An update on O2 was made by the partners. The Skills tests for Plastering and Drywall Systems were designed by Poland and Hungary. Cyprus is still in the process of creating them. Once the skills tests are ready they will be translated into English and national languages of the partnership.

O4 Best Practices Guide is being completed. EDITC, the leader of the task, summarized the advancement of the activity and adjusted the division of work to be done before Christmas 2021, which was agreed to be the deadline for the output.

The pilot competition in Poland confirmed the need for a guide which would be an explanatory and encouraging tool for those who would like to take part in national skills competitions. The Best Practices Guide, and later the WeRskills ePlatform, should answer the question of how to get involved in national skills competitions.

The partnership also decided to add a chapter that will present the case studies of European and Canadian initiatives supporting different aspects of VET through skills competitions. Our research proved that there are plenty of initiatives at vocational schools which try to embed the skills competitions in VET. If skills competitions are implemented early to the teaching process they will bring benefits to a variety of stakeholders that participate in VET. Skills competitions popularize vocational education, develop curricula, make pedagogical and didactic practice attractive, and may become a hub for the professional development of trainers.

WeRskills ePlatform

FERI, the leader of O5, prepared a presentation of the WeRskills ePlatform layout and structure. FERI also suggested to add messenger and WeRskills YouTube channel to the platform. It was decided that the platform is intended as an open educational resource and a means for preparation to national and then international skills competitions. It will be a promotional channel for the Drywall Systems Competition and the construction industry. It will also allow information exchange and networking between VET schools, trainers and the industry to promote the importance of skills.

The partnership discussed the difference between the project website and the platform. It was concluded that the platform should include a registering process and offer more to its logged in users than to people who only visit project website for information.

Because the main aim of the platform is to bring people together around the idea of skills competition in construction industry, project partners declared they will think of country specific content, related to construction industry, that could be placed on the platform. In Poland it will be the Drywall Systems Competition 2022 (second edition).

WeRskills ePlatform:

• will be available in 4 languages

• will include the Best Practices Guide in an interactive form for the logged in users

• will include a call for participants, trainers, and sponsors

The partnership discussed layout, structure and content of O6 Recommendations for Policy Makers, which will collect 5 recommendations concerning organization of skills competitions at the national level. Project partners will prepare a draft of the document including one recommendation each. It is necessary to specify the institutions the recommendations will be addressed to.

LTT activity in Hungary

The short term (3 days) joint staff event in Budapest has been planned to train a group of 10 people (project partners, VET teachers and construction experts) in the organization of national skills competitions. The training will be based on the practical experience of Hungarian experts and its participants will gain knowledge and skills to implement O4 and in the long-run they will be able to organize regional, sectoral and national skills competitions. The Hungarian partner will develop the program and conduct the activity.

The training will include a study visit during the Szakma Sztár Fesztivál 2021 in Budapest planned on 25-27^th April 2022. It.

Travel and assembly restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic are our main concern since they affect the project to a large extent. The LTT activity in Hungary has been postponed twice so far. At the moment, its implementation is uncertain. The dissemination seminar in Cyprus may also be turned into a webinar.

Dissemination events

Poland:

• Skills leaders – 17 Feb. 2021 (face to face meeting)

Hungary:

• A dissemination event during a Drywall Constructor Competition – 11 Jun. 2021

Dissemination seminar in Cyprus has not been delivered yet.

5^th TPM and Final Conference

The next project meeting is planned in Warsaw, Poland in spring 2022. It will be our last meeting accompanied by the Final Conference.

Project extension

Project coordinator discussed the financial and management issues. She suggested an extension of the project duration of 2 months. The Partnership agreed.

Budget allocation

The coordinator informed the consortium about the additional financial and contractual rules applicable only to projects organizing virtual activities due to COVID-19. Namely, an annex to the financial agreement has been signed with the NA which states that beneficiaries may transfer up to 60% of the funds allocated to each of the following budget categories: TPMs, Multiplier events, LTT activities and Exceptional costs to any other budget category, except for Project Management and Exceptional Costs. Additionally, beneficiaries may transfer up to 10% of each budget category to Exceptional Costs to cover the costs associated with the purchase or rental of equipment or services necessary for the implementation of virtual mobilities, even if no funds were originally allocated under the Exceptional costs category.

However, it is necessary to justify additional amount of work done in the project to apply for allocation. Project partners are obliged to decide on additional activities they will perform and they need to prepare written justifications for them. We would like to transfer 60% of 2 TPMs that never happened (Poland and Hungary) to IOs (increase the number of working days).