The overarching goal was to develop the technical language competences – and, in turn, the motivation to learn – of young people and young adults with low literacy competence in vocational education and training. These competences are crucial for successful participation in vocational education and training and thus for access to professional employment and social integration. Vocational training staff (teachers, trainers and social education workers) were to be enabled through targeted training programmes to effectively implement technical language support for the learners described. To this end, curricula and modules were developed and tested that can be transferred to regular operation in the long term. The project aimed to develop a holistic, transferable concept that also provides guidance for education authorities and educational institutions – for example, on resource planning and organisational development. The results should help to reduce dropout rates and increase the number of successful vocational qualifications, thereby enabling the social and economic integration of people with poorly developed technical language competences.
In Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, vocational training institutions are faced with a growing amount of low-literate vocational learners (often with a migrant background). These learners often struggle to understand and do complex technical language tasks, which can lead to them dropping out of training or failing exams. At the same time, there's a big shortage of skilled workers in many jobs. The partners applied for the ‘Success through Technical Language’ project in order to jointly respond to this key challenge in vocational education and training. The project idea came about from a shared interest in addressing these problems systematically and through a European network. The needs of learners in terms of better participation in social and professional life (through targeted development of technical language competences), vocational training staff (development of didactic tools to promote technical language competences, support in working with the described learning group and development of their own competences through further training) and the economy and society (integration into the world of life and work, securing skilled workers) were taken into account.