a european project for measuring employability skills for young people
TRANSCRIPT
Who are our Guests?
Your interest in Measuring and Assessing Soft Skills?
Teachers/trainers
Managers
Policy Makers – local/regional/national/European
Academics/researchers
Other
MASS Partnership
Angus College, Scotland
Adult Learning and Employment, SwedenRoc Aventus, Netherlands
Bureau Zuidema, Netherlands
Second Chance Schoolof Neapolis, Greece
Teacher Training CentreOf Bucharest, Romania
• WP1 – Project Management• WP2 – EQF Mapping• WP3 – Preparation and Transfer
of Products
• WP4 – Needs Analysis and Piloting
• WP6 – Employer Consultation and Piloting
• WP8 - Website
MASS Project – the full picture
• Unemployed• In initial vocational
education/training• Experiencing
disadvantage –– Drug/alcohol abuse– Low literacy skills– Social or emotional
problems– At risk of drop out/social
exclusion
Target Groups
What do you think soft skills should be?
• Individualized approach• Creation of a safe
environment • Deliberate development
of soft skills
What does MASS Methodology Offer?
• Online and paper resources• Placement of assessment on
EQF• Website
www.mass-project.org• Dissemination strategy• Report of pilot study• Employer soft skills report• Participation of 49
teachers/trainers• Participation of 213 students
Project Results, Outcomes & Impacts
• Student improvement towards self & soft skills awareness
• Active participation and evident interest
• Very good feedback on resources
• Very good feedback from teachers/trainers on the adaptability of resources and coverage of soft skills needed in vocational education and training
Results, Outcomes & Impacts of Pilot
• High quality learning and teaching material
• New approaches• Improvements in soft
skills and thereby employability skills
• More enthusiastic trainers and teachers
Benefits to Learners & Staff
EU 2020 - Three key priorities
• Maintaining employment, creating jobs and promoting mobility
• Upgrading skills and matching labour market needs• Increasing access to employment
– Knowledge, skills and competences acquired during initial education and training can help movement into employment and adjustment to change
– Vital that adults and young people continue to learn and adapt to change for access to employment and participation in society
– Important to make education and training more relevant to work.
• Few or no qualifications• Low level technical skills• Poor soft skills• Little self awareness• History of failure• Low aspirations • Bleak future
Employability Prospects – a young person’s perspective
• Challenging job market• Few vacancies• Rising unemployment• Rise in experienced
adults looking for work• Poor skills match• Attitude of employers
Employment prospects
Employer Consultation – UK, SW, NL
Very Im
portant
Importa
nt
Of Ave
rage I
mportance
Of Lim
ited Im
portance
Not at a
ll importa
nt 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Comparison between Soft Skills and Technical Skills
Social SkillsTechnical
www.mass-project.org
2045 registered users across Europe and beyond