Working Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Working 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 Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Our project was called “WE – Working Europe”. Our main goal was to increase our students awareness of entrepreneurship and employability on the European labour market, which is closely interwoven with the European Single Market resulting in dependencies and synergies. In Europe today, the students face new challenges regarding the labour market, not only because of differing but generally high rates of unemployment and also because of the new demands on a global market. Therefore, the students needed to gain knowledge about the legal presuppositions, procedures and skills necessary to compete and be successful in the European world of work. The project took these needs into account by practically approaching the examination of the following sub-topics:
1. Innovation, hosted by Sweden
2. Entrepreneurship, hosted by Norway
3. Employment, hosted by Germany
4. Mobility, hosted by Spain.
Each of the four modules, which complement each other, contributed to the students’ participation in the European labour market. Firstly, “innovation” sparked and furthered the students’ creativity to obtain or develop the competitiveness of the European Single Market. Innovative ways of thinking were channelled during the visit of a an innovation center as well as a start up company (Mesh) in Sweden resulting in a photo story documenting these activities. Secondly, “entrepreneurship” demonstrated the possibilities and process of founding companies – based on innovative ideas – to the students. In order to do so, students simulated the foundation of an innovative firm in Norway and were faced with a problem of the European labour market during a management game, which was digitally documented. The experiences gained on a one-day work placement at one of the workplaces cooperating with the Norwegian school were published in the form of a report, which lead over to “employment”. This, thirdly, prepared students on a practical level to become employees by enabling them to write applications and practicing job interviews in different European countries. Therefore, a simulated job interview was conducted and examined with the help of a representative of a multinational company in Germany, who also lectured the students about how to write an application that sticks out. The final focus, “mobility”, was centred around chances, challenges and future perspectives of inner-European labour migration, including the respective legal framework. These topics were examined during the conduction of a survey on a sample basis about working migration in Spain. Combining these perspectives the project furthered the acquisition of competences necessary for European employability, raising the awareness of Europe as a place of job opportunities.
In a methodologically diverse approach, all of the above mentioned modules were explored and prepared at each partner school in the respective home countries, the acquired knowledge and products:
1. a power-point-presentation about innovative businesses,
2. a method guide about business competences,
3. letters of application,
4. a brochure about the legal framework for employees
were compared on the project meetings and also enlarged upon during the joint activities.
The four participating schools represent the diversity of the European labour market and its differing structures because they are situated in the North (Sweden and Norway), the middle (Germany) and the South (Spain) of Europe. Each exchange meeting was assigned a topic due to the special profile of the respective school organising it:
1. Polhemskolan, Lund: offers the connection to the Lund University and the innovation centre (IDEON)
2. Mailand videregående skole, Lørenskog: has already established a youth firm and provides the respective background knowledge
3. Erich Kästner Gymnasium Laatzen: offers vocational advisory and a cooperation with an international company in Hanover
4. IES. Berenguela de Casilla, Bolaños de Calatrava: has established a network with their alumni with international working experience.
The final product and result of our project, an educational digital board game, takes the form of a multiple choice questionnaire and also serves as the means of saving the intermediate results of the sub-phases, which are the basis for the questions as well as answers. It gives our students the possibility to check and train their competences for the European working market at any time. Also, this opportunity is available to other students after the project has ended, because the game is accessible online for everyone. Not only the improvement of the students’ employability and their knowledge gained during the project activities but also the networking of the schools – and possibly even the region – form the long term impact of the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 91820 Eur

Project Coordinator

Erich Kaestner Gymnasium Laatzen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• IES. Berenguela de Castilla
• Polhemskolan
• Mailand videregående skole