At the launch of the Urban Audit book, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Hübner pointed out that “disparities in unemployment are far greater within cities than between cities or regions.” Concentrations of unemployment in deprived urban neighbourhoods can be extreme. Almost one out of two cities has neighbourhoods with unemployment rates above 20%, reaching as high as 58%. Colin Williams1 notes that these conventional unemployment figures grossly under-estimate the extent of real non-employment in these areas.

 

In the UK, qualification levels are generally lower in more deprived areas, with one in four people in the most deprived areas holding no qualifications (more than double the national average). Only 15% in the most deprived areas hold a degree level qualification, compared with 43% in the least deprived areas. In 2004 the unemployment rate in the most deprived areas was 12%, compared with 2 % in the least deprived (a gap of 10%). This gap has been increasing steadily since 2005, with a sharper increase at the start of the recession. By 2010 the unemployment rate in the most deprived areas was 17%, compared with 4% in the least deprived areas (a gap of 13%)2.

 

Yet research shows that deprived areas are not necessarily places of inactivity. Close family ties, mutual aid and voluntarism are strong features of poor areas3. Williams1 cites large amounts of (paid and unpaid) informal work taking place in these neighbourhhods. According to his study, activities are conducted for kin, neighbour and friend for social rather than economic reasons. Because these activities remain in the informal sector, they can’t be certified by the formal sector, and although the person has the skill, he or she can’t use it to move out of unemployment.

 

This is the skills gap the consortium addresses. We strongly believe that residents of deprived urban areas have skills and competences that are in demand on the labour market, but that the failure to recognise or advertise them makes them unavailable. Making this group employable would benefit individuals and communities they are part of, and by making untapped talents available also contributes to inclusive growth and economic revival.

 

EULER aligns with two global visions of the Bruges Communique: validation of learning taking place during daily activities – informal learning – is complemented by non-formal learning in Level Playing Field; and an inclusive learning method is created through the innovative programme. Furthermore its focus on deprived urban areas contributes to their social cohesion, and to employability of disconnected residents and economic growth in general.

 

EULER unlocks and deepens skills of citizens who would otherwise not consider entering into education or training. In doing so, it makes a substantial contribution to four strategic objectives of the Bruges Communiqué: realizing a more inclusive VET; enabling a more flexible access to training and qualifications by leading people towards further training; making I-VET an attractive learning option; and through a strong ICT component fostering innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

 

Training programme Level Playing Field was successfully tested in London and Brussels. We are convinced that it will prove its merits in deprived neighbourhoods in many more of the almost 500 cities in the EU. By running the programme in parallel in Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin and London, EULER encourages participants to use the provided ICT-tools to share experiences online with other communities in the same programme, making them more familiar with other cultures and languages, but more importantly familiarizing them with key competences of communication, comprehension and planning and boosting their self-esteem. At the same time, it makes the Online Portal (with Strategy, Methods and Open Educational Resources), the Conference and the Book less context specific and therefore easier to roll out in other EU countries.

 

Previous applications of Level Playing Field have proven that civil society organisations are well placed to attract unskilled workers, make these aware of their skills and inspire them up to a point of pursuing a career or training in the sector. In the case of EULER, organisations from four different angles – civil society, urban regeneration, education and training and academia – come together to strengthen and share this opportunity to attract participants not on the basis of the skills they lack, but simply on the basis of where they live. The opportunity it provides was already hinted at in the Bruges Communiqué, when it speaks of the way the involvement of civil society organisations in VET can promote “the validation of skills and competences acquired through voluntary activities.”