final project reports

Details

Published: 14 June 2016

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

Hello, my name is Tim Stiefel. I am 16 years old and I am in Form 10 at Progymnasium Altshausen. I participated in the Erasmus+ Programme founded by the European Union. Our project “Fit for Job“ deals with career guidance in different countries and what we can do to improve it.
My career plans are to become a physicist or an engineer. I found out a lot about career plans thanks to the projects I did at my school. I took tests about self-evaluation, my strengths and hobby analysis. It came out that my skills fit to my career choices. Besides, I took part in many activities around career orientation. I went to exhibitions about jobs and companies at different schools. I participated in work placements and I went to look at different companies. All these projects and activities helped me to develop myself and to find out which job I want to do later in life. I will attend a technical high school in September 2015 and I plan to do more work placements and holiday jobs.
With the Erasmus project, I also visited Italy in April 2015. I lived with a really nice host family there and I learned a lot about the cultural differences. We were introduced to the major of Cento and got guided tours through Cento, Ferrara and Bologna. We also visited Ferrari in Maranello and other different companies. We worked together with pupils from Latvia and Italy. We compared the different career orientation programmes and tried to improve them.
I really liked the project a lot. I collected new impressions, learned about other cultures, found new friends and did something useful for the international cooperation of pupils.

Complete report in German by Tim Stiefel (PDF, 1 MB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

In the following report, I will describe my experiences during my job orientation process and the Erasmus+ project “Fit for Job“. My biggest career wish is to work as an office administrator. Some information about this job includes the fact that the apprenticeship lasts three years. The required skills are: good communication and teamwork abilities, computer literacy and good typing skills, plus a good level of English spelling and grammar.

Speaking about my strengths, there are for example my Maths skills, my reliability and self-confidence. During the activities we did for job orientation, I also had the chance to discover some of my personal assets. My BoGy-internships were: a training period with Siemens Company and a social practical training in a kindergarten. I consider that both of them were very useful and helped me doing some progress in my career orientation process.

In the future, I plan, on the one hand, to do some more internships in good companies and on the other hand, a language course in England.

In spring, I went to the Italian city of Cento for the Erasmus+ project “Fit for Job“. The goal of the “Fit for Job“ project is to show us students how  job orientation and training systems work in different countries.  I can mention some information about the exchange week in Cento, as part of improving our work experience in different fields.  On Monday, we visited the city and the biggest company named “Baltur plants“. On Tuesday, we visited one of the biggest automaker companies, Ferrari, which was for me the most interesting day. The program for Wednesday was to visit Ferrara, a city that has about 100.000 inhabitants and a very reach historical inheritance. On Thursday, we went to a vocational school, where they showed us interesting things about the production of the typical Italian Parmigiano cheese, and explained us how the famous Aceto Balsamico is made. On our last day, we visited Bologna, a city with ca. 400.000 inhabitants and many beautiful sights. My exchange partner, the family and the other pupils there were so friendly and nice that I would have loved to stay longer in this beautiful city. Evaluating the exchange week, I can tell you that my socio-cultural and my language skills improved a lot. I liked it very much in Italy and my rating of the project is definitely positive. I have also learned many useful things for my future career, as for example, that teamwork is a milestone for working in a successful company.

Complete report in German by Maximilian Stadler (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

My name is Lucas Katzenmaier, I am 16 years old and I participated in the Erasmus+ project, which is funded by the European Union. My career wish is to make my living in journalism later on. I am really interested in it. My strengths are that I can work well in teams, I am patient and I love meeting new people, especially from foreign countries. My favourite subjects are French, English, German and Maths.

The reason why I applied for this project is because I simply love getting in contact with foreign countries, foreign people and cultures. Plus, as there is a possibility to do career orientation abroad, I decided to take the chance. Now, after looking back on this project time, I do not regret it at all.

We have a career orientation programme called BoGy (Berufsorientierung am Gymnasium) at ourschool and we even have a career orientation class in Year 9. A big thank to Mrs. Widmann at this point, because she influences for a big part the success of our career orientation process. Many activities of the Erasmus+ project are connected with career orientation. For example, there are a lot of job fairs in our region, to which the whole school is invited to go to or the Employment Agency in Germany (Agentur für Arbeit) that supports us, too. There, we have the possibility to get information about career plans and that is a great opportunity for all of us.

