POLAND-Fundacja Rozwoju Inicjatyw Edukayjnych I Społecznych

 Foundation for Educative and Social Initiatives Development is an foundation from Poland which activate in the field of Education. Our services and activities are directed to educational institutions, teachers and all target groups on the labour market.

   We are implementing good practices in gender issues and promote equal opportunities of women and men in all areas of life. Foundation is achieving its goals through the following activities:

1. Labour market research; 

2. Training;

3. Publishing;

4. Seminars;

  The Foundation puts strong emphasis on problems of young people and their engagement on labour market. 

  The Foundation takes part in activities and projects which aim at:

• Promoting youth work and education.

• Engaging and supporting young people to critically examine their work and our society. 

• Promoting the evolution of society's perspectives of youth, moving people from passive actors in society towards becoming engaged leaders throughout their entire lives.

• Promoting young people as part of a society, communities and  movements.

• Promoting voluntary activities among young people.

    Over time we have conducted various studies in terms of labor market insertion of graduates in the labor market, the correlation between their training and the craft that he is practicing , studies on distribution and evolution of occupations in the East of Poland.

   We believe that we have enough work experience in market research and in this project we will be able to accomplish a well documented study on the personal fulfillment of young employees in the last 3 years in our region and the correlation between their practices and training of employees. This study will provide relevant information useful in designing and structuring the best tools for vocational guidance and counseling on various trades.

   The personnel being involved in this project are specialists in human resources and carries out vocational guidance and counseling tools which will be loaded in the platform project.

SPAIN-Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Ciencia y la Tecnologia en Extremadura

FUNDECYT collaborates very actively, together the Regional Government of Extremadura and other regional bodies, in laying the foundations of the Regional Information System project. FUNDECYT has assisted on the preliminary studies undertaken to: firstly, detect the scientific, technological and innovative regional business and educational demands and, secondly, to implement methodologies in the different regional agents involved on RTD matters. 

 FUNDECYT will develop in this project two essential tasks: primarily as a catalyst for innovation and for the study of the society of Extremadura, FUNDECYT will ensure the identification of Best Practices in the Region focused in Educational and Vocational Guidance, bringing its experience and its natural position in society to serve as a bridge between public educational stakeholders, both regional and national training centers and private institutions such as academies and schools of business. 

 It will provide also all its "know-how" in the implementation of free software and open educational resources (OER) in the education system in Extremadura and will bring all the knowledge on the Education Technology Network for possible applications in other regions and the development of new training strategies. 

 By participating in this project we want to make open educational resource and new technologies that can be implemented free and easily adapted to the needs of other regions. It will be actively involved in helping to devise new tools for Vocational Guidance and Education through its regional experience. 

 Strategic use of technology applied to education promotes the teaching and learning achievement of the learning society, among these uses FUNDECYT will provide analysis of the different methodologies of processes related to self learning made in Extremadura within the platform of Rayuela and the Educational Self-Learning Platform or CALA Platform (Free and Open Campus of the University of Extremadura). These two experiences could also provide a framework for future testing of new settings targeted tools in the project and for testing new methodologies integrated in the process of guidance, teaching and learning for parent, teachers and students. The region needs a series of measures to curb extra-regional mobility of students due to the limited supply of specialized training and the weak link between companies and education.

SLOVENIA-KADIS

Kadis is an organization operating in the field of human resources and also has wide experience in recruitment, legal consulting and "know-how" in HR management and training.

 We have been working on employability and career guidance programmes since 1995. We are the main provider of employability skills trainings in central Slovenia and experienced in working with groups, providing various workshops and lectures for different target groups (employees, employers, unemployed and other job seekers, students, parents) and trainings for other career counsellors. We also offer career guidance services for individuals and SME companies. Within several projects, we have developed competence models for different career profiles, assessment of existing competences and tailor-made competence-based trainings.

  The team consists of professionals with background in psychology, social work, economy, teaching, adult education, law, sociology and cultural studies. Most are experienced career counsellors, both in individual and group setting.

  The company has more than 6 years of experience with international projects and partnership actions, both as coordinator and partner, covering topics such as vocational counselling for disadvantaged job seekers, career guidance for students, e-counselling (interactive platforms for job seekers).

  We developed a guidance programme (ICTEM - LdV project) for youth without vocational qualifications that has been integrated in active employment policy of ESS in 2006 and is still being used as a very successful programme. Also, Slovenia’s National Agency recently awarded our project Eguide (LdV project) with “Apple of quality”.  

  With our experience in giving trainings to youth, including students in vocational education, we see our contribution to this project as very significant because we have the expertise necessary to guide a young man fair and vocational decisions so he can choose a particular type of training dependence closely interlinked with a correct analysis of information about themselves and the world professions.

LATVIA-PROFESIONALAS IZGLITIBAS KOMPETENCES CENTRS “LIEPAJAS VALSTS TEHNIKUMS”

Competence center of vocational education "Liepaja State technical school" is one of the biggest vocational schools in Latvia with 1700 trainees and 130 teachers.The school is located in Latvia at 220 km from the capital of Latvia, Riga. The city Liepaja is situated at the Baltic Beach and Port of Liepaja is the third biggest Port in Latvia. 

