"The New Quality of Work Initiative was launched in 2002 as a joint initiative of the Federal Government, the Länder, social insurance institutions, trade unions, foundations and employers and is supported by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Within the framework of the initiative, practical aids for SMEs are being developed. The INQA company check ""GDA-ORGAcheck - Arbeitsschutz mit Methode"" (GDA-ORGAcheck - Occupational Health and Safety with Method) is a practical aid from the initiative Neue Qualität der Arbeit (New Quality of Work) for self-assessment of the occupational health and safety organisation in SMEs. SMEs are obliged to guarantee the safety of their employees and to maintain health. The GDA-ORGAcheck - is a self-assessment tool for small and medium-sized enterprises to check and improve the quality of their OH&S organisation,- offers companies the opportunity to determine their own position on occupational health and safety,- improves the occupational health and safety organisation,- promotes trouble-free operation and product quality and thus the competitiveness of the company,- helps to avoid costs caused by accidents or malfunctions,- supports the systematic implementation of risk assessment,Within the framework of Erasmus+ projects, the applicant and the European Educational Network send an average of 250 participants (trainees in school or dual education) per year to other European countries. The participants complete internships in companies. Occupational health and safety is an important topic in the planning and implementation of stays. The partner organisations are currently examining the companies abroad for technical suitability and views of the company. During the first discussions, the topics of insurance cover and occupational health and safety are addressed and checked for correctness. The documentation takes place in a questionnaire to the first discussion for the preparation of learning stays. The aim of the project is to translate and adapt the GDA-ORGAcheck so that it can be used for project partners abroad to examine occupational safety in companies in detail and thus ensure the safety of the participants. It should be a working aid for the project partners. In addition, the occupational health and safety regulations in the countries will be compared and an ECVET learning outcomes unit on the subject of occupational health and safety will be designed, which will be involved/tried in ongoing mobility projects of the applicant, among other things. The project involves well-known partners from Malta, Ireland and Germany as well as two new partners from Italy and Sweden. They use their contacts to companies and test the ""new GDA-ORGAcheck""."

The project Sustainability in Vocational Education and Training pursued the goal of integrating the topic in the implementation of stays abroad. The basis was the learning content developed within the framework of the INEBB model project, mainly for trainers and educational staff. The project was originally planned for 2 years and was extended by one year due to the pandemic. The involved partners from Ireland, Malta and France were known to the applicant IZAG from KA1 mobility projects. The partner from Portugal was new to the team. One aim of this project was to consolidate partnerships and attract new partners for learning visits. This goal was achieved. Before the pandemic started, the applicant as well as the second German partner EBV sent 6 trainees of different professions to Portugal. The cooperation went off without a hitch. The Portuguese partner selected job-related traineeships, high-quality accommodation and took over the mentoring of the participants. During the project, the Portuguese partner sent participants to France and Malta, and the French partner sent participants to Portugal and Malta. Another objective was to develop the four units of learning outcomes according to ECVET standards on the topic of sustainability in German and English. This goal was achieved. The original plan was to convert the entire learning content of the model project into the four units of learning outcomes. The first version was too extensive and during the first trial phase with participants in Portugal, Ireland and France it was found that the content could not be taught during the learning visits. The learning units on sustainability are intended to be a supplement to the job-related learning content and objectives of a stay. In 2020, after the extension of the project, the INEBB learning content was presented to three participants who were due to travel to Malta in autumn 2020. These participants focused on the topics: Strategy, Packaging Act, Efficiency and ... ...agreed. The project team adapted the previous ECVET learning outcomes units and the testing was carried out.The third objective was to digitalise the application processes. In the first phase, the application documents, prerequisites and necessary documents required for a successful application for an internship abroad were discussed and compared with all partners. It turned out that the templates of the German partner EBV were well suited to ensure a high-quality placement abroad. These documents were the basis for an online applicant tool. This tool was only financed from EBV's own funds after the end of the project, as the development was not part of the project. www.auslandspraktikum-europa.de

