Sending apprentices abroad during a worldwide coronavirus pandemic? Not that easy this year. Many SMEs had to take a break from offering international work stays as part of their vocational education and training (VET) program. Nevertheless, the willingness to provide mobility in VET did not decrease. Contrariwise! The Training without Borders Network is still working closely with companies around Germany to realize international experience in changing times. As a result the Training without Borders Coaches as well as their worldwide partners started to create new, digital mobility formats, which will help to keep providing pathways to work experiences abroad and to prepare apprentices as well as recent graduates to work in a globalized economy.
“Next Generation Mobility in VET: New pathways to work experiences abroad” was also the topic of this year‘s international Training without Borders (TWB) Partner-Day. With more than 200 participants (including 50 mobility coaches), the international TWB-Network got together within an online event and discussed current challenges in the field of cross-country mobility in VET. During the workshops, lectures and speeches a lot of good ideas and visions were shared to get ready for further mobility projects in 2021.
To see the results of the event please scroll through this page and get inspired! If you have further questions, please contact our mobility coaches, who you find on the landing-page of this website.
Elke Büdenbender, Spouse of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany
Main Take-aways
Pauline von Katte, TWB Project Manager
Main Take-away
Joao Santos, Deputy Head of Unit, European Commission, Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, Unit E3, Vocational training, Apprenticeships and Adult learning
Main Take-aways
Kerstin Stromberg-Mallmann, Presenter of TWB Partner-Day 2020
Daniela Petrenz, Mobility Coach, Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Stade Chamber of Skilled Crafts
Here you can find the Pecha-Kucha Presentation: Klick.
Jana Böse, Mobility Coach, Potsdam Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Here you can find the Pecha-Kucha Presentation: Klick.
Rebecca Hof, Mobility Coach, Düsseldorf Chamber of Skilled Crafts
Please find the Video below.
Susanne Boy and Anne Wiedemann, Mobility Coaches, Berlin Chamber of Skilled Crafts
Please find the Video below.
Simon Schnetzer, Youth-Researcher, Speaker, Trainer
Main Take-aways
Marion Wende, Service Formations, Project Manager École Entreprise, German-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Main Take-aways
Platform École Entreprise (German Version)
Boris Petschulat, Director VIIB, Crafts; commercial law and business promotion; education policy; liberal professions, Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy
Main Take-aways
Kristin Wilkens, Project Referent, Team Mobility, Internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training
Theresa Mayerhöffer, Erasmus+ Project Officer, Team Mobility, Internationalisation of Vocational Education and Training National Agency Education for Europe at the German Federal Institute für Vocational Education and Training
Here you can find the main Takeaways: Klick.
Key Questions:
1. Beyond the crisis: chances for individual and institutional development in VET
2. Mobilities during Covid-19 pandemic: What are the needs of organisations and participants?
3. How to maintain and foster the resilience of international partnerships: Which support is delivered by the Erasmus+programme?
Speakers:
Dr. Yulia Kozyrakis, Project Manager, Joachim-Herz-Stiftung
Cornelie Krehenbrink, Project Manager, Joachim-Herz-Stiftung
Key Questions:
1. How can virtual tools enhance the international exchange of apprentices and young professionals in times of travel restrictions, and which virtual formats could best supplement regular programs?
2. How can we reach U.S. colleges and schools which might be interested in establishing partnerships with German vocational schools and colleges?
3. What can be done on state level to provide funding for U.S.-German exchange programs in the vocational education sector in order to enable more partnerships and exchanges?
About Joachim-Herz-Stiftung:
The Joachim Herz Foundation offers an internship program for trainees (Azubis: German apprentices) who want to gain on-the-job experience in the United States.
"Azubis Go USA" promotes international mobility as well as intercultural and professional exchange. It fosters cooperation and advances the personal and professional development of the trainees and participating companies. The internship program started in 2014 and is organized in collaboration with the Bavarian Ministry of Education and the GACC (German American Chamber of Commerce) South.
Building on the founder's and the Foundation's long-standing ties to the state of Georgia, the Joachim Herz Foundation and its partners are looking for companies and nonprofit organizations from different industries in Georgia that are willing to accept an intern for two months.
Speakers:
Charlotte Schneiders, Mobility Coach, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Saarland
Francesca Venturella, Mobility Coach, Chamber of Skilled Crafts, Pfalz
Here you can find the Main-takeaways: Klick.
Description & Key Questions:
1. Spotlight: Current key questions to realize German-French mobility projects
2. Which key challenges do we face? Is there a gap between political will and operational implementation?
3. What solutions are needed to make cross-border mobility more attractive?
4. What can we do right now?
Speaker:
Dr. Eszter Csepe-Bannert, Founder & Managing Director, CorEdu
Key Questions:
1. How can we boost Mobility Projects within Germany and Eastern Europe/Baltic Regions?
2. Which key challenges do we face regarding the realization of mobility projects within these regions?
3. What can we do right now? What can each one do to foster partnerships and to support mobility projects?
Speakers:
Andreas Hartwig, Diversity Trainer and Founder, living diversity
Jana-Madeline Staupe, Mobility Coach, Dortmund Chamber of Skilled Crafts
Key Questions:
1. Global partners, global challenges to avoid miscommunications?
2. Different cultures online: How to deal with different communication patterns?
3. Ready to really listen to your partners?
About Andreas Hartwig:
Andreas is the founder of living diversity. He is a certified diversity trainer and has been working in this field for over 15 years. He organized e. g. 2004 the “Black Community Weeks“ founded Germany’s first Black Business Club and is involved in empowerment and community building. After studying American and Latin American studies, he founded the advertising agency “Happy Graphics” in Berlin in 1999, which he continued until 2006. During this time, he starts teaching as a lecturer in marketing. As of 2006, the professional focus was increasing towards diversity. He is a lecturer at various universities, trains diversity managers and diversity trainers, and supports companies and organizations dealing with diversity.
Speaker:
Simon Schnetzer, Youth-Researcher, Speaker, Trainer
Here you can find the main Takeaways: Klick.
Description & Key Questions:
Innovation sprint with Simon Schnetzer, Youth Researcher: finding solutions to overcome the digital dilemma
1. How can we design virtual exchanges that attract and motivate Generation Z?
2. What are the limitations and challenges regarding virtual exchanges?
About Simon Schnetzer:
Simon Schnetzer is considered one of Europe’s leading youth researchers and experts on generation Z, generation Alpha, and intergenerational understanding. He’s the author of numerous national and international youth surveys, the most prominent being „Young Germans.“ Since 2010, the trained-economist-turned-freestyle-youth-researcher cycles and couch-surfs across Germany to deep-dive into the digital and real lives of Generation Y, Z, and Alpha.
The one big question that inspires and guides Simon in all his work:
What is the impact of digitization on young people’s private and working lives, and how can we co-create our future?
Simon inspires his audience and participants in keynotes, future workshops, and creative formats like innovation sprints. These sprints help to see and use the chances of intergenerational differences and digitization. He lives and works in the Bavarian Alps foothills, where he runs a coworking space called Gründervilla, celebrates ideas, and has incubated a vibrant startup-scene.