Karolina Sikala: Internship abroad: Reflecting on students learning. DEP 2019

INTERNSHIP ABROAD: REFLECTING ON STUDENTS LEARNING Afgangsprojekt - Erhvervspædagogik

Student: Karolina Sikala Student number: 233934 IOK Supervisor: Henriette Skjærbæk Duch

Table of contents: Indhold Table of contents: .............................................................................................................................................. 1 1

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Problem statement .................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2. The aim and research questions of thesis .............................................................................................. 4 1.2.1. Specific research questions: ............................................................................................................ 4

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Materials and methods ............................................................................................................................. 5 2.1. Online Questionnaires ............................................................................................................................ 5 2.1.1. Online Questionnaire: teachers/mentors ....................................................................................... 5 2.1.1. Online Questionnaire: students ...................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Interviews ............................................................................................................................................... 5

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Internship .................................................................................................................................................. 7 3.1 Internship process ................................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Internship stakeholders and challenges .................................................................................................. 9 3.3 Didactic and learning ............................................................................................................................. 10

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Findings and Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Results teachers/mentors: questionnaire ............................................................................................ 13 3.2 Results teachers: interview ................................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Results students: questionnaire ............................................................................................................ 15 3.4 Results students: interview ................................................................................................................... 16 3.5 Results host: interview ...................................................................................................................... 17

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Conclusion and discussion ....................................................................................................................... 18

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Perspectives ............................................................................................................................................. 20

References: ...................................................................................................................................................... 21 Appendixes: ..................................................................................................................................................... 24 Appendix 1. Questionnaire mentors. .......................................................................................................... 24 Appendix 2. Questionnaire students. .......................................................................................................... 37 Appendix 3: Semi – structured interview. Example of questions sent to interviewers before the meeting. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 41

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1 Introduction During the past 20 years, Danish Vocational Education Training (VET) institutions in Denmark have undergone numerous reforms that aimed to make VET more attractive. This initiated internationalization activities for acquisition and exchange of knowledge and experience (Undervisningsministeriet 2006). This can be done by participating in different exchange programs for teachers and students. According to Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet (2019) students internship abroad is central to vocational education in order to increase their skill and competences. Additionally, the internship abroad is co-founded through different EU programs such as Erasmus+ and Nordplus. Moreover, the mobility programs increases the students international experience and intercultural competences that will help them to compete for jobs in near future. Additionally, the skills that are acquired through formal, informal or non-formal learning, can be recognized and validated of their practical training and education. Besides, internationalization is a key element in the development of a VET schools, giving it prestige and recognition on the world map, which can be a benefit for society. However, internationalization presents many challenges for schools such as interacting in different languages, economy, dealing with people from different culture, which may cause barriers in making internationalization happen.

Personally, I am an example of internationalization. For the first time I came to Denmark in 2001 for a 3month internship on organic agricultural farming. My main goal was to improve English and increase skills and competences within agriculture. After this period, I decided to come back to Denmark and continue the education. In 2012, I finished my MSc. degree in Agro-Environmental Management at University of Aarhus, where, as I scientist, I worked mainly with quantitative data. Besides my studies, I worked as a part time teacher in VET school and I continued as a teacher until 2017. During this time, I was both teacher and mentor for international students, who were coming from Romania, Poland and Hungary.

Since June 2017, I have been working as an international coordinator at Jordbrugets UddannelsesCenter, Aarhus (JU). JU is one of the few (VET) schools employing an international coordinator. Additionally, the school has international strategy with focus on improving students’ skills and competencies that should also be possible to acquire during their internship abroad (a requirement described in main goals and competences, Børne- og Socialministeriet 2017). JU’s strategy is to inform students about international conditions for work and education. Furthermore, school is responsible for recognitions and validation of students’ education and internship abroad through systematic use of European Qualifications Framework (EQF), and The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). JU staff through participating in different EU programs acquired this knowledge. Additionally, JU's vision is to participate in international activities in teaching, exchanging and networking - for example by offering internships abroad as part of student education, which makes the (VET) more attractive for young people (JU, 2019). Besides, the school is working on implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2019), and properly prepare students to live and work in the 21st Century.

In order to achieve the goals, the school has an action plan. For example by applying for European Union (EU) grants, or by using Placement Abroad system, in Danish “Praktik I Udlandet” (PIU, 2019), it is possible to send students for internships abroad. To fulfill the plan, it is essential to have a network all over the world to find suitable placements for students and make sure that they learned during the stay abroad, where different didactic methods are practiced.

My main task as international coordinator is implementation of internationalizing at JU through different international activities. I apply for money from EU funds and prepare students for their internship abroad. At

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JU, the internship is an elective subject, and in the past years, number of students that are taking internship abroad significantly increased. I must admit that this job was new to me. I had one month to learn from a person who had this job before me. I was trying to copy his way of working, but very fast, I realized that this system is not working as I wish. I started to do it my own way, which was/ still is time consuming and needs future improvements.

Furthermore, my role as a teacher/coordinator is to facilitate the students all the way through. I help finding a host, making all documents that are required by Erasmus+ and the ECVET procedures, being in constant contact with host. Besides, together with their mentor, I must decide whether the student is ready or not to have their internship abroad and the dilemma is how to make ethical decision. In other words, I am doing the screening of students. Annually, I am sending abroad around 60 students (7% of the total students at JU), for their short or long internship. Our future goal is to send up to 10%, which can be a challenge in selecting the right students and in finding the right host.

The main reason for choosing the topic was my interest in this matter. The aim is to provide knowledge about internship process and the students learning through different research methods. For example by analyzing data received from students and mentors, and by using didactic models the clear understanding of problems should give better action plan in the future. In the previous modules in Diplomuddannelse i erhvervspædagogik taken VIA University, I made different analysis on my teaching, relation with students, their barriers and motivations. I worked mainly with international students that have been struggling with different challenges, for example new culture, climate, friends, homesick, different from back home way of teaching. This experience in some way improved my pedagogical competencies in dealing with international students, which was challenging. I would like to put all the relevant things I learned together to improve knowledge to improve the job I am doing now.

In this thesis, I would like to focus more on the internship process and different stakeholders (mentor/teacher, student and host),a s well as, students’ learning, expectations, motivation, barriers and challenges they face before, during and after internship. At the same time, I will analyze the planning of the internship, cooperation with my colleagues, host, and the decision-making process to make the internship program suitable to all stakeholders, and to make sure that students improved their skills during the stay. In order to make their internship successful, it is important to understand the internship process as a whole, and to reflect on the successes and failures.

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1.2 Problem statement During the past 2 1/2 years of my work at JU, I discovered that many students are not satisfied with the improvement of their learning skills during their internship abroad. During the validation of the learning units, some students told me at they haven’t learned anything and they explained the reason behind it.

Furthermore, I could see their dissatisfaction from EU questionnaire that was sent shortly after they returned from the internship. I started to wonder why it is like that, what I did wrong during the entire internship process, what are the reasons for their dissatisfaction, where I must pay particular attention in order to ensure their improvement of the skills. It was important for me to identify where the problems are and how to improve the process for other students that will go abroad in the near future. Additionally, the preparation process of the student internship abroad at JU leaves much to be desired due to lack of communication and sufficient contact with teachers, students and hosts.

In order to make students’ internships successful, more work should be done. Furthermore, the internship process, which consists of different stages (before, during, and after internship) as well as stakeholders must be known, analyzed and improved by didactical approaches.

1.2. The aim and research questions of thesis The aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge that can help to develop better practice with didactic method approaches that can be used at JU for the organization of students’ internship abroad. There are various didactic models to reflect on the students learning during the internship.

1.2.1. Specific research questions: -

How is the internship process organized?

In order to understand the complexity of the internship process and the learning process of the students, it is essential to know the different steps that are taken in order to make it work. Furthermore, in different steps, different persons have different tasks, that is why the next research question is:

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What is a role of each stakeholder in the internship process, and how can I facilitate the learning process during the internship?

In order to understand the students’ learning during the internship process, it is important to know different stakeholders’ role and their didactic approaches. In this section, I will try to analyze the current practice and what should be improved in order to increase achievement of skills by students.

