Newham College of Further Education will support 300 disadvantaged students to participate in a VET Traineeship project in 2 Countries- France and Spain (Paris and Seville). Students will participate in a 2 week work experience placement, in hospitality tourism, and hotel sector; Fashion and Textile, Business Administration, Catering and Health care; to increase their vocational skills, work experience and improve EU knowledge and skills. The participants will be disadvantaged learners from the London borough of Newham - the most deprived community in London. A majority of students will be aged between 16-24 who are doing vocational training in Hospitality and Tourism; Health Care, Hair and Beauty, Business Administration, Catering and Fashion and Textile. As an experienced European Mobility organisation, we will build on our best practice in supporting the mobility of our students and achieve high personal impacts. The project aims, which compliment ERASMUS aims: - Develop their practical and technical skills in relation to Hospitality & Tourism, Health Care, Catering,Business Administration and Fashion and Textile - Increase their confidence - Assist their entry into the labour market on completion of vocational training within Newham College of Further Education- 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 in European 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 management

We have been part of a consortium of Colleges involved in KA1 mobility projects since 2014. This has proven to be a great success, and we have observed the positive benefits for the students involved. This application was our first independent mobility project, on behalf of Bath College. It gave us the opportunity to build on the learning we have acquired through participation in the consortium and to develop our international work.The main objective of this project was to provide structured European mobility opportunities to Bath College learners across a range of vocational sectors: Hair & Beauty, Business, Computing, Sport (Football) and Travel & Tourism. We recruited 93 learners, over a 2 year period, across 5 vocational areas. They travelled in small groups to Crete (Greece), Seville (Spain) or Prague (Czech Republic), depending on their area of study and the placements available, for between 4-6 weeks.We worked directly with a range of host organisations which provided structured work placements for our learners across a range of disciplines. All host partners involved had previous experience of working with young people on mobility programmes and were able to provide a high quality work experience opportunity with the appropriate support mechanisms in place.We targeted participants who had not previously had opportunities to work or study abroad. The mobility enabled us to provide a structured and supportive setting for an overseas placement, so that we felt confident to offer this opportunity to those who were less self-assured and lacking experience of overseas travel. All groups were joined by an accompanying person for the first and last week of their placement.We aim to make our students highly employable and enterprising by developing the skills employers want. Our courses provide learners with a theoretical understanding of their sector. Through the addition of structured, sector-specific overseas work experience, the participants could apply their learning in a work-based setting and develop new skills to provide them with a stronger foundation, both personally and professionally, giving them a competitive advantage in the labour market over their peers. We supported learners to develop the interpersonal skills, confidence and self-assurance that are invaluable to any career. The mobility encouraged learners to step out of their comfort zone, working in a different culture and equipped them with the professional confidence to interact positively in a new environment.We ensured that pre-departure training and engagement was offered to learners to fully prepare them for the experience. The mobility placements were explicitly linked to their course of study and were designed so that placement activities corresponded to units within their course of study, which meant that learners could gain transferable course credits whilst on placement. For each vocational area, the college tutor(s) identified a specific unit(s) of their course of study, which were to be achieved during their mobility. The Learning Outcomes to be achieved differed between participants and related to both the specific qualification that they were working towards in the UK, as well as the daily activities provided by the Host Organisations within each of the available roles. The objectives were documented in an individual Learning Agreement for each learner. We used ECVET as a framework to validate their learning.This project has had a positive impact on our learners, on Bath College and on our host partners. Our learners gained practical work experience, in a European context, which was directly transferable to and enhanced their course of study. Participants benefited both personally and professionally, and had the opportunity to develop technical skills as well as personal and language competences. In the long term, we hope the experience will broaden their horizons, raise aspirations and ambitions, and impact positively on their job readiness and future employability. For Bath College, we were able to enhance our course of study, improve our reputation as a course provider and increase our attractiveness to prospective students. It has also presented an opportunity for professional development amongst our staff and to increase our international networks. For host organisations, the mobility strengthened their capacity to operate with international partners, and the quality of their preparation, implementation, monitoring and reporting skills for EU projects. They have gained a better understanding of working with more disadvantaged groups and devising positive approaches to support for these learners.

This project was developed in response to the growing challenge of youth unemployment in the UK. We planned to address this by enhancing the project participants' employability and providing them with experience and insight in the European labour market through a structured international work experience placement.Our project recruited young people who were undertaking a Level 3 NVQ in Professional Cookery and provide an enhanced capacity building opportunity for these young people who are hoping to embark on a career in the sector. We recognised the value of investing in young people training to enter the hospitality sector, as this has been identified as a growth area and therefore through supporting young people to better equip themselves for a career in the sector, we hope to contribute to the reduction of youth unemployment in the UK.The participants for this project were young people (17-23 yr olds) studying for their Professional Cookery NVQ. Their NVQ equipped them with the technical skills and theoretical knowledge that they needed for a career in the sector. To enhance their qualification, and put them in the best position for gaining employment in the sector upon completion of their course, they also needed to gain sector specific practical work experience, increase their soft skills and develop their language competences.108 participants were recruited over a 24 month period from 3 vocational colleges in the UK, who worked together as a consortium. Participants will travel in small groups to undertake a 6 week placement in a range of relevant host companies based in Seville, Spain.The majority of participants had not undertaken an overseas work placement before. Therefore 6 weeks was deemed a realistic and attainable timeframe for the group. It was sufficient time for the participants to adjust to work and life in a foreign country, meaningfully gain from the experience and achieve a set of individual learning objectives in a structured and supportive environment. Participants were joined by an accompanying person from each college.During their placement, participants worked in kitchens completing food preparation, cooking and completion corresponded to the mandatory units of their NVQ, covering topics such as food hygiene & safety and cooking new dishes. They learnt how to work in a fast-paced, pressurised environment and how to work effectively in a team. At the start of the placement, project staff supported participants to agree a set of Learning Outcomes for the mobility which reflected the course units that related to the specific tasks that the participants completed during their placement. Participants received pre-departure and in-country training to prepare them for the mobility and had regular and structured supervision during the placement, to provide pastoral support and ensure they made progress towards their Learning Outcomes and developed their personal objectives. REY Europe formed a consortium with the sending partners to design, deliver, evaluate and disseminate the project. With an ever increasing range of vocational opportunities offered to young people, it was hoped that this project would give participating colleges a competitive edge, making their course more attractive to future applicants. It provided an opportunity for colleges to learn about different approaches to work placements and objective setting. It enabled them to diversify their course and methods of teaching and learn through international cooperation to enhance their existing course offer.The immediate impact of the Mobility, for participants was to gain a practical insight into 'real' work in Professional Cookery, with a clear set of tasks and guidance. The longer term impact was for participants to secure meaningful employment in the sector. As well as developing professional skills in the kitchen, learners benefitted from an intercultural experience, increased language competency and personal development. This has strengthened their position in the labour market and their workplace readiness and instilled in them a broader perspective and international outlook when seeking employment.The project has positively impacted on the Sending partners by enabling them to provide a rounded NVQ experience for their learners. Partners have had the opportunity to develop longer term relationships with the host organisations in Spain and they are now more aware of EU programmes and the benefits of participation.College staff have developed their teaching competencies and understanding of different approaches to work experience placements. They have a clearer idea of the needs of employers located within the catering sector, on a national and European level.The host organisations have learnt new management techniques for working on EU programmes and develop their understanding of NVQ model of study and the teaching methods of Professional Cookery in the UK.

REY Europe is a Social Enterprise and not-for-profit organisation based in central London. We deliver a range of projects related to employment, training and the provision of work based learning opportunities. Our projects aim to address the emerging skill gap across a variety of sectors by providing direct support to unemployed people, and facilitating work placement opportunities in Europe and the UK as well as wider strategic work to address emerging skills gaps within projected areas of economic growth. We actively pursue projects to support those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. This project sought to address the labour market needs within the UK's Travel and Tourism sector. We aimed to address the existing skills gap and raise standards of training in order to meet projected levels of expansion and replacement demand within the sector. The project provided an experiential learning opportunity for participants and an international experience for young people who had not previously had the chance to travel, developing their professional and personal competences and better equipping them for entry into the labour market. REY worked with two UK based FE colleges to recruit young people in their second year of study for a BTEC in Travel and Tourism. These students were aged between 17 - 19 years, the majority of whom had not lived overseas or lived independently (away form their family home), prior to their involvement in the project. REY has proven experience of working with this target group and providing a structured and supported mobility experience. The project was run over 2 years, from August 2014 - June 2016. In total, we sent 84 learners and 5 accompanying persons, who spent 8 weeks on placement. (The accompanying persons joined the group for the first 5 days only) The mobilities took place in Seville, Andalucia, with students hosted in small groups in a range of work placements. Placements were all local tourist operations, and provided students with the opportunity to gain first hand customer service and hospitality experience and develop their confidence working in a cross cultural environment. Students received 2 days of face to face preparatory training in the UK prior to departure and an in-country orientation by a REY Europe representative based in Seville throughout the mobility to ensure that participants had access to local pastoral support. The mobility was designed to be credit bearing, with participants will working towards at least 1 unit of their Level 2 BTEC qualification during the mobility. Prior to the mobility, students were supported to develop an individual Learning Agreement and a set of learning outcomes, which were shaped by the job description that they were given by their placement. The learning outcomes were defined within the context of the ECVET framework. Participants were supported in-country by a line manager within the placement, who conducted regular review meetings with participants to chart their progress and signed off their learning agreement at the end of the mobility if learning outcomes were achieved. The agreements were then returned to their college tutor who was able to award the appropriate unit of their BTEC qualification. The mobility achieved its intended impact; for students to gain first hand work experience, intercultural experience and personal development that has strengthened their position in the labour market and their workplace readiness. Students have developed their personal and professional confidence, an understanding of the European labour market and a set of transferable skills that has made them more prepared for employment, given them a competitive edge when seeking employment and provided them with an international outlook. 54 participants have successfully completed at least one unit of their Level 2 BTEC that was set for them to be achieved within their mobility placement. We are currently monitoring and evaluating the impact of the mobility of the longer term by looking at participants' career pathways and how the mobility has supported their progression to employment. For the participating organisations, their European networks and international outlook have been developed and strengthened, and they are now in a position to expand their international mobility to increased numbers of students and are more engaged and connected to the European labour market.

This project provided participants with a mobility lasting for six weeks, in Spain, Croatia or Greece. The project was developed to respond to the growing challenge of youth unemployment in the UK, providing each participant with an opportunity to develop their personal and professional skills and competencies in a real work setting. The project engaged young people, typically 17-19 years old, and built on REY Europe's previous 5 years’ experience of delivering mobility projects across a range of vocational areas. Participants were placed in working environments related to the vocational areas of Tourism, Hospitality, Hair and Beauty and Construction, and the placements also provided an opportunity for participants to obtain at least 1 unit of an Employability Certificate. By completing a work placement, participants developed their practical and theoretical knowledge related to wider employability, by increasing their work experience, soft skills, and developing their language competence.We planned to recruit 180 participants over a 24 month period. Given that none of your participants had completed an overseas work placement previously, we felt that 6 weeks was a realistic timeframe for each cohort to adjust to both working and living in a new country. They gained meaningful work experience in a structured environment, supported by Host Organisation (HO) staff throughout the Mobility, as well as by their course tutor (Accompanying Person) in weeks one and six of the Mobility. Depending on the vocational area selected, the participants completed a number of different tasks which were clearly linked to achieving specific Learning Outcomes (LOs) and provided the participant with useful work experience within the context of their vocational study. This project therefore achieved multiple outcomes both professionally, personally, academically and within the context of each participants' linguistic development.Each participant received preparatory and in-country training to help them to prepare for the Mobility and they also receive structured support from both their course tutor and line manager within the work placement, who assisted them in achieving their Learning Outcomes. Additionally, pastoral support was provided to the participants outside of their placement, by a local representative working on behalf of REY Europe. REY Europe designed, delivered and evaluated the project and disseminated results, with input from both the Host Organisations (HOs) and participants where appropriate. The project enhanced REY Europe's offering, making it more attractive to future learners and enhancing staff understanding of different approaches to work experience placements.