The project NERDVET (THINK SMART! ENHANCING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS & MEDIA LITERACY IN VET) intends to implement a Model for integrating in an organic way critical thinking and media literacy skills as learning outcomes within VET curricula.

The project will develop and test an Educational toolkit to support VET teachers and trainers on improving critical thinking and media literacy in VET students. The Educational Toolkit, which will be composed by a mix of teaching methodologies, content and best didactical practice, will be tested and tuned through a pilot action carried out by teachers together with their students during a school year. Subject matters chosen for the pilot action will be literacy, digital, personal, social and civic competences, to be dealt with an interdisciplinary approach and all linked with citizenship education in order to enhance the common values of democracy and inclusion.

The project focuses also on media literacy, as nowadays the internet and social media are the environments where young people are more likely to spend most of their time in accessing information, learning and communicating. Students will learn how to apply critical thinking when using digital media, first to avoid misinformation and manipulation, and secondly to exploit positively everything the web can offer in terms of knowledge, relations and positive examples.

The model will be then proposed to regional, national and EU policy makers of the educational sector and to VET organisations, with the aim to define and share policy guidelines to consolidate and mainstream the Toolkit.

NERDVET is carried out by Consortium of five VET providers from Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, with the scientific support of the Department of Human Sciences of Verona University and the involvement of EVTA for ensuring a dissemination of the model at European level.