In the application, the priority was to further expand the internationalisation of the vhs Esslingen. In order to achieve this, the vhs has identified several needs. These are: The educational staff employed at the VHS, and thus the course instructors and staff, should be trained in the areas of communication competence, intercultural competence and didactics through educational stays in other European countries. In the area of communication competence, the focus was not only on the international lingua franca English but also on the languages French, Spanish and Italian. The reason for the expansion of the language offer was the desire to be able to offer the course participants from the most diverse countries of origin the broadest possible barrier-free language support. Furthermore, it was in our interest to be perceived as a place of encounter, understanding and integration. In the area of didactics, it was important for us to qualify our educational staff in the area of planning for IT offers and online-supported lessons.
The positive experiences of the two previous projects have encouraged us to apply again for the funding period 2020-2022. It was and is important for us to be able to win over lecturers from our constantly varying group of teaching staff as well as new hires and long-term employees for the internationalisation of the Adult Education Centre. With the help of the educational offer, strengthening communication skills as well as intercultural and professional competences should enable the vhs Esslingen to address an international clientele. Teaching/learning methods, especially in foreign language courses, DAF courses and integration courses, are to be improved and blended learning and e-learning in the classroom expanded. We also attached great importance to not letting the positive connections to our partners in other European countries, which have been built up over the years and always maintained, and the expertise acquired in dealing with Erasmus projects, break down.