It is a well-known fact that youth unemployment in Europe is high in a job market that is very competitive and requires well-developed personal and social skills, flexibility, intercultural awareness, good foreign language skills and - in some parts of Europe - sometimes even the readiness to migrate. At the same time, the global economy and its impact on society and the environment requires manufacturers and consumers to rethink and constantly monitor their economic decisions; more than ever, our societies need green-minded citizens who consider the ecological and social impact of their actions on a local and global basis. The job market is evolving and adapting to those needs. For future job seekers it is important to learn about these new “green” jobs; they also need to know which skills and competences are required for these (and other) professions and learn strategies that might help them to successfully land a job. With our project on sustainable entrepreneurship, career preparation and cultural differences in the business world we want to - better prepare the participants for life after school and a competitive job market by developing personal, social and entrepreneurial skills and competences; - raise young people’s confidence in their (entrepreneurial) skills, - spark new interest and creative ideas on how to set up a eco-sensitive enterprise; - make students aware of new eco-friendly/sustainable job opportunities; - enable them to gain cross-cultural experiences and knowledge about business peculiarities, and thus lower potential inhibitions in case they might have to migrate to find work later on; - help students form personal cross-cultural bonds that might even be helpful later in life - improve students' creativity, cultural knowledge, language and ICT skills. Our partnership consists of four secondary schools from ES, LIT, IT, GE. The target group are students aged 14-17. Ca. 30 students and 3-7 teachers per country form the core project team; during certain phases, more students and teachers will be involved (e.g. logo competition, product manufacturing, etc.). After each semester, one country will host a transnational meeting; 10(+) students and 2-3 teachers per country will attend each meeting (+ 30 hosts). During the 4 semesters the students work on 4 different topics. In the first year, our focus is on entrepreneurial education and sustainability: 1. sem: Students at each school set up a ‘student company’ and manufacture sustainable, eco-friendly products to be sold and promoted on markets at home and abroad; production will be kept up throughout the project (→ methods: expert-led workshops, teacher-led activities). 2. sem: Students develop marketing strategies and produce film commercials, radio jingles, ads, brochures etc. to promote their products (→ m: experts, videos, audio recordings, etc.). In the 2nd year, we focus on labour market preparation and career guidance: 3. sem: Students find out about “green” career opportunities and the skills, competences, level of education these jobs require; they interview professionals and write articles/website content (→ m: online research, (phone) interviews, writing, website editing, etc.). 4. sem: Students look for staff/ a job: they write job ads/ applications for/to their companies, do cross-cultural job interviews and make films/podcasts about the dos & don’ts when applying for a job (→ m: expert-led workshops, videos, interviews, etc.). Work results will be published on national platforms as well as a main project website. During the transnational meetings, the students • present their respective semester work results (→ m: PPT, prezis, videos, ...); • set up a market stall together and sell their products together on a local market (→ m: creative hands-on activity); • learn about business etiquettes and cross-cultural differences in the business world (→ m: expert talks); • visit a “green” company and learn about what makes it sustainable/eco-friendly (→ m: field trips or expert talks); • take part in international team workshops (→ m: group work; ES: project logo competition, LIT: project commercial, IT.: sustainable production, GE: assessment centre). Concrete results of the project will be, e.g., a website with document samples for international applications (to be used and updated beyond the project); sustainable products (if successful, production + sales can be maintained beyond the project), student portofolios to document progress and work results; videos and podcasts on various topics; reusable market stalls, various presentations and documents for further use by classes; job info portal on “green” jobs; etc. For each school, the project is an opportunity to explore the possibilities of entrepreneurial education and to see how it could be integrated into our regular school programs. Intensified contacts with the partner schools are a great opportunity for more exchange activities even beyond this project.
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