YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS SHINE (Y.E.S) Our strategic partnership is made up of five primary schools, located in island regions within the European Union; , Kefalonia (Greece), Las Palma (Spain), Sicily (Italy), Wolin (Poland) and Northern Ireland (UK). Together, we have identified two areas of common concern: (1)The economic crisis facing the European Union is having a massive negative impact on our regions, which are overdependent on tourism & public services, & facing rising unemployment & a lowering of living standards . This economic crisis provides the motivation for our schools to begin a process to embed Entrepreneurship Education into our curricula. We recognise that our pupils require a new skill set as they enter an ever-evolving, ever-demanding global job market; but more than that, they need the transversal skills that will enable them to act as entrepreneurs, who will provide the innovative spark to create new jobs & bring new wealth to their communities. To achieve this goal, we recognise the need to 'upskill' our teachers in the delivery of a more open-ended, activity-based, experiential approach to learning, to enable our children to develop these skills. Consequently, our project will include collaboration between our schools to enable our teachers to learn from each other, both virtually, via eTwinning/Skype etc., and face-to-face, at transnational Learning, Teaching & Training events. In addition, our staff will collaborate, within & between our schools, to develop a new, skills-based scheme of work for Entrepreneurship Education, with clear learning outcomes for our pupils. We want to embed Entrepreneurship Education into our school curricula from the early years, so that entrepreneurship will become part of the unique ethos of our schools. Through collaboration in a series of open-ended, entrepreneurial challenges, our pupils will develop the entrepreneurial attitudes of self-confidence, determination, resilience, & self-awareness, alongside the entrepreneurial skills which enable them to think in new & imaginative ways, to generate, implement, test and review innovative solutions to a variety of problems or business opportunities. Our senior pupils will have opportunity to enter competitions, to form mini-companies & engage in meaningful collaborations in real situations, undertaking real roles & producing real products and services. The apex of our pupil collaboration will take place during short term pupil exchanges, where they will form international teams to create products for sale or demonstration at an International Trade Fair in the host school or community. The immediate impacts of our project will be evidenced in the professional development of our staff & their increased motivation & confidence; the embedding of an entrepreneurial ethos & Entrepreneurship Education in our schools and; in pupils, who are problem-solvers, confident, innovative, adaptable & creative, who engage with, and value, their learning, & who are more employable & ready to take responsibility for their own futures & that of their local communities. We will become beacon schools for Entrepreneurship Education, & will ensure that the results of our partnership will be made available beyond our partnership, in local schools & the wider international learning community, through a series of teacher meets, workshops, job shadowing opportunities and publishing our results on eTwinning, Erasmus +, Open Discovery Space, Euro and our website(s) etc. We will also challenge our Educational Authorities to make Entrepreneurship Education a statutory component of our primary school curricula & to provide schools with curriculum materials, schemes and resources & a national scheme for accreditation similar to other awards e.g., International School Award, Fair Trade School etc. (2) Our secondary objective concerns the migrant crisis sweeping Europe, creating increased tensions in communities and stresses within our schools. We see the destructive potential of migration without social integration & inclusion. We understand the dangers of xenophobia, misinformation, fear, racial violence, discrimination, radicalization, ghettoization etc. To that end we want to create harmonious schools, where newcomer children, their families & their cultural expressions are welcomed, respected & celebrated within an inclusive school community. We plan to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, through pursuit of the Rights Respecting School Award. Consequently, our staff and pupils will collaborate to agree, explain, & implement a set of positive values by which our school communities will live. The impact will be in more harmonious schools & communities, where pupils respect each others' rights, whilst understanding their individual & collective responsibilities. We will seek to widen the impact of our work by disseminating our experiences to local schools & the international learning community.
