The project was designed to broaden the professional and personal horizons of our students, giving them the opportunity to expand their professional knowledge and language skills. The aim of the placement abroad was to ensure that the preparation for the placement was embedded in the students' overall professional training, a constant motivation and reflected in the language learning outcomes, professional commitment and level of personal engagement. The aim of the placements was to provide students on placements with additional professional knowledge, skills and practices that the domestic training system is not able to provide.
The project is a continuation of the international activities we started in 2018. At that time, we carried out a construction internship in Portugal, in line with the training profile of the vocational school supported by our Foundation. The project was a great success and a great motivation for the participants and the other students of the school, both in terms of language training and professional training. Based on the experience gained from this placement, we have expanded the content of the present project and, while keeping the Portuguese site, we have also contacted Finnish and French vocational schools with whom we have developed a professional programme. Our aim was to develop a more autonomous and challenging programme for our adult students over 18 years of age and to offer our younger students, who are in the first stages of their vocational training, a more protected school placement in Finland, more suited to their needs.