Interested in starting a cooperation in the area of meal service education and larger kitchens/canteens? Background and needs: Today, an increasing part of the Swedish population eats their main meal outside the home. This creates a growing market within the concept of meal service. The need for knowledge to compose a tasty meal adapted to different target groups is getting bigger. This means that the need for trained cooks and kitchen crafts, both with catering and restaurant catering, is growing.

At the moment, however, it is difficult to recruit students to this type of vocational education. This applies to both adult education and the regular upper secondary school. One need is to find new methods and ways to recruit more students is great in order to provide more opportunities for vocational training and to fill the needs that exist in the labor market. Another need is to give new arrivals an opportunity to enter the labor market is high in Sweden. Combining a vocational education with professional language education for new arrivals and training for a profession as it is currently needed is very important.

Purpose and goals: Find new methods and marketing strategies to get more applicants for vocational education in the area. Study and gain experience from other countries' course content. The goal is to increase the number of students in vocational education for cook and kitchen assistants to educate them and meet the needs of the labor market.

Activities: Visit and exchange experiences with equivalent vocational education organization in another EU country such as Austria, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain.

Results: Increased competence and creating new methods and ways to recruit and educate more students in education in the area of meal service, ​​food for catering and restaurant.

Target groups: Competence development for participating educators / staff as well as dissemination of experience and knowledge to colleagues within the respective school and municipality. The experience and knowledge gained in the project will be disseminated and communicated within the respective organization and municipality. Resources: Participating staff from FlexVux (about five or six member of staff). We will apply from Erasmus+ KA1 to have expenses for travel and accommodation. Travel costs are based on the distance between Hässleholm and the partners.

Timetable: Start in September 2019. During the 19/20 academic year, do two three or four day visits to vocational schools in two countries. Follow-up and completion of the project in May 2020.

Questions: How do you market or promote your education? How is the recruitment of students done? How are prospective students informed about the education? What channels or forums are used to reach out with information from the education when targeting newly arrived people? How do students follow up after education to know if they have been employed and are established in the labor market? In what way does the education change or adapt to the needs of the labor market?

Contact Details: FlexVux, Municipality of Hässleholm, Katarina Stigsdotter Svensson katarina.stigsdotter.svensson@hassleholm.se  or 0046 (0)729 77 00 17