their adaptation to school and to remove the negative effects of the school over them. Another main objective of the Project is creating a platform inside the Project website which is called ""business connector"". Inside the platform, the people seeking jobs and the firms searching for employees are matched together after filling in some basic forms and following some certain steps. Some job opportunities are displayed over the website so as to make possible matching with those who seach for job and employees in which the apprentices are also able to get help while choosing jobs. As one of the main requirements of the platform, the ditigal portfolios must be prepared in advance by students. Relevant activities (Europass Cv preperation course) have also been done during the project period. Under the coordination of our institution, there have been four partner organizations from the UK (Bridgwater&Taunton College), The Netherlands (Roc Da vinci College), Italy (Fondazione Et Labora) and Lithuania (Kauno Statybos ir Paslaugu Mokymo Centras). All of the organizations mentioned are the centres for vocational training. ın addition to all the main objectives mentioned above, local seminars, meetings and various courses in which both trainers and teachers, as well as apprentice students participated were organized locally in each partner organizations. As a result of the feedback, reports after job-shadowing activities and quality assurance plans, it's been seen that important steps have been taken concerning reducing dropout rate, the students have gained another perspective in looking at their job fields after comparing similar activities in European partner countries and those who involved in buddy system activities have increased their own motivation towards their jobs. More clear results of the project will be observed and it is also believed that this project will provide basis for further relevant projects in the longer term."

Industry 4.0. is based on new ways of interaction among people, machines and data, combining the physical and cybernetical world in a manufacturing environment. In order to establish industry 4.0. in a company, it is necessary to count with workers with the skills to meet the requirements of this new approach. Industry 4.0. is more demanding in both technological and organisational terms and interdisciplinary competences are essential.In this context, the VET system should seek to provide a broader set of skills and job specific capabilities and close the existing IT skills gap. Vocational training needs to be structured in a different way and integrated in the industry 4.0. by cooperating with technological centres and companies, completing the triangle innovation-education-business. According to the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), “companies are cooperating more with partners in the higher education sector to train the next generation of skilled workers. But vocational education and training must not leave this field to the higher education establishments alone, particularly as no uniform standards exist as yet. On the contrary, it must develop its own concepts for Vocational Education & Training 4.0.”Given this background, with LAIT 4.0. the partners wanted to achieve various aims:- Provide VET teachers with knowledge on industry 4.0. technologies and with the skills to transfer this knowledge to VET learners and to SMEs.- Develop the technological and organizational skills of VET learners in order to give a better answer to the current demands of industrial companies.- Improve the access of companies, specially SMEs, to the knowledge of research and innovation centres.- Increase cooperation between VET centres, R&D centres and companies, enhancing the triangle education-innovation-business.- Facilitate transparency among the different VET systems in the EU by the design of a course addressed to reduce the skills shortage related to industry 4.0. and the development of a memorandum of understanding among project partners to enhance their cooperation beyond this project.To accomplish these aims, during the project:- 19 VET teachers attended a course on industry 4.0 (O1) and the key related technologies, provided by our project partner IK4 Tekniker.- These 19 teachers transferred this knowledge to other 88 teachers during a short course, focusing on those aspects more relevant to each VET school. The materials developed for each short course are available under O2.- 17 technological check-ups were carried out by VET teachers. To do that, a methodology was developed to determine in the first place, the digital maturity level of the companies and secondly, to identify (if applicable) any possible improvement. The experience obtained enabled us to develop a guide (O5) to carry out technological check-ups in companies, which includes the methodology used as well as some guidance regarding the organization in VET schools and the technological check-ups carried out in each country in the respective language version of the guide.These activities brought an important impact:-19 VET teachers got a deeper understanding on industry 4.0 and got the knowledge and the experience to carry out technological check-ups in companies, which enhanced enormously their self-confidence when dealing with companies and of course their professional skills.- Accounting the number of teachers who upgraded their skills and the new materials developed for the short courses, which are being already used in class in many VET programmes, we estimate that around 1700-1800 students at least benefit now from better prepared teachers and from the integration of new contents in the curriculums delivered.- 17 Companies participated in the technological check-ups, some very advanced in the implementation of industry 4.0, some with almost no experience at all. In both cases, they discovered a powerful tool for analysis or self-analysis of their readiness for industry 4.0 and in some cases even projects to be carried out together with the VET schools who carried out the check-ups. This empowered the triangle innovation-business-education.- As consequence, the main impact for all project partners is that they have better prepared teachers now and their curriculum is updated and more aligned to the companies´ needs, besides, the realization of technological check-ups is now a new service offered by some of the partners and/or an activity integrated in their lessons to be done by VET students.In the long term, the benefits of the project refer to a better alignment between VET and the needs of companies, which will improve the professional perspectives of VET learners and the definition of new ways of cooperation between VET centres, companies and technological centres, contributing to a higher relevance and prestige of VET, being a bridge between technological centres and companies.

