Integrated training programme package for VET students

<< Background >>Many VET graduates, especially from rural areas and poor families, struggled to continue their education and sought employment. They faced obstacles such as overly specific qualifications that didn’t match labor market demands, lack of awareness about opportunities, low self-esteem, emotional challenges, and limited soft skills like communication and decision-making. As a result, many became hard to employ, often missing out on active labor market programs. Without proper support, they risked long-term unemployment and deepening social exclusion.The project addressed these challenges by offering a more holistic, individualized, and flexible approach to the complex problems of unemployment among VET school graduates in the modern, dynamic labor market to improve employability. It focused on creating synergies between education and business sectors, developing tools to identify skill gaps, and equipping teachers with knowledge and resources to better prepare students for the labor market. The project aimed to improve employment prospects for low-educated, inexperienced youth from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds by enhancing VET graduates' soft skills and adapting education to fast-changing work environments.<< Objectives >>The I-Career project aimed to transfer, adapt, and implement an integrated training program (materials and methodologies) to develop the soft skills of vocational students while reducing the gap between the skills required in the labor market and those offered by VET education. The objective was to address the mismatch between marketable skills and those provided by VET.The i-Career results were developed to achieve this goal by providing training materials to VET students, their teachers and job counselors, as well as job seekers. We focused on critical challenges such as a lack of awareness of labor market requirements, inadequate qualifications, low self-esteem, and a deficiency in soft skills, including problem-solving and decision-making.The project was designed to enhance the employability of vocational school students and equip counselors to help them compete effectively in Europe and beyond. Through cooperation within a diverse consortium (VET schools, local authorities, private companies), we wanted to increase the educational institutions’ abilities to collaborate with the business sector.<< Implementation >>The project was originally planned for 24 months from Feb. 1, 2022, but was non-costly extended by 6 mo. and lasted until July 31, 2024. In that time, we implemented the following activities:A1: PM: planning, resource allocation, task distribution, progress monitoring.A2: Dissemination and Exploitation: visibility through events (round tables, final conference), developing a dissemination strategy, managing external communication and promotion.A3: Quality Management: continuously monitoring and evaluating activities.R1: Competency gap verification tool, the team conducted in-depth interviews with employers and school staff, collected data, prepared reports, and refine the tool, followed by online surveys to gather further feedback.R2: Didactic Methodology: The research on competence gaps results were analyzed to develop a methodology, which was further tested with partners’ students and refined through national multiplier events – roundtable discussions.R3: Interactive training materials, Partners delivered 20 crash courses with additional materials. When the e-learning platform (icareer.projectsgallery.eu/) was developed, the training content was systematized, uploaded, and tested internally and during multiplier events. The materials were then reviewed by partners and finalized for use.<< Results >>The I-Career project produced several key outputs and supporting deliverables.R1: Competence gap verification tool (Res1: bit.ly/4elzQls) – A joint business and educational tool, including an online survey and a summary report based on research from five partner countries to assess students' competence gaps.R2: I-Career Didactic Methodology (Res2: bit.ly/47KbXS8) – A methodology file to improve vocational students' employability, supported by a methodological recommendation report based on 30 surveys across five countries.R3: Interactive training materials (Res3: bit.ly/3Bn4ZGr) – This included 20 crash courses, Teacher’s Corner materials (to implement the courses), and virtual interview simulation for VET students and job seekers. Before multiplier events, the content was tested with 179 instead of 50 vocational students: Poland – 141 ppl, Bulgaria – 28; Italy – 10, and refined after it.During multiplier events the video testimonials were created: bit.ly/3Bw4bik The project also produced dissemination materials, including promotional content, the i-Career platform (icareer.projectsgallery.eu/), and visual identity.