PROMOTING DIVERSITY ORIENTATION IN ADULT EDUCATIONAdult education institutions offer their services in a changing and diverse society. Therefore, students and employees in adult education organisations come from heterogeneous groups. The goal of DivCap was to promote inclusion and diversity in adult education (AE) at two levels: at the personal and organisational level. Support structures were established in AE institutions to enable them to successfully deal with the diversity within their organisations. In this way, a contribution to anti-discrimination and inclusion was made, and equal access to AE offerings was promoted. DIRECT TARGET GROUPS and participants were staff and managers of AE organisations. During workshops, case studies and pilot projects, in each of the 7 partner countries two organisations and their staff were involved. INDIRECT TARGET GROUPS were disadvantaged learners, in particular adult migrant, who were the final users benefiting from the more inclusive access. Furthermore, through a variety of dissemination activities, involvement of stakeholders and key persons in the field of AE and related areas, in total more than 43.600 persons could be reached.Undertaken ACTIVITIES and RESULTSKnowledge of and awareness for diversity issues was enhanced at two levels. At the level of staff in the involved organisations, the goal was to improve the personal competencies of the employees in dealing with diversity. Here, an “Applied Diversity Awareness (ADA)” workshop was tested in three pilot workshops. This ultimately resulted in a modular curriculum. The modular design aimed to meet needs in different settings. The approach of the workshop design is to deepen the cognitive understanding of diversity through concrete personal experiences; learning was initiated through different exercises, the “Diversity Walk” (a field visit) and reflection sessions. Profound work was furthermore completed at the level of the organisation. Here concrete measures to promote inclusion and diversity at an institutional scope were implement. In each country, the partner organisations worked together with a second educational institution that was committed to making concrete progress in enhancing diversity. This means that across Europe 14 educational institutions were involved in total. In the first phase, a special questionnaire was developed to analyse the organisations in terms of their diversity orientation. The questionnaire consisted of several subsections, which cover relevant areas for determining the diversity status. Additional to the English version, the questionnaire is available in Croatian, Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, and Spanish.The questionnaire and further models were used to conduct case studies to analyse the organisations in terms of their diversity orientation. The reports contained the findings of the analysis and recommendations for the implementation of concrete measures. These recommendations addressed different areas such as mission statement, human resource development, employee competences, or public relations. The most important results were summarised and used to create a tool kit for the analysis of an organisation and initiation of change processes. The tool is available in the form of an online tutorial on the website.In the second phase, concrete measures were implemented in pilot projects. The results of the change and learning processes in the 14 AE organisations were documented in reports. In the documentations, the processes were described as well as good practice examples, developed tools, lessons learnt and statements of persons involved. Different categories were pointing to areas where concrete measures were implemented: Human Resources, Structural change, Diversity competences of trainers, Diversity sensitive public relations and Adaption of educational offers. Furthermore, a video series was created, portraying 7 institutions and showcasing how each of them addressed the respective topics and the experiences they gathered on their way to becoming more diverse and inclusive. The experiences and findings in the 14 institutions were then distilled into overarching principles for the implementation and design of diversity processes in educational institutions. Guidelines for diversity processes were developed, as well as recommendations of managers and staff. All reports and handbooks can be found on the DivCap website. The video series was published on the DivCap YouTube channel. This will ensure that AE institutions across Europe, that are interested in introducing diversity orientation, can profit from the experiences gained. All tools and checklist, generalizable recommendations and guidelines as well as the curriculum of the ADA Workshop, were tested and are available for other organisations for transnational use. Furthermore, the structured documentation of the workshops, case studies and pilot projects serve as inspiring examples for other organisations.

