Type of Project: Funded project
Development and testing of an extended practice-oriented vocational preparation year (BVJ): Extended BVJ - in two-year and cooperative form

Since 2006, the Saxon State Ministries of Economics and Labor and of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports (SMWA and SMK) have been working on benchmarks for bundling all support measures in vocational training. The result was the "Integrated Overall Concept for Supporting Vocational Skills". One key aspect is that vocational preparation measures offered by the Federal Employment Agency (BvB) will in future have lower priority than school-based vocational preparation measures. The aim of the vocational preparation year is for school leavers without a school-leaving certificate to achieve a level of education equivalent to a secondary school leaving certificate in order to have a better chance of finding a training place. In the school trial, a two-year, practice-oriented vocational preparation year is being developed and tested in a sub-project as an additional full-time school-based offer for school leavers who are unlikely to achieve the objective of the vocational preparation year in one year. The project is being implemented on the basis of the current timetable, with an increase in the practical component through the introduction of workshop days, an intensive work placement and work days in the company. Another sub-project is testing a target-group-oriented variant for a precise transition between learning support schools and vocational schools or vocational special schools in the form of a "Stretched Vocational Preparation Year in Cooperative Form". This extension of the school trial is integrated into numerous measures for improving the transition from school to vocational training that are being implemented as part of the project for the further development of special needs education in Saxony. The target group for this sub-project are students in the 9th grade of learning support schools who do not attend a secondary school education program. The aim is to test whether these students can be supported through continuous support during the transition, a targeted linking of school content (of the 9th grade and the vocational preparation year) and an individually tailored career orientation, taking into account the special educational needs, in such a way that at the end of the two-year phase they both achieve training maturity and acquire an educational level equivalent to the secondary school leaving certificate. The students decide in the 2nd half of grade 8 to participate in the cooperative form of organization. The cooperation begins in the 9th grade. Pupils from the learning support schools usually attend the vocational school / vocational special school on one teaching day and learn and work in the vocational area under the guidance of the teachers. In the subsequent vocational preparation year, the students attend the vocational school / vocational special school and acquire a level of education equivalent to that of the lower secondary school leaving certificate. They receive special educational support from teachers at the learning support school. The principal of the learning support school decides on the admission of the students to the school trial. During the selection process, the principal works closely with the regional vocational counselors of the Federal Employment Agency and the principal of the vocational school / vocational school for special education. For school leavers from the learning support school, the subproject offers special potential for planning their jobs and life paths in such a way that these young people have manageable, permeable stages that can be connected to the next stage. The school trial is evaluated by a project group of the Saxon Education Institute with the involvement of external experts.