Description of the project
In recent years, social entrepreneurship, a sub-discipline within the field of entrepreneurship, has gained increased attention from entrepreneurship scholars. It involves the recognition, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities that result in social value -the basic and long-standing needs of society- as opposed to personal or shareholder wealth. However, regardless the value that social entrepreneurship has for the European society as a driver for solving environmental problems, schools in many European countries are slowly embedding social entrepreneurship in their curriculum.
The project “Initiation – Fostering green social innovation and social entrepreneurship in school education” aims to respond to these needs by fostering the social innovation and social entrepreneurship mind-set of high schools and their motivation to become more community oriented and be actively involved in designing solutions for environmental problems that their local societies are facing. Indeed, In recent years, social entrepreneurship, a sub-discipline within the field of entrepreneurship, has gained increased attention
Activities
To achieve the aforementioned objectives, INITIATION will implement the following activities and produce relevant
results:
- Design a methodological framework and a curriculum (Result 1) for high school students’ education and training in social entrepreneurship and social innovation for solving environmental problems adaptable to local/regional contexts.
- Develop tailor made learning resources for the effective participation of high schools students in the provision of solutions to environmental problems by applying the model of social entrepreneurship.
- Develop a web-based Digital Platform for Schools Social Entrepreneurship to be used as a tool that actively supports and develops high schools students’ social entrepreneurship and social innovation thinking.
- Pilot the curriculum, learning resources and digital platform at 4 national pilots. Prior to the pilots, develop a teachers handbook and train the high schools teachers to gain skills & knowledge on how they could effectively support their students to be involved in social entrepreneurship endeavors.
Results
- A training methodological framework and a multidisciplinary curriculum for the development of SE competences of HSS based on practice-based pedagogies, active learning, design and creative thinking, team working and transformational learning.
- Learning resources tailored to the needs and characteristics of high school students and promoting microlearning (be short, relevant, contextualized) and practice-based training.
- A web-based Digital Platform for Schools Social Entrepreneurship, that will support high schools among EU to explore learning resources and mini games, develop virtual social enterprises aiming to solve environmental problems, and promote best practices among European schools. Moreover, it will provide high schools the opportunity to connect and collaborate with the real social entrepreneurship ecosystem at local/regional and even European level, creating communities of practice.
- A teacher handbook (including learning resources) to support them for the efficient integration of SE in their schools and how can be used to provide sustainable solutions to environmental problems.
- A guide with recommendations for the adoption and exploitation of the INITIATION approach and relevant results, by high schools, educational authorities, and policy make
Partners
- Coordinator: Perifereiaki Diefthinsi Protovathmias kai Defterovathmias Ekpaidefsis Peloponnisou, Greece
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci, Italy
- INSTITOUTO TECHNOLOGIAS YPOLOGISTONKAI EKDOSEON DIOFANTOS, Greece
- PANEPISTIMIO PATRON, Greece
- CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE, Italy
- Vändra Gümnaasium, Estonia
- CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTDCARDET, Cyprus
- The Junior School, Cyprus
