Work in practice: Developing mentoring concepts for work based learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

Work in practice: Developing mentoring concepts for work based learning

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Regional dimension and cooperation; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

The project context: This project was designed at a time when VET systems in Italy and Spain were being adapted to include more elements of “work based learning”. Until now, VET learning in these countries meant more or less full-time school education with few internships in companies. In Germany, on the other hand, the Dual Education System with a systematic and nationwide cooperation between vocational schools and companies has a long tradition.
In the southern European partner countries as well as in Germany, however, it has so far been an exception to do internships abroad during vocational training and the Erasmus + program is as yet not so well known in the field of vocational training.
This was the starting point for three schools and a business partner in Italy, Spain and Germany to share their experiences, learn from each other and find ways to improve and facilitate the supervision of European internships in VET, so that more learners would benefit .

The goals: Our main goal was to develop a mentoring concept in the form of a compendium (with manageable documents and key questions that focus on essential aspects of a successful internship) that could at the same time be used by students, in-house trainers and teachers across Europe to facilitate, promote and ensure work-based learning. At the same time, long-term school partnerships were to be established through the cooperation of the schools during the project meetings. At the moment, a KA1 project between Germany and Bari / Italy is currently being considered, since here the students have the greatest agreement with regard to learning requirements and professional goals.

The number and profiles of the participants: The Joseph DuMont Vocational College (JDBK) in Cologne as the Lead Partner is a vocational college for business and administration with a focus on wholesale, media, law and event management. The JDBK has developed expertise on this subject from two previous European projects dealing with learning outcomes in WBL internships (TRIFT, THEME). The I.I.S.S. Marco Polo in Bari, Italy is a large vocational school with a focus on business, IT and languages ​​with good contacts to the Goethe-Institut Bari as well as good experience in EU projects. The I.I.S.S. Basile Caramia – f. Gigante in Locorotondo / Alberobello (Italy) is one of the largest and most important schools for the training of cooks and oenologists in the Puglia region. The partner school in Spain, IES Julian Zarco, is a combination of a high school and a vocational school and is the only school of this kind in the city of Mota del Cuervo (La Mancha region, Spain), with a lot of experience in European projects. The company partner “Distretto Produttivo” is a non-profit association of companies in the field of mechanics in thePuglia region and has given important input from a company in the project.

Description of the activities carried out: The framework of the compendium was created by the project partners at the first project meeting and then discussed with experts from various companies. In Cologne these were the larger training companies with which the JDBK cooperates. The concept and in particular the documents to be used were developed by the partners before the second meeting, in order to then be tested and evaluated by the trainees, teachers and in-house trainers in the mobilities planned for the project. The manual was revised at the two other meetings and tested again in practice during exchange visits (by teachers and in-house trainers) and during mobility. The manual was finalized at the last meeting of the project partners, where a leaflet and a website was also created.

Results achieved: We have developed a mentoring concept that is intended to help companies, students and teachers organize internships abroad and to overcome inhibitions especially with inexperienced partners. In particular, we dealt with the needs, expectations and requirements of all stakeholders involved in order to achieve better matching, particularly between interns and companies. We are certain that the documents we have developed are very easy to use and self-explanatory and our guidelines make an important contribution to a better and more successful internship abroad. We have already published the handbook regionally at a dissemination conference in Bari, which we will also do at regional conferences in Spain and Germany, as well as at national meetings and at international forums (eTwinning).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 69785 Eur

Project Coordinator

Joseph-DuMont-Berufskolleg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• IES JULIAN ZARCO
• IISS “Caramia – Gigante”, Locorotondo
• Distretto Produttivo della Meccanica Pugliese
• I.I.S.S.”MARCO POLO”