For our students, who predominantly come from rural areas and are keen to pursue our two-year course leading to the qualification of ´foreign language assistant´, a work placement abroad is an essential building block for the development of their character. Furthermore, it will improve their opportunities of finding employment. Our students show great interest in these work placements, which is why we would like to offer this opportunity to 26 candidates every year. This will ensure they are qualified to find a job both within the EU and elsewhere. The different elements that make up this work placement – host family, language course and trainee-ship – augment both formal and informal knowledge as well as encouraging a degree of cross cultural awareness. It is important for our participants to improve their ICT and overall skills and, above all, their language proficiency even further.Our students have varying cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, this work placement is often the first opportunity they have to travel abroad on their own. The fact that they must compete for jobs with those who live in cities also serves to highlight the significance of these work placements. Developing their social skills and learning to be confident in their abilities in a global context is, therefore, very important. This project will allow them to gain an insight into the way people live and work in a neighbouring country. Moreover, their awareness of cultural differences and similarities between European countries will increase, and they will develop a European identity.Together with our partners, we develop ´Memoranda of Understanding` and we conclude learning agreements with our students in which we make use of ECVET elements in order to keep a record of their progress. Our students will also be able to set up an electronic portfolio that will include a Europass, certificates and references. This will ensure transparency as well as encouraging personal responsibility.Coaching and support: communication media will ensure that there will be a contact person available 24 hours a day.The participants will be open for different cultures, they gain sensitivity, skills and competences to negotiate with customers and suppliers. Their interest in entrepreneurship will arouse, which will enhance their employability and job opportunities in Germany and abroad.As a school we will foster our endeavour to think and act more in international terms through the process of networking with our partners, since we intensify our knowledge and competencies as teachers and mediators between cultures. The permanent further development of our project utilizing ECVET will have a positive impact on our school's further development. We will benefit from the synergy effect: Will will implement best practice elements from other cultures and educational systems in order to internationalize and update our curriculum.

The project was realized by a consortium whose sending members are 6 technical and vocational education institutes located in Veneto, in the provinces of Rovigo, Padua, Vicenza and Verona.The 129 learners who took part into it were mostly at the end of the fourth year of upper secondary school and some graduates.In the Northeast economic context where the internationalization process undertaken by many companies has enabled a crisis survival, companies competing in world markets require workers who besides being able to master foreign languages have also acquired multi- cultural skills allowing them to interact with international partners.Therefore the project aimed at developing the skills needed to enter an internationalized company; indeed, the Learning Outcomes (LO) covered the scope of both key and soft skills (self-learning, initiative, cultural awareness, autonomy, sense of responsibility and adaptability, ability to deal with and solve problems, build up constructive relationships, work in groups) related to the vocational skills of the students’ course of studies. The course of study involved were those focused on the economic sector and its interrelated services: Administration Finance and Marketing, Corporate IT Systems, Tourism, but also Business and Social Care Services.Corporate Social Responsibility was the main focus of the project; that is the new perception of the impact of business behaviors at an economic, social and environmental level. A growing number of Venetian companies, most concerned with the challenges of the future, are adhering to CSR; this project, alongside the school opening to Europe and the world, aimed at giving students the opportunity to improve their knowledge through lectures made by consortium partners and field visits to companies that work ethically according to the principles of CSR.The 5 week mobility, accomplished in UK, IE, ES, FR, DE, included a full time internship of 4 weeks following a first week of language training and cultural introduction to the foreign work environment that completed the Linguistic and pedagogical training phase carried out in Italy.The internship abroad has been designed as a Learning Unit accredited as ‘Alternanza scuola-Lavoro. It has been outlined according to ECVET procedures so as to be accepted and validated through the assignment of specific credits by each sending school.Participants were given the required certificates, including the Certificate of Competence and the Europass Mobility. These are certifications that enhance the individual portfolio and, possibly, employability.The project was carried out according to a plan that included a schedule, steps and actions; all deadlines have been met and results constantly monitored.The final feedback, carried out on the various subjects/stakeholders involved, shown a high degree of satisfaction.The project, as expected, has improved language skills, which constitute a resource that can be immediately spent in school, but also later on in future studies and job; It has provided knowledge and developed professional skills; it has increased participants’ self-esteem, awareness and autonomy, but above all, it has widened their cultural horizons and increased their European citizenship awareness.The project has also strengthened the consortium with regard to non-sending partners who shared with schools the interest in spreading the knowledge and importance of CSR, reinforcing the cooperation between the world of education and the world of work.