For starters, the best is just good enough!Stop the ignorance in education towards brain research!Anyone who thinks that teaching literacy is peanuts and sophisticated method can wait for more demanding subjects later, is overlooking the fact that letters are the vehicle that transports us through our entire education. The entry sets the course!If one in five of the 15-year-old Europeans can’t properly read (- and this in countries like France, England, Germany, that are proudly teaching letters to every 6-year-old) then something is wrong!Worldwide the learning enthusiasm our species shows at the beginning of their lives, makes preschoolers running to school. And worldwide tired up to weary faces are sitting there shortly after.Why?Because letter-teaching enters the brain 'the wrong way round'.As wrong-way-drivers in a one-way-street teachers are fighting their way through the pupil’s honking, while right direction would be met by cheers and natural learning pace for a lifetime.Driving in the right direction from the start makes gifted pupils more gifted and those with learning difficulties integrated.But only a 'lived' alphabet is also loved.For loved ones people do everything. This is about the self-perpetuated learning school puts the usual end to.The alphabet sound-image-story is equivalent to an invention that generates change. The project provides the framework for the required interdisciplinarity.A systematic training develops step by step the compound of intrinsic creativity and scientific precision. This is to enable the creation of the sound-image-story of the alphabet in other countries and their languages:An educational tool that in addition brings an unprecedented printing product on the market, the context-transparency print. A mnemonic tool, which provides a fundamentally new direction and significance for both, the book market and digital means. An educational tool that helps tuition to escape from its diehard course, and get into the right seaways.In order to avoid any doubt about Europe having no time to lose at this U-turn, the use of the SOUND-IMMAGE-ALPHABET is accompanied by a broad comparative study in several schools. Besides writing and reading progress, also health, social behavior, reliability and the success in the remnant school subjects are targeted by the analyses.With education as its third largest export- and second biggest income-factor, Australia proves that there is a market sector that can compete with the energy industry! – Then what are we waiting for in post-industrial Europe?

"Within the framework of the two-year project, it is planned to develop at least four continuing education modules for educational staff to acquire intercultural competences and two ECVET learning outcome units for the intercultural preparation of participants. The participating vocational schools in Germany are increasingly teaching young people/trainees with a migrant background or without German citizenship. The training personnel have specialist, didactic and diagnostic skills that they acquired during their studies and were able to deepen and expand in practice. Teaching young people/apprentices with poor language skills in German makes it difficult to use tried and tested teaching materials and methods and changes teaching processes. The educational staff must be enabled to deal with the intercultural challenges of everyday school life. Two vocational schools from Lohne and Gifhorn are involved in the project, which determine/experience the needs described in the respective schools. One teacher from each of the participating schools will be involved in the development of the planned continuing education modules and actively participate in the trial phase. The participating teachers will then be enabled by the new European experiences to integrate the continuing education modules into the everyday life of vocational schools after the end of the project. The survey of teachers from three other vocational schools in Münster, Magdeburg and Stendal showed that the need described also exists, that no intercultural knowledge is imparted within the framework of the studies and that no state further training for teachers on the subject is offered. The schools will profit from the results of the project and are interested in the continuing education modules, but at the moment they cannot release any teachers for active participation in the project. An online research of the applicant resulted in the following results:- a provider who specifically offers further training in ""intercultural competences for teachers"" (general school) - 2 day seminar in Göttingen, 700 Euro, 3 modules - 5 providers Germany-wide, offering distance learning, costs approx. 500 €, duration: 2 to 6 months, focus: intercultural communication, target group: general, not specialized in teachers - other providers/courses offer general training on the topics only in full-time/presence phases, duration varies from one week up to 6 months and costs between 500 Euro and 3000 Euro depending on degree and provider- 3 projects in the Erasmus+ Project Results database that have worked on/developed intercultural themes/learning content within their projects but with a focus on trainers / no teachers (Sources: Education server of the Länder, KursNET of the Agentur für Arbeit)Targets: 1. further training of educational staff at vocational schools 2. development of four training modules -themes:3. description of two ECVET learning outcome units for intercultural preparation of participants4. extension of the applicant's European network by the integration of two new project partners (Sweden, Denmark) Target groups in the project:- Staff and teachers of the participating project partners, as well as the institutions themselves - School/college teachers additionally involved in the partner countries during the trial phase - the applicant, who will benefit, among other things, from the extension and consolidation of the partnerships - Students/trainees of the participating institutionsThe project partners from Malta, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Finland and France have experience in dealing with pupils, students and professionals from different cultures and partly carry out intercultural seminars themselves. The practical experience of the project partners is important for the development of the training modules. The learning contents already used by them for intercultural preparation, e.g. by German participants, will be incorporated into the continuing education modules. The cooperation in the project already promotes the intercultural competence of the participating persons of the project partners.Between the analysis phase and the trial phase, 7 project partners meet in each partner country for coordination and evaluation. In addition to the four continuing education modules and the ECVET learning outcomes units, a concept for implementing the continuing education modules in the everyday life of a vocational school will also be developed."