The most important thing of our career orientation programme is still the participation in two placements we have to do in Year 9. One placement is in a firm, which can be chosen by the pupils themselves, the other one is in a social institution like a kindergarten or a so called „first-world-shop“. Personally, I think that only  practical experience can lead to a successful career, because discussing and learning about a job just theoretically it is not enough.  Furthermore, every student has got the possibility to do a placement voluntarily during vacation. It is an extra one besides school. Most firms in our regions are quite friendly when it comes to placements. Our application are accepted almost every time and so, basically, every pupil of my school has the same chance to collect more experience in the career orientation process.

I am working for the local newspaper. This work includes writing texts every week and that is enormously good for my own career orientation process. I can specialize in my personal theme of interest and I am not forced by anyone (teachers, etc.) to go in a special kind of job group. When it comes to my plans for the future, I do have quite a lot of them. Last October, I participated in a youth press congress in Paderborn, which was hosted by the Young Leaders GMBH. I plan to attend another event of the Young Leaders Company. I am also quite sure about the idea of going abroad after I will have reached my High School degree in 2017. Then, I will have many opportunities of working, studying or living abroad.

Generally, I think it is always a good thing to know new countries and new people. This reason brought me to the exchange week. In April 2015, I went to Cento for the Erasmus week there. I lived in an Italian host family and I really appreciated the fact, that they were really friendly and nice to me. So I felt like an Italian after this week, because it is always a different thing when you also live in a host family in a foreign country and have to speak a foreign language. Besides all the cultural and linguistic impressions from this week, the main point of the Erasmus week was the international career orientation programme there. I definitely came further in my professional development. Not because through this experience I would know which job I want to do later, but because, though all the excursions in Italy I have learnt a lot. We visited a lot of local companies and got much information there. I really appreciated that we were shown so many different job directions like tourism, agricultures and also the service business. The most interesting thing was definitely Ferrari. I loved the workshops there and also the museum. Moreover, it is actually the only company we have visited and in which I could imagine to work. Anyway, the other companies and people we have met there were very interesting too, and I also liked getting in contact with the other Latvian and Italian pupils. I am in contact with some of them until now.

Summing up my report, I would like to add that the whole Erasmus+ project Fit for Job is a great thing and it surely is a useful way for the EU to spend its money. In conclusion, the project reached its goal, in every way, both culturally and as to career-orientation. I can recommend every pupil in Europe to participate in this project because it makes the own horizon wider and you get the chance to get to know so many great things. In my opinion, the project absolutely succeeded.

Complete report in German by Lukas Katzenmaier (PDF, 745 KB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

One of my assets is the good handling of people. I like working and being together with others. Due to my favorite sport, soccer, I have learnt what it is like to be responsible or to pay attention to someone. The next point is that I’m very patient and I think that this is the reason why I can deal very well with children. I’m rarely stressed, which is one of the things my friends like about me. I am sure that I’m reliable, polite and punctual. I am able to take care of other people and I try to be a good social fellow-man.

I have a few ideas about what I would like to do and work in my future. I’m very interested in Psychology and Pedagogy. By now, I know that I will probably work together with other people. My dream jobs are to become a psychologist or a therapist, especially an art or sport therapist. For the psychologist profession it is needed to study Psychology and for the sport therapist job you have the choice between studying Sport Science or Physical Therapy Sports. To become an art therapist is a bit complicated because the job title “art therapist” is not proprietary. This means that, normally, everybody could become an art therapist without any schooling. But there is some training and there are also studies. If you want to be a good art therapist and if you want to have a good chance for a job, it is necessary to be well trained.

In my free time, I have already made three hands-on trainings that I really enjoyed. At the Progymnasium Altshausen, there are many different activities to improve the pupils` knowledge about studies and jobs. One of these options is, for example, visiting job fairs.

I like the BoGy lessons (Berufsorientierung am Gymnasium) and the hands-on training during one week. In my opinion the BoGy lessons are very important because it is good to know your own abilities and be able to handle with them. These lessons offer many possibilities to become aware of your skills and also of your weaknesses, for example, by doing an analysis about someone’s hobbies.

