Category: German news

Exploring Leipzig – Make it Your Way

Post author By enneproject
Post date 30 July 2021
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A little while ago, we already introduced you to Leipzig as the city of trade and classical music, home of the international book fair, a major economic hub of the region, and simply a great place to live, work, and travel: The wide range of sports events, cultural activities, varieties of accommodation and restaurants as well as innovative start-ups, tradition-steeped companies and industry offer a great multitude of internship possibilities for students and apprentices. In that article you can also find a bunch of useful tips for when you first visit Leipzig and what the main attractions are. And while all those sights are truly a must-see when you come to Leipzig, there are a number of areas worth exploring that are not normally found on your regular tourist itineraries. Are you ready to get off the beaten path? As part of the Erasmus+ project ProWomen, women from Leipzig have developed travel routes that give you an all new perspective on this beautiful city! You can find the entire routes as a google map here.

Did you know, for example that Leipzig has extensive waterways that would make it (almost) possible to canoe all the way to Hamburg?! Even if that is not you ambition, the rivers and canals in the city make for great views and nature observation, especially in the summer! Depending on which way you swing your paddle, you will see the historic industrial style buildings from the 19^th century that Leipzig is famous for or be surrounded by the unique nature of the flood-plain forest. If you are lucky, you might even be able to see kingfishers! Leipzig’s waterways give you lots of possibilities to paddle and row, for beginners and pros alike. Your exact route will depend on where you rent your boat and how fit you are, but certainly you can stop and visit one of the many lovely cafés and Biergardens along the way to get some rest. Note that especially on days with nice weather it might be a good idea to call ahead at the boat rentals and check if boats are available. You can also check if guided tours are offered for additional information.

Did you know that many famous women have left their trace around Leipzig? You can follow the footsteps and achievements of composer Clara Schumann, poet Lene Voigt, and politicians Louise Otto-Peters and Clara Zetkin through another route of the ProWomen project. This route circles the city center counter-clockwise, so all spots are also close to other interesting sights and will take you to the most famous parts of the city. You can walk large parts of the way or ride your bike (especially in the parks). Most of the route is wheelchair friendly and easily reached by public transportation. This route is perfect if you want to spend about half a day exploring and do not want to venture too far from the city center. Except for the Schumann-Haus, you are also independent of opening hours.

This tour will take you to some of the best known urban green spaces of Leipzig: The city dedicated an award-winning park to Lene Voigt in the neighborhood of Reudnitz which in recent years has become very popular especially with young people. Leipzig’s biggest and most famous park is named after Clara Zetkin. Here you find the historic race track, a concert stage, as well as the Sachsenbrücke (Saxony Bridge) which is one of the most popular places to hang out in the city. And finally, the memorial of Louise Otto Peters is located in the Rosental park. Not only is it the location of the Gewandhaus orchestra’s annual free open air concert but from here you can observe the giraffes and zebras from the neighboring zoo!

And when you have explored every nook and cranny of the city center, venture North for a little bit of nature and Old-world grandeur around the castle in Lützschena! The route combines cultural, historic, and natural heritage. It is located in the north-west of Leipzig and can be done either by foot or by bike. Not many tourists venture north of the city center, and most people know the area mainly for the airport and the hubs of DHL, Porsche, and Amazon. However, as this route shows, there is much to explore!

For the best way to explore, rent a bike and ride from the city center along the Luppe dam to the first stop! Once you enter the park at the University’s sport campus, you can ride undisturbed by car traffic. Your first stop will be lake Auensee, which It came into being through the mining of gravel for the main station. A short bike ride from the lake you will find the castle of Lützschena and its adjacent park. Today’s castle was built in 1864, however, the first documented mention of a manor in this place dates back to the 13th century. Today, the castle is in private ownership, yet the park is open to the public and visitors can explore the beautiful landscape.

From the park, you have direct access to the Leipzig floodplain forest, which is a registered landscape conservation area that serves an important function of flood control for the cities of Leipzig and Schkeuditz. On your route, you will follow the Neue Luppe, an artificial canal of 13km which belongs to the local river system. The Luppeaue has been a nature reserve since 1993. If you want to know more about this unique eco-system, visit the Auwaldstation: This information center gives you great insight and there is no entrance fee either!

Detailed routes from all partner countries will be published by the ProWomen project around September 2021. Check the Facebook account or the website for news!

