About ENGAGE
The ENGAGE: Job Ready – Traineeships with Practice Enterprise project comes out of a need to respond to an increasing demand of work-integrated and work-based placements from VET students due to a lack of possibilities for in-company internships in the real job market brought about by the challenges of the 2020-21 school year. 90% of all students were kept out of school due to school closures of Covid-19 and that means nearly none had the opportunity to participate in an internship or not at the scheduled time.
ENGAGE model offers a flexible, innovative and inclusive Practice Enterprise Traineeship that is adaptable to the future needs and requirements of the labour market. Combined school- and work-based programmes where a majority of the curriculum is organised as work-based learning in enterprises, have been particularly affected as businesses have closed or reduced their operations. With current world developments affecting education, economy and employment, the need for alternative models of internships has become necessary.
The objective of the project is not to create a substitute for in-company internships, rather it aims to provide a certification and evaluation model for their internship experience. The ENGAGE project will adapt the traditional Practice Enterprise program into a traineeship model to offer an alternative solution of work-based placements that closely match a real-world company in cases where VET students are unable to secure an internship that includes work-based components. ENGAGE traineeships will improve access to internships for VET students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as educational institutions can prioritize marginalized and disadvantaged students. This includes overcoming geographical or economic barriers for young people from remote areas to participate in traineeship activities. The development of an inclusive traineeship model for trainees coming from different economic and social environments offers the possibility of individualized traineeship pathways. The development of a traineeship certification and recognition system, based on the actual needs and requirements of employers will offer an employment tool that trainees can directly add to their CV and present to potential employers as a work experience.
ENGAGE project offers a flexible, innovative, and inclusive Practice Enterprise Traineeship that’s adaptable to the future needs and requirements of the labour market.
For the target group of VET trainees, there are various aspects of the labour market confronting young people today as they seek to make a transition from education to employment, including high levels of youth unemployment, skills mismatches, market segmentation and an increasing reluctance by employers to invest in training.
ENGAGE offers VET students with reduced mobility or geographical impediments to participate in traineeships that they might not otherwise be able to access. Practice Enterprise traineeships will help VET students understand their own strengths, talents, different career options and employment prospects and allow them an opportunity to try out their skillsets in a safe and inclusive work-based environment without the demands and the expectations of real-world employers.
Adapt the traditional Practice Enterprise program into a traineeship model to offer an alternative solution of work-based placements that closely match a real-world company in cases where VET students are unable to secure an internship that includes work-based components.
Develop an inclusive traineeship model for trainees coming from different economic and social environments offering individualised traineeship pathways, as the traineeship takes place directly in the VET institution and is closely followed up by in-class trainers.
Development of a traineeship certification and recognition system, based on the needs and requirements of employers, offering a tool that trainees can directly add to their CV and present to potential employers as a work experience.
Consortium
The ENGAGE Consortium is led by PEN Worldwide (Germany). Partners include Centro Studio Opera Don Calabria (Italy), Fundació Inform (Spain), and Stichting Praktijkleren (Netherlands).
PEN Worldwide (PEN) is a non-profit association providing coordination of and support to the international Practice Enterprise networks. The European network consists of 17 legally autonomous national Practice Enterprise Central Offices that together include over 5,000 Practice Enterprises training more than 120,000 VET students every year.
With an emphasis on career readiness, Practice Enterprises offer a live European and worldwide business simulation that provides trainees with a competitive edge through project-based learning and the development of skills in entrepreneurship and international business.
Fundació Inform is a foundation aimed at managing, coordinating and implementing different educational programmes and projects in the educational system in Spain. These programme and projects are implemented specifically in the formal and informal educational system in Spain and in continuous training.
Since 1987 Fundació Inform manages the SEFED Programme (Practice Enterprises) in Spain which is used to train people in business a administration and management. The transnationality of the SEFED Programme has always been a key point in Fundació Inform strategical business plan and this is why Inform participates in European programmes since more than 30 years, so as to try to adapt training to work.
The Association “Centro Studi – Opera Don Calabria” was founded in 1994 as an emanation of the Congregation of the Poor Servants of Divine Providence – Don Calabria Institute. The core mission of CS – ODC is focusing on the fields vocational training, on-the-job training, active labour policy, re-education and youth activities. The Simulimpresa programme, which deals with the concept of Practice Enterprise, is operated by a team of professionals located in Ferrara.
PenNed is the Dutch network of PEN Worldwide. It was established in 2017 when representatives of 11 ROCs attended Stichting Praktijkleren to plan a Dutch Practice Enterprise network.
PenNed stands for Practice Enterprise Network Nederland and functions as national Central Office of the Dutch Practice Enterprises. PenNed sets up a training course with starting schools, creates a registration website, arranges access to the software and the database with all Practice Enterprises in the world, organizes coaching of the schools and trainers, establishes a helpdesk, arranges exchanges and provides information to interested schools and organizations.