This project has provided an opportunity to build on Barking & Dagenham College's (BDC) existing KA1 projects. It has contributed to the College's steady increase in the breadth of vocational areas and the volume of international placements that we can offer our learners. Through the project, we were able to provide 181 BDC learners with a European work placement lasting between 2 - 3 weeks, during the 2018/19 and 2019/20 academic years. The project also provided professional development opportunities for staff acting as Accompanying Persons within the project; A total of 33 BDC staff members benefiting form these developmental opportunities during the project cycle. Unfortunately, we were only able to send around 55% of the students projected, as the majority of the groups scheduled for year 2 of the project were cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic and travel restrictions associated with this. Nonetheless, we were able to offer mobility opportunities in the vocational areas of: - Business - ICT - Accounts - Construction - Hair & Beauty - Health & Social Care - Hospitality & Catering - Creative Industries - Engineering - Sports Coaching for our Football and Rugby Academies Participants and APs were sent to work within Hosting Organisations in France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Portugal and the Greek island of Crete. By participating in a Mobility, participants had the opportunity to build on the training that they have received in BDC as part of their vocational course of study. The placement provided participants with a number of benefits that include: gaining the opportunity to gain real work experience within a professional environment, increasing their personal and soft skills as well as the independence and confidence that come from living in a foreign country. All participants had gained key knowledge, skills and competences from their college qualification; the mobility experience served to add value to the learners' studies through the provision of a practical element that has increased their employability and significantly improved their chances of obtaining sustainable employment at the end of their studies. All of the mobility opportunities that we have offered have lasted between 2 - 3 weeks. This has been a realistic and attainable time frame for each group to gain valuable work experience; it has also enabled course tutors to structure course delivery accordingly, so that participants didn't miss out on valuable classroom time, which was required in order for them to fulfil their vocational qualification. All participants worked with their tutor to address a specific unit from their course; the units were divided into Learning Outcomes and recorded within a Learning Agreement, which was referred to throughout the mobility and guided the participants' learning objectives. All participants received preparatory training in the UK before they travelled which included some practically focused elements to help to manage the learners expectations effectively, as well as assisting them with advice on suitable items to pack, such as suitable clothing. Participants were encouraged to access the OLS course to support the development of their linguistic skills. The mobility project also benefited BDC staff, enabling them to increase their teaching competences as well as gaining a better understanding of the needs of employers, at European level.

This project was delivered over a 12 month period, and provided work placements to young people with fewer opportunities aged 17+. The work placements enabled participants to apply and develop a basic range of digital and employability competencies within a business and commercial setting.In total, we sent 38 participants to complete a work placement in Prague. 28 of these participants travelled to Prague for a four week mobility placement, and were supported during the first and final week of their mobility by an accompanying person from the UK.We also sent 10 participants to Prague to complete a longer duration Erasmus Pro mobility lasting for three months. These participants received pastoral support in Prague from staff at Square One, our Intermediary Partner in the Czech Republic.Through this project we achieved a number of overall objectives:- International work placements were undertaken in a range of host employers, ranging from small start-ups to well-established global brands.- Volunteer International and our Czech host organisations built on previous successful projects to offer longer-duration Erasmus Pro placements for the first time.- Placements were aligned to qualifications, and evidenced practical work based tasks which involved developing digital skills within a business and commercial context. 96% of participants said that they had improved their ‘hard’ skills and technical/professional competencies as a result.- Participants developed their employability skills. 100% said that their chances of getting a new or better job had increased, and 96% had a clearer idea of their career goals.- Participants developed their transversal and soft skills. 96% said that they were more curious and open-minded, more able to think critically and analytically, and more adaptable in new situations. 93% said that their team working skills improved.- Participants developed their cross-cultural working skills. 93% would like to work in an international context in the future, and were more interested in European topics. 81% said that their foreign language skills had improved (in Czech), Taken together, the mobility experience has undoubtedly made our participants more employable, and has strengthened their position within the European and UK labour markets. The project has also sparked interest in returning to Prague to visit, work or study. For a cohort of young people experiencing fewer opportunities, this is a significant achievement. The project has also strengthened the capacity of Volunteer International to lead and manage international work placements and volunteering opportunities for young people. Volunteer International staff members have developed and strengthened their skills and knowledge, whilst our Czech host organisations are now better able to work with young people from the UK with fewer opportunities.

