TET – School-to-Work Transition Programme (Transició Escola Treball)


Title

TET – School-to-Work Transition Programme (Transició Escola Treball)

Affiliation(s)/ Institution

Ajuntament de Barberà del Vallès

Email addresses

orientacio@barpro.cat

Project funded by

Ajuntament de Barberà del Vallès, Diputació de Barcelona, Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya

Promoter name and country

Fundació Barberà Promoció - Espanya

Type of provider

public

Area of implementation

  • urban
  • local

Context and motivation of the project - legislative background/obligations, institutional policy, institutional structures

Barberà del Vallès has an educational failure rate similar to the average for Catalonia, lower than the Spanish average and far from the European average. In the last eight years, one in five students (19.4%) have left compulsory secondary education without a diploma. In light of these data, since 1992 the Barberà Promoció Foundation has been carrying out different initiatives for young people who do not manage to complete their secondary education. Currently, all these initiatives, as well as others aimed at young people aged 15 to 29, form part of the TET – School-to-Work Transition Programme.

Aims of the project

Help young people to make the transition from school to the workplace, offering the necessary resources. Reduce the number of early leavers or introduce measures to compensate for school abandonment. Coordination between all municipal agents that work with young people.

Target group

  • students
  • ESL
  • parents

Description of the target group

Any young person aged 15 to 29, but with a focus on those aged 15 to 21 with no compulsory secondary education diploma.

Staff (selection, evaluation, training, promotion)

The programme has a Committee that reports to Barberà del Vallès Council’s Municipal Education Board. This Committee is made up of the municipal agents that work with young people and are part of the programme staff, specifically: technicians from the Barberà Promoció Foundation; social educators from the Social Services Department, a technician from the Education Department, a technician from the Youth Department of Barberà del Vallès Council; representatives from the high schools in Barberà del Vallès (Can Planas and La Romànica); a representative from the Adult Training College; representatives of the parents of secondary school students; a representative from Vallès Occidental Educational Services.

Methodological approach, activities implemented

The activities performed as part of the TET Programme are organised into working groups/lines of action through the School-to-Work Transition Committee. These activities are: 1• Introduction to different professions (brief workshops for students in their third and fourth years of compulsory secondary education) with the aim of helping young people decide what training/profession they wish to pursue after compulsory secondary education. 2• Exploration of young people’s needs 3• Training and Insertion Programmes (PFI), using the service-learning (APS; Aprenentatge Servei) method. Below, we describe different experiences from the 2014-2015 academic year (the hyperlinks will take you to the news items published for each activity): a. Decoration of the Town Hall’s balcony with natural and plant garlands made by the students. b. Participation in the COB Orienta careers fair as monitors for the agriculture workshop. c. Unemployment-to-Work Transition Integrated Project ‘Plants for cooking and for curing’: as part of the Saint George’s Day celebrations, where students planted thyme and made rose arrangements for their mothers. Of all these projects, it is worth highlighting the Unemployment-to-Work Transition Integrated Project ‘Plants for cooking and for curing’, which was started during the last academic year and is currently becoming established within the organisation. This project promotes activities to empower young people and unemployed people in the municipality, to improve their employability and job seeking activities, encouraging intergenerational interaction. It was presented as part of a European exchange within the Erasmus + programme’s Breakdown or Breakout project, in partnership with the Sabadell Chamber of Commerce and other European organisations. 4 • Joves per l’Ocupació (Young people for work; training aimed at people aged 18 to 24). 5 • Garantia Juvenil (Youth Guarantee).

Results and impact - data of program internal/ external evaluation, beneficiary satisfaction, the impact of the didactical practices at individual and institutional level

During the 2014-2015 academic year, there were four Committee meetings and nine working group meetings. A total of 207 students took part in the profession workshops, 180 from the third year of compulsory secondary education and 37 from the fourth year. 16 young people took part in the Training and Insertion Programmes (PFI). Of those who completed the training, 80% will continue their studies, either through intermediate-level vocational training or by working to obtain a secondary education diploma. In 2015, 20 young people took part in Joves per l’Ocupació, six of whom are currently in employment. It is expected that more of these will find employment after completing the work placements. There are still no data from the Garantia Juvenil programme, as it only began in July 2015.

Conclusions, lessons learned

Educational failure is one of the main problems affecting young people, and the future of Europe depends on them. That is why it is necessary to design actions that help to reduce the rate of educational failure and/or mitigate its consequences. In that regard, we believe that all the activities implemented (set out in the ‘Methodological approach, activities implemented’ section) can help to combat or mitigate the effects of educational failure.

Directions of further development/ Transferability, replicability

The TET Programme would be easy to transfer to other municipalities.

Type of ESL (early school leaving) practice

  • Prevention
  • Intervention
  • Compensation

Parameters on which the practice is applicable (check those appropriate)

  • Governance and coordination
  • Accessibility
  • Methodologies of provision
  • Measures and profiles
  • Objectives and needs
  • Competences and skills for practitioners
  • Common framework and quality standards
  • Evaluation of performance and effectiveness

 

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