PONTAL: Prevention of being NEETs through Action Learning
2020-1-CZ01-KA201-078325
Duration: 2020.10.01.- 2022.09.30
Total Grant: 139.459,00 EUR
Project summary:
Eurostat records from 2018 show clearly there has been still almost 20 million of young people Neither Employed nor in Education and Training (hereinafter called NEETs) in EU.
Lowering youth unemployment and supporting the engagement of as many young Europeans as possible is at the heart of the EU policy agenda. The most vulnerable subgroup of NEETs is young people with the lowest level of educational attainment.
The prevention of being NEETs should start already in the last grade of primary school when pupils are standing in front of one of their most crucial decisions in life: what career path will I take? Do I want to even continue in further education?
This project wants to link the point of prevention of being NEET with support to boost the interest of pupils in technical, scientific and mathematical disciplines with a high degree of innovativeness among students of the last grade of primary schools due to the increasing lack of qualified and professionally educated workers in the labour market, particularly in aforementioned disciplines.
In most of EU primary schools pupils can consult their career and what personalities are suitable for a given work, however what is usually missing at primary schools is that young students also need to gain more of the motivation, popularization of technically oriented apprenticeships before choosing a further direction of their education.
It often happens pupils do not like technically oriented subjects due to lack of popularization and emphasis on the importance, prestige and innovativeness used in technical fields. This is exactly what this project intends to address at a transnational level, ensuring the necessary transfer of best practices from foreign experts focusing on innovative course methods and technical innovations (e.g. 3D printing, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, Internet of things, etc.).
The project specifically aims at the creation of the methodology on how to correctly identify the pupils at risks of dropping out of school, demotivating to the next level of education, the associated unemployment, and destined for being future NEET. Partners will exchange best practices on how and according to what characteristics they will identify vulnerable pupils.
Process of identification would run with the help of teachers and youth workers as they know the best the background of pupils and are close to their families.
Consequently, 6 sets of courses curricula with the innovative method of action learning will be specially created in cooperation with foreign experts and based on transferred best practices. Partners will cooperate also with organisations/SMEs dealing with technical disciplines and new technologies. The result of such cooperation will be the awakening of pupils’ interest in technical education in new fields with a high level of innovation and a certain prestige. This should facilitate their choice of secondary education and prevent them from leaving formal education with completed primary schools.
The project believes by the end of the project, at least 40 out of 75 representatives (representing 15% out of total number of involved pupils) will successfully finish with project courses and enrol in secondary vocational education with a focus on any technical field.
At the end of the project, partners will organize a final conference in Prague that will aim at raising awareness of NEETs phenomenon at European level and presenting project
innovative solution and its success, including project outputs and impacts on the target group.
Partner countries involved in this project:
-Czech Republic ; Institut pro regionalni rozvoj, o. p. s.
-Turkey ; Metis Genclik Ve Spor Kulubu Dernegi
-Estonia ; Inpla
-Hungary ; Ecocenter Alapítvány
-Italy ; Istituto Comprensivo Statale Savignano Sul Rubicone “Giulio Cesare”
-Lithuania ; Inovaciju tinklas
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Ecocenter Foundation held VR courses at Platán school in Kiskunfélegyháza within the framework of the PONTAL Erasmus project!
http://www.ecocenter.hu/en/vr-course-in-kiskunfelegyhaza-pontal-project(opens in a new tab)
Ecocenter Foundation held Multiplier Event in Budapest!
http://www.ecocenter.hu/en/pontal-project-multiplier-event(opens in a new tab)
Our report video completed within the framework of our PONTAL project is available at the following link: