Type of Project: Funded project Model project Transnational project
nenA-LIve 'Developing and using competencies sustainably through exchange in Europe - Realizing ideas in a lifeworld-oriented way'

A total of 36 pupils with learning and mental disabilities from special schools in Magdeburg will increase their chances of finding an apprenticeship place and significantly develop their mobility, intercultural and self-competence through specially prepared and designed stays abroad in France (partner: IME Loos) and Poland (partner: OHP Poznan). In addition, they should successfully complete secondary school. To this end, IB Magdeburg and ABV Magdeburg-Braunschweig are cooperating with BbS "Hermann Beims" Magdeburg under the coordination of MA&T GmbH. Interested strategic partners are the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the employment agency and several organizations for the disabled in Magdeburg. The core of the project is the establishment of a "European class" for a vocational preparation year, which includes a four-week internship abroad for the students. In a preceding one-week orientation week, also in the host country, the students can first get a taste of various occupational fields in the fields of agriculture and nutrition in French or Polish educational institutions and with their corporate partners, identifying their personal interests and strengths. They then prepare their own four-week internship abroad in their chosen occupational field. The actual job testing then takes place during the professionally supervised internship. The students document their personal impressions and experiences in pictures and in writing. These self-developed experience reports are included in their examinations for the secondary school leaving certificate. The students are accompanied by a team of social pedagogues and psychological specialists throughout the entire one-year process. The participating students are selected by means of diagnostics of their intercultural competencies. For this purpose, a set of methods is developed, consisting of psychodiagnostic instruments, exercises and games, embedded in a two- or five-day scenario that meets the specific needs of the target group. Pre- and post-testing will take place to map the competence growth effects achieved through this specially designed year in the European class. One orientation week and one internship abroad with up to twelve participating students are carried out per project year. In the follow-up to the internship, individually tailored support is provided to each student to help them plan their future in vocational training, employment or secondary school. The second target group is 12 young people at Threshold 2 with learning and intellectual disabilities. They have recently completed supported (partial) vocational training and have not yet been subsequently placed in employment. In two groups of six young people each, a four-week internship abroad in Poland should help to noticeably increase the self-esteem, personal skills and mobility of these young people. This internship is to take place once each in 2012 and 2013. As a return visit, one group each of French and Polish experts will come to Magdeburg to bring together approaches and experiences. Three thematic expert conferences will deepen the project approach, the instruments used and the experiences in three directions: efficient competence diagnostics, design of practical transnational exchanges of special needs students and cooperation in the integration chain, especially in the transition from school to job. Source: Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Homepage IdA - Integration through Exchange, http://www.ida.de