Development of an integrated innovative approach – consisting of a right mixture of prevention, intervention and compensation measures – to fill the gap between low-level secondary or vocational education and the labour market. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Development of an integrated innovative approach – consisting of a right mixture of prevention, intervention and compensation measures – to fill the gap between low-level secondary or vocational education and the labour market.

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 school 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; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
The economic climate in Europe in the years before we started our project resulted in more youth unemployment. Also unskilled work in particular in the east of the Netherlands and Eastern Germany was replaced by automation, which reduced the chance of a match between school and (low grated) jobs. Teachers had the impression that they were educating their pupils for long-term unemployment. This was for the pupils and for the teachers very frustrating. Mismatches between education curricula and labour market needs increased the risk of educational failure as pupils lack prospects within their chosen educational pathway. Linked to this, another phenomenon that was a risk factor for unemployment was early school leaving. High early school leaving rated not only had long-term effects on the societal developments and on economic growth; at individual level early school leavers also had an increased individual risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. During the execution period of our project the economic situation in Europe was improved, even though we concluded that it had no impact on the project planned.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of the HanDS project partners was to develop an integrated innovative approach to prevent current pupils to be unemployed and get stuck at home, and to reengage people in education and training who have had their education interrupted due to various reasons.The results of this project had to be a right mixture of prevention, intervention and compensation measures.

NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS
The project was executed by a consortium of four partnering organisations:
1. Surplus Foundation (SURPLUS), located at Enschede, the Netherlands;
2. Vakschool het Diekman (DIEKMAN), formerly named DE WISSEL), located at Enschede, the Netherlands;
3. Istituto di Istruzione Superiore ” Ten. Remo Righetti” (TEN. R. RIGHETTI), located at Melfi, Italy;
4. Entwicklungsgesellschaft Energiepark Lausitz GmbH (EEPL) located at Finsterwalde, Germany.

In order to reach our goal, both secondary schools joined forces. VAKSCHOOL HET DIEKMAN is a school that only offers practical training/education. TEN R. RIGHETTI is formed by ITIS and Vocational School in Electrotechnics, Electronics and Mechanics. The students attending the vocational school TEN R.RIGHETTI obtain a degree evaluated in the 3 or 4 Level of the European Qualification Framework (EQF). The pupils at DE WISSEL can only obtain certificates instead of a degree; the aim is to enlarge the opportunities at the labour market. As a result of both, TEN R. RIGHETTI is more professionalized. Although schools play an important role in addressing these problems they cannot and should not work in isolation. These problems need an integrated approach that should consist of a right mixture of prevention, intervention and compensation measures. Therefore were added SURPLUS, an innovative and solution focused organisation that offers and develops work opportunities for unemployed individuals, and EEPL, a project development company that aims to develop methods/instruments to overcome barriers to enter the labour

DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN MAIN ACTIVITIES
The HanDS project was structured into a number of Work Packages, units of work with clearly defined goals and deliverables. Every individual Work Package contained essential steps involved in completion of the Work Package along with a deadline by which each of the steps had to be completed in order for project management to stay on track. Work Packages allowed for simultaneous work on many different components of the project at the same time by the project partners involved. Completion of a Work Package was overseen by each of the Work Package Leaders; within the HandS project every project partner, taking into account their individual strengths, was responsible for the coordination and successful execution of one of more Work Packages.

RESULTS AND IMPACT ATTAINED
As a result of a three year cooperation the integrated innovative approach foreseen was developed.
More specific our project resulted in:
– A measuring system to categorize pupils and job seekers in order to offer them the rightful attention and guidance.
– A suitable employment/internship programme for pupils to gain as much as possible practice work experience in a short period as -possible (internship carousel).
– A connection between the (warm) school and the (cold) labour market through adapted curricula and policies on the basis of an extensive analysis of the labour market needs.
– A clear set of web based guidelines based on the job carving principle

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 253931,61 Eur

Project Coordinator

Stichting Surplus & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Entwicklungsgesellschaft Energiepark Lausitz GmbH
• Het Stedelijk Lyceum locatie De Wissel
• Istituto d’Istruzione Superiore Majorana
• Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ten. R. Righetti