  In our school we have pupils from social exclusion families and pupils with learning and behavioral problems also, and we have social, economical high motivated pupils as well. The school offers technical and commerce training programs for secondary vocational level.

  Our pupils are trained in various professions:

-Commerce worker and services - for Banking and Insurance,  Sales, Marketing and Advertisement, Transport forwarding and Logistics, Waiters, Cook, Confectioner;

-Technical worker - Computer Technician, Electricians, Car mechanics,  Mechatronic system technicians, Welder, Builder and others.

-We provide Life learning programs as well.

  In this project we make short videos and guidance tests regarding financial and economic field and trades food-processing industry.

  Population on the region Kurzeme is about 297.000.Most of young people after finishing secondary education goes to the capital of Latvia to study or goes abroad and seldom comes back to the region as employees or employers.

  We want to use the results of this project to support our school graduates to find a job according to market demands in the region where they live and thus avoid their massive migration to other areas and countries of the EU.In this respect our school teachers become more responsive and improve collaboration with the economic environment so they can fully appreciate the skills, attitudes and personality traits of students who work. All these will be useful to guide students effectively later using means and methods from project to help young graduates to local labor market integration.

  Supporting young people in career choices according to their interests and abilities, and offering high quality professional education in emerging sectors of the economy, the establishment of cooperation with institutions of higher education in the region, it would be possible to involve young people in the region's economic activities. 

  We have motivated and creative teachers in our team who can share the experience and intercultural activities in the best way to exchange good practice between different countries from the project.

Bulgaria-Professional High School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering "Marie Curie"

Professional High School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering “Marie Curie” (BULGARIA) is a vocational school in Sliven, which has about 120.000 inhabitants. The town is situated at 100 km from The Black Sea and 300 km from the capital, Sofia. The school was founded in 1962 and is one of the authoritative in the country. It has 500 students, aged from 14 to 19, 93% are male. They are trained in various professions:

- Computer technologies

- Microprocessor equipment

- System programming

- Automobile electronics

- Electrical equipment 

  11,2 % of the population in Sliven are Roma, the highest percentage of any Bulgarian province. The town was an important industrial centre before the economic and political changes in the country. After 1989 many of the industrial companies went bankrupted. The percentage of unemployment in the region is higher than the middle for the country. A lot of our students come from poor families, or have unemployed parents. They are from different ethos (Bulgarian, Turkish, Roma) and have different social status.

   Our main objectives in cooperating in this Partnership are to:

- communicate and cooperate with the people of other European countries to develop a methodology how to assist students to choose the right profession for their future,

- help the students to acquire knowledge, practical skills and competencies for their personal development, for future employment and for active European citizenship by creating videos, guidance tests about crafts for which our school provides training,

- enhance the students’ interests in vocational education, making it more interesting and attractive,

- contribute to the improvement of the quality of education by means of the motivation of teachers and students to learn from the others,

- promote and disseminate educational best practice, including new teaching methods and materials,

- identify the most efficient and innovative pedagogical approaches in professional education,

- promote tolerance and respect towards other races, cultures and societies different from ours, learn more about other cultures

- improve the ability of students and teachers to work in teams.

ROMANIA- LICEUL TEORETIC TUDOR ARGHEZI

“Tudor Arghezi” high school is situated in the city of Craiova, in the south-western part of Romania.The school is situated in the north part of Craiova,we have a total of 1297 students and 84 teachers. The age of our students ranges between 7 and 19 years old. Our school provides primary(24%),secondary(26%) and high school classes(50%),but 11% of them are students enrolled at the Maximum Security Penitentiary present a high risk of social exclusion;they are aged and have learning difficulties school there are specializations:literature,social sciences,mathematics and computer science and natural sciences. Every year about 60 students give exam for professional certificate in computer science.

 Informatics department compose by three teachers,we have psychological department and four graduates of the Faculty of Psychology which collaborate for counseling and guidance to our students. Of project implementation committee will include:psychological counselor,teachers graduates of the Faculty of Psychology,professor of computer science,English teachers,guidance and counseling teachers,teachers in career guidance committee and other teachers motivated. In this project,our school will create instruments for counseling and guidance for students who choose computer profile. We will implement these instruments in our school, in the north and center part of the county to a number of 100 students to tests their abilities. 

  For our school this project:

-will be a bridge between all participants who will share their experience about counseling and guidance,culture and traditions and development communication skills in English.

-will give to the students the opportunity to receive information, advice, counseling and guidance in choosing the route in the context of individual professional curriculum. 

  The teachers and students in our school took part in national and international projects, as well as in partnerships with other schools from the Oltenia region. Such projects range from Comenius,to e-Twinning,to European spring day and to Grundtvig. The teachers in our school are permanently preoccupied with improving their project management skills. Thus they have graduated from topic-related master programmes,attended different trainings at a regional level and managed to improve these skills by actually taking part in international projects.

