Our initial aim was to take our online partnership with Graafschap College and SAVO College to the next level of face-to-face interaction. Our main aim for our learners was to provide them with an opportunity that they wouldn't otherwise have had the financial means, encouragement from home, or the confidence to pursue themselves. We wanted to be able to broaden learners' horizons and perspectives and for them to understand other cultures better. The project aimed to facilitate the learners to develop their personal skills in the areas of communication, collaboration and team-working with students and in workplaces in other countries, and to enable them to immerse themselves in the culture of the hosting country.
LOETB provides further education and training (FET) courses for adult learners and school leavers in Laois & Offaly. There are 10 LOETB FET Centres - Tullamore FET Centre is one of the largest FET Centres, and caters for in excess of 2000 beneficiaries on an annual basis. The Centre provides a wide range of courses from QQI Levels 1 to 6, from basic literacy classes, community education classes, full-time PLC programmes and part-time programmes including night classes, in a wide range of subject areas. For this project, we focused on our Level 6 Business Post-Leaving Certificate class and we collaborated with Graafschap College, Doetinchem in The Netherlands and SAVO Vocational College, Kuopio in Finland on a project to enable students from each organisation to participate in a module in one of the other organisations, and to participate in work placements and group projects. All learners participated in collaborative study modules delivered through a virtual platform.