Early school leaving has been identified by the European Commission as a particular challenge facing many EU member states. It is associated with high youth unemployment, a lack of employment related skills and a wide array of other social problems. There are many reasons why some young people give up education and training prematurely: personal or family problems, learning difficulties, or a fragile socio-economic situation. TICS project is based on the idea that professionals working with young people ( social workers, experts in orientation/ insertion, trainers ..) can play a vital role in dropout prevention, intervention and remediation.Nowadays, the new technologies today condition the relationship of accompaniment, counseling and follow-up with the young, and professionals are led to diversify the tools of exchange and communication. Vocational training and education organizations need to be encourage to use new technologies in a more appropriate way to foster dialogue and motivate learners.The project partnership composed by 7 organizations from 6 different European countries ( Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Slovakia) aimed to prepare these professionals through new technologies to fight drop-out, to enable them to improve the way they listen, communicate, support youth, that are fewer and fewer on streets, but more and more on web, always connected, always visible.

Our proposal is based on Bruges Communiqué declaration in December 2010 strategic objectives and the Consortium organizations working experienced. We have detected that VET professionals when focusing in migrants and refugees in vulnerable situations, lack of knowledge and resources in different areas such as 1) Work-based flexible and blended learning methodologies that can increase the success rate of students and decrease dropouts; 2) The use of intercultural and multicultural background in VET courses; and 3) Collaboration and exchange of knowledge between different organizations.In order to address the abovementioned needs, we have set the following project OBJECTIVES:1.Strengthening international cooperation in the field of VET between different types of organizations focused on promoting immigrants and refugees’ labor inclusion in the areas of sewing, upcycling, fashion and design 2.Design, implement and test a common work-based Training Programme aimed at VET professionals focused on immigrants and refugees in the abovementioned fields 3.Enhancing access of low-skilled immigrants and refugees to high-quality outcome-based VET, through flexible learning paths including key competences (languages and entrepreneurship) in curricula within an intercultural gender framework4.Strengthening the use of blended learning approaches combining Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with face-to-face pedagogies, tailored to boost the social inclusion of difficult-to-employ people (DTE) such as immigrants and refugees in vulnerable situations 5.To promote the professional development of VET professionals in NGOs, VET centers, Education centers and Social Enterprises to jointly implement innovative curricula providing a common language between competences acquired in learning and the needs of occupations and the labor marketIn order to achieve these objectives we have created a CONSORTIUM formed by NGOs, VET providers, Social Enterprises and Higher Education Institutions from Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Belgium, closely linked with the fashion and training sector. According to the project aims the TARGET GROUPS are: -VET professionals (trainers, mentors, practitioners)-Immigrants and refugees at risk -Key-Stakeholders and Public Authorities (local, regional, national and European level)-General stakeholders and publicThe ACTIVITIES the Consortium will implement to reach the project objectives will be: -Transnational Partner Meetings-Preparation of Intellectual Outputs-Short-term joint staff training events-Multiplier Events-Local Workshops-Transnational Dissemination Campaign-Individual meetings with key-stakeholders and public authorities -Evaluation processes of all the activities and outputsThe METHODOLOGY used throughout all the project will be the Dialogic learning approach, which will ensure a horizontal and participatory bottom-up approach in order to actively engage all participants. The project main RESULTS will be the following: -IO1. Competence framework for VET professionals in the fields of sewing, upcycling, fashion and design addressed to immigrants and refugees at risk. -IO2. Intercultural Training Programme for VET professionals in the fields of sewing, upcycling, fashion and design. -3 Short-term joint staff training events in Barcelona, Bologna and Athens. -15 Local Workshops in Barcelona, Bologna, Athens, Brussels and Madrid. -IO3. MOOC for VET professionals and practitioners in the topics of sewing, upcycling, fashion and design focused on DTE. -IO4 Handbook for trainers in the topics of sewing, upcycling, fashion and design focused on DTE.. -Fashion4Inclusion National Seminars in Athens, Bologna, Brussels. -Madrid Fashion4Inclusion European Conference. -Counter-narrative awareness dissemination campaign in Social Media. The expected IMPACT in the groups of participants throughout the project results will be: -404 VET professionals (trainers and practitioners) are involved in the trainings increasing their professional development and knowledge in the project fields-135 Immigrants and refugees in vulnerable situations are involved in the trainings increasing their access to high-quality VET education and increasing their labor inclusion-110 Key stakeholders and Public Authorities from the fashion, VET and integration sectors are involved in the dissemination and sustainability activities creating a network at a local, national and European level-30 Key stakeholders and Public Authorities sign the Multi-stakeholder Agreement in order to capitalize and scale-up the project results in the future-7.000 Stakeholders and general public are reached through the Counter-narrative campaigns The potential LONG TERM benefit we foresee is that after the project funding all materials produced will still remain accessible through the project website, hence other organization and public administration will be able to replicate it

Diversity, multiculturalisme and the related issues and challenges represent major concerns for the Member States of the European Union, whether from a social, political, educational or economic perspectiveIn this context, the B.LIVING project aims to develop a new European dimension on intercultural education in Vocational Education & Training (VET) and school education by addressing the religious diversity inherent to our multicultural societies, from the human rights and intercultural learning perspectives.Innovative pedagogies, like the dialogic learning (learning that takes place through dialogue) and peer learning (which help students and learners to play an active role in the teaching-learning process) will be adapted and applied to the specific needs of the target groups of users and beneficiaries, in order to build intercultural settings in classrooms.B.LIVING aims to empower teachers and trainers to cope with religious diversity and boost intercultural education in multicultural contexts in the formal, non-formal and informal training environments. 3 main objectives were reached: - Support teachers and trainers in teaching religious diversity and intercultural education in formal, non-formal and informal contexts. - Provide teachers and trainers with innovative practical tools that are ready to use or to adapt to the specific needs and contexts of school training centers, vocational training centers and adults training. - Provide teachers and trainers with a set of Open Educational Resources (OER) for school, vocational and adult education professionals.The above objectives were reached by developping 4 intellectual outputs, namely: 1. The B.LIVING Curriculum, based on the European ECVET framework and addressed to VET teachers and tutors for the assessment, validation and recognition of learning outcomes for teaching religious diversity and interculturalism. As well as setting a framework for the assessment of learning outcomes based on the ECVET methodology and Tools.2. The B.LIVING Handbook aims to provide in depth information about basic concepts, definitions and innovative methodological approaches for handling religious diversity in positive and dialogical ways in the classroom settings and in non-formal and informal learning environments.3. The B.LIVING Toolbox, consists of a useful set of practical activities based on the B.LIVING Handbook with innovative practical tools to support educators in the teaching of religious diversity and intercultural education, in formal, non-formal and informal settings. It is a resource of practical information for the direct implementation of innovative methods in intercultural education addressing religious diversity. It contains a set of practical tools and methods adapted to the specific needs of our users and beneficiaries of the project.4. The B.LIVING training Platform & Application, a set of practical tools addressed to both educators and learners to raise awareness and develop knowledge on different elements related with religious diversity and interculturalism.