"EDUCEO - Regional Industrial and Economic Research in Schools" is the development of a school project that connects elementary schools and regional companies. Elementary schools usually cover the subject economics only superficially. The results of the two-year Erasmus+ project EDUCEO will be user-friendly didactic guides, free teaching materials and an online portal. The portal enables teachers to easily plan and execute the project in collaboration with regional companies. Thereby, the portal ensures that even schools and companies who did not participate in the development can carry out the project completely autonomously in the future. In elementary schools, the subject economics is usually only covered on surface-level. For elementary pupils, however, an age-appropriate and constructive introduction into the topic of business and entrepreneurship in their living environment is important. They need the basic economical knowledge in order to be able to develop "entrepreneurial competence" in the future. Due to being produced for a broader application, the teaching material for economics classes cannot meet the requirements of covering local information. Thus the children lack essential basic knowledge and practical experience in the field of work and production. Furthermore, teachers who want to provide an efficient and successful business education in elementary school are dependent on information from and cooperation with regional companies. EDUCEO aims to develop an information channel for schools, giving them direct access to information about regional companies and their economic fundamentals. The goals of the project are: • Development of a school project in which elementary schools and companies are networked • Teaching of economical contents for the development of entrepreneurial competence in primary schools • Ensuring the autonomous manageability of the project by teachers, made possible by: • Creation of a digital solution as a project output, allowing a free and uncomplicated dissemination and use of the final school project The project EDUCEO is carried out by four project-partners from Austria, Germany and Hungary. The participating organizations have expertise in the fields of pedagogy, IT and business. Their joint drive is to modernize teaching and raise awareness among students and teachers for the economy in their environment. Project participants are schools and companies. Students will gain in the school project basic economic knowledge and first insights into the world of work and the opportunities it offers. Especially in the time of shortage of skilled workers, companies can increase their level of familiarity within the region and present themselves as attractive employers. The final school project will be carried out by regional pairs of school classes and companies. In order to provide the possibility of an autonomous completion of the project by the two participating parties without aid of an external expert, EDUCEO will develop a complete didactic introductory guide for the project. It will enclose specially designed, age-appropriate teaching materials and target-group-oriented instructions for the project implementation. In a testing phase, the project will be carried out with three to five schools and companies within the region of the project partners (Obersteiermark West, Freyung-Grafenau district, Köszeg district). Most of the participating schools and companies have already been identified as associated partners in advance. The resulting feedback will contribute to an iterative conception process and the development of the online portal. Combined with a contemporary user experience that will be tailored to the needs of the target groups, a modern and simple lesson preparation and project implementation in class will be made possible. The online portal, in which schools and companies are guided through the project, will also be tested in a digital run with three to five partner schools and the user feedback will be incorporated into the portal. At the end of the project, the final portal will be freely accessible online. The intellectual outputs of the project will be available in three languages (German, English and Hungarian) in digital form. This will enable teachers not related to the project and teachers in other EU member states to carry out the school project autonomously. The dissemination of the results is supported by a large number of associated partners who are involved in EDUCEO already from the beginning of the project. EDUCEO covers several desiderata of the European Commission regarding the promotion of entrepreneurial skills as well as the use of digital technologies in teaching in a modern classroom setting.
The goals of the project were the development of a school project in which primary schools and enterprises are networked with each other, the creation of a knowledge base for entrepreneurial competence in primary schools, as well as ensuring the possibility of autonomous implementation of this school project by teachers by creating a digital solution that enables free, uncomplicated, and uncomplicated dissemination and implementation of the school project. In the finished school project, the online portal should function as a project management tool in which all developed content is integrated. It will be published for free use and will be available in German, English and Hungarian. In the EDUCEO project, the students are to gain basic economic knowledge, first insights into the world of work and the opportunities associated with it. Companies should be able to raise their profile in the region and present themselves as attractive employers. One of the project goals was to ensure that schools and companies will continue to use the online portal after the project ends. For this, the common industry standards regarding usability and quality should be fulfilled.
Business studies is often treated only superficially in primary schools. However, it is important for primary school children to deal with the topic of economics and entrepreneurship in their living environment in an age-appropriate and constructive way because they need an initial knowledge base for the development of their "entrepreneurial competence". The schoolwork materials for economics cannot meet these demands due to their supra-regional nature, and the children are thus deprived of essential, direct experiences in the world of work and production. For successful economics lessons in primary school, teachers are therefore dependent on information from and cooperation with companies from their region. With EDUCEO, a platform is being developed for schools that provides them with direct access to local companies and their economic fundamentals. The target groups are schools and companies: the pupils gain basic economic knowledge, first insights into the world of work and the opportunities it offers. Companies can increase their profile in the region and present themselves as attractive employers.