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What are the challenges that affects learning process (improving skills) of the students during their internship?

This question will help me to determine what challenges students face both from their own as well as from their mentors point of you.

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2 Materials and methods The main goal of this thesis is to improve the learning process of the students. In order to do that I will investigate what are the challenges, barriers and motivations that have an influence on students learning.

In this thesis, I will analyze and reflect on internship process at JU by using different didactic models. I will start with the didactic triangle to show the learning situation during internship process. Furthermore, I will use the didactic relationship model by Hiim & Hippe to analyze the present situation at JU and reflect on it.

Additionally, I will use questionnaires for both students and mentors plus interviews of different stakeholders. According to Gorard and Taylor (2004), by using different methods, it is possible to receive more qualitative results. Furthermore, by using questionnaires and interviews, I want to get inspired by other people that are involved in the internship process and face similar problems.

2.1. Online Questionnaires The first method used in collecting research data from students and the mentors was questionnaires created in office forms in English. According to Bird (2009), questionnaires are popular methods to be used in collecting answers on given topics. Before sending out to respondents, questionnaires were tested by two JU staff. This was done to check if the questions are understandable. In both questionnaires, mainly open questions were used, in order to receive qualitative answers (Bird 2009). All answers were collected in Excel spreadsheet (see appendix 1 and 2).

2.1.1. Online Questionnaire: teachers/mentors The first questionnaire consisted of 13 questions (see questions and answers in appendix 1) was given to around 50 persons that are working within this matter. They received the questionnaire during the meeting for international coordinators organized by the National Agency for Erasmus+ projects in Denmark. The link (in form of QR-code) to the questionnaire was on a paper. All participants were introduced to the research topic by the author. Additionally, the link was sent to international coordinators from different countries.

They were selected because of their experience within the matter. Only 22 persons replied.

2.1.1. Online Questionnaire: students The second questionnaire consisted of 9 questions (see questions and answers in appendix 2) was sent to 30 students through email. The students were during or after their internship abroad. Furthermore, 90% of the students were during their Basic Course 2 (GF2), the rest from the 1 or 2 Main Course (HF1 or HF2). Only half of them answered.

Besides online questionnaire made by me, I will use a standard questioner made by ERASMUS+ office. The answers will be downloaded from Mobility Tool (Erasmus+ platform), collected from 54 students from JU that had their internship abroad in 2018.

2.2. Interviews In addition to the data that was collected through questionnaires, interview with selected persons was held face to face. Only one student was interviewed on the phone through WhatsApp. The interviews gave possibility to go deeper into the most important issues. Some interviews were recorded on a phone, besides the notes were taken. According to Kvale (1996), interview is a method that can be used to collect knowledge through conversation between people. In this case, 8 persons were interviewed (for the list of the interviewees see table 1): 3 international coordinators, 4 students and 1 host. Furthermore, 60% of the interviews were semi structured (the interviewees: mentors/ were provided with a list of topics before the

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interview by e-mail, see appendix 3); the remaining 40% were unstructured where the interviewees were not provided with the topic and questions before the meeting (Jamshed 2004). The reason why some of the interviews were unstructured is that I met some people that are working with internship abroad during different conferences, where I got a chance to ask them few questions. All interviews were conducted in English.

Table 1. List of the interviewees

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Interviewee JJ

Position International coordinator

SU KB

International coordinator/teachers International coordinator

GA

Host/Owner

AO

Student GF2 horticulture

SV

Student GF2 horticulture

EK

Student HF2 horticulture

NK

Student GF2 farm machinery

Organization/Country Wellant College Netherlands SASKY school Finland BILSE - Institute for Education and Research Germany Monte da Casteleja Portugal JU Denmark JU Denmark JU Denmark JU Denmark

Interview type semi structured

Date and place 19.09.2019 Finland

semi structured

19.09.2019 Finland

unstructured

19.09.2019 Finland

unstructured

22.10.2019 Portugal 22.10.2019 Portugal 22.10.2019 Portugal 22.10.2019 Portugal 16.10.2019 as a phone interview (WhatsApp)

semi structured semi structured semi structured unstructured

3 Internship In this chapter, I will present the research questions from chapter 1.2.1 which were described in different literature and also by analyzing own and other coordinators practices. During the internship, students can combine theoretical knowledge with practice and they are obliged to learn. However, an internship process and the learning does not consist of the internship itself, but consist of 3 parts: before, during and after internship, during which different stakeholders that are involved in internship process will be described.

Furthermore, by using the didactic triangle, teaching and learning situation will be analyzed. Moreover, I will use the didactic relationship model by Hiim & Hoppe to look at the pedagogical framework applied during the internship process.

3.1 Internship process

Figure 1. Internship process framework (Source: own contribution)

Figure 1 was made to clearly illustrate the complexity of the internship process that I am working with.

Furthermore, it illustrates the different steps/roads that must be taken in order to make sure that internship abroad can be validated and recognized back home - in other words, to reach the top of the mountain. The figure is divided into 3 sections: red, yellow and green - referring to the traffic lights. In order to reach the top of the mountain, student must go through different colors, where different steps must be taken. Green color shows that students successfully completed climbing to the top of the mountain, in the other words the internship was proceeded in a proper way and their learning goals were achieved and validated back home. The model starts at the bottom and should be read from left to right. Only some points will be used to show the dialog with colleagues, hosts, students and the learning process. Henrik Dethlefsen, who worked at JU before me, and made the drawing on a black board in order to explain the Erasmus+ system, and the work I have to do while sending students for their internships abroad. See picture 1 below.

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Picture 1: Inspiration for figure 1 (author Henrik Dethlefsen, international coordinator at JU)

Before internship, many things can be done before the internship starts. For example, screening process of the student, finding the right host that match to student’s expectations, and making all documents ready required by Erasmus+ or PIU. According to Maertz et al., (2014) it is very important to have the schedule with the timeline and enough time to prepare the students for the internship. During this process, contact with teachers that know the student is unavoidable. They can decide together whether the student is ready or not for the internship abroad. The next step is to match the learner with a proper company. For this learning unit written by students under teachers supervision should be done and sent further to the host. This gives an opportunity for personalized learning in the sense that the learner can indicate his/her preference for what, where and how to learn. Excelling learners who seek additional challenges can now acquire extra learning outcomes, or learning outcomes at a higher level. However, this requires constant cooperation and communication between student, host and the teacher/mentor from school. According to Raaberg (2019) the main educational challenge consists of pairing the individual student with the internship that best supports the professional and personal development.

The next section is the internship itself. During this time student is abroad for a certain period of time. The student participates in different activities in the host institution or work environment, with learning relevant to the targeted units of learning outcomes. During this period, student must step outside of their comfort zone and be open minded, ready to communicate and to learn. This is challenging for many students due to different didactics methods applied in different countries. At the end of the mobility, when learning is completed, the assessment takes place. The learner demonstrates achievement of the targeted learning outcomes through participating in the assessment with results then documented to provide evidence of achievement. If the screening process, and match student-host, was done properly, it is a huge chance that the students will successfully end their internship Maertz et al., (2014). Nevertheless, in some cases students give up, coming back home before the deadline or coming back with a very bad experience, or without improving skills, which was demonstrated in founding made by Kasli & Ilban (2013).

After internship. During this period, many tasks are to be delivered by the student and the mentor. The mentor from sending institution must do the validation and recognition of the internship abroad. This can be done by evaluating the learning assessment based on learning unit that was made before the internship started (ECVET, 2019). Furthermore, the evaluation can be done by talking with the student about his experience, or by making presentation about the internship, and additionally by answering questions asked

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by mentor or questionnaire. Students must provide all documents with signatures, in order to prove that they went through the internship.

This chapter illustrates the 3 sections that are essential in the internship process. Furthermore, they interact with each other and cannot be neglected. If everything was done as it should be, all fields that were presented in different colors will be fulfilled. In the next chapter, different stakeholders that are having different roles in different sections will be described.

