The European strategic framework for education and training 2030 aims to reduce Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET) to 9% (Council of the European Union, 2021). Spain is one of the countries in the European Union with one of the highest ELET standing at 13.3% in 2021, compared to the EU average of 9.7% (Eurostat, 2022). In this scenario, research pointed to the strategic role of vocational education and training (VET) in the prevention of ELET (Cedefop 2020; Marhuenda-Fluixá, 2019) and the need for improvement and development of this training, which is still characterised by low participation and high drop-out rates with over half of students estimated to drop out of this training without the corresponding qualification (Martínez-Morales & Marhuenda-Fluixà, 2020; Salvà-Mut et al., 2020). Against this background, we consider implementing the COSI.ed,project in Initial and Continuing VET be vital. The project promotes a rethinking of the teaching and learning processes by situating students, who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out, at the centre, based on their own experiences and knowledge, with the aim of promoting the development of skills and competencies to contribute to the further development of their sense of self-efficacy (Gravesen et al., 2021). In this paper, we present the preliminary results of the COSI.ed project implementation in the regional context of the Balearic Islands. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 young people who started their training in the 2021-22 academic year in two VET centres: Sociedad Cooperativa Jovent and Naüm Proyecto Socioeducativo. At the same time, 6 interviews were carried out with the trainers (role models) to gather their first impressions on the implementation of the project. The results point to an improvement in the learning and learning processes of the students as well as their engagement with special emphasis on the relationship with teachers. Related to the trainers, although they highlight the benefits of the project, their voices denote certain resistance to change. This is why, in the project’s second phase, emphasis should be placed on improving their involvement.

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