ROMANIA-LICEUL TEHNOLOGIC TRANSPORTURI AUTO

 Grupul Scolar de Transporturi Auto as an institution that provides education and trains students of all levels; pre-primary, primary, secondary, high school, evening class. 1602 students are coordinated by more then 100 teachers. In our school there is a Technological department and there are 25 teachers who teach technical subjects and they are in cooperation with two counselors and psychologists. Each year our teachers visit every secondary schools from the south county and discuss with the students, present them the qualifications in order to motivate them to attend our school and trained.

  The school is located in Craiova in a neighborhood isolated where the average income of people is generally below the minimum wage and most of them are Roma people. The students from high school are prepared in: computer technician qualifications, car electrician electronics, transportation technician, auto mechanics, auto diagnostician.

 After the first year of high school,professional orientation in secondary school became mandatory in Romania last year.  Curriculum included only 5 hours of career counseling/school year by teachers of different subjects helped of two psychologists. Although there are some useful material in training, they are insufficient, inappropriate to the specific age and personality of students, are particularly difficult to enforce and interpret by the teachers of various subjects which are not specialized in this sense.

 The short time allocated to professional guidance does not allow presentation of a wide range of jobs required in our area. In addition, students have no access to a free online platform which can be access from home by parents and pupils. This platform will help them to form a clear image of the activities and to apply himself various guidance vocational tests and receive a qualify feedback.

 In this project our school will organize study visits and shadow days in auto services and auto enterprise, will create guidance tests regarding auto field, short videos about auto crafts taking in consideration our field, will implement these tests in the south part of the county to a number of 100 students which are in various stages of professional training.

 This project, through its activities and its structure, will support development of modern and efficient tools for professional guidance which can then be implemented by teachers and students in county schools. Many teachers and psychologists will work in this project.

TURKEY-AVANOS KIZ TEKNİK VE MESLEK LİSESİ

Italy-Comune di Sant’Angelo in Vado

The Municipality of Sant’Angelo in Vado has a training department, certified in the Marche Region, Italy. The training department offers training to internal employees on communication aspects and team work and has experience in vocational training and continuous education for adults with emphasis on socially and economically disadvantaged groups, i.e. immigrants, unemployed people. 

  The Municipality of Sant’Angelo in Vado is situated in a rural area in the Marche Region and has the highest density of immigrants in the whole Province of Pesaro and Urbino. 

  Furthermore the Municipality has participated in previous Leonardo and Grundtvig partnership projects on intercultural dialogue, vocational education and training techniques and Lifelong learning. 

  The Municipality cooperates with all local stakeholders, schools, higher education institutions and in particular with experts in new training methodologies for adults and younger generations. 

  In this project, our specialists from the training and IT departments will create the Moodle platform which will be used, first of all by the students of the partner's schools of each region of the partners and by the all persons interested of the career guidance.

  We are aware of important role of local community as a link between education providers and employers and we want to use the results of this project in the whole community for a better integration of the young people on the labour market and the access of informations regarding their VET guidance. In this sense we provide to the community members and interested schools the content of the platform regarding videos about crafts, informations about the ECVET competences necessary practicing various crafts, cognitive and aptitude tests, quizz, about crafts from the countries involved in the project and the members of our training departments will offers qualify and efficient support in counseling and VET guidance whenever they need. 

  All of these will be made available free to all the people interested in all the period of implementing the project and after that. Our specialists of the training department will update and adapt continuously the content of the platfom, taking in consideration the requirmments of the users detected in time. 

Turkey-Seyhan Ilce Milli Egitim Mudurlugu

 The Directorate of Education is responsible for the central administration of all aspects of education and related services in Seyhan district. The Directorate’s main areas of responsibility are in pre-school, primary, post-primary,vocational education,adult education and special education. Its primary statutory duty is to promote the education of the people of Seyhan district and to ensure the effective implementation of education policy. 

  The Directorate also aims to ensure that students, through participation of 177 schools, to reach the highest possible standards of educational achievement. In pre-school settings, schools also promote personal well-being and social development, so that children gain the knowledge, skills and experience to reach their full potential as valued individuals.

At present, the Education Department of Seyhan, can be categorized into three (3) different entities. 

   (1) Department of Education (Pre Primary and Primary)

   (2) Department of Education (Secondary Education&Vocational education)

   (3) Department of Adult Education.

Role in the project; 

Our local authority will be the coordinator in this project. 

Specific social context;

Our local authority takes place in a disadvantaged area because unemployment and immigration are great problems. According to the survey done by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) in 2010, the rate of unemployment is 19.1% in Adana and it is in the first place like in 2009 in Turkey.

    The Directorate of Education has great potential of  teachers. Therefore there is also great potential for taking an active role in this project and implementing best practice findings which will benefit the whole region.

Within this project, identifying common quality criteria for the qualifications and professional development of VET teachers and counselors on guidance and counseling will help to increase the awareness of pupils on selecting appropriate vocation. Testing their abilities will help to realize their own weaknesses and skills.

    The impact of the project in our region will be huge as there is no such a platform where they can find for free videos about crafts, informations about the requirement of a European workplace, so when they will choose their craft to be better informed about what it really means.