Am 05.06.2019 war Cephas Bansah, König einer rund 206.000 Einwohner großen Volksgruppe in Ghana, zu Gast in der Berufsbildenden Schule Wirtschaft 2 in Ludwigshafen.

Begrüßt wurde der König von der Schulleiterin Frau Rief, die dem König und den anwesenden Schülern die zwei großen Schulprojekte vorstellte: Zum einen wurde der Schule im März der Abraham-Pokal überreicht, zum anderen wird das Thema Nachhaltigkeit stärker forciert.

Anschließend stellte der Initiator der Veranstaltung, Herr Wagner, dem König die anwesenden Klassen vor, die in den vorausgehenden Wochen den Besuch thematisch vorbereiteten: Während sich die Schülerinnen und Schüler der Berufsfachschule mit ihrem Lehrer Herr Jakob dem Thema „Vorurteile und Ausgrenzung“ widmeten, behandelten die Azubis zur PKA sowie die zur FKL mit ihrem Lehrer Herr Wagner das Thema „Armut und Gerechtigkeit in einer globalen Welt“.

Nach der kurzen Einführung begann König Bansah damit, aus seinem Leben zwischen zwei Welten zu berichten: Einerseits als Kfz-Meister in Ludwigshafen-Mundenheim und andererseits als König der Ewe in Ghana. Es folgten die durch die Schulklassen vorbereiteten Interviews zu den o.g. Themen.

König Bansah beantwortete alle Fragen freundlich, gelassen und mit einer Portion Humor. Er ging auf alle Fragen der Schülerinnen und Schüler ein und erhaschte bei seinen lebensnahen Beispielen viele Lacher. Warum er selbst aber nie lachte erfuhr Herr Wagner aber erst nach der Veranstaltung bei der Verabschiedung: Ein König darf nicht lachen!

Im Rahmen der Woche der Brüderlichkeit fand am 17.03.2019 im Heinrich-Pesch-Haus die Übergabe des Abraham-Pokals statt. Sowohl die betreuenden Lehrkräfte als auch beteiligte Schülerinnen und Schüler unterschiedlicher Bildungsgänge waren präsent und haben sowohl ihre Ausstellung zum Thema „Vorurteile und Ausgrenzung" präsentiert und ausgestellt als auch den Abraham-Pokal begrüßend mit einer kurzen Rede entgegen genommen.

Wir, die BBS Wirtschaft 2, fühlen uns sehr geehrt, im kommenden Jahr Ideen zu entwickeln, Projekte zu planen und diese gemeinsam mit unseren Schülerinnen und Schülern durchzuführen und freuen uns auf ein spannendes Jahr im Sinne des Abraham-Pokals.

BBS W2 ON THE MOVE: Developing a teaching and learning culture in order to promote and enhance international vocational key competences

Project (2018-2020): 2018-1-DE02-KA102-004727

Project summary:

Berufsbildende Schule Wirtschaft II is a business VET college located in Ludwigshafen am Rhein (Germany). Together with our dual partners we offer a wide range of vocational courses to complement our students' occupational hands-on experience in trade, administration and health care. Furthermore we offer various commercial courses that provide basic vocational training, state-recognised degrees as well as higher education entrance qualifications.

International cooperation and collaboration between companies have become increasingly important in today’s world of work. According to economic and technological progress prospective employees need to be equipped with international key qualifications in order to gain a foothold in the labour market and to be able to adapt to the ongoing challenges of professional change.

Therefore it is of great importance for a commercial vocational school to promote and enhance a teaching and learning culture that fosters international vocational key competences. Based on our educational curricula we would like to enhance occupational specific language skills, intercultural as well as international professional competences in particular. Moreover a globally interconnected world of work also means that future employees are additionally able to make use of digital media in a meaningful and responsible way.

Together with our partner Stage Malta we offer 13 apprentices the opportunity to do a 2-week work placement at a Maltese company. This work placement, which especially focuses on gaining international vocational competences in the above-mentioned areas, will be an integral part of their dual apprenticeship to become a management assistant in wholesale and foreign trade.