According to a report released by Intel Security, “Hacking the Skills Shortage”, there will be 1 million to 2 million unfilled cyber-security jobs worldwide by 2019. In the same line, on September 2017 the European Commission adopted a cybersecurity package. The package builds upon existing instruments and presents new initiatives to further improve EU cyber resilience and response. Our project lies within different initiatives carried out to build a cybersecurity capacity in Europe and feeds from the momentum cybersecurity is having in the European agenda, addressing these needs: - Lack of skills related to security operations among workers in general - Lack of qualified profiles in cybersecurity and as consequence a gap between qualifications and job demands - Increased risks related with a more digitalised world (financial operations, internet of things, connected industry, data storage, social networks and personal information) - Low awareness and knowledge about digital risks and how to protect oneself and one´s organisation - Low capacity of response in front of cyber-attacks, at all levels (personal and professional) With this project we achieved the following aims: - Increase the level of awareness of digital perils and the importance of adopting preventing measures among VET students and teachers - Define a set of units of competence and learning outcomes associated to different professional profiles. - Increase the level of qualification related to cybersecurity among VET students and teachers. - Reinforce cooperation between VET and business/technical experts to ensure an adequate training and qualification of workers in terms of information security.- Update the VET curriculums of the VET schools partners in the project as well as those who attended different dissemination events including training in digital skills necessary for workers. In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the project produced 2 intellectual outputs: - O1. Joint VET curriculum in cybersecurity, defining the corresponding learning outcomes related to main competences in cybersecurity, following ECVET methodology and designed following a classification of professional profiles attending to their technical (or not technical) training and their level of need on information security skills. - O2. Cybersecurity challenges, materials, developed attending to the professional profile addressed in each case, to achieve the learning outcomes defined in the previous output. This way, the potential users have available a set of materials to train and acquire the units of competence identified in the joint curriculum in cybersecurity in VET. During the project, 12 VET teachers were directly involved in the development of intellectual outputs. 48 more participated in pilot activities and around 30 more participated in local workshops to learn how to use and adapt the intellectual outputs for their lessons. Around 900 students benefitted from the updated and upscaled competences in cybersecurity of their teachers and the introduction in their VET programmes of new curricular components and materials in this field and 879 students participated in the pilot of materials. 9 associated partners, technological experts in different aspects related to cybersecurity participated also in the project by advising and assessing the production of intellectual outputs.. We can sum up CyVETsecurity results and long term benefits as follows: - Upgrade of competences of VET teachers and VET students related to cybersecurity.- Update of VET curricula with digital skills related to information security and protection, necessary for any profession in different levels. - Better alignment of VET programmes to the needs of the labour market and society in a digital era. - Definition of new ways of cooperation between VET colleges and technological experts towards a VET provision more adjusted to reality. - Higher relevance, attractiveness and prestige of VET, perceived by companies and enhancement of the role of VET teachers.

"The Partnership has lasted for 2 years and has been composed by Vocational Training organizations and Infant schools. What has brought us together has been a strong motivation to improve the quality of Infant Education in our contexts.The main aim has been to exchange experiences among professionals who work in the field of the 0-3 age range Infant Education directly, as well as teachers of future educators. The title of our project ´Train to Train` [hereunder T2T], expresses the idea of providing professional development for future educators.PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS The partnership is composed of the following 6 organizations:ROC Da Vinci College in The Netherlands, which has approximately 10.000 students and has locations in 2 different cities. COLEGIUL NATIONAL PEDAGOGIC C. BRATESCU (CNPCB), in Romania, which has both Vocational Training and an Infants school. They also have previous experience in Erasmus projects and various Etwinning Quality labels.KITTA ALEGRIA, in Germany, a company that manages 4 bilingual kittas in Berlin and that work on an outstanding art project. The company has received Erasmus + trainee students in the last years.There are 3 organizations in Spain. 2 are kindergartens:Zofio public school with direct funding, which is located in Usera and established as a learning community.Reggio, a private institution located in Las Tablas , which holds an innovative project as far as methodology is concerned.Acting as a coordinator for the project, the IES Príncipe Felipe public high school, which is located in the North of Madrid and has carried out a number of Erasmus projects. The Community Services department has been in charge of managing the project.MAIN ACTIVITIESThis project was structured in seminars and training activities.SeminarsThe Association (Sept-Nov 2016) - We created the structures to share information between partners. The contents were developed through Google Drive.School and Infant Education (Dec 2016 - Feb 2017) - A website and a blog were set up: https://www.train2train.netThis work allowed us to prepare visits, get to know each other at a deeper lever, and to acquire an understanding of the ethos and current situation of Infant Education in each of the partner countries. In the second phase, we advanced towards social media by creating a Facebook page.The Educator (March-June 2017) - We collaboratively decided on 7 questions regarding the requirements infants educators should have; who and how they should be. We have answered these questions within our work teams, and this has allowed us to incorporate more people and