3.2 Internship stakeholders and challenges During the internship process, three major stakeholders: mentor from sending organization, student and the host are involved. They have different roles, responsibilities and they collaboration is essential for the student successful internship. Figure 2 below is used to better demonstrate the teaching and learning situation during the internship abroad. The reflection is needed to develop the process to best manage of the placement for all stakeholders. It is also needed to make different stakeholders responsible for specific tasks.

CONTENT

MENTOR/ TEACHER/ HOST

STUDENT

Figure 2 The didactic triangle (Størner & Hansen, 2010 page13).

In figure 2, are presented 3 main elements: mentor/teacher/host, students and the content the students must learn. Mentor, teachers from JU, plus host are placed together because of their common function, they should teach students. According to Størner & Hansen (2010), the student and the mentor/teacher/host meet to learn. Furthermore, pedagogical relation between mentor/teacher/host and the student is very important in the learning process (Kansanen & Meri, 1999).

However, in this thesis I decided to describe mentor/teacher and host separately to show the importance of they role in the process. One of the important stakeholders in the internship process are the teachers and mentors from sending institution. They take responsibility, and make common decision about sending the student abroad. The mentor/teacher has many different functions: planning of student internship, participating in writing learning units, helping buying the tickets, communicating with other teachers, coaches, leaders, finding out about students strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, “From a pedagogical point of you, the teacher should be the information provider, facilitator, assessor, planner, role model and resource developer (Harden 2000). Furthermore, besides the subject, he must know the student (Wadhwa 2005, Illeris 2009a)” (Text from previous task, 2015). This knowledge will help during the preparatory process,

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in making final decision about sending the student abroad, and, at the same time, to find the host that will match student’s expectations, which was already described before.

The role of the host is very crucial to maximize the success of the student’s internship abroad. Success is not achieved only when the student stayed abroad for certain period, but also when he/she achieved learning goals that were agreed before the start of the internship in learning unit. During the internship, host is the one who spends a lot of time with students, and is responsible for their learning process by implementing different didactic approaches, which can be a challenge. Very often, they do not have any pedagogical experience; the teaching methods differ from country to country. Furthermore, the host should remember that the student found himself in the new working environment, new culture. He speaks other language, which makes his stay even more challenging. For this reason, in order to have impact on student success, a positive relation is important. The positive relation will increase the student’s skills and competences during the internship and make students satisfied with their progress (Sánchez et al., 2013). Host should be a guide and supporter for the student during his daily work, at the same time should keep record of progress. In addition, be in constant contact with the teacher/mentor from sending organization. At the end of the internship, the host, together with the student, makes assessment of the learning unit that will be validated back home.

The last (but not least) stakeholder is the student. The success depends largely upon the student himself.

During the internship, the student is expected to learn as much as possible and experience the culture in other country. In case of problems, immediate contact with sending organization must be taken. However, in order to ensure that the students learn during the internship, they should have clear functions, show interest in subject, for example by asking and answering questions (Lacotte 1994).

Additionally, all stakeholders are important in an internship process, and they have benefits in participating in the process what can be motivating. According to Larkin & Beatson (2010), students gain experience, host has the possibility to recruit for fulltime employment after the internship, sending organization gains reputations. Furthermore, students with positive experience can be used as ambassadors, in promoting internship abroad at sending institution.

3.3 Didactic and learning In this section the Didactic Relationship Model by Hiim &Hippe, (2012) will be used, to provide a very useful framework to analyze internship process practiced at JU. Moreover, the model will help to analyze and critically evaluate the practice with collaboration with all stakeholders involved in the process. The model was chosen because of constructivist approaches for teaching and learning, which will be described in more detail below. The didactic relational model consist of six related elements (see figure 3) that have impact on each other. This means that one effect will have an impact on several key points. In this project, internship itself and the learning will be described and analyzed by using selected points as I found it more relevant.

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Figure 3 The Didactic Relationship Model by Hiim &Hippe, (2012) According to constructivist learning approach, the focus is on students learning. Students have an active role in learning by actively participating in discussion with others. They have responsibility on their own learning, and they build knowledge by transformation of the existing knowledge and experience through reflection on what they have learned (Splitter 2009). The teacher is not helping to accumulate knowledge that is passed from teacher to students, which takes place in behavioristic teaching (Abramson 2013). Rather teacher is helping to understand and to make sense of information. Furthermore, to make it useful and relevant. This way of teaching is practiced at JU. The first point from the Didactic Relationship Model is the Learning conditions. In this point, the focus will be on students. The students learn during the internship abroad that can be held either in company or in school equipped with practical facilities. At JU, before the internship, the students are prepared and screened during the preparatory lessons by teachers and mentors. During the last internship process at JU, 30 students started the preparatory lessons. Ultimately, only 19 went abroad. The main reasons were that some of the students found it too complicated, some did not get permission from the teachers that were involved in the screening process, as a result of diagnoses, lack of motivation, absences from lessons, and problems in following theoretical lessons. I must admit that students are very different, they have different backgrounds, beliefs, knowledge, experiences, interest and expectations. They are coming from different professions: landscaping, agriculture, gardening, farm machinery and animal keepers. They were in age from 18 to 39 years. Few have families, some are single. Moreover, they have different English skills. Some of them traveled to another country before, some will experience this for the first time. They also have different reasons in taking the internship abroad. For example to increase skills, get new experience in different country, to know other culture (Larkin & Beatson 2010). This knowledge about students is needed in order to find for them a suitable host. In order to find out about motivation of JU’s students questionnaire was use.

The answers will be analyzed in chapter 3. In this case, for the complete screening process and planning of students’ internship the limited time is an obstacle. After preparation, the students are taking internship abroad in different companies or schools all over the World. They are placed mainly individually, only few, two and two. I must admit, that during the preparatory meetings where students do different tasks, and learn about the country and host they are going to, there is positive teacher/mentor-student relation what

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can motivate students during the preparatory lessons and make them feel comfortable (Nordahl, 2012).

During the meetings, mentors must be aware of the students’ emotional and academic needs, what was suggested by Nugent (2009). Furthermore, by knowing them it is possible to find out what expectation they have (Illeris 2009a). This process is very important in order to decide about sending (or not) the student abroad and in finding the proper host.

The next point from “The Didactic Relationship Model” by Hiim & Hippe (2012) is settings. In this point, the external conditions for learning and teaching are taken into account. The students will have their internship in different countries, where different working routines and teaching methods are practiced compared to Denmark. In some countries, they have different working hours, climate and production systems, which can cause problems in adaptation to the new working environment. Furthermore, settings are determined by external factors that can both be easy or difficult to control. They may be imposed by society, for example, the internship abroad is described in the student goals and competences (Børne- og Socialministeriet 2017).

Additionally, is supported by Erasmus+ grants or PIU system. The factor that can be difficult to control is a contact with the host abroad. This can limit planning, learning and quality of the internship. The other factor is the time. Preparatory time of students at JU before the internship differs from class to class. For example Basic Course 2 (GF2) students have around 20 lessons where older students only have 5 lessons. Furthermore, the students must stay abroad from 3 weeks up to 12 months, which for many of them is a barrier what will be described in more detail in chapter 3.

Learning process is the next point that is important to be described in the internship process. In this point, the consideration of structure of the course is important and the focus will be on learning process during the internship. During the internship, students are mainly learning by doing. They combine their theoretical knowledge with practice. The host is the student mentor, and is responsible for the student learning progress.

However, the learning can be disrupted by different factors. Wilson (2008) is in opinion that different barriers are factors that may cause ineffectiveness in teaching and learning. The main goal of the internship is that the students learn as much as possible and they can build up their skills and competences. Nevertheless, they are various causes for resistance to learning, such as personal, social, emotional and workplace-related that were discussed by Illeris (2009b). Some students have diagnoses, family problems, they are afraid of their English skills and traveling alone. Henry et al., (2001), believe that in order to deal with challenges it is important to identify them and prepare students for them. Nonetheless, it is important to choose robust students for internship - students that can deal with being outside of their comfort zone.

