START UP MEETING

VOILA Project Presentation

Turin Monday 4 February 2013

VOILA: the acronym & the idea

VOCATIONAL

INTEREUPEAN

LEARNING NEEDS &

ASPECTS FOR SMES

VOILA is an experimental project focused on dialogue between training and labour domains, trying to bridge the mutual

understanding gap between the two of them.

Project start: August 2012Project end: July 2014

The aims

The project intends to contribute to the improvement of the dialogue between training organizations and

labour market:

Sharing an experimental methodology among project partners. It will be referred in particular to SMEs and their workers and will focus on the analysis process of their training needs;

Identifying a key figure, the VOCATIONAL MEDIATOR (or VOCATOR). He/She will deal with the analysis, identification and interpretation of workers and SMEs training and orientation needs. This activity will be very important also to support SMEs to define human resources development scenarios.

How will the aims be reached?

Sharing tools to analyse labour market and identify needs

Identifying a «methodological toolkit», containing ideas and techniques eventually recognized and implemented by the organizations involved in VOILA.

Partnership & Participants

The partners are:Centro Servizi Lavoratori srl – ITALY: workers services centerAktivity - CZECH REPUBLIC: service provider for disadvantaged peopleInstituto de Formación y Estudios Sociales (IFES) – SPAIN: vocational training organisationBusiness and Development Center-Centrum – POLAND: Adult education providerCreative Exchange UK Ltd - UNITED KINGDOM: counselling services for enterprises

The PROJECT COORDINATOR is a vocational training organizations : CFIQ – Consorzio per la Formazione, l’Innovazione e la Qualità.

During the project's design phase, three silent partners were involved: ENGIM Piemonte (Vocational training org.), Province of Turin (Local Authority) and CISL (Trade Union).

Mobilities

Participating organization Total no. of planned outgoing mobilities

CFIQ – Consorzio per la Formazione, l’Innovazione e la Qualità (ITALY) 15 (staff)

AKTIVITY (CZECH REPUBLIC) 12 (staff)

Instituto de Formación y Estudios Sociales (IFES) (SPAIN) 12 (staff)

Business and Development Center (BD Center) (POLAND) 12 (6 trainees and 6 staff people)

Creative Exchange UK Ltd (UNITED KINGDOM) 12 (staff)

Centro Servizi Lavoratori srl (CSL srl) (ITALY) 12 (staff)

GENERAL CONTEXT IN WHICH THE PROJECT IDEA TOOK PLACE

What do Project Partners have in common?

Countries with growing unemployment rate;

Gap in mutual understanding between labour market (and within it, between SMEs and workers) and vocational training providers;

Some training programs focus on obsolete skills;

Knowledge and skills acquired during training periods are often underutilized on the workplace;

What do Project Partners have in common?

Timing mismatch: when a SME defines its needs, it usually takes too much time for the training providers to set up courses and activities to satisfy them;

Lack of common language which generates misunderstandings and SMEs and workers’ difficulty in self-analyse their real needs.

Objectives and strategy

Meetings and discussion tofind a shared solution to

common problems

How?

Exchanging experiences and providing solutions to improve the relationship between VET organisations and labour market

Implementing tools and methodologies for need detection, training provision and validation of competences;

Implementing a common language to decode the «dialect» of workers and trainers, through the semantic wiki;

Creating a new professionalism: the vocator, able to interpret needs and transform them into coherent vocational training

Outputs & benefits

Outputs

o Common stakeholder analysiso Common context analysiso Semantic- wikio Training course for «Vocators»o Interactive website/blogo Newsletterso Labour market needs detection Toolkit

Benefits

For all participants: – New personal and professional experience;– Acquisition of a European perspective in terms of

communication and of methods and practices related to the main issue addressed by the project.

For trainers:– Acquisition of new and different training

methodologies

Benefits

For SMEs and workers representatives:– Learn to interact differently with the training system;– Acquisition of a new professionalism;– Learn to better express own needs in terms of skills

and competences.

