“VALUE EUROPE – CREATING AN INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBLE EVENT FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY” BACKGROUND OF PROJECT In our prior KA2 projects, the students have studied entrepreneurship and successfully created & implemented pop-up restaurants in each participating country. This new project “Value Europe” has some similarities to our previous projects (as the practices found to be good in the previous projects remain), but the main objectives are all new: in this project, we want to give back to communities & municipalities by giving them the opportunity to present themselves to local residents by organizing an event directed at the local schools’ students together with their teachers. MAIN OBJECTIVES 1. PLAN and CREATE a “responsible event” in each participating country. 2. CREATE an event by brainstorming ideas for events that were suitable for the operating environment, drawing up a feasible plan and budget, networking and finding suitable partners for cooperation, communicating information and informing about the event, implementing the event and evaluating the success of the event. 3. CREATE and PRODUCE a handbook in English to study Event Production in vocational education. 4. UNITE European vocational curriculums of participating vocational schools (Finland, Spain, Italy) – to the extent that is possible - with an Event Production unit (15 ECTS). 5. DECREASE the threshold of vocational students to continue studies at Universities of Applied Sciences 6. DISSEMINATE knowledge about studying Event Production in this fun, international and innovative way in vocational schools and, finally, DISSEMINATE and PROMOTE the new handbook "Finding Value in Events – Event Production in Vocational Education” produced during the project. 7. PROVIDE an opportunity for local businesses to introduce themselves to the public 8. GIVE BACK to the local community by inviting one or two local schools - e.g. the school’s 9th graders - to participate in the event which addresses the values, opportunities and businesses found in the local community PARTNERS In this project we have 6 participating educational institutions from 3 different countries. 1. Perho Culinary, Tourism and Business College, Finland 2. Haaga-Helia Univerisity of Applied Sciences, Finland 3. Col·legi Badalonés, Spain 4. Istituto di Istruzione Superiore “De Amicis”, Italy 5. Estudis d’Hoteleria i Turisme CETT, Spain 6. Istituto Professionale per I Servizi Alberghieri e della Restarazione “Luigi Carnacina”, Italy DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES AND PARTICIPANTS During the project three WORKSHOP weeks are organized: Participants/workshop: 28 students and 12 teachers = 40 participants Workshop 1, Finland 05/2021 Workshop 2, Spain 12/2021 Workshop 3, Italy 05/2022 ACTION During this project students become experienced learners of planning and setting up a responsible event aimed at the surrounding community and selected high schools. In each workshop an event is set up in one of the participating countries. The aim of the event is to increase all the participants’ valuation of the surroundings including culture, the nature, the neighbourhood, and people. The participating students gain valuable knowledge on Event Production. 1. PLAN - In this project a handbook will be created on an eLearning platform. The planning will be conducted in virtual meetings. 2. EVALUATE PLANS – in a survey 3. CREATE THE FINAL PLAN FOR THE EVENT – document the plan in the handbook 4. RUN – During the workshop the students establish and run an event for 1 day 5. ASSESS – Success of the event is evaluated in final presentations and students’evaluation discussions 6. DISSEMINATE - The learning process is documented in the handbook, which is also published as an ebook including video material. RESULTS As a result of the project, an English-language handbook "Finding Value in Events – Event Production in Vocational Education” is published in addition to an ebook. Both will be available online on the internet pages of the partner schools. The vocational school students will credit (to the extent that is possible): 15 ECTS for completing the Event Production unit. The final number of ECTS is to be decided by the school and is dependent on the performance of the student and the possibilities in the student’s curriculum. The students of the University of Applied Sciences will credit 5 + 4 ECTS for completing following studies: Team Leading and Creating Experience Events. Again, depending on the performance of the student, it is possible to vary the final number of ECTS credited. IMPACT AND LONG-TERM BENEFITS The project will increase the participants’ internationalization, understanding and tolerance towards others. The participants learn from each other how to produce an event in different countries, thus getting new ideas and information for organizing their own events in the future. Teachers share their knowledge and skills and become fluent users of virtual meeting technology.
We wanted to plan and create a responsible event addressing sustainability and responsibility in the local community in each participating country. We also wanted to give back to the community in form of a free event offered to local 9th graders. While doing so, we wanted to learn about Event Production. We brainstormed ideas in international online meetings, drew up a feasible plan and budget, networked and found suitable partners for cooperation, communicated information in many channels, implemented and evaluated the event. Learning from the experiences gained, we wanted to create and produce a handbook in English that could be used in Event Production studies in vocational education. We also wanted to unite European vocational curricula of the participating vocational schools in Finland, Spain, and Italy to the extent possible with the Event Production study unit. Furthermore, we aimed at decreasing the threshold of vocational students to continue studies at Universities of Applied Sciences, as we had students from a University of Applied Sciences studying and cooperating with the international vocational students.
The project partners had been successfully cooperating in previous KA2 projects, in which their students had studied entrepreneurship and created & implemented pop-up restaurants in each participating country. This new project “Value Europe” had some similarities to the previous projects such as good practices, but the main objectives were all new: We wanted to organize a free event in each partner country directed at the local schools’ 9th graders and their teachers. We wanted the event to concentrate on sustainability and appreciation of the surrounding culture and nature. We wanted to give back to local communities & municipalities by giving them the opportunity to present themselves and cooperate in the event established. By doing so, we wanted to create learning material in English for the new vocational study unit Event Production.