Life and Work in Europe – Educational, opportuniti..
Life and Work in Europe – Educational, opportunities, possibilities of migration and integration for adolescents
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
The project’s foundational idea is based on current discussions about the shortage of skilled workers and simultaneous youth unemployment (See Europe 2020: 75% of 20-to-64 year-olds are expected to be employed). Many young people are not interested in the careers which lack skilled workers in their own countries, meaning that freedom of movement within the European Union could help. However, this freedom of movement is limited by students’ fears. Getting to know individual job markets on location assuages participants’ reservations about joining companies or universities abroad. In order to effectively target against the shortage of skilled workers, participants are encouraged to complete their training or studies in their future country of employment. This precludes later problems with integration. Carrying out training or studies abroad is currently justified by the high level of youth unemployment in some participating countries, which can give youth here a sense of perspective.
Students are potentially interested in studying or working abroad, but at the same time they lack comprehensive information and exchange of experiences with young people from other countries. The end product of this project will be an advice manual which includes comprehensive information about the four modules and practical assistance for applications within individual countries.
This will provide educational institutions and schools with targeted information about training and study possibilities in other countries within Europe. This will support the implementation of the “Europe 2020” programme, which aims “to increase the percentage of 30-34 year-olds who have completed higher education to at least 40%”.
The project is divided into 4 Moduls:
First module: Presentations on education systems and vocational training systems.
Students will prepare a presentation which describes the structure of their country’s education system and how studies and vocational training are organized. These presentations will be prepared for the first joint conference. During the conference, vocational training systems will be compared and their commonalities and differences will be compiled on wall displays in cross-national working groups. This wall display ensures initial results for the advice manual.
Second module: Videos with students’ expectations of their career future in Europe.
In preparation for the second conference, participants will produce short videos about their expectations and fears surrounding their career futures in Europe. Subsequently, these videos will be analysed in groups from mixed countries according to the following criteria:
- Common characteristics between countries
- Country-specific prejudices
- Root causes of issues
- Bureaucratic obstacles
Afterwards, prejudices against respective partner countries will be elicited through a card survey and either dismantled or confirmed on a second working day by each respective country in work groups. Results will be compiled by documenting the card survey and ensuing discussion.
Third module: Exhibition stands organised by students with information about providers and facilities for study and training in participating countries and advertisements about starting a training or study programme in each respective participating country. Students will collect information during the preparation phase via a questionnaire about how the job market is structured for young people in each respective country and which educational opportunities are offered by the higher education sector. Students will prepare an overview of necessary degrees and fees for various well-known careers. Furthermore, the students will investigate which careers their country provides particularly strong education in. the consequences of “brain gain” will then be summarised for the school’s own country.
Fourth module: advice manual for applications to foreign countries, in particular the participating countries. By means of a fictional job posting, students will prepare a checklist for applications in their country and produce a CV and cover letter according to country norms. These results will be included in the manual, thus serving as an overview for applications in other European countries. Finally, all previous results will be compiled and processed in order to make the manual useable for students from other countries in Europe.
A multi-national advice manual which presents the project’s aims can only be produced by participants from various nations. Specific country knowledge can only be provided by students from the respective countries. Only they will know the specific fears about training or studying abroad, and only they can present opportunities and compile information which is significant from their perspective. For this reason, the project can only be carried out across multiple countries.
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