Background and objectivesThe Childcare and Education department (BUF) of Eskilstuna Municipality, Sweden, and its upper secondary schools have the ambition to constantly develop and improve education. Within vocational programs, there is a desire to make the programs more attractive, as Eskilstuna has a great need for qualified labor in the vocational fields. The municipality is struggling with youth unemployment, and it is important that youth complete their education at upper secondary school to be able to get a job and / or continue their studies at university. As the labor market becomes increasingly global, young people also need good language skills. Furthermore, Eskilstuna is a multicultural town. The consortium has a need to constantly work to increase tolerance and understanding for other people and cultures. During 2018-2021, the Childcare and Education department in Eskilstuna had a consortium project within Erasmus + KA1 VET, with internships and job shadowing activities. The consortium consisted of the upper secondary schools Rekarnegymnasiet, Rinmangymnasiet, S: t Eskils gymnasium and BUF's administration office which was the coordinator. Based on the needs of the municipality (above) , the consortium had the following objectives:1. Make vocational education more attractive by offering internships abroad for students2. Internships would lead to great personal development of the students, which in turn would motivate them to complete their education, make them better equipped for the labor market and make it easier for them to get a job.3. Increase the language skills of the students4. Increase students' tolerance and understanding of other people and cultures5. For the teachers doing job shadowing activities: See new influences in pedagogy and didactics, be able to discuss syllabi and lesson content with colleagues in another country to develop the program, improve their language skills and develop international cooperation.ActivitiesThe activities consisted of internships abroad for 64 students from the vocational programs Hotel / Tourism, Hairdresser, Childcare, Healthcare, Restaurant , Business / Administration, Vehicles / Transport and the introductory programs IM / Construction / Vehicles. The students did internships for 2-5 weeks at our partner organizations in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Malta and the UK. In addition, three teachers from the Vehicle / Transport program participated in job shadowing activities in France. Originally our plan was to have many more students and teachers participate, but due to the Corona situation and Brexit, among other things, it did not work out.ResultsOne of our objectives was to make vocational education more attractive. Because so many factors are involved when choosing an upper secondary program, it is difficult to say how much the internships abroad affect the choice, especially during a pandemic when nobody could travel. When comparing the numbers of 2018 with those of 2021, we see that there is no difference. Both years, 37% of the students started a vocational program and 61% started a college preparatory one. The students developed greatly on a personal level. In the evaluations, they expressed that they had gained self-confidence, courage and problem-solving ability, as well as developed their sense of responsibility and their ability to adapt to new situations. All of these abilities play a major role in completing studies and being better prepared for the labor market, having a greater opportunity to get a job and daring to take the step of looking for work elsewhere if necessary.A majority of the students also developed their language skills and thought that they had become more fluent in English. During their internship abroad, the students experienced a different culture and met people from a different background. An overwhelming majority of students expressed that they had become more tolerant of other people's values and behavior and had become better at collaborating with people from another culture.The teachers who job-shadowed colleagues in France learned a lot about what the French vocational training in vehicles / transport was like. They could compare the programs and observe how the subjects were taught. They got ideas about how they could develop their own teaching. The teachers also visited companies where students did their internships and got an insight into how internships were organized. The teachers' language skills improved and they also learned a lot about French culture. During the school year, the collaboration developed so that teachers and students from the French school came here for job shadowing and internships.During this project period, the vocational programs have expanded their international contacts overall. Collaboration regarding internships, job shadowing and teaching have begun, which is promising for our future projects.