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APPLES - Applying Practices for Productive Learning of Entrepreneurial Skills
Start date: Sep 1, 2015, End date: Aug 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

In 2012, the Commission presented the new "Rethinking Education" strategy that calls for a fundamental shift in education with more focus on 'learning outcomes' - the knowledge, skills and competences that students acquire. Merely having spent time in education is no longer sufficient. In addition, basic literacy and numeracy still needs to be significantly improved and entrepreneurial skills and as well a sense of initiative need to be developed or strengthened. This communiqué was for our team, consisting of seven vocational and general education schools, the inducement to establish an international student company. The focus of our activities is the production, marketing and distribution of apples and apple based products. Each partner takes over certain tasks that correspond to the departments of a company and the respective school profile. Thus, the participating students act as "experts" and provide the relevant knowledge and skills to their partners, which are put into practice in international workshop teams: the agriculturally oriented Croatian school deals with the cultivation, refinement and processing of apples, the Italian partner is responsible for the sales and distribution and sets up an online shop, Greece is our IT department and Lithuania is the product and marketing specialist who cares for the artistic design of packaging, brand name and advertising. The Polish team is our human resources department, which mainly deals with the criteria of employee selection and health, the Portuguese school is our research and development department and the German team takes care of the resulting administrative and documentation tasks. Our goal is to impart competent business knowledge and solid professional skills to our students, supporting them to show initiative and personal responsibility in order to develop innovative and creative thinking and to put it into practice, i. e. to arouse their entrepreneurial spirit. In addition, we bring them into contact with small and medium-sized companies which are potential employers in ou region. For our ca. 150 participating students, aged 16-22, this project offers unique opportunities: it is often the only way to get in personal touch with classmates from other European countries and to pay them a return visit, making it possible to find self-affirmation and recognition through extra- class activities out of the daily routine at school. This is specially the case concerning the pupils coming from socially and financially disadvantaged families or having a migration background. Our results, a number of different products, such as a project website, an educational video, a guide book for company founders, self-designed packaging, targeted commercials, a scientific journal as well as the creation of an online shop for our apple product selection, both implicate the application of different working methods and social forms and promote a student-centered, creative and independent action approach. We evaluate the business-knowledge related success of our project by using questionnaires, tests and student presentations in front of the plenum, whereas indicators measuring overall satisfaction, group work and dynamics are set in more playful methods such as interactive role plays, quizzes, debates and visual evaluations. At the end of the project the participants could have acquired the basic entrepreneur skills and economic competences in order to set up their own business and positively got their "Entrepreneurial Skills Pass" issued by JAYE (Junior Archievement Young Enterprise) . We present our project to the local and regional public on the "days of open doors". Implementing the digital versions of our guide-book , online shop and other documentation activities carried out during the teaching/learning/training activities on our common project site, we create free availability of our outputs, generating inspiration and sustainability. With our project APPLES (Applied Pupils' Project for Entrepreneurial Learning Skills), we want to make our personal contribution to entrepreneurship education in schools, which will enable all participants to turn ideas into actions that involve creativity, innovation and risk-taking. The ability to (self-) critical thinking, to plan projects together, to carry them out in problem-oriented teamwork and to evaluate the results obtained, supports participants not only in their private everyday life, but also in school and at workplace. Entrepreneurial education opens up new perspectives as workers, citizens and consumers, it serves as a basis for the acquisition of more specific occupational skills and proficiency can ultimately lead to a business friendly attitude in society and politics, reflected in increased competitiveness and job creation in the countries of the EU.
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