"""WelComm: Communication Skills for Integration of Migrants"" aimed at raising awareness of the importance of education for social inclusion of migrants from early age and promoting opportunities for equal start in education. WelComm addressed EU policies on early childhood education and care (ECEC) by developing materials and approaches for supporting school readiness and language acquisition of migrant children and at the same time supporting parents in their role as the main educators of their children during the early years. Among others, the WelComm products were designed in order to help children understand better the content of lessons taught, increase their interest in the benefits of learning, raise their motivation and create interest in educational opportunities.The WelComm objectives were focused on:- Providing opportunities for equal start in education for migrant children in pre-primary and primary school age- Raising awareness of the importance of education for social inclusion from early age among migrant parents- Developing innovative tools for non-formal language learning and thus improving the capacities of migrant organisations and language educators working with migrants - Developing basic communication skills in host country languageThese objectives were achieved through the development of a Multimedia Learning Kit for Migrant Children – a high-quality, attractive multi-device language product for creating and upgrading language skills of migrant children. The Kit includes a variety of language learning materials, using or involving several forms of communication or expression. It was produced in a tangible form as “WelComm GameBox”, containing a DVD with animated films and video with motion games, 4 board games and a colouring book. In addition to the GameBox there are 6 comic books of fairy tales adapted for the purposes of language learning in each one of the partner language. The Kit was produces in 1,200 copies in the 6 partner languages (NL, BG, IT, ES, PT, GR) and spread among numerous migrant organizations and language providers working with migrant children and parents. It provides them with new approaches and motivational boosters for engaging migrants in a process of integration in society and improving the quality, attractiveness and accessibility of the language offer for migrants.The Multimedia Learning Kit was piloted within 11 demonstrational workshops training 137 (volunteer) educators to use it with learners. The training workshops created a substantial multiplication effect and numerous follow-up events demonstrating the Kit were organised both by the workshop participants and by the project partners upon request from organizations. The Multimedia Learning Kit was provided to more than 88 migrant organizations and language providers which are currently using it within numerous language courses with hundreds of migrant children and parents. In addition, 11 events for exploitation and sustainability of the project results were organised involving over 230 relevant stakeholders. The WelComm project was widely disseminated within 187 dissemination events reaching over 3,400 people; thousands more were reached through social media (Facebook, LinkedIn) and online dissemination. All materials developed under the WelComm project are available on the project website (www.welcomm-project.com), which already has registered nearly 5,500 unique visitors and more than 450,000 hits."

The economic crisis in Europe has caused that one of the priorities of the EU Member States is to work in order to face the consequences from the high levels of unemployment. These data are very negative in the case of population who are 30 years or under this age. The rates of youth unemployment are generally much higher than the unemployment rates of all ages. The group who is under 25 years old is one of the most affected by the crisis, if compared to other age groups. According to Eurostat (2013), the highest rates of unemployment among young people under 25 years old in the UE belong to Greece (58,6%), Spain (55,7%), Croatia (49,9%), Italy (40%), Cyprus (38,7%) and Portugal (37,7%). The fact of being unemployed at an early age has a negative impact; but unemployment does not only affect low-skilled youngsters, but also those young people with higher education levels and with many difficulties get a work position according to their qualification level.The EU promotes entrepreneurship as a key factor for competitiveness and highlights the importance of promoting the European culture of entrepreneurship by stimulating the right mindset and skills related to it. In the Recommendation from the European Parliament and the Counsel in 2006 about key competences for lifelong learning, entrepreneurship was included among the eight key competences. Improving creativity and innovation -including entrepreneurship- at all levels of education and training are long-term objectives from Education and Training 2020, in the strategic framework of the European cooperation. According to “Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe 2012”, 8 countries have launched specific strategies to promote education for entrepreneurship, whereas other 13 include it as part of their national lifelong learning strategies, youth and growth. Regarding concrete training programs on entrepreneurship for teachers/trainers, only in three countries of the EU it is possible to find them, but these are only feared towards teachers of the formal education system. The main barrier is the lack of concepts related to enterprising skills included in the teachers’/trainers’ curricula, key element to train and transmit the entrepreneurial values and attitudes to the younger population. Two concrete objectives: *Increasing the skills on the entrepreneurship of VET trainers/teachers. *Improving the skills on entrepreneurship of unemployed young people between 16-25 years old. Several activities are going to be developed to get the proposed objectives: *Analysis of good training practices on entrepreneurship of young people at local, regional, and national level. *Analysis of the training lacks on entrepreneurship by the young population. *Design and elaboration of on-line pedagogical contents to promote corporate spirit and culture. *Development of methodological guidelines to support teaching.