According to the new standard vocational training positions of the Federal Institute for
Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), sustainability should be taken into account
in the cross-section of the training process both in the company as well as in the school.
But how can this be realised? For the school as a place of learning, this question is not
only based on the requirement to take sustainability into account in teaching and learn
ing processes, but also as part of holistic school development in the sense of the so-
called whole school approach.
Extensive expertise and materials are available for the company as a place of learn
ing due to past pilot projects. A practical guide has been published (among other
things) on the transfer of these pilot project results to the school as a place of learning,
which provides information on the holistic consideration of sustainability in the devel
opment of vocational schools. Nevertheless, it cannot be assumed that school-based
VET staff will be able to implement this expertise and material in the school learning
environment without any problems, despite a fundamentally more extensive didactic
and pedagogical professionalisation. For this reason, both future teachers during their
studies and during their traineeship as well as teachers who are already teaching in
dual training need to be appropriately professionalised for this transfer.
Against this background, this article firstly conceptualises research-based learning
on the whole school approach as a dual learning opportunity for students and school-
based vocational education and training staff to shape vocational education for sustai
nable development (VETSD) in vocational schools. Secondly, on this basis, the article
provides an insight into a university seminar in which this concept was realised.