CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND Due to a high unemployment rate in some of the European counties, difficulties in labour market inclusion as well as other consequences related to a long-term unemployment among youth, the European Union has come to the conclusion that a long-term strategy is required to strengthen the professional potential of young people through youth entrepreneurship. Stimulating it and making Europe a more entrepreneur friendly environment has recently become one of the essential priorities in the EU policy agenda due to its high potential for creating employment opportunities and boostng innovation among young people. According to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the fundaments of youth entrepreneurship are education and training along with "creation of an entrepreneurial friendly environment where entrepreneurs can flourish and act as role models; and reaching specific groups that are not yet able to exploit their full entrepreneurial potential". Such support programmes for young entrepreneurs, in accordance with the report of the Eurofound (2015), "youth entrepreneurship in Europe: Values, attitudes, policies", can be effective when they provide appropriate and balanced support, which should be supplied during long periods to be effective, fruitful and durable. With this project we would like to reshape the idea of long-term activities, as we are convinced that early training and rapid intervention can support innovation among young people by helping them to become more familiar with the world of work before they leave school. Thanks to our experience with students form Poland, Germany and Spain, we have realised that the secondary school level requires from pupils decision-making skills related to there professional future (by choosing specialization and possible university degree or technical school). Therefore, the project partners have decided to speed up the implementation of the problem-solving strategy of educating future young entrepreneurs and opted for developing this programme for a younger target group: pupils of the age of 14-18 who are more susceptible to acquiring knowledge of entrepreneurship or innovation, particularly in the international dimension. OBJECTIVES The main objctives of the project relates to students as well as their teachers participating in the project activities: - To improve critical and strategic thinking, - To learn about design and the importance of visual communication, - To get familiar with problem-solving strategies - To develop an entrepreneurial mindset by acquiring innovative attitudes, - To foster creative thinking and the courage to present ideas and solutions, - To enhance emotional intelligence capacity, - To foster team work in the international context and improve communication with peers and colleagues. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The project will be offered to 48 secondary school students with their teachers from Poland, Germany, Spain and Turkey. As the project participants represent different social and cultural backgrounds, it will give added value and different perspective on entrepreneurship, as well as on team building in the international context. ACTIVITIES AND METHODOLOGY The programme will consist of highly practical and participative activities for pupils and teachers. In order to fullfill the objectives of the project, the key will be to focus on students' teamwork and teachers' networking, experimental training, as well as cultural, linguistic and social activities for all the participants. The training for teachers will consist of Entrepreneurship and Leadership modules, whereas the activities for pupils will be based on 5 modules devoted to: Strategic Thinking, Basic Design, Problem Solving, Organizational Mindset and Emotional Intellingece. English will be the transmissive language of the project, so that all the participants could improve their language skills through the project activities. RESULTS - Formation, management and implementation an eTwinning group on the theme "Entrepreneurial Learning in Europe", - Project training undergone by teachers during "ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS" (short-term joint staff training event - C1), as well as C2 programme preparation, - Project works carried out by students of the mobility in Valencia Spain: 'ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING IN MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS" (Short-term exchange of groups of pupils - C2), - Collaborative formation, through the eTwinning platform, of tools and materials useful for the different school disciplines for the entreprenership implementation in the traditional teaching. IMPACT/BENEFITS They can aquire core competencies in improvement of the educational offer of the schools involved, quality of teaching and collaborative practices through eTwinning, increase of the learning opportunities as well as fostering European participation.
The aim of the project was to provide students with a unique opportunity to have an international exchange which allowed them not only to develop an entrepreneurial spirit by acquiring innovative attitudes, awakening creative thinking and the courage to present ideas and solutions, but also broadening the language skills and increasing the self-esteem of the participants. During the project, participants acquired customers and business partners, set prices, and made purchases of devices and materials, and even hired workers. Working virtually with their colleagues from Germany, they could see how competition affects running their own business. In virtual reality, young people played the role of entrepreneurs running a production or service company. The attractive visual form, the availability of the eTwinning platform, which contains all project activities and the involvement of young people, resulted in the writing of a guide - How to start a company? THE KEY TO SUCCESSIS IN YOUR HANDS! (in Polish and English version), in which the stages of establishing a company are described step by step and what is necessary for its proper functioning. These tips are the result of many months of work on start-ups created by project participants under the watchful eye of business mentors. In addition, the guide book also includes useful business vocabulary that has been developed in three language versions: English, German and Polish. More and more schools recognize the need for practical education with the use of innovative tools. The labor market is more and more demanding, and the school's task is to equip young people with knowledge and skills that will allow them to face the numerous challenges of professional life. We are constantly improving the quality of education in our school, we are looking for innovative educational solutions that will make the lessons more engaging and practical. In connection with the activities carried out during the project students improved critical and strategic thinking, learnt about design and the importance of visual communication, familiarized with problem-solving strategies, developed an entrepreneurial mindset by acquiring innovative attitudes, fostered creative thinking and the courage to present ideas and solutions, enhanced emotional intelligence capacity, fostered team work in the international context and improved communication with peers and colleagues. Furthermore, students aquired core competencies in improvement of the educational offer of the schools involved, quality of teaching and collaborative practices through eTwinning, increased the learning opportunities as well as fostering European participation. This projet gave added value and different perspective on entrepreneurship, as well as on team building in the international context. Therefore, we want this project to be aimed at to post-primary schools, both general and vocational / industry schools, and can be implemented in every lesson at school, in particular in educational classes, but also in career counseling or the basics of entrepreneurship. Moreover, this project was a stimulus to establish additional international cooperation and find new partners, whose base and resources we intend to use as part of the new professional practice abroad in projects implemented in the new edition of the Erasmus + program 2021-2027.