Specific problems the project wants to solve: - low level of economic knowledge and competence of junior high school students in Poland confirmed by survey within the framework of the project www.gimversity.pl; - high level of early school leaving in Portugal (over 20.8% in 2012) – report “Improving Employment Opportunities in the Labour Market for Marginalised Communities” and also low economic activeness of teenagers; - practical competence of Polish and Portuguese teenagers are below the average in OECD countries – according to PISA test from April 2014 Polish and Portuguese teenagers cannot apply the knowledge they possess to solve everyday problems; - German students, including Realschule ones, have lower competence in maths and natural sciences than the Polish teenagers, but they are better at applying their knowledge in practice – PISA test results, April 2014 - the need for transferring well-tried solutions, good practice and teaching methods as well as the necessity of developing teachers’ abilities of working in multicultural groups The main problem: considerable difference in the quality and results of preparing students to function on EU job market Specific project objectives: - 24 teachers will be given opportunity to gain practical competence in job orienteering, entrepreneurship and applying knowledge in practice; - 10 educational projects on job orienteering and entrepreneurship using ICT and OZE technologies will be created - 24 teachers will gain knowledge of the needs of modern companies concerning competence and practical knowledge of students - companies will gain knowledge of education systems in countries participating in the project - zmniejszenie zagrożenia wypadnięciem uczniów z systemu edukacji przez jej upraktycznienie - the risk of early school leaving from education system will be reduced by making the learning and teaching process more practical Main project objective: to reduce the disproportion in preparing students to choose their professions and function on the job market in countries participating in the project There will be conducted three parallel groups of activities: - lokalne działania merytoryczne (warsztaty, seminaria, spotkania, konferencje), - local substantive activities (workshops, seminars, meetings, conferences) - virtual substantive activities (teleconferences, online workshops, social networks, websites, YouTube) - international meetings, seminars and mobilities combined with drawing up lesson plans Project results: - 24 teachers will gain unique competence and practical experience in the field of fostering entrepreneurship and job orienteering, on the basis of needs and experience of modern companies - 24 teachers will gain skills of making education more practical in order to facilitate students’ abilities of putting specific knowledge into practice - 10 lesson plans on entrepreneurship, job orienteering and practical knowledge application will be created in cooperation with modern companies
Zamość Educational Association (ZTO), established 25 years ago, is an association organising and conducting educational activities for the inhabitants of Zamość and the region. Since its inception ZTO has been the managing body of I Społeczne Liceum Ogólnokształcące (high school), I Społeczna Szkoła Podstawowa (primary school), and for 14 years, I Społeczne Gimnazjum (junior-high school). The total of 582 students attend the schools run by ZTO and there are 84 teachers employed (68 full time). For many years the schools run by ZTO have been ranked best in their categories in the region of Lublin. During the preparation stage of the Erasmus+ project in 2014, research was done and analysis made in order to define the specific problems to be solved by ‘Pre-employment Orientation, Entrepreneurship, Work’ project. The problems were as follows: - low level of economic knowledge and competence of junior high school students in Poland, confirmed by the survey within the framework of the project www.gimversity.pl; - high level of early school leaving in Portugal (over 20.8% in 2012) – report “Improving Employment Opportunities in the Labour Market for Marginalised Communities” and also low economic activeness of teenagers; - practical competence of Polish and Portuguese teenagers below the average in OECD countries – according to PISA test from April 2014 Polish and Portuguese teenagers could not apply the knowledge they possessed to solve everyday problems; - German students, including Realschule ones, showed lower competence in Maths and Natural Sciences than Polish teenagers, but they were better at applying their knowledge in practice – PISA test results, April 2014; - the need for transferring well-tried solutions, good practice and teaching methods as well as the necessity of developing teachers’ abilities of working in multicultural groups On the basis of the above specific problems the project main problem was defined: considerable difference in the quality and results of preparing students to function on EU job market Specific project objectives: - enabling 24 teachers to gain practical competence in job orienteering, entrepreneurship and applying knowledge in practice in enterprises; - creating 10 educational projects on job orienteering and entrepreneurship using ICT technologies and OER; - enabling 24 teachers to gain knowledge of the needs of modern companies concerning competence and practical knowledge of students; - making companies gain knowledge of education systems in countries participating in the project; - reducing the risk of students’ early school leaving from education system by making the learning and teaching process more practical Main project objective: to reduce the disproportion in preparing students to choose their professions and function on the job market in EU countries participating in the project. During the project implementation three parallel groups of activities were conducted: - local substantive activities (workshops, seminars, meetings, conferences); - virtual substantive activities (teleconferences, online workshops, social networks, websites, YouTube); - international meetings, seminars and mobilities combined with drawing up lesson plans There were 3 partners to the project (apart from Zamojskie Towarzystwo Oświatowe): - Barthau Anhaefgerbau GmbH from Germany (replaced by Gewerbliche Schule during the project implementation); - Gewerbliche Schule Schwabisch Hall from Germany; - Escolas Dr. João Araújo Correia from Portugal On the project completion: - more than 24 teachers gained unique competence and practical experience in the field of fostering entrepreneurship and job orienteering, on the basis of needs and experience of modern companies; - more than 24 teachers gained skills of making education more practical in order to facilitate students’ abilities of putting specific knowledge into practice; - 10 lesson plans on entrepreneurship, job orienteering and practical knowledge application were created in cooperation with modern companies The project was innovative because: - it combined the experience and knowledge of institutions representing 3 different environments (middle school education in Portugal, middle school education in Poland and companies in Germany); - it used ICT technologies (Google+, Skype, Facebook) to create activities, projects and mutual communication (development of teachers’ practical competences); - direct transfer of the innovative companies’ expectations to the education system took place (school systems in economically underdeveloped regions have been granted access to the requirements and needs of companies in highly developed regions); - the multiplier effects of learning were used (teachers have transferred knowledge to their professional environment – the snowball effect, competitiveness)