"Europe needs for its increasingly diverse labor market more and more flexible and well educated workforce. Therefore the demands on the professional and social skills of construction workers and those who train them are growing constantly. Hereupon the Knobelsdorff School reacts with its increasing internationalization of vocational training in the construction sector and participating in international educational projects . Christoph Hertz (christoph.hertz@knobelsdorff-schule.de) and Kristian Wuthe (kristian.wuthe@knobelsdorff-schule.de ) are responsible for the organization of the projects.The aim of the now completed project was to empower our students already during their initial training for working in Europe across regional and national borders and to make our employees gain acces to the skills required to support them the best possible way. The aim was to improve the basic factor of human capital in the construction industry . The chances of trainees for their future professional life at home and abroad should be increased.Important to us was in this case the best possible coordination of internship-activities on the respective trade-typical training contents of the participants.According to our plan, the project lasted for one year and was realized with 90 mobilities in different partner countries.Participants were:Young people of the second and third year of training in their initial training (carpenters, masons, carpenters, concrete workers, plumbers, electricians and metal workers). Duration of mobility activities was up to three weeks. Students of Knobelsdorff School in the sector of technical assistant for preservation of cultural heritage also participated in mobilities of up to 3 weeks. Trainers, teachers and management personnel took part in mobilities from 2 to 5 days.Main activities of the apprentices:- The participants were staying abroad and working closely together with our partners in small-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and were divided and integrated into the on-going construction projects.- Restoration work on a monument respectingnational regulations and regional crafts. The restorers of the Memorial ""Mauthausen"" informed the participants and performed specific tasks.- Improvement of language skills. The participants had to talk about specific topics in English language in order to implement work tasks with colleagues simply and coherently.Transfer of innovation:The mobility of trainers, teachers and executives leaded to insights about the organization, the methods and the strategies of the partner, and effected new impulses. This is an important contribution to the development of curricula and the school program and promotes the implementation of reform initiatives. An awareness of the social importance of international partnerships for research and teaching was created. International exchanges were not an end in itself, but should have culturally inspired and quality enhanced learning results. By the project Knobelsdorffstraße school has helped to improve the ability of young people to participate in democratic life in Europe, to make our educational system more efficient and to help young people to enter the European labour market more easily. The project focussed on providing the accompanying key competences, such as improving language and professional skills, as well as on peaceful interaction with other people and cultures."

Boarders of European Union continue to evolve and the development of skills for our European workers is essential for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Indeed, crafts and companies are dealing more and more with international exchanges and facing a multinational competition, for both professionals and production technics. Qualifications and skills are therefore need to be updated. In order to move on that direction, it is primordial to provide each apprentice with the possibility to be trained and to work on a European level. Les Compagnons du Devoir et du Tour de France which train apprentices and young professional, by traveling, community living and knowledge transmissions, have always had a strong commitment to European mobility programmes. Long-term mobility projects have always existed in our Association. It is part of our specific professional training “Le Tour de France” to have a one-year experience abroad. So far, almost 7400 of our young graduated have already benefitted from such an amazing experience.Since 2004, more than 17350 apprentices have therefore benefitted from a 3 weeks mobility project in European Union, owing to our trusted partners, in any of our trades (industry, construction, building, baking, leather and textiles trades). Driven by our strong desire to institutionalize the mobility project abroad for our apprentices, we have mention the European mobility period into the training program for all our level 4 apprentices, under the framework agreement signed in 2009 with our ministry of National education.Thanks to Erasmus + agreement for 2017-2019, we exceed our objectives and financed mobility for 1222 apprentices in gathered mobility projects together with their class and their trade teacher (107 teachers in total); 152 young professionals gone for a one-year individual mobility; 8 post-apprentices who went abroad from 6 to 12 months in order to continue their apprenticeship; 39 young participants in a 2 weeks technical training and 4 staff members, gone for a job shadowing or a training.The enhancement of the quality of our project is owing to the pedagogical projects developed by our trainers and hosting partners, who suggest a precise program compatible with the specificities of the host country. This approach is necessary as mobility period are included in our training programs in France and comforts also the employers of our apprentices, worried about this mobility project abroad of their employee. Indeed, the project allowed our participants to acquire professional, language, intercultural and cross-disciplinary skills. Indeed, apprenticeship and trades are different from one country to another. Travelling is also a way to develop its adaptability and flexibility, two qualities required in the labor market. Our partners involved in our projects are training organizations, companies and intermediate organisms in 23 countries. Mobility is more and more recognized in those countries; therefore most of the previous work placements are renewed year after year. Years of experience with our partners allow us to organize those projects in mutual trust and prepare at best each participant for his mobility.Each apprentice’s mobility has been validated and recognized through a Europass, and for our post-apprentices, their skills and competences are highlighted on our online pedagogical platform “Aquisav”. With the mod-term puropose of using ECVET system, our partners already signed the “Memorandum of Understanding”. For this project, the International Service has maintained relationships with partners and developed new partnerships, ensured the administrative and financial monitoring of the fellowships, created necessary tools to help pedagogical teams. The service also helped their training centers in France for organizing the gathered mobility projects if needed and they supported young professional going abroad for one year (individual mobility) and the ones who were following a 2-weeks technical training.This ambitious project couldn’t have been organized without the considerable investment of our staff members involved, in particular educational staffs and trainers, for which we are very grateful.

