The project should support the participating students in acquiring intercultural and digital skills, improve their personal development and engagement as active European citizens and their employability on the European labor market. Working in binational groups should promote the development of key professional skills, such as the ability to be flexible and change perspective. By living with host families, which enabled them to participate in everyday life in the other country, our students were to develop an awareness of cultural and structural differences and strengthen their ability to tolerate and empathize. We wanted the students to have authentic experiences with young people of the same age. It was also important to us to show them opportunities for international networking and to enable them to develop a sense of citizenship in Europe and a European identity through the project. Another aim of the project was to promote the use of English in everyday situations as well as in work phases and presentations.
We applied for this project together with our partner school from Tarbes, with whom we have a long-standing partnership, because we wanted to give our students the opportunity to expand their intercultural skills and their view of Europe as a potential job market. The needs of our students to broaden their horizons and gain direct experience of a different culture abroad were at the forefront of this. All participating students at both schools had little or no experience of working with binational groups and little knowledge of other European countries. It was very important to us to break down the general stereotypes between the two countries and thus create a greater openness to new cultures and customs among the participants. The project fulfilled the need of both the pupils and the teachers involved to gain authentic experience of the school and vocational training environment in the other country.