According to psychologist Raaberg (2019), a robust student can handle a number of situations that neither the student himself nor others have been able to anticipate. According to her, the robustness - vulnerability factors, are emotional reaction (concern, temper, pessimism, social anxiety, impulsiveness stress sensitivity), contact abilities (sociability dominance, activity, voltage quest), positive emotions and conscientiousness (competence, orderliness, sense of responsibility, achievement orientation, self-discipline). According to Jørgensen (2017), robustness is a strength to keep focus on different tasks under pressure; they can find a solution to solve the problems. Furthermore, robust students know how much strength they have to work on a given task. They always try to see positive things to make their work successful. Moreover, Jørgensen (2017) is in opinion that it is possible to train robustness - this will help to deal with difficult situations and successfully carry out of the internship.

Summing up, this chapter shows the complexity of the internship process that was presented in figure 1. It is necessary that the 3 sections are connected with each other, and they are supported by stakeholders that have different role in this process. Furthermore, the learning process of the students can be affected by different factors, which can negatively affect the learning.

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3. Findings and Analysis In this chapter, more data will be analyzed that was collected through questionnaires and interviews from mentors, students and host. The goal is to help me better understand the internship process practiced in different schools. How do they prepare students for their internship, what challenges do they face in this process and how do they cope with them. Furthermore, the data from students will help me to find out what influences the students decision to take the internship abroad, and what affects their learning process during their stay abroad.

3.1. Results teachers/mentors: questionnaire The results are presented in Excel spreadsheet (see questions and answers in appendix 1). The results show that all respondents informed students about internship abroad during face to face meeting, in order to explain the possibilities and conditions. Coordinators, mentors, class teacher, and formal students run the meetings. Furthermore, almost all coordinators prepare students for their internship abroad, only two persons answered that they are not preparing students for their internship. Nevertheless, all the rest that prepare students for their internship, they do it different ways. Some start preparatory meeting around 2 months before the internship. Some give students extra English lessons, where they make presentation about the country they will have internship. They give them information about the company where they are going to be, discussing the learning goals and expected learning outcomes. Some use the digital handbook, with all needed information, students can make different tasks related to their internship process online. Some invite previous students to inform present students about their experience. On a question “How do you choose students that are going abroad”, around 80% answered at they are looking at student’s motivation, maturity, and language skills. 60% are looking at students’ ability to adapt to new challenges, the way they develop their skills, their social background. Some are looking for absence from lessons and their health status.

Furthermore, students commitment at their previous internship (if any) is also taken into account, plus the recommendation letters. 40 % are looking at student’s grades and their progress in the education, moreover if they successfully completed all required subjects, mainly vocational subjects, English and their ability to communicate.

On a question “why do your students choose the internship abroad”, 100% of them answered at they would like to increase their professional skills. Moreover, many of them travel for cultural experience and adventure, improving English skills. 50% of them answered that their students decided to take the internship abroad for self-development, they want to challenge themselves, both personally and professionally. They want meet different people all over the world, experience different ways of working and living. 10% answered that they would like to work with production that does not exist in Denmark. To become more independent and self-reliant. Many believe that internship abroad will give their students a better career opportunity in the future.

On the question “Who is involved in the screening process at your company? ” 90 % answered that a team of different persons is in charge of the decision-making. For example, class teacher, head of education and counsellor. 60% of them will talk to English teacher about students’ English level. 40% answered that they involved professional teachers who decided whether the internship company matches with the learning objectives and the student. 10% answered that in case of social and health problems, employer made the final decision.

The most relevant question for my thesis “What are the challenges you faced during the screening process?”

23% answered that they do not face any challenges during the internship process. The rest mentioned many different challenges. 40% mentioned the paperwork that must be done before, during and after mobility.

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Some students are very slow in making all documents, which causes problems in finding the right company for them. 24 % answered that students are not ready for a few-weeks internship, students are afraid to be away from home. Furthermore, sometimes it is difficult to assess student personal skills and robustness.

Every now and then students have hidden personal problems, which none or only few persons are aware of at school. Many mentioned poor English skills.

Diagram 1 below shows the percentage of students that successfully ended their internship. The range is from 92-100%. More than half of the persons that answered the questionnaire have more that 98% of the students that successfully ended their internship. The high success rate is because many schools have sent out the most suitable students. The common goal is to send more and more students, this resolute in broadcasting the less suitable what may result in lower percentage of students that ends their internship.

Number of persons

How many % of your students successfully ended their internship?

8 6 4 2 0 90

92

95

97

98

99

100

% Diagram 1. Answers from questionnaire about percentage of students that successfully ended internship abroad.

According to 27% respondents the main reason of “What causes students to fail internship abroad?” is unfit hosting organization. 23% answered homesick, and 3 respondents mentioned health problem. Furthermore, a few mentioned unrealistic expectations, both from students and from host side. They also mentioned insufficient preparation of students by sending school, bad living conditions, low level of English, and many different personal reasons.

They also had the possibility to write any comments or suggestions they wish. 2 wrote that it is important to have good contact with hosting organization. One mentioned that in order to have quality internship, the EQF level should be used together with learning unit.

3.2 Results teachers: interview I decide to make face-to-face interview with 3 international coordinators. The first person that I interviewed was JJ from The Netherlands. He works as an international coordinator at Wellant College, where they have a long tradition of sending students abroad. Annually they send around 400 students, from different professions, to 15 different EU countries, both for short and long internship. In his opinion, it is very important to prepare students for their internship, and start the process at least 10 weeks before the internship starts.

It is important to meet with students regularly, see their progress and involve in the process at least a few teachers that know or have something to do with the student. Furthermore, it is important to have a reliable host abroad. The host must be responsible for the student’s stay, and will be in constant contact with staff from Wellant. In order to ensure students learning progress, it is important to have clear learning unit based on students goals and competences, that should be achieved during the entire education. In the learning

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outcomes student has clearly explained their generic, technical and social emotional skills that must be achieved during internship.

KB from Germany told me that the most important thing is to have a reliable and trustworthy intermediary partner and the host. In case of having problems with the students, the person from abroad can help immediately. Because of that, she has the possibility to send students with special needs (ADHD, health problem). The students get support all the way through the whole process (before, during and after internship). In order to ensure learning progress, regular contact with the student takes place through skype.

SU from Finland is sending only a group of students (8-10 students) together with accompanying teacher.

The students do not need detailed preparation before the internship. They know they will be together with their classmates and their teacher. Many of them are below 18 years old. Their parents feel safe about sending their kids for internship abroad. The disadvantage mentioned by SU is that many of them lack commitment in the process. They know teacher will buy the tickets, find accommodation and talk to the host.

They are very passive during the stay, do not challenge themselves enough to take action. Many of them do not improve English skills because they know that the teacher will do the translation. Furthermore, the social relation with students and teachers from Finland is also limited, which affects their social skills. The main advantage is that students are staying with a person that will take care of them. Moreover, the teacher will make sure that students achieve all skills that were agreed before. The teacher is also responsible for making the assessment of the learning unit with the contact person abroad.

3.3 Results students: questionnaire The results from students’ questionnaires are presented in Excel spreadsheet (see questions and answers in appendix 2).

One of the questions was “Why do you want to have your internship abroad?” 80% students answered that they would like to get professional experience in different countries. Few would like to just travel and explore the word. I also asked students “Are you concerned of something before leaving? If yes, of what?” More than half answered that they are concerned, for example of being away from home for so long time, some about the work they have to do during internship, if they packed all staff and have all needed documents.

On a question, “Did you get enough help from your mentors?” 100 % answered yes. I am very happy to hear that. Furthermore, 93% students answered at they are well prepared for internship.

The next very important question for my thesis was “What are the challenges you may face during the internship? 47% answered that they may be challenged by language and communication with other people.

Few of them mentioned the task that they have to do during the stay, adaptation to new working environment and culture, traveling alone. One student mentioned the food. Few answered that they are happy to travel two and two, this makes them more relaxed.

On the question “How will you deal with the challenges?”, many answered that they will take it as it comes.

They will be open minded and talk about the issues with their colleagues. They will try getting to know the culture and the people. Some mentioned that it is important to be positive.

