TEACH INC Erasmus Project

Project Title

TEACH INC

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: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Open and distance learning; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

TEACH INC project was implemented to provide a response to a set of needs directly related to needs of the participating schools and the demands for modernisation of the educational systems in Europe. Need for key competencies in creativity and innovation, need for efficient tools to motivate for further learning, and need to generate a change in schools and teachers were addressed within Erasmus+ strategic partnership project TEACH INC. The rate of school failure in ages 18 to 24 is 10.9% in the EU, with countries where this number doubles, e.g Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal. The educational authorities, institutions and schools recognise that preparing students and motivating them for further learning is key to reduce early school leave (and failure) and increase attainment in tertiary education. They are aware that the part of the solution lies in the educational system, playing a key role in fostering and developing (young) people’s creative and innovative capacities and that it is necessary not only to teach students the required subjects, but also to transform problems of real life by finding creative solutions and building resilience. Schools have a duty to provide their pupils with an education which will enable them to adapt to an increasingly globalised, competitive, diversified and complex environment, in which creativity, the ability to innovate, a sense of initiative, entrepreneurship and a commitment to continue learning are just as important as the specific knowledge of a given subject.

TEACH INC aimed to address these needs by providing secondary school teachers with the skills and competences to embed innovation and creativity in their teaching activities, and thus enable them to prepare their students better for the labour market. The project pursued the objectives of defining the skills and competence framework needed for embedding creativity and innovation in secondary education; responding to the needs of teachers and schools through access to creativity techniques, best practices, examples and testimonies; enhancing the take up of creativity techniques and innovation by giving the secondary teachers, their institutions and relevant stakeholders guidelines on mainstreaming the tools; promoting community where teachers and other interested stakeholders can share knowledge and experiences, and which ensures the sustainability of TEACH INC results beyond the project duration.

The project was carried out by a strong partnership, consisting of higher education institutions for teacher education (Lithuania, Belgium), secondary and VET schools (Spain, Greece, Portugal), and private training providers on innovation and creativity (Spain, Cyprus) which shared their innovative training methods and hands-on approach.

Project partners designed a teacher competence framework, which allowed them to develop relevant and applicable learning materials on innovation and creativity in the classroom. Additionally, school managers and policy makers can use the framework for management purposed and decision making, ensuring more schools take creativity in the classroom as their strategic approach. Learning materials – a teacher’s guidebook – was developed on selected creativity techniques and assessment methodologies. The materials were adapted for the secondary school setting and complemented with teachers’ testimonials and real life examples, on how the techniques can be used with pupils in different science subjects like languages, music or mathematics.

According to the “Zero measurement” evaluation, teachers involved in TEACH INC piloting activities reported being 5% to 24% more confident in the competencies, relevant to a strong, creativity and innovation oriented teacher profile. Secondary school teachers also believe that TEACH INC helps to strengthen the teacher‘s profile, provides tools to motivate and engage students whereas creative learning can help minimize early school leaving and increase students’ motivation to achieve better academic results.

TEACH INC provides teachers with a skill-set and knowledge to fully integrate creativity and innovation into the competence curriculum of their students, independently of the course topic or subject. Increasing the competences of (future) teachers in creativity and innovation will spark the uptake of new participatory teaching and working models with a strong experiential approach. Teachers will find themselves better prepared for the changing educational environment in which a change of paradigm is taking place from group classroom education with a knowledge provider (teacher) and knowledge receiver (student), towards more individualised and participatory approach.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 164305 Eur

Project Coordinator

LIETUVOS EDUKOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS & Country: LT

Project Partners

• NOVOMATIX P.C
• EPRALIMA – ESCOLA PROFISSIONAL DOALTO LIMA – COOPERATIVA DE INTERESSE PUBLICO E RESPONSABILIDADE LIMITADA
• UC LIMBURG
• DOUKA EKPAIDEFTIRIA AE – PALLADION LYKEION EKFPAIDEUTHRIA DOUKA
• EOLAS S.L.
• X-PANEL LTD
• INSTITUTO DE ENSEÑANZA SECUNDARIA MIGUEL DURÁN