Context/Background of Project:The participants of this project are responsible for developing the Welsh language and bilingualism within the Further Education, Higher Education and Work-Based Learning employer sector in Wales (some from individual Further Education colleges and others work in Welsh Government and the Welsh Language Commissioner and are national bodies in Wales). The most recent census in Wales saw a decrease in the number of Welsh speakers (down from 21% in 2001 to 19% in 2011), there is an opportunity here (in terms of added value) to share practices, methods, policies, strategies and for two countries with similar linguistic backgrounds to be able to support each other to develop bilingual best practice within the Further Education, Higher Education and Employment sector. These developments are essential in order to create a successful workforce and viable Wales that can compete in difficult economic circumstances - research has shown that individuals with Welsh language skills are more likely to gain employment and perform better at higher level qualifications in Wales. Objectives of project:1. to gain an overview of the VET structure of post-14 bilingual and Catalan medium provision in Catalonia2. to learn about the strategic direction and monitoring set out by the regional government in Catalonia in relation to increasing the number of Catalan speakers and Catalan-medium provision in the VET sector3. to observe innovative lessons in a Catalan VET school and to discuss and share examples of best practice from both countries4. to learn about Catalonia’s long term vision for skills development and increasing the number of people who speak Catalan5. To hear about progression routes between each stage of education into workplace, (compulsory education, FE and HE)6. to explore employer engagement and language skill needs to gain a better understanding of workplace demand and supply from colleges and work-based learning providers7. to gain an insight into key priority areas for job and value creation within the local economy of Catalonia, identifying similarities with Wales8. to discover whether being a multilingual individual/organisation/college brings added value to the region of Catalonia in terms of economic outcomes9. to share best practice from both countries and create new partnerships between post-14 establishments in Wales and Catalonia in relation to employer engagementNumber and profile of participants:-Seven Further Education Colleges -CollegesWales -Welsh Government-Welsh Language Commissioner-Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (the 'Coleg')-National Training Federation Wales (NtfW)Description of activities:Visits with Government officials to learn about Basque language planning.Visit with a University to learn about teacher training in terms of bilingualism.Visit with a vocational education provider to learn about bilingual post-16 provision.Visit a employer or industry to learn about linguistic skills drivers Share good practice from Wales. Activities that will take placeThe visit will last 6 days - 2 days travel and 4 days training - an outline of the proposed training programme is in Section G.Impact and longer term benefitsParticipants will return to their own organisations & report on the visit to the senior management teams - there may be ideas that could be immediately put in practice and ideas that need to be considered in more detail or piloted before putting into action but the main reason for implementing or piloting these ideas is that they will lead to a raising of awareness of strategies for normalising bilingualism within the FE, HE and wider employer sector in Wales.CollegesWales will seek to maximise the dissemination of the project to ensure that it has as wide an impact as possible on the greatest range of relevant groups.