organizations into the project. During the first stage of our work we struggled to share our work. We describe this method of using questions and answers as good practice for the exchange, although we do need to improve certain aspects.GOOD PRACTICES (September - December 17) - The aims were to learn about the specific projects that are carried out in each school, as well as generate discussions on the interventions in 0-3 year-old classrooms, different styles, strategies and actions. The result was a learning experience with Principe Felipe students during the meeting in Madrid, in which each partner shared what they considered to be a good practice.LOGICAL THINKING - MATHEMATICS (January - March 2018) - Each organization collected 20 photos with comments referring to how logical thinking generates / develops in the 0-3 age range. A further propsal explored the methodological change regarding the training of educators through images / iconic language.ART (April - July 2018) - Various art projects with different approaches were carried out in our organizations and we later shared our vision on the role of art both in the development of the child and in adult training.TRAINING ACTIVITIES Programme consisting in 5 short activites titled ""What do you see?"", using methodology based on Job Shadowing.Madrid What do you see? January 2017Dordrecht What do you see? May 2017Meeting in Madrid December 2017 - This is included here to give an general overview of our encounters.Constanta What do you see? May 2018Berlin What do you see? July 2018AIMS AND RESULTSTo reflect upon student and educator training: ways of collaborating bewteen vocational training organizations and Infant schoolsTo Provide possibilities for Infant schools to open to new and different projects which share similar needs to theirs.To get to know specific projects implemented in infant schools.To research specific topics collaboratively, such as logical thinking and mathematics and art in 0-3 age range.To design a framework which allows time and space for exchange to occur bewteen educators and teachers.Long TermMotivation for Infants Education specialists to participate in Erasmus + projects.KA102, KA103 and KA202 projects between the above-mentioned organizations, with different groupings.Recognition for Infants Education and Vocational Trainin"

"Learning mental health knowledge and skills will be an essential component of VET in the future since the number of students with mental health challenges is increasing rapidly. Cedefop (2016) has identified students with multiple disadvantage, possibly facing health and psycho-social issues one of the major groups in danger of drop-out. However, vocational education and training in Europe can have a positive effect on mental well-being. Promoting Mental well-being in VET was a Strategic Partnership project which was based on developing pedagogical innovation and the exchange of good practice in mental health promotion, focusing on teachers, tutors, directors and students in VET. In addition the target group included in-company trainers. The priorities and objectives of the project were:a) Reinforcing and establishing a pro-active and preventive view to the concept of mental well-beingb) Developing material promoting mental health c) Piloting and testing new materiald) Translation of mental health promotion in VET through websitese) Planning the training program for the development of competence in mental health promotion in colleges and internship companiesThe project consortium consisted of four VET colleges in Finland, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands, one higher education college in Lithuania, one expert association focusing in the promotion mental health and well-being issues in Finland and one umbrella organisation for VET in Belgium in order to ensure proper dissemination of the project outcomes. The project activities were carried out according to the project plan. The materials, tools and the training programme were structured around five themes: 1) mental well-being as a resource, 2) self-knowledge, 3) emotions and interaction, 4) coping skills and 5) the learning community. The project consortium piloted and evaluated the new material and the training courses. Meetings focused on training the new methods to other participants and sharing the existing best practices in partner organizations. The theoretical background of each new theme was introduced by a short lecture and a review on the topic. After the theory session the theme and best practices were practiced through functional activities. The choice of the best practices shared were always agreed upon during the previous meeting. The partners translated practices and introduced them in the meetings. There were 3-4 best practices presented at each meeting. The practices were introduced in a functional way by using learning-by-doing methods in order to participants to get idea how they work. After the meeting each presented practice was evaluated. Each organization also piloted the shared practices with their students or staff members. After each pilot, practices were evaluated by the participants (students, staff). Evaluation data was collected from the people who used the material and attended the training programme. The evaluation report describes the findings of the evaluation. One of the key components in the project was to share good practice and learn from each other - how mental well-being and mental health issues were being dealt in VET and how the issue could be further promoted in VET.The teaching staff in all the participating VET colleges were aware of the project through internal dissemination. The awareness of the importance of mental well-being in connection with study success increased. The gained skills in mental well-being promotion can be used in teaching and guidance work in classrooms and distance education, work mentoring and other cooperation. The students have more understanding on their own mental capacity and how to promote it. Unfortunately the project was unable to get the in-company trainers to participate the training sessions. However, the trained teaching staff that is involved in companies through students' on-the-job learning periods, is able to promote the ideas of mental well-being through their discussions and visits in the work places. All the produced tools and materials are freely available in the project blog http://mewebeinvet.blogspot.fi/. The project highlights the importance of the approach that includes everyone to support students’ mental well-being. The ""whole college"" approach provides a simple, low cost way of promoting mental health."