As referred in a recent document - Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe (EACEA, 2012) – “Europe faces a number of challenges that can only be met if it has innovative, well-educated, and entrepreneurial citizens who, whatever their walk of life, have the spirit and inquisitiveness to think in new ways, and the courage to meet and adapt to the challenges facing them. Moreover, a dynamic economy (…) will require a greater number of young people willing and able to become entrepreneurs”.In this context, the same document states that “Entrepreneurship Education is essential not only to shape the mindsets of young people but also to provide the skills and knowledge that are central to developing an entrepreneurial culture”. Additionally the need for innovative competencies development is justified “because education is key to shaping young people’s attitudes, skills and culture, it is vital that Entrepreneurship Education is addressed from an early age”.According to the study Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe (EACEA, 2012), a “great majority of European countries address Entrepreneurship Education through national strategies or initiatives”, reflecting the “wide recognition of the importance of Entrepreneurship Education in Europe”.The same study stresses that “nearly half of the countries have incorporated the objectives linked to the promotion of Entrepreneurship Education within broader strategies (lifelong learning, education and youth, growth)” and others countries “have launched specific Entrepreneurship Education strategies”.As for Entrepreneurship Education at primary education level, which roughly includes children aging 6 to 10 years old, it’s referred that only “two thirds of EU countries explicitly recognise Entrepreneurship in central steering documents at this education level”. In contrast, in secondary education “virtually all countries integrate Entrepreneurship into the curriculum in some form”. This allows the conclusion that it is at the primary education level that is needed more attention.Current approaches to Entrepreneurship Education in primary education rely mostly on a “cross-curricular approach (…) where Entrepreneurship Education is integrated into existing subjects”. Another important aspect is that “half of the countries define learning outcomes related to Entrepreneurship” but “no country addresses practical entrepreneurial skills at this school level”.In this context, the main goal of the project is to create an innovative computer learning game for Entrepreneurship Education of children (6 -10 y), that can be easily implemented in formal and non-formal education settings.In the game, players - individually or in group - will create their own company and cooperate with each other to reach success by making decisions and developing joint activities (in-game and off-game) in response to different challenges. At the same time they compete with other companies in the virtual market. By creating both a cooperative and a competitive environments this learning tool expects to act on knowledge, behaviours and attitudes, contributing to the development of a wide set Entrepreneurship skills, like creativity, teamwork, leadership, market functioning, etc.The game will be developed with the concern to address effectively boys and girls. This concern will extend to the graphical design, contents and game activities and functionalities, following state of the art knowledge on these matters.Thus, the project will result in an innovative learning tool that makes use of a wide set of pedagogical resources and techniques - gaming, storytelling, simulation and role playing, among others - to:• Combine simulation with other complementary off-game activities• Provide both a cooperative and competitive environments• Stimulate an Entrepreneurship culture next to both boys and girlsAdditionally, project KidVenture will also deliver a:• Game Manual, with clear instruction on how to access and play the game• Guide for Implementation, with guidelines for the use of the learning game in-class in order to assist teachers and trainers• Pilot Training, involving training of teachers/trainers and testing with pupils• Website and a Facebook page on Entrepreneurship Education in schools with a repository of the materials produced in the project (but not only) and that can be a meeting point for people involved or interested in the topic.• Sustainability Strategy that will present the guidelines for the future exploitation of results and to ensure the future impact of the project.This initiative gathers 7 partners from 6 different countries, including 2 Higher Education Institutions (KU and UOWM), an Education Authority (CK), a group of Schools (MPDA), a primary school (ZSJ) and 2 private companies active in education, training and development of learning resources.
Context: Entrepreneurship Education has been one of the key developmental areas for the European Union. Developing and implementing entrepreneurship education programs has been one of the main objectives in EU’s policy. According to (Eurydice, 2016). “Entrepreneurship education is about learners developing the skills and mind-set to be able to turn creative ideas into entrepreneurial action. It is considered as a key competence for all learners, supporting personal development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employability. It is relevant across the lifelong learning process, in all disciplines of learning and to all forms of education and training (formal, non-formal and informal) which contribute to an entrepreneurial spirit or behaviour, with or without a commercial objective”. Objectives: KidVenture – increasing the entrepreneurial culture of children through gaming is an EU funded project with the aim to create an innovative computer learning game for Entrepreneurship Education of children between 6 and 10 years old, for use in formal, non-formal and informal education settings, and available freely Europe wide. In order to reach this goal, the consortium studied thoroughly the notion of Entrepreneurship Education discipline in order to determine the aspects of the final product which would better serve its purpose. The design of the game was based on this literature review and represents the convergence of three involved pillars: the academia, the in-service teachers and the private enterprise sector. Number and Profile of Participating Organisations: KidVenture partners: Scuole Paritarie dell'Istituto delle Maestre Pie dell'Addolorata - Primary School in St Giovanni Italy Zakladni skola Jedovnice, okres Blansko - Primary School in Jedovnitse, Czech Republic Boon Unipessoal, Lda - SME in Porto, Portugal Cukurova Kaymakamligi - Educational Authority in dada, Turkey Advancis Business Services, Lda - SME focussing on training, learning tool development, Porto, Portugal Panepistimio Dytikis Makedonias (University of Western Macedonia) - University delivering training to primary school teachers Kingston University - Kingston Business School specialises in Entrepreneurial Education, Kingston, UK. Main Activities: Activities contributing to delivery of the Intellectual Outcome - the KidVenture Game included Project Management and Implementation ( led by KU as coordinator ), digital media and valorisation including web design(supported by BOON), digital content production and newsletter publicity, Game production ( led by Advancics Business Services ), game pilots with schools ( led by target group partners, schools in Italy, Czech Republic and Turkey) and the Implementation guides led by UoWM. Further the dissemination of the project results have been enabled by a series of Multiplier events in Portugal, Greece and the UK. We are pleased to say that the activities and the final IO completion have been achieved by the consortium on time. Results: This computer game was designed to facilitate the learning of Entrepreneurship-related topics. In the game, players – individually or in group – create their own company and cooperate with each other to reach success by making decisions and developing joint activities iin response to different challenges (e.g. assigning different management roles to each member of the group – role playing). The general idea of the game is to simulate a necessarily simplified product development process for a Toy Robot in which the Players, playing individual roles but cooperating under the same objective, have to make decisions on product design, marketing, finances, production, to launch a successful product on the market, while facing competition of o toy factory. Results: Results include the Entrepreneurial skills framework document, the Implementation guide and the flagship IO - the KidVenture Game. The KidVenture Game can be embedded in the curricular activities and teaching of Schools as complementary teaching and assessment tool. These are the three possible scenarios of the KidVenture Game within the curriculum: · The game as an introduction to Entrepreneurship concepts, notions and Entrepreneurship literacy · The game as an in-classroom tool for parallel teaching of Entrepreneurship concepts and game play · The game as a feedback-assessment tool Impact: During the project implementation the researcher piloted the game in three schools in Turkey, Czech Republic, Greece, Portugal, UK and Italy ( reaching at least 300 children; 100 teachers). The impact on the cyber entrepreneurship skill levels in school children has been measured in a controlled experiment. The results of the project have been recorded and presented in a case study for the European Commission and the UK National Agency, The British Council, demonstrating the effectiveness of the research –informed gamification approach to digital curriculum in schools .