College Students Benefit from Life-changing Overseas Work Experience

Thanks to a fantastic partnership with a regional volunteering organisation, Bradford College students are experiencing once-in-a-lifetime work experience overseas.

Everything Is Possible in York is a not-for-profit organisation helping disadvantaged young people learn through volunteering and life experiences. With their support, more College students are putting their learning in the classroom to the test in real jobs abroad.

Students on Progression to Learning and Work (PLW) courses recently embarked on such an experience in Italy. Learners completed a two-week placement supporting tourist guides running excursions up and around Mount Etna in Sicily – one of the world’s most active volcanoes on the east coast of Italy!

Following this, a group of Bradford College students returned from life-changing work experience in Valencia. Seventeen Level 2 and 3 Fitness and Sports Coaching students undertook a two-week placement in Spain to broaden their skills.

Gary Bradwell, Curriculum Area Manager for Sport & Fitness, Uniformed Public Services, Travel & Tourism, and Catering & Hospitality at the College said:

“Learners endured working in sweltering day temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius but enjoyed numerous other activities in their time off including playing beach volleyball and an evening making a huge Paella!  Experiences like these are invaluable for students in their learning and skills development journey and we’re so proud of what they achieved.”

The group spent the first week of the placement coaching and supporting tournaments with the Valencia Disability Football team. In week two, the students moved to the Lliria Tennis Club and participated in tennis and Padel tuition (an easy-to-play cross between tennis and squash). 

With a partnership network of more than 25 countries worldwide, over five categories of placements, short and long-term international volunteering, Vocational Educational Training placements, youth exchanges and summer camps, Everything is Possible will continue to offer many more opportunities to students in the future.