Beginning in Spring 2017, the professional high school Heinlex of Saint-Nazaire established contact with the high school Ipsia Vallauri of Capri. This first contact led to an exchange between the two schools. In October 2017, some students in the classes premiere and terminale of the fashion trade program and three teachers took part in a family stay while discovering the teaching techniques at the heart of the school, as well as gaining cultural exposure by visits to local historical and industrial sites. In return, the Italian delegation came to our campus in February 2018 to enjoy the same benefits. The goal of this exchange is to achieve a project shared by two schools around the world in developing new teaching practices, notably focusing on the intersection of disciplines and European citizenship. This exchange will motivate students all the more by allowing them to discover new cultures. It is a real challenge for students and teachers alike to involve themselves in an international project since it adds to the success of the greatest number of students. On the strength of our first experience, we want to replicate this project with other fashion industry classes following suite with an exchange of shared projects (themed fashion shows, innovative products…) In order to correctly implement these different projects, it is critical that the two professional establishments meet during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years for the purposes of fleshing out a plan of action that draws from their common strengths while simultaneously integrating different cultures of education. We are therefore planning 4 mobilities over the next two years with 15 (première" and "terminale" students ("Terza" and "Quarta" in Italy) and 2 teachers from each country. These exchanges will lead to a sharing of practices through 4 key moments (creation of a common fashion collection, discovery of the regional industrial base and establishment of partnerships with fashion companies, first and second fashion show) during which we will work together around the project and discover the heritage, cultural and industrial environment of our partner through various visits and meetings. Our ambition is to make sure that this project has a positive impact, both for the students and for our respective institutions. The discovery of new know-how, the acquisition of personal and academic skills (technical, social, and linguistic improvements...), the knowledge of the culture of a foreign country will be as many personal enrichments that will make our students better equipped for their future lives. As for our institutions, we wish that tese benefits will be varied and lasting, whether for their international dimension or their image and influence. It is the richness if this scholastic exchange that allows this mutualisation of professional practices beyond borders.
The idea of an Erasmus + partnership project emerged a few years ago from our meeting with a few teachers from IPSIA Vallauri in Carpi, while we were looking for a partner school to forge bonds between the industrial and cultural heritages of our respective regions, Pays de la Loire in France and Emilia-Romagna in Italy. We soon realized the interest that this alliance could present: in addition to an agreement on a human level, similarities between our respective regions, both economically and culturally, and identical programs within our two vocational schools, that is to say the fashion sector, we saw an opportunity to combine our assets and skills to achieve an exchange partnership around a common creative project. We therefore naturally turned to Erasmus for this project to emerge. We set the following objectives with our partner: allowing a group of students and teachers from both establishments to meet and work together in order to create a motivating and civic dynamic of cultural and heritage discovery around the achievement of a range of clothes on the same theme, Japan. To do so, we worked together on a two-year program, made up of interdisciplinary activities in the fields of fashion, art, languages, history and geography provided in our respective schools, and jointly during four trips (two in each country), to culminate in a common fashion show that would allow the tailored outfits to be presented. From September 2019 to March 2020, the program could be carried out as planned with the main achievements of fruitful distance exchanges and educational activities making it possible to lay the foundations of the project and create links between the participants, and above all a first mobility of the French group in Italy. Unfortunately, the onset of the COVID19 epidemic disrupted the progress of the project and forced us to rethink the terms of the exchange. If these adaptations penalized the participants through the frustration of not being able to carry out the planned meetings, and slowed down the progress of the production of the collection, this did not prevent the two schools from continuing their exchanges remotely or from completing the collection of clothes. There is no doubt that this experience, despite the obstacles encountered, will remain memorable for French and Italian students thanks to the moments shared. The personal and professional enrichment that the project could bring to them represents so many beneficial assets for their future life, preparing them for the possibility of continuing their studies, and why not do an internship or even hold a job in a foreign country.