The SENSES is implemented by 8 partners [SFEDI, BLUE ROOM, EUROTRAINING, EUROSPEAK LANGUAGE SCHOOLS, XENIOS POLIS, CENTER FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION, SMCS-Specchio Magico ONLUS, PRIVATE GRAMMAR & MODERN SCHOOLS] from 5 EU countries [UK, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy]. The project includes IOs, 1. Capacity building for SENSES Teachers: A completed package, 2. SEI happening to All students: An engagement package 3. The SENSES Digital Environment, 4. National workshops in the 5 countries, UK, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, a final conference, 5. Dissemination results A generation ago, teachers could expect that what they taught would last their students lifetime. However, we live in a fast-changing world, and producing more of the same knowledge and skills will not suffice to address the challenges of the future. Today, because of the rapid economic and social change, schools have to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, technologies that have not yet been invented and problems that we don’t know yet. Empowering teachers & students with skills for social innovation and entrepreneurship is particularly important for the sustainable development of European societies. This is also reflected in as series of documents (e.g.British Council, ‘Social entrepreneurship in education, empowering the next generation to address society’s needs’) as also in the published EC report (2016) on “entrepreneurship education at school” which highlights that: ‘member states should foster innovation and entrepreneurial skills through new and creative ways of teaching and learning from primary school focus to higher education’ Europe is facing various challenges (financial crisis, migration, unemployment, human rights abuses, etc.) underlying the urgent need for the creation of new solutions and the adoption of new paradigms for change that will promote sustainable growth and job creation as well as improve societal conditions such as inequality, poverty and social exclusion. The education of students on the applicability of social entrepreneurial fields is highly necessary especially for the creation of new venture with a social cause. A school education with the development of activities to inspire the potential entrepreneurs, in order to encourage them to set up their new social enterprises, and become the new social entrepreneurs and innovators are more than welcome. SENSES will develop a new educational approach in primary education that will strengthen on the one the teachers with knowledge and skills to lead their students to a social entrepreneurship and innovation spirit and, on the other the capacity and skills of children from all backgrounds to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and design innovative solutions to social problems (e.g. environmental consciousness, gender equality, minorities integration). In other words, the suggested educational model will aim to create the future social innovators and social entrepreneurs of Europe by drawing on today’s unprecedented technological and professional resources to engage all students, develop their love of learning, and enable them to face the real challenges of the 21st century SENSES responds to the ‘aspect’ that teachers are the heart of our education system and it is that knowledge, skills, expertise of teachers that can facilitate children’s learning, or inspiring the passion for social entrepreneurship and innovation. Our project’s main principle is that if the benefits of social entrepreneurship in education are to be enjoyed by as many as possible children, then TEACHERS need to be at the heart of that delivery. Investing in teachers’ understanding and knowledge of SEI, is the way of maximizing the number of children understanding and being immersed in the ‘world’ of social entrepreneurship & innovation. Providing also children with that kind of practical context and connection with real world challenges, in order for them to identify social issues and develop solutions, constitutes major axe for our project In this context, SENSES addresses the following objectives: a) to provide teachers with knowledge for SEI and skills of transferring and applying this knowledge within their classroom additionally, guidelines and methodology of developing students core social entrepreneurship & innovation perceptions and skills b) to cultivate to students at Primary Education, ages 7-12, (including those of marginalized backgrounds) structured competences of social entrepreneurship and innovation contexts with the mission to develop adaptable thinkers, collaborative problem solvers, and irrepressible social innovators; accordingly to contextualize for them proper, educational opportunities for their SEI engagement c) to create and deliver innovative products and teaching/learning methods, targeting school communities in 5 countries, UK-Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy- with various needs and national educational contexts and highly transferable to EU context.
The overall aim of the SENSES project is to develop a new educational approach, providing teachers within primary education with an understanding of social entrepreneurship and social innovation and with tools which can be used to enhance skills in teaching social entrepreneurship and social innovation. In addition, the project will assist learners aged between 7 and 12 years old in developing a set of structured competences required to be enterprising and entrepreneurial in a social context. The key objectives of the SENSES project include: - Provide teachers with a set of resources for developing the social entrepreneurship and innovation perceptions and skills of students - Develop innovative teaching and learning methods, targeting school communities in five countries (UK, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Italy) - Develop a virtual learning environment which supports access to materials and tools of the project outputs. In so doing, the project will equip teachers with an understanding of social entrepreneurship and social innovation and the skills for transferring and applying this knowledge within their classrooms and equip students at primary education ages with the competences of social entrepreneurship and social innovation.
Member states across Europe are facing an increasingly uncertain and volatile future with an accelerated pace of environmental, economic, technological and social change that few have predicted. The pandemic demonstrated that when required, economies and societies are capable of short-term transformation but there also a recognition that economic and social institutions, including education systems, need to be redesigned to enable young people to thrive within these new environments in the long-term. There is agreement that social innovation and social entrepreneurship should be a key part of the redesign of education systems. Jose Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission, said that ‘we must look to social innovation to stimulate a more dynamic, inclusive and sustainable social market economy’. Developing social entrepreneurship and innovation skills can help young people to navigate change, take action and be proactive instead of being indifferent to a problem in their society or community they are actively attempting to solve. The SENSES project is a response to the challenges facing the education system in how to prepare young people for jobs yet to be created, using technologies yet to be invented.