International Apprentice visits LCB | News | Leeds College of Building

Tue 14th February, 2012

A young german apprentice decorator, Sebastian Schmitz from Dusseldorf has had the opportunity to visit the UK on a three week exchange programme. He spent a week at the College observing some of the differences between the UK’s vocational practices, and that of decorators in Germany, and also spent a week with two employers getting on site experience.

Sebastian’s father who owns the decorating company he works for financed the trip with support from the LeTSGo Project funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme, as he wanted him to improve his spoken english and to broaden his horizons by travelling.

During Sebastian’s first week, he observed the students wallpapering, painting, marbling and graining in the workshops at the College. He said “It has been a great opportunity to visit the College and to learn different painting techniques. I noticed that more work is produced using a paintbrush, where as in Germany they use small rollers. I will definitely be taking some of the tips I have learnt back home with me”.

He then spent the second week with Paul from Michaelangelo’s Mates who currently sends two apprentices to the College. Sebastian worked on tenant properties in Wetherby prepping walls and painting them with emulsion and gloss. Paul said “I found it a big inspiration that Sebastian came to the UK to help broaden his knowledge of painting techniques. He gained a lot of confidence during the week he spent with me and I think he is an asset to his father’s decorating company back in Germany.”

During Sebastian’s third week, he worked with Chris from Gray’s Painter & Decorator         re-decorating a bedroom with wallpaper and emulsion. Chris was a former student at the College and had the opportunity to go on an exchange visit to Essen, Germany whilst he was studying at the College. Chris is now self-employed and said “It was a great opportunity to have Sebastian work alongside me as I remember what a brilliant experience I had when I went out to Germany. Sebastian was a very quick learner and his timekeeping was excellent. We definitely learnt a lot from each other and were able to share tips and techniques.”

Paul and Chris both said “We would be interested in offering work experience for an exchange student again in the future and maybe have the student working with us for longer. It would also be a fantastic opportunity for us to go out to Germany ourselves.”

We wish Sebastian the best of luck in his future career in Painting & Decorating.