Level Up

Level Up has produced innovative resources that engage in the promotion of VET pathways to young people making decisions around education transitions. These aims are driven by the fact that the number of people entering VET has dropped across Europe in recent years, a fact which is contributing to growing skills mismatches within European labour markets. Therefore, policy makers and VET practitioners have begun to realise that there is a need to challenge misconceptions around the reality of contemporary VET in order to help position this educational pathway as a ‘first-choice’ once more for young people. Level Up has contributed to this work by building an interactive tool for use in guidance sessions with young people that draws clear parallels between the learning outcomes found within work-based VET and career development. In part, this approach begins to breakdown stereotypes around VET routes being a second choice to academic tertiary education, by highlighting that learning outcomes in VET are as varied and complex as those found in university courses etc. At the same time, the link which the tool draws between VET and the labour market demonstrates to young people the value which training within the VET sector has on long-term career progression. Given that young people nowadays are digital natives, an innovative use of ICT was needed to maximise the impact of project activities. As a result, the project took a game-based learning (GBL) approach to the development of its outputs. A VET-based game has been built which allows young people to simulate progression through the VET system, by drawing on scenarios based on the learning outcomes, levels etc. found within work-based VET. By designing the GBL platform around the principles of flow theory, the project demonstrates the diverse and challenging nature of VET through a medium which is proven to add an engaging, innovative dimension to traditional educational guidance for young people. Indeed, the interactive, ‘fun’ nature of the GBL platform guides and informs young people, increasing their motivations for considering VET pathways by disseminating its information and guidance through a medium more normally associated with leisure and free time. To capitalise on players’ increased motivation around VET, and to further challenge misconceptions and stereotypes, each game level links to complementary content found within the project’s online portal. Here, both young people and the guidance practitioners who work with them are able to find regional, national and European information on the career benefits of VET, Labour Market and Skills Information, and further guidance on training routes etc. This provides game players and professionals with the hard data and further information needed to inform decisions around VET pathways, by showing the concrete long-term impact of gaining such skills. To make sure that these outputs were of the highest quality, the project carried out extensive research into the current state of both GBL and the promotion of VET within European careers guidance. This research informed all project activities, as well as fed into practical resources for careers professionals, to help them further develop their own skills and confidence in embedding innovative ICT tools, such as GBL resources, into their work. At the same time, the project drew on several European level tools and resources in its development. This is because it was felt that an open, transnational approach to the promotion of VET was needed in order to offer effective resources that highlight the diverse training routes and career opportunities found across Europe. This includes the European Qualifications Framework, as well as practical labour market tools such as Europass. This approach has helped the project produce universal resources, which demonstrate the demand and opportunities for people with vocational skills to build careers on the local, national and European level. Level Up’s outputs will have a positive impact on the quality of guidance provided to young people considering education options, as these resources both engage learners and upskill the support staff who work alongside them. In terms of staff development, the LMSI resources and guides to digital tools produced by the project help to improve the quality and standard of guidance, as staff will feel more confident in both promoting VET and using digital tools in their work. Similarly, this increased staff engagement, coupled with the direct interaction with young people through the GBL platform, means young people will make better informed decisions about their education and training. Ultimately, this means that they will develop skills more directly suited to the needs of the labour market, and so begin to address the skills mismatches found across Europe.