In order to supply student’s answers and to look into their satisfaction after they completed the internship, I decided to use the questioner made by ERASMUS+ office. The two tables below were downloaded from Mobility Tool after the end of students internship in 2018: -

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table 2, shows the students satisfaction from internship abroad, table 3 students self-evaluation of the internship abroad.

Table 2. Student’s satisfaction from their internship. Data from 54 students from JU.

Table 3. Student’s self-evaluation of internship abroad. Data from 54 students from JU.

The results show that only 58,49 % of the students are very satisfied with the quality of teaching methods at the receiving institution, and only 64,15% with the quality of training content. In the participants self – evaluation 71, 70 % improved technical/professional skills and competences.

3.4 Results students: interview I had an opportunity to visit 3 girls during their placement in Portugal, where they work on a wine production farm. At JU they study horticulture and their age is from 21-32 years old. They are happy to be 3 persons together. They have a lot of fun together during and after work. They support each other in case one of them feels homesick. They are challenged by the same work they have to do every day: weeding and a lot of manual

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work. They chose wine production because it was something different than they could experience in Denmark. The climate is also different from Denmark, it is very hot and they are tired of working in sun for so many hours. They make their own food. They are also challenged by living condition. They have to share a small room in a primitive wood cabin. They knew from the beginning that they will share a room, but they were not ready for living conditions like this. The toilet and shower are outside the cabin. When they came, they decided to have their own place where they could relax. They divided the room by using curtains, so each person has a place for herself. I asked if they had a chance to talk with the host about the work, they mentioned that they spoke with owner about it. They informed him that they would like to learn more about the wine production, but they only got chance to do the weeding. The host explained that it is not possible, because during this season they must do the weeding. I ask what will they do different if they could start it from the beginning. They told me that they should have done clear description of the learning unit, clear expectations.

Besides, I had a chance to make an interview with Nick. One evening we met on WhatsApp. Nick is a 29 years old boy studying farm machinery at JU. I was very concerned about his internship. From the beginning, he told me about his allergy for peanuts. In case of contact with peanuts, he must immediately get the adrenaline injection and get to hospital as fast as possible. We had long discussion with his teacher about sending him abroad. I found a host in Iceland and I told him about the issue. He decided to have Nick for a 3 weeks internship. During the interview, Nick seemed very happy and positive. He was talking about the work he did in the past few days and how good the hosting family is. He was sending me videos from his daily work. I asked him about the challenges he faced during the stay. He told me that the challenge was to get from Reykjavik to Egg (North Iceland). He knows what to do; he speaks English very well, so there is no problem with communication. He gave instruction to the host family about what to do in case of an allergy attack. He mentioned that he is challenged by the weather because it is much colder in Iceland than in Denmark at this time of the year.

3.5 Results host: interview I also had an opportunity to speak with GA, host of the 3 girls in Portugal. He was surprised that the students asked so many questions. Students from other countries that he hosted before were listening to him and were fulfilling all the assigned tasks without asking many questions. He told them that they should focus on the task they will do during the 3 weeks internship, in his opinion they will never produce vine in Denmark because of the climate. He was wrong, I explained him that in Denmark there are few wine producers. One of the girls was looking for this kind internship in Denmark, but her application was rejected. I do agree that the work they do depends on the season, still they must know about the wine production. I ask what we should do better next time. I would like to cooperate with him, and send more students for the short and long internship. He wants us (the school) to teach students more about wine production before sending them to him. This will be a challenge as we do not have wine production in our curriculum. We can ask students to study on their own about wine production before the internship begins. Overall, the students and the host are very happy. Students learned a lot even if they think they have been doing the same job all the time.

During the visit, I was very surprised with the English level in Portugal. All the people I had met spoke English very well.

Summing up, the founding shows that many students and teachers/mentors face some challenges before, during and after the internship. Students and teachers named the same things, which bring myself to confirm what the main challenges/barriers are in the internship process as a whole and the insufficient process in improvement of student’s skills. This will help me in future preparation of the internship process at JU.

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4 Conclusion and discussion This thesis significantly increased the understanding of the internship process, the role of different stakeholders and the challenges that the students face during the internship abroad that affect their learning and in consequences improvement of skills.

-

How is the internship process organized?

The investigation shows that the internship process is organized differently from school to school. There is no best method to be used at the national and international level. Some schools use screening process and a long preparatory time, some meet their students only once. Nevertheless, student’s percentage presented in diagram 1 that successfully completed their internship does not show connection with the answer whether they use (or not) the preparatory time before the internship at all. In addition, I take them with a lot of consideration, because of my own experience, experience from interviewed persons and from the internship guides which shows, that good preparatory time results in higher number of students that successfully ended the internship abroad. I must admit that I had some problems in getting more answers from respondents, both from students and from mentors. This is due to different reasons, for example the form of asking questions. Too many open questions affect questionnaire completion rate, which was investigated by Sax et al., (2003).

The theories and investigations helped in pointing out the important issues in the planning of the internship.

At JU, and other organizations that answered the questionnaire, and were interviewed, the internship process and what’s more the learning of the students, is challenged by different factors such as limited preparatory time, lack of communication among teachers, limited contact with hosting organization. This was also investigated by Bukaliya (2012), and his main founding was that many mentors are too busy to provide effective supervision for the students during the internship process. Furthermore, at JU the number of students going abroad increases every year. Moreover, according to JU’s strategy, we want to increase the number of students going abroad from 7 up to 10%, which can be a challenge in selecting the right students.

By increasing the number of students going abroad, and by not having a system that will help in selecting the appropriate students, we might risk sending students that are insufficiently prepared, which can cause a failure. Furthermore, not matching the students to the right host will result in poor improvement of skills and competences, which is a difficult dilemma for all stakeholders. Additionally, the challenge that all VET institutions in Denmark are facing is dimensionering (word in Danish) by EUD-reform 2015, introduced by Undervisnings Ministeriet (2019). According to the reform, some of the VET courses will have a quota for the number of students that would like to start GF. This means that I will have more students going abroad from one course, this will result in limitation of number of placements we have available abroad. According to Kasli & Ilban (2013) collaboration is essential in order to eliminate problems that must affect the student’s internship. I believe that figure 1, which was made to illustrate the complexity of the internship process, will be used as a helping tool at JU in the internship process. Nevertheless, I began to wonder how to use it smarter. In order to follow the diagram a lot of work is required, and already now figure 1 should be modified by adding the feedback of different stakeholders at the end of the internship process. By reflecting on what went well and wrong during the whole internship process, the feedback will help to make it easier and qualitative preparation of the internship in the future (Bukaliya (2012) referred to Tackett et al., (2001)).

Furthermore, it is important to reflect on the agreed learning unit, whether was suitable for particular student (Maertz et al., 2014). The mentors also recommended this during questionnaires and interviews.

Unprepared internship can cause situations with unethical aspects, and this should be avoided.

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What is the role of each stakeholder in the internship process, and how can I facilitate the learning process during the internship?

This study shows the importance of each stakeholder in the internship process. To make it work, it is necessary that all stakeholders work on the student’s success, which might be difficult. The main founding was that there is a communication gap between all stakeholders, and the importance of knowing and having trustable host, which sometimes is a challenge at JU. The mentor and other teachers from the sending organization makes the decision whether the student is ready or not for internship abroad. However, how to make the ethical decision? This is a dilemma. Maybe we should give a chance to all students that would like to go abroad. According to philosopher Bentham (1983) the decision whether something is right or wrong should depend on the consequences. He is in opinion that the best decision is one that brings the best benefits to the greatest number of people. Still, in order to evaluate the decision-making, more students should be sent with different challenges. I am afraid that it will be difficult to convince other colleagues to let the students have their internship abroad. We already had a long discussion about sending Nick to Iceland.

