Start: 01-10-2017 – End: 31-03-2019
Project Reference: 2017-1-IT01-KA102-005658
EC Grant: 96.992 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Learning Mobility of Individuals
Action Type: VET learner and staff mobility
INCREASING WORKING OPPORTUNITIES BY REINFORCING KNOW-HOW
Summary
The project ” I.W.O.R.K. ” (“Increasing Working Opportunities by Reinforcing Know-How”) is presented by the consortium made up of :
– I.P.S.A.R./I.P.S.S.E.O.A. Via A. De Gasperi 8 of Palombara Sabina (Rome) – the coordinating organization
– the municipality of Palombara Sabina
– the municipality of Moricone
– the Association “Le Chiavi d’Oro” (The Golden Keys)
It arises from the need to enable our students to get experience both in educational and professional fields outside of national borders, to fill gaps in foreign language ability, provide them with more work opportunities, and support their sense of interculturalism, while at the same time improving their self-esteem and ability to operate in different contexts. Our students come from a medium-low socioeconomic background, often disadvantaged, and almost completely devoid of the least incentive to get in contact with foreign countries or different cultures.
This background is also marked by a very strong presence of immigrants. All of this has led us to look for complementary paths to traditional ways of teaching, paths that can give students a chance to grow, not only on a professional level, but also on a human level, allowing them to interact and engage with contexts very different from the usual ones and with multicultural and multiethnic realities.
Participants in the mobility programme will come from the fourth and fifth years and will be selected from the four departments of our school (food and wine, dining room and sales, bakery and patisserie, tourism and hospitality). 42 students will take part in this mobility programme, 21 from the fifth year and 21 from the fourth year. 38 of these students will stay abroad for four weeks of training, and will be accompanied throughout their stay by an Italian tutor, chosen from the teachers of our institute. There will also be a company tutor and a representative of the partner organizations in the host country.
Among the 42 learners there will be 4 students with special needs, with moderate cognitive disabilities, supported by a specific tutor throughout their internships that will last two weeks. Host countries are: Belgium, Spain, the UK and Malta. Participants will be divided into six flows, three for the fifth year and three for the fourth year (the fifth year will go to Malta and to the UK, the fourth to Belgium and Spain).
The mobility programmes will take place between December 2017 and June 2018. The participants’ selection criteria are based not only on achievement at school, but also on motivation, personal attitudes, and the degree of reliability and the capacity of the students to adapt themselves to different contexts. After a period of preparation based on linguistic and cultural reinforcement held by our teachers at school, and after doing a course on risks in the workplace before leaving, the learners will carry out internships in high-profile companies selected by our foreign partners in the host countries. During the internship the students will deepen and broaden the knowledge, skills and competencies related to their areas of specialization. The students with special needs will participate in all activities but with a reduced workload in terms of schedules and with closer monitoring.
For them, however, the objectives of the acquisition of social and behavioural skills, autonomy and self-esteem will be given greater importance. The methodology used for all will be that of “Modelling” and “Fading”, with a gradual acquisition of autonomy in working activities. The learning outcomes are part of the EQF framework, level IV.
The mobility programme will be considered as valid for completing the total hours of “Alternanza scuola-lavoro” (Work-linked training), related to the 2017-2018 school year, in accordance with Italian Law 107/2015.
The learners will write a diary using the e-twinning platform, they will share this diary with the teachers and the students at our school both during the training and after their return. When they come back to Italy, the trainees will bring back a digital document containing documents, comments and videos that they will use to share their experience. This product will be screened in the dissemination activities.
For the certification of skills, knowledge and competences acquired, our school will require the Europass Mobility record and participants will be given a training credit by the school. The project will start in October 2017 and will end in March 2019 with a big final event structured over several days to be held in the most important locations in our local area, as well as in our institute.
The main ambition of I.W.O.R.K. is to have an impact on the participants, the consortium members, the school population of our local area and of our school in order to start and, in the future to consolidate, a programme of exchanges and collaboration with other European educational organizations, institutions and companies.
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