Educational Pathway to Attract Youngsters for Textile Careers

In recent times, the textile & clothing sector has undertaken a continuous process of modernisation resulting from investment in more advanced technologies, improved product quality and programmes of company development that have produced employees with increased levels of competence across both technical and operational activities. Nevertheless, the renewal of the sector’s human resources is becoming a serious problem, due to the lack of a labour force with the appropriate skill sets, a structural factor that limits the potential for innovation, productivity improvement and ultimately the competitiveness of the sector. The EDU4TEX project intends to support the development of a more attractive and competitive industry, based on young people who are properly informed, trained and motivated to work in an sector that is no longer perceived as a traditional industry that only offers repetitive, menial and demotivating tasks. The project will evolve into a chain of activities geared towards mobilising young students, their educators, tutors and schools, explaining the relevance of a career in the industry, (mainly in textile & clothing industry). This will be achieved by establishing a programme of practical, scientific, technical and technological training activities and creating new, didactic contents related to a wide range of textile & clothing operations to provide a new insight into how the sector works, and the opportunities it offers. The project will raise awareness and familiarise young people with the markets, materials, equipment, and standards operating across the sector as they relate to a wide range of occupations, illustrating the range of career opportunities available and facilitating the choice of potential vocational and professional career paths supported by structured information, advice and guidance. The result of this project will valorise the school community role supporting important decisions relating to students’ career choices, increasing the awareness of the opportunities that exist across the sector and motivating young Europeans to embrace new emerging careers in growing, competitive companies. EDU4TEX will address two specific audiences: - Career advisors, teachers and schools: We will develop high quality pedagogical content to help teachers and career advisors, providing information to assist in the guidance of young students to the orientation in vocational processes; - Young students: High quality pedagogical and practical training contents to encourage young students in the choice of a future career in the textile and clothing industry. The consortium established is represented by 9 partners from 5 European countries, namely United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Italy, and will unite key players with the necessary expertise to fulfill the project objectives, creating an innovative relationship between the sector and schools, creating European dimension with their complementary backgrounds, expertise and capabilities. Another significant aspect is that most of the partners have already worked together and have developed strong relationships based on the delivery of successful activity. The partners will complement each other and they will produce a broad-based segment approach, exchanging knowledge and previous educational resources between partners’ organisations, disseminating relevant information and knowledge, and finally supporting a large involvement of potential users and other related institutions among EU countries. Our overall ambition is to make a real impact on students’ career choices, opening up new opportunities across our sector and illustrating the wide range of job roles where they can develop high levels of technical expertise, providing exciting, and rewarding careers in a vibrant and growing sector.