Job Shadowing, Erasmus+ mobilities and Vocational Education in Slovakia publié le 03/05/2024

Job Shadowing, Erasmus+ mobilities and Vocational Education in Slovakia.

From March 18 to 22, 2024, two teachers from the Pays d’Aunis vocational high school in Surgères visited K.A.B.A. Slovensko, a Non-profit Organization located in Martin, in the North of Slovakia in order to create a new Erasmus+ mobility partnership.

Damien Lacoste (Cabinetmaking teacher) and Stéphane Bauza (the English teacher responsible for the Erasmus+ mobility projects) had the opportunity to travel to the small Slovak town of Martin and meet Mr. Kubis, the coordinator of consortium at K.A.B.A. Slovensko, an adult and career counselling association (NGO) with more than 20 years of experience in implementing EU funded projects, sending and hosting participants of work mobility.

During our stay, we had the opportunity to do some job-shadowing and visit Stredna Odborna Skola Drevarska a Stavebna, a vocational high school specialized in woodwork and construction,

created in 1986 and situated in Krasno nad Kysucou. We visited the different departments and workshops of the school, shared experience with the headmaster and Slovak colleagues on the specificities of the Slovak education system, especially about VET (Vocational Education Training).

The Slovak school is a high-quality institution,

coordinator and partner in pedagogical development projects on a national level. In addition to practical skills, its staff believe in knowledge, research and technology and they make sure that their students get to work with the newest technologies in woodwork.

We also visited three companies specialized in the making of original and functional wooden furniture for public interiors and private customers in Slovakia and Europe.

Next year, they will welcome some of our joiner, cabinetmaker and computer-aided joiner students who will go on Erasmus+ mobilities in 2025.

Martin is a city of Northern Slovakia (near Zilina) which has about 55,000 inhabitants.

During our stay, we shared convivial moments with our Slovak colleagues and partners who organized cultural activities and visits in typical Slovak villages and towns (Stara Bystrica, Priekopa, Turany, Sucany, Zilina…).

On our last day, we had the honour of being received at Zilinsky Samospravny Kraj by the rector of the autonomous region of Zilinski.

The Pays d’Aunis vocational high school has been involved in Erasmus+ projects since year 2000 and the first student mobilities started in 2001. Now, we have 7 parnerships in Europe -Finland (2001), Denmark (2005), Germany (2012), Spain (2019), Norway (2022), Cyprus (2023) and Slovakia (2024)-. Our students are specialized in joinery, cabinetmaking and computer-aided joinery, and 210 of them have already had the opportunity to experience internships in European companies since we started the European advendure.

Many thanks to our European partners who have been involved in Erasmus+ projects for so many years and give our students the opportunity to learn new techniques, new ways of working and new cultures.