Capacity Building of VET Staff

Post author By enneproject
Post date 10 November 2020
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The thematic discussion on the topic Capacity Building of VET STAFF was moderated by Ms Darina Petrunova and Mrs Vanya Neycheva from European Center for Quality, Bulgaria.
In total 5 good practices -2 from Bulgaria and 3 from Belgium were presented. The good practices were related to the improvement of VET staff skills through participation in international teaching activities and working meetings and structured VET trainings.

Good practice 1 – Vocational High School of Electrical Engineering, Galabovo, Bulgaria
In February 2020 the team of the school held a working meeting with teachers from the Edirne Vocational High School in Turkey. Some specifics of the Turkish educational system were also highlighted and the teachers exchanged different ideas and best practices of teaching methodologies and techniques in the field of Electrical engineering.
Good practice 2 – Diagnose Car – Connectief, Belgium
It is a collaboration between the private sector and the ministry of education. In this project, private companies give access to the schools to a variety of modern cars with network technology, diagnostic equipment and technical data. All participating teachers receive Train the trainer sessions depending on the cars.
Good practice 3 – RTC East-Flanders, Belgium
RTC main objective is to activate and reinforce cooperation between education, companies and other labor market actors by connecting schools and businesses, sharing technology infrastructure and equipment and competence enhancement of teachers and students.
Good practice 4 – CREATE project, Syntra West, Belgium
The project aimed to organize 6 mobilities placement for 20 Belgian teachers in Barcelos, Portugal in the summer of 2019. The focus at CRE-ATE is on ICT-supporting teaching and the train-the-trainer principle. The project goal is not only to provide teachers with ICT skills, but also to give them a practical approach by using coaching methodology.
Good practice 5 – FUTURE FOR US, Bulgaria
The project was implemented by the Vocational high School of Construction and Woodworking ” Nedyo Ranchev “Stara Zagora and the teachers conducted a training placement in Barcelona in 2019. The main aim was to stimulate the use of digital methods by studying and introducing innovative pedagogical approaches and setting up a mediation team at school to reduce aggressive events, conflict situations and the number of dropouts of school children.

The thematic room gathered in total of 33 participants – many VET teachers, project coordinators; 3 management representatives and other stakeholders. Representatives from Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Albania, Ukraine joined the discussion. According to the participants the most suitable types of staff, mobilities are structured VET training and job shadowing. Moreover, 22 participants responded and highlighted that the main obstacles they face for participating in VET staff mobility projects are the language barriers and insufficient opportunities.

To conclude it can be stated that the content presented during the event was engaging and beneficial for the participants and space for networking was provided.

Capacity Building VET Staff: Resources available

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Sustainable Development Goals

Post author By enneproject
Post date 9 November 2020
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ENNE Project coordinated an international online conference on November the 9^th named VET4FUTURE.

The conference introduced to the future of vocational education thanks to Mr. Luca Pirozzi Policy Officer for VET at EAECA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission)

The ZOOM event organized into 5 breakout rooms each of these dedicated to a specific thematic:

Recognition/validation of competences in WBL (Work Based Learning – national traineeships/transnational mobility/etc.)
Social Inclusion in VET (Disabilities, migrants, economic disadvantages, etc.)
Digital transformation / Distance Learning
Sustainability and contribution of VET to the achievement of UN Agenda 2030 SDGs
Capacity building of VET Staff

In the ZOOM breakout room dedicated to “Sustainability and contribution of VET to the achievement of UN agenda 2030 SDGs” the VET European schools members of the ENNE Network presented and shared their “best practices” in order to show how it is possible to boost ideas and collect contributions for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation.

Sandro Pertini Institute of Afragola (Naples, Italy) presented its motto: “Sustain sustainable school”. The institute established a “free plastic week” and arranged interactive exhibitions where students can experiment the condition of being costumers and citizens passing through production activities. An opportunity to raise awareness on reducing waste through prevention, reduction and recycling;
The Alfonso Casanova Institute of Napoli (Italy) – in order to encourage students in engagement in favor of disadvantaged people – planned the realization of packaging for removable dental prosthesis for prisoners. This allows the development of transversal skills;
The National High school in Finance and Business of Sophia (Bulgaria) dedicates a school area to those students who have ideas in terms of contributing to the achievement of the UN goals arranging drawers to collect the students’ views. Other activities concern the realization of usable objects or art creations using only trash or garbage items.
The Orfini Institute of Foligno (Perugia, Italy) promoted the involvement of VET-schools in the development of sustainable urban centers establishing VET education programs relevant to the development of sustainable urban centers. The activities also concern the enhancement of cooperation and entrepreneurship creative skills among students.

