VIRTUS holds its first Multiplier Event in Germany!
On 3 March 2023, the first VIRTUS multiplier event – Autism in Vocational Education and Training – took place in Germany, hosted by QBS Gewerkstatt.
It was a great opportunity to present the Training Kit for Trainers, one of the project‘s outcomes, and to discuss advantages and disadvantages of digital teaching methods to promote professional development and integration of persons with autism.
What is VIRTUS?
People with autism are often marginalised, especially when it comes to employment. At the moment, they have the lowest placement rate into the labour market among people with intellectual disabilities. VIRTUS' goal is to facilitate their integration into the the job market, and also to support their social inclusion.
To address these challenges, VIRTUS is developing a Training Kit for Trainers, which targets professional facilitators (trainers, pedagogues, VET providers, etc.) working with people with intellectual disabilities. The toolkit will provide professionals with specific suggestions on how to organise the everyday life of future workers with autism.
Training Kit for Trainers
The toolkit includes a description of the target group, the profile of trainers, a collection of good practices, and three types of learning objectives:
Social and interpersonal skills
Pre vocational skills
Vocational skills
Moreover, professionals will have access to online and in-person training, assessment tests, as well as courses and webinars. Participants will then test the Training Kit for Trainers in their facilities to identify and improve its weaknesses.
What happened at the multiplier event?
Taking place in Bochum, Germany, 10 different institutions took part in the event, representing training providers in vocational training and autism therapy centres.
After the presentation of the toolkit, the floor was open for a discussion and exchange of experiences on different digital teaching methods, especially Virtual Reality scenarios, for the professional training of autistic individuals. Results of the discussion showed that hybrid models between digital and practical learning seem to be the most adequate and effective.
This month in April, VIRTUS partners will meet in Cyprus for a training where professionals and trainers will trial the materials developed, including the final version of the training toolkit and VR scenarios. This testing period will be key to collecting suggestions for improving the materials developed, and for planning the next steps.