Let's start the training!

TSITour - Training on Social Inclusion in Tourism, by

including elderly people as local storytellers for

the Tourism Industry

The TSITour project partnership started the TSITour training course in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy. The partners met online at the beginning of May 2021 to define the latest adjustments to the training platform, to agree on the necessary documents to be used and to plan the timing for completing the piloting activities in various VET institutions with students in the social and welfare area.

On May 6th, 2021, the TSITour partnership met online due to the persistent condition of the COVID-19 pandemic. For a year now, the partnership has managed to maintain efficient and timely communication despite the impossibility of physically meeting each other. The result of all the work done in the past months is the development of the online training platform ready to be used. In fact, during the last months, the partners have completed the general structure of the TSITour training module focused on the creation of social projects for the inclusion of the elderly in the society as storytellers in the local tourism industry; the partnership has elaborated all the modules, the didactic resources and have discussed the implementation phase of the piloting.

Due to the advancement of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the unexpected situation that has affected the world, the partners decided to carry on the implementation of the activities in an online format in case of further government restrictions at European level, or face to face whenever possible.

At the moment 30 VET students are attending the training course: 5 students from Portugal, 13 from Italy, 2 from Greece and 10 from Spain. They are currently finishing the theoretical part of the training course and they will present their projects on social interventions afterwards. The main goal is to promote the inclusion of the elderly through storytelling, which is also beneficial for the local tourism.

Piloting experience to date:

In Portugal, CEPROF and Ovar Forma are currently working with 5 students to pilot test TSITour's training platform. The selected pupils come from the social areas of studies and, as such, they are able to provide us with insightful feedback. They are very engaged and the module is almost successfully completed. Throughout this process, the Portuguese team has been collecting valuable information about this experimentation. Thus, we foresee an interesting and dynamic implementation with the elders starting in June 2021! We are looking forward to sharing the results with all of you!

In Italy CSC is working with a class of 13 VET students. Students come from the social and welfare area of studies, therefore they are very interested in dealing with topics such as the inclusion of the elderly person, which is part of their curricula. From a theoretical point of view, the module was completed, partly with the support of the CSC staff and partly independently by the students. So far, the feedback on the platform has been very positive, it was considered clear and easy to use. The students are currently working to define their social intervention ideas which will be implemented concretely with the elderly in September in the city of Partinico.

In Spain ten students are enrolled in the TSITour training programme.

4 students are working with INTRAS, they have already finished the theoretical part. These are some of their opinions regarding the training they have carried out so far:

“The theoretical part is very appropriated for developing and implementing our project with the elderly, specially unit 4 which clearly explains how to design a social inclusion project.” (Laura)
“All different aspects relating the lives of elderly are included in the training units. They are very interesting and I’ve found all of them useful.” (Estela)
“The training provided by TSITour has been very interesting and suitable for us to carry out a social inclusion project with older people.” (Diana)
“This is a basic and useful training that explains the 4 clear steps how to carry out a good integration project, so that we can achieve more satisfactory results.” (María)

They are now excited and enthusiastic with the idea of the practical implementation with the elderly, in collaboration with the Ethnographic Museum of Zamora. For most of them this will constitute the first opportunity to design their own project and to implement it in “real life”.

6 students are working with DEFOIN. To improve the teamwork skills among the participants, the process of project creation has been organized in two working groups, having each of them one project as a result. By the end of May, one of the groups had already finished their project, which is going to be implemented with elders in the area of La Zubia, in Granada (Andalusia). The project implementation with elderly people will presumably take place in the months of June and July, always considering the special conditions provoked by Covid-19."

At the pilot that took place in Greece participated two 19-year-old students that study General Nursing Assistants at the Vocational School of Kozani, a city in northern Greece. The educational program facilitated them to better understand the different issues around ageing, by challenging stereotypes and their views about the social inclusion of older people. Thus, through the training, they got more sensitized about ageing, their communication with older people, and ways that they could incorporate the methodology of social project work into their future work practice.

What's next?

The pilot phase of the training course in each partner country will continue over the next few months. Once the theoretical part of the course is finished, students will be supported by partner organizations in the process of designing and implementing social intervention projects aimed at the inclusion of elderly as storytellers. The objective is to reintegrate the elderly into the community by making them bearers of history, culture and traditions linked to local places, and, at the same time, to support the tourism sector by returning more authentic experiences to the tourists.

The results will be included in a final publication - "The professional training module on the development of projects in the field of social inclusion - Tourism as a case study" and disseminated at the European level as part of the project results.

Do you want to join the project?

If you represent a vocational training institution in the social and / or tourism sector, a Small or Medium-sized enterprise in the tourism sector, a body engaged in social activities for the inclusion of the elderly, or you simply are interested in the project itself, we invite you to contact us via:

Facebook

Website

E-Mail

Partners

OVAR FORMA: eprofcor.com
CEPROF: espe.pt
Fundación Intras: intras.es
Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci: danilodolci.org
KMOP – Social Action and Innovation Centre: kmop.gr
DEFOIN: defoin.es

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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