<< Background >>The digital transformation is profoundly affecting the ways in which people contribute to societies, live and work, including in terms of the number and types of jobs available. While worries of widespread technological unemployment may be overstated, the impact of digital transformation on the nature of work and the skills required is very real and already upon us.The need for quality career guidance for adults is not new, but its importance has been underscored by the pandemic. Career guidance is a fundamental policy level to help adults successfully navigate a constantly evolving labor market through advice and information on job and training opportunities. There is a lack of understanding of the importance of training in today’s labor market, or difficulties in identifying suitable training opportunities.To succeed in the digital world of work, people need sound cognitive skills including digital skills, social and emotional skills, job-specific skills and importantly the ability and motivation to cope with change and keep learning, both in and out of the workplace. Life-long learning opportunities need to be promoted, particularly for low-skilled workers and ones that are just taking steps to enter the labor market with no previous experience how does it work in real, and barriers to training need to be addressed. Career guidance is most effective when it is tailored to an adult’s particular needs and when it empowers them to take informed action. For adults who are in need of retraining but are unaware of their options, conducting a thorough assessment of their skills is a necessary starting point in designing individualized career and re-training pathways. In face of demographic change, forthcoming digitalization and individualization, economic crisis, global competition and skills shortage many organizations around Europe are coming under increasing pressure to find and keep talented employees at all levels of skills who bring the right qualification, competence and motivation. The needs we plan to address with this project, taking into consideration all mentioned above are: - Addressing digital transformation through development- Creating up-skilling pathways, improving accessibility and increasing take-up of adult education- Improving the availability of high-quality learning opportunities for adults.The FAST TRACK project has the ambitious goal of becoming a Europe online one-stop-shop addressing the needs of career guidance practitioner,s different work providers and users:- Gen Y generation or Millennials are currently between 25 and 40 years old, they are young adults, already finished their studies but due the global career crises, most of them are still unemployed or are working the jobs that are not their qualifications. The project will help them to improve their skills and find suitable careers in a dynamically changing world. - Career guidance practitioners and other intermediary bodies offering career support to individuals will receive ready-to-use training tools and resources, as well as access to the multi-functional platform through which they can present their services, achievements and good practices and get in contact with people that need support in developing their career management skills- Relevant stakeholders, such as policy makers, experts, employers and educational institutions will benefit from the long-term outcomes of the projects: enhanced access to services, better understanding of the career management skills in the society, improved provision and uptake of CMS training, and better match between training and labor market demands.but also: - increase adult participation in learning- increase competences of adult educators and staff for motivating the participation and supporting persistence of adults in learning- increase the use of open online tools for implementing blended learning and increasing the flexibility of training programmes, supporting self-directed learning.<< Objectives >>Taking the above into consideration, the project aims at providing career guidance practitioners and tutors with the tools needed to implement Career Management Skills, utilizing at the same time certain features of modern ICT. It also seeks to improve the quality of the learning and guidance process by developing their key skills and experimenting with new technologies.Main objectives of this project are:- Identify and develop teaching and learning approaches, methods and resources that effectively support the development of CMS as transversal key competencies- Develop assessment and evaluation practices improving the quality of learning on Career Management Skills- Identify and develop the incorporation of the European dimension in CMS teaching and learning- Providing the professional community of career guidance practitioners with the tools to implement CMS via the application of new technologiesTeachers, educators, career practitioners and also beneficiaries of the project, will get specialized training in order to be able to actively participate and support adults in their career guidance process, using the interactive digital platform as a vehicle to expand and upgrade career guidance to higher levels of efficacy and usefulness.Partners will for sure address multi-sectoral (or cross-sectoral) challenges in order to improve the quality of support to certain target groups or sectors; develop an integrated approach to different learning obstacles; Increase effectiveness and efficiency in the use of partners’ resources and make the best use of activities in the region.Partners will produce a range of project results addressing the real need of target groups of the project:- Prepare GEN Y for new job opportunities - digital transformation will lead to jobs being lost,and others being created. As labor markets transform, it is imperative to promote successful and fair transitions from declining to expanding work opportunities.