Leonardo da Vinci programme LLP - 2012 -1- IT1-LEO 01-02586 EUROVOCATIONAL

Leonardo Da Vinci IVT mobility programme


Project entitled "Mobility in Europe for trainees in vocational training" EUROVOCATIONAL

For the training years 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, the Agency for Training, Orientation and Employment for the province of Como offered 105 third and fourth-year students following a compulsory education (Duty/Right to Education and Training) programme the chance to complete a work experience placement in France, Germany, Spain or Latvia through the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci – IVT Mobility programme.
Twenty-four students took part in the first work experience placements in Europe, which lasted three weeks during the month of April 2013. The next departures were planned for April 2014, when forty-five young people from the wellness and catering sector left to take up placements in Grenoble, Valencia, Stuttgart and Riga.


Project objectives:

Having acquired the main technical and vocational skills connected with the industry, beneficiaries of the project will have the opportunity to compare and assess the similarities and differences between the working environments and therefore enhance their professional, cultural and personal skills.
 Thanks to the Eurovocational project, AFOL Como intends to achieve the following goals for its students:
- promote knowledge of European cultural and professional contexts to ease the transition and integration between training and production systems. 
- promote the acquisition of skills, such as education for active citizenship in Europe, language learning, development of responsibility and organisational independence.
- promote the acquisition of professional skills demanded by the labour market within a European context, with particular reference to linguistic abilities and customer service skills (French tourists have a high presence in the area of Lake Como). 
- strengthen the development of a European network of training institutions for implementation of a system to acknowledge and assess learning results (ECVET - European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training).
To facilitate the participants’ stay in Europe and provide the cultural and language skills needed, the project foresees meetings to provide information and interviews, as well as cultural and language training sessions to prepare for the exchange.

 
Activities included in the project:

1. Provision of information for participating students about the goals of the Leonardo da Vinci programme, the EUROMOBILITY project, as well as organisational plans and time schedules.
2. In-depth examination of the cultural, historic and geographic aspects related to the country in which the work experience is to be performed.
3. Language course with special reference to the professional sector, aimed at facilitating communication within the workplace and acquiring the skills needed to welcome and deal with customers in French.
4. Meetings with specialist industry personnel to ensure students are prepared for their European stay.

Assessment and recognition of credits acquired:

The project has adopted instruments and methods to recognise and assess learning outcomes in accordance with the ECVET credit system.Participants are issued with the Europass Mobility, a document in which records are kept of the knowledge/skills acquired and the training outcomes of the European work experience.