TAD - The Ability Advisor

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TAD is a project funded by the European Union Erasmus+ programme under Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, (KA202 Strategic Partnerships for Vocational Education and Training), addressing accessible tourism.

TAD Project LogoNews - 2nd Update - 1 October 2021

TAD has received a certificate from the European Commission's European Innovative Teaching Award (EITA) as an outstanding project in the category Distance and blended learning in VET Schools. The EITA competition winners will be announced on 21st October 2021.

image of TAD-EITA Certificate

 


TAD is a project funded by the European Union Erasmus+ programme under Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, (KA202 Strategic Partnerships for Vocational Education and Training), addressing accessible tourism.

The project aims to contribute to making Europe a truly accessible destination for all visitors by training professionals in the tourism and hospitality sector through a work-based learning approach, looking at the issue from a new point of view.

TAD will prepare, test and introduce the professional profile of an "Ability Advisor" whose mission and acquired knowledge and skills will help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism field to develop their business and improve their services to the accessible tourism market. To enhance access to training and qualifications for all, the project output will be released as an Open Educational Resource and will be widely disseminated among VET providers and other stakeholders, both at local, national and European levels.

Objectives

Accessibility skills such as proper etiquette or understanding assistive methods and technology will be taught, as well as  the strategic understanding of accessibility and Design for All, by working on accessibility assessments, inspections, consultations and audits, where external consultants help to analyse and inform managers how accessibility can be integrated in their existing businesses.  Accessibility assessments and analysis are considered powerful training tools which induce businesses to become more aware of the strengths and weaknesses in their tourism offerings.

The TAD project will develop two major "Intellectual Outputs": 

  1. IO1 - the implementation of a SMEs' tourism services database at local and regional levels; a mapping of 30 SMEs operating in the sector aimed to evaluate how accessibility can be integrated in their existing businesses and how the Ability Advisor can effectively operate within this category of companies; a detailed report on VET offer at local and regional level;
  2. IO2 - development of a training course providing skills to VET learners or graduates aged 20 to 35 to start a self-employed activity as external consultants or be employed as internal service provider or consultant able to carry out accessibility assessments, inspections, consultations and audits to analyse and inform SMEs managers and owners how accessibility can be integrated in their businesses.

To ensure the high quality and relevance of the course contents, the training will actively involve people representing associations of and for people with disabilities and trainers with expertise in this field and will include a "Work Based Learning" (WBL) phase involving the above mentioned SMEs.

Results

Expected results include

  • a database of SMEs tourism services at local and regional level;
  • a mapping of 30 SMEs operating in the tourism sector at local and regional level
  • a report on VET offers at local and regional level in the field of accessible tourism
  • a course on accessibility tourism services for a new profile - the Ability Advisor
  • a detailed accessibility map of the above mentioned SMEs as result of the course WBL phase
  • a guide for trainers to the delivery of the course
  • a platform on which the course will be available, after its testing phase, both for VET providers and people as an OER
  • a Memorandum of Understanding between VET and business: a network of private and public actors to support the project continuation
  • a short guide for the Multiplier Events management.

Through this approach, the project is going to: generate new job opportunities for trained people; tackle the topic through a cross-sectoral approach matching the needs of VET providers and SMEs with special attention being given to people with disabilities; develop a cross-sectoral partnership to look at the topic from a European perspective reinforcing the partners’ existing networks. The needs the project intends to fulfill are strictly related to the target group identified and to the key stakeholders' needs: VET providers, SMEs in the tourism field, public bodies in the fields of education, labour market, social policy.

The outputs of the TAD project are published as "Open Educational Resources" (OER) which are free to use, according to the ERASMUS+ OER requirement for exploitation of Community VET results. 

Download the TAD Newsletters from the right-hand panel in PDF format

Visit the TAD Website

Visit the TAD E-Learning Platform

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Project coordinator:

Lithuania Labour Market Training Centre logoPublic institution Panevezys Labour Market Training Centre - Lithuania
Public institution Panevezys Labour Market Training Centre was founded in 1952. It offers modern vocational training and high quality services both to people and to companies. The Training Centre collaborates with Labour Exchange and business organisations and trains unemployed people, sent by territorial Labour Exchanges, as well as employees sent by employers and persons who come to learn on their own initiative. The organisation is certified by Quality Management Certificate ISO 9001:2008 (LST EN ISO9001:2008).
Website: www.paneveziodrmc.lt

Project partners: 

ENAT logoEuropean Network for Accessible Tourism non-profit association - Belgium
ENAT is an association which promotes accessibility to tourism for all citizens, in Europe and around the world. ENAT began as an EU-funded pilot project for “mainstreaming disability policies” in 2006-2007 and became a non-profit association based in Belgium in 2008. It is led by an international Board of Directors and has a multi-stakeholder membership of about 100 organisations, comprising both tourism suppliers, public authorities in the tourism sector, researchers, profesisonals and consumer organisations. ENAT's activities include research studies, destination managment and development, delivery of training programmes, information and dissemination, organisation of conferences and events, policy development, support to its Members and consulting services to public and private sector organisations.   
Website: www.accessibletourism.org

Bluebook s.r.l. logoBluebook s.r.l. - Italy
Bluebook s.r.l. is a SME communication agency, with a special expertise in social communication and education. At the core of our culture are the values of quality, integrity, respect, entrepreneurial spirit, mutual benefits and citizenship. We imagine a world in which work and knowledge are an opportunity for personal growth and economic development, and we have been working for about 16 years to realize this idea, through projects and initiatives that help enterprises, organisations and people to improve their abilities and skills, to relate to each other, to solve their problems and to communicate to the world in an effective and respectful way.
Website: www.bluebook.it

ENGIM Piemonte ENGIM, Piemonte Vocational Training Organisation - Italy
ENGIM Piemonte is a vocational training organisation located in Turin, in the north west of Italy. Its main actions have always been devoted to young people and their initial vocational training as it started its activities in the late nineteenth century but, since 2005 a lot of actions have been developed also in the field of vocational training in a broader sense. There are different kinds of courses for several target groups, including: migrants, unemployed people, companies and local authorities.
Website: www.engim.it
Tecminho logoTecminho private non-profit organisation - Portugal
TecMinho is a certified training organisation accredited by DGERT (Portuguese Directorate-General for Employment and Work Relations), founded in 1990 as an interface of the University of Minho. We are a private non-profit organisation located in Guimarães, Portugal (northern region), aiming to promote the region’s development by stimulating new technologies and by promoting the transfer of knowledge between the University, enterprises and society. Our main purpose is to support services in the fields of innovation and new technologies and deliver continuous, advanced and specialised training and strategic information.
Website: www.tecminho.uminho.pt

Contact: Mrs. Vaida Sinkevičienė, Project Specialist, Email: projektai@paneveziodrmc.lt

Project Identifier: Project no. 2017-1-LT01-KA202-035218
Project Title: The Ability Advisor: Improving the tourism for all market by VET (abbreviated “TAD”)
Funding scheme: ERASMUS+ Programme “Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices”.                                     
Project implementation period: From 01/9/2017 to 31/12/2019 (28 months).


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Photo TAD project highest award in Lithuania ERASMUS+
Panevezys Labour Market Training Centre was awarded for TAD as the highest quality project in VET sector in Lithuania at a public ceremony in September 2020.

Page last updated: 1.10.2021