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND. In 2015/16 high numbers of asylum seekers entered the European Union. This challenge requires different instruments for fostering their long-term integration. Mainly instruments are focused on the satisfaction of basic needs. But for a long-term and sustainable way of integration and for reducing the risk of exclusion and the related social problems on one hand and using these resources for reducing the lack of qualified employees on the other an early access to preparation and training for the job-market is essential. Frameworks for the process of recognition as refugee and integration are compulsory in the European Union. Based on those standards transfer of experience and knowledge about appropriate methods of integration in the CVET should be a benefit for all: the participating and involved organizations as for the refugees as well. The European Union tried to establish obligatory rules for the distribution of asylum seekers but in reality some European countries do not accept them. Showing in the good practices that integration in the job-market works also in countries with economic problems is a benefit for Europe.The main OBJECTIVES have been the collection of good practices showing appropriate measures for the integration of asylum seekers/refugees in the CVET and at least in the job-market. It based on an exchange of good practice in study visits and in written documents. They have been evaluated in terms of efficiency, sustainability, transferability and quality. For having comparable results and facilitating the reading of the booklet common templates are used. For understanding the good practices in the national and regional context country analysis of all partners’ countries have been provided also.For facilitating the access to the booklet general information has been translated in all partners’ languages.Beside of this main objective regional and European networks of organizations dealing with the integration of refugees have been established.All of these activities have one common aim: to expand and to improve the activities undertaken for the integration of asylumseekers/refugees in the further education and finally into the job-market. THE PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: We chose 7 partners out of 7 countries presenting a range of different kind of VET/CVET providers, adult education centers, NGOs and university dealing with the integration of refugees in the job-market. The partners’ countries are those which receive numerous refugees and which are meeting the challenge to integrate them. Some of the partners collaborated in former European projects others are new. All partners are experienced in projects and are well integrated in networks. This made way to a very balanced approach and allow for a maximum possible target group.The MAIN ACTIVITIES of the project have been(o) Collection of Good practices: The partners visited different organizations and gathered all the information about the good practice in a common template. The good practices have been evaluated by the whole partnership and 40 of them have been chosen for being published. Some of the good practices have been visited by the whole partnership in study visits.(o) Development of country analysis: An overview on the situation of refugees, the legal frameworks and the offered measures for their integration in the participating countries has been compiled using a questionnaire for getting comparable results (resources: national reports and UNHCR).(o) Development of booklet and accompanying information In the overview of GP we recognized the very different approaches. Considering that later users may be interesting in specific ones we decided to organize the GPs not per country but per category. We identified 7 relevant categories. Overview by country, editorial and closing words completed the content of the booklet. To facilitate reading and understanding of booklet one page of general information and overview has been translated in all partners’ languages.RESULTS AND IMPACT:Finally 40 good practices out of the 7 countries have been selected concerning the different categories. These categories show that for different steps in the process of integration different approaches are available and useful. The good practices organized in these categories and the country analysis have been published as a booklet on the website and distributed to good practice providers and stakeholders. The booklet is accompanied by general information translated in the partners’ languages for facilitating the access.This collection of best practices fosters the efforts and identify possible barriers to educate and train refugees and to integrate them in the job-market. It helps to network under the aim to develop successful measures in a good quality and to make possible the transition between different stages of guidance, training and job.

The European Union needs competences, innovation, balanced and integrated territory development in order to boost its growth. Indeed, innovation is not only a linear process, a result of R&D activities. On the opposite, more and more innovation sprouts in broad, multi-sectoral socio-economic contexts, strongly application-oriented, and through complex processes, integrating top-down (based on economic development policies) and bottom-up (user- and market-driven) approaches. Higher Vocational Education and Training (HVET), specially for qualifications around EQF level 5, has a relevant role, and a tremendous potential to that aim. In fact, its curricula: - link to high-tech production sectors; - without being academic, fulfil the market demand of technicians with new and high-tech competences, able to foster innovation and master and manage advanced organisational and productive processes; - lay between upper secondary school and university, right at the hub among education, academy and business; - are governed, designed and managed jointly by public authorities, schools, training bodies, enterprises; - are highly interesting to students, as they offer tempting perspectives on several fronts: steady employment, career advancement, continuous training.Aware of such challenges and potential, SHINE targets actors governing and managing HVET programmes, as well as to students, aiming at bridging the gap among individual local economic contexts and goals set by corresponding regional Smart Specialization Strategies, by acknowledging the role and innovative potential of high-level technical professional profiles. SHINE locates in the expertise of actors like ITSs in Italy, Fachochschulen in Germany, and others, the best tools to contribute to the development of local production contexts. The project followed a cycle foreseeing: - survey and evidence of excellence in HVET in partner territories, as to crosslinking HVET and business, management practices, governance; - peer review of excellence and identification of innovations/spillovers for improvement, especially regarding smart specialization and local development strategies, proactive approach to