As identified by the EU 2020 strategy - the European Union needs a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and these three pillars are undoubtable interlinked. This project proposal focus on the need for a smarter growth by taking on one of the challenges already identified by the "Oslo agenda for entrepreneurship education" - The need for a systematic focus and approach to entrepreneurial learning. In this project we are addressing the described rationale by focusing on the following 5 project goals: 1. An analysis on how levels of entrepreneurship/entrepreneurial competences can be assessed in primary and secondary education through innovative use of ICT 2. An analysis of the perceived process of using innovative ICT for assessing entrepreneurial competences from a pupil and a teacher perspective 3. Increased knowledge of and capacity to use, in the participant regions and schools, innovative ICT for assessing entrepreneurial competences 4. Increased knowledge on the link between entrepreneurial learning assessment and motivation among teachers for working entrepreneurially in a systematic manner 5. Increased motivation in pupils in the participating schools for learning activities Pupils and teachers at three primary and secondary schools in Turkey, Sweden and Norway will during 3 years in two phases use an app where they assess or self-assess (for pupils) the level of entrepreneurial competences. The three schools all have different approaches to and experiences from entrepreneurial learning. The Norwegian school works with activity based entrepreneurship education, the Swedish school works with a broad definition and focus around 5 key competences; creativity, sense of initiative, decision making skills and cooperation skills. The Turkish school has no previous experience from working with neither entrepreneurial learning nor entrepreneurship education. Chalmers Technical University will analyse the test results from the use of the app combined with a number of in-depth interviews. This project uses a mixed methodology consisting of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. A quantitative approach will be used to capture emotional events as they occur through a mobile app based survey. This data will be further investigated through a qualitative approach consisting of semi-structured interviews aiming to reveal underlying mechanisms. For teaching staff at the schools we foresee a professional development in terms of the capacity to assess their own entrepreneurial teaching and linking this to a desired effect in their pupils. We also foresee them extending their professional network to create more of a boundary-less classroom setting for themselves and their pupils. We expect research staff to gain new knowledge and new insights hence leading them further in their research and closer to “finding the answers or posing new questions.” We also expect a closer reciprocal link between academia and applied education settings such as schools, authorities in charge of education and NGOs working with education. Meaning that we foresee a deepened academic understanding as to what “reality” they do research about and more importantly for and also from the educational setting, a deeper awareness of the importance of implementing contemporary research so as to use new knowledge that universities and others produce. We foresee an increased level of knowledge in terms of how pupils and teachers experience the assessment of EL through the app and also through the interviews meaning that the practice and competence of assessing entrepreneurial learning will be increased at organisation level. This we believe further on will make assessment of entrepreneurial competences an integral part of contemporary education hence leading to a quality improvement.
The EU needs a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, three interlinked pillars. ELAN focused on the need for a smarter growth by taking on one of the challenges identified by the "Oslo agenda for entrepreneurship education" - The need for a systematic focus and approach to entrepreneurial learning. Project goals 1 An analysis on how levels of entrepreneurship/entrepreneurial competences can be assessed in primary and secondary education through innovative use of ICT 2 An analysis of the perceived process of using innovative ICT for assessing entrepreneurial competences from a pupil and a teacher perspective 3 Increased knowledge of and capacity to use, in the participant regions and schools, innovative ICT for assessing entrepreneurial competences 4 Increased knowledge on the link between entrepreneurial learning assessment and motivation among teachers for working entrepreneurially in a systematic manner 5 Increased motivation in pupils in the participating schools for learning activities Partners 1 SDF Västra Hisingen (VH) with its school Björlandagården did coordinate the project. VH have a record of working with EU-projects. 2 Me Analytics AB (MA) is a private company. The founders are well established researchers and developers of entrepreneurship education and school development strategies. MA provides both the public and private sector with it-tools for analysing learning- and development processes based on smartphone, tablets and computer applications. 3 Ungt Entreprenørskap (UE) is a Norwegian, national organization that provides different entrepreneurship education programmes. UE is the largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes in Norway, with over 210.000 student activities yearly. 4 Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship has the highest ranked advanced entrepreneurship program by the Swedish government in 2009. Chalmers has participated in close to 250 research projects during the last years. 5 Halk Egitim Mudurlugu is a public institute in Istanbul, offering teacher-, adult-, and vocational training. 6 Rakkestad ungdomsskole (RU) is a primary school with students from 13 to 16 years old. RU are well-known school when it comes to prestigious achievements related to entrepreneurial education i.e. "most entrepreneurial teacher of the year" (2013) and was awarded a EU-price in 2015 for their way of working strategically with entrepreneurial education. 7 Mustafa Yesil (MY) is a Turkish public school with 1 700 students ranging from 10-14 years. MY is in a developing district. From a social context, most students have lesser opportunities than the average. Main activities 1 Our pupils and teachers used the app LoopMe during 3 years, the data from the app was assessed by researchers. Data based on teachers – pupils communication and pupil self-assessments. 2 Development of the assessment app, LoopMe. 3 Arranged workshops and tutoring support to increase the knowledge and capacity to use innovative ICT for assessing EL in the participating schools 4 Arranged local workshops with teaching and education management staff. 5 Conducted in-depth interviews with around 70 pupils and 15 teachers 6 The interviews were transcribed and analysed 7 3 multiplier events 8 6 transnational steering group meetings Main results •Teaching methods with entrepreneurial elements cause strongly increased motivation among students and contributed significantly to deeper learning of subject knowledge and abilities e.g. creativity, flexibilty and problem solving Other conclusions •To let students create value outside the school is a challenging philosophy for the teachers to work with. It requires great power to cope and dare to find new ways in the school practice. •In challenging school development projects, it requires that principals are actively present over time and puts focus on the issue, following and confirming the development of each teacher / team. Otherwise, you will quickly return to the "normal" every day work. •LoopMe as an IT tool for leading and evaluating student’s learning process has proven to be a great gain from the project. Turkey, that prior had no entrepreneurial education in their school system did surpassingly be the ones demonstrating the most interesting results and progression among all the pupils in the project. The school attendance rose significantly among the Turkish pupils involved. The main impact here is that school management and teachers now have started to talk about entrepreneurial education. Sweden have during the project started to work more focused with EL theories. The in-put from academic theory have boosted the teacher’s confidence to work entrepreneurially and explore these theories even further. Norway had a well-developed entrepreneurship education, so their way of tutoring did not change that much. However, the Norwegian teachers have integrated the academic outcomes from the project into their daily way of tutoring EL.