- Empower GEN Y with a mix of skills to succeed in a digital world. To succeed in the digital world, people need sound cognitive skills including digital skills, social and emotional skills, job-specific skills and importantly the ability and motivation to cope with change and keep learning- Get ready for a massive training challenge - Life-long learning opportunities need to be promoted, particularly for non- experienced young adults entering the labor market and barriers to training need to be addressed. This will be achieved through strengthening career guidance, assessing individual skill gaps, enhancing opportunities for distance learning, simplifying skills validation systems and increasing and targeting financial incentives and funding of life-long learning initiatives.- Improve the future readiness of adult learning systems. Adult learning systems need to be significantly scaled up and reach adults most at risk of being left behind by the digital transformation. - Training that is line with labor market needs is essential to ensure that learners see returns in terms of employment opportunities to their participation. - Develop digital tools to assist in re-and up-skilling. Digital tools can help tailor, accelerate and inject far more flexibility in the process, with the aim to give individuals more ownership over what, how, when and where they learn. As a lack of time and the location of training are often cited as a major barrier by non-participants, digital tools have a significant role to play in increasing training participation.- Develop new standards to recognize the skills acquired through lifelong learning.<< Implementation >>All project partners are experienced and have needed experts among their staff members to implement project activities and to achieve the project objectives and all planned results:-Set up MOOC for developing career management set of skills consisting of:Online CMS training modules for total of 12 career management skills which will be made of short online lessons, interactive resources for each of 12 CMS (practical cases and exert tips, online short exercises etc.). On the MOOC there will be also the self assessment developed which will lead learners to the right oriented training modules, final evaluation and tests for each training modules with the possibility of certification at the end. All of this is planned to be produced and developed as part of the first project result to be tested internally among project partners and with associated partners before the piloting and implementation with GEN Y – 15 participants in each partner country, 105 in total .-Develop career manual as short face to face course on transversal skills, as part of Introduction to career management. Focus will be on motivating GEN Y generation to find their own path in the fast - changing labor market and to encourage them to successfully navigate their life and careers through the online environment. It will be used also during the piloting in each partner country.-to deliver the piloting program in an appropriate way and to provide career guidance practitioners and teachers with useful tools to implement CMS, with a coherent and consistent use of modern ICT, the new training model will be developed for face-to-face and online delivery. The training model will be delivered during the C1 activity where 2 adult educators/professionals from each partner country will be trained to deliver the piloting program of PR1 and PR2 to the GEN Y. All developed materials and resources will be free for further re-use, even when the project is over and will be translated in every partner language.<< Results >>The project is expected to enhance career guidance, counseling and coaching, but also as related forms of support for employers and their employees.Regarding all mentioned above, the major results of the project are comprising of:-MOVE UP – MOOC for developing CMS of adults – online CMS training modules with evaluation phases developed and certification at the end of the training.-IN THE FAST LANE – introduction to Career Management to adults – manual for face-to-face course on transversal skills-LEAD THE WAY – training model for educators and career guidance practitioners for face to face and online delivery of the planned pilot program.The planned training/teaching/learning activity will train the educators and career guidance practitioners with the needed knowledge to conduct the workshop and enhance their skills to deliver the needed training together with using a digital supportive resources and training modules to GEN Y target group of participants. In addition to these project results, the multiplier events are planned to be organized in each partner country and the continuous, associated dissemination through different online channels.The combination of “learning” and “doing” as foreseen will promote critical thinking and motivation strategies of the learners is vital for future viability. This in turn will have impacts on career opportunities of young adults from different educational and social backgrounds.Facing the pandemic issues that reflected very much also on the education and the new digital era that we all were force to take on and adapt to, all the education package will be available as open source online, usage of the online elements that will raise digital literacy for trainers and learners. It will emphasize that in the digital era online experiences are an important source of education.The project partners also expects that cooperation and communication with all the associated partners will foster enforced networks among all, which will not only assure sustainability of this project’s outcomes but also enable other cooperative projects. Based on the project outcomes, the most fruitful resources developed will be retained, categorized and shared with individuals and in the private sector during the 28 months of the project implementation but also, even when the project officially end.