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International Kick-off 4 Skills & Opportunities
International Kick-off 4 Skills & Opportunities
Start date: Jun 1, 2015,
End date: May 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
This request for an Erasmus+ Key Action 1 is part of our strategy for internationalization (see annex) for IKSO, a school for technical and vocational education. We are challenged to increase the educational opportunities for each child.
The school counts 450 pupils in the age of 14 until 20 years old and 75 staff members. She is intended for the technical and vocational education in the sections “Business, Office, Logistics, IT, Sciences, Personal services, Social services and Hairdressing”.
We place the emphasis on competence developing education and the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit of the pupils. In addition, it is one of the core tasks of education to guide our students in their growth to active, critical citizens who participate in the life of society.
The project is intended for the students in vocational education in the sections Hair stylist, Office Administration and Data Management and Care for People.
The project will help these students to become professional workers and active citizens in the EU.
Thanks to the objectives for this project they can meet with the possibility of internationalization. They receive the opportunity to put into practice their knowledge and skills in a new environment. So they not only increase their professional knowledge, but also their cultural luggage. They are challenged to develop themselves into independent, resilient and happy Europeans.
And this is necessary. Too many students leave the vocational education without qualifications, without suitable labour attitudes and with the idea that they are 'not good enough '. This project challenges them to further develop themselves professionally and turn out to be technically proficient.
At the same time they leave their comfort zone to become open to new experiences on strange places. It is necessary to widen their horizons. Almost half of these students belong to the target group of 'equal educational opportunities' because they belong to so-called deprivileged groups. They should be encouraged to gain extra work experience so as to safeguard their chances on the labour market.
The bonanza they get here increases their self-esteem by developing on a personal level and participating at active citizenship. More precisely, these students, thoroughly prepared in order to function abroad as an employee and as a European, are training social skills.
They will choose from a shorter internship in France or a longer internship in Malta or Fuerteventura. There is again opted for two islands. An island is a melting pot of cultures where people have learned to live together, influenced by each other's culture. To pupils discover by this experience the link to their own multicultural society and it will reduce the fear of the strange. Their foreign language knowledge is extended and put into practice. In France, our students will meet students from our partner school. Learners who are often far away from home, they overcome the distance to the school to choose a field of study that suits their talent.
The internship period is in the first weeks after the Easter holidays, both in 2016 and 2017. All pupils have a vocational training in local businesses, establishments or salons. All organizations were scouted during the preparatory visit by the coordinating teachers. The practical interpretation of the stage was carefully discussed with the local mentors.
This training promotes furthermore the self-reliance of the pupils. They learn to live together in apartments, where they themselves must vouch for the organization and maintenance. They must manage their own budget and provide healthy and safe living conditions.
We cooperate in this project with 3 schools: MCAST in Malta and their international coordinator, Mrs. Antoinette Cefai, with the school IES Majada Marcial in Puerto del Rosario in Spain, represented by Mrs. Isabel Dominguez de la Rosa, with the school Lycée Professionnel Nazareth and the director Pascal Gautier. We welcome each other's teachers during their period of job shadowing. As education institutes we will likewise explore how to avoid unqualified outflow (dropping out of education banks before graduating) and how we can motivate students for the general subjects in their curriculum.