IDEA project - A tool to enrich your training curriculum and to prepare for the world of business and work.
IDEA project: “Interactive toolset supporting Development of Educators of Adults’ skills in Boosting Entrepreneurship among NEETs” is a 2-year project funded by Erasmus+ Programme, which aims to provide adapted training, promoting an Interactive toolset for Educators of young adult people which will support the development of their skills needed for boosting entrepreneurship among NEETs.
The goal of IDEA is to extend and develop competencies of educators of adults in the area of entrepreneurial skills (in non-formal settings) through providing them with guidance and motivation strategies and equipping with an innovative solution: a toolset that allows Educators for assessing the skills of NEETs, propose them customized learning path and provide adapted training connecting young adults and real-life entrepreneurship.
An IDEA for NEETS
In the last decade, a high number of NEETs ("not in employment, education or training") has been reported in Europe, young people aged between 15 and 34, unemployed and out of education and training.
The transition to adulthood, from a social point of view, involves the transition from the school to the working world, which in recent decades has become increasingly longer. When young people have difficulties and go through long periods of inactivity at this stage, they run the risk of disengaging and consequently further distancing themselves from the job market. Spending long periods of time as a NEET can lead to isolation, insecurity, crime, physical and mental health problems.
The entry and permanence in the condition of NEET are generally favored by socio-economic factors, therefore the NEET group is quite heterogeneous and can be divided into many subgroups, depending on the conditions taken into consideration: physical, economic, social, related to education , gender, migrations, etc., as demonstrated by the surveys carried out by Eurofound already a decade ago. This situation has worsened following the pandemic, and in 2020 almost all European countries, even those with fewer NEETs, have reported an increase in the percentage of young people in this condition.
The NEET status, in addition to being a waste of the potential of young people, has negative repercussions for economy and society. This is one of th reasons why, in the context of the Youth Guarantee (YG), the member states of the EU have undertaken to implement policies to reduce, at a global level, the percentage of NEETs and to ensure that all young people under the age of 25 years receive a job, apprenticeship, traineeship, or a continuing education offer that is concrete and of good quality.
Among the various factors that lead a young person to become a NEET, the education received by the education system and the skills acquired are very important.
Many NEETs with low educational attainment and a troublesome history may have resources and talents that have not been adequately developed. If given the chance to challenge themselves, an entrepreneurial career can be a goal on which to build a new opportunity. Moreover, for those who have already had some work experience, higher education, good self-esteem and communication skills, it can be a great opportunity for change.
In order to reduce the causes leading a young person to the NEET status, education should be oriented to provide the right set of soft skills and to give them the correct value.
The proposal to start a business is certainly ambitious for a young person and not simple at all. The project aims to stimulate young people to become aware of their "unconventional" skills, to develop new ones, and to find in their passions the inspiration to improve their working conditions.
The IDEA project proposes a series of tools, including an online course about the so-called "soft skills" (secondary skills), that are certainly indispensable for starting your own business, but also extremely useful to face the job market.
Project results
The project produced 2 resources:
- A Mobile Report about teaching Entrepreneurship and the demand for entrepreneurial skills from a business companies perspective.
- An interactive Toolset supporting development of Educators of Adults’ skills in boosting entrepreneurship among NEETs.
The Mobile report was created through a questionnaire addressed to educators (in particular of NEET) which involved about 400 trainers, 50 each participating organization, and several focus groups with start-up entrepreneurs.
In the section dedicated to the educators’ questionnaire it is possible to view: information on the sample of interviewees, their teaching methodologies and which main skills are taught. For each category it is possible to view the responses received in different countries.
The focus groups gave rise to the collection of advice presented in the mobile report and they were basic elements for the definition of secondary skills to be included in the training materials.
The Toolset is an application that contains several sections: the skills assessment tool in the context of eight important informal entrepreneurial skills; training materials for NEETs that trainers can use to create a personalized learning path through specific Learning Modules; training materials for educators, since, by registering as a teacher, you can find additional materials in the form of tips and tricks in the modules; a collection of Open Educational Resources, accessible and free online educational support, to help define various basic skills needed by entrepreneurs and SMEs.
All interactive tools and resources (Evaluation, Modules, OER) are available for both educators and NEETs on the IDEA project website in all project partners’ languages (EN, ES, IT, PL, EL).