For the Partnership consortium:– Establishment of a transnational network able to

work together on further projects and catch new financing opportunities in the next European programming period 2014 -2020.

Project implementation

Distribution of Tasks

o Each Project Partner will organise and host a meeting;

o The Hosting Partner will address both logistic and content issues and will coordinate the meeting activities from its preparation to its revision:– Before the meeting: prepare a draft to submit to

other project partners, defining organizational procedures, distribute tasks and provide templates;

– After each meeting: produce minutes and work on the final format of the documents/products foreseen, coordinating the partnership revision phase.

COMMUNICATION within the Partnership

o PSC (Project Steering Committee): composed by a decision maker and a technical representative of each partner in order to grant continuity and a sound communication flow within the partnership;

o Deadline and schedules to grant that all partners are always updated on project advancement;

o Regular work via e-mail and conference calls;o Project Communication Platform implemented within the

project website, displaying relevant information (calendar, reports, …);

o Possibly a person per each partner will participate to all meetings in order to give continuity to the internal communication flow.

COMMUNICATION outside the partnership

o E-learning platform to involve learners (including workers and SMEs), to spread and test learning and training activities and enhance the use of e-learning;

o Website/Blog: in English, with sections in partners’ own language, accessible and easy to understand;

o Multimedia material, uploaded in the website;o Press release at the end of each meeting, involving local

newspaper, where possible;o Quarterly newsletter distributed to stakeholders and target

groups;o Local round tables and workshops for stakeholder

involvement organized locally by partners.

EvaluationCarried out through project life, not only at the end, and involving, whenever possible, relevant stakeholders.Ex ante: surveys filled by partners and identification of specific indicators;In itinere: benefits, proper use of resources, management soundness, effectiveness of communication/dissemination activities, partners participation, stakeholder involvement, participants satisfaction, transferability and sustainability;Ex post: impacts generated on participating institutions, participants, partnership consortium and educative systems and their interface with the labour market, stakeholders involvement. Transferability and sustainability.

WORK PLAN (it is subject to change)

Phase 1

Period: from 09/2012 to 12/2012Project start-up, time schedule and Project Steering

Committee CFIQ, in agreement with the partnership, starts the activities with the «Project Steering Committee», which defines organizational procedures.In this phase, the Coordinator prepares documents and templates for the partnership. An estimated time schedule is defined by the Coordinator and then examined by the partnership (in particular, during this first meeting). It contains details about mobilities and the issues to be addressed.

Phase 2

Period: from 01/2013 to 02/2013Sharing of local and sovra-local contexts: labour market, training and

SMEs

First meeting: TURIN, from 04/02/2013 to 06/02/2013During this start-up meeting, the partnership is informed about the main activities done by each involved organisation. Orientation and information services addressed to SMEs and workers are analyzed. Each partner summarizes its own peculiarities, strengths and weaknesses of the local and sovra-local system with reference to vocational training, tools for training in SMEs and analysis of training needs in labour market. «Semantic-wiki» building begins in this phase, with the aim to create and enrich a shared vocabulary for training agencies, SMEs and their workers.

Phase 3

Period: from 02/2013 to 04/2013Summary of context analysis, implementation of the «semantic-wiki» and general

definition of the new professional figure, the «VOCATOR»

After the first meeting, the Coordinator works on the context analysis of all partners, in order to produce – after revisions - a final paper as result of the previous meeting.All partners work on the «semantic-wiki».Before the second meeting, in UK, the Coordinator sets a monitoring system of all activities and processes related to the project. This system should be periodically revised and enriched of new eventual key indicators. Communication activities start-up: quarterly newsletters, web site and social networking. Partners are asked to animate and use this tools.Creative Exchange UK Ltd - UNITED KINGDOM begins to prepare the second meeting. Partners are asked to provide a detailed description of:- professionalism working on training needs detection for SMEs;- methodologies and tools used.

