From Youth to Work Erasmus Project
General information for the From Youth to Work Erasmus Project
Project Title
From Youth to Work
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 youth
Project Call Year
This project’s Call Year is 2017
Project Topics
This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment
Project Summary
Implementation of the project From Youth to Work has led to improved practices in youth work in areas of vocational guidance and career counselling by developing three intellectual outputs. Area of career counselling and vocational guidance is a multi-sectorial type of social service where knowledge transfer and exchange of experience are crucial for development of skills of practitioners in that area.
Therefore, in order to obtain the relevant national overview on the specific needs of practitioners in area of career and vocational guidance, comprehensive needs analysis was undertaken in the frame of IO1. As a phase 1 of the IO1 development, each partner organisation provided comprehensive data on the national background of the career guidance systems in their countries, possibilities for youth with special focus on practices of employment offices, vocational guidance centres (if applicable), guidance systems within educational systems and NGOs programs for supporting unemployed youth, especially those for NEET and other underprivileged groups. The desk research part of the IO1 report was concluded with the overview on networking between different stakeholders and examples of best practices in each participating country in supporting unemployed youth. The phase 2 of the IO1 development consisted of the implementation of empirical study by application of 92 semi-structured interviews (min.15 per country) among the practitioners in area of career and vocational guidance. This undertaking resulted in collecting data on the professional needs for competences and potential obstacles and difficulties in their everyday work as well as the crucial points for further development of the skills in this area. The collected data provided the solid foundation upon which the content for the IO2 – training curriculum was further developed.
Further contribution to development of high-quality youth practices and providing support for youth workers in area of career and vocational guidance was established through development of the intellectual output 2 – comprehensive training curriculum.
The training curriculum was jointly developed by 5 partners and piloted in local environments. It is intended to be used by various target groups such as youth workers in youth centres, job clubs, practitioners from social care system (youth in children homes or foster care system), national employment service offices, career counsellors in vocational and other types of schools.
The training curriculum is designed in modular format with 5 moduls, each of the modules can be used separately. First module stands out as an introductory theoretical overview (Effective approach toward youth). Second (Effective self-assessment and job research process), third (High quality job search tools) and fourth module (Appropriate communication and self-presentation) provide highly structured and interactive learning units that provides knowledge, tools and approaches in areas of career development, self-assessment, job search tools and appropriate communication and self-presentation. The fifth module provides a broader context by which youth workers, by using various proposed tools can guide young people to use the capacities of the local communities in developing their own projects, finding solutions for encountered problems etc.
In order to further support employability of youth and support transition from educational activities to labour market, an innovative online platform – Youth portfolio was developed under the scope of the IO3. The Online platform “Youth portfolio” is designed in a way that enables any young individual to develop its personal digital portfolio as a way of managing its own personal competencies. Young person is enabled to take part in a process of self-assessment, mapping its own qualities, competencies and relevant experiences either from past formal or non-formal experiences. Youth workers can also use the online platform during the implementation of developed training curriculum as a practical tool through which objectives of training curriculum can be achieved.
Beside the concrete, extensively developed intellectual outputs that are the core achievement of this project, it is important to acknowledge the multisectoral nature of the project that facilitated opportunities to cooperation of relevant stakeholders from different backgrounds: public sector, civil society organisations, youth organisations, academic sector, local government representatives etc.
In terms of the partnership consortium, organisations had the immense opportunity to improve their knowledge and competences in area of career and vocational guidance and are able to directly foster the exploitation of the project results due to their numerous projects and specificities of the target groups working with in their everyday professional life (e.g. migrant population, unaccompanied minors, care leavers or youth in care system, long-term unemployed, etc.).
EU Grant (Eur)
Funding of the project from EU: 168905 Eur
Project Coordinator
SIRIUS – CENTAR ZA PSIHOLOSKO SAVJETOVANJE, EDUKACIJU I ISTRAZIVANJE & Country: HR
Project Partners
- TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE
- EMINA Pályaorientációs Alapítvány
- FORMAZIONE CO&SO NETWORK – CONSORZIO DI COOPERATIVE SOCIALI SOCIETA COOPERATIVA SOCIALE
- Conceitos do Mundo – Associação para a Promoção dos Direitos Humanos e do Desenvolvimento Sustentável
- Directia Generala de Asistenta Sociala si Protectia Copilului Harghita