What a great time ! Reciprocal work placement of French and German woodworkers in both countries. publié le 01/05/2023

Within the framework of a European and linguistic project, a partnership has been established between the Walter Gropius Schule in Hildesheim (Germany) and Lycée des Métiers du Bâtiment in Angoulême.
The first concrete result of this project is the reciprocal hosting of apprentices in both countries.
From 7 March to 6 April, three students, Amélie, Athicha and Alexis, from the Lycée de Sillac carried out their work placement in Hildesheim - Angoulême’s twin city. They will remember the welcome they received from the Germans, both from the owners of the companies that hosted them and from the educational team at the Walter Gropius Schule where they spent one day a week as apprentices.
“Here, the teachers teach two subjects : Carpentry and Politics or Interior Design and Gym ! Here, some teachers keep their hats on in the workshop or lead percussion workshops with refugee classes while being deputy headmaster !
Here, apprentices can wear their veils in the workshop.
Here, classes start at 7:55 am for 3 series of 2 hours with a 25-minute break between each session. No lunch break ! Here, some teachers tolerate students eating or drinking during classes ! At 3 pm, the lessons are over !”

Vocational training in Germany is mainly in the dual system.

The other difference is that more than half of the school’s staff are apprentices, as Mr. Kracke, who is accompanying us all day long, explains !

Dual system refers to training in a company in the economy, in the administration or in the practice of an independent trade on the one hand and in a vocational school on the other, i.e. in two places of learning : in a company and in a vocational school. He suggested that we watch this video in order to understand the German system before visiting the school.

The students quickly developed a sense of belonging to their company.

Each student was supervised by an older and probably more experienced German apprentice.
The young people were surprised by the religious statues in the workshops. Easter seems to be very important in this part of Germany too.Two of the students discovered that, in the small German villages, the tradition is still alive and that it is the carpenter who can be called upon to play the role of undertakers even though coffins have been industrially manufactured elsewhere for a long time.
A partnership was also established between the craftsman who hosted Amélie and the much more developed family business that hosted Athicha and Alexis. The owners agreed to offer activities to the three students over the weekends.

During the last week of their work placement, M.Caute, the Aluminium Glass Carpentry teacher and I.Deveyneix, the English teacher, had the chance to go and meet the companies and evaluate the students. Two of them left with letters offering apprenticeship contracts upon completing the BAC exam.

A first step towards job shadowing

This was a chance to meet with local entrepreneurs and, with Rafael Meyer, the Coordinator of International Affairs & Marketing EU - Erasmus+ Project coordinator, to consider job shadowing opportunities for French teachers at Walter Gropius Schule for the next session of work placements for new students in the European Carpentry section.
The two second-year students are already looking forward to a new internship in Europe at the beginning of the school year. Amélie has applied for EMVOLPRO