Cultural knowledge and language competences as a means to develop the 21st century skills Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cultural knowledge and language competences as a means to develop the 21st century skills

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 : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Globalisation has created new challenges and opportunities for the economies and society in general. To survive and prosper in the current context people require new skills and competences, often addressed as the 21st century skills. As formulated by OECD in the new strategic framework “OECD Education 2030” they are: cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, analytical skills, learning strategies, etc.); social and emotional skills (communication, collaboration, initiative taking, etc.); physical and practical skills (kinesthetic ability and ability to use tools, such as ICT, etc.).

This project addresses the specific objectives of the Erasmus+ programme in the field of education and training: 1) to improve the level of key competences and skills (the 21st century key skills and competences, such as problem solving, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, learning strategies, collaboration, communication, ICT skills, etc.), with particular regard to their relevance for the labour market (improved skills and competences) and their contribution to cohesive society (alongside with other adult learners we address also the people with geographical, social and economic obstacles, culture differences, and learning difficulties, also low-skilled and low-qualified); 2) promote the emergence and raise awareness of a European lifelong learning area (through creating OER containing the teaching/learning material related with European cultural heritage and applying innovative methodologies and introducing the wider society with opportunities of using the OER created for LLL purposes, incl. in remote areas); 3) improve the teaching and learning of languages and promote the EU’s broad linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness (by incorporating the material suitable for increasing learners’ language competence in 10 European languages, the material revealing the rich cultural heritage of the project countries, including minority groups).

The Partnership created blended-learning (online and F2F combinations) courses applying CLIL methodology, the content of which is connected with the rich European intangible cultural heritage in the Partnership countries, presented in a form of a story, applying innovative methodologies and tools (webquests, case studies, vialogues, videos, audios, interactive games, design thinking tools, etc.), increasing the learners’ cultural knowledge and developing their relevant 21st century key skills (collaboration, communication, initiative, creativity, analytical reasoning, problem solving, etc.) and improving learners’ language competences (EN, DE, FR, HR, LV, Sl, RO, HU, PL, CZ) for employability, social inclusion, wellbeing. The course is provided to adult learners in the Partnership countries, including those with geographical, social, economic barriers to learning, culture differences, and adult learners requiring special educational treatment. Based on the learning provided, Lifelong Learning Guidelines for delivering the course and motivating adult learners to learning were created. To ensure sustainability, the course is available free-of-charge to all learners who are interested in it beyond the project life cycle too.

As the course is created revealing the rich European intangible cultural heritage, apart from the development of language competences and intercultural competence, the learners are exposed to wide cultural knowledge and they will raise their cultural knowledge and awareness. Thus the project is contributing to the key priority of 2018 – the Year of European Cultural Heritage by raising awareness of the importance and significance of cultural heritage. Language is becoming a means to develop other relevant competences and acquire essential cultural knowledge. The course provides learning materials in 10 languages thus supporting true multilingualism.

The expected results cover the following new priority fields in ET set by the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) (2015/C 417/04): 1) Relevant and high-quality knowledge, skills and competences developed throughout lifelong learning, focusing on learning outcomes for employability, innovation, active citizenship and well-being; 2) Open and innovative education and training, including by fully embracing the digital era; 3) inclusive education for social cohesion. Additionally, the project is contributing to two specific priorities of EU Policy in field of adult learning for the period of 2015-2020: Supply and take up (the increased level of adult learners’ digital skills and others) and Flexibility and access (access to education possibilities widened by making effective use of ICT). It contributes to creating closer links to businesses, local authorities, NGOs, etc. in relation with adult to increase adult participation in LLL.

Project Website

https://culture-language.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 211135 Eur

Project Coordinator

Turisticka i ugostiteljska skola Dubrovnik & Country: HR

Project Partners

• Fundacja Pro Scientia Publica
• Ekonomska sola Murska Sobota, Visja strokovna sola
• VYŠŠÍ ODBORNÁ ŠKOLA, STŘEDNÍ PRŮMYSLOVÁ ŠKOLA A OBCHODNÍ AKADEMIE ČÁSLAV, PŘEMYSLA OTAKARA II. 938
• UNIVERSITATEA SAPIENTIA DIN MUNICIPIUL CLUJ-NAPOCA
• SIA BIZNESA AUGSTSKOLA TURIBA