Let me first justify to us that I cannot/will not talk in the past tense here because we want to remain committed to achieving these goals with as many students in as many foreign placements as possible/feasible. These goals will remain even after this project. And therefore never become a thing of the past for us. Our main goal is to give our young people the opportunity to gain work experience in other countries/cultures. Our young people often have neither the tools nor the opportunities to build up knowledge and experience abroad on their own. With our young people, personal guidance and a solid approach is absolutely necessary to give their knowledge an international dimension. With these internships, we want to introduce them to foreign cultures, the courage to discover other food and customs, the courage to express themselves in a foreign language, ... but at the same time also teach them an international attitude formation and the necessary competences. We want our young people to return with an enterprising outlook, dare to take initiative, cooperate more easily with employers, ... During the internships, students are given the opportunity to work on the competences in their personal pathway but at the same time learn to recognise and experience international work attitudes. But besides the required attitudes, skills and competences, we also focus strongly on developing/strengthening their social skills. We hope that the backpacked students will return with skills and that they will carry these out to other students within the school. We therefore want to further develop our forum for this purpose within the school so that we can share this opportunity/chance with as many people as possible.
We are a Centre Learning and Working and work with students(lln) aged 15 to +/- 20. Our young people come to school 2 days and work 3 days. They are often tired of school, no longer feel at home in a full-time school system. In addition, they often have learning disabilities, financial, personal and psychological problems, problematic home situations, etc. Therefore, the school vision is to provide a tailor-made education for the youngsters and strives to provide quality education and training that should lead to their full participation in society. We seek to maximise qualified attainment and expect full-time commitment. We have an extensive team consisting of teachers BGV & PAV, pupil counsellors, pathway counsellors, full-time CLB school psychologist, educational director, management and administration. With the introduction of Dual Learning in the BSO, it becomes even more evident that on-the-job experience is of immense importance. We want to give an additional experience to our vulnerable youngsters by offering them a chance for an internship abroad, an opportunity they might never take up on their own and without guidance. In this way, we want to offer them an extra pathway; one of growth, opportunity, entrepreneurship, becoming independent, daring, ...