The hands-on trainings are useful because the pupils learn there so many new things and get a huge practical experience. For example, the letter of application is the first step of getting such a hands-on training and also the first step to the future job.

For my future, I plan to do more of these trainings because they are the best opportunity to explore the world of work. Another option of taking a look at the professional world is to make a FSJ (voluntary social year) and I am sure that I will consider it after doing my A-levels.

The Progymnnasium would improve its concept if the pupils had to do two hands-on trainings instead of one. In my opinion they mean such a good and important experience for young people. And whatever you want to become later, you will always have something to learn from the practical training. Another suggestion is to compare the dream jobs from class 5 to class 9 in the BoGy lessons. The pro about this option is that the pupils can analyse themselves the differences and they can think about the way their dream jobs changed or not.

The last point I would like to mention is the connection between the BoGy lessons and the English language. In my opinion, English is such an important language in today’s world. You need good English skills for the most jobs and therefore, it is always useful to be able to speak it.

Complete report in German by Laura Renz (PDF, 213 KB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

My name is Julian Sauter, I am a 15 year old boy from Germany and a pupil at Progymnasium Altshausen. The Erasmus+ Project was presented to us a year ago. In this project we could do a lot of job orientation and exchange with one of the two partner schools from Latvia and Italy. I would like to tell you what I did in my job orientation process before this project started. In class 9, we had two job orientation lessons each week, where we learned what we are good at or not , and how to find out more about our personal skills. Personally I think my skills are good in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering. That is the reason why I want to become a mechanical or an electronics engineer. I like working with materials like wood or metal and little electronic components. You can study all these Engineering subjects at a University. Another thing we did for the job orientation was a practical training in a firm you could choose for yourself.

In the Erasmus project you can see the way other schools in different countries do the job orientation and preparation for students' later careers. In my exchange, I went to Italy for one week, from the April 19th to 25th. There we visited a lot of factories and schools. The program was very interesting. On Monday I went with Alice, my exchange partner, to a Religion lesson. After that we took part in  a guided tour through the city of Cento and saw a lot of interesting cultural sights and modern art. In the afternoon we went to Baltur Plants, a big factory in Cento, which produces air conditioning systems. On Tuesday we visited  Ferrari in Maranello. It was the most exciting day of the week for me. We watched two presentations about the marketing and success strategy of Ferrari. At the end we could also visit the Ferrari museum with all their amazing cars. On Wednesday we went to Ferrara city, where we had a presentation and a guided tour. The presentation was about tourism in the region of Ferrara and the tourist potential of the region. In future they want to make Ferrara and its surroundings more attractive for tourists because they consider the region to have much to offer and good chances to develop. On Thursday we learned a lot about the local agriculture. In the morning we were shown how to make the typical ´´Parmeggiano Regiano´´ and in the afternoon, the special vinegar of this region. On Friday we visited, together with my exchange partner Alice, Bologna. Bologna is a big university city and has 380.000 inhabitants. We took a guided tour through Bologna, too.

In conclusion, I can say that the week in Italy was very interesting for me. I  learned a lot about the economy and job orientation in Italy. If I get the chance to do another exchange, I will surely take it, because this kind of exchange offers good opportunities for pupils to learn about other European countries, their economy, culture and people.  In my opinion, the Erasmus+ Project is a very good educational project.
 

Complete report in German by Julian Sauter (PDF, 766 KB)
 

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

Hello, my name is Carolin Trautmann. I am a 16 year-old girl from Germany and I go to school at Progymnasium Altshausen. I take part in the Erasmus+ Project because I would like to see other countries and know more about their cultures. I also think that this is a good way to find out what kind of job you would like to do later.

This year I was in Cento, Italy. The project started with the BOGY lessons at our school. Through these lessons we have learned how to find out about our professional skills and how to search for jobs that match with our skills. Moreover we have practised how to write an application in German and English.

One day I would like to become a chemical-technical assistant because  I like our biology and chemistry lessons at PG. In this job you have good chances to make a career.

In Italy I learned many things about the Italian culture and history. I was involved in the everyday life of an Italian girl and my host family was very nice. We also visited many old buildings and churches where you could see impressive old mosaics.

