Category: Activities

Final Meeting: 5th meeting Intelligent Emotional Exchanges (IE³) Hasselt 15 March 2023

On 15 March 2023, the exchange IE3 was closed. In Hasselt Belgium, all partners met for the last time. Some representatives of other institutes were also present. They were interested in the final results as presented by the individual participating institutes.

Habib El Ouakili, alderman of the city of Hasselt, opened the meeting and emphasized the importance of this exchange. Early school leaving is a major and universal problem. Embedding emotional intelligence in the guidance and curriculum of the schools has an undeniable added value. He turned out to be a strong supporter of rolling out this intervention across all Hasselt schools.

Stefan Homeyer of the EU-Geschäftsstelle Köln once again stressed the importance of euregional cooperation and the role of the EU-Geschäftsstelle in it.

The IE3 partners then presented the final results of the exchange for their institute. Because the implementation of EI is highly dependent on what is possible in one’s own organization, the results diverged. Without detracting from the quality! One of the main goals of the exchange was to realize a train-the-trainer trajectory in each partner’s institute. Here too, there is a limit to what the organization can handle! In each institute, the importance of EI in guidance was recognized. Fellow teachers and supervisors have been included in the implementation process. This was done through plenary information sessions in thematic meetings, job-shadowing, peer consultation and the transmission of techniques to colleagues during training courses. Furthermore, special rooms have been set up for student training around EI. A teaching method for students and a manual for colleagues were also developed.

In short, a very positive conclusion to a successful exchange.

4th meeting Intelligent Emotional Exchanges (IE³)

During this meeting, the participating institutes informed each other about current progress in the implementation of train-the-trainer trajectories and dissemination before the project will be closed in the final meeting on 15 March 2023.

All partners were able to report remarkable progress ranging from

– concretely developed teaching modules in written form

– manuals for teachers/supervisors who will incorporate emotional intelligence into their curriculum,

– rooms specifically set up for emotional intelligence training to conducted successfully

– implementation into the curriculum, established over a 2-year period,

– involving external partners in introducing emotional intelligence into their curriculum.

Many positive results, useful and applicable for participating partners and external parties, were made in this meeting.Fixed part during the meetings are the tour in the host school and a workshop, strongly related to the applicability of emotional intelligence.

During the tour, the practical classrooms were visited and the strong collaboration with partners in industry and commerce was emphasized.

Monika Endner conducted the workshop “Knowing and feeling what is really important to us: a training in treating oneself and others with understanding and empathy,” in which many practical exercises were provided.

We thank all partners for a very valuable and inspiring day.

Kick-off meeting Intelligent Euregional Emotional Exchanges IE³

The “kick-off meeting” for the project had to be postponed several times due to the measures surrounding Corvid-19.
The time line in a nut shell:

March 24th 2021: Kick off in Aachen and by Skype
June 16th 2021: Exchange in Aachen at Käthe Kollwitz Schule BK. Amongst other activities Ron van Achteren, ROC van Amsterdam, is going to provide a workshop on a councelling module for all vocational classes starting a vocational study.

November 9-11th 2021: training ‘Handling emotional intelligence’ by STEP in Ljublana, Slovenia.

On March 24, 2021 it was possible for EB to officially hold the physically “kick-off meeting” in the “Handwerkskammer” of Aachen (Chamber of Commerce) with a limited number of participants. The other project partners participated via “Skype”.
The focus of the meeting was on the core theme of the project: reducing early school leaving through the implementation of emotional intelligence in the guidance and curricula of the participating VET institutions.
The division of roles within the partnership was definitively determined during the meeting:
EB Foundation is responsible for the overall project management.
Berufskolleg Herzogenrath is responsible for the quality assurance, an important part of the exchange. Different measurements are always taken, a “0 measurement” for the initial situation, an “interim” for the intermediate result and a final measurement. In addition, questions are asked after each meeting that can be used to optimize and prepare the following meetings.
Berufskolleg Jülich is responsible for summarizing the substantive documents provided by all partners in a final report for all partners.
HAST from Hasselt (Belgium) and VISTA with courses in Maastricht, Sittard and Heerlen (Netherlands) are responsible for the substantive quality of the teacher training at partner STEP in Slovenia. In addition, after the training at STEP, they supervise the progress of the “Train the trainer” courses at the partner institutes.
A platform for internal communication has been set up in “Google Drive”. All documents of importance to the project partners can be downloaded here and can be viewed by authorized persons. For example, the “to-do list”, on which all measures and tasks are listed for the smooth running of the entire project.
The next meeting is scheduled for June 16, 2021 and will take place at Berufskolleg Herzogenrath, Germany.

