Die Strategie für das Lebenslange Lernen ... - EUROlocal

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TRANSITIONS, INTERLOCKING AND PERMEABILITY OF EDUCATIONAL DOMAINS
Learning Region “Between Rennsteig and Rhön” (Thuringia)
Model school “Career orientation”
I. Problem
Both for companies providing training and for schoolleavers,
conditions in the region are currently difficult. On
the one hand, training places are hard to find, while on the
other, many young people drop out of training at an early
stage, which is also unsatisfactory for the companies. The
background is often that the school students have no specific
ideas about the job they want, or else they are inadequately
qualified. The result is a bad decision in the choice of
career. So, after a few weeks of frustration and demotivation,
they give it all up.
II. Solution approach
goal is for all the students taking part in the project to be
allotted a training place immediately on leaving school.
We give the young people a broad selection of possibilities
for making their career choice:
• career orientation as a “teaching principle” in all subjects
in all classes;
• a school/company contact centre in the school building;
• the offer of project weeks at selected education providers;
• introduction of work-experience schemes in companies;
• maintenance of a permanent offer of excursions to
companies;
• research into the economic structure of the region.
Some 300 school students at a number of schools are
involved in the “model school: career orientation” project.
Following an analysis of skills, in which the general career
field the student hopes to enter is established on the basis of
his/her strengths, weaknesses and interests as determined
by the analysis, the students undergo a number of workexperience
schemes over a period of two years. In the first
year they get to know the chosen career field more closely,
both theoretically and practically. If they are already able at
this stage to express a career choice, in the second year they
undergo a work-experience programme in that occupation,
provided it has a recognized training course and qualification.
The work experience is taken both at an educational
provider and in a company. The idea is for this company to
act as “godparent” during the project with a view to offering
the young person a training place when he or she leaves
school.
All the school students receive a certificate of participation
issued by one of the Chambers of Trade and Industry
(HWK or IHK), which shows what particular activities they
took part in.
The aim of this project is to support the young people in
their choice of a career on the one hand, and to create an
early and lasting bond between the potential trainee and a
company (as potential training company) on the other. Our
The project has become a fixed component in the curriculum
of the schools involved.
Experience to date and feedback from students, teachers,
parents and companies demonstrate the importance
and charisma of this scheme of early and comprehensive
career orientation. The young people are particularly
enthusiastic about the way the topic is approached, as well
as the down-to-earth nature and flexibility of the scheme, and
they value the project as an important aid and support in their
own personal career orientation and career choice process.
III. Outlook
Other schools in the region have recognized the need for
this scheme and would like to be integrated into the project.
We have been able to comply with this wish in a number of
cases, and further schools will follow in the coming weeks
and months. The experience gathered so far will, we hope,
be thus put on an even broader footing and eventually bring
about a long-term change in the sphere of “career orientation
for young people” in our region.
www.lernende-region-thueringen.de