This case has a positive ending, but what if the next decision will result in negative ending. The next problem is to choose the right host. In many cases, JU uses intermediary partners (they are helping in finding a host for our student) in finding host. Intermediary partners are met through different projects, conferences and student exchange. Besides, JU is a member of EUROPEA- International, an organization where 1000 VET institutions are member from all over the Europe. Nevertheless, 90 % of the students have their internship at the companies, and our intermediary partners are not always involved in finding the host. Some students use their own contacts, which can affect the communication between the host and the school, and in consequence result on students’ internship quality, which is required by Erasmus+ (Erasmus Student Network 2019). The next aspect is that stakeholders come from different cultures and ethics. According to Day & Steensen (2010), culture is something that humans themselves create, and culture is what allows us to understand the world around us. It is what we create through our experience with the social world.

Nevertheless, even if the people belong to the same ethical group, coming from the same country, they are still different. I come from Poland, where I grew up and studied in a different culture from Denmark, in which the behavioristic teaching dominates. I noticed that Danish students are very open, and during their internship, they ask many questions in order to understand the topic, which can sometimes be problematic in different countries. This was already mentioned in this thesis, where a host from Portugal was surprised that the girls asked so many questions.

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What are the challenges that affect learning process (improving skills) of the students during their internship?

100 % of students answered that the main motivation of having internship abroad is the improvement of their skills. The statistics made by Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet 2019, based on all Danish students internship abroad financed by Erasmus+, shows that only 63 % of the students were satisfied with improvement of skills, where compared to higher education students, 88% were satisfied and at JU 71,70%.

This confirms my findings, that many students are facing different challenges/problems: before, during and after internship, that result in their lower skills satisfaction. For example, short preparatory time, bureaucracy, feeling homesick, internship location, poor description of the learning unit, limited contact with mentor from sending institution and the host, diagnoses, lack of pedagogical skills, wrong match studentshost and to high expectations were the main problems named by students, mentors and different articles.

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According to Kasli & Ilban (2013), in order to solve the problems that affect student internships and their learning process, it is important to identifying them. Furthermore, according to Henry et al., (2001), identifying problems that may occur during the internship will help in better preparation of the students that will know what to expect and how to deal with them during the internship, and this was investigated in this thesis. Still, what questions to ask students? Is it ethical to ask about their health problems, disabilities that will negatively influence their stay? Kasli & Ilban (2013) believe that negative experience during the internship can result in changing of student’s profession. Nowadays, for many Danish VET the main goal is to minimize the number of students that drop out or change the education. At JU, around 10% of students quit the education at the GF2 level, and half of them done that because of starting the new one. Kasli & Ilban (2013) found that in many cases the companies have negative influence on student’s internship due to lack of intern understanding. Furthermore, they negatively affected their attitudes. According to Kolb (1984), the relation with co-workers and friends can influence learning abilities. This is very important when matching student/ host and when sending 2 and 2 students to the same place.

Summing up, this thesis shows that there are different didactic tools to be used to evaluate on students internship. The thesis presents the current internship process practices at JU, what are the weak points, and what should be done better. The students faced different challenges during the internship process and they must be minimized. The didactics models that were used to evaluate on students internship process show that there is a gap between the different stakeholders, which affects the student’s satisfaction of improvement of the skills that were described in learning unit. In order to mitigate the problem, further steps must be taken in order to bridge the gap.

5 Perspectives The perspectives for further research may involve the modification and application of the figure 1 made in this project for the internship process abroad.

In Denmark there should be made a group of international coordinators that meet regularly, exchange their experiences and learn from each other.

In order to ensure an optimal student-host match, all stakeholders must be involved in the process.

There is a need for more hosts abroad; in order to find the right host that will match to our students, the host must be approved by JU or other schools.

The students that went through the internship process should be used as ambassadors to promote the improvement of the skills abroad.

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Appendixes: Appendix 1. Questionnaire mentors.

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How do you inform students about possibilities of having internship abroad?

By visiting Classes and working with the departments Når de starter og via uddannelseschefen plus evt info fra tidligere elever som har været i I P Leaflet and common info meettings Det vores underviser som fortæller om muligheden til elever Det er meget forskelligt afhængig af faggruppe, enkelte fag sendes som helt hold i en skoleudsendelse, de modtager fælles orientering og her er tale om et tilbud. I andre indgange håndplukkes GF2 elever til virksomhedsophold og endelig håndplukkes lærlinge og her er det mestrene som spørges først.

Når eleverne kommer på skolen. Første gang og ved nye skoleforløb.

We are running scheduled information meetings for all classes 1-2 times per semester + we have information events with Travel2Farm + we try to use students with travel experience as ambassadors I announce different mobilies on students gatherings and in newsletters to the students and their families. We tell about the opportunities at the school when new students come to visit.

Face to face presentations; Posting on the Facebook page of the school.

We do an open call in which it is included the information about conditions, finantial support, selection criterial, etc. But before or in the meantime we informe to the potential students interested by the way of presentations carry out by other students who have already completed an internship abroad.

Me and former students gives information at a meeting for all students email, facebook, class leaders, open days, professional teachers in our recruitment: we place articles from students who are on an internship abroad or who are traveling abroad. We show in our open houses that an internship abroad is an option. We organize informationsessions for interested students and their parents. Students who already went abroad we let them do presentations to new students about their exeperience we find the world of mouth to be most effective. Other means: social media, posters and visits at colleges, trade show participation, occasional ads in professional magazines Introductory meetings when the students arrive in College It is part of our identity at Kalø : introduction talk, lessons with the study couselor, talks in the breaks, evenings where 1.Main Course (or second main course) students present their internship to Basic course in form of a "cafe", a folder where we have a card of description made by previous students about the farm and their experience...

Notify them during 'Open Doors' and enrollment interviews, posts on intranet, and via the international coordinator/internship coach at each of our schools. Good practice: to organize an event to inform the students who will go abroad using senior students as ambassadors. E.g. the students who just returned from their internship abroad share their experiences with peers and parents, and answer questions.

Information meeting in classes We visit all colleges with relevant educations and do presentations, website, instagram, different events where students attend I arrange information meetings at all school departments for those students who are interested in having internship broad The International Department arrange information meetings for the studens personal meeting with students

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How do you choose students going abroad (screening process)?

The individual departments chooses the students.

De skal ansøge om det og det er medfølgende lærer og uddannelsrschef som udvælger.

Motivation. Maturity, language skills Underviserne vurdere om eleverne er egnet til at komme afsted Faglærer, koordinator og mestre sparre om de enkelte elever Gennem deres ansøgning, samtale med int. koordinator og klasselærer/undervisere.

We conduct individual interviews, often international coordinator and student counsellor, if any doubt we also involve class teacher and student mentors We choose the best qualified. We look at their ability to adapt to new challenges and how they develop their skills.

1. Students enrollment (parents' consent is requiered); 2. I check the eligibility of the students; 2. I run the interviews and langage tests; The selection criterial we take are: 1. Average of califications obtained in the previous year. 2. Level of foreign language skills (Usually English, but possible others, depending on the country of destination). 3.

Former participation in other ERASMUS+ projects (we want to extend the proyects as much number of students as better, so we discriminate in favour of those students who participate in an ERASMUS+ intership abroad for first time.)

After the students interest and capacity to fullfill the intership abroad using excel sheet with rating 1-5: behaviour, language, vocational skills, motivation, responsability, social background The team of teachers decides whether the internship company matches with the learning objectives and the student. And whether the student makes sufficient progress in his education to do an internship abroad. We then look at his grades but also at the experiences of his previous internship company and the commitment, presence and motivation of the student.

Recommendations from faculty or past participants, quality of prepared applications, multiple interviews First find out who's interested, speak to their tutor about their behaviour and mindset, interview them, challenge them to be up to date with their course work before going on work placement. no screening - everybody can come abroad with AUB For the highest level (EQF 4), it's simply 'standard' part of their study. For EQF level 3 it's optional. For both levels: the internship coach checks if the student has successfully completed all required subjects.

Asks the teacher for yes or no. Looks at absence from lessons. Looks if the student have handed in all tasks.

Depends on the motivation application.

We have them fill in an application form, we do an interview with them and based on that we decide if the qualify for a stay abroad For social- and healthcare students it is the imployer who say yes or no for the students to go abroad.

