KBS in Europe
Start date: Jul 1, 2014,
End date: Jun 30, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
The project "KBS in Europe" offered opportunities for students to complete a part of their apprenticeship as a placement abroad. The following institutions were partners of the KBS Nordhorn:
- Bournville College in Birmingham (England)
- Accentuate Ltd. in Newcastle upon Tyne (England)
- LAL Language Centres in Paignton (England)
- Partnership Europe in Cork (Ireland)
- I.E.S. Ramón Menéndez Pidal in A Coruña (Spain)
- I.E.S. San Clemente in Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
- Agrozumos S.A. in Lekunberri (Spain)
- ROC Friese Poort in Drachten (Netherlands)
- European School of English Ltd. in St. Julians (Malta)
- Hotel Mercure in La Roche-sur-Yon (France).
The students in this project were mainly apprentices who are in the third year of their training for Industrial Clerks and Management Assistants in Wholesale and Foreign Trade. According to requirements the group of participants were be supplemented by students from other fields of apprenticeships. Additionally, a fair number of students who are in their second year of the Vocational High School with the profile Foreign Language Correspondent took part in the project. In the course of this project the 39 participants completed a four-week placement in England, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, Malta or France which has been taken place in several flows in summer respectively autumn of 2014 and 2015. The participants were be prepared in linguistic and intercultural matters through the KBS Nordhorn and placed into the companies abroad by the partners. Some of them were visited during their placement through the teachers of the KBS Nordhorn.
The primary objective of this transnational cooperation with the partner institutions was the quality improvement of the apprenticeship through the learning of intercultural key qualifications for the apprentices and Foreign Language Correspondents. The growing international orientation and as a consequence thereof the necessity of lifelong learning is especially significant for all jobs in the business area. For this purpose a competent use of English as the international lingua franca was essential. Accordingly, the participants gained considerable insight into foreign companies. For the Foreign Language Correspondents the placement served an ideal supplement to their English and Spanish classes. The learning outcomes and competencies were described rudimentarily through elements of ECVET and documented in the europass mobility.
The impact of the placements on the participants were recognized above all in the acquisition of intercultural competences, particularly in the extended understanding of the European economic structure and the cultural variety. For the KBS Nordhorn, the engagement in the European area is embedded in the school programme and will strenghten its place in the school landscape of the county Grafschaft Bentheim.
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