Students who attend the “Höhere Berufsfachschule” acquire general as well as professional and theoretical knowledge in commercial areas such as trade and e-commerce, office management as well as office communication and languages. A successful graduation leads to a state-recognised vocational degree as well as to a higher education entrance qualification. During the 2-year full-time vocational course students are also supposed to do a work placement in order to gain practical knowledge. Due to this we also offer 2 students to do a 2-week work placement to gain vocational intercultural hands-on experience at the school shop and practical training centre at our partner school Tietgen in Odense (Denmark).

The implementation of a teaching and learning culture that fosters international key competences also requires the broadening of pedagogical teaching methods that include the appropriate use of digital media. This will be realised in 2 job shadowing programmes which will be carried out at our partner school Tietgen. Our teaching staff will get to know practical teaching methods and concepts that also offer individual learning.

In order to include international key qualifications in lessons we would like to join the EMEU network (Engineering Mobility in Europe - http://em-eu.eu/). Together with our Dutch partner ROC Horizon College we will develop a series of lessons for our retail apprentices in which foreign students can participate and acquire an additional qualification. A successful accession to the EMEU network also means that we actively incorporate international skills in our school curriculum. Moreover we will be able to send our students to other schools in that network to acquire additional qualifications.

Above all we would also like to secure the quality programme of our school. Therefore new ideas and trends in vocational education and training are of great importance as well. Our Vice Principal and Director for Educational Affairs will attend the next EfVET conference in Italy in October 2018 (http://www.efvet.org/). EfVET provides a platform in order to strengthen vocational education and training throughout the EU. On the annual conference current trends and problems but also solutions will be discussed. These aspects shall be incorporated in our quality programme.

All the above-mentioned activities will provide the basis of establishing a teaching and learning culture throughout all levels of our organisation. In this way we expect an increase of our students’ international vocational, cultural as well as language competences, and therefore these experiences will pave the way for a successful start into a professional future. The preparation and support of student mobilities, collaboration with our European partners plus the use of contemporary teaching and learning environments will strengthen the modern and international profile of our school.

Angelika Winkelhardt (Erasmus+ Coordinator)

May 2018

Final project summary: Quality assurance through international human resource development of teachers with the aim to promote students’ competences in globalised labour markets

Project (2016-2018): 2016-1-DE02-KA102-002844

International collaboration and cooperation between companies is of major importance these days. Therefore, it is the strategic goal of Berufsbildende Schule Wirtschaft II to increase our students' employment outlook and to offer them the opportunity to gather job experience in Europe and also to promote independence, flexibility and intercultural awareness.

In order to realise this 6 teachers were selected to participate in a 4- resp. 5-day job shadowing programme at our partner school Tietgen in Odense (Denmark). There they got to know the Danish vocational education system and its major institutes.

Moreover they identified major similarities and differences as well as requirements between the German and the Danish VET system. Additionally they identified possibilities where German VET students can gain practical international experience.

Finally all these activities led to the development of a pedagogical as well as organizational concept that helps prepare and accompany our students to gather intercultural work experience at our partner school Tietgen. In the future our full-time business VET students will get the chance to do a 2-week commercial work placement at Tietgen’s school shop and virtual training company. Not only will they gain vocational insights but also independence and intercultural awareness will be promoted.

All these activities led to an increased awareness of European economic and cultural interconnectedness among our teachers. Furthermore it also strengthened our teachers’ self-confidence to prepare and accompany our students' visits abroad. Finally an internal Erasmus+ quality assurance group was established in 2017 in order to prepare and organise students’ work placements abroad systematically.

Finally we could also tighten our cooperation with our partner school Tietgen in Odense with respect to staff mobilities as well. Staff will exchange methodological and pedagogical aspects of contemporary teaching and learning in the future.

In accordance with our mission statement, Berufsbildende Schule Wirtschaft II will therefore prepare its students for the requirements of domestic and foreign labour markets better and will finally strengthen the international profile of our school and quality in teaching and learning.

Angelika Winkelhardt (Erasmus+ Coordinator)

May 2018