Introduction

With this last newsletter we like to inform you about the latest activities of our Erasmus+ project HanDS.

An overview is given of the activities of the last semester.

The project is executed by a partnership consisting of two secondary schools (Vakschool Diekman, Enschede The Netherlands) and Ten R. Righetti, Melfi Italy) and two development organisations active in the field of labour market policy (Stichting Surplus, Enschede The Netherlands and EEPL Finsterwalde Germany).  

Aim of the HanDS project is to develop an integrated innovative approach to prevent current pupils to be unemployed and get stuck at home, and to reengage people in education and training who have had their education interrupted due to various reasons.

More specific the project will have the following outputs:

  1. a measuring system to categorize pupils and job seekers in order to offer them the rightful attention and guidance.
  2. a suitable employment/internship programme for pupils to gain as much as possible practice work experience in a short period as possible (internship carousel).
  3. a connection between the (warm) school and the (cold) labour market through the development of two new school environments: a labour-based training centre and a labour-based evening school.
  4. web based “guidelines” based on the job carving principle.

For this purpose, during a three year duration period, the partners in close cooperation with each other:

  • have four transnational meetings (TPM’s) in three countries (The Netherlands, Germany and Italy) as to exchange relevant information making possible the development and implementation of the products concerned;
  • work continuously on the development and implementation of the products concerned;
  • have four one-week visits of students and teachers in Italy and The Netherlands as to secure the optimal implementation of the project (LTT’s)        

Where we are...

After a laborious second year of working together in our HanDS project, things speeded importantly. Since our last newsletter (December 2018) we continued to work on the Intellectual Outputs and we had our fourth International Project Meeting in Enschede and the Dissemination seminar (Closing conference, Multiplyer event) as well. Besides that, in January  a group of pupils and teachers of Vakschool het Diekman visited Melfi (LTT3)), in April the Italian pupils and their teachers paid a visit to Enschede (LTT4) for the same purpose. As the project execution period is almost over, we are busy  with the preparation of the final report of the project now.    

LTT3 in Melfi

Mid January 2019 a group of 14 students and four accompanying teachers from Vakschool Het Diekman visited Melfi as to get a better understanding of the Italian educational system and the connection to the labour market.

It was reported by Vakschool het Diekman: 

After school students have the option to register for and participate in various courses. These courses take place in a building adjacent to the school. We were observing a number of these courses and projects of the students. These extracurricular courses result in a larger opportunity for students on the job market. Unemployment is high in the region around Melfi, so by following these extracurricular activities, students have better options finding a job. It is good to notice that both schools are aligned in this since our common goal is to improve changes on the job market. Our evening school is very similar and comparable to the extracurricular courses in Melfi, we hope to be able to re-initiate this again in the future. Until then our students learn about the job market through our visits to companies in the region.

melfi ltt 3

LLT4 in Enschede

In the period from 26 March until 2 April  a group of 12 students and three accompanying teachers from Ten R. Righetti visited Vakschool het Diekman as to become acquainted to the Netherlands educational system (more specific their system of traineeships and their facilitation of the access to the labour market).

It was reported by the institute Ten R. Righetti: 

During our visit to Enschede we had several very interesting experiences. Among these one of the most important was the experience in Vakschool het Diekman: our students were impressed by the great variety of workshops that really excellently prepare students for the world of work. Many of them asked us if they could do those experiences in Italy at the institute Righetti! Another very interesting moment was the visit to the waste disposal company. We appreciated the close link between school, work and civil society. In this way the students of Vakschool het Diekman have a very good chance of finding a job after their studies. Finally, the continuous cultural exchange with Dutch students and teachers from morning to night was very important: study, work and fun! It has been a great opportunity to learn more English too, for us Italians it was a challenge.

TPM 4 Enschede

International project meeting Enschede

It was great to meet again in Enschede last May. We were hosted excellently by our colleagues from Vakschool het Diekman. After two days of working intensively together, all felt very satisfied about this last International Project meeting.

By sharing the outcomes of our ongoing activities we enriched each other with new insights and for sure all of us gained enthusiasms to finalize our successful project.

By visiting the facilities of a main traineeship provider (Holzik Stables) we learned a lot about the necessity to have a good  fit between educational institutes and the labour market. 

Visit main traineeship provider Holzik Stables

We got a good impression of the Netherlands educational system and more specific how the pupils are prepared for the labour market.

TPM4

Once over more we realized how important it is to develop tailor made instruments to support the unemployed (or the persons facing unemployment).

Dissimination Seminar in Enschede The Netherlands, Thursday 23 May 2019

We organised an official closing seminar at the Forelderij, one of the premise of Surplus.  In this meeting all project partners presented their Intellectual Outputs produced within the HanDS project. The main goal of the HanDS convention was to spread the output not only to the targets and participants directly involved in the project, but also to a wider audience such as the pupils’ parents, the entire school staff, the school inspection, the educational community, the local (education) authorities as well as the local network partners (businesses). 

All together we had over 40 visiting guests. 

In this convention all project partners presented the Intellectual Outputs produced within the HanDS project. The main goal of this convention was to spread the output not only to the targets and participants directly involved in the project, but also to a wider audience such as the pupils’ parents, the entire school staff, the school inspection, the educational community, the local (education) authorities as well as the local network partners (businesses).

The partners were pleased to conclude that their approach, that covers the spectrum between education and the labour market, will serve as an example for many more similar organisations and the impact will be strong. Our approach will keep young people in school, offer maximum support where the dropout risk is acute and offer new labour market (and learning) opportunities for job seekers.

The audiences was very pleased with the presentations of our project. We had interesting discussions about the implementation of the products delivered up in the different countries.

Contact: Stichting Surplus, info@st-surplus.nl