The border between school and outside-of-school-life exists for many students and very often they don't understand why they are learning different subjects at school. They ask why they need everything they have to do at school. This leads to losing motivation and early school leaving. Too many young people leave education prematurely, before achieving a qualification and it's difficult for them to find a job. Reducing the rates of early school leaving and upgrading skills for employability help to fight poverty and social exclusion. We believe that motivation is the key factor and it can be achieved through inspiring studies at school, improving the attainment of young people and acquisition of key competences. Our 14-15-year old students will be entering the labour market in 2020-s. By that time more and more jobs will require higher level skills. If we want the EU to become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, education needs to improve the attainment of young people, particularly those at risk of early school leaving as well as pay more attention to the transversal skills needed to ensure young people are able to be entrepreneurial and adapt to the changes in the labour market during their career. School needs to find ways how to to show young people the connections between education and their everyday life and careers. With the help of this project we would like students to think and learn how different school subjects (especially STEM subjects) are important and usable in everyday life and for their future career, how knowledge and skills learned at school can help them to solve problems in life and work. The objectives we are planning to fulfill by the end of the project: - students have improved their transversal skills such as the ability to think critically, taking initiative, problem solving and working collaboratively; - students will be involved in finding their own problems, testing ideas, receiving feedback and working collaboratively with other students beyond the school classroom; - students will have several practical entrepreneurial experiences; - students will have visited several enterprises where they have done practical tasks connected with school subjects; - students will have better understanding how their studies at school are connected with their everyday life; - teachers will have become more confident about using ICT in class and cooperating with foreign colleagues through ICT; - teachers will have improved their teaching skills of key competencies; - teachers will know more about diversity and inclusion and how to meet the needs of disadvantaged learners but also the gifted ones; - in partner schools the skills will be taught in a wider variety of in-school and outside-of-school settings; - both teachers and students will have improved their foreign language and cooperation skills; - the teaching materials and student-centered pedagogical approaches that are practiced during the project will be sustainable and enrich the school life of partner schools after the end of the project; - all partners will have improved their understanding of other nations and cultures in Europe; - connections between partner school will be strong and survive after the end of the project. The main activities during the projects are the following. The official platform for the project is Etwinning/Twinspace where we upload all the documents, images, videos and outputs generated along the project. We use eTwinning for personal profiles and personal walls, blogs, calendar, teachers rooms, pupils rooms, chat rooms. This is also an important dissemination platform. We will organize career days (inviting career counselors, work in "Graduate Roundtables" of school graduates who who can speak to the current students about what they took away from their school experience and how it has advanced their educational and employment possibilities. We will promote STEM subjects by STEM days. Students will get several practical entrepreneurial experiences during the project when organising project activities, being responsible for the results and taking leadership. Non-formal and informal learning are important elements in the learning process and are effective instruments for making learning attractive. School teams work together to find good examples and activities to connect school subjects with work life. The project will be focused on motivation, basic and transversal skills and key competencies, STEM subjects - the ultimate goal is inspiring young people in their studies and motivate them to think about future careers. We consider the promotion of entrepreneurship at all levels and improving the co-operation between education and work life important. We pursue that all the students in partner schools are motivated to finish basic compulsory education and to go on studying to get a job in the future.
The project Inspiring Studies and Future Careers grew out of the recognition that for many pupils the border between school and outside-of-school-life exists very clearly. Youngsters do not understand why they need everything they have to learn. This leads to losing motivation and early school leaving. We believe that motivation is the key factor and it can be achieved through inspiring studies and improving the attainment of young people. Upgrading skills for employability helps to fight poverty and social exclusion. Young people should be entrepreneurial and able to adapt to the changes in the labour market. With the help of this project we wanted our pupils to think and learn more about how knowledge and skills learned at school can help them in life. Five partner schools worked together: the coordinator Kääpa Kool (Estonia), Vaalan Yhtenäiskoulu (Finland), Friedrich-Spee-Gesamtschule Paderborn (Germany), Osnovna Skola Zaprudje (Croatia) and IES Sabina Mora (Spain). The project activities were both international and local including three short-term learning activities, five transnational meetings and tens of local in- and out-of-school events in every country (web page: ka2inspiringstudies.wixsite.com/erasmus and Padlet: padlet.com/mpuskaric/ErasmusNews) The project supported an innovative approach to teaching and learning process throughout comparison of educational realities in partner countries. Besides regular lessons non-formal and informal learning are effective instruments for making learning attractive. Cooperation with different institutions, non-governmental organizations as well as companies has been established in every country. We have prepared lots of special events like Career Days, Science Night, robotics exhibitions and workshops, Code Week, Safer Internet Day, performances in the Technical Museum Nikola Tesla about him as well as about other famous persons from our partner countries. We have organized visits to secondary schools and companies, museums, science centres, universities etc to inform our students of different possibilities on their educational ladder. We had job shadowing days, practical training in companies at home and abroad, STEM workshops and days, fairs (selling self-made goods and products from partner countries), school Olympic Games and other events where pupils got practical entrepreneurial experiences. They helped to organise activities being responsible for the results and taking leadership. School teams worked together to create activities for connecting school subjects with work life. As a result pupils have improved their ability to take initiative, think critically, solve problems and work collaboratively. To promote diversity as a cultural wealth of Europe we celebrations - European Day of Languages, school exhibitions - “Strolling Through Europe”, National Costume Design Workshop, creation of digital Christmas cards, lessons guided by pupils about partner countries, celebrations of national holidays with songs and dances from partner countries etc. The overall impact of the project on partner schools was very positive and it has longer-term benefits. Most objectives were achieved but there is still a lot to do in this field. The project was focused on inspiring young people in their studies and motivate them to think about their future careers. All partner schools consider the promotion of entrepreneurship and improving the co-operation between education and work life important. We pursue that all our pupils are motivated to finish school and to go on studying to get a job. Teachers have become more confident about using ICT and improved their teaching skills of key competencies. They know more about diversity and inclusion and how to meet the needs of disadvantaged learners but also the gifted ones. In schools the skills are taught in a wider variety of in-school and outside-of-school settings. Both teachers and pupils have improved their foreign language and cooperation skills as well as understanding of other nations and cultures in Europe. The pupil - centred pedagogical approaches are sustainable and enrich the school life of partner schools after the end of the project. As a result of the project there will be KA1 job shadowing projects e.g. GER will send a teacher to FIN to learn more about the use of tablets and ESP will send a teacher to GER to learn more about technology lessons. Every school has learned something from partners. We go on with career days, job shadowing, STEM days and workshops, secondary schools and company visits. Our intention is to implement successful models we saw in the partner countries into our own school and educational system. Connections between partner school are strong – our new three-year strategic partnership with the same partners and one more from Hungary is approved by the EU and we are continuing our cooperation. One project can not change the world but long-term partnerships are a way to improvement.