Sustainable Development Goals: Resouces Available

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Recognition and Validation of Competences in WBL

Post author By enneproject
Post date 6 November 2020
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To celebrate the formal establishment of the 5 VET networks, ENNE’s project partners have decided to organise an online Conference, during the European Vocational Skills Week, to foster a first meeting between their VET communities, where they could interact and work towards their common goal – the Enhancement of VET quality and attractiveness.

Arts & Skills was responsible for moderating the thematic session “Recognition and Validation of Competences in Work Based Learning”.

National or international WBL programs are targeted to bridge the gap between the learning environment and real work environment, and different WBL strategies provide career awareness, career exploration opportunities, career planning activities and help students attain competencies such as positive work attitudes and other employable skills.

The recognition and validation of competencies in WBL environments refer to the identification and appreciation of the skills and competencies that an individual acquires through a work-based learning experience.
Although, WBL experiences can have different forms ((apprenticeship, internship, service learning, school-based enterprise, or industry projects) they should be well planned, monitored and assessed properly to become relevant for

The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) is one of the most relevant EU frameworks developed to help the VET community implementing high-quality WBL programs:

ECVET provides a framework for the assessment, validation and recognition of learning outcomes, alongside a series of common tools and instruments able to support quality in mobility.
ECVET promotes the integration of mobility into existing learning pathways.
ECVET contributes to the development of a common language for use by different VET stakeholders and promotes mutual trust within the wider VET community.
ECVET supports the valorisation of key competences (such as foreign language skills or intercultural competence) alongside those that are more technically – or vocationally – oriented.

The implementation of ECVET was referred during the best practices presented by six of our network members, from Portugal, Italy and Germany, who shared with the audience good practices implemented by their VET organizations and related to WBL experiences.

Ms. Sonia Barani, from the “Italienische Handelskammer für Deutschland”, Germany, presented the MeMeVET project (mechatronics and metallurgical VET for sectors’ industries) and its outcomes. The project, implemented in 5 countries (DE, IT, ES, BG, SK) aimed at tackling some of the main issues impeding free mobility of workers and VET learners of the sector in Europe. One of the main issues is related to the difficulty of having one’s competencies and know-how recognized in another EU country. Another one, concerns the gap between the training and learning offer of VET institutions and the real needs of the labour market.

Ms Joana Soares from EP Felgueiras, Portugal, shared with the participants their experience in VET-Business cooperation at local and regional level concerning Curriculum development; Matching supply and demand of technicians; Development of technological devices (e.g. Robots) for the local industry; Social Inclusion and Monitoring of trainees after the completion of the course.

Ms. Margherita Battaglini, from ITE SCARPELLINI – Foligno, Italy, offered an overview of their experience with the implementation of ECVET not only on Transnational, but also National WBL experiences.

Ms. Alessia Montanucci, from I.O. Salvatorelli Moneta Marsciano, Italy, presented a mobility experience developed in Malta in 2019, that involved 15 students from the 3rd and the 4th year of high school. The internships were held at local businesses: museums, shops, state agencies, cruises for tourists, etc. which she had the opportunity to accompany for the whole training period.

From Portugal, Mr. Edgar Costa, from Vocational School Bento Jesus Caraça, shared how they adapted mandatory WBL experiences that should have been developed in a real working context, to a successful simulated business context due to the confinement imposed by COVID 19.

Mr Ferenc Naacke from “Berufliches Schulzentrum für Wirtschaft in Dresden, Germany, presented the “Healthy Lifestyle” Project and the approach that allowed their organization to implement 70 internships abroad, in 8 different countries, for students from the Social Insurance Course, whose training focuses mainly on administrative work of social insurance clerks, but not on the background knowledge in advising insured people on the prevention of diseases.

This session showed us how diverse work-based learning strategies can be and how multiple approaches can be addressed by VET organizations to improve and enhance VET quality and attractiveness.

We hope we have brought some inspiration to our audience for further projects and cooperation among our VET Community.

Recognition and Validation of Competences in Work-Based Learning: Resources available

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Digital transformation and distance learning

Post author By enneproject
Post date 5 November 2020
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Digital transformation and distance learning have been a hot topic since the Covid-19 outbreak.
This was also clear during the inscriptions for this theme at VET4FUTURE.
We give you a brief overview of the good practices that were shared.

