Target group of this two-year IVT mobility project “insa" ( - Interkulturelle und (mehr-)sprachliche Kompetenzen fördern in der Ausbildung für ErzieherInnen( “encouraging intercultural and language competences for prospective professionals in early childhood eduction) are 20 students, who are currently in the final phase of their qualification towards working with children up to the age of six. They attend the Berufsbildenden Schulen I, a vocational college in Leer, which is situated in the Northwest of Germany close to the Dutch border in a region called Ostfriesland, or East Frisia, which has the reputation of being a somewhat backwater countryside. It follows that the planned project will be the first extended stay abroad for many of its participants, most of whom still live with their parents, and will play a significant role in their further character development. It might also motivate some of the students to consider working in another country for a longer period of time after their qualification. Despite the already mentioned remoteness of the East Frisian region, it is not exempt from transition processes that mean new challenges for those working in early childhood education and care. An increasing ethnic heterogeneity calls for extensive intercultural skills and a whole new range of abilities, dispositions and strategies to help the children cope with their changing environment. Day-care centres located in the binational German-Danish border region on the one hand and bilingual day care centers in Poland will provide a unique learning environment for the German students, which cannot be found or replicated in their work places at home, which means that the work placement abroad can initiate and facilitate an intercultural process of cognition. It will therefore enhance the job-specific knowledge of the participants which can be integrated in their day-to-day routines in Germany. Due to the "open flow management" other countries and institutions will join the project Students will specifically gain theoretical knowledge of the bicultural situation in the German-Danish border region as well as of concepts used to deal with cultural and lingual heterogeneity, and will actively present modules with the objective of introducing languages to younger children. Participants will be subject to a selection process carried out by a panel consisting of both representatives of their vocational school and their training companies, e.g. the nursery or day care center supervising the practical part of their training. Interpersonal skills are to be valued higher than the level of theoretical knowledge displayed by the candidates; we want our students to be interested and pleasant representatives during their stay abroad, an aspect vital to the success of this project. The “Europahaus Aurich” as the German executing organization has already supervised previous projects in terms of contents and organization; in the process, partnerships between Danish, Polish and German institutions have been established and consolidated. Additionally, the responsible parties have acquired competences in dealing with organizational and factual matters. Responsibilities in supervision of students and logistics have been defined and evenly distributed. As specialist department for early childhood education in Europe, the Europahaus Aurich offers many study groups and seminars with intercultural subjects, which means that the project “insa is embedded into continuous processes with regards to contents, personnel and responsible bodies within the organization.