Better English and Transferable Skills for better job opportunities Erasmus Project

Project Title

Better English and Transferable Skills for better job opportunities

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The partners of this project shared the opinion that, as the global economic crisis had caused a high level of unemployment, it was much harder for people to find jobs. This also caused more cross-border mobility of EU citizens among EU countries in order to find a job or gain experience abroad. So, it was essential to improve the competitiveness of an employee in the labour market and therefore there was a growing necessity not only to improve English language competence but to improve also new skills – the transferable skills that are absolutely significant for finding a job – through English.
Transferable skills are relevant in various areas of life, especially in the professional field, and therefore it was necessary to develop a better matching between skills and labour market needs as well as to bridge the gap between education and work; and the goal of our project was to help our learners do just that.
Another important incentive for starting this project was the fact that the EU is now facing a wave of migration. Some of the institutions in our project could have had migrants as students, so they could really have benefited from our project, because they could have learned about transferable skills, the English language, cultural differences and business etiquette in different EU countries, and it could have helped them integrate and discover our cultures.

Our two-year project developed in two stages and targeted different and various participants.

During the first year, the focus was on:
– the exchange of good practices among the partners, in which 21 teachers from 6 partner institutions worked together;
– two trainings of the teachers of the partner institutions:
1) ICT possibilities in a classroom environment – in Brugge, Belgium;
2) new methodologies for teaching transferable skills, and the preparation of the teaching activities for the curriculum for transferable skills through English (B1 level) – in Rijeka, Croatia.
In total, there were 40 teachers from 6 partner institutions who participated in these activities.

During the second year, the focus was on:
1) the implementation of the curriculum for transferable skills through English for 53 learners in total who participated in classes (80 academic hours) at their local institutions;
2) three learners’ mobilities, which provided an opportunity to 41 of them to practice the transferable skills in different companies they visited in Spain, Estonia, Latvia, and Belgium.

The main objectives, results, and impact attained for the participating teachers were:
– exchanging good practices in order to provide a new teaching curriculum;
– cooperating to design common assessment grids, common tests, common activities enhancing cross-cultural communication;
– reflecting on and exchanging ideas regarding how various teaching methods could be implemented to teach transferable skills in an innovative and efficient way;
– refreshing and expanding their knowledge of cultural differences as well as the business etiquette in different societies, resulting in both personal development and more insightful lessons provided on these topics to their learners;
– answering the teachers’ need for continuous training and lifelong learning: the improvement of their teaching skills, teaching by means of ICT and new methodologies.

The main objectives, results, and impact attained for the participating learners were:
– reflecting on their language skills and improving them;
– developing transferable skills through English for more competitiveness and employability in the EU labour market;
– exchanging good practices about how to adapt in a different job-related cultural context;
– becoming familiar with the business etiquette in different societies for better inclusion in the job market;
– improving their awareness of European citizenship and becoming aware of how cultural differences influence the business etiquette.

For both teachers and learners, the participation in this project provided continuing professional development, thus supporting their career growth. For the learners, the project facilitated higher employability across the EU borders as well as their inclusion in the EU labour market and reduced social exclusion. Our project helped people of different age groups and different origins and social groups to learn both transferable skills and English language skills; and, as an additional benefit, while visiting business companies in the countries of partner institutions for practising transferable skills and English in a real-life job-related context but in a different cultural context than they were accustomed to, our learners also exchanged experience and learned about cultural differences and business etiquette in different societies. They also expanded their personal and professional networks with new friends and potential partners from the partner countries through personal contacts during the project, as well as enhanced their self-confidence in

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 92400 Eur

Project Coordinator

CBC Namur-Luxembourg – Formation et Enseignement Ecole Superieure des Affaires & Country: BE

Project Partners

• Alius Lingua
• Ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih Dante
• Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Mieres
• CVO Instituut Voor Volwassenenonderwijs Brugge
• Rapla Keeltekool