In total 241 VET learners took part in a 4-week mobility placement in Spain. Learners drawn from East Sussex College, West Kent and Mid Kent colleges, were mostly aged 17 – 20, with a fairly even gender balance. In line with the VESI 2 objectives the project succeeded in helping a large number of students with fewer opportunities. This has been reflected in their feedback rather than learning outcomes or movement into work as this has yet to be collated. The feedback indicates that in the first instance this was an opportunity that these students would not have had without Erasmus +.The project anticipated UK learners developing their employability skills, acquiring additional technical and soft skills, and developing their linguistic ability through involvement in this mobility project. We anticipated that this experience, whilst also demonstrating important employment experience on CVs, would also aid employability outcomes for our learners. This will be considered within our Evaluation Strategy. The project aimed to provide a motivational experience for our learners by offering them an opportunity to attend a mobility placement with an employer in the Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, and Business Admin sectors. The project provided linguistic support and cultural orientation as part of its preparatory training. Support and guidance was also made available to students through workplace supervisors and buddies, and our receiving host partner, 3SI, provided additional support to all learners during their period of mobility. The project aimed to address the needs of all its learners and the creation of Individual Learning Plans were used to guide the expectations of each work mobility placement. This document alongside the Europass tools were central to ensuring that the overall aims and objectives of our learners were met. The project evaluated the data collected post each mobility, verifying the experience of our learners, employers, and those of our consortia partners. The results of this work fed into our mobility timetable and helped ensure that quality development ran throughout project delivery with learning points worked into operational plans. Use of the Europass framework ensured that skills acquisition of learners could be adequately captured.Nearly all students agreed that one of the greatest benefits of the programme has been their development of soft skills. This has mainly been derived from the independence that the students gained through the programme. For many this was the first time that they have been away from home. It meant having to organise themselves to go to work, to be on time and to facilitate all the other elements of their lives at the same time. Many stated, in their feedback, that this was difficult at first but that they had grown in confidence and now felt that better able to face the world of work. Another objective of the programme was to build greater self-esteem and confidence amongst those most disadvantaged. Staff report that emotional resilience and the will to study improved for those that took part in the project. They also report that students improved their technical abilities as a result of the work placements. One student commented, 'It was good to put into practice what we learnt in the classroom although it was not as I had imagined or been taught'. This illustrates that technical skills theory does not translate precisely to practical application.It is anticipated that involvement in this VET mobility project will lead to increased transnational working across our partnership consortia, to find new partners with European colleges building even stronger links with both the UK and EU economy(s).

We met the original aims and objectives of our project. Throughout the delivery it was focused on providing opportunities for young people at Waltham Forest College, to gain work experience and new life experiences through placements in Spain and Portugal. A major impact on the success of the project was the unique challenges caused by the outbreak of COVID 19, in 20219/.2020 onwards - which meant international travel was banned (by UK government) and the last cohort group to Portugal was not able to travel., before the end of our project,. We had recruited the learners and booked flights and accommodation, but the project end date could not be extended to accommodate the delays cased by COVID. Therefore we could not deliver the final 24 mobilities for our learners to go to Portugal.Context: Fighting high levels of unemployment -particularly among young people -is one of the most urgent tasks for European governments. Too many young people leave school prematurely running a high risk of being unemployed and socially marginalised. Our activities will directly meet the Erasmus objectives as it will improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society, in particular through increased opportunities for learning mobility and through strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work. Our project helped foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation, through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders. Objectives: TOPS Mobility project provided 4 week mobilities in Spain and Portugal, for disadvantaged learners on Travel and Tourism, Hospitality and Business Administration courses. Our objectives were : -to support 120 participants in 4 week Mobilities in Spain and Portugal -to develop better linguistic skills for 120 people -increase employability skills, -enhanced vocational skills and -120 gaining work experience in an EU context. The Activities included: 4 week Mobilities Year 1. Cohort 1 : Spain April 2019 x 30 people Cohort 2 : Portugal April 2019 x 30 people Year 2 Cohort 3 : Spain April 2020 x 30 people Cohort 4 : Portugal April 2020 x 30 people Profile of participants :The participants were mainly disadvantaged learners from some of the most deprived communities in UK - as Waltham Forest college serves students from some of the most disadvantaged boroughs and wards in London (Waltham Forest, Dagenham and Redbridge, Barking; and many east London wards facing significant social and economic challenges. The participantswere doing vocational training in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism; and Catering and Digital, and Business Admin. The participants lived in areas of high deprivation - poor housing, low income, poor health, poor qualifications & high unemployment. Many students will be carers,or live in households where there are poor adult role models, high levels of self dependency, and households with chaoticand unstable family structures. Many of the learners have never left their local communities , let alone visit other countries.Many do not have passports and one of the major impacts of this project is to provide a new experience, within a newcountry for our students. Without this many may never travel oversees or see that employment opportunities exist withinpartner EU countries. Project activities and aims Students participated in a 4 week work experience placement, in hospitality tourism, business admin and hotel sectors; toincrease their vocational skills, work experience and improve EU knowledge and skills. We established links with hospitality,travel and tourism employers in Seville, and offered a range of traineeships within them. We also provided cultural andlanguage courses and events, alongside the work placements. We provided the following programme to meet the aims: -CULTURE, provide daily activities to key tourist sites.-LOCAL LINGUISTIC NIGHT, language tutor’s personally introduce interns to local people to practice the language.-EMPLOYER NETWORK - meet employers -LANGUAGE CLASS, daily basic, intermediate & advanced to help you prepare for work and living in each country.