Creativity is a 21st century skill that is important for both entrepreneurship and intra-organisational innovation. It is viewed as necessary attribute for contributing effectively to both economic and social domains in a rapidly changing landscape. Most frameworks for creativity development focus on either individual creativity and innovation, or methodologies, such as design thinking. The framework we propose to innovate within this project combines these approaches and in addition, connects the success of creative behaviours with the success of learning behaviours. This innovative approach has more potential to efficiently raise the creative competence of individuals and organisations, sustainably over time and views creativity as a learning-based outcome, rather than a characteristic or personal trait. Creativity can be learnt. We aim to increase the quality of youth work and youth training activities in Europe by developing a creative readiness assessment tool and a methodology framework for creative development. Kinetic@Work enables youth workers to support young people in developing their creativity skills, thanks to which they will better be able to find their own path and their place on the labour market of tomorrow: fit for the future. Besides the employability aspect, developing creative skills and a creative confidence gives youth workers and educators access to means to reach out and to approach marginalized young people in a different way, to better contribute to the prevention of radicalization and intolerance among youth, thus fighting against contemporary radical tendencies in Europe. The project involves 32 participants directly in the teaching and learning activities, and we a broader range of our target group will be reached through all activities designed for co-creating and testing the Assessment tool, visibility and dissemination. Total number of persons directly involved: 48 people. Activities: -An 8-day training course serves as a pilot of the Assessment Tool and an evaluation of Kinetic Creativity as methodology in NFE. The Course is about improving core competencies for contemporary educational practice including: Visual Facilitation, Digital Tools and Learning Analytics, Reducing Complexity and Reflection. The structure of the training course is unique for education: competition for volume and novelty of ideas. -An Upskilling and Evidence Collection seminar with past participants and collaborators involved with the original idea of Kinetic Creativity. We will obtain evidence of current practice using Kinetic Creativity associated methods. As most components of the framework will be innovated and developed during this project, we will give our past collaborators the chance to Upskill during this short face-to-face seminar of 3 days. Kinetic@Work will adopt a design science approach and using non-formal educational methodology and approach throughout the four stages of the project, implemented over the course of 26 months. As working methodology within the team, we will use the principles of co-design in order to ensure a maximum level of participation and collaboration, and we will also walk our talk and use some of the Kinetic Creativity methods when it is appropriate in the process. By the end of this project we expect to achieve the following specific objectives and results: 1. To create an assessment tool for youth workers, youth leaders, trainers and young people to measure their creative readiness and provide a baseline for activities using Kinetic Creativity as a framework for creative development. 2. To develop and implement an 8-day training course as a pilot for testing the assessment tool and the methodology of Kinetic@Work. 3. An Upskilling and Evidence Collection seminar with past participants and collaborators involved with creativity development. 4. To co-design and implement an appropriate research structure to evaluate the impact of Kinetic@Work. 5. To create a practitioner-focused Book that summarizes and transfers the key messages from Kinetic Creativity, offers ready-to-use methodology for youth workers and to disseminate this to a wider audience than has been previously achieved. 6. To provide visual documentation of the Kinetic Creativity process, thereby to improve validity of our research through transparency and triangulation. In addition, to disseminate this information to a wider audience than has been previously achieved. As long-term benefits, the implementation of the project will: - promote the use of assessment tools and raise awareness about the importance of measuring non-formal learning and evidence based impact assessment in youth work. - improve the competencies of youth workers, teams of partner organisations and thus through them the project impacts the competencies of young people. - contribute to the employability and adaptability of young people as indirect beneficiaries.
Kinetic@work enables youth workers to support young people in developing their creativity skills, thanks to which they are able to better find their own path and their place on the labour market of tomorrow: fit for the future. Besides the employability aspect, developing creative skills and creative confidence gives youth workers and educators access to means to reach out and to approach marginalized young people in a different way, to better contribute to the prevention of radicalization and intolerance among youth, thus fighting against contemporary radical tendencies in Europe. The innovative framework we developed in this project combines the focus on individual creativity and innovation, or methodologies, such as design thinking and in addition, connects the success of creative behaviours with the success of learning behaviours. This innovative approach has more potential to efficiently raise the creative competence of individuals and organisations, sustainably over time and views creativity as a learning-based outcome, rather than a characteristic or personal trait. Creativity can be learnt and we aimed to increase the quality of youth work and youth training activities in Europe by preparing a creative readiness assessment tool and a methodology framework for creative development step by step described in a book/guide (outcome of this project). All these intellectual outputs of the project were explored and disseminated via a series of podcasts and an academic article to consolidate the findings and bring more content and hands-on material as well as inspiration for new comers in the creativity training process.
Kinetic@Work is a project funded by the Czech National Agency for the Erasmus + Youth under KA205 Strategic Partnerships for Youth, coordinated by Genesis (Czech Republic) in close partnership with TE IS Foundation (Hungary), Association YUPI (Portugal), Move & Develop (MODE) Foundation (Poland), Associazione Interculturale NUR (Italy) and Youth Garage e.V. (Germany) for a total of 36 months. Creativity is accepted as a necessary component for innovation and entrepreneurship, for solving complex problems, and also for creating a more just and inclusive society. However, it requires practice and training that is mostly not available. As such, there is a need for validated, flexible and innovative pedagogical tools that support real creative development and progress. The Kinetic Method uses functional creativity to enable groups of people to work together while pursuing their goals and progress at work. It demonstrates how to increase the value of contributions in groups and boosts the ability to solve complex tasks. It consists of a set of practices related to skills, mindset and environment. It is not merely creativity itself, but creativity that is directed towards a common purpose or goal that is meaningful to society. In this project, we aimed to improve the quality of youth work, leadership, and youth training activities in Europe by assembling and presenting a cohesive, scalable, validated approach to increasing creative potential - a creative readiness assessment tool and a methodology framework for creative development, and by disseminating it widely across the youth field and new target groups in media, education, and academia.