School as a launch-pad of your career Erasmus Project

Project Title

School as a launch-pad of your career

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cooperation between educational institutions and business; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The “School as a Launch-Pad of your Career” was implemented by 4 partners: Narva Pähklimäe Gümnaasium from Estonia, Sehit Yurdakul Alcan Ortaokulu from Turkey, Escola Secundária/3 de Barcelinhos from Portugal and Gimnazija Brezice from Slovenia. Dates of the project implementation were IX 2018 – IX 2020 but due to coronavirus the project was extended for 6 months.
Throughout the whole project all partners followed the strategy to share experiences related to facilitating the development of students’ employability competence and their entry into the labour market, prepare students to meet challenges of the labour market and provide them with necessary knowledge to prevent them from unemployment in the future. The project was designed to help the participants to connect their interests and abilities with a profession they want to choose in the future. During the project the participants obtained both theoretical and practical skills in the field of professional and career development. The activities took place in the form of 4 topical units: Uncover yourself, Paperwork, Communication, Practice makes perfect and 4 meetings (3 physical and 1 virtual) in the participant countries.
As a result of implementation of this project during the four meetings the participants got a new knowledge about the topic of career planning, to be more precise, all the students started to create their own portfolios, where they collected all the materials and test results. During the project, the students developed different skills and gained more knowledge about interacting and communicating within different professional contexts. The contact with local companies, factories, educational organisations enabled the participants to learn more about the importance of being employable and creating a good first impression as well as how to make a good job interview. Due to the workshop conducted by the school psychologist and the worksheets the students could practice the answers to such important questions as ” Tell me about yourself, What are your greatest strengths and your main weaknesses, Why should we hire you?” and get practical tips how to build a good CV. Learning about different rules of business etiquette enabled them to role-play different situations and record themselves on video. Attending a table etiquette course gave the pupils the notion of how to behave at the table and show good table manners. During the live interviews the pupils had the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about the peculiarities of each profession. The preparation as well as the activities implemented during the meetings, allowed the students to learn more about labour laws and working conditions and compare the differences and similarities between the countries. They were able to develop soft and hard skills as well as language skills by making presentations and presenting them, improving their public speech; there was a greater interconnectedness among the partners thanks to interactive and sports activities. Digital skills were in focus as remote digital platforms were privileged during a virtual mobility. The participants became acquainted with different techniques to avoid procrastination and to manage their time more effectively and productively in their school life, as well as the future workplace. The job shadowing enabled students to have a clearer perspective of the world of work, the career path professionals take, and the benefits of each job. They were also able to see if the jobs involved were connected to their personal interests. Thanks to this project the students have become aware of the fact that choosing a career is a process and not the result of a quick decision. They were able to get from the project the first steps to take in the choosing of their future career.
By the end of the completion of the project all participants collected some information to create a personal portfolio. The results of all tasks are presented on the project school website of the leading school, on the eTwinning platform and on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. Besides, the portfolio will be later used as an example of the accumulated experience and personal growth for other students wishing to complete the course and as a study material.
As a result of the project a course “Steps to boost your employability” was created. This course was shared with other partners and placed on the school’s webpage, on the eTwinning platform and on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. Teachers, students, their parents can get acquainted with all necessary documents, templates and information on all these platforms. The dissemination of the results of the project was done on the school website (https://pahklimae.edu.ee/et/erasmus1-est), some information was broadcast on school TVs, by posting in social media, in local newspapers, master classes, seminars. It is planned to present the course “Steps to boost your employability” to the teachers of other schools so that they could use it as a handbook in working with pupils in basic and upper-secondary school or as a syllabus of career orientation. Due to the serious situation with coronavirus and strict regulations this meeting was postponed till the mid of April. This event took place on 21 April (https://www.facebook.com/1447230578845966/posts/2971127399789602/?sfnsn=mo). As for partner schools, they plan to implement in their career orientation programmes testing, job interview under the supervision of a consultant, CV preparation, job shadowing, time management and some topics covered by the project will be integrated in the English and native language classes.

Project Website

http://pahklimae.edu.ee/et/erasmus1-est

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 106325,6 Eur

Project Coordinator

Narva Pähklimäe Gümnaasium & Country: EE

Project Partners

• Gimnazija Brezice
• Sehit Yurdakul Alcan Ortaokulu
• Escola Secundária/3 de Barcelinhos