Occupational Health and Safety Practices of Disadvantaged Students in Vocational Education and Working Environments

We wanted to make vocational education safer and more inclusive for students with special educational needs (SEN). Our goals were to: ⬩ raise the OHS awareness of ≥50 SEN learners by 30 % in 12 m...

We wanted to make vocational education safer and more inclusive for students with special educational needs (SEN). Our goals were to: ⬩ raise the OHS awareness of ≥50 SEN learners by 30 % in 12 months ⬩ close teachers’ own OHS gaps by co-creating at least one new method and exchanging good practice among four countries ⬩ publish engaging videos/simulations that lift student awareness a further 20 % within six months ⬩ co-design two practical fixes for the OHS problems SEN learners face and test them in workshops/on-the-job training ⬩ run a Final Closing Meeting ⬩ embed a “take no risk—take precautions” culture across partners and release open resources others can adopt In short, we sought to equip disadvantaged young people with the competence and confidence to enter work safely, while giving their educators and families lasting tools to sustain that impact.

People with special educational needs still reach workshops and internships without basic Occupational-Health-and-Safety (OHS) knowledge. National data show that only 15 % of Portuguese SEN learners — and 20 % across the EU — ever received structured OHS training, while 65 % of Portuguese VET teachers and 60 % of their European peers admit they were never trained to teach it. Seventy percent of parents fear workplace risks but lack reliable guidance. These gaps keep disadvantaged students out of the labour market and undermine Erasmus+ goals on inclusion and employability. We therefore built a small-scale partnership to: (1) equip at least 50 SEN learners (14-18) with practical, interactive OHS skills and raise their risk-awareness by 30 %; (2) upskill teachers by co-creating at least one new method and on-the-job observation, so they can deliver effective OHS education; (3) reassure families via webinars and plain-language resources that cut anxiety by 20 %; (4) exchange good practice and co-design two concrete solutions with employers and NGOs that partners can transfer nationally. In short, we applied to make VET safer, more attractive and truly inclusive for the students who need it most.

Projeto Erasmus: Segurança e Saúde no Trabalho para alunos com necessidades especiais; Projeto Erasmus+ em foco: Maximizando a Saúde e Segurança no Trabalho; ERASMUS: Final Closing Meeting; Visita de Estudo ao Centro de Reabilitação e Formação Profissional da CERCIGUI – Uma Nova Etapa no Projeto Erasmus+; Visita de Estudo ao Centro de Reabilitação e Formação Profissional da CERCIGUI no Âmbito do Projeto Erasmus+; Drama work; INFOGRAFICS; Augmented Reality; Cube Merge and template; Virtual Reality; Survey for the teachers of the children with special needs about occupational health and safety at the workplace; Survey for the families of the children with special needs about occupational health and safety at the workplace.