The current post-crisis European context can just be overcome through an economic, inclusive and sustainable recovery, ensuring the recognition and integration of the cultural and social diversity. All citizens must be protected and empowered from the early childhood. Only this approach can lead the European Union to an inclusive, competitive and fair society (Europe2020, EC) The EC understands entrepreneurship as a key competence with a dual focus. Firstly, the development of entrepreneurial attitudes, skills and knowledge should enable the individual to turn ideas into action. Secondly, entrepreneurship is not only related to economic activities and business creation, but more widely to all areas of life and society. Social entrepreneurs are agents of change, as individuals and groups who are passionate about improving the lives of people and communities. There is no part of Europe that cannot benefit from social entrepreneurship. At this time of economic crisis and with the challenges of an ageing population, youth unemployment, climate change and increasing inequalities, Europe needs more social entrepreneurs. Social innovation is part of this entrepreneurial wave, providing new solutions that simultaneously meet a social need and lead to new or improved capabilities and relationships and better use of assets and resources. In other words, social innovations are both good for society and enhance society’s capacity to act. The Strasbourg Declaration elaborated some recommendations for action, including: - Launch capacity building programmes to support and facilitate social innovation - Promote social entrepreneurship in education at all levels by integrating it more effectively in education policy (formal, informal, non-formal). Nevertheless, the main challenges of educating in entrepreneurship and innovation include developing new educational approaches, reducing the digital gap between educators and students, and improving learning and teaching practises in innovation-related skills, attitudes and knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to design, develop and test new models of entrepreneurship education combining innovative tools and methodologies to support and boost social innovators and social entrepreneurs across Europe, contributing to solve the social challenges the EU is facing and leading the transition to a more productive, innovative and inclusive Europe. The aim of START IN project is to design and develop a new model of entrepreneurship education boosting social innovation and social entrepreneurial skills in young people within the School education system in Europe. To do so, an alliance of XX local and regional school authorities, Universities and learning provider organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship from 7 countries (Finland, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Turkey and United Kingdom) will work together to lead the project and co-create and test the following innovative methods and freely accessible OER: - A European EQF-based Curriculum (IO1) and a set of Training Modules (IO2) on Inclusive and Innovative Entrepreneurship Education (IIEE) - An innovative Mobile Instructional Learning APPs (IO3) to train school teachers and educators to use and design Mobile Learning APPs (IO5) with their students on IIEE. - A Multilingual e-learning platform (IO4), with innovative e-Learning courses and OER on IIEE. - A Guide (IO5) with recommendations to mainstream of IIEE in Europe. School teachers and educators are the main target users of the project products and primary and secondary school students the final beneficiaries. START IN project will directly involve 104 school teachers and educators (32 partners staff / 42 experts involved / 30 target users in pilots), 150 school students (in pilots) and 495 stakeholders. A wider audience, of a minimum of 1000 recipients, will be reached at local, regional, national and European level through the planned dissemination activities. The project will apply European frameworks and instruments, like EQF, Europass and SchoolEducationGateaway, to promote and boost transparency and recognition of competences and qualifications, transnational mobility and the transferability of the project outputs to other local and regional school authorities, Universities and learning provider organizations at local, regional, national and European level, with the active support and cooperation of a network of key associated partners and relevant stakeholders involved in the project. START IN will have a direct impact on school teachers, reducing the digital gap between educators and students, and improving learning and teaching practises, also through ICT, combining social innovation and social entrepreneurship in School education. The project will have a direct impact on students, improving their social innovation skills and their social entrepreneurial mindset. The long-term impact envisaged is a strengthening of the European School education system.
To develop and test new models of entrepreneurship education,8 different local and regional school authorities, Universities and learning provider organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship from 7 countries "Finland, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Turkey and United Kingdom" worked together to lead the project ,co-created and tested the following innovative methods and freely accessible OER: IO1: EUROPEAN EQF-BASED CURRICULUM ON INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION BASED ON THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The theoretical framework of entrepreneurship education brings together the common experience and understanding of project partners, on what entrepreneurship education means, and what entrepreneurship education aims to achieve. The theoretical framework therefore served as the basis for the curriculum development. IO2: TRAINING MODULES ON INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION The aim of the training modules, created together with the project partners, is to develop different aspects of entrepreneurship education. IO3: MOBILE INSTRUCTIONAL LEARNING APP The mobile application has been developed to further support learning. It can be used to create questionnaires that can be used to either test learning or to utilise questioning alongside other teaching. The application can be used by both teachers and students. IO4: MULTILINGUAL eLEARNING PLATFORM The eLearning platform is a 24/7 open learning environment translated into six languages. The content areas built into the Learning Units are intended for the development of teachers’ own skills. Teachers at different school levels can utilise the content in their own teaching, as well as adapting and extending the content to suit students of different ages, interests or learning styles IO5: SET OF TAILOR-MADE MOBILE APPS The educational institutions and teachers involved in the project pilots across the six partner countries experimented with the various digital tools and the Start In Mobile application in their support of entrepreneurship education. IO6: GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING AN INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM IN EUROPE The purpose of this guide is to bring together the material produced in the Start In project and the experiences gained from creating it, to promote and develop entrepreneurship education in Europe. Please read more https://startin.erasmus.site/products/ In six Start In participant´s countries thirty teachers participated across two pilot phases by testing and implementing the eLearning Platform materials and Mobile Application in their daily teaching of entrepreneurship education with their students. They selected the suitable tools and practices to fit their daily teaching and group of students. Afterwards they gave feedback of the materials and tools used, based on their experiences. Feedback was collected via online questionnaires during the Start In project during the years 2019– 2020. . PILOT 1. ELEARNING PLATFORM MATERIALS AND MOBILE APP At the first Pilot, done in the year 2019, the feedback was been collected from twenty-eight persons across six European countries. In Pilot 1. teachers became familiar with the Start In eLearning platform´s entrepreneurship pedagogy and learning materials, and they applied the Start In Mobile Application with their students. Feedback answers were collected from primary and secondary teachers as well as some educational policy makers. PILOT 2. ENTRE. EDU. MATERIALS INTO PRACTICE At the second Pilot, conducted during 2019–2020, 30 teachers across 6 European countries have implemented entrepreneurship education practices with the students from the primary to secondary school levels. Teachers and educators implemented the Start In eLearning platform´s entrepreneurship pedagogy and used the eLearning materials in their teaching. All Start In units and lessons at the platform were tested and implemented in daily teaching practices. Test users gave feedback after implementation. Twenty-two feedback answers were collected from primary to higher level teachers and some policy makers. According to the feedback the eLearning platform mainly worked very well, and the feedback was very good. Most useful materials on the platform were videos, slides, tools and practical examples. According to the feedback of test users Start In eLearning materials and practices gave good examples of what entrepreneurship education is and how it can be implemented in different school levels in various, innovative ways.In this project,We encouraged teachers to step out of the school environment and utilise more stakeholders and companies to their teaching. With 6 meetings,6 Intellectual Outputs,6 Multiplier Events (Although it should have been 8, it could not be held in 2 countries),many exploitation and dissemination activities we have strength in cooperation, and we are now ready to meet the challenge of European entrepreneurship by training skilled teachers and enterprising young people.