Target group of students at secondary vocational schools are young people at an important stage of their decisions for their future life direction. Students often do not know what they want to do in the future, only a small number of students want to become self-employers. Young people do not have a clear view on how to introduce innovative ideas, from the first idea to its launch on the market and its marketing and PR. During their studies many of the VET school students gain knowledge and skills in a specific field, so they have a good basis for the eventual start their own businesses. The schools, however, still put the emphasis more on formal skills. The school system doesn't support the development of creativity a lot. Although entrepreneurship education is part of the educational curriculum, in practice we can only see subjects focused on general knowledge of economics and management, without more specific focus on the development of entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and attitudes.Students also don't have sufficient presentation skills, they often have troubles with speaking in public, sell their ideas and clearly articulate their intentions.Find your inner inventor (FYII) project addressed the above mentioned issues. The main objective of the project was to develop and verify in practice the training module called Find your inner inventor. The module was intended to be used by VET schools as a supplement to the teaching of Economics and Business subjects.Sub-objectives of the project were as follows:- to analyse the educational needs of students of VET schools in product development and business skills- to develop key competencies of students of VET, especially transversal skills: creativity, effective presentations, entrepreneurship- to show students a comprehensive business process project cycle from developing an idea to its launching to the market- to give students contact with the scientific communities and eliminate their fear of science- to improve the presentation skills of the students. The main target group were VET students. The project partnership included three academic partners:- VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, the Czech Republic- University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland and- University of Iceland, Iceland.Within the project the partners cooperated together and used their specific skills in the field.First of all we did the analysis of the educational needs of VET school students. Based on the results of the Analysis, the objectives of a module were set up, a structure of a programme was prepared and then partners started working on the particular parts of the FYII Course.The FYII programme consists of 5 educational days + the dissemination event at the end of the Course. When the developing phase was over, we put the Programme into practice (testing phase) and checked the results (feedback from the students and teachers). We introduced the programme to the VET schools we cooperated with. There were more than 400 students involved in the testing phase of the Course. At the end of the testing phase we did the final correction of the programme according the received feedback and prepared a brochure for VET schools. The final conferences took place in each participating country. The events were intended for the teachers of the VET schools and other stakeholders that were not a part of this project to introduce a programme to them.The impact of our project was aimed at VET schools as well as at universities. Both groups acquired a new experience, number of new competences as well as they developed their present ones. The programme aimed at showing students that running their own business is not impossible. The programme can help students in their future decissions connected to their own self-emploability or choosing their future studies. VET teachers first of all gained a new methodology that can be used in their teaching of economy and business subjects. They also got an experience that learning by doing is very effective way of developing students‘ copmpetencies. We have the complex methodology of Find your inner inventor available in English and national languages as well in order to be used not only for us but also for other schools and universities interested in this kind of programme.

Teaching foreign languages is currently a must in educational systems all over the world and having relevantly qualified teachers is taken for granted. Foreign language teachers, no matter how well qualified they are, over time they experience feeling of the need to upgrade their skills and competences because of not having a direct contact with the language they teach. Long time monitoring of the needs of foreign language teachers by teacher trainers in institutions involved has proved the vital need for refreshment courses the foreign language teachers look for. National CPD institutions rarely provide such courses and courses offered abroad are not accessible to everyone. Furthermore, current COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even more complicated. That is why the consortium of project partners has decided to develop CPD e-courses for English teachers online.The objective of the project is to design four modules of e-courses for English teachers which can easily be combined to satisfy different professional needs of English teachers and their different time availability. Furthermore, such e-courses are accessible also to participants with special needs.The e-courses for English teachers will be designed and developed by the consortium of four partners from three countries – Aspekt Foundation and Teacher.sk from Slovakia, Ostrava University (OSU) from the Czech Republic and University of Bielsko-Biala (ATH) from Poland. Three of the partners (Aspekt Foundation, OSU, ATH) are experts in foreign language (English) course provision, two of them (OSU, ATH) in teacher training and one of them (Teacher.sk) is an IT expert. Two partners (OSU, ATH) are higher education institutions, one partner Aspekt Foundation is NGO, and Teacher.sk is SME. All project partners have highly qualified staff with