The essential aim of schools is to prepare students for vocational life. The main objective of schools that cooperate within the framework of this project is the creation of a concept for a sustainable implementation of the topic "Self-employment" into the teaching offer. That objective,which can be seen as a measure in the field of vocational guidance / career choices and the transition from school to vocation- is also a response to the action areas, which are set out in the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs.Starting-ups have a great importance for the national economies.Starting a self-employed existence replaces or supplements paid employment. Through each new business start-up the labor market is relievedThrough new businesses new providers appear on the markets, which is important to stimulate competition. Competition is the central element of our economic system. Without start-ups competition loses its strength and dynamic power.Founders realize innovative ideas. They are an important factor for progress, growth and competitiveness. Without start-ups the economic structure declines.Here Germany is among the countries with the most negative attitude towards self-employment. A comparison with other countries of the European Union shows that countries like Germany and France report a very low self-employment rate.It looks better in Poland and Spain. Studying the period 2002-2012 you realize that in Germany self-employment slightly increased compared to other employment relations, but fell in Poland for example.It'is about improving the starting conditions for future vocations for young adults by making them face the idea of self-employment at a relatively early age. In many European countries this discussion is of major importance for young adults. Therefore, the project partners of the four partner countries intend to develop measures to assist and support the students in this way (against the background of the Europeanization of the economy).Target groups of the project are students who are in a full-time classes at school as well as students who attend part-time vocational training. In addition, students who are about to leave full-time school and start vocational training are also focused on. A further target group are students with a migrational background. For these people self-employment offers the opportunity to assimilate in the world of work as well as in society in general.
Business start-ups are very important for the national economy. Each new start-up relieves the burden on the labor market. Through start-ups new providers appear in the markets. They are important for the competition. It is the central element of our economic system. Without start-ups, competition loses its power and dynamism. Founders realize innovative ideas. They are an important factor for progress, growth and competitiveness. Without business start-ups, the economic structure freezes. The main goal of schools is to prepare pupils for a working life. The main objective of the schools cooperating in the framework of this project is to create a concept for the sustainable implementation of the topic "self-employment" in the educational offer. For the participating schools, the following priorities emerged: - to motivate students to become self-employed, - to offer training in entrepreneurial skills (problem-solving thinking, creativity, team work), - to arrange practical experiments (student companies), - to promote cooperation of learning places (contact with experts). Project partners are three schools from the Toledo region in Spain, a Polish school from Rypin and a school from Soest / Germany. The Soest-based Hubertus-Schwartz-Berufskolleg covers the area of economy and administration, the Liceum Plastyczne from Rypin / Poland is an art grammar school, the IES Azarquiel in Toledo has its professional focus in business and IT, the IES Juan de Lucena from Montalban offers full - time vocational training in electrical and automotive mechatronics and the IES Universidad Laboral in Toledo covers training for cooks and hotel professionals. In order to achieve the listed goals in the project, the following main activities were carried out: Documentation of "best practice" examples for the founding of student companies, training of entrepreneurial skills, development of questionnaires for the interviews with start - up companies, documentation of the interviews, development of role plays for entrepreneurial decision-making situations, inviting experts to schools and developing and starting student companies. The participating students were motivated to become self-employed, got to know extracurricular learning places and trained their communication skills in dealing with the experts. Through their participation in transnational meetings and cooperation in international student teams, the development of intercultural competences has also been made possible. As part of this multinational project, teachers were able to get to know the work of their colleagues in the partner schools, to record their experience and to discover other pedagogical methods. They also got to know the different systems of vocational education. The long-term and sustainable benefit of the project results from the established student companies, which are also "operated" by future generations of students and also enable this student practical experience with the "independence".