*Implementation of the training contents through an on-line pilot experiences with teachers/trainers and young people.7 partners from 7 EU countries will participate in the project. 6 partners will play technical functions (CIAPE in Italy, IFH in Portugal, POU-Obris in Croatia, Synthesis Center in Cyprus, CVT. G. Anaptixis in Greece, and IFES in Spain), and one technological partner who develops the different tools related to ICT (G4E from Latvia). IFES will be the promoter and coordinator.EnYouthTeacher duration will be two years, from 1st of September, 2014 until 31st of August, 2016, and it is part of KA2 call from Erasmus+ program of the European Union. The Intellectual Outputs will be 4: Competence profile of VET teachers/trainers, Guide of Best practices on training for youth entrepreneurship, Training material for VET teachers/trainers to encourage entrepreneurship, and Training material for unemployed young people in entrepreneurship. 26 activities have been programmed to achieve these outputs, including interviews, groups of experts, desk research, elaboration of training material, pilot experiences, etc. Besides, there will be activities for dissemination (seminars and workshops), evaluation of the quality, validation, and four transnational meetings. The target groups will be VET teachers/trainers and unemployed young people. Other beneficiary groups will be Public administrations, social partners, organizations in charge to promote the entrepreneurship and self-employment, RRHH managers, training experts, etc.

In the context of high youth unemployment rate in EU, VET with a strong WBL component is a mean of enhancing the employment opportunities of youth. It is estimated that the demand for work-based trainers and educators will still continue to increase, and yet there is no single qualification that brings together the range of skills that these professionals need. Significantly, many occupationally and technically competent staff members are also being asked to support learning in the workplace, as tutors or trainers, and as mentors to apprentices, but not all are being supported in developing their personal skills to allow them to do this effectively. WBL-PRO aimed to create, pilot and mainstream a new job profile for the WBL Professional in a transparency approach, i.e. through the application of EQF and ECVET, detailing the specific knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy necessary to promote, guide, assist, facilitate and assess effective WBL experiences. The EU WBL Professionals are endowed with an online platform for training purposes offering: a sound understanding of theoretical perspectives which underpin WBL and offer justification for its place in the curriculum; a skill base which will allow them to deploy a range of facilitation, learning and assessing methodologies when supporting students, assuring quality in WBL delivery and facilitating the recognition of learning outcomes; and a content-based toolbox, meant as a repository of relevant best practices and tools collected from sharing and mutual learning activities among the countries involved. WBL-PROFESSIONAL.EU is a One Stop Virtual Space for WBL Services– an innovative online platform with open educational resources. All the Intellectual Outputs of the project are uploaded and implemented on and via the platform - Intellectual Outputs: WBL Pathways Research and Analysis Report (O1), WBL Professional Job Profiles (O2), WBL Professional Qualification Manual (O3), WBL-PRO Toolkit (O5), WBL Professionals Peer Network and Top 12 Empower Talk Movies Panel (O6). WBL Professionals can enhance the employability perspectives of young adults by: facilitating learning at work, linking learning, teaching and assessing in VET and CET and work-based learning; assessing the learning of work-based students in a view of recognising learning outcomes and assuring quality control and assurance of WBL programmes. The project goals were in compliance with the program priorities for innovating and increasing the quality and range of VET, including the production and adoption of OERs in diverse European languages.The project team included 10 organizations from 6 European countries: CIAPE, USRV and SCALIGERA (Italy), ANESPO and ISQ (PT), EMCRA and VHS im Lkrs. Cham (DE), BFE (Bulgaria), UEM (ES) and Biedriba Eurofortis (Latvia). The partners possess outstanding expertise and experience and the synergy of their professionalism, pro-activeness and commitment to high quality performance, teamwork in the spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and support was the solid basis for the successful implementation of the project idea.The activities included: management, coordination and monitoring activities; activities dedicated to the production of the Intellectual Outputs and achieving the set objectives and outcomes and activities for dissemination, exploitation and provision of sustainability.The envisaged impact for the first main target group - the young adults is their better employability. The impact for the second target group - tutors, trainers, assessors and those who design, develop, facilitate, support, deliver and assess learning at work is that they are able to improve the quality and widen the