Developing Interdisciplinary Economics, Ethics and Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing Interdisciplinary Economics, Ethics and Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools

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 school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Pedagogy and didactics; Overcoming skills mismatches (basic/transversal); New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The project “Developing Interdisciplinary Economics, Ethics and Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools” addressed the issue of underdeveloped economics, ethics and citizenship education in the Baltic States due to a lack of innovative integrated educational approaches and techniques, a lack of proper integrated teaching and learning resources and lacking teaching competences. Therefore, the project aimed to improve the quality and relevance of economics, ethics and civic education in upper secondary schools in the Baltic States by developing and advancing an innovative model and methodological guidelines as well as interactive ICT-based teaching and learning resources for integrated teaching of economics, ethics and citizenship. The project was designed to raise the profile, quality and relevance of economics, civic and ethical education, increase awareness of innovative interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, improve learning content and promoted its digitization, improve access to innovative ICT-based quality teaching and learning resources, enhance student-centered, participatory learning, and promote the development of social competences and transferable skills in upper secondary economics, ethics and citizenship education.

The project was implemented from September 1st, 2016 to August 31st, 2018 by a consortium of seven organisations, including the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, a private non-profit think tank, the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, the JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland, the University of Latvia (former Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy), and three secondary schools – the Vilnius Vytautas Magnus Gymnasium, Lithuania, the Gustav Adolfi Gymnasium, Estonia, and Riga State Gymnasium No 1, Latvia. In addition, 29 educational establishments, including 22 schools and 7 NGOs from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Denmark were engaged into the project by the partner organizations.

The consortium developed a model and methodological guidelines for integrated education, produced 30 interdisciplinary modules for upper secondary education in economics, ethics and citizenship, held five multiplier events for 240 stakeholder in the project countries, including three conferences and two seminars for teachers of economics, ethics and citizenship, organized piloting of the developed educational resources in 22 schools with 50 teachers and 2,000 students in the Baltic States, published scholarly articles, participated in external events and carried out a broad-based dissemination campaign. In the development work, the team analyzed relevant theories, methods and approaches to interdisciplinary social education, organized benchmarking visits to schools and lesson observations, interviewed experts, and organized extensive piloting, peer-reviews and feedback gathering activities.

The project resulted in tangible intellectual outputs, including the Methodological Guidelines for Integrated Economics, Ethics and Citizenship Education and a package of curriculum resources for interdisciplinary upper secondary education in economics, ethics and citizenship, comprised of 30 modules designed for in-class use by teachers and students. The project had a direct positive impact on the participants and participating organizations and key target audiences, especially teachers of economics, ethics and citizenship, upper secondary school pupils, and scholars in the field of educational sciences who benefited from increased knowledge about innovative interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, improved learning content and better access to ICT-based quality teaching and learning resources, improved professional and teaching capacity, the exchange of cross-border and cross-sectoral expertise, and practical utilization of the developed resources in classrooms in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia..

The results of the project are expected to have a multiplying effect and bring long-term benefits as the developed resources are continuously used by the participating teachers as well as are adopted by other teachers across and beyond the partnership countries and used in their everyday work with upper secondary school pupils.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 170327,11 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lietuvos laisvosios rinkos institutas & Country: LT

Project Partners

• Vilniaus Vytauto Didziojo gimnazija
• LIETUVOS EDUKOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS
• Riga State Gymnasium No 1
• JYVASKYLAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU
• Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium
• LATVIJAS UNIVERSITATE
• RIGAS PEDAGOGIJAS UN IZGLITIBAS VADIBAS AKADEMIJA