Exzellenz-Netzwerk Berufliche Bildung für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (BBNE) in Europa gestalten

The basis of our Network of Excellence was the desire to bring together the different centres of vocational education and training and to establish regular dialogue on excellent VET. Through this ...

The basis of our Network of Excellence was the desire to bring together the different centres of vocational education and training and to establish regular dialogue on excellent VET. Through this continuous and thematically oriented cooperation, the European Education Area for VET should be further developed. Our focus was the transformation of vocational learning places into regional centres of excellence with 360 degree sustainability education. The guiding principles were the 17 SDGs of the UN. Each country has its own approach and national conditions under which vocational sustainability-oriented education and training takes place. The exchange of very different experiences was therefore an important motivation for the close cooperation for all participants. Due to the in-depth exchange, the participants learned more about vocational education and training in our partner countries. These insights can be used for future mobilities of students and teachers in the framework of KA1 mobilities. The implementation of this project increased the interest in further Erasmus+ projects in the school communities of the participating network partners.

Within the project, 3 face-to-face and hybrid activities and 8 online meetings took place according to a common schedule. The face-to-face and hybrid meetings were organised and conducted by our partner schools in Tartu and in Borgo San Lorenzo and by BBS 1 Uelzen. The partner school in Tartu/Estonia had as its focus requirements for excellent entrepreneurship in vocational education and training. (VESD) The focus in Borgo San Lorenzo was on inclusion and vocational/career orientation. The vocational school in Uelzen set as its focus the implementation of sustainability in the context of cooperation of learning venues. Parallel to these face-to-face and hybrid meetings, online events were held for preparation and follow-up, organised by the project leader BBS 1 Uelzen. In addition, two further online meetings were held with vocational schools on the African and Asian continents on the topic of implementing the SDGs in vocational education and training. The events were communicated in the school, partner and extracurricular network (press releases, etc.) and presentation material was prepared and made available to the partners (e.g. roll-up, displays, etc.).

As a result, four reference frameworks with the different focal points on entrepreneurship, inclusion, vocational/career orientation and learning location cooperation were created by the partners. Especially in the follow-up conferences, we worked on the joint formulation and design of the reference frameworks. We were able to expand our EX-N-VESD network by involving our long-standing contacts to VET schools in Poland, Ukraine, Greece and Portugal, as we informed them about our work and gave them the opportunity to review and comment on the elaborated reference frameworks. With our African and Asian partners we have agreed on further cooperation and exchange on the topic of sustainability in vocational education and training. Overall, it can be said that the partnership with our project partners has been deepened and mutual trust has grown. In times when reservations about Europe are growing, our network is a good example of successful European cooperation.