WHYEntrepreneurship (E.) is an essential but rather neglected part of education in Europe, especially at primary school level.It is essential as it encompasses a set of attitudes, skills and behaviours which are skills for life. In fact, personal development requires the ability to set personal goals and the know-how to attain them: this is what entrepreneurial learning is about. It supports the general learning processes and basic skills achievement with positive effects on self-confidence, achievement orientation, perseverance, analytical ability, proactivity and creativity, and fosters cooperation, personal commitment and appreciation of individual skills and talents.It appears to be neglected, as many European countries do not provide specific training and guidance for primary teachers who are not familiar with E. education, and therefore do not set up entrepreneurial activities in their schools. WHAT“Kids Conquering Castles” (KCC) will contribute to enhance, among teachers and school communities in the partnership, the understanding of E. as a key competence to be promoted from early education. It will provide initial and on-going training for teachers, and offer pupils and staff the opportunity to experience and share specific strategies and tools during the three project years through setting up and managing a school cooperative enterprise.International cooperation will be a key resource, bringing in cultural comparison, expertise and actual examples, and enhancing communication skills and European spirit among the participants.KCC will foster awareness about E. competence among families and community, while the castles theme will offer actual opportunities to connect school and territory pursuing strategic synergy. In the surroundings of each partner school there is a castle. The “Kids Conquering Castles” Cooperative’s aim is to organize specific activities and events for a child-oriented approach to the castles. The cooperative ethical spirit will help respond to the inclusivity needs of disadvantaged students and families. This spirit will be further highlighted by devolving the KCC Cooperative profits to a NGO, at the end of the third year. HOWAlong the project life, each year will focus on a specific theme: 1°-“The Cooperative in the Castle” presenting the local castles and setting up the KCC Cooperative. All the formal steps for the Cooperative registration and management will be made within the partnership (decisions on status, name, logo and mascot, steering board and profit destination).2°- “Market in the Castles”: designing, producing and selling castle souvenirs - using territorial resources and historical workshop knowledge – developing market research and advertising abilities.3°- “Ethical investments and Castle promotion”: bringing the acquired know-how into the local, and sharing results: markets in partner communities to enhance project awareness and experience, as well as additional cooperative profits to be donated to NGO.At the end of each year, a group of students from every country, as ambassadors of their schools, will meet (in Spain, Italy, Germany) to work together in the KCC Cooperative, celebrating the year’s theme and promoting the local castle in an European context. The results from the meeting – in terms of assessment and of acquired knowledge and skills - will be brought back and shared in the partnership’s schools. Regular communication will allow and support cooperation and play a strategic role in the project implementation. This will be mainly ensured by the eTwinning platform - where activity and assessment tools will be shared, results documented and live meetings organized - and in the three transnational meetings, where coordinators will monitor, plan and assess the project implementation.WHOThe “Kids Conquering Castles” Cooperative will directly involve in entrepreneurial activities 63 classes - around 100 teachers and 1450 pupils aged 6-11, in 6 European countries. The project will impact on schools and communities, enhancing educational standards, cooperation attitudes and European citizenship awareness. Teachers will become confident in E. education, the number of specific activities in schools will increase and the entrepreneurial approach will be more broadly used in teaching, so that pupils will be trained to be active, creative and responsible for their own learning. The project experiences will encourage further cooperation between schools and local administrations, agencies and education stakeholders; the best Kids Conquering Castles practices will be carried forth for a child-oriented use of the local castles beyond the project life. In our vision, the creativity that children will express working together within Kids Conquering Castles will encourage the communities to value and support children’s role in an inclusive, open-minded and collaborative society.
Entrepreneurship (E.) is an essential but rather neglected part of education in Europe, especially at primary school level. It is essential as it encompasses a set of attitudes, skills and behaviours which are skills for life. In fact, personal development requires the ability to set personal goals and the know-how to attain them: this is what entrepreneurial learning is about. It supports the general learning processes and basic skills achievement with positive effects on self-confidence, achievement orientation, perseverance, analytical ability, proactivity and creativity, and fosters cooperation, personal commitment and appreciation of individual skills and talents. “Kids Conquering Castles” (KCC) has contributed to the understanding of E. as a key competence to be promoted from early education. It has offered pupils and staff the opportunity to experience and share specific strategies and tools during the three project years through setting up and managing a school cooperative. International cooperation has encouraged cultural understanding and enhanced communication skills and European spirit among the participants. KCC has offered opportunities to connect school and territory pursuing strategic synergy as In the surroundings of each partner school there is a castle. The “Kids Conquering Castles” aim was to organize specific activities and events for a child-oriented approach to the castles. The cooperative ethical spirit responded to inclusive needs of disadvantaged students and families. This spirit was further highlighted by donating the KCC Cooperative profits to an NGO at the end of the third year. Along the project life, each year focused on a specific theme: 1-“The Cooperative in the Castle” presenting the local castles and setting up the KCC Cooperative. All the formal steps for the Cooperative registration and management were made within the partnership (decisions on status, name, logo and advisory board).2- “Market in the Castle”: designing, producing and selling castle souvenirs - using territorial resources and historical workshop knowledge – developing market research and advertising abilities.3- “Ethical investment and Castle promotion”: bringing the acquired know-how into the local, and sharing results: markets highlighting project castle postcards in partner communities to enhance project awareness and experience, as well as cooperative profits donated to the chosen NGO. At the end of each year, a group of student ambassadors from each school worked together in the KCC Cooperative (during the LLTAs in Spain, Italy, Germany), celebrating the year’s theme and promoting the local castle in an European context. The results from the meeting and of acquired knowledge and skills were shared in the partnership’s schools. The eTwinning platform was an essential tool where activity and assessment tools were shared, results documented and live meetings organized. The three transnational meetings coordinators monitored, planned and assessed the project implementation. The “Kids Conquering Castles” Cooperative directly involved in entrepreneurial activities 63 classes - around 100 teachers and 1450 pupils aged 6-11, in 6 European countries. The project has impacted on schools and communities, enhancing educational standards, cooperation attitudes and European citizenship awareness. Teachers have become confident in E. education and thus activities in schools increased and the entrepreneurial approach was more broadly used in teaching. Pupils trained to be active, creative and responsible for their own learning. The project experiences have encouraged further cooperation between schools and local administrations, agencies and education stakeholders; the best Kids Conquering Castles practices will be carried forth for a child-oriented use of the local castles beyond the project life. In our vision, the creativity that children will express working together within Kids Conquering Castles will encourage the communities to value and support children’s role in an inclusive, open-minded and collaborative society.