Supporting marginalized young adults to enter labour market through innovative Career Mentoring Model Erasmus Project

Project Title

Supporting marginalized young adults to enter labour market through innovative Career Mentoring Model

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

Despite extensive challenges, some marginalized young adults ultimately fare very well as adults, and their hopes and aspirations are similar to those of young people who have not been marginalized. Young adults are resilient and adaptable, and many make remarkable accomplishments, demonstrating an extraordinary capacity for creative insight and innovation. At the same time, however, too many young adults are struggling to find a path to employment, economic security and well-being. In 2018, 9.4 % of people aged 16-29 years in the EU lived in households with very low work intensity (Eurostat, 2019). Marginalized young adults as low skilled NEETs, migrants, disabled, with criminal background, etc. are much less likely than other young adults to experience a successful transition to adulthood. They have not had the same opportunities as their peers for exposure to career preparation options like mentoring. Usually they play at best a passive role in their own career-planning process. This may reflect low expectations that either they or others have, learned dependency or the perceived need for protection and support. Lack of appropriate vocational and social skills increase their social exclusion since they are at high risk of long-lasting unemployment and isolation or deviancy. In 2018, the rate of young people aged 16-29 years at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU was 26.3 %, or 20.6 million young people (Eurostat, 2019).

Project will support adult educators with an innovative career focused mentoring methodology for fostering the inclusion and employability of low skilled marginalized young adults; support adult educators to extend their services with innovative curricula and methodology for career mentoring and promote high-quality educational services in non-formal education institutions and organisations; seek to professionalise adult educators and enable them to support individual career development and aspirations of low skilled, unemployed young learners overcome skills mismatches in high demanding labour market.

Two main groups will be involved in the project: adult educators and marginalized young adults as low skilled NEETs, migrants, disabled, with criminal background, etc. During short-term joint staff training of trainers 14 adult educators-tutors will be trained. Trained adult educators-tutors will provide trainings for selected adult educators-mentors from local non-formal education institutions and organisations (42 total) in each partner’s country. Trained mentors (42) will perform the pilot mentoring with 84 final beneficiaries – marginalized young adults. 180 participants will enter dissemination workshops in LT, UK, IS, BG, CY and SI. Final conference in FR will involve 60 participants. Indirect involvement: approx 800 followers on social network Facebook accounts; by signing an agreement letters with stakeholders (14) we will reach all employees of mentioned organizations (approx 100) by media; by using online newsletters delivered to hundreds of addresses, multilingual press releases and media events we expect to reach approx 1400 stakeholders; by publishing Guidelines of Career-mentoring Erasmus+ Project Results Platform we expect to reach even wider auditorium of interest parties; by using narrative method of all project participants we expect to reach even wider auditorium of interested parties.

In 2 years project implementation period guidelines for career-focused mentoring and training material for tutors and mentors will be elaborated. The impact of developed intellectual outputs:
– adult educators will extend their services with innovative curricula and methodology for career mentoring and promote high-quality educational services adapted to individual learning needs of low skilled marginalized young adults;
– innovative career mentoring methodology will facilitate access to upskilling pathways and extend learning offers;
– extended competences will professionalize adult educators and enable them to support individual career development and aspirations of low skilled marginalized young adults to overcome skills mismatches in high demanding labour market;
– elaborated tools for the assessment of soft/transversal skills and trained tutors on how to interpret the psychometrics, understand an individual’s soft skills, work role preferences and learning styles etc. will improve employability of target groups;
– innovative curricula and methodology for career mentoring will support low skilled marginalized young adults who lack of appropriate vocational and social skills and thus increase their social exclusion since they are at high risk of long-lasting unemployment, isolation or deviancy;
– project will foster employability and socioeducational and personal development of low skilled marginalized young adults with new tools which will be developed with the aim to acquire and develop their high-quality career management skills and competences.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 214686 Eur

Project Coordinator

Eurotracks & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Asociacija MINTIES BITES
• APRICOT TRAINING MANAGEMENT LTD
• Skref fyrir Skref ehf / Step by step
• Association “To Preserve The Woman”
• Center za dopisno izobrazevanje Univerzum
• STANDO LTD