The objective of the project: Development and implementation of an innovative method of accelerating the development of transversal competences of students by improving the use of practical training. Background: Changes which are taking place on labor market e.g. popularization of teamwork, teleworking, the work in multicultural environments causes, that increasing emphasis is placed not only on high level of professional knowledge of a particular field, but also on the practice and the transversal competences. Besides poor practical skills, insufficient transversal competences are the one of the most frequently problems related to young employees listed by the employers. The project responds to the needs of the labor market connected with the transversal skills of the university graduates. It is to accelerate the development of these competences and also make the universities able to respond in a more purposeful and flexible way to the needs of employers. Many studies have shown that the deficiency of transversal skills among university graduates were recorded all over the world. Therefore, the project is to be implemented in international cooperation(8 partners from 4 countries). This will also affect the broader scope of results’ impact generated in the project. Description of the planned activities and results: - In the first stage of the project the report concerning applied teaching methods of transversal skills and methods of practical trainings will be made. It will be the analysis of reached and applied solutions of the practical vocational training of students used by the organizations in the project which take into account the develop of transversal skills. - the research of transversal skills requirement among min. 100 entrepreneurs will complete the analysis of teaching methods. Inclusion of entrepreneurs from all countries involved in the project in research process will ensure the knowledge of the labour market needs. - after receiving the data both, from the higher education sector and from business sector, the sets of methods of practical training and transversal skills will be further elaborated. The partners will prepare the matrix which will consist of methods of practical training (considered as the tools to teaching transversal skills) and transversal skills (taking into account their validity for entrepreneurs). This will result in analyzing which transversal skills and to what extent are taught in the frame of which methods of practical training. - the designed matrix will be the basis to make the choice of forms of learning and transversal skills corresponding with them. Then it will be examined how the next steps of education should be planned so that the increase of transversal skills is as quick as possible. At least 5 reference models of developing transversal skills will be designed in such a way, and will be tested in further implementation of the project. - the test implementation is planned, during which the consortium will examine the developed reference models of acquiring the transversal skills most important from the point of view of entrepreneurs, with the use of selected methods of practical training. Min. 17 groups of students from all of the participating countries will take part in tests. - using the results of test implementation, representatives from all partner countries will review obtained results and will prepare the characteristics of education processes, whose implementation is the most effective for increasing the development of transversal skills among students. Before the final verification and selection of process or processes, the consortium will analyze the factors which may affect the development of transversal skills in students who undergo the validated education processes. In particular the analysis of cultural factors will be made, which may affect effectiveness of teaching of transversal skills in individual countries. - the final version of the method will be prepared in the form which will allow to realize the whole dissemination process and also to implement the method in partners’ countries and outside them. Additional instructions, summaries and guidelines on the implementation of the method will be prepared for institutions interested in this project result, which will allow to implement the method in any country without significant modification in the basic teaching process. - the dissemination of project results - during the project there will be organized two conferences to disseminate the results developed in the project. The monograph summarizing the research results and analysis from partner countries will be also published. The monograph will concerned the transversal skills in regard to the methods and tools of practical training in each partner countries.
"The acceleration method of development of transversal competences in the students’ practical training process" (ATC Erasmus+) is a project implemented as part of international cooperation by 8 institutions from Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Finland. Changes in the labour market, such as the promotion of team work, remote work and work in multicultural contexts, mean that an increased emphasis is being put not only on the high level of professional knowledge in a given field, but also on practice and the so-called transversal competences, particularly the following ones: entrepreneurship, creativity, communicativeness, team work. An inadequate level of these competences is, apart from too low practical skills, one of the most frequent problems of young employees mentioned by employers. The aim of the project was to develop and implement an innovative method of practical training, supporting the development of students' transversal competences. This goal has been fully achieved. In the ATC Erasmus + method, there are 7 main stages, of which the 4 most important are: 1. Gaining knowledge about the entrepreneurs' demand for transversal competences among students - future employees; 2. Selection and assessment of the validity of practical teaching methods in terms of their impact on the development of transversal competences; 3. Design and implementation of a practical teaching process aimed at faster and comprehensive development of students' transversal competences; 4. Analysis and evaluation of the results of the practical teaching process. All stages have been tested in the project and described in the Guide for implementation of the method. The guide is prepared in the form of a presentation, which makes it much easier to use. There are active links in it that allow to become acquainted in a detailed way with the method and experiences of the project partners. The guide has been prepared in 5 languages: English, Finnish, Polish, Slovak and Slovenian, which gives wide opportunities for dissemination of the method. It is available free of charge on the project website www.atcerasmus.eu. The universality of the method allows it to be implemented in any country, without the need to introduce costly and complex changes in the applied teaching processes. In the Guide for implementation of the method two paths have been proposed for the use of the Erasmus+ ATC method: - individually, by the teacher, which allows quick implementation and application of the method; can give quick effects of acceleration of the development of transversal competences in a specific group of students and at the same time is a form of improving the didactic skills of the teacher; - at the level of a university unit (e.g. faculty, institute, chair, division, etc.), the whole university or a network of cooperating universities, which allows for a broad implementation of the method, its development and improvement. The ATC Erasmus+ method is the first such solution, which is confirmed by research and consultations. Although the method has just been developed, it has already been implemented by 6 partner universities and 1 non-partnership university. Thanks to international cooperation initiated as part of the project and building bridges between various entities, the potential to use ATC Erasmus+ is also recognized in schools, as part of Life Long Learning processes, in enterprises or business networks. The project was coordinated by Poznan University of Technology (Poland). The partners of the project were: Matej Bel University Banska Bystrica (Slovakia), Czestochowa University of Technology (Poland), University of Maribor - Faculty of Economics and Business (Slovenia), Wroclaw University of Economics (Poland), Federation of Education JEDU (Finland), Centria University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Western Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Gorzów Wlkp. (Poland) .