Tourism plays an important role in Europe because of its economic and employment potential, and social and environmental impact. It also contributes to employment and economic growth, as well as to development of rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. The CEL4ITM Strategic Partnership was formed by 6 organisations with different backgrounds and expertise from 5 European countries. The project objectives have been to: 1. Create a new ICT based training tool for supporting non-formal education and transfer of experience in the field of tourism, adopting blended learning and coaching and mentoring approaches; 2. Develop teaching and learning materials for beginners and professionals in tourism; 3. Support entrepreneurship and non-formal learning and teaching opportunities in tourism; 4. Enhance the abilities of professionals in the field of tourism to become non-formal tutors, coaches and mentors; 5. Create a network of professionals in the field of tourism and people who want to work in this area, to enhance international and intergenerational support and exchange of experience, best practices and lessons learned in the field of tourism; 6. Promote cross-sector and transnational cooperation and exchange of best practices between partner countries: vocational educational and training centres from formal, non-formal and informal education. Approximately 1560 people have been indirectly impacted by the project, together with the pilot testing, the participants of the conference held during the European Vocational Skills Week 2020, the multiplier events and the final blended dissemination event. The main activities of the project were: A 1: Project Management: This includes all required contractual, legal and managerial responsibilities, effective budgeting, strict quality control, transnational meetings and events, etc. The project management included the risk analysis and the management of unexpected situations, such as the lack of commitment of one of the partners and the relocation of their work to other partners in order to comply successfully with all the activities. A 2: Mapping of skills and competences deficits in the field of tourism: It helped the partners to define the content of the modular programme. Two questionnaires were distributed - one for tourism professionals, and another one - low-skilled and low-qualified people who want to work or start a business in the area of tourism. The deficits were identified and the modular programme was built based on these results. A 3: Creation of a webportal with e-learning platform: The webportal contains the modular programme. Each participant can receive free training, mentoring or coaching in the area of tourism. The platform generates an automatic Certificate for Completion of the Modular Training Programme if users do the evaluation of the project and register their email in order to receive the certificate. Pilot testing was done in each project country with a total of 127 participants. A 4: Creation of a modular programme for two different profiles: - For beginners: o M 1: Introduction to management o M 2: Financial Management o M 3: Marketing o M 4: Customer-oriented approach and customer relationship/experience management o M 5: Leadership and motivation o M 6: Specific ICT tools in the tourism business - For professionals: o M 1: Coaching skills o M 2: Mentoring skills Each module includes 6 video lessons, 6 animated videos, 6 further readings and a set of handouts on the topic and a self-assessment test that is available in 4 different languages (English, Spanish, Italian and Bulgarian). The content was defined by the results from the mapping and was discussed during the 2nd and 3rd project meeting (in Finland and Italy). Different modules were created by different partners according to the expertise A 5: Dissemination and communication: The dissemination plan was created and delivered during the 2nd meeting in Finland. The partners built the websites, social media, events of other organisations, etc. The main dissemination events were carried out during the COVID pandemic in online format (CEL4ITM participation during the European Vocational Skills Week, Final Online dissemination event) and the 4 in presence multiplier events carried out in Bulgaria during March 2021 Some of the short-term and long-term results have been: - The mapping of the biggest gaps in skills and competencies in the field of tourism of low-skilled and low-qualified people and of professionals; - The creation and launching of an innovative modular programme and practical online training materials specific for tourism sector; - The creation of an informal network of tourism professionals to act as coaches and mentors; - The partners sharing valuable experiences and know-how on tourism and involving professionals, students, low-skilled and low-qualified people to help them creating their own business initiatives; - The capacity of the partner organisations has increased ever since the project started, learning new good practices and sharing knowledge. - As for the sustainability of the project: the partners will keep disseminating the project results amongst their professional network, so more people can benefit from these results in the coming years.
Tourism plays an important role in Europe because of its economic and employment potential, and social and environmental impact. It also contributes to employment and economic growth, as well as to development of rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. The CEL4ITM Strategic Partnership was initially formed by 6 organisations with different backgrounds and expertise from 5 European countries. During the execution on the project the partner SMEBOX had to leave the consortium due to the lack of commitment. The project objectives are to: 1. Create a new ICT based training tool for supporting non-formal education and transfer of experience in the field of tourism, adopting blended learning and coaching and mentoring approaches; 2. Develop teaching and learning materials for beginners and professionals in tourism; 3. Support entrepreneurship and non-formal learning and teaching opportunities in tourism; 4. Enhance the abilities of professionals in the field of tourism to become non-formal tutors, coaches and mentors; 5. Create a network of professionals in the field of tourism and people who want to work in this area, to enhance international and intergenerational support and exchange of experience, best practices and lessons learned in the field of tourism; 6. Promote cross-sector and transnational cooperation and exchange of best practices between partner countries: vocational educational and training centres from formal, non-formal and informal education. Approximately 1560 people will be indirectly impacted by the project. The following methodology was used: A 1: Project Management: This includes all required contractual, legal and managerial responsibilities, effective budgeting, strict quality control, transnational meetings and events, etc. A 2: Mapping of skills and competences deficits in the field of tourism: It will help defining the content of the modular programme and resource library. Two questionnaires will be prepared - one for tourism professionals, and another one - low-skilled and low-qualified people who want to work or start a business in the area of tourism. Competences deficits maps in the field of tourism will be prepared. A 3: Creation of a webportal with e-learning platform: It contains the modular programme and resource library. Each participant ccan access the webpage and receive training, tutoring, mentoring or coaching in the area of tourism. The platform generates automatically a Certificate for Completion of the Modular Training Programme. Pilot testing was done online in each country. A 4: Creation of a modular programme: It will be at two levels: - For beginners: o M 1: Introduction to management o M 2: Financial Management o M 3: Marketing o M 4: Customer-oriented approach and customer relationship/experience management o M 5: Leadership and motivation o M 6: Specific ICT tools in the tourism business - For professionals: o M 1: Coaching skills o M 2: Mentoring skills Each module will include 6 video lesson, 6 case studies, a set of further reading, a document of interesting links on the topic and a self-assessment test. Their content was defined by the results from the mapping and will be discussed during the 2nd project meeting (in Finland). Different modules have beencreated by different partners. A 7: Dissemination and communication: A dissemination plan was created. Different channels, including partners' websites, social media, events of other organisations, etc were used and a final dissemination conference was organised in Bulgaria (online locals could attend the event due to COVID19 travelling restrictions) Among the short-term and long-term results are: - The biggest gaps in skills and competencies in the field of tourism of low-skilled and low-qualified people and of professionals will be mapped; - An innovative modular programme, resource library and practical online training materials specific for tourism will be created; - Low-skilled and low-qualified people will be encouraged to continue their careers in the area of tourism or to create their own business; - An informal network of tourism professionals to act as coaches and mentors will be created;; - Valuable exchange of experience and know-how on tourism and involving low-skilled and low-qualified people in creating their own business initiatives will be shared between the project countries; - The capacity of the partner organisations have increased. - Professional qualification of all participants will increase - The relationships between public and private sector in the area of tourism will be developed All the relevant documents have been uploaded to a Google Drive shared folder . The link to this folder can be found in the uploaded document: CEL4ITM- final report links.