FRAY LUIS DE LEÓN III project has been carried out thanks to the Consortium formed by the Patronato de Desarrollo Provincial de la Diputación de Cuenca (Patronato), and several VET centers in Cuenca and its province ( IES Julián Zarco, IES Hervás and Panduro, School of Arts José María Cruz Novillo, Amaranto Eurogrout, Official Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cuenca, IWorking Training and Academia EIS) to give continuity to the training and work activities that have brought so many benefits to young people from the province through the mobility projects developed. Based on the needs and problems of these young people, such as limited work experience, poor knowledge of a second language, high concentration of the population in rural areas or scarcity of ICT, the Patronato created this programme of quality work placements in foreign companies to improve employability and employment opportunities.The target group was formed by 23 young students from Cuenca, aged between 19 and 51 years. 9 were selected from secondary schools and the remaining 14, from training centers for employment. Some of them carried out their training practices as part of their studies (FCT) while the others had already obtained their technical VET degree or their professional certificate. The professional families of the 23 participants have been distributed as follows: Interpretation and environmental education - 2 participants; Environmental management - 1 participant; Administration of Internet services - 1 participant; Artistic silk screen printing - 3 participants; Integrated human resources management - 2 participants; Commercialization of touristic products and services - 3 participants; Nursing auxiliary care - 3 participants; Websire creation and publication - 1 participant; Administrative management - 2 participants; Pharmacy and parapharmacy - 1 participant; International marketing and sales - 1 participant; Photographic production - 2 participants; Development of applications with WEB technologies - 1 participant. The distribution by destinations was as follows: United Kingdom (Cardiff): 3 scholarships; Czech Republic (Prague): 4 scholarships; Italy (Padua): 6 scholarships and Portugal (Lisbon): 10 scholarships.In each of these cities, the consortium had the collaboration of intermediary partners and host companies that have consolidated the project’s quality and that have helped us with the search of accommodation if required by the trainee, with the transfer service, follow-up of the participants and the search for placements. These intermediary partners have been: ETS, in Cardiff; XENA, in Padua; EPPAS, in Prague and EUROYOUTH, in Lisbon.Therefore, this project has allowed 23 young people to acquire valuable work experience, together with cultural and linguistic experience, through the realization of professional training in European companies for 90 days, in the field of their studies and through the realization of a language course through the OLS language platform online or a face-to-face course in Czech Republic or Portugal.Thus, the 23 participants have acquired, through this mobility experience, specific competences and learning results from their professional areas, in addition to a substantial improvement in the learning of a foreign language and have acquired relational skills, competences in conflict resolution, attitude of respect and promotion of entrepreneurship.The 23 participants have received formal recognition of the activities in which they have participated as soon as they have received the Europass mobility document, a certificate of internship issued by the host company and a certificate of participation of the OLS or linguistic certificate in the case of Czech Republic and Portugal.The impact on the participants is related to the improvement of professional and linguistic knowledge, improvement of social skills and cultural knowledge, etc. Likewise, in the participating organizations the impact has been positive because of the enrichment that involves working with European organizations and to learn from them new methods that can be applied in their own organizations.Some of the long-term benefits will be a higher quality education system, development of the entrepreneurial culture, innovation in different sectors, development of new technologies, increased awareness of European citizenship, and so on.

This project will enable a continued expansion of Barking & Dagenham College's involvement in KA1 projects, increasing the breadth of vocational areas that we can offer overseas work placement and training opportunities to. The project will provide Mobility opportunities in the vocational areas of Business, ICT, Construction, Hair & Beauty and Health & Social Care, as well providing working and training opportunities for learners within BDC's football and rugby academies. The project will be delivered over a 24 month period, with learners traveling in several flows across both the 2017/18 and 2018/19 academic years. The project will provide 2 week Mobility periods for learners studying coaching, development and fitness as part of their Level 3 subsidiary diploma in sport, who are part of BDC's football and rugby academies. The football academy learners will travel to Spain, to train and complete work experience/observations in 2 groups of 15 participants in 2018/19 The rugby academy learners will travel to France in 2 groups of 25 in 2018/19, where they will train with a local rugby club and gain experience of coaching and performance analysis. The ICT learners will travel to Prague in two flows of 10 participants in each of the two academic years. The Business participants will also travel to both Prague, with a total of 80 participants travelling in two cohorts per year (20 in each group) over 2 years. The Hair & Beauty department will send 20 learners to Crete to complete a 2 week work placement, in the 2018/19 academic year The Construction department will send 10 students from 4 sub-sectors (Electrical, Plumbing, Painting & Decorating and the Built Environment) each year, to placements in Spain. The Health & Social care department will send 1 group of 12 students each year, to placements in Esposende (Portugal) In total, this project enables us to provide opportunities for 324 learners, and professional development opportunities for our staff, who will join the groups as accompanying persons (with a ratio of 1 AP:10 learners) The hosting organisations that we are working with in each of these countries will provide the participants with the opportunity to increase their professional skills and work based competences, with a view to making them more job-ready and placing them in a strong position to access job opportunities. The Mobility opportunity will build on the training that each of the learners has received in BDC as part of their vocational course of study and will offer the opportunity to gain real work experience within a professional environment, whilst increasing their personal and soft skills. Whilst the course that the learners are studying at BDC will equip them with technical skills and theoretical knowledge, the mobility experience will add value to the learners' studies through the provision of a practical element that will increase their employability and significantly improve their chances of obtaining sustainable employment at the end of their studies. The mobilities will last between 2 - 3 weeks. It is highly unlikely that any of our participants will have completed an overseas work placement and therefore the 2 - 3 week mobility period is considered a realistic and attainable time frame for each group to gain valuable work experience, allowing a sufficient period for the participants to adjust to life in a new country as well gain a meaningful experience with the host organisations that will enable them to achieve their specific learning outcomes. All of the project learners will agree a number of different Learning Outcomes at the start of their mobility, which reflect key skills, knowledge and work based competences that need to be achieved in order to obtain specific course units; learners will work towards achieving these Learning Outcomes during the 2 -3 week mobility period. Ahead of commencing their mobility the learners will receive preparatory training in the UK. This will include some practically focused elements that will help to manage the learners expectations effectively, as well as assisting them with advice on suitable items to pack, such as suitable clothing. The mobility project will also benefit BDC staff, enabling them to increase their teaching competences as well as gaining a better understanding of the needs of employers, on a European level.

