At the end of February we were off to another partnership meeting for the Understanding My Journey project, this time in Reggio Emilia, Italy. We were hosted by our project partners at the Reggio Emilia centre of IFOA, a not-for-profit vocational training organisation with centres throughout Italy.
Since the last meeting in Dublin in September, REY Europe has been busy drafting a toolkit of resources which will help young people to assess, reflect on, develop and describe their soft skills. These resources are now ready for piloting, and include units on a range of soft skills, including:
Positive Attitude
Communication Skills
Adaptability Skills
Time & Energy Management
Work Ethic
Problem Solving & Analytical Skills
Team Working Skills
Leadership Skills
Each unit contains a self-assessment tool, with options for an additional assessment by a mentor or peer. There are also several practical tasks for young people to work through, and a planning section to help young people think about how to develop and apply their skills in real-life settings, as well as to record their learning and reflection.
The meeting discussed the practical aspects of piloting the materials, including their translation into Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Croatian and Polish. All of the project partners are now raring to go with the pilot phase.
The meeting also launched work on the next two exciting phases of the project. Action Synergy, our Greek partners, will be developing and trialling a smart phone app based on the materials drafted by REY Europe. ANESPO, our Portuguese partners, will also be developing a practitioners’ guide, which we hope will provide a range of youth practitioners with guidance on how to make the most of both the paper-based toolkit and the app.
The meeting concluded on a very positive note. By the time of the next meeting, in Portugal in October, we will have piloted and published the final toolkit, with the app and practitioners’ guide at advanced stages of development.
The project is really gathering momentum now, and we need some input from the tutors and other youth professionals we work with. We’re looking for groups of young people to pilot some of these materials, with support from their practitioner. If you’re an education or youth practitioner and would like some free resources to develop the soft skills of the young people you work with, get in touch with us now. Email james@reyeurope.org to find out more.