In collaboration with the teachers who know the students well we selct them based on their motivated application school results (specially in practical training, English and vocational subjects), studies motivation, ability to comunicate

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Why your students are choosing internship abroad ?

The experience For at modnes, kulturel oplevelse, interesse i at komme til at arbejde i udland.

Adventure, self estime, language skills, international experience ?

For rejsen, for faglig udvikling, for personlig udvikling og for oplevelsen Oplevelse fagligt og kulturelt.

Most of them want the adventure and the experience. Some of them express their special interest in particular professional topics, e.g. large scale crop farming They want to challenge themselves in English so they can be better 1. for the experience of going abroad; 2. for the learning opportunity; Only a few of them choose an internship abroad. We think the the main reason is the low level in language skills our students have. Among those few who dare to choose an intership abroad the main reason who push them to do it are: 1. To know different countries, different people and different ways of working an living, so an adventure desire. 2. To learn or improve their language skills. 3. A few of them think that they are going to learn more abroad. 4. A few of them think that maybe by this way they would have more opportunities to find a job.

They are interesting to see and learn new things and to meet people first time abroad, improving skills, modern environment, culture, different people, practice language skills, swim in the sea Great learning experience, learning a different culture and practice an other language.

Many are seeking for adventure in combination with professional and personal development. Some fulfill their college internship requirements at the same time. Earning potential is important to the minority that comes from less developed countries Personal reasons It is different from student to student: exotism and travelling/cultural experience - working on productions which do not exist (almost) in denmark, for example milking sheep, small farm, fruit production, farm with flour production and bakery...

To discover a foreign country, to learn from a different culture, to become more independent and selfreliant, To learn something new or different. To explore another culture.

To gain more practical experience in farming/horticulture, to improve their English, because they heard others tell about their travels To see how the work with elderly care / child care is going on in other European countries.

They want to challence themselves and they know that an internship abroad is important if they want to present a more unique CV gain new experience, improve their practical skills and knowledge of English

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Who is involved in the screening process at your company?

The department heads Medfølgende lærer og uddannelsrschef.

Langager teacher and team leader Underviserne kun Koordinator Int. Koordinator og undervisere International coordinator + student counsellors (always), if needed we include knowledge from class teacher and special mentors/NLPcoach The teachers knowing the students, our educational leaders and the international coordinator 2 VET teachers; 1 English teacher; 1 responsible for selection It's a team formed by: Director, Subdirector, Teacher of English, Teacher of Internship and Coordinator of International Projects.

International coordinator, mentor of the students, several teachers responsible for the learning course, headmaster class leader, vocational teachers, director, language teacher, pscichologist The teachers (team), on advise of the mentor an the intern internshipcoordinator Every coordinator in our office screens interns that he will be later placing. Additionally, most applicants interview with the representative of the hosing company as well Coordinator, Course tutors, sometimes Wardens in student accommodation, no screening Usually the appointed contact person who maintains all communication with the VET college Teacher and international coordinator.

We all are There are no screening - the contact teacher made a recommandation,. The responsibility is within the employer ? class teacher, practical training teacher and English teacher, principal

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Do you prepare students for their internship abroad?

Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

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If yes, how?

In a pre-travel Meeting I klasseundervisning for de interesserede elever.

Kick off dag. For Germany language course Forberedende møder Kultur og sprogforståelse og undervisning i faglige emner.

They have to write an essay about their expectations and they will learn about the culture they will face.

Language training, cultural training, pedagogical training (softskils) Giving them information of the place (company or school) and country where they are going to be. Giving them support for language learning by OLS test and course. Giving them information about the learning agreement; what is expected they do abroad. And finally giving them support and avising about logistic aspect connected with travelling, accommodation, food. etc. several meetings, homeworks about the country and the companies/school they will lhave internship in. professional language, culture, presentations about school/working place, talk with pscichologist, team building We use a digital handbook with all assigments preparing, during and after the traineeship. Issues in the preparing are: formulating learning goals, planning, organising traveling arrangements, visa, insurrance, financial, etc. in-depth, in-person orientation session. Various printed and digital materials. Connections with past and current participants helps as well. information about host organisation, region and country to visit, details of host coordinator, presentations and testimonies from previous students who have visited the placement Exchange with students who previously have been abroad + mixed classes Danes-International so the cultural part is always present at school + involving international examples in teaching + classes with the study advisor about application and administrative matters We discuss their learning goals and aimed learning outcomes. Ideally we use learning units for this. The students have to make a budget, book their travel and accommodation, sign their Learning Agreement, Quality Commitment and contract for the internship. In most cases, they write an application/motivation letter, and make the E+ OLS language test.

Information meeting for those we have selected to go abroad.

We have a pre-departure meeting 2 month before the internship, I have a preparing meeting with the group of students who goes abroad at the same time.

Prepatory meetings special lesson of vocational English if needed, instruction in occupational safety

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What are the challenges you faced during the screening process?

None

Elverne fæller fra Nogle som ønsker at deltage, men som ikke er egnet.

At undgå elever der ikke kan gennemføre fx 4 ugers praktik.

Sometimes difficult to assess personal skills and robustness. Sometimes students have hidden personal problems which none or only few persons at school are aware of.

The students English is poor, and their expectations are not realistic Some parents are not able to give their written consent (exp.: they are aborad).

Usually we have more grants than students interested in getting them, so our main challenge is to encourage the students to try an internship abroad. Another one is to discriminate by language skill level, because there are great students with a low level of English.

To give the students all information so they can feel safe during the internship misunderstanding between teachers which student they want to send on the mobility, students are afraid to be away from home No troubles with the screening, we mostly have students on eqf level 3 and 4 who go abroad. Sometimes we don not have enough companies The main challenge is how broken the system of writing recommendation letters is. Teachers and administrators provide excellent recommendation letters to everyone that asks. These letters typically dramatically overstate the real skills and abilities of students. Additionally: some people interview very well but perform poorly. The opposite is true as well. Various personality disorder or mental conditions can be well hidden during interview but become obvious soon after the program commences.

Initial enthusiasm as part of a group discussion, pulling out late in the process when the reality begins to sink in no screening Students sometime start late with their preparation. This leads to peaked work loads. They also detest the amount of paperwork and sometimes do not return all documents in time. Sometimes we have a hard time finding a proper learning company for requested learning outcomes.

Special needs students with diagnosis.

That they do not always know what they want and they ofte have unrealistic expectations I don´t see any challenges.

The distance between the international department and the students if questions appear after the meetings. And not all students are able to live up to the requirements of the application - but they do have the abilities to go abroad. In these cases we need to do a closer check and talk with the teachers again to choose the right students in respect to their school results and personal conditions for successfully ending

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How do you deal with challenges?

None Taler med den modtagende org kontaktperson og eleven.

Fellowhip theacher ?

Medfølgende lærer tager hånd om det eller koordinator som altid kan kontaktes.

Samtaler.

Talk with colleagues. Take time to create good relation with student, have more than one talk. Ask student to talk with parents and friends. I talk with others if I feel uncertain.

We they to teach them basic English. And we try to show them what they will meet, want cultures they'll face We cannot consider those students for selection.

Using students who have already completed an internship to disseminate their experiences between students potencially interested in. If necessary we do an English oral exam to candidates in orde to discriminate. more information/meetings we try to let the teachers understand that a very motivated students good in his/het profession is a better choice than somebody who is perfect in english but dont want to work with the profession he/she is learning, students are making presentations about their stay for their schoolmates does not apply I assume this question relates to the previous - challenges during the screening process. We try to develop trusted relationships with colleges and individual faculty. This works well. To make the screening process more measurable we have now developed an online questionnaire that attempts to measure social compatibility of the applicant for interning abroad independently. We also communicate with applicants a lot and involve additional people in the interview if we notice warning signs. draw on 20 years of experience, speak with parents of student We try to stimulate early preparation by implementing financial benefits for 'early birds'. We use our international network partners to help finding proper learning companies.

Ask the student to meet and have a talk about the challenges. Prepares the receiving partner for the issues.