training and skills supply design, business involvement, ability to deliver innovation services; - definition of an innovative model for design and governance of HVET programmes, in order to encompass the above issues at stake; - piloting the model in practice, by local action plans; - assessment of results and subsequent identification of policy mechanisms to improve the use of EU tools (e.g. ESCO, ECVET) by HVET; - definition of possible improvement processes and related indicators for high level (national/EU) policies; - review of the model, by involving the “Triple Helix” stakeholders (training/innovation, business, institutions); - validation and fine tuning. In compliance with what mentioned above, the methodology adopted by the consortium includes a constant switch among bottom-up (collection of information, stakeholders involvement, piloting) and top-down (model definition, process definition) phases, always flanked by monitoring of progress made.Main results achieved are: - improvement of training offer by partners, with subsequent increase in the employment chances for students and in competitiveness for local companies; - improvement in competences of company trainers involved in programme delivery, thanks to sharing and discussion with other EU excellent partners; - set-up of a permanent, relevant EU network, gathering public and private excellent HVET actors; - capacity building of decision makers governing HVET, and subsequent acknowledgement of tools for reviewing innovation policies, with special regard to professional technical issues, as innovation driver inside business; - definition and piloting of a governance system, based on the integration of HVET policy makers and the labour market. SHINE is performed by a strong consortium of 8 partners in 6 EU countries: Italy, Germany, Sweden, Romania, Croatia and Belgium, representing a competent and skilled mix of public and private organisations, profit and non profit, decision makers and technical, with education and training organisations, employers associations, public institutions, European networks, in the spirit of providing for a true strategic partnership.

Internet and wireless technology are changing the digital economy and will revolutionize every commercial sector, disrupt the workings of virtually every industry, bring with it unprecedented new economic and work opportunities and create a more sustainable low-carbon society to mitigate climate change. With the process of digitization Industry 4.0 emerges which refers to the fourth industrial revolution that creates gaps in productivity and changed people’s behavior throughout the world. Industry 4.0 is the transformation of the whole industrial production through the application of digital technology to the traditional industry.As studies have shown we are in the midst of a significant transformation regarding the way we produce products thanks to the digitization of manufacturing. This encompasses a wide range of communication between human-human, human-robots, robots-robots etc. as well as gaining an immense load of data. Both activities are at a more detailed level based on sensors and their activity. Sensors are and will be embedded into every device and appliance, allowing them to communicate with each other and users, providing up to the moment data on the managing, powering, and moving of economic activity. Already, 14 billion sensors are attached to resource flows, warehouses, road systems, factory production lines, the electricity transmission grid, offices, homes, stores, and vehicles etc. By 2030, it is estimated there will be more than 100 trillion sensors connecting literary everything.The Wireless-UP! project recognizes the shift in the digital economy and Industry 4.0. It thus has developed a new vocational module which contributes to the further strengthening of key competencies in VET curricula in the electrotechnical sector according to the needs of the Industry 4.0 and Digital Economy. Alongside the module, a new toolkit for VET students and learners was developed to facilitate the gaining of new skills. A skills benchmarking model in form of local and transnational competitions helps to assess and compare the skills of VET students and learners from different countries learning the same module. The base for the development of the WirelessUP! Training Module were the “Recommendations for local implementation of smart systems in VET for industry 4.0”. The aim of it was to provide a baseline for implementing an educational framework of the Wireless-UP! training module. The methodology helps understanding current and future labour market demands, how it will shape both the need to re-skill the current workforce and vocational training for young people and helps to formulate skills development in the electrotechnical sector. Following a defined methodology, the partners have identified altogether 28 occupations and 39 courses/subjects within the occupations in five partner countries which are suitable for implementing the new Wireless-UP! Training Module. The Recommendations offer a detailed description of the level, duration and key competences of identified qualifications and for each qualification the level and learning outcomes of identified subjects. The Wireless-UP! Module is thus made of three parts: Internet of Things: Sensing and Actuator Devices, Connecting Devices to IoT via Wireless Mesh Networks and Implementing Wireless Technologies in Automation Systems with a duration of the 45 school hours which equal three ECVET credit points. The Module is accompanied by the Wireless-UP! Toolkit offering both theoretical description and practical exercises for VET learners and students. The practical exercises are design in form of projects using IQRF, Arduino MKR1000 and RaspberryPi which support the theoretical part. Theoretical content and practical exercises are also available at Moodle platform as e-learning materials. In addition to the Wireless-UP! Module, the Wireless-UP! Trainers Guidebook supports trainers and teachers in the development of effective training as well as in the development of transversal competences along with the professional ones. It offers a range of instructional cards as a series of methods and exercises for the capitalisation of professional and transversal competences, mainly creativity, communication and commitment and sustainability. In order to test and exploit the results of the project, project partners have organised pilots of the Wireless-UP! Module and train the trainer events. At the training events more than 50 teachers, trainers and mentors have participated, whereas more than 100 VET students have participated in the piloting in the 5 VET schools. In order to assess and compare the acquired skills, partners introduced local and transnational competition as a form of benchmarking. Competitions offer a wide range of potential benefits. They help the participants to develop technical and soft skills that are crucial for their career progression. The developed module will be implemented in the regular vocational education partner schools.

