The experience exchange lasted a week and took the participants to Warsaw, Poznan, Krakow, Katowice etc. In this area, there were 16 projects with around 500 participants from Berlin and Brandenburg.

The projects aimed to get to know the Polish VET system and prepare internships for young people from Berlin. Trainers and VET managers from both countries jointly developed recommendations and strategies for the modernisation of vocational education in both countries, and created a solid basis for further projects and economic cooperation. In addition, visitations of educational institutions and businesses, the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Economy and chambers and associations were conducted.

Trade-specific exchanges were carried out, in collaboration with the Berlin guilds for the automotive industry, bakers, butchers, painters, opticians etc. In addition, cross-discipline seminars were organized, e.g. to carry out the master’s certificate in both countries and to address the question of how skilled crafts as a career field can be made more attractive.

Internships for young people are now also common in the skilled crafts. Despite the close border, there was little interest in an internship in the neighbour country Poland. We wanted to change that. Together with VET managers in OSZs and guilds, which acted as multipliers after a seminar in Poland, a total of 19 internships for 200 young people from Berlin were organized. The internships lasted 3 weeks and were surrounded by several pre- and follow-up phases. In addition to learning new techniques in their own trade, the internships also strengthened participants’ technical, social linguistic and intercultural skills. Professions such as wood construction, scaffolding, office administration, IT, traders professionals from the retail and trade industries, painters, butchers and opticians, amongst others were represented.

Initially, the neighbouring country was strange for many young people ,- particularly the language. The positive response of almost all participants after the internship abroad has encouraged the BGZ to continue the youth exchange after the expiration of the BMBF funding, with Leonardo projects.

The German-Polish commission of experts was the “Think Tank” and the clip for the other three measures. The commission, which had an equal number of decision-makers, representatives of chambers and guilds, as well as experts from Poland and Germany, consisted of 14 members. For the workshops in Warsaw or Berlin, representatives were seconded by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Women’s issues, the Supreme National Authority for training and career promotion (AFBG), the Berlin Chamber of Small Business and Skilled Crafts. For Poland, representatives from the Ministry of Education (MEN), the ZPR the Polish Craft Association of Chambers of Commerce and the chambers Krakow, Olsztyn, Poznan and Bialystok were part of the expert committee.

The Commission’s task was to push forward fundamental issues in the German-Polish cooperation in vocational education in skilled trades. The Commission compiled opinions of and approaches to education standards of both countries, current certification opportunities in Poland, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, the impact of EU directives and regulations for future education assistance. The Commission assessed the results of the other measures, and determined the specific steps for the next exchanges.

To bring the results of the Polish-German vocational training cooperation to a broader scientific community, BGZ, together with the Berlin Chamber of Small Business and Skilled Crafts, organized the “German-Polish Forum”. Representatives from enterprises, guilds, OSZs and the administration were invited.

The platform provided transfer, publicity and sustainability of the outcome of the cooperation. Additionally, for the overall concept, it ensured the direct link to the business practice and the demands of the Berlin skilled crafts. Representatives of the expert commission gave lectures during the forum. Thus this assisted in promoting the results, putting them into practice in vocational education and training, and in gaining invigorated momentum from the praxis.

Over the project’s lifetime the forum was held six times and reached 160 participants.