Started in September 2022, “My Virtual World – 3D Job Training for Autism” is an Erasmus+ project running for two years in the field of Vocational Education and Training (VET), bringing together six different partner organisations from across Europe to improve VET learning experiences for autistic people.
Research across Europe show that the young autistic community struggles to become financially independent. Although over 70% of autistic learners choose VET, only 6% of them end up in a full-time paid job. Vocational training programmes across Europe fail at their attempt to develop autistic people’s job skills because they don’t take into account autistic people’s specific needs and abilities. Most educators and trainers in VET don’t have enough experience or resources to be able to support autistic learners.
“My Virtual World – 3D Job Training for Autism” aims at upskilling VET educators and trainers using 3D Technology, along with raising awareness on how to make the labour market autism-friendly and helping employers to adopt better practices for involving employees on the autism spectrum.
In this sense, the project’s main priorities are:
- To adapt VET programmes to the skills and abilities of individual autistic learners, as well as to the labour market needs;
- To promote an innovative approach in employment and training for autistic people by developing a VET programme using digital technologies in Virtual Reality (VR);
- To address digital transformation by using an existing platform developed in 3D Environment. The open-source platform will enable VET trainers, educators and employers to experience the struggles faced by an autistic jobseeker.
The consortium is composed by six partners that will implement the project: the project’s coordinator IRIPS – Institut Régional d’Insertion Professionnelle et Sociale (France), together with School of Coding (SOC) Blended Learning (Ireland), Elderberry AB (Sweden), Autism-Europe (Belgium), IDP European Consultants by Giancarlo Costantino (Italy), and SInAPSi (Services for Active and Participated Inclusion of Students) of the University of Naples (Italy).
More about the Erasmus+ Programme
Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. It has an estimated budget of €26.2 billion. The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life.