Our five secondary schools from Portugal, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Italy and Germany have decided upon a project on vocational training in connection with sustainable professions because we face the situation, that a critical number of our students is threatened by youth unemployment. This problem has of course different causes, some connected with the individual, like poor achievement in basic skills, a lack of motivation, a lack of insight into the own abilities and weaknesses etc., other causes being structural, differing between the countries. Therfore we choose an approach that concentrates on both causes: It is our aim to strenghten our students in the cognitive and personal sphere by using a combined set of innovative methods, while we at the same time try to identify professions with a lack of applicants or professions that will be demanded more in a future changing economy. After an initial evaluation of student´s state of mind with regard to their actual performance and their future career wishes by questionnaires there will be an thorough analysis of their factual competences and weaknesses. We will organise this analyisis in cooperation with partners from the chambers, who have the suitable instruments for testing the different skills like problem-solving exercises, exercises that show personal, social and methodological skills. The testing is followed by a short practical internship in the 2 or 3 different workshops of the chamber, where the students can gain practical work expperience and improve their soft-skills like cooperation or punctuality by the way. Most important, their performance at the workshops is observed and reported back to them as well as to the participating teachers, thus giving a good basis for reflection about the career wishes articulated before and the realistic aptitude.Refelction will be a very important instrument during the whole project. As on instrument we chose the portfolio, that will be the student´s permanent companion. Another instrument we want to implement is the European youth pass, that is suitable to picture also the more informal learning experiences always connected with transnational activities.The initial analysis will help the students to find them suitable practical sub-projects they will design, organise and implement. One thing will be common to all those national sub-projects: They have to deal with sustainable professions.This is the point where the second cause, structural unemployment, is included into the project. We concentrate on sustainability because this is own of the growing future markets offering new opportunities for students who are searching for a vocational training apart from the mainstream. By designing and carrrying out their own sub-projects the students get an overview over the possibilities and the range of this labor market. They will also come into contect with the real world of work because the sub-projects will be carried out together with associates who can offer the special expertise and the ressources needed.Processes and products are documented and presented, creating a market place of ideas around sustainable professions.Apart from the practical project work we have to implement different teaching and learning activities that will help to improve students achievments at school: We designed workshops on general methodology, a methodological training especially for the MINT subjects and IT-training in different areas.We could choose this wide approach because every participating school has its own expertise and holds cooperations different from those of the others. The more practical orientation of the German school with its clear focus on professional orientation can be a plus for schools that focus on academic performance. The Italian school is used to the application of the Feuerstein method. The Portuguese are highly competent when it comes to sciences, mathematics and IT-technology - all subjects, that are mandatory for sustainability projects.The Czech school had to build up an intense cooperation with the nearby university and is able to share its effects with the project partners. Turkey, at last, holds a long experience in testing students and is technically progressive.In the course of the project work there are many stages where we could profit from synergetic effects between our schools: its during the implementation of new methodologies at every school, teaching and learning activities, the presentation of results by different media and the dissemination of results using different channels, the practical work in cooperation with the different associates each school has found and established contacts to. Our main result should be to rise successfully our students achievements as well as their insight into the opportunities the European labor market holds, thus rising their motivation fror school and the future prospects. Long term benefits may result: Better students are better applicants.
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.