Interpersonal skills and the world of work: encouraging meta-cognition in the curriculum Erasmus Project

Project Title

Interpersonal skills and the world of work: encouraging meta-cognition in the curriculum

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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Economic and financial affairs (incl. funding issues); Creativity and culture

Project Summary

This project places the development of metacognitive learning at its heart.The project arises out of three demonstrable needs in all of the partner schools. They are:1. for students to develop the integrated social, technological, problem-solving, presentational and inter-personal skills that are essential for employment in the 21st century2. to integrate those skills into schools in a way that will complement and enhance the existing, curricula.3. to develop ‘euro-literate’ students who understand both the commonality of many of the challenges facing people across Europe and the specific expression of those challenges in the localities of the partner schools; they also need to have developed a deeper understanding of the rich and varied socio/cultural and historical context of the partner schools.The transnational mobilities become the crucible in which all of the skills the students develop are first put to the test.Between the four school involved in the project our profile almost represents as it were something like the normal curve of distribution for students across the whole of Europe. We have students who come from economically challenged backgrounds (the Heathfield catchment, for example, covers the poorest ward in the South West) – and those who don’t; we have a significant number of students with learning needs – and the reverse. Significantly, what they all have in common is the fact that they are all facing the challenges that Europe itself is facing – uncertainty and increasing global competition. In a way this project is an attempt to address some of these issues. Initially some 300 students will be involved directly in the project but eventually it will impact on all of the students in all of the schools.From our own research and from transnational research it is clear that there is a real need for the development of metacognitive skills if we are to create students who are lifelong learners and who are really equipped with the kind of skills so valued in the world of work. We would use the results from the project to alter the shape and design of our schools’ curricula so that the impact of this project is felt by every student. We would also promote the changes in our curricula to other schools locally, nationally and transnationally.At the beginning of the project the students in each school form a controlling company. It is this company’s responsibility to plan, prepare, deliver, quality control and assess the mobility to their country. In order to do this effectively the company will need to divide into groups with each group responsible for a specific area of the controlling company’s operations. These groups will cover areas such as finance, marketing, IT, human resources, design and advertising and each group will then be answerable to the ‘board’ of the main company. Each group will receive expert advice from outside agencies that are working in their particular field. One of the students’ first tasks will be to establish a network of contacts of people working in business (and other outside agencies) who can help them to achieve their objectives. Clearly the teachers would need to sign off and approve any planning so that all of the basic requirements of things such as health and safety are met. However, it is very important that, within these restricted parameters, the students are allowed to succeed and to fail – and to learn from those successes and failures.With the mobilities as the beating heart of the project, students would also be expected to develop a deep knowledge of their partner countries and of their own areas as well. The students will research thoroughly into each area that they are visiting to find out something about their history and current context – just as good businesses will do before they take a trip abroad. They will be assisted in this by each respective host country who will set a series of ‘challenges’ for each school to answer before they arrive. Each school will also need to call on a range of subjects to help them with this – from history and geography to languages, art and literature. No student should be rocking up to the Rijkmuseum with no idea who Rembrandt was…..Assessment: the review period during and after the mobilities will be a vital time in terms of the formative assessment of the ongoing project. As in any real-life situation not everything will go according to plan. Students will need to assess their own performance and the performance of their team having taken on board the results of the surveys, interviews and other forms of feedback. As it develops, all schools will need to see how the ideas and practices instantiated here can be integrated into the curriculum and hence into the students’ wider experience of school. We consider the development of these integrated employability skills to be essential and we would want to share our experiences with schools, with other educationalists and with outside agencies.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 63975 Eur

Project Coordinator

Heathfield Community School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• IES Padre Feijoo
• Fortes Lyceum
• Mariengymnasium Jever