-INDUCTION ACTIVITIES, students receive induction activities to help them settle in to the environment. -FIND THE WORKPLACE, we support you with detailed maps and information so interns arrive stress free on the first day.-LOCAL TOUR, supermarkets, banks, hospitals, internet cafes, police station, libraries and key local facilities.The project aims, which complimented ERASMUS aims were to: - Develop their practical and technical skills in relation to vocational skills- Increase their confidence - Assist their entry into the labour market on completion of vocational training within VET Partners- improve learning performance through enhanced VET activities - enhanced opportunities and training to increase employment and career choices for our students- improved and increased self esteem, empowerment amongst our learners, specifically on those disadvantaged inEuropean learners-improved language and linguistic skills for students to encourage wider participation in European learning -increased participation in the UK and wider EU community- Enhanced employability through 'soft outcomes' such as increased self-esteem, team working, time managementThe aim was to provide 97 disadvantaged people who are on vocational training, the opportunity to learn new skillsworking in the the important employment and growth sectors. It also supported 27 Accompanying people with personal and professional development, increasing their vocational competencies. The project achieved the following outputs for participants:- Development of their practical and technical skills in relation to the 5 vocational sectors - Development of their professional, personal, intercultural and linguistic skills- Increased their confidence and self esteem- Assisted their entry into the labour market on completion of VET partner courses- made students more aware of EU mobility - made students more attractive to employersOur results and impacts.We identified results and impacts for participants through the feedback reports and participation evaluation :Survey of our students 2018-2021: • 100% rated quality excellent• 100% rated teaching as excellent• 100% gained new skills• 90% are more confident• 90% better able to work in a team• 90% have better work skills• 100% had improved work skills• 85% want to work abroad again Participants resulted in the following impacts : - improved learning performance through enhanced VET activities - enhanced opportunities and training to increase employment and career choices for our students- improved and increased self esteem, empowerment amongst our learners, specifically on those disadvantaged learners- enhanced intercultural and language opportunities for our learners- improved language and linguistic skills for students to encourage wider participation in European learning - increased participation in the UK & wider EU community- development of skills This is an important project in helping to provide opportunities for young people to build their vocational and employability skills and gain work experience in an EU context.

This is a 2 year project, during which time we plan to send 172 learners on vocational placements in Seville, Crete and Prague. Placements will be 3-6 weeks long, with the exact length of stay determined by the lead tutor for each vocational area. We feel this is sufficient time for students to adjust to work and life in another country, meaningfully gain from the experience and achieve tangible learning outcomes. The destination for each student will be determined by their vocational area and the placements available. Students will be selected from the following departments: Business, Beauty, Travel & Tourism, Sport (Football), Catering and Computing. Our project objectives are - to provide European work placement opportunities to students across a range of vocational sectors - to build on the success of our 2016 mobility project, develop our internal project delivery capacity, and expand our work to offer more students international opportunities - to enable students to apply the theoretical learning acquired on their course in a structured and sector specific work setting - to enable students to develop soft skills & professional competences - to show them different perspectives & practices in a work setting. To promote cross-cultural working and ultimately, broaden their horizons We aim to make our students highly employable and enterprising by developing the skills employers want. The project will enhance our students' learning experience and increase their employability. The placements are framed by a supportive pre, during & post placement structure, with group training and individual support offered in order to fully prepare students for the placement, and provide a debrief and careers guidance on how to maximize their learning on their return. The models of support that we offer our learners will be tailored to their individual needs, recognising that support needs will differ between participants and at different points in the project. Each group will be joined by an accompanying staff member from the College and will have a designated placement supervisor, as well as local partner support. The participants for this mobility will all be students at Bath College, studying up to Level 3 in one of the following vocational areas: Beauty (Level 3), Business (Level 3), Catering (Level 2), Computing (Level 3), Football (Level 3) Travel & Tourism (Level 3). Our tutors have strong existing relationships with learners and a good working knowledge of how best to engage and retain them, and design a project that is responsive to their needs. Learner needs are: - To gain sector specific practical work experience and apply the technical skills and theoretical knowledge they have acquired through their course in a practical setting - To develop their soft skills (such as self assurance, adaptability, communication) and their language competences - To provide participants with international experience, pushing them out of their comfort zone in a supportive environment Ultimately we hope this will put them in a stronger position to gain employment in the sector on completion of their course. In order to have a competitive edge in the labour market, we know that students need to develop personal competences such as team work, confidence and adaptability. We hope the mobility will increase their aspirations for a career in the sector. Learners will develop the confidence to interact in a foreign language setting, an understanding of the sector at European level & insight in to how organisations operate in a different cultural context. In the long term, we hope the mobility will contribute to positive onward progression and raised aspirations amongst our learners. The mobility provides a structured employment experience, with a line manager and a clear set of tasks and guidance, support learners to engage in a 'real' work setting and develop realistic expectations of the working world. The mobility placement will be explicitly linked to learners' course of study. Placement activities will correspond to the specific course units, which gives them the opportunity to enhance their course learning and understand the experience of a work environment. Host Organisations (HOs)will offer placements with activities relevant to the learners’ course of study. Each tutor will identify learning outcomes (LOs) that can realistically be achieved by learners whilst on placement. The LOs will differ between participants and will relate to both the specific qualification that they are working towards in the UK and the role descriptions available. The mobility project enables the College to enhance our curriculum offer, and put our learners in a stronger position to progress after they graduate. It has improved course delivery, learner engagement and performance. The mobility is an opportunity to strengthen our international networks and consolidate some of our aims for internationalisation.