BLEFT is an EU project for the development of e-learning modules in forestry. In Saxony (Germany) the official LernSax was put into service during the lockdown. Students and teachers worked online and found each other on this well-equipped platform for lessons, meetings, etc.
In Portugal, the Escola profissional C.J. de Campanha should find a new way to publish student work in graphic media. For this they used a virtual exhibition. Italian Fondazione Lepido Rocco bundled a lot of good practices on the website from which we discovered a CLIL training and the Sherwood project.
Finally, we have introduced to google classroom thanks to the tourist vocational school Aleko Konstantinov from Bulgaria.

Digital transformation and distance learning: Resources available

German news

Wanted: Good Practice examples Blended Learning

Post author By enneproject
Post date 5 November 2020
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Have you already used blended learning effectively or do you know of a successful implementation of this teaching and learning approach? Then we would be very pleased to get your support.

For the KA2 project “Blended Learning creation in VET trainings” (short: BlendedVET) we are looking for good examples from the field of integrated learning for our best-practice collection.
We – this means partner institutions from 5 European countries, who are active in the above mentioned Erasmus+ KA2 project since September.
The aim of the project is to provide teachers in vocational education and training with tools to make their lessons more interactive and “blended“. Therefore we are collecting good practices from different fields in advance in order to learn from them on the one hand and to sort them and make them available as examples on the other.

Support us with your good practices! We kindly ask you for a short description with the following information:

– What does the good practice include and what are its objectives?

– What was the target group?

– How was it implemented?

– Hurdles and difficulties and how they were overcome

We are looking forward to receiving your examples to: susanne.lehr@wisamar.de

Project title: Blended Learning creation in VET trainings (BlendedVET)

Project number: 2020-1-FR01-KA202-079830

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Social Inclusion in VET

The first out of 20 principals of the European Pillar of Social Rights is devoted to education, training and life-long learning:

“Everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market.”

(Source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en)

All around Europe, we can find numerous initiatives, projects and programmes supporting the inclusion of disadvantaged people in education and by this into work. They also show that the implementation of social inclusion in education and specifically in VET also depends on the structure of the educational system and relevant national policies in each country.
Following, we are going to introduce three good practices presented during the VET4FUTURE conference.

Individualised Education Plan
The Istituto Omnicomprensivo Giano dell’Umbria – Bastardo from Italy started working with Individualised Educational Plans (IEP) in 2019. It is a holistic approach to education enhancing the capabilities of the students, which do not only include academic, but also social competencies and life skills. The approach is carried throughout the whole cycle of education starting from primary school until secondary school including vocational education and training. Moreover, IEPs can be applied not only to disadvantaged but all students. Each student is assessed, individual goals are set and appropriate didactical measures and methods are chosen to achieve them. Based on the IEP Life Projects are developed for disadvantaged students encouraged by their achievements. In order for this approach to work, the social background and community around a student needs to be involved – the school, the family, relevant associations, social services as well as companies – with the goal to support each student in finding a suitable workplace.
Inclusive Internships
The keys to successful inclusion of people with disabilities at the workplace were presented by DomSpain Consulting from Spain. It is important to be aware of myths and preconceived ideas, involve the whole company, raise awareness among the staff and implement an effective communication strategy. Especially conscious and unconscious biases can be a challenge for inclusion. It needs to be taken into account that students taking part in an internship at a company have different special needs, which need to be addressed and solutions to be found. For persons with reduced mobility architectural barriers might need to be overcome. Different communication methods and technology can be used for persons with hearing or visual impairments. Companies should also think about the accessibility of their documents and their website. Persons with dyslexia or other learning disabilities will be grateful for easy-reading instructions. Therefore, a careful evaluation of the specific situation should take place in advance in order to meet the needs of the intern and guarantee a successful start of the internship.
SEN Students in Mobilities
An empowering step further can be the participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) in Erasmus+ projects and mobilities, like in the case of the Istituto d’istruzione superiore Ciuffelli-Einaudi, Todi in Italy. Throughout the project “Linking Business, Enterprise & Entrepreneurial Skills Internationally”, the students involved in the project activities also included SEN students in order to foster peer communication and cooperation. The students were able to take part in mobilities in the partner countries of the project.
The partnership focused on what the students can do and not what they cannot. Learning was facilitated through creative activities, which promote responsibility, teamwork, risk taking and problem solving. Furthermore, the activities were designed to correspond to the different learning styles of the students. Due to these activities and the possibility to take part in mobility among many other things the confidence of the SEN students increased and their communication skills improved.

