Entitled New Opportunities in Multimedia and Art, this project was designed by the Private Secondary Film School (PSFS), which is the only school of its kind in Slovakia. Its success is largely due to its creative team of educators, who have authored two new study programmes focused on audio-visual and media production. In addition, various interactive educational tools and vocational education curricula have been created at the PSFS. The aim of the placement is to provide our teachers with the opportunity of comparing vocational educational practices in various countries. Moreover, we expect them to find inspiration for the development of curricula on which we are hoping to base two new study programmes: one of them, focusing on video production and multimedia, will be meant for secondary students, while the other, dealing with visual effects and PC games design, will be used at post-secondary level. Other expected outcomes include the uptake of the ECVET system coupled with the implementation of best practices gained through previous stays in Finland and Sweden, maintenance of our existing partner network and its continued extension via different communication channels (e-Twinning, Skype, e-mail), an improvement of the participants’ skills as well as confrontation of theoretical knowledge with job market needs. Our teachers will have the opportunity of discovering new technologies, work patterns and educational practices (through visits to schools) and comparing working conditions and environments in each of the countries visited (in particular through excursions to TV, film and photographic studios or PR agencies). They will find out about the knowledge and skills required of art school graduates abroad, which will represent a priceless asset for the continuous improvement of our curricula in the future. Work placements are meant for secondary students of study programmes focusing on AV production, multimedia and journalism. They will take place either in vocational schools (each of them has its own workshops and studios as well as contractual partners providing practical training) or directly in professional organisations such as PR agencies, photographic and video studios or regional TV broadcasters. The project seeks to respond to PSFS students’ need to complement theoretical knowledge with practical training by gaining hands-on experience in real-life working environments as well as in school workshops and studios, which will increase their chances to succeed on the digital job market. The main aims and needs of the applicant and its partners: • discovering new technologies and educational methods, trying out practical training and making use of the know how of each of the participating institutions to improve the quality of own vocational teaching process; • gaining international experience in teaching AV and multimedia production and applying the outcomes within methodological frameworks in order to create new educational tools (post-secondary education, specialised training); • increasing cooperation between schools and training organisations (CZ, FI, ES, TR, SE, PT, SK); • using innovative solutions when cooperating with others (working within an interactive learning environment to increase the attractiveness of vocational subjects and language learning and bring them up to date); • enabling students to take part in work placements with partner organisations while placing emphasis on self-development and international practical experience; • raising intercultural awareness as part of everyday life (a set of selected topics will be dealt with by each of the partners and the resulting portfolio will be published online); • developing and implementing the ECVET system (designing units of learning outcomes for each placement and study programme) and making use of Europass. Project outcomes will be implemented within methodology frameworks in vocational education and curricula development, thus improving teaching practices as far as vocational subjects and English are concerned. New study programmes, improved practical teaching methodology and interactive learning tools: all these respond to job market needs and are meant to turn the PSFS into a “modern European educational institution”. Forming an integral part of the continuous education at the PSFS, the project will have a positive impact on teachers and students in that they will become more motivated and eager to upgrade both their theoretical knowledge and language skills. Information on the project, its implementation and outcomes will be disseminated through workshops, teacher conferences, open days, artwork (in particular via online channels such as Vimeo, YouTube or partner schools’ websites) as well as through the PSFS’ FoTelka (www.fotelka.sk) online TV channel. In total, we are planning to organise 7 work placements for students (CZ, FI, ES, PT, TR, SE) and 4 work placements for teachers between June 2015 and May 2017.