Creating Employment Opportunities with Digital Empowerment

"<< Background >>The COVID-19 epidemic highlighted the need for more advanced technology and digital solutions in all sectors of the economy and society. The COVID-19 pandemic had expedited the digitalization and automation of many organisations worldwide, altering non-tech jobs due to the need to learn digital technology. ""The future of jobs report 2018"" (World Economic Forum, 2018) envisioned a future where digital technologies are adopted in manufacturing or vertical industries, deploying new automation and robotics features and ICT devices. In Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and solutions required new digital skills in the workforce, requiring humans and machines to co-work (Bughin & van Zeebroeck, 2018), which led to more computer programming positions. Thus, new vocations demanding advanced digital tools and solutions included programming and computer programming logic mastering (ITU, 2020). CODE's 24-month strategic collaboration for innovation in vocational education and training targeted 14-30-year-olds to fill the gap between digital skills requirement and demand in the market. The project taught VET students STEM/ICT skills, especially coding, to improve their comprehension of programming logic and paradigms. << Objectives >>The following is a list of the overall project objectives related to the project: -Training vocational education and training professionals in the implementation of courses related to the STEM/ICT field, with a particular emphasis on coding;-Facilitating the entry into the labour market for young vocational education and training (VET) learners; -facilitating the matching between labour demand and labour request for youth; -reducing the inequality gap connected to low-skilled professions, displacement, and disinformation.<< Implementation >>The project successfully achieved its objectives through the delivery of the following outputs:A Handbook that includes research findings and a guide, offering an innovative and digital learning system for VET professionals. This valuable resource was developed based on the research outcomes and the exchange of good practices among Consortium partners.A digital platform that now provides E-training modules, which were created based on the content of the Handbook.A digital application, co-developed with VET learners, which has been introduced and is disseminating knowledge on ICT coding to a broader audience.The project's reliance on the VET methodology was justified by its relevance to the chosen topic and the increasing trend of young learners at the upper Secondary level in the EU (European Commission, 2019) to engage with this type of learning. Through its activities, CODE has enhanced access to education and qualifications for all, while also addressing the gender divide. It has supported educators, particularly by offering training for trainers to deliver high-quality training sessions. CODE has also raised awareness among policymakers about the project's theme and the importance of promoting youth inclusion by fostering their participation in the labor market. The understanding of stakeholders concerning the project's topic has been improved through dissemination campaigns and by making the Intellectual Outputs publicly available and widespread.<< Results >>Tangible Results:1. A Handbook including:•A research report containing data and forecast about the present and future level of automation in manufacture and service sectors. The research also analyses the educational offer in each partner country, highlighting the weak and the strong points vis-à-vis the challenge of automation in labour market.•A guide based on the exchange of good practices among partners, containing instructions and practical information on how to develop and implement the VET course aimed at developing hard skills for young graduates in the ICT and coding field2. Digital Educational format based on the handbook that serves as a training base for VET learners. The development of ICT skills will be fostered both through an educational offer that includes innovative, inclusive and digital methodology and through the creation of a group project that involves the content creation of a learning platform.3. A web-based e-learning platform (Young Coders) has been developed by RobyCode UG in collaboration with VET learners for fostering coding culture to a wider audience4. 1 international mobility for VET learners (14-30) for developing and implementing the skills acquired during the VET course.5. A Puzzle (Puzzle-Code / Jupo) was created in order to teach coding to VET learners and other interested target groups. 6. 4 multiplier events (1 for each partner country) in which the outputs were presented to a wider public, stakeholders and policymakers.Intangible Results:1. VET professionals have benefit from the exchange of good practices deriving from the collaboration between the partners’ knowledge and experience, thus enhancing their educational instruments through the learning of new methodologies and approaches for the implementation of VET in the STEM/ICT field.2. Young people have developed sensitive hard skills that will enable them to enter the labour market more easily, thus facilitating the transition to labour market and adulthood. Young people have had the possibility not only to learn, but also to create outputs that will stimulate their creativity and critical thinking, thus developing self-confidence that will result in selfempowerment.3. Young people have benefit from the mobility that enables them to challenge themselves by creating digital content and by interacting with peers and professionals both having a different social and linguistic background, while at the same time stimulating their civic sense of belonging to the European society."