The Hessian Teacher Training Academy (Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie) is applying for a strategic partnership (type"Best Practice") with the teacher training departments of the JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä (JYVASKYLAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU) and the University of Tallinn, the VÕRUMAA KUTSEHARIDUSKESKUS, a vocational school in Southern Estonia, and Gradia's Vocational College in Jyväskylä as an associated partner. It is the goal of the partnership to exchange teacher trainers, teachers and teacher trainees from different countries to come together and to develop teaching concepts and materials on the overall topic "Teaching and Learning in Heterogeneous Classes at Vocational Schools". This is supposed to happen during three workshops that alternatively take place in Hesse (Germany), Tallinn (Estonia), and Jyväskylä (Finland). To each workshop the Hessian Teacher Training Academy will be sending two teacher trainers and four teacher trainees, JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä four teacher trainers, Tallinn University four teacher trainers, the vocational school in Voru one teacher, and the vocational college in Jyväskylä as an associated partner also some teachers. The first workshop in Hesse, which takes place in November 2019, is about "Dealing with Diversity in Vocational Classes", the second workshop is about "Teaching Entrepreneurial Competences in Individualized Learning Contexts". This workshop takes place in Tallinn in April 2020. The third workshop deals with the "Promotion of Individualized Learning with the Help of Digital Media." This workshop is supposed to take place in Jyväskylä in November 2020. To prepare each workshop in advance the project coordinators of each partner institution will meet two months before the workshop in question takes place in the target country. A final meeting of the project coordinators in December 2020 will be about the evaluation of the project work and the future development of the partnership. The innovative aspect of this project lies in the fact that each partner institution has special competences and know how to offer, which the other partner institutions cannot offer to such an extent. The five teacher training centers for vocational schools in Hesse (Kassel, Gießen, Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden) and their staff, which are part of the Hessian Teacher Training Academy, have a lot of know how in the field of dealing with diversity in multicultural vocational classes and the teaching of entrepreneurial competences that it can offer especially to the Estonian partners. These and the JAMK University of Applied Sciences have a lot of competences in the field of teaching and learning through the usage of digital media, which they can offer to the German partner institution. Additionally, another innovative aspect might be the fact that teaching experts, teachers and novices in teaching (Hessian teacher trainees) come together, exchange their teaching experiences and develop teaching concepts and materials to be put into practice later on. As a result of the workshops an E-Book will be developed and made public which covers the results (teaching concepts and materials) of all the three workshops mentioned above.
The goal of the project was to develop und publish teaching materials related to the overall topic “Teaching and Learning in Heterogenous Classes“ by Finnish, Estonian and German teacher trainers, teachers and teacher trainees/candidates of the following parties involved: 1. Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie (Hessian Teacher Training Academy) 2. Tallinn University (Pedagogical Department Business and Administration) 3. JAMK University of Applied Sciences / Jyvasyklan Ammattikorkeakoulu) (Pedagogical Department) 4. Voruma Kutsehariduskeskus (Voru Vocational School) The teaching materials were supposed to be developed in three workshops, offered by the first three institutions mentioned above and related to the subtopics: 1. “Individualization of Learning Processes, Inclusion and Promotion of Language Learning in Learning Groups of Students with Special Needs“ (Wiesbaden /Germany) 2. “Individualization of Learning Processes in Vocational Education –--> Focus: Business & Administration: Entrepreneurship“ (Tallinn /Estonia) 3. “Individualization of Learning Processes Through The Use of Digital Media“ (Jyväskylä / Finland)
It was the goal of the project to make it possible for vocational school teachers, teacher trainees and teacher trainers from Hessen/ Germany (Hessian Teacher Training Academy), Finland (JAMK University of Applied Sciences) and Estonia (Tallinn University & associated schools; Vöru: Vorumaa Kutsehariduskeskus) to exchange their views and professional experiences on the overall topic "Teaching and Learning in Heterogeneous Classes at Vocational Schools" and to develop teaching concepts and materials together in three different workshops offered by the partners according to their particular competences: The Hessian Teacher Training Academy with its five teacher training centers for vocational schools in Hessen (Kassel, Gießen, Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden) has got a lot of know-how when it comes to dealing with diversity in multicultural vocational classes and the teaching of entrepreneurial competences that it can offer especially to the Estonian partners. These and JAMK have a lot of competences in the field of digital learning. Therefore, the aim of the project was to mutually profit from the competences each institution has to offer. Additionally, another goal of the project was to make teaching experts, teachers and novices in teaching profit from one another in the workshops.