VOLICITY (vocational learning in the creative industries for Turkish youth) is a two year transnational pre-vocational training programme aimed at under qualified Turkish speaking young people. The two year pilot programme was funded by Leonardo Da Vinci and led by London Metropolitan University with partners in Germany, Turkey and the UK.

Research shows that young people from Turkish-speaking backgrounds are often excluded from mainstream education and job opportunities, and need better access to vocational training. The Creative and Cultural Industries (CCI) sector provides a good context for employability skills development because many young people are already interested in some aspect of it – multimedia, music technology and other forms of creative communications.

Partners
Three of the partners – Balik Arts (London), Naunynritze (Berlin) and PERA Fine Arts (Istanbul) – are organisations that have specialist skills in working with disaffected young people. This is particularly important in the inner city contexts of Istanbul, London and Berlin where Turkish speaking young people are often marginalised by their experiences of mainstream education and employment opportunities.

VOLICITY’s other partners are ESTA Bildungswerk, a specialist vocational and e-learning organisation in Germany; the Open College Network London Region (OCNLR), a UK Awarding body; and ESTA Danismanlik, a sister vocational training organisation based in Turkey.

What is VOLICITY?
At the heart of VOLICITY are three pre-employability courses focused on the skills needs of the creative industries in partner countries. In London, the course focused on radio production and broadcasting skills. In Berlin, Turkish speaking young people underwent a training course in Film Production. In Istanbul young people were introduced to Interior Design.  

Each 10 week course was delivered in a 'blended learning' format that combined an e-learning dimension (e-assessment) with tutorials provided by specialist teachers and work placements provided by creative industry employers. Each student produced an e-portfolio at the end of the course.

The students’ learning was accredited. Young people in London and Istanbul each received Level 2 credits from OCNLR (UK). In London, the Balik Arts students received credits in radio, for their work experience and for their e-portfolios. Students in Istanbul also received credits from OCNLR for their work experience and e-portfolios. In Berlin, students were awarded cultural competency records through Bundesvereingung Kulturelle Jugendbildung.  

How to use this website
On the site you will find details about the VOLICITY students’ experiences and the views of participating teachers and employers. You will also find our ‘Tool Kit’ section which gives you access to the learning materials we developed for the VOLICITY courses as well as further information on e-assessment procedures and accreditation.