Erasmus+ - KA2-Projekt „Innovation and Tradition in European Glass Processing" (2020 -2022) Strategic project of partnership between schools from: Germany, Czech republic Description: Vocational schools in Europe, on which the art and technology of glass processing is thought, have to ensure that their subjects are attractive to new applicants. The foundation stone of their education, however, is the practical training: the glassmaking techniques. Glassmaking schools across Europe teach different glass processing techniques, which they protect as their know-how. However, due to the growing competition outside of Europe, it is necessary to join forces within our European area, to exchange experiences and practical skills of the often old master techniques so that the young European artists succeed in the modern world full of significant competition. This is the reason our project Innovation and Tradition in European Glass Processing was designed, in which mutual exchange stays between two schools, the SUPŠS Kamenický Šenov and the Rheinbach Staatliche Glasfachschule, will take place. The schools will exchange experiences and train each other in glass forming techniques and technologies to expand the portfolio of practical skills of their students. This will improve the future position of young artists on the labour market and contribute to the development of art within the European area. Our project also aims to familiarize the students of these schools with the diversity of the European art, and the different ways glassmaking (and therefore art in general) is perceived and approached in different European countries, to share experiences in glassmaking among teachers, as well as the intergenerational approaches to the art in glassmaking professions.
The project gave our students, but also teachers, the opportunity to meet colleagues from another country, share culture and glass techniques. The glass schools of European countries differ in the glass processing techniques they master and teach. Each school protects this specific technique to a certain extent. Thanks to the project and the willingness of both partners, we were able to share and pass on our techniques to each other. The students who mastered the new technique have gained the possibility of better employment in the labour market. Teachers who have learned the new techniques and the way they teach them within the project can pass them on to other students. In the long term, the main success of the project was the initiation of international cooperation in the field of vocational training in glass processing and glassmaking. During the project, deeper collaborative relationships were established between the schools, which developed into cooperation with other European glass schools. In SUPŠS, this project started the development of international cooperation and the idea of the need to share information in vocational training across Europe. During the implementation of the project, contact was established with other European glass schools. Together the idea of creating a network of cooperation in the field of glass and glass processing was born. In order to create this network, another project has already been submitted to the Vocational Training Cooperative Partnership, together with schools from Portugal, Slovakia and Finland. During the project, we implemented a total of 4 mobilites and many other activities. There was one mobility in each country, where students and teachers learned new glass techniques from their foreign colleagues and created works of art using them. On these mobilities they also visited various cultural sites, facilities and glass companies together. During the other two mobilities, the opening of the works created by the students using the new glass techniques took place. Together they also visited cultural monuments, facilities and glass companies in the area. In between the mobilities, the students worked together on the project website, created content for the project's social network sites and on a joint catalogue of the works created during the mobilities. By participating in the project, students improved their glassmaking skills, gained a greater awareness of the glass industry, learned new information about another culture in a European environment, improved their digital skills, foreign language skills and improved their position in the labour market.