This project was conducted in conjunction with the process to internationalise the vocational training of crafts and trades at Knobelsdorff-Schule. Three different groups of partners are involved in this mobility project:•Apprentices and students of Knobelsdorff-Schule who do a training at a company or who attend full-time courses at school. Both groups undergo their first vocational training.•Teachers, instructors, executives and other staff that is concerned with vocational training, and who want to think out of the box by visiting their counterparts and to experience their partners' daily routines in the context of eg. “job shadowing” and other activities.A total of 52 project members participated in the stay abroad:•37 trainees (system mechanics, concrete workers, construction mechanics, brick layers, joiners, and carpenters in their 2nd and 3rd year of training)•2 technical assistants of monument conservation in their 2nd year of training•1 head of division, 9 technical instructors/vocational arts teachers and 1 trainerAims of the projectStudents and trainees: Their aims are to apply their skills and knowledge abroad (here: Mauthausen/Austria, Villach/Austria, Norrköpping/Sweden, St. Vith/Belgium), to gain new skills and experience and to expand or strengthen further skills and abilities, eg. languages, cross-cultural competence etc. These objectives should be achieved by self-dependent performance at work placements and at their counterparts'. For that, students and trainees needed professional expertise as well as interpersonal skills and - in Sweden - speaking skills. Meeting people whose mother tongue is different always poses a challenge and requires a higher demand of intercultural and social skills that you can easily apply in that context. Another chance to live together in a self-determined way was to organize and then realize the day-to-day routine with the other group members.The aims of the project as stated in the application have totally been achieved, even though 3 participants could not perform their mobilities due to sudden indisposition and illness.All in all, the work content was relevant for the training and the different jobs. In Belgium, the participants were employed at companies that co-operate with the project partners. In Villach, the two technical assistants attended lessons at school and took part in the training. In Sweden, only carpenter trainees worked on building sites where they build wooden constructions and dry wall installations. In Mauthausen, the trainees participated in remedial actions at the barracks of the KZ-memorial. Field trips and excursions to companies and to the capital of Vienna were also part of the project.Teachers and trainers: Both were involved when (in Belgium) they assisted in their partners' classes also gave lessons or when they conducted parts of trainings at companies. In spite of the difficult context, the vocational arts teachers (at Mauthausen last summer) instructed trainees and Austrian young students together with the museum education officers at the KZ-memorial. Two teachers travelled to Mauthausen in April 2015 to prepare the next students visit. The head of division gave lessons and assisted at his counterpart's school, whereas the instructors monitored classes (Malta).

