Varga István Vocational Secondary School for Commerce and Economics offers secondary education and vocational training in Commerce, Marketing and Business Administration for youngsters aged 14 to 19. We have always aimed to give our students beside high standard academic studies a life-like vocational training. In accordance with it, during their studies, the students have to do 2 – 4 weeks compulsory working placements in their summer holidays. Participating in this project, we would like to provide our students the opportunity to take part in working placements in the UK with the assistance of the Erasmus + programme. Thus, we intend to place 20 of our students studying Commerce, in two turns, in charity shops for the duration of their compulsory training. While in Britain there are almost 9000 charity shops generating £290m profit yearly and employing 213,000 volunteers, in Hungary they appeared only a few years ago, and we can encounter only a dozen of units. We would like to use the unique opportunity of finding out how these shops operate and to implement this knowledge in our social and economic environment later. We have worked with Almond Vocational Link, a Plymouth based non-profit organization for several years. They are a host organization for mobility projects, a committed team of people for organizing, managing, monitoring and evaluating work experience. They have developed extensive contacts with local businesses in many sectors. The involved beneficiaries are in the second form, or have finished the 4th form and they are enrolled in the vocational training course of Commerce. They have already done more than two years of vocational education, thus their knowledge is adequate for working in an international environment. They are going to continue their studies in our school, so they intend to get a storekeeper qualification. The participants are going to work on weekdays, from 9 am to 5 pm, for three weeks. The first turn will attend the internship November 8- 28, 2015; the second turn from June 26, 2016 to July 16, 2016. During their internship the beneficiaries will carry out the following tasks: - getting in touch with donators and distribution channels - assisting the reception of goods - preparing goods for the shop floor - putting price labels and bringing new goods onto the shop floor and display them - stocking and warehousing - working at the electronic cash register and dealing with money - assisting customers and providing excellent customer service - finding out structures and activities of charity shops in Great Britain - realizing the environmental impact of buying / using second-hand goods - recognizing the financial viability of the charity sector - meeting volunteers during placements, and learning about the social impact of volunteering Their close guidance allows the participants to carry out a comparative analysis of employment conditions and recognizing the opportunities of starting a charity shop later in Hungary. They can find out the activities and strategies of social enterprises involved in the process, the models of work, the working and social conditions of the people in the host country. They can realize that they are able to meet the demands of the European labour market, and they can be more conscious of their values. They can make a substantial progress in their English knowledge, thus they will be able to take English language exams in the close future. Schedule: - Aug 2015: selection of the project members, distribution of tasks and obligations, concluding agreements with the partner - Sep 2015: selection and concluding agreements with participants of the first turn - Oct 2015: preparation of the first turn participants, travel arrangements - Nov 2015: mobility period and placements for the first turn in accordance with the working schedule and monitoring - Dec 2015: evaluation of the vocational training for the first turn, preparing Europass Mobility Certificates - Nov-Dec 2015: continuous dissemination of results in the school, local and professional communities - Feb 2016: selection of participants and concluding agreements with the second turn - May-June 2016: vocational and language course for the second turn, travel arrangements - June-July 2016: mobility period and placements for the second turn in accordance with the working schedule and monitoring - Aug 2016: evaluation, preparing Europass Mobility Certificates, final reports and closing the project - Sep-Nov 2016: continuous dissemination of results Impacts: - the successful ending of the vocational training, favourable involvement in the labour market on the short term and successful carrier as an employee or an entrepreneur on the long term for the participants - widening the frames of the training, involving new contents in our pedagogical programme on the short term and making the vocational training attractive for potential partners on the long term for our institution.