The project ‘Europe – Living and learning together. Get ready to become a skilled European citizen.’ joins two upper vocational schools, the BO Wasserburg (Germany) and ITIS Fermi (Italy) in their efforts to provide a well-founded springboard for their students’ future perspective both at university course programmes and in the world of work. 15 students and two teachers from each school take part in the programme. It aims at teaching students the key competences that will enable them to enjoy and experience the great many chances and opportunities that the European Union provides them with. Teaching students a sound command of digital media is therefore one of the priorities of this programme. This will be reached by relying on tablet-PCs as the main hardware and by applying various digital tools and apps, e.g. eTwinning and Europass, in a creative process. The students will present the results of this process in a number of digital products that reflect their acquired skills. These products are explanatory videos, an eBook on study opportunities and the culture of the Emilia Romagna and Bavaria and a project homepage. A good working knowledge of English is another key competence that opens up the whole range of opportunities that Europe provides. This use of English as a working language will be enhanced by forming joined teams of two Italian and two German students each, who will work together on a variety of topics and on the digital products. Knowing a country’s language further enhances the European experience. The students will therefore participate in beginners’ language courses in German and Italian respectively during the school year. Students will then get a chance to practice these language skills as the students will be staying with the families of their exchange partners in Italy and Germany. An original interest in other regions and cultures and the ability and willingness to get involved and participate in the everyday-life of the people of another region can also be considered a helpful skill when living, working and studying outside one’s country. The exchange programme facilitates acquiring this skill as students will be living with the exchange partners and their families for nine days each during the stay at the partner school. At the heart of the project lies the belief that all these skills are best acquired through working on a joined project. Thus, the teams of Italian and German students form the central idea of this exchange programme. Students will monitor their own and their team’s progress by keeping a portfolio on the work done. The participating teachers will also work together in a joined team. They will hold meetings in which they give and receive feedback on the project. They will thus improve their skills in teaching the above mentioned key competences to students. Taking part in job-shadowing activities will further enhance their skills in teaching. The two stays at the partner schools form the core activity of the programme. Each student group will visit the partner school for nine days during which the students will be staying with the families of their exchange partner. Emphasis during this stay is on getting to know the region where the partner school is situated. Activities include guided tours of car manufacturers, food companies and educational institutions. Students will thereby acquire an in-depth knowledge of the economy, the education system and the culture of the region and the chances and opportunities it offers. They will then record this knowledge in digital form and thus make it accessible to a broader audience. A number of activities throughout the school year will help to prepare for and to round up these stays. Students profit from the project as they will acquire key competences that will give them access to a wide range of opportunities after graduation. They will be aware of the possibility to study at a university or work at a job not only in the region they will have discovered during the programme but also in Europe in general and they will have acquired the necessary skills to make use of these possibilities. The schools gain important experiences in teaching these key competences. Last but not least, with the BO Wasserburg being situated in Bavaria and the ITIS Fermi being situated in the Emilia Romagna two schools are joined in the project that are both from regions that have long standing ties in the fields of economy, education and culture. Between those two regions a Europe of regions based on cultural identity and a strong believe in the advantages and the need for cooperation is not just a slogan but a reality put into practice. This exchange is therefore meant to be a starting point only. Both partners would very much like to invite schools from other European countries to join a follow up project.
The project ‘Europe – Living and learning together. Get ready to become a skilled European citizen.’ has connected two upper vocational schools, the BO Wasserburg (Germany) and ITIS Fermi (Italy) in their efforts to provide a springboard for their students’ future perspective both at university course programmes and in the world of work. 10 students from Germany, 14 from Italy and two teachers each took part. The programme was successful at teaching students key competences essential for experiencing the many opportunities that the European Union provides. Teaching a sound command of digital media had therefore been one of the priorities and was achieved by relying on tablet-PCs as the main hardware and by applying various digital tools and apps in a creative process, among them eTwinning, Europass, WordPress, iMovie, Quizlet and MS-Teams. The students presented the results of this process in a number of digital products that reflect their acquired skills, among them explanatory videos, an eBook on study opportunities and the culture of the Emilia Romagna and Bavaria, a project homepage and press articles. A good working knowledge of English is another key competence when seizing the opportunities that Europe provides. This use of English as a working language was enhanced by joined teams of two Italian and two German students each working together on a variety of topics and on the digital products. Knowing a country’s language further enhances the European experience. The students participated in beginners’ language courses in German and Italian during the school year and got a chance to practice their language skills while staying with the families of their exchange partners. Most of the students will continue the second language. An original interest in other cultures and the ability and willingness to get involved in the everyday-life of the people of another region is another skill required for living, working and studying outside one’s country. The exchange programme facilitated acquiring this skill as students lived with the exchange partners and their families for 8 days each during the stay at the partner school. At the heart of the project lies the belief that all these skills are best acquired through working on a joined project. Thus, the teams of Italian and German students form the central unit of this exchange programme. Students established contact during the school year and monitored their own and their team’s progress by keeping a portfolio. The participating teachers also worked together in a joined team. They held meetings in which they discussed, gave and receive feedback on the project. They thus improved their skills in teaching the above mentioned key competences to students. Taking part in job-shadowing activities further enhanced their teaching skills. The two stays at the partner schools formed the core activity of the programme. Each student group visited the partner school. The students stayed with the families of their exchange partner. Emphasis during this stay was on getting to know the region where the partner school is situated. Activities included guided tours of car manufacturers, food companies and educational institutions. Thereby, students acquired an in-depth knowledge of the economy, the education system and the culture of the region and the chances and opportunities it offers. They predented this knowledge in digital form and thus have made it accessible to a broader audience. A number of activities throughout the school year helped to prepare for and to round up these stays. Students have profited from the project by acquiring key competences that will give them access to a wide range of opportunities after graduation. They are now aware of the possibility to study at a university or work at a job not only in the region discovered during the programme but all over Europe and they have acquired the necessary skills to make use of these opportunities.The schools have gained important experiences in teaching these key competences and will multiply these experiences. Last but not least, with the BO Wasserburg being situated in Bavaria and the ITIS Fermi being situated in the Emilia Romagna two schools are joined in the project that are both from regions that have long standing ties in the fields of economy, education and culture. Thus a Europe of regions based on cultural identity and a strong believe in the need for cooperation is a reality put into practice. This exchange is therefore only a starting point. Cooperation will continue, schools from other European countries are invited to join a follow up project. The experiences have proven valuable in the application process for the new Erasmus program. Cooperation has already been established with a Spanish partner school and will be extended to France. The project was submitted to the Erasmus Project Platform on 13 November 2022.