The EU set a 20% energy savings target by 2020. Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU: renovation is inevitable if we think that older buildings consume about 25 lt. of heating oil per square meter per year, around 6 times more than new ones, and that 90% of building today existing in the EU is destined to remain. This process could create 2 million jobs and professionals able to offer an innovative contribution will be strongly needed, particularly for what concerns the performance of energy audits and the design of competitive and innovative strategies for energy retrofitting on existing buildings.Matching this perspective with the shared need for greater job opportunities for architects, NET_Learning aimed at drafting a new professional profile (European Energy Auditors and Renovators) enriching the already recognized Energy Auditor with skills, competences and knowledge addressing Architects.Four partners involved in training and promotion of sustainable architecture culture and coming from Italy, United Kingdom and Czech Republic, worked together to improve opportunities for a wide number of individuals and organizations, in particular the community of EU architects, currently suffering the financial crisis and unemployment in a saturated market where big and renowned firms play a major role, leaving small firms and freelance architects struggling. Their cooperation aimed at creating a workforce of qualified professionals, able to operate at EU level and contribute to the achievement of objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy in terms of climate change and energy efficiency, as well as increasing competitiveness.The project transversally addressed enterprises involved in existing building retrofitting, public national and local authorities and private/public owners of buildings as it focused on the delivery of specific competences on energy efficiency improvement related to existing buildings. Due to their economic and social relevance, these sectors can significantly influence the development of the overall economy and have a direct impact on the quality of life of Europeans.To reach all what stated above, the first step was the development of specific training contents to be delivered to interested architects, coming from all participating countries. Partners, supported by experts, defined and created 4 main modules focused on introduction to sustainable retrofit, passive design, active systems and approaches to sustainable retrofit, made accessible upon subscription to the NET_Learning e-learning Platform (IO1), which represent also the official dissemination channel, where visitors can access information on the project, newsletter, documents, etc.Among young architects taking part to the course, and based on result achieved upon its completion, 43 have been selected to participate to a specialized study visit, which took place in all the involved cities (Rome, Turin, London and Prague) and focused on the analysis – in person and through dedicated material - of real case studies, identified by each partner according to a detailed analysis of regulatory frameworks, technologies, methodologies and approaches today available to deal with energy efficiency and deep retrofitting of existing buildings.Analysis results and training contents, together with an overview of the current situation, have been collected in the NET_Learning Handbook, a publication freely available on the Platform and dissemination tools, useful for training and informative purposes.Through it, partners have defined a strategy to define how to tackle the issue of today fragmentation at EU level of the topic related to the energy certification and auditing. This supports project sustainability in terms of continuation of what started, by further integrating its results and make them usable through time. In addition to that, partners commit to maintain the platform online and progressively supply more courses focused on specialist topics, while the Handbook will be used as an additional textbook for all attendants, being integrated and updated when needed (e.g. new regulations, etc.). The platform will also become a virtual job placement space with a network of firms/enterprises offering jobs or internship opportunities, as well as an exchange space for experts and architects to compare and confront.The problems addressed by the project is common to almost all EU countries and support project transferability: many architects wish to work at least for a period abroad, but mobility is perceived as difficult due to practical problems and to the scarce knowledge on other national and local contexts. NET_Learning thus tried to respond to this will, offering an opportunity to better understand foreign contexts, take part in a training activity abroad and be supported by a stable European network, which might be easily expanded due to the shared conditions of young EU architects.