SPECIAL: Supporting and Promotion EntreComp through Innovative Advanced Learning

EUROFOUND records that in 2019 there were more than 9.3 Million NEETs in Europe which translates in a loss for EU economies that is estimated to be around EUR 142 Billion in benefits (i.e. foregon...

Against this background, SPECIAL objectives were to: 1. reignite NEETs’ sense on initiative 2. nurture NEETs’ perception of self-awareness 3. strengthen NEETs’ flexibility and adaptation to social and market labour dynamics 4. empower NEETs’ social and life skills 5. enhance NEETs’ employability opportunities and/or entrepreneurial spirits 6. increase NEETs’ proficiency in critical and creative thinking for self-employability/job hunting/development of business ideas More precisely, SPECIAL’s objectives were to generate positive outcomes for targets that translates into support in: 1) improving their sense of initiative and propensity in learning to learn: •brainstorm creative ideas •develop a long-term vision •valuing and assessing benefits, obstacles and opportunities of different career paths 2) strengthening their sense of self-efficacy •remain motivated, engaged, committed •increase resilience and adaptability •mobilise and inspire others 3) enhancing their sense of self-reliability •overcome challenges and set-backs •strategize and set clear priorities for their self-development •cope with risk and uncertainty SPECIAL wants to improve the reactiveness and readiness of the VET ecosystem to the dynamics of this phenomenon

The activities implemented can be break-down into two major categories: 1. TRANSVERSAL activities implemented horizontally: a) ‘traditional’ project management, settled to assure for smooth implementation of the project, high-quality cooperation and collaboration dynamics, achievement in due time of all KPIs, and more in general, high-performance standards in line with funding authority expectations: -quality assurance -monitoring & evaluation -risk management -time management -budget control & financial management -translational project meetings b) dissemination, promotion and sharing of project results, settled to assure project’s awareness, visibility & mainstreaming of project results among all considered stakeholders of relevance and further groups of interest: -consolidation at project level of common and shared dissemination plan, to standardize at project level the promotion and sharing strategy among partners and allow for coordinated and harmonized methodology -mapping, identification and engagement of stakeholders and groups of interest, based on guidelines and recommendations about timing and mean as per common plan -reporting of data for evaluation and assessment of results – and evaluation of finetuning strategies in case needed c) exploitation & valorisation, settled to increase the exploitation opportunities of project’s resources and results by other groups of interest that could potentially benefit from their adoption, and increase impact opportunities -valorisation activities and follow-ups to communication and sharing tasks -multiplier events -impact assessment, at launch, interim and final project’ stage 2. TECHNICAL activities pertaining to PRs specifically: a) PR1, set up and maintenance of the OER platform of the project. The OER platform represent the digital identity of the project and online repository of all deliverable, news and resources. The OER Platform stands also as the most robust and strategic means for online dissemination. Users can access the content for free, no log.in credential is required: the platform will be kept open and running even after the official conclusion of the project, this is to ensure for even greater opportunities for use f material by other interest parties and demonstrate commitment to the sustainability of the project b) PR2, detailed mapping and assessment of training needs and skills gaps of NEETs; other challenges, opportunities, inhibitors, etc that exists in the VET ecosystem for NEETs empowerment and engagement; thorough benchmark and linking of needs identifies with suitable training areas / competences from LifeComp and EntreComp intervening in that exact gap. The implementation of PR2 gave partners the opportunity to understand the concrete needs of NEETs to improve their socio-economic emancipation, and of the VET ecosystem as a whole to be more responsive and ready to the react to this specific phenomenon. Moreover, the development of the assessment allowed partners to identify the preliminary learning outcomes framework of the project, inspired directly by not only one, but two! JRC frameworks adopted at the same time. c) PR3, consolidation of curriculum and training material, translation and testing & validation with targets’ representatives at project level. Based on PR2 findings and evidences, partners have consolidated the training curriculum and training material of the project, which tackles and addresses the needs, skills and competences’ gaps that seems most “pressing” for targets. The material have been peer-assessed by all partners, steering committee, and the involvement of associated partners as well. This was to ensure for high-quality standards, pedagogical reliability of material and consistency of learning outcomes with targets’ needs, accessibility and ease of use of the content compared to the pre-agreed EQF standards. Once the curriculum as a whole was approved, partners moved on with the translation of the content, upload on OER platform in all languages, and widespread/capillary dissemination. The last stage of PR3 implementation was the testing and validation with representatives of target groups, which as per validation plan (adopted at project level by all partners) was supposed to involve at least 120 learners, and a sample of 15 VET providers (so as to ensure for representation of all potential interests involved, i.e., of beneficiaries and professionals) d) PR4, consolidation and translation of operational guidelines and policy recommendations. Towards the end of the project, partners have consolidated internally and at project level a considerable wealth of knowledge on the phenomenon, and how to address the background’s needs. Such know how and technical expertise has been publicly available to sustain further opportunities to foster the multiplier effect of the project, concrete sustainability and long-term impact, exploitation of results and findings in both ecosystems of policy and practice.