Dialogue xxx interviews with class teachers and students

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Where do you need to pay particular attention during the screening process?

To inform the students that they are not going on vacation.

Særlige behov Approx8 xpectations and motivation I starteren Fraværsprocent, er det en grundforløbselev som er udfordrede i sine overgangskrav, er det også vigtigt at underviserens i de fag er involveret.

Modenhed.

Personal conditions of student. Social skills of student. Students expectations.

Their expectations and if we believe that we can prepare them for the real deal students availability and parents consent We need to be sure that the selected students deserve to get the grant more than those who finally haven't got it.

That right student go to right internship learning disabilities and how to manage it during the mobility, personal talks does not apply Any signs of mental issues or personality disorders or very strong convictions towards some extreme social trends - such as absolute negative attitude towards agrochemicals, veganism, biodynamism, antivaxism, extreme religious believes etc. Such convictions may indicate lack of flexibility that would lead to poor experience in a new environment abroad.

Speak with Parents if student under 18, and if possible if over 18.

Match the learning outcomes with the proper learning company. Check if the time (period) and location are suitable. Make sure that all involved (student, company coach, teacher/coach at school) are on the same page.

Answers in their application - if any special needs.

Their motivation for going Not in the screening process (there are none) - by I pay much attention to inform about all the paper work, and make sure the student how important it is to take care off ALL papers xxx -

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How many % of your students successfully ended their internship?

98% 99,9% Spprow 8 % 98% Alle 99% Almost 100% 92 99% Around 90% ususally 100% but last year we had two students that didn´t fullfilled their intership.

99% 98% approximately about 95% 95 95% 99% 100 % 97% 100% close to 100% 99%

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What causes students to fail internship abroad?

Personal reasons At de længes hjem eller ikke trives Not adhiring to rules .alkohol Hjemve Ingen Ilness A mix of bad personal conditions and attitude as well as bad “chemistry” between student and host.

Longing for their families Health problems The most usual is because of the low level of English skill which means a low level of integration in the company and a low level of learning too. The other one is because in occasions the reality doesn't fit with their expectations.

They didn´t were prepered enough and felt alone abroad we had only one student and it was because of a crazy girlfriend homesick or mismatch with the company lack of preparation - some applicants disregard placement advise and focus only on the prospect of interning in the USA, not with the particular company. Some simply do not have enough understanding of the industry or have various misconceptions in regard to the industry or their own qualifications. Another common reason are various personality traits or disorder and diagnosed or undiagnosed mental conditions.

Homesickness, host falling ill similar reasons as in Denmark , for example expectations from the farmer and the student differ (work load and tasks, speed...)

Unfit learning company (e.g. unsafe working situations, no coaching); unfit accommodation (e.g. dirty room); home sickness Unrealistic expectations, homesickness, the lack of ability to adjust I only know one who was pregnant, and we have to take her back to Denmark. healthy problems

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Any comments or suggestion are welcome

On going information to the potential participants. Also Together With parents Jeg sender mange små grupper ud og det er meget forskellige udfordringer der er mellem de enkelte grupper Ingen

n/a In my opinion it is really important the role of person who coordinate the internship, both in the sending institution and in receiving institution. Also it's very important the recognition and value that sending institutions give to the ERASMUS+ internship.

Sometimes the internship partner is not deliberate and that can affekt our students internship

consider changing text fields into text boxes and display character limits, if any are set good luck with your degree! my students are quite special, older and with often more previous education than yours We need more awareness of EQF levels and Learning Outcomes at companies, and our own staff so students will get used to this from day 1.

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Appendix 2. Questionnaire students.

Why do you want to have your internship abroad?

Wanted to travel to another country, and see how they worked in landscaping To get more experience in adapting to a workplace in another country To see how working conditions are abroad and to experience something different than danish gardening It hæs been a dream if mine, for a very long time.

Få at blive beder Får at prøve krafter med en anden kultur og kom ned og prøve hvordan de arbejder Jeg vil rigtig gerne ud og opleve noget, og prøve nogle af mine grænser af. At lære nogle nye ting, i et andet land Fordi det er en enestående mulighed for at se hvordan et andet land arbejder inden for det felt Jeg synes det kunne være interessant at lære nye ting I want to travel and see what the world has to offer. And I would like to see what my field of choice is like in other countries To experience a different culture and work environment Lære mere og hvordan man passer dyr i andre kulturer Because I would like to expand my worldview, and see how it is working in a different culture than my own. I think it is a wonderful opportunity for travel, learning and meeting new people.

Because i want to experience different cultures Experience and seeing other countries.

Are you concerned of something before leaving? If yes, of what?

No Getting through customs. If I have packed the right things. Will something go wrong underway?

I can be concerned how much repeated work there is and if it will be very hard I am a bit concerned about wether i have prepared enough or if i am missing something Nej no Jeg føler, at jeg er forholdvis godt forberedt Ja, men det er i forbindelse med at jeg har børn derhjemme, men det hjælper meget at vi skal afsted 2 sammen Yes, all the technical stuff that could go wrong, like the plane is delayed or there is something wrong with my papers Just general nervousness about traveling, arriving and so on.

Nej I am mostly excited, but it is of course a bit scary to be so far away, in a field I am not 100% sharp in yet. no, i am ready to leave No.

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Did you get enough help from your mentors?

Yes I thnk so, they were really prepared for this Yes Yes. Do you mean our tutors? They have been very helpful Yes, i would say so Ja yes Ja, de har været rigtig støttende og hjælpsomme Ja det syntes jeg Ja det synes jeg Yes yes Ja Yes. yes, they have helped us very well Yes plenty.

If not, how can they help you?

Jeg har selv stillet spørgsmål vis der var noget

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Are you well prepared for internship? If not, why? yeah I think so I think so, but I can't be sure until it is done.

I feel prepared. Maybe I’m not, but I will see when I get there!

Well, i feel i have prepared a lot, but i dont no if it is enough Ja ja Ja Det syntes jeg, igen hjælper det utrolig meget ikke at skulle rejse alene Nej tror jeg ikke I feel I am prepared, but I am just scared that something could go wrong Somewhat, the sleeping situation is almost sorted out.

Ja Yes! sort of, I think I am ready to leave on my own I feel prepared.

What are the challenges you may faced during the internship? maybe the difference between two countries and their ways of working (maybe it goes faster or maybe it goes slower etc,) Fitting in at the workplace. Finding the right way to the workplace.

Communication problems, not happy about work tasks, not learning anything If anything, i think, maybe communication Mad har forgår på det andet sprog Sproget kan altid være en udfordring, ellers er der ikke rigtig noget.

Jeg anser mit største problem for at være at skulle tale et andet sprog Lidt sprog og forståelse i starte I am travelling alone, and that is something I just need to get over Adapting to a different culture, getting used to a new work environment.

Jeg er ikke sikker måske sproget A new schedule and a different workstructure than I might be used to. Different terms in relation to language and the green field might also be a challenge.

To be social with the owners New culture maybe.

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How will you deal with them? with a smile and remember I am here to learn Preparation I will try and take it as it comes. Be open and talk with people about it. It depends on the situation.

Practice

Ved at kaste mig ud i det. Og se om man ikke kan finde en løsning på det Gøre mit bedste Snakke og forståelse Just believe that everything will work out just fine Prepare through research and generally breathing deeply. :) Pas With being open, curious and willing to learn and adapt.

Try to start a funny conversation Get to know the culture and people.

Any comments or suggestion are welcome

It’s good that we know we can contact the tutors if we have problems Den kan ikke blive beder

Nej

:) Synes kun det går godt, hjælper meget

No

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Can I contact you for further information. If yes, please write your email wapsy_dog@hotmail.com Yes. Saravestergaard@gmail.com martinrhpetersen@gmail.com Ja

nannaow@gmail.com sara-c-z@hotmail.com

dalsgaard-pedersen@hotmail.com Laitinen95@hotmail.com Christian-holst-lind@hotmail.dk Adamossofstad@gmail.com emils_lyder@hotmail.com

Appendix 3: Semi – structured interview. Example of questions sent to interviewers before the meeting.

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