What's up! – Straight into the Future

was geht! – Into the Future has been promoting the individual personal development of students at secondary modern schools since 2014 and at vocational colleges since 2017 in North Rhine-Westphalia. The three-year mentoring program at secondary modern schools from grade 8 onwards, as well as the one-year program at vocational schools Type 2, provide participants with space to discover their strengths, develop their potential, and make well-founded decisions about their professional future. Professional mentors accompany the young people during their school years, support them in career choice, and facilitate practice-oriented workshops. In selected regions, such as Essen and the Aachen city region, the program is supplemented by creative modules from the “kreativraum,” which provide craft, design, and digital impulses, thereby offering additional stimuli for personal development.

The continuously open sponsorship is aimed at all schools and public institutions in NRW that offer secondary modern school classes from grade 8 or vocational schools Type 2. The goal is to successfully manage transitions from school to vocational training or further education programs and to secure the skilled labor supply in the long term. Through close cooperation with municipalities and regional partners, young people benefit from tailored offerings that strengthen their self-efficacy and enable them to confidently shape their professional careers. Applications can be submitted on an ongoing basis, allowing flexible integration into everyday school life and enabling schools to expand their offerings according to demand.