ECOTOUR

Background

ECO.TOUR has been an initiative of Forma Camera as a follow-up of the European Development Plan (EDP) initiated with the KA1 VET project ETHOS in 2017 and continued with ETHOS II. The plan outlined a real internationalisation strategy carried out with the collaboration of VET schools to increase the quality of VET courses related to Tourism. One of the objectives of the EDP has been to improve the competences of teachers and innovate the training methodology thanks to mobility and exchange of practices. The project idea therefore comes from the elements emerged in the implementation of the projects carried out:- lack of opportunities for teachers to meet and exchange practices; -need of more training opportunities for teachers; -teaching methodologies need to be updated. Tourists’ preferences have become more complex also with Millennials demanding more sustainable tourism products.

However, challenges associated with over tourism may involve alienated residents, a degraded tourist experience, overloaded infrastructure, damage to nature. With the context presented above, the schools with training courses in the field of tourism have to adapt their teaching methodologies to prepare students for the challenges in this industry.

Objectives

The main objective of the Ecotour project was to foster the use of innovative training methodologies on sustainable tourism in VET schools. The specific objectives are:

1. To update teachers’ competences in teaching technical subjects pertaining to the tourism sector.
2. To integrate in VET curricula training activities aimed at strengthening the education on environmental sustainability.
3. To enhance the internationalisation strategies for the development of competences on sustainable tourism in teachers and learners.

Implementation

All the activities foreseen in the project were implemented although the work plan was adapted to the pandemic circumstances.

Partners collected the good practices that were used as the basis for the design and implementation of four training events. Each of them tackled at least one dimension covered by the project, namely internationalisation of education, upskilling competences on sustainability and tourism and updates of teaching methodology. The events were based on the peer learning approach and made use of methodologies for the active engagement of participants, with the aim to create bridges between VET providers and their stakeholders. It is worth mentioning that due to the pandemic some tasks were switched online which turned to be an occasion to conceive some additional activities and innovate working procedures. More specifically an additional training event was conceived to tackle some aspects about sustainable internationalisation that emerged during the project run also as response of a greater awareness that was acquired as a consequence of the pandemic.

Results

All the expected results have been satisfactorily fulfilled. 4 training formats have been designed and implemented with the participation of 78 teachers, school staff, students and VET organisations. The participants exchanged more than 25 good practices out of which many were coupled with workshops which allowed participants to improve their knowledge. Moreover, the intervention of 4 Keynote speakers and the visit of 7 relevant companies allowed participants to gain a better understanding of the local context and broaden their knowledge on new trends on VET amongst Europe. Evidence from evaluation results shows that all respondents improved their competencies in at least one of the dimensions tackled by the project: 90% improved knowledge on different school systems, on tourism educational curricula and strategies for innovating tourism and 100% are willing to to transfer some practices in their context.

The Training event also acted as a driver for enhancing mutual understanding, stimulating debate between VET institutes and stakeholders:of respondents, after the 4 editions 95% declared they made new contacts.

All the Best Practices collected have been listed in the catalogue attached to the report.