long-term experience in the field.In order to achieve the above stated objectives, the project partners will make sure the relevant measures are taken within the life of the project and conditions for their fullfillment are created in their respective institutions.This task requires:-to design an innovative modular system of e-courses devoted to four areas identified by in-service teachers as a need for improvement: grammar competences, language skills, methodology of teaching English skills and competences, literature and intercultural knowledge upgrade;-to develop training materials in compliance with the designed modules and suggested e-courses, i.e. to design and agree the content and topics addressed in e-mode delivery;-to pilot developed e-courses for English teachers in preliminary summer training activities to get feedback from their participants in order to make necessary amendments in them;-to make the target groups aware of the project about the developed e-courses and make them accessible to those who are interested;-to design CPD e-course(s) for English teachers in compliance with national legislation and submit them for accreditation to the relevant legislative body,-to advertise the accredited e-courses for English teachers and run them by institutions involved in the project, and use them as examples of good practice for other institutions.The intellectual outputs developed within the life of the project will all be accessible on the project website not only for project partners but also for a wider community of in-service English teachers as well as will-be English teachers and other interested public also beyond the project life. They will serve as the basis for multiplier events (E1 – E3) with project stakeholders who are expected to use it directly or disseminate the information about the e-courses to staff and experts involved in teaching foreign languages. The developed materials will have a considerable impact on the target group of English teachers as to their language and methodology competences and skills and self-confidence and quality of learning outputs of their students. It is expected that the materials will be used long after the project life when the institutions involved in the project will advertise and run the accredited CPD e-courses for English teachers and when even other stakeholders responsible for CPD of teachers will consider the materials displayed on the project website and methodology used for their development as examples worth to follow and develop similar e-courses for teachers of other subjects.

NICE - Network for Inter-Institutional Cooperation in Entrepreneurial Education is a project created to support the school education through activities supporting entrepreneurial competences among secondary school students. ECo is understood as an ability to use opportunities and ideas and transform them into values for others. The core of ECo is creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, initiative, persistence, ability to cooperate towards to plan and manage projects with cultural, social or commercial value. Business skills are based on creativity containing imagination, strategic thinking, problem solving, critical and constructive reflection in the frame of developing creative processes and innovations. It is required to have skills both to work individually, and in teams, to mobilize resources (human/stuff) and persist in performing the activity. It also includes ability of decision-making dealing with finance - decisions about costs and values (EC, 2018 – recommendations on key competences). The key area is to support the skills mentioned above and this is where the partners of the project (universities from 4 different countries) aim their activities. Although the universities work with university students, thanks to the cooperation with secondary schools and this project, they can work with and influence also SS students. Activities can be represented mainly as: •Development and realization of lectures in economic sciences (finance, management, accounting, marketing, business economics) •Development and realization of competitions for secondary school students in economic topics•Cooperation among educational activities •Organization of university activities aimed at secondary school students (e.g. open days) The primary target groups of the project are secondary schools students. The secondary target are secondary school teachers and also academics/teachers at universities. 4 partner universities will start cooperation with at least 20 secondary schools and develop activities for at minimum 1000 secondary students. There will be 4 major dissemination activities for 120 participants.The objectives of the project mainly are:•Promote entrepreneurship,•Provide secondary students with knowledge of soft and hard skills, that will help them to develop their entrepreneurial competences,•Develop a handbook and manual on available online tools and their use, •Facilitate the creation of a cooperating network from secondary schools and universities in the participating countries,•Facilitate networking and sharing of knowledge, experiences and best practices,•Develop a platform to support entrepreneurial education through specific scenarios that will be developed.•Promote digital competencies and their use among secondary school students.The objectives of the project will be achieved through the development of the following intellectual outputs:1.NICE IO1: NICE Library of educational lectures and practical tasks2.NICE IO2: Creation of competition in the area of entreprenurial development3.NICE IO3: Portfolio of on-line tools usable for organization of international competition