Social inclusion in VET: Resources available

German news

From start to finish – successfully managing European VET mobility projects

Post author By enneproject
Post date 31 August 2020
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The whole ENNE partnership is currently working on the implementation of the MOOC on European Mobility in VET. We would like to take you along on our journey to develop this Open Educational Resource, which will support you in managing your own mobility projects.

So what is a MOOC?

This abbreviation stands for Massive Open Online Course, a learning course on the internet for an unlimited amount of participants with an open access, so that anyone interested in a topic can learn more about it. The active participation of the learners is guaranteed through interactive activities like quizzes and games or the possibility to get into an exchange with other learners in forums.

What can you learn in our MOOC?

The aim of our MOOC is to give you a straightforward starting point into the world of European mobility projects and how to manage them. We will guide you through the whole life cycle of a project. Starting with an introduction into the Erasmus+ funding programme and an overview of involved actors, we continue with the application and project implementation until the finalisation of a mobility project. You will learn what makes a good and reliable partner and how and where to find them. We will facilitate you in establishing an internationalisation strategy for your organisation. You will be able to go through the different implementation phases of selecting beneficiaries, prepare them for their stay, monitor their learning pathway and validate what they have learned. The project cycle ends with the evaluation of the project and the reporting.

The units are structured in short text and video inputs with interactive activities in order to deepen your knowledge and foster reflecting on your own context. We will for example support you with guiding questions in formulating your project idea and by this prepare important parts for your application. Besides, you can find in the MOOC practical checklists, downloadable resources and further links. Furthermore, you will be able to exchange with other participants about your approach, experiences and views on different mobility related questions.

Everything starts with an idea, which in our case had already been outlined in the application for the ENNE project. Based on contents developed within the projects “European Knowledge Centre for Mobility I & II”, the German partner Wisamar developed the course structure around the life cycle of the project and drafted the contents to be included. This structure has been adapted and improved with the support of the whole partnership and their feedback in discussions and reviews. It could then be enhanced with the detailed content. To illustrate the information numerous animated and real videos were scripted before scenes could be shot, animations developed and the video materials edited.

The technical work on the MOOC is underway. The skeleton of the English version of the course is finished and most parts of the content are already included. We are currently filling the gaps and adding interactive activities in order for the course to be more practical and motivating for you. To add interactivity we are using H5P, which offers a lot of opportunities like drag and drop exercises, multiple choice, timelines or summarizing activities. Since we want to provide the MOOC in several languages, over the summer the partners started with the localisation of the contents, including the development of video material in their languages.

We are very excited and looking forward to present you the finalized MOOC very soon. We will keep you updated!

German news

Recording of the webinars on the new Erasmus+ accreditation

Post author By enneproject
Post date 31 August 2020
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In recent weeks, the German National Agency offered several online events to inform about the new accreditation procedure for Erasmus+. The recordings of these webinars are now available.

Due to the Corona Pandemic, the National Agency Education for Europe at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (NA at BIBB) had to conduct the planned information events on the new Erasmus+ programme online. The recordings of these webinars are now available, both from the introductory information event on the application for accreditation in vocational education and training as well as from the following question-and-answer session. Both recordings are divided thematically so that relevant information, e.g. on the application form itself, on the Erasmus-Plan or on the follow-up process, can be found and viewed directly.

German news

School goes on – European exchange too?

Post author By enneproject
Post date 31 August 2020
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With the start of the new school year, exchange projects and mobilities were supposed to be prepared and implemented in many institutions. What is possible and what is not? What are the general conditions? The Pedagogical Exchange Service (PAD) in Germany provides an overview and help on their website.

The impairments for European exchange programs caused by the corona virus and the associated travel and contact restrictions accompany us into the new school and training year. On the website of the Pedagogical Exchange Service (PAD) of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs [website] you will find a lot of information – both on formal aspects such as Erasmus+ contract changes and cancellations, on current entry requirements and the regulations or recommendations of the individual German states, as well as on alternative approaches and possibilities to stay in contact and exchange with European partners despite the situation. At the same time, a large number of online seminars have been compiled on precisely these topics: from accreditation for the new Erasmus+ program to TwinSpace training courses and the creative design of video conferences.