European educational work is anchored as a development focus in the school programme of the Berufskolleg des Kreises Olpe (BKO). Through the school's diverse activities in the European context, it has been possible in recent years to develop a European profile that encompasses the entire school, which led to the award of the quality seal "European School in North Rhine-Westphalia" in 2021. Within the framework of the present successful Erasmus+ project, teachers from the BKO were able to experience the vocational school system of European countries at first hand and to learn about the current state of digital methods and teaching aids (in Scotland and in Ireland/Northern Ireland). The events in Spain, Finland and London also provided an insight into the approaches of foreign vocational colleges, for example with regard to vocational training and qualification, cooperative teaching, learning methods and digitalisation. Individual training events are documented and evaluated by the participants in order to make the knowledge and competence gains achieved available for follow-up projects and for quality development at the BKO in particular.
Berufskolleg des Kreises Olpe (Vocational College of the Olpe district) is a combined school with a vocational school, preparatory training school, vocational college, technical college and vocational grammar school, at which a total of about 155 colleagues currently teach about 3,000 students. Being certified as "Europaschule in NRW", it is the school's task to qualify students so that they can participate in and help shape developments in society and the economy at all European levels. By participating in Erasmus+ mobility projects, the school's staff are trained in such a way that they expand their knowledge of teaching content and learning methods, aspects of intercultural competence and digital opportunities. This also raises the school's European profile in order to meet current and future challenges within Europe through a profound understanding of European history and institutions. New insights with regard to foreign language competence, digitalisation, media competence, differentiation or European ways of thinking enrich and innovate everyday school and classroom life.