<< Background >>Schools have closed their doors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation has affected all: students, schools, educators, and families grappled with the reality of transitioning to distance learning platforms. One of the challenges that has emerged is the difficulty of distance learning for CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES. Their learning difficulties are caused, among others, by METACOGNITIVE DEFICIENCIES (i.e. areas of planning, control, self-reflection, etc.). Metacognitive skills begin to develop in early childhood, but become more sophisticated and academically focused as a result of formal education. Elements of metacognitive thinking, such as knowledge, monitoring, control, can be seen in pre-school age children. However, it is not until children around 10 years of age that an increase in the quality of metacognitive skills can be observed. This is why we are focusing on the target population of older school age children, primarily 11-15 years old, with learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (average intellect, common education).Evidence (Giovazolias, & Kourkoutas, 2015) shows that teachers can effectivelly assist students with learning difficulties, when they are adequatelly guided and supported by well-trained school counsellors. Hence, the need for more holistic and systemic school-based interventions for children with learning disabilities, as well as specialized assistance for teachers is advocated by many authors. There is a strong emphasis on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION issues (Giovazolias, & Kourkoutas, ibid). The final conclusion is that school counsellors have a critical role to play in supporting teachers helping their children with special educational needs avoiding school exclusion and further mental health problems.Systematic TRAINING IN METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND especially PROSPECTIVE MEMORY can greatly help children with learning disabilities and/or ASD in school performance. Expanding training tools for metacognitive distance or self-training would allow for regularity and availability even for children who do not have the possibility of attending regular therapies. The aim of the project is therefore not only the creation and evaluation of such a training tool for PROSPECTIVE MEMORY and METACOGNITIVE TRAINING but also to obtain a psychodidactic framework to practice appropriate metacognitive strategies.for special educators, methodologists, and even parents.In cooperation with schools, school cousellors and other organizations supporting children with learning disabilities and/or ASD the possibility will be promoted to be involved in minimally 10 weeks training of prospective memory and metacognitive training. After the evaluation of the training not only the children, but also their families will receive feedback and information about the possibilities and the benefits of continuous prospective memory training.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the project is to develop a tool for PROSPECTIVE MEMORY and METACOGNITIVE TRAINING, particularly for the group of children with learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This tool can be used by children and their families and trained special pedagogs and school counsellors.Next to the main objective of developing a tool, the other project's objectives are:the PRACTICAL VERIFICATION of a metacognitive-training intervention in children with ASD or learning disabilities; the DEVELOPEMENT of a distant form of supportive rehabilitation of prospective memory; BROADENING OF THE POSSIBILITIES of intervention activities for children with ASD and/or learning disabilities.A final project aim is to EXPEND THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH and KNOWLEDGE about the topic of metacognitive rehabilitation and prospective memory training. Preparation of the research monograph will therefore be the next project objective. Planned SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION of the project: adding knowledge to current research on the construct of prospective memory; complete prospective memory research on Autism Spectrum Disorders and learning disabilities; expanding insight into the role of prospective memory and executive function in the development of metacognitive skills; developing methods for the training of prospective memory and metacognition.The project will involve inter-institutional partnership/cooperation in the field of education, psychology and training of cognitive and executive functions.<< Implementation >>We will create an Prospective Memory and Metacognitive Training Toolkit Remember To Remember. The development of an training and educational program is a multi-step creative process of the collaboration of experts from several fields of study.On the basis of scientific interest in the topic, a team from all participating universities will prepare the Research monographs – the specialist publications dealing with the topic of Prospective Memory and Metacognitive Training in the form of a book. ACTIVITIESCreating of a Prospective memory and Metacognitive Training Toolkit and Research Monograph will include an analysis of these concepts in relation to learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder and the skills that are the target content of the training tool.This analysis will be discussed with experts on inclusive education, psychologists, special pedagogs and NGOs supporting families with disabled children. Based on the analysis, several designs of the training tasks will be created, including methodical giude for users, playing cards for training and a training software (a computerized tasks for prospective memory training). The training progam will be prepared in multi-step iterations and the impact on the target group will be continuously verified. Upon completion the tasks for training, software will be programmed, tools and graphics will be produced, and availability of the program for users will be tested in the Czech Republic (pre/post test evaluation design).Then we will share the training tool and methodical guide among all partners. As a part of the transnational meeting in Ghent we will organise an workshop with Training Tool performance and training for partners and experts (teachers, counsellors). After this all partners can prepare national versions of the Training Tool. As soon as developing phase is over we will start to implement it into practice and check the results. We will introduce the programme to the school counselor offices and schools we