The project FOCAL aims to develop occupational language learning resources for migrants working/willing to work in the fields of industry, commerce and retail, and agriculture – with a special focus on strengthening of reading, speaking, writing, mediation, interaction skills. The project idea is based on the previous experiences of partner countries, desktop research of employment trends among migrant population, and the actual needs and difficulties of migrants. The approach of developing language materials for specific fields/professions used in projects L-Pack, TLC Pack and Assess Well proved its effectiveness, so it was decided to scale up this approach for the development of supporting language materials for other fields. The partners conducted preliminary desktop research that highlighted the fields in each country that require intervention at most: industry – PL, FR, DE; retail and commerce – PL, FR, DE, ES, EL; agriculture – ES, EL (each partner will develop resources within 2 fields). The occupational language materials are meant to help migrants overcome difficulties they face in everyday working life connected with the lack of occupational language skills. The innovativeness of the materials will be in inclusion of the new changes in CEFR with stronger focus on work-based learning.Also, guidelines for VET providers on organizing occupational language learning and fostering inclusion of migrant learners in VET and labour market will be published, which will help them better tailor their curricula to the needs of learners. The project, thus, targets the following population groups: • Language teachers in VET, VET teachers working with migrants (15 persons/country)• VET providers, managers, curriculum designers, education centres providing occupational language teaching for migrants (200 contacts/country, 150 participants of partners’ congresses, 35 participants at multiplier events in each country)• Representatives/employers of industry, retail and commerce and agriculture (50 persons/country) • Migrant learners attending occupational language courses, vocational courses, starting or planning professional career in the selected fields (200 persons/country) They will be directly or indirectly involved in the project activities and development of project outputs: 1. Mapping content for the learning language resourcesThe partners will prepare deeper analysis of existing occupational language courses: the use of WBL, compliance with the needs of labour market, tools and resources available in such courses etc. The data will be collected based on content analysis, interviews with teachers, surveys with migrants and consultations with representatives of the fields. 2. Development of the occupational learning language resourcesThe aim of this IO is to develop language resources to acquire B1/B2 level with a focus on occupational language competences and professional competences among migrants in specific fields: industry, retail and commerce, and agriculture. The materials will be designed around 4 communicative activities: reception, production, interaction and mediation according to new CEFR. Each section will compile dialogues, videos with exercises, presentation tasks, assignments to be done at work, vocabulary, phraseology, grammatical structures and technical language (professional slang). It will also include an assessment tool of both language and professional skills. The materials will be available online in German, French, Spanish, Greek and Polish (according to previously selected fields).3. Guidelines for VET educators and those running occupational language courses The guidelines will include general information and recommendations for the efficient implementation of the O2 occupational language resources in teaching languages and VET education to migrants. They will provide teachers and trainers with a deeper insight in the challenges that migrant learners face in acquiring qualifications or entering the labour market. These activities will contribute to the achievement of the following results: - improved knowledge of host country's language among migrant learners and broadened access to VET and labour market.- developed innovative occupational teaching materials taking into account needs, challenges of migrants and teachers, and expectations of employers. - enhancement of occupational language teaching by developing effective and innovative teaching methods and tools.- improved capacity of VET institutions across Europe in providing occupational language courses for migrants.- improved competences of partner organizations involved in the project by gaining knowledge from other partners’ expertise. - reinforced interaction between practice and policy for integration of migrants into the labour market.- strengthened cooperation between European partners with different expertise in the field of VET education, language provision and integration/social inclusion.

"One of the major economic activities of the European Union is the tourism sector. It has an extansive impact on economic growth, employment and social development. Nevertheless the tourism sector faces a series of challenges, e.g. difficulty of finding and keeping skilled staff or growing demand for customised experiences, new products and growing competition from other EU destinations.In June 2010, the European Commission adopted the Communication, “Europe, the world's No. 1 tourist destination – a new political framework for tourism in Europe”. This communication set out a new strategy and action plan for EU tourism focusing on improving the range of tourism products and services as well as enhancing tourism quality, sustainability, accessibility, skills and ICT use.According to the European Regions Research and Innovation Networks more attention should be given to up-skilling tourism workers and a formal recognition and validation of skills at national and European levels. This holds especially true to where cross boarder mobility is high and many tourism companies experience shortage of skilled workers with a high level of staff turnover. Finding the adequate skilled professionals, in addition to keeping skilled, motivated and knowledgeable staff is key to enhance the competitiveness of companies in the industry sector. On the other hand, many VET learners state that there is a range of free resources to learn English in tourism, but these resources are mainly directed at the hotel sector with focus on the reception and restaurant. Hotels in popular touristic destinations have extended their offers to the wellness sector to offer their guests: manicures, pedicures and massages. Due to the fact that, hotels operate on a global market, the staff in the wellness sector work more and more with international clients and English is quite often used as a common language. Therefore, there is a high need to learn or refresh ones English. Employees in the wellness sector are in many cases not able to attend classes because they may have clients during the normal course