Electrical Maintenance Experience
Start date: Jan 1, 2015,
End date: Dec 31, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Leicester College is one of the largest in the UK with more than 27,400 learners studying with us on a wide range of courses, from many backgrounds and with different ambitions and aspirations.
This project aims to address the labour market demands of the UK's expanding construction industry, specifically in relation to the sub-sector of electrical installation.
The project will address the existing skills gap and raise standards of training in order to meet projected levels of expansion and replacement demand within the electrical installation sub-sector. The project will provide an experiential learning opportunity for participants through an international experience which will target young people who have not previously had the chance to travel, developing their professional and personal competences and better equipping them for entry into the labour market.
Leicester College will recruit participants for the project through from our cohort of Level 3 Electrical Installation learners, studying throughout 2015/16. These students will typically be between 17 - 19 years of age and it is very unlikely that they will have lived overseas or lived independently (away form their family home), prior to their involvement in the project. As such Leicester college will provide a highly structured level of support for the learners throughout their mobility experience.
The project is expected to run for over a 24 month period, between January 2015 and December 2016, with 8 planned flows throughout this period. Each departure will recruit a cohort of 6 learners who will spend 6 weeks in their overseas placements.
The mobility will take place in Seville, Spain and the participants will be placed in to small groups in work placements within Spain. The placements are all locally based electrical installation companies whose day to day activities involve the planning, installation and maintenance of heating and cooling systems within both private public settings.
The work placements will provide the learners with first hand experience of the processes involved in end to end delivery and maintenance of underfloor heating, air conditioning and energy efficient acclimatization systems. The learners will work across a varied range of work environments located in both the public and private sphere.
In addition to receiving experiential learning opportunities and increasing their work based skilled, knowledge and competences, the learners will develop soft skills such as developing their confidence working in a cross cultural environment.
The learners will receive 2 days of face to face training in the UK prior to departure and an in-country orientation once they arrive in Seville and will receive pastoral support throughout the mobility to assist with any issues which may arise. An accompanying person will also stay with the group for the first 5 days of the mobility to help with the settling in and adjustment period.
Prior to the mobility, students will be supported to develop an individual Learning Agreement and a set of Learning Outcomes, which will be shaped by the job description that they have been given by their placement. These will be defined within the context of the ECVET framework. They will be supported in-country by a line manager within the placement, who will conduct regular review meetings with the participants to chart their progress and they will sign off the participants' Learning Agreement at the end of the mobility when Learning Outcomes have been achieved.
The intended impact of this mobility is that students will gain first hand work experience, intercultural experience and personal development that will strengthen their position in the labour market and their workplace readiness. It is hoped that the learners will develop personal and professional confidence, an understanding of the European labour market and a set of transferable skills that will better prepare them for employment, giving them a competitive edge when seeking employment and an international outlook.
In the short term, this will be evident through the successful completion of Learning Outcomes. We also plan to monitor and evaluate the impact of the mobility of the longer term by looking at participants future career pathways and how the mobility has supported their progression to employment.
The anticipated impact for participating organisations is that their European networks and international outlook will be developed and strengthened, so that they are able to offer similar opportunities to future students and are more engaged and connected to the European labour market.
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