Bridging an expanded learning arena - Strategies for building mutual links between education and working life

Haram Upper Secondary School (HUUS) is seated in Brattvåg, the centre in the municipality of Haram, and is the only upper secondary school in this area. It is located in the north-west of Norway, 40 km from Ålesund and 60 km from Molde (on the coast between these two towns).
The school was established in 1975, and is, from 1981 on, a combined school with 320 students and 50 teachers. It offers specialisation courses in:; mechanics, electronics, health care, general knowledge subjects (of sixth form) and a four-year course combining ”sixth-form” classes with qualifications for a craft certificate within the technical sector.
The school also offers a course focused on refrigeration and heat pump technology.
HUUS organises an exchange for the county of Møre & Romsdal which involves 16 pupils spending an academic year at Armadale Academy, West Lothian, Scotland each year. The pupils are from the whole of Møre & Romsdal and in 2012 there are 2 pupils from HUUS.
During the last 7 years the school has also had a partnership with the Norwegian Study Centre in York, and as the only participating upper secondary school, has had the opportunity to send students and representatives from local businesses on courses there.
For many years there has also been cooperation with the Technical & Industrial School “Arturo Malignani” in Udine, Italy. This cooperation has resulted in 7 different Leonardo and Comenius projects.
The school lies in an area which has been in close contact with the outside world through its fisheries, merchant fleet and industry. Since 1940 industries with an international market have been established. Today there is a strong maritime industry which is an integrated part of an industrial cluster in this region of Norway. In the community there are two shipyards and several manufacturers of maritime equipment. Most of these enterprises are owned by international companies such as Rolls-Royce and STX Europe.
HUUS is an innovative school, a relevant school for the present and the future in the community, which tries to identify possibilities and take opportunities. The school has over the last years focused on Active learning, ICT-education, Alternative/extended learning arenas and International cooperative activities.
Through this project HUUS hopes to give its pupils an early meeting with working life, see employment opportunities, improve school learning and its cooperation with working life.

Armadale Academy is a six-year comprehensive school offering our 779 students in the Armadale/Blackridge area a progressive, relevant, challenging and enjoyable curriculum. The school was established in 1968 and moved to new premises in 2009. The school offers the full range of National Qualifications found in a modern Scottish secondary school.
Armadale Academy is the host school for students from Møre og Romsdal in Norway. This involves up to 20 pupils spending an academic year at Armadale. This programme is planned on a three year cycle and has been running for two academic sessions. School improvement priorities of international education and developing a sense of ambition in our students has resulted in an agreement with Teda No 1 Middle School in Tianjin Province, China. This resulted in a Senior Team visit of students, staff and a Local Councillor in October 2012 to China and a reciprocal visit in March 2013. It will lead to annual exchange visits for pupils and staff.
Armadale Academy is part of West Lothian Council and has significant areas of social and economic deprivation within its catchment. Unemployment rates within Armadale/Blackridge are higher for adults and young people compared to the West Lothian average. The percentage of pupils entitled to free meals is higher than the national average. The school is a LEAPs Category 1 school which allows enhanced support for our students seeking a place a university. Proportionally, more of our students seek employment when leaving school than the national average.
Through this project the aim is primarily to improve opportunities for pupils who are seeking employment as their preferred destination when leaving school. Developing in these students the skills and qualities relevant to securing employment or starting a business. With the starting point in local industry, Armadale is currently the location of a £200 million private investment programme centred on the new railway station, the aim is that through new working methods, including learning from our international partners and their context, to build stronger links between school and industry locally. Armadale Academy has built links with a range of businesses in the local area and is seeking to strengthen partnerships through this project. Together with partners in the project the aim is to give the skills and qualities that will allow them to play their part as effective contributors to the local and national economy.

Technical High School “A. Malignani” in Udine is one of the biggest Italian secondary schools, one of the best in the country and a focal point in the territory for industry-oriented education and training. Since the 1930s the school has qualified over 25,000 students and a relevant number of them have given a big contribution to the development of industrialisation in Friuli, a north-eastern region of Italy near the Austrian and Slovenian borders. Malignani Institute offers highly specialised technical staff to industry, is constantly in contact with Confindustria Udine (the association of the industries of the Province of Udine) and directly in contact with the biggest companies in the area. The school, with at present over 2,500 students, offers seven specialised curricula: Aeronautical Engineering, Building Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Automation, Computer Studies and Telecommunications, Chemistry, Materials and Biotechnologies, plus a Scientific and Technological Lyceum. The school follows with attention the development of modern technology and searches for new educational opportunities which may grant its students facilitated access to the national, European and international labour market. Since the early ‘90s, Malignani Institute has been cooperating very actively with other education institutions in the field of international projects. It has taken and is taking part as a coordinator or a partner in several European Projects (Petra, Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates and LLP). In 1992, as a consequence of its participation in a Petra European Project, it started experimenting teaching syllabus subjects in English after the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) model with very good results in terms of gains in pupils' foreign language competence. The Institute has been an ENIS (European Network of Innovative Schools) school since the start of the international project by the Italian Ministry of Education. Since 2010 Malignani has also been an education and training organization at a university level (Istruzione Tecnica Superiore - High Technical Education and Training) in the sectors of Mechatronics and Aircraft Maintenance Engineering.
Through this project, Malignani aims to develop new teaching/learning practices to increase pupils' employment opportunities and improve its cooperation with the local companies.