The most important objectives of this project proposal were the following: For students: - to reduce the drop-out rate in vocational education - to reduce the rate of failure - to increase the students' performance - to motivate vocational students - to challenge vocational students to gain experience in a real-life, international work environment - to provide vocational students opportunities to renew their interest in their chosen profession - to provide them knowledge necessary for their future career (entrepreneurial, leadership, teamworking skills, assertiveness, initiative and self-confidence) - to boost students' foreign language skills and professional vocabulary For teachers: - to provide them opportunities to renew their professional teaching methods - to provide them knowledge with which they can train their students by 21st century needs and standards - to improve their foreign language skills For the school: - to prevent drop-out, failure of vocational students - to strenghten the position of the school - to make the school more attractive for students and their parents - to further develop the international relations of the school - to increase the performance of the vocational students
We applied for this project because we identified the following problems among the vocational technician students (aged over 18): - the high rate of drop-out in vocational education (28%) - the high rate of failure in vocational education (9%) - the below average school performance in vocational education (3,6 out of 5 compared to the school average of 3,8) - the high rate of absence from classes in vocational education (129 lessons per person per year) - the lack of motivation among vocational students - the lack of international traineeship opportunities for vocational students - the lack of modern, 21st century teaching methods and attitude in vocational education We wanted to address these issues by providing them the possibility to strengthen their professional knowledge during a VET traineeship and become more motivated in their studies. We also thought that those students who take part in the project would set an example for their peers and make them more motivated and successful as well. We applied to provide new learning and teaching methods for our students so we involved our teaching staff as well and organized a training course for them in order to update our teaching methods.