The project focuses on implications for professional development of teachers by introducing quality development in the field of vocational education in transnational, esp. transregional contexts. This far, vocational education in greater regions has neither occurred in research on vocational education nor on professionalization of teachers. Research in the field of the education of teachers and instructors has primordially emphasised organisational questions (Rebmann et al. 2003: 189 ff., Reinisch 2003, Pahl & Herkner 2010: 195 ff.).

Professionalization is an individual process of the recognition and solution of professional developmental tasks, which arise from societal as well as institutional conditions (Havighurst 1948/1972; Hericks 2006; Wegner 2014). This is taken up by research on learner development and educational experience (Bildungsgangforschung, see Meyer 2016; Wegner 2016) which aims at reconstructing developmental tasks of students, but also of teachers. This said we focus on learner centeredness and on the importance of the teachers´ and the students´ biographies, the didactic relevance of their self-concepts, their interests and needs, and their educational power (Meyer 2016, Wegner 2016, 2018). Teaching and learning in institutional contexts depends on the recognition and solution of developmental tasks on both sides and thus on the intergenerational negotiation of institutional interests and individual needs (Kunze/Trautmann/Meyer 2012). This is presumably the same in the institutional contexts of learning in vocational schools and of instruction at the workplace.

However, there hasn´t been any research on the professionalization of teachers at vocational schools from the perspective of Bildungsgangforschung so far. At the same time, new educational needs show up in the context of European transregions. As this appears a suitable trigger for professional development, our project aims at evaluating the contribution of a pilot project on transregional vocational education in schools to quality education and professional development of teachers.

The border regions in Europe are getting closer. They can play a crucial role in European integration which, in consequence, affects the transformation of vocational education and schooling (Dörrenbächer 2018; Friedrich/Körbel 2011; Jobstarter 3/2008). Therefore, the project involves the greater cross-border region of SaarLorLux-Wallonia, as well as the German-Danish border region and the border region of Saxony to Poland and the Czech Republic and focuses on the multilingual education of apprentices with regard to the ability to cope with communicative situations, as they are common in the respective professions. In addition, by European regulation, apprentices have the opportunity to complete an internship in a neighbouring country. The aim of the schooling and the internship should be to achieve sufficient language skills for simple customer communication. Not only from a marketing perspective, but as a general trait of human communication, it is a sign of appreciation and respect not to simply recur to a pivotal language as Latin and French in earlier times, and as English is today. We integrate those selected occupations in which the probability is relatively high that a corresponding customer contact comes about.

According to the research question “In what way does transregional vocational education in schools contribute to quality education and professional development of teachers?” the project focuses on

• the identification of relevant occupations with cross-border customer contact
• the joint development of learning material by students/apprentices and teachers
• teaching and learning in modules / internships
• the evaluation of project outcomes

In a first step of the study, occupations with cross-border customer contacts are to be identified and selected; this is likely to apply to tourism professions, retail trade, and the motor vehicle sector. The data collection is conducted through sondages among chambers and enterprises in three greater regions (Atteslander 2010). Then learning materials for job-specific communication in French, Polish/ Chek and Danish need to be developed. Language and subject teachers are involved in the development work at chosen vocational schools. At the same time, this can be a sound step in the professionalization of the teachers getting involved. We use basics of action research (Altrichter/Posch 2007) and cooperative engineering / ingénierie didactique (Sensévy et al. 2013) as core methods in this project concerning quality education and professional development. In cooperation with the vocational schools and their teachers, the third step involves conducting the teaching, as well as carrying out internships beyond the border in cooperation with the apprentices’ instructors (method: distributive implementation). The last step of the project needs to be an evaluation. A large-scale mixed-methods approach (Gläser-Zikuda et al. 2012; Kelle 2008) starting with an evaluation by asking teachers, instructors, and, above all, with students/apprentices (method: qualitative/ interviews), trying to get findings on the practicality of the project and its perceived usefulness for the education of the apprentices and of the professional development of the teachers (problem-based interviews, Witzel 1985). The hypotheses generated in the qualitative study will be tested by an online evaluation of all participants (method: mainly quantitative; e.g. Bühner 2012).

According to the research focus on transregional vocational education in schools and its contribution to quality education and professional development of teachers the following outcomes are expected:  a sound identification of occupations with cross-border customer contact via data collection in the field (first data for the SaarLorLux-Wallonia region were collected by the Ministry of Education, Luxemburg)  reconstruction and awareness of students and teachers´ needs and perspectives on quality education with regard to trans-border communication in vocational settings and development of learning material via cooperation with students and teachers  qualification of students/apprentices for professional, cross-border communication in the mentioned regions  professionalization of teachers with a view to promoting subject-specific skills in selected occupational fields  evaluation of teaching and learning in modules / internships and implementation of modules in vocational schools and dissemination of results  quality development through involvement of students/apprentices and teachers in all project phases  quality development through networking and internationalisation in greater regions The proposal highlights first steps of the project, especially the reconstruction of institutional challenges and individual perspectives of teachers and students/apprentices concerning the promotion of cross-border communication in chosen vocational settings.

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