Our project aimed to: 1. Develop, test, review, embed & disseminate new approaches to teaching & learning in Entrepreneurism Education 2. Upskill our staff in how best to deliver experiential learning through Entrepreneurism Education 3. Ensure our pupils develop key entrepreneurial skills, knowledge & attitudes to enable them to act as entrepreneurs 4. Provide opportunities for our pupils to act as entrepreneurs both locally & in a European context. 5. Achieve high levels of inclusion & respect across social, ethnic, religious & economic groupings, as 'Rights Respecting Schools' Our project was deemed essential from three perspectives: 1. ECONOMIC (1) The economic difficulties experienced in our regions. (2) High levels of unemployment, particularly among young people. (3) Over-dependence on tourism, agriculture & public services. (4) A need to inspire young entrepreneurs today, who will create jobs & wealth tomorrow. 2. EDUCATIONAL (1) EU policy is to expand Entrepreneurism Education in schools. However, the Eurydice Report 2015, suggested there was much work to do, if we are to develop “Europe’s Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow”. (2) Our Education Authorities provide guidance in respect of developing Entrepreneurism Education; however, this is underdeveloped in our national curricula. (3) To succeed in the labour market pupils need to develop their thinking skills and personal capabilities; to be flexible in their approach to problem-solving, creative, resilient, innovative, determined, risk-takers, team players, good communicators, financially aware, computer literate etc. These transversal skills are nurtured in a cross curricular approach to Entrepreneurship Education. (4) Our staff need to develop a new skill set to provide opportunities, whereby our children can develop these entrepreneurial skills, attitudes & knowledge. 3. SOCIAL (1) Our countries, have witnessed extraordinary levels of inward migration in recent years. (2) The migrant/refugee crisis has brought many challenges to our schools and communities. (3) We want to create schools and communities which welcome newcomers, celebrate difference, breathe tolerance and respect, and include everyone; implementing the 'UN Convention on the Rights of the Child' and achieving a 'Rights Respecting School' award. (4) All pupils, regardless of ethnic, religious or socio-economic background, will access the project and develop their own particular skills and talents. (5) We want our pupils to appreciate similarities & differences between cultures & to understand how diversity is our strength. Our project has identified and addressed common problems we share across our schools and in our regions, in the areas of; the economy, employment, education and society. We have collaborated internationally to find shared solutions to our common problems. Through face-to-face and remote collaboration we have succeeded in addressing all of our project aims We have: -provided opportunity for our pupils to develop traversal skills in real situations -embedded Entrepreneurship Education into our school curricula -facilitated staff professional development in EE and Social Inclusion -engaged with the local civil and business community and strengthened our social network -encouraged social inclusion and our pupils have greater awareness of the issues affecting migrant families -continued to address the scourge of xenophobia -strengthened our European ties and nurtured a more international outlook for our school communities The INTERNATIONAL dimension added significant value to our project: The importance of international collaboration cannot be overstated particularly at a time when EU/UK relationships were under pressure due to Brexit. Face-to-face collaboration between visiting & host pupils during pupil mobilities provided our pupils with unique opportunities to develop their entrepreneurial (transversal) skills in unfamiliar, challenging environments. They have gained first-hand, early experience of the global/international nature of the marketplace & modern workplace. Our Erasmus+ coordinators had opportunity to meet face-to-face to facilitate effective planning, coordination & evaluation. The transnational dimension provided a motivational & reinvigorating experience for our staff as they gained first-hand experience of different working practices, cultures and school systems. Staff horizons have broadened as they reflected together and pooled their expertise to establish a Europe-wide learning community and catalyst for change within our schools and communities. Staff had opportunity to disseminate & observe good practice, to teach & discuss pedagogical issues around Entrepreneurism Education and Social Inclusion and to develop as professionals, leading to innovative practice and improved outcomes for pupils. Through travel & face-to-face interaction our pupils and staff encountered Europe's diverse cultures and languages. As they collaborated at school and abroad, they have understood more about their similarities and differences. Our project has crossed real and imagined borders; has helped remove barriers of misunderstanding & prejudice and built new bridges of friendship, learning and social cohesion. Our partnership fed directly into our Rights Respecting School agenda. The transnational aspect opened up the world to our pupils, who generally travel less than their counterparts on mainland Europe. Transnational travel enabled and encouraged our children and staff to practise their language and communication skills in real contexts. The transnational aspect has raised our school profile in our regions and has enabled us to apply for International accreditation.