In academic discourse, teachers are considered to play a ‘key role’ in vocational orientation at school. They accompany young people over many years as they develop their skills and find their identity, they create the appropriate learning spaces and maintain contact with legal guardians and extracurricular stakeholders, ideally working together in a multi-professional team (e.g. Kayser, 2013, p. 9; Dreer, 2013, p. 150ff.; Kalisch et al. 2020, p. 190). Interestingly, however, students do not assign such a prominent role to their teachers and assign parents and peers a more important role in their career choice processes (e.g. Calmbach et al., 2020, pp. 237-238; Hurrelmann et al., 2019, pp. 80-86.). Teachers themselves also tend to see their role in other areas of school and identify a number of challenges in the implementation of vocational orientation at school (e.g. Fletemeyer et al., 2022, pp. 24-25, 31-34, 37; Knauf, 2009, pp. 241-253; Ohlemann, 2021, pp. 26-29.). Schools in the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (M-V) are also facing the challenge of implementing a cross-grade and interdisciplinary educational concept for vocational orientation at lower secondary schools. In the period 2017-2019 the University of Rostock developed a vocational orientation programme called „Mission ICH“ on behalf of the Ministry of Education of M-V in cooperation with 12 general education schools. Pupils are sent on a ‘journey’ to explore their ‘universe ME’ as well as the world of work and careers. Subject teachers and class teachers become ‘travelling companions’ and support the young people in grades 7 to 9 on their explorations. In this contribution we will take a look at the positive effects of „Mission ICH“, which can be traced through a longitudinal student survey. On the other hand we will identify the various challenges faced by teachers who are supposed to implement „Mission ICH“ in their lessons and at their school. To this purpose, we will look at the feedback from teachers in the context of further teacher training and from school management representatives in the context of implementation workshops. The contribution ends with an outlook on future needs for action and research.

Calmbach, M., Flaig, B., Edwards, J., Möller-Slawinski, H., Borchard, I., & Schleer, C. (2020). Wie ticken Jugendliche? Lebenswelten von Jugendlichen im Alter von 14 bis 17 Jahren in Deutschland. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Fletemeyer, T., Schröder, R., & Hoheisel, M. (2022). Es ist ja gar kein Unterricht für die Berufliche Orientierung da!. Zeitschrift für ökonomische Bildung, BogYo Fachtagung 2022, 23-42. Kalisch, C., Krugmann, S., & Prochatzki-Fahle, K. (2020). Lehrerinnen als Berufswahlbegleiterinnen? Die Sicht von Lehrkräften auf die Berufliche Orientierung. In K. Driesel-Lange, U. Weyland, & B. Ziegler (Eds.), Berufsorientierung in Bewegung: Themen, Erkenntnisse und Perspektiven (pp. 187–201). ZBW-Beiheft 30. Stuttgart. Kayser, H. (2013). Gestaltung schulischer Berufsorientierung – Ein theoretisch und empirisch fundiertes Konzept mit Handlungsempfehlungen für Praxis und Forschung. Darmstadt. Knauf, H. (2009). Schule und ihre Angebote zu Berufsorientierung und Lebensplanung – die Perspektive der Lehrer und Schüler. In M. Oechsle, H. Knauf, C. Maschetzke, & E. Rosowski (Eds.), Abitur und was dann? Berufsorientierung und Lebensplanung junger Frauen und Männer (pp. 229–282). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Kalisch, C., Kley, S., Krugmann, S., Prill, T., & Prochatzki-Fahle, K. (2020). „Mission ICH“ – Konzept und Arbeitsmaterialien für die Berufliche Orientierung. Rostock. Ohlemann, S. (2021). Berufliche Orientierung zwischen Heterogenität und Individualisierung. Springer VS.