More than a decade since the 2006 Recommendation in a radically changed world, the Commission proposes a revision of the European Reference Framework for Key Competences, as those required today have changed; international data indicate a constantly high proportion of adolescents and adults with insufficient basic skills. It is therefore more important than ever to invest in basic skills. Among the main objectives the European Commission highlights the following: to support the development of entrepreneurial skills to develop essential skills and attitudes, including creativity, initiative, teamwork, an understanding of risk and a sense of responsibility The partner schools have intended to respond to this need by structuring a work that uses the Spirit of initiative and entrepreneurship as a driving force to develop the other key competences. The partner schools are 5: these are generalistic institutes, 4 are public and one is a private school (Estonia). Approximately 1200 students will be involved out of 2100 students attending, of which about 200 with fewer opportunities, from infant, primary and secondary level, between 3 and 14 years of age; schools from France and Estonia, without infant school, will involve children aged 7 and up. 80 student mobilities will be carried out (including at least 20 students with fewer opportunities) with ages between 9 and 14 years. The teachers involved will be about 90 out of 236, 60 the planned mobilities. There will be 5 Joint Staff Training Events contemporaneously with 5 Exchanges of groups of pupils with the following order: France, Spain, Poland, Italy, Estonia. The idea of the project is to simulate the creation and management of micro-enterprises in various sectors of activity: 1) primary sector (farms, plant nurseries, floriculture) 2) secondary sector (local crafts) 3) tertiary sector (trade, tourism, other services) The teaching methodology identified is that of Project Based Learning, as it is designed to put each student in a student-worker condition, learning to collaborate, to think critically, to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. The activities are divided into 4 blocks, each led by a partner and ends with the international mobility hosted by the latter. The first block is related to the primary sector (agriculture) led by Spain. The second is related to the primary sector (plant nurseries and floriculture) led by Poland The third is related to the secondary sector (crafts) led by Italy The fourth is related to the tertiary sector (tourist activities, eg hotels, b & b, restaurants, etc) and is led by Estonia Finally, the French school will lead the cross-cutting thematic block, related to the management of a small business travel and tourism promotion agency, which will promote the local territory of each of the participating partner countries. At each international meeting, each partner will show the activity to others and take part in the activities proposed by the other ones. During the international meetings, we will share the Evaluation Report and the Good Practices Manual and revise the budget management. The central objective of the project consists in the research of teaching methodologies and strategies to allow young people, with particular regard to those in disadvantaged situations, to develop the key competences indicated by the EU. It is also proposed to improve the quality of early childhood education, as specialist studies show that this favors the whole process of lifelong learning, and allows to reach higher levels of competences, especially on pupils in clear disadvantged situations. The concrete results that we aim to produce are: 1) raising the levels of competence in pupils (to be measured with common and shared evaluation rubrics) 2) reduction of the statistical dispersion of the levels of competence and decrease of the percentage of students in the lower levels 3) equip teachers with teaching tools aimed at improving key competences, summarized in a Manual of Good Practices The organizations will also have at their disposal the Evaluation Report on the results, the website, the channels on social networks, the project material on the E-twinning portal. In the longer term, the partner schools are expected to register: increase of pupils motivation, increase of teachers' professionalism, integration in the school curriculum of the good practices of the project, improvement of the image of the school and its attractiveness to the outside. The partners intend to continue the activity of experimentation and exchange of good practices, after the conclusion of the project, activating E-Twinnings, to deepen the most promising themes or to correct those that appeared less effective.
The partner schools responded to the need to research methodologies and teaching strategies that would allow students, especially those with fewer opportunities, to develop key European competences by structuring a work that used entrepreneurial competence as a driving force to increase other key competences. . During the project was simulated the creation and management of micro-enterprises in various sectors of activity: 1) primary sector (farms, nurseries, floriculture) 2) secondary sector (local crafts) 3) tertiary sector (tourism) The teaching methodology used was that of Project Based Learning, as it was designed to put each student in a student-worker condition, learning to collaborate, to think critically, to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. Objectives of the project Experimenting and exchanging good practices and active teaching methodologies transversal to other areas of learning Improve the level of key competences Favoring pupils with disadvantages with a view to inclusion Build a stimulating and proactive path from early childhood in an evolutionary process that respects the nature of the pupil and enhances it Create a study and research environment around good practices Show the complementarity of practices Leave concrete tools that can also be used by others The partnership is made up of 5 schools, of which 3 with children from infancy to lower secondary school: the Italian school about 1,150 pupils, the Spanish one 300 pupils and the Polish school about 250. The French school is a primary school with 136 pupils aged 6 to 11. The Estonian school is a private school with 260 students aged 7 to 19. 57% of pupils attending the 5 schools were involved, of which 12% with fewer opportunities. The Polish and French schools are at the first experience of European projects. 5 Joint Staff Training Events were carried out for 82 mobility, compared to the 60 financed. There were 4 short-term exschanges of pupils for 77 mobilities, compared to the 80 planned and 1 carried out online with 20 students involved, including those from the host country. The work was divided into 5 thematic blocks, marked by international mobility according to the following calendar: November 2018 France First Training Event and first Student Exchange: Kick-off Meeting, launch of the transversal thematic block relating to the promotion of the territories and of the first thematic block relating to the primary sector-agriculture coordinated by Spain. March 2019 Spain second Training Event and second Student Exchange, conclusion of the first block and start of the second dedicated to the primary sectir-floriculture coordinated by Poland May 2019 Poland third Training Event and Student Exchange, conclusion of the second block and start of the third related to the tertiary sector-crafts coordinated by Italy November 2019 Italy fourth Training Event and Exchange, conclusion of the third block and start of the fourth relating to the tertiary sector-tourism activities. Due to the pandemic emergency for COVID-19, the activities were suspended, and after the one-year extension of the project, they resumed in January 2021. In order not to expose pupils to contagion risk, as they cannot be vaccinated, it was decided to carry out the last Exchange between students online, while in presence of the last Training Event for teachers. June 2021 Last Exchange between students online, conclusion of the works on the fourth thematic block and of the transversal one. August 2021 Estonia last Training event, were completed works related to: Good Practices Manual, Evaluation Report and Mobility tool. Final dissemination event. The teachers shared a methodology that, through common evaluation rubrics, on a scale from 1 to 4, measured the initial level of competence and motivation of the pupils and the final level after carrying out the activities dedicated to the development of the main competence (entrepreneurial) and the other stimulated ones: mathematical and scientific-technological competence, learning to learn, digital (common to all activities), and the others depending on didactic work and age groups (multilingual, functional alphabetic, citizenship, awareness and cultural expression) The main results obtained were For students: increase in the average level of competence passed from an initial range of 1.99-2.44 (in the various competences) to 2,89-3,37 and a disparity in results decreased from 19,8% -27,9% to 19,3% -24,7%. Similar results were obtained on the sample of pupils with fewer opportunities increasing competences from a range of 1.70-2.14 to an interval of 2.47-2.94. For teachers: increase of knowledge and teaching skills, focus on working for skills with active teaching methodologies, enrichment of educational tools, collected in the Good Practices Manual in 40 activity sheets For participating organizations: improvement of didactic planning, teachers' professionalism, school climate and spirit, enrichment of educational tools. Those aspects were evaluated by school headteachers with a score of 3.31. Improvement of the image and attractiveness of the school, rated with 3.25 by the headteachers as well. Finally, we believe that the project has produced long-term benefits: Raising awareness of other schools adjacent to educational innovation and opportunities offered by European projects Strengthening and promotion of the spirit and the founding principles of the European Union among local communities Future citizens more competent, aware and with a greater civic sense