Phase 4

Period: 05/2013Construction and sharing of the new professional figure (the «vocator»):

skills and tasks.

Second meeting: LONDON, date to be defined during the first meeting in Turin

The objective of the second meeting is to define the professional role of the vocational mediator. In particular, his/her specific competences are discussed.Each partner explains which professionalism has carried on these tasks so far and his/her characteristics. The general skills of this profile and work are shared on a first draft of the «Vocator Manual».

Phase 5

Period: 06/2013 – 09/2013Tools implementation

Semantic wiki: this is a transversal activity. After each meeting, CFIQ asks each partner to work on the semantic meaning of identified concepts, in order to create a common language. Social network e project website/blog: ENGIM Piemonte (silent partner) deals with animation activities. Each partner will contribute with discussions, documents, news, etc. Vocator Manual: the final document is issued after revisions by all Project Partners.

Next meeting will be in Valencia, SPAIN. IFES defines an analysis matrix that all partners will use to identify, study and analyse the labour market characteristic. These indications are important to set up the project work for the third meeting.

Phase 6

Period: 09/2013Detection of labour market and SMEs training and professional needs

Third meeting: VALENCIA, date to be defined during the 2nd meeting in London.Partners describe the tools used so far to analyse the labour market and detect its needs, sharing best and worst practices. The third meeting is about methodologies to analyse labour market, in particular for what concerns professional and training needs of SMEs and workers.Tools used by Project Partners are described, experiences and opinions shared, in order to define for each tool advantages and disadvantages and maximize the partnership cooperation.Similarities and differences are identified in order to define a common tool of analysis to be used in different contexts.Three tools are drafted in this phase, and they will be part of the «LABOUR MARKET NEEDS DETECTION TOOLKIT», made of 2 self-analysis tools for SMEs and workers to express their needs and 1 tool that training providers can submit to SMEs and workers to intercept their needs.

Phase 7

Period: 09/2013 – 12/2013

Testing of the «LABOUR MARKET NEEDS DETECTION TOOLKIT»

In this phase the final version of the Toolkit is issued, after being revised by the partnership. Project partners will test the Toolkit on at least 150 SMEs and workers.

Partnership identifies staff people who will be trained with the «vocator course».Transversal activities, such as newsletters, semantic-wiki, and blog/social network go on.The fourth Hosting Partner (BD Center) asks to other partners to choose a training sample descending from the piloting activity and imagine a hypothetical training course to propose to the sample.

Phase 8

Period: 01/2014

Training provision

Fourth meeting: RZESZOW (PL), date to be defined during the third meeting in Valencia

The meeting focuses on how to provide a coherent training with regards to needs detection results. At the same time, partners discuss how to train the «vocators» in order to enhance their role and professionalism. Partners present their own hypothetical course and differences and similarities among them are discussed.A shared draft of possible training activities to be tested in the following phases is defined, as the most appropriate training activity to enhance the role of «vocators».

Phase 9Period: 02/2014 - 03/2014

Testing on a sample of participants of the training provision for «Vocators»

During this phase the partnership elaborates a final version of the training course for «Vocators». Then, the training provision – based on detected needs – is piloted in a chosen sample of 80 participants belonging to SMEs, and a number of partners’ staff people are trained as «vocators».During the testing, each partner, supervised by the Coordinator, produces periodic reports, monitoring the activity. The documents to validate participants’ competences are drafted. Transversal activities (newsletter, semantic-wiki, blog/social network) go on, and also monitoring and evaluation. The fifth Hosting Partner (AKTIVITY) asks to other partners to present tools used so far to validate competences, using an ad hoc template.

Phase 10

Period: 04/2014

Validation of competences and tools

Fifth meeting: MĚSTO ALBRECHTICE (CZ), date to be defined during the meeting in Rzeszow The meeting concentrates on how to validate acquired competences, on the side of the «vocator» and of workers and SMEs, as well as the functioning of tools so far defined.Results obtained during the training activities are discussed, in order to elaborate a shared methodology to validate tools and competences. The elaboration of this shared methodology is the main objective of the meeting.