scope of the services they offer and thus improve their managerial skills and enhance their pro-activeness and sense of initiative.The whole society including the stakeholders, employers, representatives from VET organisations, etc. as indirect target group of the WBL-PRO project can benefit from the innovative and practical solutions to some of the most challenging nowadays problems. The main impact of the successful implementation of the project for the society is the reinforced interaction between practice, learning and policy. The dissemination activities were designed ad hoc for the new virtual generation and to promote the WBL-PROFESSIONAL.EU platform. All members of the strategic partnership expressed commitment to contribute with their networks of partners and professional contacts in their countries and across Europe for the dissemination, multiplication and mainstreaming of the project's outputs and outcomes. All projects partners were strongly committed that the WBL-PROFESSIONAL.EU and all Intellectual Outputs will be maintained and utilized for at least 5 years beyond the funded period.

"Experiments are being run all over the world about how best to introduce new, innovative teaching, learning methods that meet the requirements of the 21st century. One of these methods is the ‘Flipped Classroom’. Flipping means that processing the new learning content doesn't begin with the teacher's explanation as usually. Before the lesson the students get acquainted with the topic at home already, by watching an attractive, “provoking”, motivating video or other digital materials, created or collected by the teachers. So the teacher frees up class time to lead students in other activities, which help to develop their the 21st century skills (like problem solving, collaborating and communicating) much better than the listening the explanation of teachers.The aim of the project was to integrate the “flipped classroom” method into the pedagogical practice of the VET schools and training centers in two target countries, in Hungary and Spain. The long-term aim of the project was to improve the quality of the vocational education and to engage a movement towards the work-based, collaborative and problem-oriented and active learning/teaching by utilizing the pedagogical potential of ICT tools. The focus was on the pedagogical potential: to utilize the newest, really easy-to-use video editors and other web 2.0 tools for teaching practical subjects in the VET schools integrated into such teaching methodology which put the focus not on the technology but on the pedagogy.The target group of the project were the teachers and trainers of the European vocational schools, while the beneficiaries of the final results are the students of the vocational education.Objectives of the project were:- Review the theoretical studies and pedagogical experiences on Flipped Classroom method, and carry out a focused needs-analysis by involving the teachers of the partner countries;- Develop “Flipped Classroom Methodology” (curriculum, online training learning content, collaborative online environment for networked learning);- Pilot online course in the target countries by involving VET teachers;- Validate the results in two countries by involving the members of the target group, and even the beneficiaries, the students.The project idea was born among the researchers and teachers of the project coordinator, of iTStudy Hungary Educational and Research Centre for Information and Technology Ltd., related to their activities in the field of technology enhanced learning. The consortium involved further 8 partners from 5 European countries. Three higher educational institutes (Universidad Europea de Madrid, University of Hradec Kralove) represented the regular teacher education and provided the theoretical background and their former experiences for the implementation. The third one (Cork Institute of Technology) added expertise in design and development of digital learning contents and online courses, together with e-learning developer from the United Kingdom (Opus Learning Ltd.). In order to ensure the long-term impact in Hungary, the consortium involved four Hungarian vocational schools (SZÁMALK-Szalézi Szakgimnázium, FM Kaszk Bercsényi Miklós Élelmiszeripari Szakgimnázium, Szakközépiskol és Kollégiuma, Magyar Gyula Kertészeti Szakközépiskola és Szakiskola, Neumann János Gimnázium, Szakgimnázium és Kollégium). After a focused desk-research and surveying the teachers, the partnership elaborated comprehensive state-of-art review on the present educational innovations in the partner countries, with case studies on flipped learning. Based on the conclusions we defined the set of learning objectives and outcomes and developed a curriculum for the online course. The next step was a collaborative content authoring and translation and implementation of the course components into e-learning environment. The pilot test was running in the target countries, in Hungary, in Spain and in Czech Republic.The pilots - highly appreciated by the teachers - were followed by a refinement of the learning content, and we published the e-book titled "" Flipped Classroom in Practice - Innovation in Vocational Education"" freely available on the project website (http://flip-it.hu/) in English, Hungarian and Spanish. The main results of the project are the curriculum, the learning content and textbook on a new teaching method validated by significant number of teachers in the online pilot courses in four countries. The direct impact is shown by their reflections and feedbacks, while the long-term impact can be seen from the detailed case studies in which the teachers tell that they will use flipped classroom method in the future, and they want to stay the members of the Flip-IT community."