times or a basic English course would not fit their needs since it does not focus specifically on occupational specific language. ""Assessment and enhancement of vocational language skills in the wellness sector"" (Assess Well) aims to train and further upgrade individuals' competences in the wellness sector. The project consortium is made up of organisations from Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Together they endeavoured on a three year quest to develop a curriculum based on learning outcomes, language learning while taking into account various aspects of the wellness sector, for example: spa management, hygiene, care cosmetics, intercultural competences. The developed curriculum is modular in structure and includes work-based learning in regards to practical exercises like onsite workshops, job-shadowing, authentic simulations. The outcomes of this curriculum are based on research (desktop and surveys) with the target group: VET schools, providers, curriculum designers; furthering VET institutions; language teachers in VET; tourism/wellness sector employers and employees.In correlation with the curriculum media-based language resources have been developed. They are supported with videos: dialogues focusing on communication approach and technical videos focusing on professional skills. Additionally instructional / educational video about how to use the materials has been developed. The resources include exercises to check for understanding and promote occupational specific language learning for persons who already have a beginners knowledge of English. Building on the initial outcomes assessment tool for the recognition and validation of language skills and work-based activities in the tourisms sector, this output is two-fold as it consists of theoretical knowledge and also a testing portion which assesses learners based on their intercultural competences, ability to converse professionally with customers, ability to follow the correct steps when performing a treatment etc. The tools enable assessors to define levels of competences in the context of language and professional skills.To validate and test the appropriateness of Assess Well, a training concept in which persons can take part in a virtual and/or physical mobility based on the curriculum and resources has been developed. The training was tailored to the persons individual skills and the training took place during the project’s lifetime with at least 15 persons for five-days in the UK, plus persons testing the Assess Well via virtual mobility and class activities. An assessment of the skills was done before and after the mobility to demonstrate the benefits of such a training. All Assess Well materials are available on the website www.assesswell.eu The final thoughts and outcomes were celebrated and shared with key stakeholders in each of the partner countries."

The S.A.E. Smart Adult Education project ((hereinafter SAE) is a strategic innovation partnership project implemented in the field of adult education, lasting 24 Months (December 2018-November 2020). SAE supported and fostered the qualification process of operators and teachers working with fragile adults by providing new tools, techniques and working methods based on digital opportunities. The project has been an important opportunity for educators, operators and teachers to enhance their digital skills in order to evaluate, plan and manage new and effective interventions aimed at bridging the relational and social gap imposed by the regulations.The project has developed three main Intellectual Outputs:1. The SAE WEB App (https://www. smartadulteducation.eu/) is the result of an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of existing similar products developed by partners at the design stage. The partners have imagined a product that can be used on all digital devices, especially smartphones, a place for interaction between different types of users, containing innovative digital methodologies, a place for orientation towards lifelong learning choices. The Web App is characterized by the presence of 4 areas: The SAE Guide, the Digital Learning Toolkit, the Competence Assessment Toolkit, the Archive or Repository.2. The SAE WebApp User Guide is the operational reference for using the Platform. The Multimedia Guide that the partners have produced, collects: how to use the WebApp in detail; how to design and apply the evaluation tools (E-Assessment/Results). It helps teachers, professional educators and volunteers, working in the field of adult learning and education, to make the best use of the operational tools available on the Smart Adult Education Platform.3. The SAE E-Assessment Toolkit provides assessment and self-assessment tools that measure the skills possessed by fragile adults and any changes that may have occurred as a result of targeted learning pathways. The Toolkit offers four integrated working tools which are: SMARTY, a simulator for self-assessment of skills; the SAE Matrix, a matrix for interpreting the answers given by adults with Smarty; the Evaluator Register, a guide for accessing and processing Smarty data; the Reasoned Catalogue, a reasoned collection of experiences references and references.The teachers / educators / training operators directly involved in the project activities were about 500, while the adults with low skills and/or low qualifications about 230.SAE has involved 4 European countries (Italy, Spain, Romania, and Greece) and has promoted the digital approach within organizations engaged in adult education in these contexts, spreading the use of the digital tools produced. In total, around 250,000 people were reached directly or indirectly through social media, especially during the pandemic and the regulation of social distances, and through interpersonal meetings. Articles, blog posts, social media and attendance at Multiplier Events were crucial for the dissemination of the project’s results. This broad involvement has fostered the spread of a model and tools that can be easily replicated in different contexts from the social, economic, educational, etc. point of view.The active participation of the world of adult lifelong learning was encouraged during the project. Local Working Groups were set up in the 4 territories, where educators and teachers discussed the training needs in terms of digital tools and innovative learning methodologies. In addition, meetings and discussions were organised with experts from the academic world and training for the sharing and development of content.The SAE project has been innovative for all the subjects of the partnership and for the subjects involved, enhancing, developing and spreading a new way of conceiving digital as a daily work tool, making available new digital products, strengthening the methodological-professional skills of educators and teachers and, ultimately, bringing a contribution to the innovation of a mode of intervention - the digital one - more and more necessary to act effectively towards fragile adults.