The project aims at the social integration of the participants as well as the acquisition of knowledge on the social and educational value of the world cultural heritage. The focus is on intercultural education and the social responsibility of the partner institutions. Within 15 months a variety of results will be worked out together. E.g., a regional dishes cookbook is to be developed and a questionnaire with the title "My home, my school, my city" shall be carried out. Afterwards, resulting from the questionnaire a survey will be conducted and evaluated. Furthermore their regions will be presented in the video/movie form. In addition, a booklet on cultural and heritage protection as well as on the World Cultural Heritage will be created. The participants will easily get to know the partner regions via a competition about their hometowns. Moreover, special attention is paid to the development, presentation and implementation of games dealing with integration. These games mainly focus on stereotypes about "What is typical German or Polish?" students shall be made aware of them to get rid of prejudices. The central points of contact are mutual respect, tolerance, cooperation and individuality . A photo collage on the project activities as well as a flyer with the timing of the project work and a calendar for 2021 with selfmade photos of sights in Jena and Zielona Gora will be the final products of the project. The project aims to raise awareness of European diversity amongst students and to enhance the students knowledge of European culture. Also their communication skills shall be improved, the tolerance between nations of different cultures and mentalities will be promoted, and a European identity through the recognition of diverse values is going to be developed. The project involves 34 students aged 15 to 19 and 4 teachers. Another 4 teachers attend two training events. Topics of the training courses are the digitalisation of VET and language immersion in international encounters. The participants are all taking part in a commercial education (full-time at school or both at school and in a company within a system of duality). The choice of participants is made with regards to their motivation to work partially independent and self-responsible in the project. In addition, students with special needs of any kind as well as those with a migrational background will be integrated. The planned activities are two short-term exchanges to Jena and Zielona Gora. Other project activities will be, e.g. project days before, between and after the exchanges as well as two training sessions for teachers. During the exchanges, the students will develop project results, present them, apply them (e.g., the games) and reflect on them. The project days are used to get to know each other before the first exchange, to prepare and follow up results and to exchange ideas. The training courses are particularly useful for the sustainability of the project, for example, teachers will integrate the worked out material into their lessons and act as multipliers. The games also have a potential of longer use. They can subsequently be used and developed further on with new classes. For team building measures, the integration games are of particular importance, since they will have been developed by the students themselves and thus mirror the experience of young people. The cookbook will also be available as a basis for team-building project days, for example when cooking the dishes. Moreover, the results will be made through accessible to a broad public the exhibition in public spaces, e.g. Libraries or school premises, even after completion of the project work. The project origins in the current development of our society. On the one hand, the number of students of non-German origin in our schools is increasing, on the other hand, the communication behavior in recent years has changed a lot, sometimes even in a negative way (keyword: cyberbullying). The educational disadvantage of young people with a migration background is a clear fact. These social issues clearly clash with limited resources to encounter them, such as i.e. a much too low number of teachers. Nevertheless, it is necessary to integrate all participants into their learning environment and to ensure that they also perceive themselves as integrated. We want to use their educational background and experience as a starting point for an intrinsically motivated competence development, make experiences tangible and initiate an exchange in personal conversation. We also feel that getting to know the cultural heritage is important because it reflects our culture in particular through its uniqueness and authenticity. In addition, we would like to support the students in their use of digital media, especially with the focus on the development of their self-learning skills.
Our project entitled "Integration and Cultural Identity" aimed at the social inclusion of the participants as well as the acquisition of knowledge about the social and educational value of the world cultural heritage. Two vocational schools with an economic focus (17 students and two teachers each) from two EU countries - Poland and Germany - worked on this project. The target groups of the project were students and teachers of the partner schools, as well as regional institutions dedicated to the presentation of cultural heritage and national culture. Originally, the project was planned to run for 15 months, which was extended by 3 months due to the pandemic. The main objectives of this project were to raise the participants' awareness of the diversity of Europeans and to increase their knowledge about European culture, especially of the partner countries and on the common cultural heritage. In addition, the focus was on improving the communication skills of the participants, especially in the field of foreign languages by learning German from Polish participants and using English as a bridge language for both groups. The promotion of tolerance between nations with different cultures and mentalities and the support of the participants in integrating into a multicultural society as well as the formation of a European identity through the recognition of diverse values and the development of the independence, (self-)responsibility and creativity of the students through project-oriented methods were also important. These goals were achieved during the course of the project, especially in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of a student exchange in Jena. By getting to know traditions and values, exchanging experiences, opinions and knowledge through presentations or in the team-oriented development of various materials, they were able to perceive the diversity of the group. They assumed social responsibility for themselves and their group members. Joint school and extracurricular activities supported the integration of participants with migrant background as well as physically and mentally disabled people. The city tours and sightseeing helped to understand the concept of world heritage and its value for society, to explore cultural similarities between peoples of different countries in Europe and elements of their common world heritage. The comparison of the diverse cultural heritage could only take place to a limited extent, as a planned second meeting in Zielona Gora was not possible because of existing travel restrictions due to the spread of the Corona virus. Despite everything, a sense of belonging to Europe was developed and the connection to the neighboring country involved was fostered. The participants identified with the history of the world heritage. The acquisition of communicative skills succeeded. They gained self-confidence with language animation and smaller presentations during a city tour. The recognition of this and the successful presentations reflected in their self-confidence. The students had good opportunities to exchange opinions and participate from each other during the common work phases in English. Participation and co-determination could be effectively achieved in mobility through language skills. The chosen forms of communication made it possible to overcome uncertainties, created trust between the participants and thus made a contribution to democracy education. By evaluating project results in the form of direct feedback, they expanded their self and external reflection skills. A cookbook with regional dishes was produced and a questionnaire entitled "My home, my school, my city" was created, a survey on the basis of the questionnaire was conducted and evaluated. However, due to the pandemic situation, the planned work results could not be developed to the full extent. Due to the pandemic-related closure of schools and travel restrictions, only two of the four planned mobilities could take place. In addition to the project meeting in Jena, an advanced training on digital education in vocational training by means of interactive lectures and practical applications took place at the same time. The developed materials will be used in both schools as information documents for the preparation of further student exchanges, other projects, as well as for presentation purposes in lessons in the subjects history, culture, tourism, professional communication and areas of lifelong learning, but could not be presented to regional partners due to the closure of public institutions until the end of the project.