The project was one year (with an extension) and involved 52 participants in total over varying flows that changed in size depending on availability and Covid 19 outbreaks. The main project objectives were as follows: 1) Tourism skills: helping our tourism students gain an understanding of the sector in Spain and wider Europe 2) Sports coaching skills: helping our sports students gain an understanding of European coaching methods in sports 3) Supporting participants to develop transferable skills and gain relevant work experience 4) Improving the participation of young women in sports coaching and providing significant added value to our disadvantaged students 5) Empowering and improving participants’ confidence by positive interaction with others 6) Deeper cultural understanding of Europe and European projects The primary target group for the AIM2 project was young people aged 18-24 from Brighton & Hove who were interested in careers in either sports coaching or tourism and had taken – or were taking – either our Level 1 Award in the Principles of Coaching Sport or our Level 2 Certificate in Travel and Tourism Destinations. Additionally, we will place special emphasis on recruiting young women, particularly in the area of sports coaching. Many participants had not lived, worked or travelled abroad before.
The rationale of the Andalusia Internships and Mobilities 2 (AIM2) project was to give 52 young VET learners the opportunity to gain work experience in Lebrija, southern Spain, in the sectors of Sports Coaching and Travel & Tourism. The project focused on these areas as these are two industries where there is a proven need for a more skilled European workforce, and for which the town of Lebrija is rich with work experience opportunities. Additional factors such as increased linguistic competences, the cultural experience of living in a different country, and the personal benefits to be gained by successfully undertaking a period of work experience abroad made this project an overwhelmingly positive opportunity for our students. We believe that for young adults who have not lived or worked abroad before, four weeks is a manageable period of time for them to gain valuable skills, increase their cultural awareness and benefit from a renewed sense of confidence in their ability to face challenges and succeed. By combining a theoretical course with practical work experience, our participants honed a whole range of both hard and soft skills.