EKW

Vocational training in Germany and the Netherlands
should prepare students for the cross-border labour market. This enables
graduates to work in both countries, which also corresponds to regional policy
guidelines, such as the Grenzlandagenda NRW-Niederlande 2022. To achieve this
goal, young people need to experience that there are many opportunities across
the border. We want to ensure this by further developing and implementing
euregional Kenniswerkplaatsen (EKWs).
An EKW is a meeting
platform for vocational school teachers, students, companies and knowledge
institutions from Germany and the Netherlands. There is one EKW per sector,
where participants exchange information about innovations and promote
euregional learning and working. The focus is on identifying Euregional skills
such as company culture, language and specific technical content in the
neighbouring country. Subsequently, the Euregional skills are integrated into
the education, for example through “didaktische Jahrespläne” and “keuzedelen”. Companies
play a key role in this process. The companies know best which skills the graduates
from the neighbouring country need to have. The apprentices also play an active
role: in binational teams, they carry out exercises in order to acquire the
desired skills in terms of language, work culture and professional content in
practice.
The EKW project is a
partially open project. That is why, in addition to the core schools, many
other schools and companies are involved in the specific exchange activities
and in the further development of Euregional vocational training in the EKWs.
More than sixty German-Dutch exchanges have already taken place as part of the
EKW project, from which around 1,800 vocational students have benefited. Cultural
and social aspects have always been just as important as technical subjects.
For example, German and Dutch metal technology apprentices visited the
production of Johma Salades in Losser together, and the cosmetics classes found
out about trends and innovations at the BEAUTY trade fair in Düsseldorf.