The main attraction of the whole journey was the visit to the big companies Ferrari and Ducati. We found out how the machines are produced and how these firms develop their marketing. It was a really  interesting experience. 

Complete report in German by Carolin Trautmann (PDF, 465 KB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 9, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

I am Julia Seeger, a 14 year-old girl from Germany. I participated in the Erasmus+ project, which is funded by the European Union. In the future, I want to become a lector because I am really interested in reading and reviewing books.

My strengths are that I am good at music and maths.

At my school, we have a lot of activities for our career orientation. We can do work placements and visit several different companies. It is very useful because you can learn important things about different careers.

In February 2016, I went to Italy with five other girls. There I lived with a very, very nice host family and I could learn a lot about a different culture. In Italy we worked together with Italian and Latvian people, and we had interesting guided tours through cities like Bologna and Cento. It was a great time and I really could improve my English.    

I think, the Erasmus+ project is a very good project in which you can learn a lot.

Complete report in German by Julia Seeger (PDF, 789 KB)

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 10, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

Hello, my name is Jan-Philipp Schübel. I am a 16 years old student in Class 10 at  Progymnasium Altshausen. I take part in the Erasmus+ “Fit for job“ project which is funded by the European Union. In this project you learn a lot about the different career guidelines in other countries.

After having finishedschool I want to become a judge or a political scientist. In this project I learnt a lot about my strengths as we did a hobby analysis combined with a self-evaluation. I and my class went to the “BIZ” in Ravensburg, where we did a lot of tests with a special computer program that helped us to find out our skills.

The major activity in this project was our journey to Latvia were we had among other things the chance to improve our English skills. We learned a lot about the Latvian culture and the  country itself. All of us had a nice host family that welcomed us heartily. We saw a lot of sights in Riga, which is the capital of Latvia. On one day of this exchange week we visited the cities Sigulda and Cesis near Riga. We worked together with the students from our exchange school, to compare the differences between the different orientation programs in our countries.

The project is a very good idea to combine job orientation and cultural information about another country. I have made new friends and I hope my participation in this project will help other students with their job orientation, too.

Complete report in German by Jan-Philipp Schübel (PDF, 556 KB)          

Details

Published: 12 June 2016

Form 9, Progymnasium Altshausen

English abstract

My name is Anna-Lena Schübel and I really enjoyed my exchange week in Riga, Latvia. Later on I would like to become a social worker (penitentiary) or a psychotherapist, because I am  good at working with other people and I enjoy helping them with their problems. In order to become a psychotherapist, you have to study psychology or medicine. As a psychologist you have good chances to get a job. As a psychotherapist it is harder because there are a lot of young people studying psychology and most of them want to become psychotherapists.  Your chances are much better as a social worker  because nowadays they are needed everywhere. You can work in schools, for homeless people or for example, what I want to do, in a prison. To become a social worker there you need to study social work.

At the moment I am not very sure about my decision for a profession, so I’m pretty glad that our school is offering a lot of different programmes to help us finding the right job. In class 9 we have the BoGy lessons (job orientation for the Gymnasium). In these lessons we learn how to apply for a job, we learn about many different jobs and we go to the BIZ (Job Information Center) for counselling. For me personally, the highlight was the placement we did in different companies.  We have learned a lot and it was like the first step into the world of real work. Considering these good experiences, I plan to do some more placements later.  After taking my A-Levels, I’d like to do a FSJ (voluntary social year) or go abroad to improve my English skills and learn about new cultures.

I had really good experiences in my exchange week in Riga, so I am pretty sure that I would like to do it again. I had such a great time with my host and with the students from the other countries. Moreover I have learnt about new cultures and improved my English skills. It was hard to talk in a foreign language for a whole week but I got used to it after the second day. The program in Riga was really interesting. We have found out a lot about the forest industry. Visiting the University of Latvia was great too, because we could monitor a biology student over a normal day at the university. Another highlight was the culture evening, where students presented their country, town and school. We had good conversations and fun for the whole evening. I have also noticed some cultural differences especially about the meals but also about the school system where the students can choose their materials/subjects on their own.

The Erasmus+ “Fit For Job” program was definitely a great experience. I have learnt a lot about careers and I improved my English skills.

Complete report in German by Anna-Lena Schübel (PDF, 752 KB)