The project focuses the students‘ different learning conditions and wants to meet the increasing heterogeneity of the students who are attending vocational school practising both professional competencies or so-called core capabilities (such as reading, writing, listening and spelling) and non-professional competencies (such as social, personal and methodical competencies). Our main goal is to improve the students‘ professional and methodical competencies. Encouraging the students to control and reflect their learning process independently plays a vital part in the project. The improvement of the students‘ acting competence enables them both to develop their creativity and their personality. The increasing autonomy prepares the students for life-long learning. Furthermore, the project aims to foster principles and values such as (social) equality, social cohesion and the acceptance of foreign cultures. Fostering these principles and values helps to reduce youth unemployment and enables young people to participate actively in society. Five European partners are participating in the above mentioned project: Kaufmännische Schule in Göppingen (Germany) (coordinating school), Tredu Vocational College in Tampere (Finland), Zealand Business College in Naestved (Denmark), Bradford College in Bradford (United Kingdom) and State Seminar for Didactics and Teacher Training (Vocational schools) in Karlsruhe (Germany). Two participating partners in the project have been cooperating with the Kaufmännische Schule for several years now. According to personal contacts between the partners, working methods, professional competencies, conflict management and cooperation are well-known. All teachers who are participating in the project bring extensive experience in the field of individual learning (e.g. diagnosis of students‘ needs, monitoring procedures, individual feedback talks) with them. All teachers/persons are actively involved in supporting individual learning in different school types and various fields. Therefore, an intensive exchange among the participating partners can be guaranteed. The duration of the project can be divided into single steps: Each single phase consists of a working phase, a meeting of the participating partners in which the results will be exchanged and evaluated. In total, five meetings are planned (for further information see part F). For each of the meetings exchanges of experience between the cooperating partners are planned in order to discuss further steps. Exchanges of experience between the partners will take place via digital media such as e-mail or skype. After the project will have been finished, another exchange of experience between all participating partners in the project will take place. Every participating partner in the project of individual learning must prepare a presentation which shows the basis of how individual learning is practiced at school for the first meeting. Thus, all participating partners should get an overview of the existing concepts of individual learning. An exchange of what needs to be done for the first meeting will take place after the application of the project will have been approved. The communication between the partners will take place via e-mail. Any problems or questions which may come up will be solved or answered via e-mail, too. All results of the project will be summarized and lead to a common concept of individual learning at schools which is available for schools in Europe. The commonly developed concept of individual learning shall be embedded locally into the mission statement of the participating institutions and shall be implied into daily teaching. These efforts are expected to minimize the drop-out rate at schools. School should be understood not only as an ideal learning environment, but also as an ideal living environment for children and teachers. On a regional level, the commonly developed concept of individual learning will be made available for training facilities for teachers and for the qualification of trainee teachers, e.g. at the State for Didactics and Teacher Training (Vocational schools) in Karlsruhe. Internationally, the commonly developed concept of individual learning should ensure a consistent quality and standards at European schools.
The project focused on the different learning conditions and the increasing heterogeneity of the students attending the vocational school. These included both professional competencies and so-called core competencies (such as reading, writing, listening and spelling) and key qualifications (such as social, personal and methodological competences). The students who participated in the project differed from their knowledge, their individual learning ability, their social background, their mother tongue, their interests and their performance. These reflect the entire spectrum of society in terms of gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation and disability. Our main goal was to improve the professional and methodical skills of the students. Encouraging students to control and reflect on their learning process played an essential role in the project. Strengthening the competency of the students allows them to develop their creativity and personality. The increasing autonomy prepares students for lifelong learning, which is part of a new learning culture, in which the students are able to independently control their learning process. This new learning culture leads to increasing individual awareness and commitment in lifelong learning. Based on this new learning culture, our goal is to reduce the drop-out rate. The reduction in the rate of exit at European schools also means reducing youth unemployment throughout the EU. In addition to the improvement of professional and methodological skills, the project aimed to promote principles and values such as (social) equality, social cohesion and the acceptance of foreign cultures. The promotion of these principles and values enables pupils to participate actively in society. Five European partners took part in the above-mentioned project: Business School in Göppingen (Germany) (Coordination School), Tredu Vocational School in Tampere (Finland), Seeland Business College in Naestved (Denmark), Bradford College in Bradford (UK) and State Seminar for Didactics And teacher training (Berufsschulen) in Karlsruhe (Germany). Two participating partners have been cooperating with the commercial school for several years. All teachers participating in the project have extensive experience in the field of individual learning The duration of the project can be divided into individual steps: Each phase consisted of a working phase and a meeting of the participating partners in which the results were exchanged and evaluated. With the help of these different steps, the following aspects have been taken into account which are of decisive importance for practical learning in schools: - organization of individual learning at school - Diagnostic methods - Methods for promoting individual learning at school - content of the materials used (with reference to the different curricula) All the results of the project have been summarized and lead to a common concept of individual learning in schools, which is available for schools in Europe. This common concept of individual learning can also be used to train teachers locally and nationally. A total of five meetings were held: two meetings were held in the first two years. A fifth session was held in the third and final year of the program. For each meeting, an exchange of experience is planned between the co-operation partners to discuss further steps. The exchange of experiences between the partners takes place via digital media such as e-mail or Skype. After the project is completed, a further exchange of experience takes place between all participating partners in the project