Professional decisions are no longer as easy to make as they were a few years ago. For many young people, globalisation and digitalisation can be both a curse and a blessing. After school, many doors are open to school leavers. Thanks to the freedom of movement for workers and citizens within the EU, career opportunities have multiplied. This diversity in connection with the developments in digitisation offers previously undreamt-of perspectives, but can also lead to confusion, insecurity and a feeling of being overtaxed among young people. A total of four schools would like to participate in this project: one school in Mazzarino/Italy, Joutsa/Finland, Montmeló/Catalonia/Spain and Bitterfeld/Germany. Our project is intended to provide pupils with assistance in this difficult process. We want to close the information gap between limited experience and the actual possibilities available. It is important to connect the various players in the field of vocational education and training. This means that pupils should have the opportunity to get to know the various offers from companies, universities, organisations, chambers of commerce and much more and to act as multipliers. It is planned to implement this through information events in the classes and a (digital) brochure as a result of the project. To this end, the pupils are to develop implementation ideas on their own responsibility within the framework of the project. Concrete partner institutions, with some of which agreements have already been made in advance, are f.e. DHL, BMW, MANGO, Grifols, University of Halle-Wittenberg, University of Barcelona. In the sense of an active EU citizenship not only the participating pupils benefit from the project, but everyone who has access to its results. In addition, the project makes an important contribution to spreading and consolidating the idea of a European working and living environment. a) Pupils will learn about local, regional and international opportunities within the European Union and post-secondary perspectives. The project offers them the opportunity to experience these locally in exchange with European pupils. Only those who know a wide range of offers can choose the one that suits them best. b) Pupils get to know the requirements for training, studies, internships and voluntary socio-cultural activities as well as the possibilities of support. Only those who know these can prepare themselves early and purposefully. This includes, among other things, breaking down language barriers. In addition, it can be assumed that pupils develops ideas that go beyond the time immediately after school. c) Pupils learn to deal with the demands of a constantly changing society in a global world. By gaining insight into the structures of working and learning in different European countries and by establishing contacts at multiple levels, pupils gain security and overcome possible fears and barriers. Among other things, the feeling of being overtaxed can be counteracted in this way. The project will be organised over workshop weeks, a total of four, one per participating country. During these workshop weeks seminars, lectures, information events, visits to partner institutions etc. will take place. For teachers, a total of five three-day advanced training courses on the subject of study and career orientation will be offered.
Career decisions are no longer as easy to make as they were a few years ago. Globalisation and digitalisation can be both a curse and a blessing for many young people. After school, many doors are open to school leavers. Thanks to the freedom of movement in the EU, professional opportunities have multiplied. This diversity in connection with the developments of digitalisation offers previously undreamed-of perspectives, but can also lead to confusion, uncertainty and a feeling of being overwhelmed among young people. A total of four schools participated in this project, these are: - a school in Mazzarino/Italy, - a school in Joutsa/Finland - a school in Montmeló/Catalonia/Spain and - Europagymnasium "Walther Rathenau" in Bitterfeld/Germany. Our project was designed to help the pupils in the difficult process of career and study orientation. In doing so, we also wanted to close the information gap between limited experiences and the actual opportunities available. It was important for us to connect the different actors in the field of vocational education. This means that students should have the opportunity to get to know the different offers of companies, universities, organisations, chambers of commerce, etc. and to act as multipliers. It was planned to implement this through information events in the classes and through an (electronic) brochure as a result of the project. To this end, the pupils were to develop ideas for implementation on their own responsibility within the framework of the project. Concrete partner institutions, with some of which agreements had already been made in advance, included DHL, Bayer, BMW, MANGO, Grifols, the University of Halle-Wittenberg and the University of Barcelona. In the sense of active EU citizenship, not only the participating students should benefit from the project, but everyone who has access to its results. Furthermore, the project should make an important contribution to spreading and consolidating the idea of a European working and living environment. And this on the following levels: a) Pupils were to learn about local, regional and international opportunities within the European Union and perspectives after leaving school. The project offered them the chance to experience these on site in exchange with European students. Only those who are familiar with a wide range of offers can choose the most suitable one for themselves. b) Pupils learned about the requirements for training, studies, internships and voluntary socio-cultural activities as well as the possibilities of support. Only those who know these can prepare themselves early and in a targeted manner. This includes, among other things, breaking down language barriers. In addition, we offered the chance for pupils to develop ideas that go beyond the time immediately after school. c) Pupils learned to deal with the demands of the ever-changing society in a global world. By gaining an insight into the structures of working and learning in different European countries and making contacts on multiple levels, the pupils gained confidence and were thus better able to overcome possible fears and barriers. Among other things, this should also counteract the feeling of being overwhelmed. The original plan was to organise the project over a total of four workshop weeks, one for each participating country. During these workshop weeks, seminars, lectures, information events, visits to partner institutions, etc. were to take place. For teachers, a total of five three-day training courses on the topic of study and career orientation were planned. Of course, the outbreak of the corona pandemic at a relatively early stage of the project in spring 2020 put numerous hurdles in our way. In total, only two of the planned mobilities could be carried physically: only C1 and C2. This took place at the coordinating school in Bitterfeld. All other mobilities could not be realised physically. Nevertheless, we have the impression that we have largely achieved the goals of the project, as we held many events virtually, even if small adjustments were necessary.