ACROSS- “Appraising transversal skills in green jobs for employability of youth and workers in restructuring processes” contributed to strengthening the capacity of VET and labor market organizations to reduce the gaps between available skills and labor demand and to deliver innovative tools to bridge such gaps focusing on two main tenets: sustainable development in the so-called green economies and the appraising of transversal skills as portable skills in times of high unemployment and restructuring. The project has looked at green jobs as a cross-sectorial overhaul of traditional jobs in transforming/ restructuring sectors and the development of innovative, technology- and efficiency-driven new jobs also in traditional sectors. ACROSS has highlighted distinctive features that adapt general transversal skills to the green context and the different meanings that “green” could have in different job profiles and specializations. Led by a European network specialized in training and inclusion of people at risk, TANDEM PLUS (FR), the partnership is made up by diverse but complementary partners, operating in the relevant fields of VET and employability operating directly in many territories in different Members States, covering 9 different countries (FR, IT, PT, DE, HR, BE, NL, DK, FI), with expertise in different realms of IVET and CVET, including capability to adapt policy, devising and delivering career support services, effective transversal competence assessment, support to entrepreneurship, analysis and development of tools, also ICT driven.The needs identified at the project’s start: (1) the transition to new forms of “green” economy is not easily foreseeable but necessary to the fields of education, training, employment and business support services (2) the weak capability of micro, SMEs to identify not only products, but human capital with suitable skills to transit to a greener approach; (3) high need for flexible (on-the-job, practical) sound methods for skills appraisal and development available in the portfolio of VET providers; (4) the effort to develop tools for green skills must not be a separate policy from wider frameworks. To respond to these needs, ACROSS has identified the following specific objectives:1. To expand and improve the knowledge of current practice on ACROSS’ two tenets to provide partners and other stakeholders with concrete methodologies and tools2. To provide multi-stakeholder accepted analysis of issues and innovative, blended solutions as a set of concrete tools for professional development to be streamlined in wider VET frameworks; 3. To test and transfer ACROSS tools and strategies 4. To make the project’s results and outputs accessible to the highest possible number of actors, stakeholders and beneficiaries The project’s first output, “the ACROSS knowledge toolkit”, has drawn on different analyses of sectorial trends (CEDEFOP, OECD, ILO) and builds on past & current work, changes in the labour market, the experience in skills forecast, and the long experience in skills’ assessment and key skills/profiles for innovation, including the partnership’s experiences and work with SMEs. The partners have embedded the project into the appropriate transnational EU framework, using the ESCO (European Skills, Competences Qualifications and Occupations) taxonomy and standards. The extensive work done has been conducive to the development of three blended tools which are based on a cross-cutting principle: contextualization of transversal skills in jobs and work environments that have the attention to preservation, promotion and development of environmental, social and economic sustainability. The result is a set of integrated tools: a tool for transversal skills assessment (IO 3); a tool for guidance and employability in greening jobs(IO4); a tool to anticipate green skills needs(IO5). All tools are available online on a platform http://acrossonlinetool.eu/. A 5-day intensive joint staff training has been pivotal to the development of the methodology, which has been tested on a very small scale (IO6). The overall methodological approach has been codified in the “ACROSS model” (IO 2) and disseminated through local and transnational multiplier events to present the results of the project and to promote its approach to external stakeholdersBased on existing good practice and innovative tools, the ACROSS model and its tools are, at the end of the project, already re-used in mainstream VET and employment policy (ESF funded activities). The partner organizations are already – and plan- using the tools developed in the project as part of their service delivery, in some cases within larger policy frameworks at regional and national level. The small experimentation has shown that final beneficiaries appreciate the simplicity of the tools, and professionals deem them as useful new support in their job.