For our students, who predominantly come from rural areas and are keen to pursue our two-year course leading to the qualification of ´foreign language assistant´, a work placement abroad is an essential building block for the development of their character. Furthermore, it will improve their opportunities of finding employment. Our students show a great deal of interest in these work placements, which is why we would like to offer this opportunity to about 30 candidates every year. This will ensure they are qualified to find a job both within the EU and elsewhere. The different elements that make up this work placement – host family, language course and traineeship – augment both formal and informal knowledge as well as encouraging a degree of intercultural awareness. It is important for our participants to improve their ICT and overall skills and, above all, their language proficiency even further.Our students have varying cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, this work placement is often the first opportunity they have to travel abroad without their parents. The fact that they must compete for jobs with those who live in cities also serves to highlight the significance of these work placements. Developing their social skills and learning to be confident in their abilities in a global context is, therefore, very important. This project should make it possible for them to gain an insight into the way people live and work in a neighbouring country. Moreover, their awareness of cultural differences and similarities between European countries should increase, and they should develop a European identity.Together with our partners, we shall develop ´Memoranda of Understanding` and we shall conclude learning agreements with our students in which we shall make use of ECVET elements in order to keep a record of their progress. Our students will also be able to set up an electronic portfolio that will include a Europass, certificates and references. This will ensure transparency as well as encouraging personal responsibility.Coaching and support: communication media will ensure that there will be a contact person available 24 hours a day.Participants will become more open to other cultures, more sensitive and will also learn new skills that will help them when negotiating with foreign customers and suppliers. They will develop an interest for corporate transactions and they will find more employment opportunities both here and abroad.As a school we will also benefit because networking with our partners will help promote our endeavours to be more internationally oriented. We will have the opportunity to deepen our knowledge as teachers and as cultural intermediaries. The constant development of the project with the assistance of ECVET resonates with the concept of further development of the school. We shall make use of the synergy effect: the curriculum will be updated and made more international by adopting the best-practice elements from other cultures and education systems.

For our students, who predominantly come from rural areas and are keen to pursue our two-year course leading to the qualification of ´foreign language assistant´, a work placement abroad is an essential building block for the development of their personalities. Furthermore, it will improve their opportunities of finding employment. Our students show great interest in these work placements, which is why we would like to offer this opportunity to 26 candidates every year. This will ensure they are qualified to find a job both within the EU and elsewhere. The different elements that make up this work placement – host family, language course and trainee-ship – augment both formal and informal knowledge as well as encouraging a degree of cross cultural awareness. It is important for our participants to improve their ICT and overall skills and, above all, their language proficiency even further. Our students have varying cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, this work placement is often the first opportunity they have to travel abroad on their own. The fact that they must compete for jobs with those who live in cities also serves to highlight the significance of these work placements. Developing their social skills and learning to be confident in their abilities in a global context is, therefore, very important. This project will allow them to gain an insight into the way people live and work in a neighbouring country. Moreover, their awareness of cultural differences and similarities between European countries will increase, and they will develop a European identity. Together with our partners, we have developed ´Memoranda of Understanding` and we conclude learning agreements (training agreements) with all our participants in which we make use of ECVET elements in order to keep a record of their progress. We make use of the experience in past Erasmus programmes in mandatory workshops in order to well prepare all our beneficiaries for their stay abroad. Our students will also set up an electronic portfolio that includes Europass documents, certificates and references. This will ensure transparency as well as encourage personal responsibility. Coaching and support: communication media ensure that there will be a contact person available 24 hours a day. The participants will be open for different cultures, they gain sensitivity, skills and competences to negotiate with customers and suppliers. The work placement abroad strengthens their self confidence and sense of personal responsibility. During their work placement our students very often gain recognition for their commitment and their language skills, which arouses their interest in entrepreneurship and enhances their employability and job opportunities in Germany as well as in foreign countries. As a school we will foster our endeavour to think and act more in international terms through the process of networking with our partners, since we intensify our knowledge and competencies as teachers and mediators between cultures. The permanent further development of our project utilizing ECVET will have a positive impact on our school's further development. We will henceforth benefit from the synergy effect: We will continue to implement best practice elements from other cultures and educational systems in order to internationalize and constantly update our curriculum.