The planned school partnership is an initiative going back to the „European CNC-Network“ established in 2006, a cooperation of more than thirty vocational schools in Europe. The most popular and probably most successful school project of our network was the Charlemagne Youth Price Award winning project in 2010, the „Train for EUROPE“. The present project idea is the result of several preparatory meetings, the most recent one in Dublin in December 2018. The main product of the project will be a so-called „Penny Press Machine“. This kind of attraction is often found at touristic hot spots. Usually, after having paid a one-euro coin and inserted a five-cent coin into the printing slot, the machine prints a local motif on the five-cent faces when turning a crank manually. This partnership´s goal is to design, develop and manufacture one fully functional „Penny Press Machine“ for each member in close cooperation. The machines meant for permanent exhibition and to be presented within school buildings accompanied by information boards. As all in all six partner schools will be involved in the project, the machines are expected to print six different motifs symbolizing the community and relatedness within the „European CNC-Network“ long after the project will have ended. Both sides of the coin will be designed individually and should – apart from European elements – also represent regional motifs. In conclusion, this project work – the machines and the medals – represent a sustainable successful European cooperation and embodies the commonalities among partners as well as the uniqueness of the member states united in Europe. The planned partnership covers the full process of project development. It connects the classical methods of CAD engineering to the highly innovative 3D printing technology used for prototyping and industrial manufacturing based on modern CNC machinery. In our project this technology will be embedded in the comprehensive digitalization-in-production as described in the ideas and visions of the strategy „Industry 4.0“. The production of the „Penny Press Machine“ as a complex tool is highly demanding regarding design and manufacturing. Such tasks are basically found in all technical curricula. The students aged between 15 and 20 years will be supported by at least two teachers. Beyond that, the partnership will be facilitated and backed by regional industry which is closely linked to the regional VET institutions and the project itself. All the involved partners offer machinery and equipment in their modern workshops. With a view to a successful project work, the participation of each partner school is essential, as every single school brings in individual strengths and unique competences. Only in complementing one another in many ways a successful high-tech result as planned here can in sum be realized. Regarding the project outcome from a pedagogical point of view, the „Penny Press Machine“ is just a vehicle – a means to an end to shape and create basic skills and key competences. It will offer students the chance and challenge to work and cooperate on a technically demanding task in an international atmosphere. In the foreground stands a solution-oriented peer-to-peer-learning approach. This will make students internalize not only the topic much more intensely as they need to develop and deepen the topic self-reliantly, but they will benefit from one another by sharing and discussing results and values. Within the two-year running time of the project, six activities are planned. The focus of the different activities is closely adopted to work progress in the project. The partner schools will take over different tasks within the project split in different work lines and separate work groups. The time between activities will be taken to fulfil the agreed tasks. Project work is meant to take place in between the meetings in lessons in school at home. Students will then communicate and discuss suggestions and ideas via internet-based platforms such as eTwinning. The common work on a technical challenge will intensify the international and intercultural dialogue. Students will have to communicate in English as the project language and will actively develop their communicative competences. The common project work will inspire a common „European Spirit“, meaning that commonalities as well as the uniqueness of the individual project partners will become visible, recognized and respected. We are truly convinced that with this project idea we have found a perfect example for representing and realizing the European idea.
Our School Exchange Partnership is an initiative of the "European CNC-Network", an association of more than 30 vocational schools in Europe, which has been established in 2004. The best known and probably most successful school project of our network is the European Charlemagne Youth Prize Award winning project in 2010, the "Train for EUROPE". The project idea was the result of several preparatory meetings, most recently in Dublin in December 2018. The main product, a so-called "Penny Press Machine", was the focus of our school partnership. This type of coin press is often found at tourist hot spots. Typically, the customer drops a euro-coin into the printing slot and at the same time a 5-cent piece. By operating a crank, motifs are then imprinted on the surfaces of the copper coin. The partnership´s goal was for the partners to develop and produce a functioning "Penny Press Machine" as an exhibit in the course of the joint project work. This will be permanently displayed in a central location in the school building where it will receive public attention. Since a total of six partner schools participated in the project, the machine should also be able to mint six different motifs each, so that even after the end of the project, a bond within the framework of the "European CNC Network" is guaranteed. The motifs on the embossing rollers were individually designed. In addition to the specially designed project logo, they also show images which are typical for the region. As a sustainable European cooperation, the project work thus represents both, the commonality and the uniqueness of the member states of a united Europe. The partnership represented the entire process of product development. It connected the classical methods of CAD engineering to the highly innovative 3D printing technology used for prototyping and industrial manufacturing based on modern CNC machinery. In our project this technology was embedded in the comprehensive digitalization-in-production as described in the ideas and visions of the strategy "Industry 4.0". The production of the "Penny Press Machine" placed high demands on the mechanical engineering production in its complexity. Such tasks are basically found in all technical curricula. The students were between 15 and 20 years old and were supervised by at least two teachers at their school. The partnership was supported by close networking with craft and industrial companies, which were actively involved in the project work. The partner schools involved had the technical equipment in their modern training workshops. With a view to a successful project work, the participation of each partner school was essential, as every single school brought in individual strengths and unique competences, which complemented each other and only in sum guaranteed a high-quality project result. Regarding the project outcome from a pedagogical point of view, the "Penny Press Machine" was just a vehicle – a means to an end to shape and create basic skills and key competences. It offered students the chance and challenge to work and cooperate on a technically demanding task in an international atmosphere. The project work focused on action-oriented peer-to-peer learning. Through this approach, the students internalised a subject area more intensively, as they independently developed learning content and deepened it by sharing and discussing what they had worked on with other learners. Five project meetings were held during the almost three years of the project. The activities followed the phases of the project progress under the strong influence of Covid-19 restrictions. The responsibility for individual project tasks was distributed among the partner schools in work lines and separate work groups. The time between project meetings was used to work on agreed tasks. Students communicated and discussed their solutions regularly using appropriate groupware platforms. Working together on a technical challenge intensified the international and intercultural dialogue among each other, while at the same time the students experienced a development of their language competence by communicating in English. The project work promoted a "European Spirit" that valued and respected the commonalities and the unique differences between the partners. We are convinced that with this project we have implemented a successful example for representing and realising the European idea.