The EMBRACE Project aimed to structure and test a transnationally recognized methodology to identify, document and validate non-formal and informal competences acquired by migrants in their countries of origin or in other EU countries in order to improve migrants’ opportunities for entering the European labour market. The main target group of the project was represented by migrants from countries outside the EU who had recently arrived in our continent and who had or didn’t have formal qualifications or previous job experiences, gained in their country of origin or in another EU state. The project addressed the challenges that migrants face regarding their professional inclusion and strived to contribute to a more inclusive and cohesive society and to a better well-being among citizens, linking together economic development and social cohesion. The project raised awareness that an effective skills validation system could improve the supply-demand matching and foster a long-term professional inclusion based on the actual skills and competences of individuals. That also encouraged a higher level of transparency of the acknowledgements (due to the comparability of the professional qualification systems) and promoted the transferability of competences between sectors and companies also at EU level. This challenge was taken through the elaboration and experimentation of a specific procedure, based on “migrant-friendly” tools and on intercultural approaches. The objectives set in the planning phase have been achieved through the contribution and active collaboration of the whole partnership. Furthermore, in order to achieve the project objectives, it was pivotal to share a methodology based on the awareness that people from third countries constitute a plural universe of individuals, families and communities that cannot in any way be seen as a homogeneous whole: they come from dozens of different countries, they profess different religions, they reach Europe for work, for family reunification, for birth, for transit, for study, for health problems or to escape from a war, they are young (above all) and they are elderly women and men who arrive alone or in family groups. In this scenario each partner implemented several actions in the frame of their institutional activities that followed two directions: recognizing and validating professional skills and paying attention to foreign citizens and their inclusion in society. The partnership was composed by 8 organization from 6 EU countries and included partners from traditional countries of arrival (Italy and Spain) and from countries of destination of the migration flows (Denmark, Netherlands and Germany); partners’ profiles are vocational training and guidance agencies, cooperatives and associations dealing with migrants reception and social integration support, local public bodies and workers’ organizations that, beside their diversity, have been able to carry out the entire project process. The activities have been mainly focused on the agri-food sector, considered as a growing and strategic sector in many EU countries. This sector absorbs a lot of migrants in their countries of origin and shows a strong demand of migrant labour force. Furthermore, despite the various production technologies, it presents basic analogies in the different countries (origin and arrival). EMBRACE has produced 3 main Outputs: the Catalogue of professional profiles and skills required in EU and in the agri-food sector (Output 1); the methodological approach described in the Methodological Guidelines for the recognition and validation of skills in the agri-food sector with reference to citizens from third countries (Output 2); the Certification Toolkit for Experts and Operators which provides tools and a step-by-step guide to support migrants with finding a new or better job through identification and validation of their skills (Output 3). The materials produced can be freely accessed and used via the project website (www.embraceproject.eu) which will be online for 5 years after the end of the project. 2 multiplier events were carried out in Germany and Italy with the participation of stakeholders from local, national and European level. Wide dissemination has been performed via the project dissemination channels and via partners’ networks, by organizing campaigns mainly during live events and Social Media activities, creating and constantly updating a Facebook page and using YouTube and LinkedIn where also many promotional videos were shown.