Completed project · 2018–2019
Berufsschule digital – Vocational schools and their role in strengthening education in the digitalised world
In early April 2018, ten vocational schools were selected to engage intensively for almost two years with concepts and solutions for the digitalisation of VET, particularly in the context of teaching and school development. The aim of the ‘Berufsschule digital’ network, launched by the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, is to identify examples of good practice through exchange between the schools, develop them further and make them available beyond the network. The participating workshop schools receive continuous research support from the Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib) and the Institute Technology and Education (ITB) at the University of Bremen. On behalf of the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung, the two institutes support the schools in their workshop process.
Logo of the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung
The project is embedded in overarching questions of education and digitalisation in the vocational context. With the steadily advancing digitalisation of the world of work, VET faces the question of how existing dual training programmes can meet the challenges. The role of vocational schools in the digitalisation of the world of work is particularly central, as they reach apprentices from very different training programmes alike.
This also involves clarifying how vocational schools prepare young people for living and working in the digitalised world. How can comprehensive media education succeed in vocational schools, and what does this mean for the initial and continuing education of teachers? The KMK strategy paper ‘Education in the Digital World’ (KMK 2016) also addresses vocational schools, as their task is to enable the acquisition of general media competence alongside the promotion of occupation-related competences.
The vocational schools selected for the network are already successful in various areas of education and digitalisation. This expertise is to be brought to bear in the network. The workshop schools have until the end of 2019 to develop their work further. Identifying general conditions for success from the workshop process is one of the key tasks of the research support. Transferring the results beyond the network schools is a central project task.
The following workshop schools participate in the network:
Staatliche Berufsschule II, Bamberg
Berufliches Schulzentrum, Bietigheim-Bissingen
Berufskolleg Kreis Höxter, Brakel
Europaschule Schulzentrum SII Utbremen, Bremen
Berufliche Schule City Nord, Hamburg
Multi-Media Berufsbildende Schulen, Hannover
Oskar-von-Miller-Schule, Kassel
Regionales Berufsbildungszentrum Wirtschaft, Kiel
Hans-Böckler-Berufskolleg, Marl Haltern
Balthasar-Neumann-Technikum, Trier
Further information on the research project is available via the links in the blue box on the websites of the Deutsche Telekom Stiftung and the Institute for Information Management Bremen (ifib).