As small and medium-sized enterprises employed in 2014 almost 90 million people which is 67% of total employment ,we planned a project that helps to prepare students for their working life as efficiently as possible and provides the possibility of self-employment.During the next two years the main focus of the project lies on starting and running a small businesses, related to food and crafts. Ninety students of the same age range (13-16 years) are involved in this part of the project.The same number of students create local products (objects of metal or plastic, Kashubian pottery and embroidery, trinkets, masks, encrusted eggs, cooking book in different languages). The project combines theory and practice. The participating students develop business and communication skills such as employability skills, problem solving strategies, team spirit, decision-making ability. They get practice and financial literacy and spend time on economic and legal basics.The students directly participating share their knowledge and new experiences with at least 460 students indirectly involved in the project in different ways. They can exchange their experiences with students from the other attending countries.Students create films or presentations and write articles for an ebook to report about the process of starting up and running a company relating to food and crafts in each country. Films, presentations and articles are uploaded on the eTwinning platform and on a website.Sixty students who travel to partner countries learn about lifestyle and culture of the other countries through food and crafts which are the main topics of the project but also by staying with the families and taking part in everyday life. At least twelve teachers will broaden their knowledge about methodology of teaching entrepreneurship by comparing and contrasting their methods with those used by teachers in partner countries. Students and teachers take part in lessons and workshops and meet local businessmen and visit different companies and cultural sites.All the participating partners from Austria, Poland, Rumania and Germany met in November 2015 in Copenhagen during the Erasmus+ Joint Nordic Contact Seminar "The Challenge of Teaching Entrepreneurship in Education and Training". They decided on a project with the main aim to start up a company in each school.The project consortium consists of four European schools, the Higher Technical School Wolfsberg (a vocational, higher technical school) in Austria, Samorządowe Gimnazjum im.ks.S.Galasa (a lower secondary school) in Poland, “Vasile Adamachi” Agriculture and Food Industry College Iasi (secondary school) from Romania and „Berufliche Schule Stralsund“ (vocational school) from Germany. Except for Germany the schools already have some experience in running such projects.All teachers are experienced and are prepared to use innovative teaching methods and provide extra time to reach the envisaged results of the project.
The basis of the project was that according to schools’ curriculum analysis in all four schools children were learning entrepreneurship but in some schools this subject was part of curriculum (Austria, Germany, Romania) and in one of them children were learning it in a school club (Poland). All teachers involved in the project agreed that students on learning connected with practice and after asking students they decided that that school companies would focus on local/regional food (Germany, Romania, Poland) and crafts (Austria-self-made products of metal or plastic, Poland-Kashubian pottery and embroidery, Romania-trinkets, masks, encrusted eggs). Most of the students had to choose their professional path at the end of the project so they were interested in labor market needs and local business. The main aim of the project was to start up a company in each school. 90 students (Austria-15, Germany-25, Poland-25, Romania-25) started four school businesses (one in each school) and ran it till the end of the project and after that. Students got practice and financial literacy. The same number of students created objects during the project and after that (Austria-products of metal and plastic, Germany-cooking book with recipes in different languages, Poland-ceramic pots, vases and tablecloths, Romania-trinkets, masks, encrusted eggs) and local /regional food (Poland and Romania). The products weren’t sold during the project. Students learnt how to estimate the cost of production, the profit margin and selling price etc. but accountancy was only virtual. The products will be sold after the end of the project (in September 2018) and the money will be used as start-up capital for continuation of running the companies after the end of the project. During the project 12 students (3 from each school) wrote articles for an e-book about process of starting school companies in each country ‘How to start a company’ introduction; short profiles of all students and teachers involved in the project; short description of our countries; short description of our regions; information about schools; information about our companies and its products, description of food or crafts. In May 2018, 25 e-books were printed by Romanian school and they were sent to other schools and local institutions as a way to disseminate the project results. During the project 12 students (3 from each school) made four presentations(one from each school) about the process of starting a company. During the project 12 students (3 from each school) made four presentations (one from each school) about the process of making products. Articles, presentation and films were uploaded on eTwinning platform and on project website. In June 2017 and in June 2018 12 students (3 from each school) prepared photo exhibitions about the progress of project and present it in a local cultural or educational centres or in a libraries. During the project 66 students who travelled to partner countries learnt about its lifestyle through food and crafts which were the main topics of the project but also by staying with the families and taking part in everyday life. At least 26 teachers broadened their knowledge about methodology of teaching entrepreneurship by comparing and contrasting their methods with those used by teachers in partner countries. During the project 90 students (13 - 18 years old) learnt how to start a company in their own and other countries and were able to compare and contrast this process in different countries They were open-minded and eager to learn new competences. They learnt English in everyday situations.