The aim of our project is to link the theoretical knowledge that students acquire during their schooling with their working life. We wanted to create an environment for students to put their theoretical knowledge and acquired competences to the practical test. We wanted the students themselves to feel the importance of theoretical knowledge and the development of competences for lifelong learning. This can only be achieved in authentic situations in companies. Our aim was also for the students to compare the business world at home and in the host country, and thus to gain important experience for their future careers. By spending a few weeks abroad on their own and carrying out tasks in the workplace, communicating and cooperating with different professional experts, they had to independently identify opportunities, take initiatives, plan, take employer feedback into account and solve problems related to their professional field and professional competences. Our aim was also to contribute to empowering students to live independently (abroad). By providing this experience, we wanted to increase students' motivation for school work and lifelong learning and to reduce absenteeism, which often leads to dropping out of school.
The Secondary School of Economics and Gymnasium Maribor is an educational institution that runs two programmes: an economics technician and an economics gymnasium. The scope of this project includes the programme of economic technician. Our students are aged between 15 and 19 and during their 2nd and 3rd year of schooling, they have two weeks of practical training with employers, where they can test their theoretical knowledge in practice. Getting experience of the international labour market seemed an interesting challenge for our students and that's what we wanted to offer them. We notice that it is difficult to develop their independence and self-initiative at school. A few weeks of independent living abroad is an opportunity to make sense of school knowledge and at the same time an opportunity to develop different competences, especially independence, collaborative work, digital competences, self-initiative and entrepreneurship, and communication in foreign languages. We are seeing a decline in the social status of our students, who, by participating in Erasmus+ programmes, can gain experience regardless of their social background.