BEST Institute for vocational training and personal training GmbH

A-Skills

Assessment of Social Skills for better possibilities for employment

Background

Social skills are becoming more and more important throughout Europe. Despite this fact, obtaining a formal education and training in the field has not yet been developed to its full capacity and potential, leaving a majority of unemployed without any formal education or training or recognition of their knowledge, skills and competencies. For this reason, the A-Skills project will provide the opportunity to assess the knowledge, skills and competencies they have gained informally, through work, volunteering or through the development of a talent throughout the years.

Aims and target group

The A-SKILLS project aims towards the use and exploitation of previous projects and action plans that have been materialized by the consortium of partners and which relate to: a) the development of a system of assessment for trainers/ educators, b) the establishment of a professional outline/ profile of teachers/ trainers, c) the development of a methodology of assessment of informal and non-formal qualifications in the field of unemployment through the validation and valorization of informal knowledge.

The sectors involved are NGOs and civil society organisations, the sector of Social Economy, through the certification of executives, employees and workers of NGOs throughout Europe towards the sector of unemployment by using the methods developed in these projects.

Outcomes

The A-skills project will lead to the development of a database with the appropriate exercises for the assessment of the knowledge, skills and competencies gained which unemployed people have but have never had the opportunity to prove that before. Furthermore, the project will develop an assessment system around three notions: CV evaluation, assessment and feedback.

The selected participants in each of the participating countries will be tested on their knowledge, skills and competencies which they have acquired informally through their work and other activities. Furthermore, the website of the project will contain project information and a database that will be developed including a manual and tools for trainers/ teachers. A network consisting of organisations, i.e. Public Employment Service, other adult educators, guidance centres and NGOs will be established to get feedback on the outcomes.

EU-Program: LLP, Leonardo da Vinci - Transfer of Innovation
Coordination: Folkuniversitetet Kursverksamheten vid Lunds Universitetet (Sweden)
Contact: Karin Kronika
Duration: December 2012 - December 2014

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.