cooperate with (in form of webinar). There will be at least 20 school children with learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder per each country involved in a testing phase (80 children in total). Finally, the training is piloted with the target group of children, the impact on their metacognitive skills will be verified. The qualitative evaluation methodology will be prepared by VSB – Technical University of Ostrava in cooperation with the University of Iceland and the University of Bielsko Biala. When the testing phase is over we will do the final correction of the programme and prepare the methodological part of the Training Tool – final methodology and manual for teachers and counsellors. We will also organize a final dissemination conference in each participating country for counsullers, teachers and parents of children with learning disabilities and/or ASD that are not a part of this project to introduce a program to them.<< Results >>All the participating countries will bring about results at the following two levels:TANGIBLE project results:The project team will create the complex methodology of the Prospective Memory and Metacognitive Training (under the title Remember To Remember) that, at the end of the project, could be used by childen with learning disabilities, children with ASD and their families and educators. The specific method will be introduced first to experts (special pedagogs, school counsellors and experts in the field of educational psychology and inclusive education) in the testing phase (staff training activity) and then we will organize an online workshop for special educators and school counsellors, that haven´t been involved in the project so far, to introduce the programme to them.The material will be in English, but after the testing phase, it will be translated and used by any user in all involved countries. This innovative and attractive tool will represent a new approach to better support children with disabilities and the development of their key metacognitive competencies.On the basis of scientific interest in the topic, a team from all participating universities will prepare the Research monographs – the specialist publications dealing with the topic of Prospective Memory and Metacognitive Training in the form of a book. INTANGIBLE project results:All the project activities have one aim in common – i.e. the development of metacognitive competencies based on prospective memory among children with learning disabilities and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder.The Prospective Memory and Metacognitive Training will be based on: training of a specific cognitive deficit (training certain domains of cognitive function); training prospective memory in relation to daily life activities; metacognitive training aiming at self-regulation and self-monitoring.The results will contribute to increase in: quality of life of children and their families - both subjectively and objectively; psychological well-being of the children; coordination abilities, in ranking multiple activities and planning day-to-day activities; supporting family education - motivation for training at home, doing homeworks.

"Project ""Innovations for Big Data in a Real World"" ( iBIGworld ) aims to join together HEIs, business in order to address the competences and compatible job profile. This collaboration will provide innovative solutions to develop BigData experts. Learning framework is based on IEEE guidelines for big data in Machine Learning”. In this context, this project aims:a) to bridge the current digital skills gap in southern Europe following the European Commission's 'e-Skills for jobs' campaign. b) to build an ecosystem of key partners for creating an access port in underrepresented talent pools.c) to identify the underrepresented skills, the rationale behind the phenomenon of talented people who lack the traditional credentials to land a good job and the Big Data with the most pressing needs.d) to promote business opportunities, through a Smart BigData Job Hub, between Universities and business, including new Big Data -based internship programs, PhD student supervision between HEIs and business.e) to envisage a range of new initiatives to ensure that these skills are adequately promoted in the curriculum, in teacher development, in assessment practices and in learning content. ICT, BigData and AI trends, new educational tools and learning resources to be collected, processed and disseminated through the Smart BigDataJob Hub towards the modernization of curricula and to further.The iBIGworld project brings together four partners from four European countries: Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia. To fulfill the aforementioned objectives, the iBIGworld project includes three teaching/training activities focused on:1. HEI trainers2. Undergraduate and postgraduate students 3. Business managersFurthermore, the project involves the organisation of four multiplier events, for the dissemination of the four project intellectual outputs (""DataBased with good practices BigData case"", ""Setup the Big Data Requirements"", ""BigData framework for training in HE"", ""Piloting"").The project results have a notable impact on all stakeholders, which is summarised as follows:- On HEIs: Mitigation of the ICT ""skill-crisis"" by supporting the design of evidence-based reforms of curricula.- On students and graduates: Preparation of high BigData-skilled, empowered, motivated and self-confident future professionals.- On business : Sharing of knowledge and cooperation with the participating HEIs, since academic degrees (Bachelor's and Master's) will be promoted in the eyes of industry and market recruiters, while applied research will be conducted in their premises.- On society: Linking HEIs and business world is a pre-requisite, iBIGWorld aspires to offer better job opportunities for graduates and minimize the risk of unemployment, lower wages and poorer long-term prospects.In order to ensure sustainability, all project outcomes are publicly available, while the participating organisations are signing agreements on post-project output sustainability."