On Wednesday 30 October 2024, the German Multiplier event for the JOBS4ALL project took place at the premises of MetropolisNet in Berlin, Germany. Invitations were sent out to a big number of potential participants and mostly teachers from inclusive VET schools and special secondary schools in Berlin and Brandenburg. Participants included Youth workers, coaches, trainers and counselors who work in various fields with the target group of YPwDs. They work at the transition from school to training or work, unemployment to work or in the training providing institutions. Some of them are also specialized in the field of guidance. Moreover, most of them cooperate with employers in order to place YPwDs (and others) in jobs or in internships. There were also representatives from associations of people with disabilities who work in the area of counselling as well as representatives from companies that already employ people with disabilities seeking to learn more about the opportunities of the technological state of the art.
The event started by explaining the background and needs of the Jobs4all project and presenting all partner organisations of the project and how their specific expertise contributed to it.
In the main part of the event, all four results of the Job4all project were presented in detail including the mapping tool, open consultation results and infographics, the training pack for YPwDs including the e-learning area, the open badges eco-system and VR simulations, the storytelling videos and results from the pilot training implementation phase, the dual capacity building materials for youth workers and employers, the policy advocacy pack including structured dialogues results and finally, the memorandum of cooperation and the declaration to the EU.
Finally, two interactive sessions were integrated in the event where the participants had the opportunity to discuss on challenges and opportunities as well how they could use the Jobs4all results in their own work context in the future.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The participants of the event acknowledged especially the chances and opportunities that come with the use of Virtual Reality in training contexts for YPwDs. They highly related to the use for specific job-related skills as well as more generic employability skills. The experience of the users within the Jobs4all project was quite interesting for them. They immediately got an idea how they could use this technology in their own work context.
One of the aspects they valued was that YPwDs can try themselves in the VR simulations without the pressure to fail or to disappoint. They can prepare for the real situation and interaction. Also, they agreed that the technology is applicable and useful to many different types of disabilities.
Another part that was appealing to them was the capacity pack for employers that had been developed in the framework of the project. They emphasized that they would use it to provide employers with relevant and interesting information and/or to train them in getting more inclusive.
Finally, the presented Memorandum of Cooperation was quite interesting for them. In any case they were eager to follow-up and were interested in the topic of whether there would be a new project based on the Jobs4all project.