Mobinardo Research Abroad - Learning from European neighbors in the school-to-work transition

The issue of the comprehensive language development at vocational training institutions (VTI) as well as the language promotion integrated in the specific vocational subjects has become highly relevant in terms of educational policy nationwide due to the vast heterogeneity in classes during the transition from school to profession and due to the lack of knowledge on the teachers´ side being subject teachers and subject experts. Beyond that, VTI at the international level face similar challenges, not least by the entering of a multitude of young refugees into the vocational education and training (VET) system.In everyday situations of vocational schools, it is particularly the specialized subject teachers who are trained and qualified in terms of the didactics of their professional subject, although lacking concrete potential solutions to ways for promoting the language skills of their students. The key element of the issue is characterized by mutual misunderstandings on both the teachers´ and the students´ side. Studys (for example Baethge 2014, Efing 2014, Siemon et al. 2016) emphasize the positive effect of a direct connection of linguistic and vocational learning processes. On the basis of a pilot project of the EU Service Center of the Münster District Administration having been implemented in November 2018 in cooperation with Stockholm University, our project addresses the problem of relevant language skills both of non-native and native speakers within the context of a professionalization and support of teachers involved in vocational training institutions.