For a majority of students in vocational education and training schools, and in particular for those with a migration background, reading and writing are complex cognitive and linguistic challenges that are not always mastered successfully. However, reading and writing skills are not only important requirements for successful school and professional careers, but also necessities for participation in democratic societies. Therefore, the project aims to enhance literacy in VET not only in language education classes but also across the curriculum. It develops learning scenarios in which reading and writing become meaningful activities for task accomplishment and problem-solving in everyday and working life and aims to use interactions between reading and writing in order to achieve a more sustainable learning effect. The scenarios are adaptable to the needs of the participating countries and of the apprentices that may choose different professional careers. They include reading and writing strategies training and, if necessary, focus on language exercises that activate students’ prior knowledge, “scaffold” the reading and writing processes and/or raise awareness about specific language skills and their importance for reading and writing. Teachers Training is a substantial part of the project; teachers themselves are involved in the scenario development as well as in the implementation, evaluation and dissemination of the teaching approach.
The evaluation includes students’ self-assessment instruments, focus group discussions with teachers, questionnaires assessing background information of students and teachers (e.g. gender, age, apprenticeship, country of origin, home language, etc.) and should provide results about the effectiveness of the approach in the specific country and school context. The revised scenarios and classroom materials can be considered as good practice and may serve as basis for the development of further learning scenarios.