Building Bridges to the Future- den Übergang Schule-Beruf fördern Erasmus Project

Project Title

Building Bridges to the Future- den Übergang Schule-Beruf fördern

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

The most important aim of our project was to make our students be aware of the importance of sustainability and the career opportunities they have related to the topic. All the participating countries face the same problems such as pollution, waste, climate change and so on. Furthermore, we wanted to give them the opportunity to be able to choose different jobs in alternative to the most “regular” ones –posts that have already too many applicants and might not be needed so much in the future.
Through hands-on activities, field trips and reflection instruments the students realized their potential and skills they may use while choosing their future careers.
In our project there were five participant countries involved, namely Germany (coordinator), Portugal, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Italy. Our schools are different with regard to the age of the students, level of education, the economic background, but we face the same problem which is the youth unemployment due to various reasons: not enough motivation, no knowledge of new professions and job opportunities, not enough vacant posts in most countries, the students lack of insight into the own abilities and weaknesses.
In order to find some solutions to part of these problems, every school shared its expertise.
The Portuguese school has a focus on STEM subjects and has highly qualified teachers in this area. Since many professions in the field of sustainability depend on knowledge and skills on these subjects, its contribution was important in order to raise the interest and awareness of the students about areas of study connected with sustainability and technology in higher education. Its collaboration with Minho University and IPCA was crucial to carry out projects connected with these topics.
The Italian school has its focus on the Feuerstein Method (learning how to learn). This unique educational approach combined specially designed instruments and mediation in order to identify and enhance an individual learning potential. It teaches people the art of learning; how to think, how to gather information, how to analyze. It teaches the knowledge which provides the skill set to become a superior learner. In Rimini students from Erasmus+ project practiced activities taken from Instrumental Enrichment. They worked with problem solving exercises that enhance planning behavior, focus on how people learn, which strategies people use and where these strategies can be useful in other domains. These activities were conducted on the principles of Metacognitive Didactics.
Considering the fact that the Czech school cooperates intensively with Bata University Zlin and follows the long-lasting traditions of its region, it offered the possibility of training in film making and leather processing. With regard to the topic of sustainability the school also highlighted the importance of waste recycling through the wide range of field trips. Both was essential in order to enhance the students knowledge and to develop their personal skills as well as to learn how to document their researches with the use of modern media.
The Turkish school emphasizes science, biology and arts in recycling waste and paper. The school is located in the metropolitan area of Istanbul where environmental problems are much more visible and urgent than in rural or smaller urban areas. That means that the problem of waste is appealing and many local companies deal with this. Therefore excursions to those companies were organized and they allowed the students to do research on processing the waste.
The German school concentrates on the performance of professional orientation measures: analyzing students strengths, potentials in cooperation with partners from vocational training and the chambers. It also started working with a new instrument of potential analysis, that can be carried out by schools independently from other institutions. Hereby the focus is on soft skills like the ability to work in a team, creativity, problem solving.

The main activities carried out were:

– Work on Project portfolios/language portfolios
– Creating an Online-Dictionary
– Doing research and workshops
– Presenting results
– Interviewing experts
– Analysing potentials and data
– Maintaining the project’s twinspace on the e-twinning platform

The following results were attained: The products mentioned in the application were produced as planned. Our initial goals were met. The impact on the students was profound in terms of awareness of environmental problems and in terms of developing their personal skills.
By cooperating with each other, sharing the experience and various procedures, the participating schools are now more conscious of the areas and fields of the study which should be developed and improved. Furthermore the schools implemented the use of the language portfolios as an important learning tool in Foreign Language lessons.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 110220 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kurfürst-Balduin-Realschule plus Trier & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Alibeykoy Anadolu Lisesi
• Istituto Comprensivo Alighieri
• Gymnázium Otrokovice
• Escola Secundaria Henrique Medina