Learning partnership

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A learning partnership is the voluntary association of organizations or people with the aim of learning with and from one another. The term has acquired meaning in the context of school-business activities as “learning partnerships between companies and schools” and in the context of transnational development efforts of the EU as “ Grundtvig learning partnership”.

Learning partnerships between companies and schools

As a reaction to the inadequate training ability of school leavers in the opinion of many companies, Günter Vollmer at the chair for chemistry didactics at the University of Düsseldorf developed a new concept for systematic cooperation between school and business in the early 1990s . The aim of the process is to better align the lessons with the help of company employees to the interests, content and professions of the surrounding economy and to make them more practical. This focus on school learning objectives and the equality of both sides is characterized by the term “learning partnership”.

The learning partnership concept was taken up by school-business initiatives such as “Schule & Co” from the Bertelsmann Foundation , “KURS 21” from the German Federal Environmental Foundation or “On COURSE into the future - Shaping cooperation between school and business” from the EU joint initiative EQUAL and is now the basis of many regional school-business cooperation networks.

In ideal-typical learning partnerships

  • schools cooperate with companies in their neighborhood,
  • the commitment of the company's employees to more business-oriented teaching is the key element of the cooperative relationship
  • the cooperation is permanent and fixed by a cooperation agreement.

Learning partnerships go beyond the often selective and incidental contacts between school and business and develop a sustainable and systematic form of cooperation. As part of such intensive relationships, experts from the company are involved in selected teaching topics or subjects, groups of pupils visit the company, pupils and teachers complete internships there, etc. As a result, pupils learn the partner company in different subjects and over a longer period of time (usually several years ) know and experience the economy and the world of work in specific contexts. Companies invest in such intensive contacts as part of their training management and in the expectation of school leavers who are better qualified for the training professions offered. Economically and over a longer period of time, this can usually only be achieved through stabilizing measures - if possible within the framework of regional networks (see below).

The establishment of learning partnerships is a multi-stage, moderated process that leads to a written cooperation agreement in which the agreed cooperation measures are recorded. A formal signing usually marks the end of the cooperation negotiations. The cooperation agreement should be reviewed annually and modified if necessary. Learning partnerships are possible in all types of general education schools and with companies from all sectors.

Learning partnership networks

Going beyond individual learning partnerships or initiatives, the Company & School Institute, founded by Vollmer in 1995, has set up stable cooperation networks between schools and business on behalf of various institutions under the acronyms KURS (cooperation between companies in the region and schools) and KSW (cooperation network school-business). These learning partnership networks are organized by "regional managers" and supported by stabilizing instruments such as further training courses, regular forums, internet platforms, newsletters or teaching materials. Are to be emphasized

  • COURSE Cologne (sponsored by: IHKn Aachen, Bonn, Cologne; approx. 500 learning partnerships)
  • KSW Mettmann (sponsor: Economic development of the Mettmann district; approx. 70 learning partnerships)
  • KSW Niederrhein (Lower Rhine Entrepreneurship Agency; approx. 50 learning partnerships)
  • KSW Bochum / Herne (responsible for the Arnsberg district government; approx. 30 learning partnerships)
  • COURSE 21: Funded by the Federal Environment Foundation and in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy , the Institute Enterprise & School built networks from 2003 to 2007 in Baden-Württemberg , North Hesse , Thuringia , Saxony and in Wuppertal with a focus on the Discussion of sustainable business. The COURSE 21 networks were continued by different organizations.

Furthermore, nationwide companies and organizations such as the AOK , the Metro Group , TNT or Kaufland have started to organize their school contacts in the form of extensive, specific learning partnership networks.

GRUNDTVIG learning partnerships

GRUNDTVIG learning partnerships offer a rather low-threshold platform for smaller cooperation activities between institutions of general adult education in the broadest sense. They aim to increase the participation of smaller organizations that have so far little or no experience in European educational cooperation.

In learning partnerships, work is more process-oriented on a topic of common interest. The exchange of experiences, examples of good practice and methods is in the foreground and should lead to new ideas that can be tested in one's own work.

The participating organizations are encouraged to document and evaluate their transnational work and to link it to the initiatives in their local area. They should therefore also work with national organizations and authorities, if possible, in order to have a solid basis for their ideas and activities and to develop suitable channels for dissemination. This increases the value of the transnational exchange and promotes the dissemination of good practices, which in turn translates into a more lasting impact of the results. The target groups (adult learners) should be actively involved in the project activities from the very beginning. The results of the cooperation should be able to be disseminated and are e.g. B. jointly created brochures, course materials, exhibitions or project websites.

literature

  • Günter Vollmer: Chemical company as partner for the development of schools - experience with the cooperation network between industry and school in Cologne. Chimica didactica, No. 3, No. 78 (1998) pp. 173-195.
  • Günter Vollmer, Christoph Merschhemke: Cooperation with companies. Professionalism, systematics and sustainability through learning partnerships and cooperation networks. School management and school development, volume 34. Dr. Josef Raabe Verlag GmbH. Stuttgart 2001.
  • Bertelsmann Stiftung (Ed.): Final evaluation of the “School & Co” project p. 26: Cooperation between companies in the region and schools. Gütersloh 2002.
  • Günter Vollmer: Companies make school. Idea & product publisher. Bonn 2005. ISBN 3-934122-18-3 .

Teaching materials for learning partnerships between school and business

  • Günter Vollmer / Christoph Merschhemke: Cooperation Network Industrial School (KIS). Materials to open up lessons. I&S GmbH Bonn / Düsseldorf 1998.
  • Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy GmbH (Ed.): COURSE 21. Learning modules for learning partnerships between school and business. 1st edition September 2004.
  • Günter Vollmer, Christoph Merschhemke, Christoph Ottmar: COURSE 21 Baden-Württemberg. Teaching materials for cooperation with companies. Institute Company & School GmbH. Bonn 2007.
  • Institute Company & School GmbH (Ed.): KURS 21 Thuringia. Schools cooperate with companies. Bonn 2009.