Lacking experience, high school graduates often struggle to find a job. With support from the European Social Fund (ESF), a Bulgarian project is giving students a leg up in their future transition to the labour market.

More than 6 100 students from 130 participating vocational schools have benefitted from activities under the ‘Dual Learning System’ project so far. Through partnerships between schools and companies in fields such as refrigeration, air conditioning and heating, the project helps students gain work-based experience and relevant theoretical training. Through partnerships with local businesses, students are then offered jobs after graduation.

One participating school is the Vocational School of Food Technology and Techniques in the city of Plovdiv. The school’s Principal said, ‘Dual training raises the quality of vocational education and strengthens its links with the needs of the labour market. Students are provided practical training in a real work environment.’

In return for improving students' learning outcomes, firms benefit from recruitment cost savings and can ensure that new starters are ready to work from day one. In addition, the ESF project’s activities help improve the vocational training competences of teachers and trainers, who gain new pedagogical and methodological skills with support from mentors at the partner firms.

A manager at one of the partner firms, the refrigeration manufacturer INCH-FRIGO, is delighted to be collaborating with schools to design training opportunities for students based on their own recruitment needs:

‘It was a pleasure to co-operate with the teachers on creating the teaching aids. I do believe that what has been done will contribute to the better development of school activities and will help students realise their full potential,’ he says.

By the time the ESF-funded project ends in October 2023, it will have equipped nearly 10 000 school graduates with Dual Education and Training certification – and with the opportunity to move straight into the world of work as trained employees.