World of Work Erasmus Project

Project Title

World of Work

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development)

Project Summary

In many European countries, there is a considerable “gap” between what is learned in the classroom and the real life context of pupils’ world (New Skills for New Jobs flagship initiative, 2010). Part of the problem lies in the fact that teachers have limited access to resource materials, through which to emphasize relevance (Developing Key Competences at School in Europe. Challenges and Opportunities for Policy, 2012). Furthermore, most curricula are examination-driven, as a consequence of which teachers adopt a highly didactic approach to cover the syllabus and meet the expectations of students, teachers and parents. As a result, pupils are not adequately prepared by the education system for the world of work. (Proposal for key principles of a Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care, 2014).

To address the above mentioned challenges, the WOW project combined the efforts of 7 relevant organisations from 3 European countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany) to create innovative methodical materials and an online platform to increase the relevance and quality of “world of work”-related subjects in lower secondary education schools. Furthermore, the project sought to address the reported lack of resources and insufficient level of specific competencies among teachers in this educational area.

The consortium consisted of 2 enterprises – active in the field of school education; 2 universities; and 3 schools, thus ensuring that the WOW outputs were designed, developed, tested, validated and disseminated through cooperation and exchange of expertise among some of the leading European experts in the relevant field.

More than a total of 4800 pupils in lower secondary education, teachers and parents participated in various project activities, i.e.: testing of the WOW outputs, validation, demonstration workshops, targeted dissemination and direct use of products.

Roles and responsibilities between partners were distributed and agreed to ensure that business, academic and school expertise were applied in a balanced way to guarantee the successful implementation of each of the 6 main work packages, covering all project activities throughout the project lifetime. The duration of the project was 36 months, which will be followed by additional activities to ensure sustainability of results.

The project covered the following activities and outputs:
*produced an evidence base research on good practices and major challenges with regard to “world of work”-related subjects provision in partner countries, as well as across Europe.
*designed, developed, tested and validated WOW methodical materials for teachers in “world of work”-related subjects in lower secondary schools;
*organised and carried out 85 creative workshops for teachers and pupils in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to demonstrate in practice how to apply the WOW methodical materials;
*developed a WOW video, which serves as a practical visualisation of how methodical materials could be applied in curricula and out of class activities;
*created and launched a WOW online platform (free interactive tool), where all materials are uploaded in four language versions, to allow for future exploitation and sustainability of project outputs;
*carried out one large dissemination event for national and international stakeholders.

Project impact and longer term benefits:
*For the target groups:
Pupils:
• increased knowledge, related to the world of work,
• developed skills to allow for well-informed further education and career choices, as well as decisions throughout professional life,
• increased desire for professional development and more focused learning by seeing the link between education and the world of work.
Teachers:
• increased level of competencies to teach “world of work”-related subjects in school;
• increased knowledge about different resources and ideas to provide education that is linked to real world and expectations of community,
• raised professional profile to deliver high quality teaching and adopt new methods and tools in “world of work” field.

*For the project partners:
• opportunity to integrate good practices for training and education of lower secondary school teachers,
• reinforced cooperation with partners from other countries.

*For other relevant stakeholders:
• improved awareness among parents and policy makers about the importance of world of work related subjects and an opportunity for them to be proactive in children’s school life,
• the WOW project serves and will serve as the evidence base for launching discussions on future national reform, with regard to the provision and curricula of “world of work”-related subjects, which would contribute positively to the overall quality of the education system.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 253294 Eur

Project Coordinator

Dr. Josef Raabe Slovensko & Country: SK

Project Partners

• Zakladna skola s materskou skolou, Udica 248
• MiNe-MINT e.V.
• ZAPADOCESKA UNIVERZITA V PLZNI
• UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART
• 7.zakladni skola a materska skola Plzen, Brnenska 36, prispevkova organizace
• Sukromna stredna umelecka skola dizajnu