B-Mentor: Mentoring strategies to boost WBL in the tourism sector

The tourism sector is one of the key sectors of the European Economy. With around 1.8 million companies, primarily SMEs, which employ approximately 5.2% of the total workforce (around 9.7 million jobs, with a significant number of young people between 16-35 years old), European tourism industry generates over 5% of EU GDP.In recent years, the sector is witnessing wide and fast changes, which affect a business fabric in which a special polarization is taking place. On the one hand, consolidated companies, formed by highly experienced personnel; on the other hand, new companies, driven by young entrepreneurs, who, in spite of not having specific experience in the sector, enjoy other skills and abilities, increasingly valuable in the new business context.B-MENTOR Project seeks to gather the potential and knowledge of both groups through a work-based learning approach (WBL), applying an innovative methodology based on mentoring strategies: Bi-directional mentoring and mentoring circles.Bearing in mind the objective of stimulating as well as facilitating innovation, employment, entrepreneurial spirit and labor mobility in the tourism sector, facilitating a flexible and work-based learning, we have developed two main products.1. B-MENTOR Model for tourism sector, conceived as a methodological framework to facilitate the application of bi-directional mentoring methodologies in the different context of Vocational Education and Training (C-VET). 2. “B-MENTOR Training Toolkit”, a set of resources and training tools structured in three types of resources:- A training course aimed at training future mentors, in which key concepts about mentoring as well as bi-directional mentoring are worked on. Through this course learners will be able to become familiar with the main concepts that define this methodology. - A set of practical tools designed to facilitate the organization, supervision and evaluation of bi-directional mentoring sessions. - A set of micro-pills in video and podcast, related to different key topics for tourism sector such as internationalization, market research, business management, customer service, or the importance of ICT.Moreover, the presented toolkit has a triple use: -As a resource guide for Vocational Training Centers.-As a self-instructional learning guide for future mentors-As a roadmap for trainers who want to use mentoring, and more concretely, bi-directional mentoring, as learning methodology. The project has been driven by the Department of Trade, Employment and Tourism of “Diputación Foral de Álava”. Apart from this institution, two entities specialized in the field of pedagogical and educational innovation as well as in mentoring techniques (Media Creativa and KZCA) and three non-profit business entities that work specifically with the tourism sector (CNA, Nevsehir and HMA) participate.Around 20,000 people have been reached through direct and indirect dissemination mechanisms implemented in the framework of the project: presentations, dissemination in social networks, press releases and dissemination events hold in each country. More than 70 experts in C-VET, Tourism sector and WBL have participated in the validation of the model, while more than 100 workers have taken part in the testing of “B-MENTOR Training Toolkit”.The project website (https://www.b-mentor.eu), translated into 5 languages, has about 2,500 visits. Moreover, followers of the project on Facebook reach almost 400 people.(https://www.facebook.com/bmentorproject/)Products were presented at a final conferenced attended by 50 people together with the most representative stakeholders of Training and the sector of Tourism. The evaluation of the products has been very positive: the recipients and potential users have valued the products very positively, showing their firm commitment to continue working on the sustainability of the project, adding the training and the b mentoring methodology in its training offer and spreading the project in the events in which these organizations participate.