Boarders of European Union are quickly expanding and the development of skills for our European workers is essential nowadays. Indeed, crafts and companies are now dealing with international exchanges and facing a multinational competition. Qualifications and skills are therefore put into question. In order to contribute to this expansion, it is primordial to provide each apprentice with the possibility to be trained and to work on a European level. It is our duty to offer our learners such training. Les Compagnons du Devoir have always given priority to the long life learning and perform to value on-the-job learning and mobility, mainly through shared experiences, human relations and knowledge transmissions. Long-term mobility projects have always existed in our Association. It is part of our specific professional training “Le Tour de France” to have a one-year experience abroad. So far, almost 7000 of our young graduated have already benefitted from such an experience.Since 2004, more than16120 apprentices have therefore benefitted from a 3 weeks mobility project in European Union, owing to our trusted partners. Our experience allows us to choose the most suitable partners to provide our apprentices quality trainings in any of our 29 trades (industry, construction, building, baking, leather and textiles trades). Thanks to Erasmus + agreement for 2016-2018, we financed mobility for 733 apprentices in gathered mobility projects together with their class and their trade teacher (66 teachers in total); 138 young professionals left for a one-year individual mobility; 24 apprentices and post-apprentices went abroad from 6 to 12 months in order to continue their apprenticeship and 30 young participants in a 2 weeks technical training.In September 2009 we managed to officially join in the learning annex of the apprenticeship contract the 3 week mobility project abroad for all our level 4 apprentices, which show our strong desire to institutionalize the mobility project abroad into the training program of our apprentices.The enhancement of the quality of our project is owing to the developed teaching skills of our partners, who suggest a precise program compatible with our apprentices’ modules in France, with the specificities of the host country. This approach brings a value to our programs in France and comforts the employers of our apprentices, worried about this mobility project abroad of their employee. The project allowed our participants to acquire professional, language, intercultural and cross-disciplinary skills. Indeed, apprenticeship and trades are different from one country to another. Travelling is also a way to develop its adaptability and flexibility, two qualities required in the labor market. Our partners involved in our projects are training organizations, companies, social partners, consular chambers and intermediate organisms in 23 countries. Mobility is more and more recognized in those countries; therefore most of the previous work placements are renewed year after year. Years of experience with our partners allow us to organize those projects in mutual trust and prepare at best each participant for his mobility.Each apprentice’s mobility has been validated and recognized through a Europass, and for our post-apprentices, their skills and competences are highlighted on our online pedagogical platform “Aquisav”. With the idea of using ECVET system, our partners already signed the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU). For this project, the International Service has maintained relationships with partners and searched for new ones, ensured the administrative and financial monitoring of the fellowships, prepared and coordinated the pedagogical projects if necessary. The team also helped their training centers in France for organizing the gathered mobility projects and they supported apprentices who were following a 2-weeks technical training or going abroad for one year (individual mobility).This ambitious project couldn’t have been organized without the considerable investment of our staff members involved in those actions, in particular educational staffs and trainers, for which we are grateful.

Ebersteinska gymnasiet is an upper secondary school with a large number of vocational students and many of them have low grades from the nine-year compulsory school. Some of the more theoretical subjects are not perceived as important and motivating for some of these students. We have previously noticed that our mobility projects give the students motivation to study language and other theoretical subjects. Students find that they can benefit from knowledge abroad and furthermore, they know that they have to be approved in all subjects to be able to participate in the project. We now want to further develop this work and include the Plumbing Program and the Excavation and Construction Department.We plan to send 32 students during two years from the Construction Program (including the Department of Excavation and Construction) and from the Plumbing Program to vocational schools in Nantes in France, in Berlin in Germany and in Malaga in Spain in order to be able to do three weeks of their last practice period abroad. The schools in France and Germany will send students to us in a similar way. In addtition, we want to send 24 vocational and language teachers from the same program on job shadowing for a few days at the beginning and the end of the students' stay. They will take learn from the German teachers' experience of teaching about renewable energy and sustainable development and the French teachers' interest in validation, comparison of assessment and curriculum. At the Spanish school the teachers will compare curriculum and assessment. The teachers and the students will also attend a course at the machine company, Pon-CAT. There they can take note of the latest findings in the field at lectures, exhibitions and demonstrations on a display ground. Our objectives with these exchanges are:- To enhance the status of the Construction Program and inspire more students to apply to the program- To reduce the number of early leavers from education- To increase motivation of vocational students for theoretical subjects- To increase the competence, skills and the employability of students at the Construction Program and the Plumbing Program- To develop entrepreneurship and creativity of students.- To develop and assure the quality of education of the Excavation and Construction Department- To develop the education of the Plumbing program- To raise the competence both professionally and linguistically of the construction teachersTwo project groups, where the contact person and the head master is involved in both, meet regularly for planning and administration of the project. The contact person is in regular contact with our partner schools via email and telephone. Our hope is that the project will contribute to higher status of the Construction and Plumbing Programs with a quality assured education, competent teachers, motivated and creative students. We and our partners in France and Germany would like to continue our cooperation on a long term basis and we hope that our cooperation with our new partner in Spain also will develop in the same positive way.