NewS – New Skills New Shools – Common Standards and Skills in Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

NewS – New Skills New Shools – Common Standards and Skills in Education

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

There is a broad consensus between EU Member States on the aims and objectives of entrepreneurship education: it should develop both basic education and general competences e.g. self-confidence, adaptability, creativity. Often schools are too much Subject-Oriented and they leave aside important abilities required in the modern society. In a general view ‘Learning to Learn’ is the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organize one’s own learning, including through effective management of time and information, both individually and in groups. This competence includes awareness of one’s learning process and needs, identifying available opportunities, and the ability to overcome obstacles in order to learn successfully. Nowadays every education environment should be thought as a lifelong multicultural path. Multicultural abilities and European awareness are key qualities in a global society where citizenship is a concept beyond the local and national borders. Every knowledge and skill will gain value in an individual’s competence if it is framed in a European context.The 7 partners focused on these competences which were and are transferable and transversal; independent of subjects and based on cross-curricular objectives. The project experience highlighted the following areas:– experience of cultural convergence and divergence;– better management of one’s own learning;– social, interpersonal & multicultural relations;– mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology;– ability to use digital tools and environments;– ability to communicate effectively in one or more foreign languages. This Project aimed at gathering the best Europe-oriented practices about skills development, curricular methodologies, compulsory subjects and their integration with Formal, Non-Formal and Informal abilities according to European guidelines. These competences, which combine knowledge and skills indispensable for life in the 21st Century, included social and interpersonal skills, sense of initiative, experience-based tasks, ICT literacy, multicultural abilities, multilingual proficiency and learning-to-learn attitude. They were considered interdependent with emphasis on critical thinking, creativity and problem solving. The fact that all partner schools had grades framed into the “Compulsory Education” helped teachers observing the current state of compulsory programs, their flexibility and routes in the flow of the European guidelines. The main target groups were teachers, students (8-12 y.o.) and school communities. Our team identified the key working-areas to trigger positive activities and observations: – Teachers’ mindset, background and approach-evolution according to the 21st century education requirements. – Test the proper management (in the teaching/learning approach) of some basic skills and abilities: social, interpersonal, multicultural, spirit of initiative, learning-to-learn, experience-based tasks, ICT skills, foreign languages. – Interaction of all the resources (internal and external) the school can count on to re-design the teaching/learning process. – Involvement, awareness and interaction of the school community and all stakeholders: families, teachers, learners, extra-curricular project partners, local authorities, the Ministry of Education. – Measure the gap between each education system and an “Ideal European Model” shared by the partners. There are national education systems that keep up with the European guidelines and others that are moving at a different pace in a European perspective. The exchange between schools helped us digging out these elements and declare them to improve an official EU Development Plan in each school. According to the Report by the European Commission named “Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes” (2012): Member States should foster entrepreneurial skills through new and creative ways of Teaching and Learning from PRIMARY SCHOOL onwards, alongside a focus from SECONDARY to higher education on the opportunity of business creation as a career destination. Real world experience, through Problem-Based Learning and enterprise links, should be embedded across all disciplines and tailored to all levels of education. The main evaluation tool was the “SAT: School Assessment Tool”, a Matrix (counting 168 descriptive indicators) especially designed to monitor the evolution of our education environments. SAT was not a way for assessing individual skills but for evaluating fit or unfit school environments where those skills could grow. This tool was thought not only to measure the ongoing results, but also to trigger debates and discussions (inside and outside our schools) about the development and the potential evaluation of Non Formal and Informal abilities in the Formal Educational context.The 7 partners are still collaborating thourgh eTwinning extending partnerships to other schools.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 168475 Eur

Project Coordinator

Istituto Comprensivo Statale Leonardo Da Vinci – Gianni Rodari & Country: IT

Project Partners

• CEIP Francisco Fatou
• Szkola Podstawowa im. Adama Mickiewicza w Jazwinie
• Proto Dimotiko Sholio Malion
• Väliojan koulu, Haapajärvi
• LICEUL DE ARTE VIZUALE ROMULUS LADEA
• Klaipedos Tauralaukio progimnazija