Phase 11

Period: 04/2014 – 05/2014

Piloting of methodologies for competences validation, following the «vocator training course»

Methodologies are tested on at least 100 workers/SMEs & learners/vocators. Besides, each partner presents a report about the piloting results of the whole activity, from identification of competences to the training addressed to vocators and the validation of competences. The Coordinator animates a discussion on social networks, summarizing the general results gained from the first phase of monitoring and evaluation. Transversal activities (newsletter, semantic-wiki, blog/social network) go on.Eventually, another final meeting can be scheduled, to discuss results obtained, and:- Future activities beyond project closure;- Sustainability of project results;- Transferability of project results.

Phase 12

Period: 06/2014

Preparation of final documentation

The Coordinator, after partners revison, issues the final documents regarding:• Local and sovra-local context analysis / Common context analysis;• The «Vocator Manual» • Labour market needs detection toolkit• Training activities for the labour market and «vocator courses» • Methodology of validation of competences of Vocators and tools • Final conclusion of the “semantic-wiki "

The Coordinator collects all data and documents to close the monitoring and evaluation activities.

Phase 13

Period: 07/2014

VOILA administrative closure

THE FIRST MEETING IN TURIN: AGENDA

MONDAY, 04 FEBRUARY 2013 Location: Province of Turin – Corso Inghilterra , 7 Meeting Room no 30 - 10° floor

14.30-15.00 PARTICIPANTS GREETINGS • Start up Meeting opening • Province of Turin official greetings (Assessore Carlo Chiama) • Project Coordinator official greetings (Giampiero Monetti – CFIQ General

Manager) 15.00-15.30 Official Presentation of the VOILA Project 15.30-15.50 UK Presentation 15.50-16.10 Spain Presentation 16.10-16.30 Poland Presentation 16.30-17.00 Coffee Break 17.00-17.20 Czech Republic Presentation 17.20-17.40 CSL Presentation 17.40-18.00 CFIQ Presentation and brief presentation of QUESITE and ENGIM PIEMONTE Meeting moderator and Meeting minutes (Elena Paciello – Carlotta Serventi)

TUESDAY, 05 FEBRUARY 2013 8.30-9.30 Transfer from Turin Porta Susa (pick-up in front of the old entrance) to Frossasco, c/o “Museo del Gusto” 9.30-10.00 Presentation of the 2nd day meeting programme 10.00-10.15 “Museo del Gusto” short guided tour 10.20 Welcome coffee 10.40 – 13.00 Presentation of National and Local Contexts • 10.40-11.00 UK Presentation • 11.00-11.20 Spain Presentation • 11.20-11.40 Poland Presentation • 11.40-12.00 Czech Republic Presentation • 12.00-12.20 CSL Presentation • 12.20-12.40 CFIQ Presentation 13.00 -14.00 Lunch 14.00-15.30 Analysis of differences and similarities among the main characteristics of the Contexts 15.30 -16.00 Coffee Break 16.00 -16.45 Context Analysis summary and introduction of the Semantic Wiki17.00 -18:30 Transfer to Pinerolo, CFIQ visit and free stroll in the historical centre of Pinerolo 18.30 – 20.20 “Merenda Sinoira” (dinner) 20.30 Transfer back to Turin (Petit Hotel, Docks Milano and B&B Sotto la Mole).

WEDNESDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2013

Location: ENGIM Piemonte – corso Palestro, 14 – Turin 9.00 – 9.30 Welcome coffee 9.30 – 10.00 Recap of the previous days 10.00 – 11.00 Presentation of the VOILA dedicated blog and short explanation about the Communication Plan 11.00 – 11.15 Coffee Break 11.15 – 12.00 Stakeholder analysis 12.00 – 12.30 Work Plan revision 12.30 – 13.00 …about the next Meeting (London )

...Are we ready to start?!