The main goals of our student projects were - the expansion of language competence through constant contact with native English speakers, - the enhancement of intercultural competence, through interaction with people from a different cultural background, as well as through our cultural program, - the expansion of professional competence through diversification of our own apprenticeships (different software or hardware, different procedures in the internship company) and - increasing motivation due to participation in a fantastic three-week project. The main goals of our teacher projects were - breaking out of routines by participating in stimulating training outside one's comfort zone, - increasing fluency in English to enable bilingual teaching, - Increasing intercultural competence through exchanges with foreign colleagues, - awakening the scientist in the teacher by conducting research projects in Iceland, and - promoting team spirit within the college through team-building activities.
I have been a teacher at the Martin Segitz School since 2011. I have been participating in Erasmus+ projects since 2013. In my first staff meeting, I made it clear that our school needs an internationalization strategy. The upgrading of the training we provide to our students is the most important reason why I have taken on this "honorary position" since 2014. From my own experience, I know the value of language courses and internships taken abroad. The present project benefited from the support of a colleague who, together with me, pushed for the charter accreditation of our institution and expanded our Erasmus projects with an annual second flow for SuS and projects for teachers. We had big plans! Then Covid followed with postponements and cancellations of projects. As you can see for yourself, we were only able to actually do a fraction of the flows we had organized. Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. I have found a colleague who will support me from the next school year onwards so that we can stick to our Erasmus plan. I did a mobility for teachers in July 2022 and will go to Dublin in September with 16 students.