1. TRANSVERSAL outputs and results from tasks implemented horizontally: •project management plan, detailing the action and implementation plan of the project and other important aspects for quality assurance, financial management, milestones and timetable of implementation, distribution of roles and responsibilities among all partners •dissemination, promotion and exploitation plan, detailing the overall promotion and sharing strategy envisioned for the project, internal communication plans and procedures •stakeholders mapping, identification and engagement through recommended means. Results about dissemination, sharing and promotion and further detailed in the related section of this report •impact assessment report, detailing the impact of the project at level of staff members, learners, participating organisations, stakeholders and groups of interest, and at transversal level. Three distinct sections of impact assessment have been organised by partners. Details are included in the official final impact assessment report attached with the final reporting •official gantt chart for monitoring of milestones’ achievement, deployed by partners to assure for time management and consolidation of key results in due time •monitoring matrix, deployed by partners to keep track of achievement of KPIs (quantitative and qualitative) •quality assurance surveys (4 in total) distributed at the end of each TPM, this was to gather from partners feedback and impressions about: quality of results, impact achieved up to that moment, satisfactions with cooperation & coordination dynamics, satisfaction with internal communication, reactiveness and responsiveness of coordination and partners to address general concerns and doubts •multiplier events for exploitation and valorisation of results among targets and groups of interest (detailed information in the relevant section of this report) •sound, robust and reliable financial management and reporting procedures, and demonstration of value for money 2. TECHNICAL results and outputs stemming from PRs implementation: •set-up and maintenance of OER platform, official digital repository of the project and key means for promotion, sharing and valorisation. All resources and materials within are also compliant with the open access requirement of the E+ programme so that users have to opportunity to adapt it and finetune it based on the specific features of their operational settings and the use that they intend to make of it. •preparation of common methodology for PR2 assessment (including working templates for data reporting and elaboration). The methodology details distribution of work among partner, general scale and scope of the assessment, recommended guidelines to perform the analysis, timetable interna to PR2 for intermediate quality check and general monitoring of execution •literature review performed by partners of bibliography sources providing for details and insights on the topics addressed •draft and consolidation of 5 country reports + 1 pan EU and transnational report highlighting the skills, needs and opportunities’ assessment with reference to the geographical level of the analysis. Focus of the analysis in brief: -quantitative/qualitative indicators on the NEETs phenomenon -opportunities at education and training dimension for NEETs engagement -challenges to address from an education and training perspective the NEETs phenomenon •executive summary providing for concise and comprehensive key evidences and findings stemming from the analysis (available in all project’s languages, no FR) •executive matrix providing for linkages of needs assessment and skills gap of NEETs with LifeComp and EntreComp’ training areas and competences suited to intervene on that gap area •training and education resources in multilanguage version, diverse multimedia format, and in open access. List of training available here: https://www.projectspecial.eu/training.php?lang=EN#cat_17 •valorisation plan adopted internal to set the project’s strategy for validation and delivery of content (timetable, roles and responsibilities of organisations, numbers to be covered, format of reporting) •test and pilot of the training content with target groups of interest (further details under PR3) •consolidation by each partner of key takeaways and lessons learnt from the pilot of the content (gathered and collected to inform the content of PR4’s deliverables) •consolidation and translation into project’s languages of operational guidelines for professionals on hot to embed, implement and adopt SPECIAL resources withing their settings •consolidation and translation into project’s languages of policy recommendations to inform policy makers about key areas of intervention to promote new actions and intervention instrumental to support NEETs engagement and the reactiveness and readiness of the training and education ecosystem to tackle and address the phenomenon