Progressing phenomenon of technologization and computerization, leading to the formation of global information society, poses new challenges in education. School, in order to prepare young people for the skilful use of the information resources and help them adapt to life in a dynamically changing knowledge-based economy and an open society, needs to develop new methods of teaching. These tasks are particularly significant in the environments affected by deep restructuring process. In such areas where there has been a significant change in the economic and social structure, characterized by the progress in the field of computerization and technologization, intensification of interactions between different subjects, intermingling of various resources, young people encounter problems with proper orientation of their education and later their professional development. In order to develop, appropriate to the contemporary challenges, educational methods and tools, we offer, together with the partner schools, implementation of a 36-month project "My Micro-region in Makro-Europe – A Young European in Restructured Space." The project focuses on young people at the age of 16-19 coming from regions especially touched by the phenomenon of system changes, in which many social issues are appearing such as unemployment, inequality of chances, social exclusion, spatial marginalisation.The aim of the project is to develop new methods of teaching and innovative learning tools. An educational package based on information technologies, which will be a final product of the project, should help students coming from unfavorable socially and economically backgrounds determine their further education and career path by identifying the needs of the local and European labor market, as well as by the acquisition of soft skills, language and IT skills, necessary in the contemporary global world The project will allow to eliminate the differences in terms of learning outcomes of the youth from restructured communities and combat the disproportions resulting from differences in the development of local communities and related to social exclusion. Comparative approach to the problem, the exchange of experiences and good practices will create a common European educational package and ensure its innovative nature, corresponding to the challenges of the modern world. The project, which will produce a multimedia teaching aid, will increase significantly the quality of both formal and informal education as well as will let adapt methods of educating teenagers to diversified education needs.These objectives will be implemented in the following areas1. Recognizing the local environmental conditions2. Putting knowledge into practice3. Creating innovative educational tools and exchanging good practicesInnovation of the project is due to its multi-dimensionality. On the one hand, it relates to a very important issue of adapting teaching methods to the requirements of the modern world. The project meets phenomena such as globalization, restructuring, social exclusion, youth stimulation. The project will help improve the quality of teaching through the exchange of experience and good practices of teachers from different countries and different educational systems. The project will develop common European methods of education what is a key task in today's world of economic systems interpenetration, transnational corporations, multicultural societies, a vast mobility of individuals.Moreover, in the course of the project emphasis will be placed on students' self-reliance and initiative. The students will become the main contractors of the project and creators of educational tools that will be used in educating their younger colleagues. Activities undertaken during the project will allow students to acquire the necessary experience in working with information and computer technologies. The key issue is the fact that participating in the project and later use of the developed teaching tools will allow students to take a closer look at the labor market in the region and will help them determine their further development. Its interdisciplinary nature is also an extraordinary advantage of the project. The combination of knowledge and skills in the field of language and computer science, economy, sociology, geography, history and culture will create students; attitude of creativity, entrepreneurship, activity, flexibility and openness to changeable conditions. Another advantage of the project is the fact that young people will acquire the much needed ability to work in an international team. Finally, as a result of the participation in the project, the students will look at their region in a new, European context., what will open their minds to the global world, broaden horizons, create an attitude of respect and appreciation for other cultures, evaluate their knowledge and skills through the prism of peers from other countries.
Progressing phenomena leading to the formation of a global information society presents new challenges for education. In order to prepare young people to skillfully use the information they have, to adapt to life in a dynamically changing environment of the knowledge-based economy and open society, the school must develop new educational methods. These tasks have become particularly significant in environments affected by a deep restructuring process. It is in regions where there has been a significant change in the economic and social structure, characterized by progress in the field of computerization, intensification of mutual interaction of various entities, permeation of various resources, young people encounter considerable problems with orientation in their educational and professional development. In order to develop educational methods and tools appropriate for these challenges, we have implemented, together with partner schools, as part of a strategic partnership, the project entitled "My Microregion in Macro- Europe. A Young European in Restructured Space." The project focused on young people aged 14-19 coming from environments particularly affected by the phenomenon of systemic changes, in which there are many social problems such as unemployment, unequal opportunities, social exclusion, and spatial marginalization. The aim of the project was to develop modern teaching methods and innovative open educational tools. The aim of the educational package based on information technologies prepared during the project is to help students from restructured environments in a disadvantaged social and economic situation, choose their further education and a career path, by recognizing the needs of the labor market on a local and European scale, as well as acquisition of soft skills,language and ICT skills necessary in today's globalized world. A comparative approach to the issue, exchange of experience and good practices allowed to create a common European educational package, corresponding to the challenges of the modern labor market. The project, whose lasting effects are educational tools and methodologies of educating young people, will significantly improve the quality of education in both formal and informal terms, and will also allow entities using the developed solutions to adapt their methods and methodologies to the diverse educational needs of young people. The above objectives were achieved in the following areas: 1. Understanding the conditions of the local environment from the perspective of historical restructuring processes and contemporary conditions of the labor market. 2. Creating practical educational tools and exchanging good practices. The implementation of the project allowed to improve the quality of education in partner schools by exchanging experience and good practices of teachers from various countries and functioning in different educational systems. The result is a set of common European education methods to help better prepare young people for the challenges ahead, which in today's world of permeating economic systems, transnational corporations, multicultural societies, and enormous mobility of individuals is a key task. In addition, during the implementation of the project, great emphasis was placed on the independence and initiative of students, who in fact became the main contractors of the project and creators of educational tools that will be used to educate their younger colleagues. The project's extraordinary advantage was its interdisciplinary nature: a combination of knowledge and skills in the field of language as well as information, economic, sociological, geographical and historical and cultural sciences, which taught participants, students and teachers to be creative, encouraged them to be resourceful, active, flexible and open to changing conditions. The project also contributed to the creation of institutional and professional networks supporting continuous mutual learning.