Employment Opportunities and Enterprise in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Employment Opportunities and Enterprise in Europe

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

During the Erasmus+ KA2 project “Employment Opportunities and Enterprise in Europe” five European Secondary schools from Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Spain worked closely together to examine national and European issues like entrepreneurship and employment opportunities available to young people in our respective countries. Classroom curricular based activities, e.g. shared presentations, international collaborative group work, students’ research, online-questionnaires, etc., were based around topics such as how education prepares young people for working life in each country, local economic profile of the schools’ areas, job opportunities for young people and the economic impact of the EU. All schools involved in the project compared the lives of themselves and their communities with our partner schools to discover particular national traits, to investigate differences and similarities and to learn from their experiences. In-school activities and visits focused on the major businesses in the area, investigating various fields of employment available in the region and connecting the schools with their surrounding economic communities and organizations involved in vocational training.
The other element of the project involved enterprise with students planning their own business models and visiting partner schools buying and selling products. This allowed students to engage with creative ideas, meet challenges and experience applications from the business world. They were responsible for making business decisions, e.g. marketing, transport, production, availability of goods, currencies, different social/economic target groups, etc. Students involved in these enterprise activities got their first glimpse of the engaging and motivating nature of entrepreneurship and may guide them in pursuing a career after school.
Students involved in this project were 11-18 and were encouraged to take a key role in the organisation and dissemination of the project. Many of the activities were ICT based. Students’ work was shared and disseminated in all partner schools and the wider community in Europe with the help of displays, talks, the project homepage and articles in the local media. Within the schools themselves progress was made towards creating a European perspective within the curriculum. Staff members exchanged best practices in implementing occupational guidance/training in the curricla and CLIL-based teaching practices. Many of the shared ideas were put into practice at the partner schools. The whole project furthermore raised awareness of our partner schools and the European Union in our local communities.
The partner schools working together successfully on “Employment Opportunities and Enterprise in Europe” were Mörike-Realschule Heilbronn, Germany; Leikanger ungdomsskule, Leikanger, Norway; Lentiz Reviuslyceum, Maasluis, the Netherlands; SOU Vasil Levski, Kula, Bulgaria; Den Norske skuole Costa Blanca, L’Alfaz del Pi, Spain. Three of the schools are continuing their cooperation during a new Erasmus+ KA2 project which will further explore the topics introduced during this project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 158420 Eur

Project Coordinator

Mörike-Realschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Lentiz | Reviuslycum
• Collège Gabriel Fauré
• Sredno uchilishte “Vasil Levski”
• Leikanger ungdomsskule
• Fundacion Noruega Costa Blanca