Independent Living Skills students at Coleg Gwent are proving that international learning really is for everyone.
With Taith funding, the ILS team has opened doors for learners with Additional Learning Needs to access the same life‑changing global opportunities as their peers. What began with a pioneering mobility to France has now grown into further opportunities, including a recent visit to Tenerife, each one building confidence, independence and a sense of possibility.
These experiences go far beyond travel. As learners navigate new cities and transport systems, manage unfamiliar environments and support one another as a team, they develop vital soft skills that shape their wellbeing, resilience and future aspirations. Each trip helps to break down barriers and challenge long‑held assumptions about what young people with ALN can achieve.
The project also highlights the ongoing impact of Taith funding: empowering colleges to be bold, enabling learners who face the greatest barriers to thrive, and demonstrating that transformative learning continues long after students return home.
Next, Coleg Gwent will take a group of ILS learners to Croatia, where they will travel alongside students from the Health and Social Care course. This shared mobility will not only create richer experiences for the ILS learners but will also give the Health and Social Care students valuable, hands‑on experience supporting individuals with ALN, a key part of their own professional development.
This project is helping to dismantle stereotypes, expand opportunities and prove that international learning should be accessible to all. These journeys show what becomes possible when the right support, belief and funding come together.
