Pupils at the Stormarn district vocational school in Bad Oldesloe take off.

Bitterfeld. The balloon comes closer and closer to the ground, touches down briefly and then rises into the air again. Then the landing is a success. The crew changes and the “Mystery of the Wind” adventure continues. “The flight into the rising sun was unique, but the landing was a bit rough,” says Jakob Musehold, a pupil at the Stormarn district vocational school in Bad Oldesloe.

An airfield in Saxony-Anhalt was the classroom for 31 German and Polish mechatronics and IT trainees from 18 to 22 September 2023. “Thanks to the cooperation with Ballaeron e.V. and the vocational school in Bad Oldesloe, we were able to realise our dream of ballooning for the second time,” explains Jacek Andrzejewski, a teacher at the vocational school in Gdynia. During this project week, which was sponsored by the German-Polish Youth Office (DPJW), the programme included hot air and gas balloon flights, physical experiments on the subject of air pressure, weather observations and various international workshops on aviation. “The self-built parachutes were tested by dropping a probe during the balloon flight,” reports Daniel Werstat, a teacher at the vocational school in Bad Oldesloe.

At the airfield of the Bitterfeld Aviation Association, self-catering was the order of the day and cooking took place in German-Polish groups. The games and language activities focussed on getting to know each other and intercultural learning. “I really enjoyed the meeting and made new friends,” says a delighted Nikodem Kortas from Gdynia. The professional focus of this encounter was reflected in the workshops as well as during the joint factory tour. The manufacturing process of magnets could be observed at GMB Deutsche Magnetwerke GmbH. “Magnets are used in a wide range of industrial applications, so the manufacturing process is particularly interesting for mechatronics engineers,” commented Andreas Gahrmann, class teacher of the German students.

The Stormarn district vocational school in Bad Oldesloe would like to give all pupils the opportunity to gain experience abroad and take part in international projects, as the requirements in the world of work are also becoming increasingly globalised. In addition, the positive experiences from youth encounters are among the cornerstones of a later international openness, if we make the commonalities in the young generation tangible. “It is important to us not only to guarantee the pupils' professional qualifications, but also to train socially relevant skills,” says Kai Aagardt, Head of School in Oldesloe. In addition to the balloon project weeks, international project weeks are also regularly offered in areas such as photography/media design, reminiscence work, home economics/catering and social work. The opportunity to take part in these projects is to be expanded and extended to as many educational programmes as possible. “In the last school year, we were able to enable 475 pupils to take part in international projects, which is around 25% of our student body,” adds Claudia Schecker, European Coordinator at the vocational school. This has secured the school a top position in the country. However, the aim is for every pupil to take part in an international project at least once during their time at the vocational school. The vocational grammar school has already achieved this goal, as the #StolenMemory project is organised every year as a German-Polish or German-Polish-Ukrainian encounter for the entire 11th year. International projects are also regularly carried out in Vocational Schools I and III and in vocational training preparation. This is a rarity in Schleswig-Holstein, especially in the vocational preparation programme. “We'll be taking off to Poland again next year, but we haven't decided which class yet,” adds Claudia Schecker.