‘TOPS 2’ OBJECTIVES were to build the employability skills; competencies and vocational skills of 240 young people by 2022; and to support 120 with fewer opportunities, and deliver 4 flows of 30 learners per year. Original flows planned were: Year 1. 1 : Spain Nov 2019 x 30 people 2 : Spain Feb 2020 x 30 people 3 : Spain April 2020 x 30 people 4 : Portugal May 2020 x 30 people Year 2 as above Due to COVID we could nots end all groups within the timescale (even though it was extended). We managed 174 participants, but many only went for 2 week mobilities.
We met the original aims and objectives of our project. Throughout the delivery it was focused on providing opportunities for young people at Waltham Forest College, to gain work experience and new life experiences through placements in Spain and Portugal. A major impact on the success of the project was the unique challenges caused by the outbreak of COVID 19, in 20219/.2020 onwards - which meant international travel was banned (by UK government) and the last cohort group to Portugal or Spain was not able to travel., before the end of our project,. We had recruited the learners and booked flights and accommodation, but the project end date could not be extended to accommodate the delays cased by COVID. Therefore we could not deliver the final mobilities for our learners to go to Portugal. In total we sent 174 students on mobilities. These were for mainly 2 weeks, as the original 4 week mobilities were not possible to fit into our college curriculum delivery,. Context: Fighting high levels of unemployment -particularly among young people -is one of the most urgent tasks for European governments. Too many young people leave school prematurely running a high risk of being unemployed and socially marginalised. Our activities will directly meet the Erasmus objectives as it will improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society, in particular through increased opportunities for learning mobility and through strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work. Our project helped foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation, through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders. Profile of participants : The participants were mainly disadvantaged learners from some of the most deprived communities in UK - as WF College serves students from some of the most disadvantaged boroughs and wards in London (Waltham Forest, Dagenham and Redbridge, Barking; and many east London wards facing significant social and economic challenges. The participants were doing vocational training in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism; and Catering and Digital, and Business Admin. The participants lived in areas of high deprivation - poor housing, low income, poor health, poor qualifications & high unemployment. Many students lived in households where there are poor adult role models, high levels of self dependency, and households with chaotic and unstable family structures. Many of the learners had never left their local communities , let alone visit other countries. Many did not have passports and one of the major impacts of this project is to provide a new experience, within a new country for our students. Without this many may never travel oversees or see that employment opportunities exist within partner EU countries. Project activities and aims Students participated in a 4 week work experience placement, in hospitality tourism, business admin and hotel sectors; to increase their vocational skills, work experience and improve EU knowledge and skills. We established links with hospitality, travel and tourism employers in Seville and Lisbon, and offered a range of traineeships within them. We also provided cultural and language courses and events, alongside the work placements. We provided the following programme to meet the aims: -CULTURE, provide daily activities to key tourist sites. -LOCAL LINGUISTIC NIGHT, language tutor’s personally introduce interns to local people to practice the language. -EMPLOYER NETWORK - meet employers -LANGUAGE CLASS, daily basic, intermediate & advanced to help you prepare for work and living in each country. -INDUCTION ACTIVITIES, students receive induction activities to help them settle in to the environment. -FIND THE WORKPLACE, we support you with detailed maps and information so interns arrive stress free on the first day. -LOCAL TOUR, supermarkets, banks, hospitals, internet cafes, police station, libraries and key local facilities. The project aims, which complimented ERASMUS aims were to: - Develop their practical and technical skills in relation to vocational skills - Increase their confidence - Assist their entry into the labour market on completion of vocational training within VET Partners - 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 The aim was to provide 70% disadvantaged people who are on vocational training, the opportunity to learn new skills working in the important employment and growth sectors. It also supported 27 Accompanying people with personal and professional development, increasing their vocational competencies. The project achieved the following outputs for participants: - Development of their practical and technical skills in relation to the 5 vocational sectors - Development of their professional, personal, intercultural and linguistic skills - Increased their confidence and self esteem - Assisted their entry into the labour market on completion of VET partner courses - made students more aware of EU mobility - made students more attractive to employers