Erasmus+ – SUCCESS Project
(Strategies to Utilise and Cultivate positive Characteristics & Employability Skills in Schools)
Project Description:
The goal of the SUCCESS Project is to create a training package for post-primary guidance counsellors that will help support students who are transitioning from school to employment. The training will combine the principles, methods, and techniques of Positive Psychology with practical Employability Skills, and enhance students’ well-being, resilience, and optimism, giving them practical strategies for success as they take their first steps into the jobs market.
Formal educational approaches tend to focus on academic achievement, but can neglect other aspects of students’ development such as social and emotional competencies, and other character strengths, social skills, resilience, communication skills, team-work, critical thinking, self-awareness and self motivation, are often overlooked in an academic environment. To address these gaps, the SUCCESS Project will deliver effective Employability Skills, and strategies from Positive Psychology, to enhance students’ wellbeing and improve their employment opportunities.
The training course developed as part of the SUCCESS Project will incorporate active approaches to learning, such as – cooperative learning, case studies, role playing, problem solving activities, and mind-mapping. A strengths-based approach will also be taken, as it helps students identify their abilities, rather than their shortcomings. This technique uses narratives, and solution- focused strategies that help people pursue goals, solve problems, and achieve their objectives.
The model of “experiential learning” will also be used in counsellors’ training sessions, enabling guidance counsellors to actively participate and learn by doing, observing, thinking and planning. Guidance counsellors will become the ambassadors of this innovative approach to fostering positivity and enhancing employability skills in students.
Duration:
September 2017 – September 2019
The Research Team:
The project team involves institutions across five European countries including: Vilnius University (Lithuania), GrantXpert Ltd (Cyprus), The Institute of Development Ltd (Cyprus), Hellenic Association of Positive Psychology (Greece), CESIE (Italy), and ICEP Europe (Ireland).
Funding:
The project is funded under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership initiative.
Project objectives:
• To develop, test and publish an innovative training program for guidance counsellors on Positive Psychology and Employability skills
• To create an educational tool that will be provided to guidance counsellors to further enhance the quality and professionalism of their efforts to help students to acquire skills that will support them on their journey to employment.
• To enrich guidance counsellors’ personal and professional development so as to be able to better support their students.
• To create and publish the educational tools and strategies in a widely available online format.
Newsletter:
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme. This publication [communication] 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.
