MBIT Director Covelle Selected for International Education Delegation

The Middle Bucks Institute of Technology (MBIT) is excit­ed to announce that Administrative Director Dr. Mark Covelle has been select­ed as one of fif­teen edu­ca­tors statewide to serve as a mem­ber of an inter­na­tion­al edu­ca­tion del­e­ga­tion vis­it­ing Germany in April 2024.  Dr. Covelle said, “I am hum­bled and thrilled to be select­ed to rep­re­sent career and tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion in this excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty; I look for­ward to learn­ing from and with our German edu­ca­tion­al coun­ter­parts.”  Dr. Covelle is most excit­ed to under­stand more about the appren­tice­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents in Germany. “MBIT, along with our col­leagues across Bucks County, has been devel­op­ing a reg­is­tered pre-apprenticeship pro­gram; I am excit­ed to see how the German mod­el can help to inform our prac­tices and increase oppor­tu­ni­ties for our students.”

The PSBA Trust Institute (PSBA-IN), in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), will host its first inter­na­tion­al study group in April 2024. The fifteen-member study group will focus on the edu­ca­tion­al sys­tem in Germany with the pur­pose of devel­op­ing rec­om­men­da­tions for Pennsylvania school dis­tricts to sig­nif­i­cant­ly enhance dis­trict aca­d­e­mics, oper­a­tions, facil­i­ties and culture.

This study group is com­prised of a diverse team of indi­vid­u­als with var­ied expe­ri­ence and dif­fer­ing roles with­in the Pennsylvania edu­ca­tion sys­tem, includ­ing elect­ed school board direc­tors, super­in­ten­dents, busi­ness man­agers, prin­ci­pals, and career and tech­ni­cal cen­ter administrators.

Prior to trav­el­ing abroad, par­tic­i­pants will meet vir­tu­al­ly with edu­ca­tion, busi­ness and gov­ern­ment lead­ers from Germany to gain a basic under­stand­ing about their sys­tems, aca­d­e­m­ic approach­es and policies.

Once in Germany, the group will trav­el to Bonn, Cologne and Dortmund to tour schools and con­duct meet­ings with edu­ca­tion and civic lead­ers. These inter­ac­tions will pro­vide an overview of the German edu­ca­tion sys­tem, includ­ing how it func­tions, achieves results and is fund­ed, with the goal of gath­er­ing ideas that can be imple­ment­ed in Pennsylvania’s school districts. 

Primary- and secondary-level school tours will pro­vide first­hand expe­ri­ences to gain a valu­able under­stand­ing of the struc­ture with­in the German edu­ca­tion sys­tem and pro­vide the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet with school admin­is­tra­tors, edu­ca­tors and stu­dents. Participants also will meet with gov­ern­ment offi­cials; city, state and fed­er­al edu­ca­tion agen­cies; employ­er asso­ci­a­tions; and unions. 

To pro­vide a wholis­tic under­stand­ing of the edu­ca­tion sys­tem, tours of German cor­po­ra­tions and man­u­fac­tur­ers are planned so par­tic­i­pants can observe on-the-job train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and hear the employ­ers’ per­spec­tive on the German edu­ca­tion system.

After return­ing from this immer­sive edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence, par­tic­i­pants will share their learn­ing through arti­cles pub­lished by PSBA-IN and PSBA and by serv­ing as pre­sen­ters and pan­elists at the 2024 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference. 

Follow MBIT on social media to learn more and see updates from the del­e­ga­tion in Germany.