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2nd meeting in the context of IE3

On Wednesday June 16t^h 2021, our 2nd meeting took place in Herzogenrath/Germany in the context of IE³. Despite some restrictive Covid related measures, we can look back on a successful meeting. In addition to a functional agenda, the partners presented each other’s experiences and plans regarding early school leaving. In addition to this, but also in preparation for the planned training ‘Emotional intelligence’ in November 2021 in Ljublana/Slovenia, Ron van Achteren of ROC Amsterdam gave a workshop in which he presented the school leaver approach of his ROC and provided ideas for setting up train the trainer pathways. In short, a very valuable meeting. All look forward to training in Ljubljana.

Training in Ljubljana, Slovenia

November, 3 2021

From 9 until 11 November, the third meeting of the project IE³ will be held in Ljubljana. The Slovenian partner STEP will provide a train-the-trainer course in the field of Emotional Intelligence (EI). It is of great importance within Euregional vocational education to reduce early school leaving by implementing measure to support emotional intelligence.

About 20 teachers, counselors and directors from three German vocational schools and two large regional vocational training centers in South Limburg (Netherlands) and Hasselt (Belgium) will participate in the training.

After their return, the participants of the Slovenian training will share their experiences and tools in their own institutes and partner schools of general secondary education and other vocational schools by means of train-the-trainer courses

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3e meeting Intelligent Emotional Exchanges 300322

On 30^th March 2022 the IE³ partners met for the 3^rd time. This time in Heerlen (The Netherlands) where the regional Training Centre VISTA college was the receiving partner. This meeting was dedicated to the exchange of information about the progress that has been made with regard to the implementation of emotional intelligence in the curriculum and/or student guidance strategies and the progress in train-the-trainer trajectories. Furthermore, an interesting tour was provided at location VISTA college Valkenburgerweg in Heerlen. Beautiful building, lots of light, large spaces and very well equiped practice rooms. René Esser of Käthe Kollwitz Schule Bk (Aachen, Germany) gave a presentation about his work as a supervisor and counselor at his institute.

In interactive sessions, the partners presented their progress in the aforementioned areas: various strategies for approaching colleagues inside and outside their own institute, top-down and bottom-up, setting up special spaces, plenary information through presentations during teacher meetings, educational cafés, ‘Hydepark corner’ constructions and pitches. Hast Hasselt was even able to report that Emotional Intelligence will have a fixed, so structural, place in a curriculum of general subjects. Well done! In short, a range of possibilities for internal and external dissemination.

Finally, under the leadership of Andrej Juričko of our Slovenian partner STEP, implementation strategies were discussed.

The day ended with a joint social dinner. We look back on a very successful and informative meeting.

16-06-2021 Exchange in Aachen at Berufskolleg Herzogenrath

Exchange in Aachen at Berufskolleg Herzogenrat with guest speaker Ron van Achteren of ROC Amsterdam. Ron provides a workshop on a guidance module that he provides to all starting groups at the ROC.

09-11-2021 STEP Training Dealing with emotional intelligence

Training ‘Dealing with emotional intelligence’. Teachers and trainers/coaches are trained in applying techniques to use emotional intelligence in reducing early school leaving.