B-Mentor project is aimed at contributing to the main challenge of today’s world, which is increase economic growth and employment by improving the level of competences and competitiveness in a key sector of European economy: the tourism. The project promotes a strong cooperation and synergy between tourism sector workers and c-VET providers and learners; it complements training offer and improve it, and stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship in tourism labour sector with the aim of seizing the whole potential of this key sector in the European economy, highly dependant on innovations and trends in the global market. Through a work based learning approach, we will apply innovative mentoring methodologies (individual, such as bi-directional mentoring; and group, such as mentoring circles), so young entrepreneurs in the tourism field will provide to sectorial managers and intermediate leaders support and training in key competences for innovation, like ITC skills, e-business and internationalization. At the same time, experienced managers or intermediate leaders from tourism sector will transfer their knowledge and skills to young entrepreneurs in the field of business management, market analysis, customer relationship and satisfaction, etc. This innovative and work-based educational model, focused on the exchange and synergy between training and the world of work, will improve achievement in c-VET education and, at same time, will increase competences and skills in tourism sector managers and entrepreneurs from a lifelong learning and intergenerational perspective. Moreover, it will enhance access to quality training for all (c-VET students, unexperienced entrepreneurs and experienced professionals) with a very sustainable investment. B-MENTOR international consortium will work together to produce: 1. The B-MENTOR Model: application to the tourism sector – this output presents the methodological framework for the application of the project models into the c-VET schemes. The methodology addresses trainers, managers in centres and companies in formal and non-formal c-VET in tourism sector; 2. B-MENTOR training toolkit – the toolkit is a set of resources and tools for training c-VET students or newcomers as entrepreneurs in tourism sector, employees or managers from tourism business, facilitating the learning process to became mentors. The tool kit will include: - A training course that will incorporate modules for future mentors to be trained on key concepts (such as WBL; types, benefits and roles in mentoring processes ...), to understand and improve key competencies to become mentors, and to become familiar with the tools they will use in the practice of mentoring in the tourism sector. - A set of practical tools that will facilitate the organisation, monitoring and assessment of the mentoring processes. - Nano-pills (in the format of videos and/or podcasts) to deepen on key ideas, tips, testimonies, practical examples… on a set of topics from tourism sector (detected gaps on both young and experienced employee/managers, i.e. digital marketing and communication with customers) with the objective of providing agile and easy accessible learning resources to mentors and mentees. B-Mentor main goals are: - To stimulate and facilitate innovation, employment, entrepreneurship and labour mobility in tourism sector; - To improve c-VET curricula in tourism field matching training provision and labour needs; - To facilitate flexible, experiential and work-based-learning, new apprenticeship-type training, as well as facilitate networking opportunities and professional relationship between consolidated professionals and newcomers in the tourism; - To increase tourism HHRR motivation and skills and facilitate their professional development, employability and mobility; - To increase training opportunities in the whole sector, in a lifelong learning dimension, with special attention to the c-VET learners characteristics.
The tourism sector is one of the key sectors of the European Economy. With around 1.8 million companies, primarily SMEs, which employ approximately 5.2% of the total workforce (around 9.7 million jobs, with a significant number of young people between 16-35 years old), European tourism industry generates over 5% of EU GDP. In recent years, the sector is witnessing wide and fast changes, which affect a business fabric in which a special polarization is taking place. On the one hand, consolidated companies, formed by highly experienced personnel; on the other hand, new companies, driven by young entrepreneurs, who, in spite of not having specific experience in the sector, enjoy other skills and abilities, increasingly valuable in the new business context. B-MENTOR Project seeks to gather the potential and knowledge of both groups through a work-based learning approach (WBL), applying an innovative methodology based on mentoring strategies: Bi-directional mentoring and mentoring circles. Bearing in mind the objective of stimulating as well as facilitating innovation, employment, entrepreneurial spirit and labor mobility in the tourism sector, facilitating a flexible and work-based learning, we have developed two main products. 1. B-MENTOR Model for tourism sector, conceived as a methodological framework to facilitate the application of bi-directional mentoring methodologies in the different context of Vocational Education and Training (C-VET). 2. “B-MENTOR Training Toolkit”, a set of resources and training tools structured in three types of resources: - A training course aimed at training future mentors, in which key concepts about mentoring as well as bi-directional mentoring are worked on. Through this course learners will be able to become familiar with the main concepts that define this methodology. - A set of practical tools designed to facilitate the organization, supervision and evaluation of bi-directional mentoring sessions. - A set of micro-pills in video and podcast, related to different key topics for tourism sector such as internationalization, market research, business management, customer service, or the importance of ICT. Moreover, the presented toolkit has a triple use: -As a resource guide for Vocational Training Centers. -As a self-instructional learning guide for future mentors -As a roadmap for trainers who want to use mentoring, and more concretely, bi-directional mentoring, as learning methodology. The project has been driven by the Department of Trade, Employment and Tourism of “Diputación Foral de Álava”. Apart from this institution, two entities specialized in the field of pedagogical and educational innovation as well as in mentoring techniques (Media Creativa and KZCA) and three non-profit business entities that work specifically with the tourism sector (CNA, Nevsehir and HMA) participate. Around 20,000 people have been reached through direct and indirect dissemination mechanisms implemented in the framework of the project: presentations, dissemination in social networks, press releases and dissemination events hold in each country. More than 70 experts in C-VET, Tourism sector and WBL have participated in the validation of the model, while more than 100 workers have taken part in the testing of “B-MENTOR Training Toolkit”. The project website (https://www.b-mentor.eu), translated into 5 languages, has about 2,500 visits. Moreover, followers of the project on Facebook reach almost 400 people.(https://www.facebook.com/bmentorproject/) Products were presented at a final conferenced attended by 50 people together with the most representative stakeholders of Training and the sector of Tourism. The evaluation of the products has been very positive: the recipients and potential users have valued the products very positively, showing their firm commitment to continue working on the sustainability of the project, adding the training and the b mentoring methodology in its training offer and spreading the project in the events in which these organizations participate.