The project was aimed at improving the employability by building skills of disadvantaged youth by participating in a practical VAT-building project. Young people seeking employment within the dual training system and on the job market should strengthen their professional skills through their participation in a highly motivating practical project entailing the integration of several areas of learning and addressing social and intercultural skills, as well as the motivational and attitudinal dimension of the employability of disadvantaged and marginalized young people. At institutional level we intended to deepen the partnership to our partner school in Spain and build more widespread and sustainable capacities for cooperation at European and international level by strengthening our management skills and integrating a higher number of teachers and areas into international programs. The Idea of this new project was to widen the scope of this cooperation by directly impacting the community of or partner school by improving the facilities at a day-care centre for disabled persons.
MES is a major secondary and VAT school serving the wider Frankfurt metropolitan area. It provides general education and vocational training in a variety of areas from automotive to administration, IT, biotechnology and healthcare. In 2018, we applied for the first time for Erasmus+ funds in order to benefit disadvantaged youth at MES. Against the background of an increasing number of learners with special needs from disadvantaged groups, migrants and refugees, we sought to expand our offer of international programs to these groups providing them with motivating opportunities and addressing their special skill development needs in a comprehensive manner. Through our 2018 project "Bridge of understanding" we managed to take first steps in this direction, integrating several areas of our school into this European project and providing task-based learning opportunities to our most marginalized students. The aim of this project was to deepen this process and widen the approach to the area of integration, being the beneficiaries of the project the users of a day-care centre for disabled persons. Due to the Covid19-pandemic, this project could not be put into practice. Instead, our students worked in a landscaping projectat our centre.