"The idea of the project: ""The disappearing professions in Europe as the inspiration to create new business ventures"" within the International Youth Initiatives was born in the Youth Entrepreneurship Club (www.yec.org.pl), run in Warsaw by the Ad Meritum Foundation. The idea for the project was to create a catalogue of professions at risk of disappearance in Europe, in the form of photographs, films and interviews with artists/craftsmen, placed on an electronic online platform; the idea was to select professions that have the potential to transform into new business in order to develop new business ideas for them. Young people from YEC have established contacts with youth leaders from different organisations in Europe, have determined the project tasks and tasks of individual leaders in different countries, and have obtained the consent of the legal representatives of partner organisations for the participation of leaders in the project. As a result, 5 partners: from PL, LV, PT, IT and FR submitted a joint project. Why did we want to implement this project together, as youth leaders? - We were looking for inspiration for entrepreneurial activities that will help us in the future to set up our own companies or realise our professional passions, we believed that we can find such inspiration in saving the vanishing professions by looking for opportunities to transform them into business activities; - We wanted to master digital competences well, because we believe that they are very important and necessary for our future occupations and functioning in society; we wanted to obtain appropriate ICT skills and competences on a high professional level; - We wanted to establish contacts between youth leaders from other countries in order to learn from each other and work together and for our local communities; - We needed to learn foreign languages well, especially English, so that language is not an obstacle to our future work, - For many of the young people we included in the project, such a project was supposed to be an opportunity to improve their school performance or to detach them from negative behaviour and practices; - We wanted to open up to European cooperation and the idea of active European citizenship, promoting diversity, intercultural dialogue, especially in times of difficulty for the unity of an open and secure Europe; - We were interested in peer-to-peer and intergenerational education; we thought we could learn a lot from each other; - Some of us wanted to enter into vocational training for youth workers. The target group of this project was young people aged 15-25 years, as youth leaders from our organisations, we aimed the project activities at this age group, we engaged young people from our schools and organisations to visit the representatives of disappearing professions together to do interviews, short films about them and photographic documentation. When submitting the application, it seemed to us that the project may also be important for the representatives of the disappearing professions themselves, that they may find inspiration to develop the company, even perhaps in cooperation with us. For many of them the obstacle is the lack of ICT skills and the lack of knowledge of languages to develop through e.g. internet shops or participation in some international events. The results of the project: - An interactive electronic catalogue has been created, available on the project website: www.bolderasmus.eu, containing documentation of 20 disappearing professions in Europe, in the form of descriptions, interviews with professionals, photos and videos. The catalogue has been structured according to countries and professions, and the presentation of one profession has the same scheme: description, video interview with a representative of a vanishing profession and showing it at work, photographic documentation of the profession; the language of the catalogue is English, but in the case of video interviews, these are interviews in the original languages, with subtitles in English. - There are business plans for 8 disappearing professions, about possible transfer of these professions to business activities. The business plans were published in a separate section on the project website. - Mentors of leaders, together with the participation of leaders, developed guidelines for teachers and educators working with young people how to incorporate the project results into educational programmes in the field of entrepreneurship - the so-called ""Vademecum"", which was posted on the project website, distributed in a newsletter to institutions working with young people, and disseminated through a webinar for educators of young people on the project results.All project result has been published on the Erasmus+ results platform."

"The description of the project started with the announcement of 2018 as the ""Year of Cultural Heritage"", a year with plenty events, celebrations and activities all overe the continent. Even in 2019 we had the chance to enjoy the richness of european culture and heritage and celebrate our traditions in international meetings with Erasmus+. After our last meeting in January, suddenly the situation changed due to the Corona virus. Because of the uncertain circumstances the next school year, the team decided to close project as planned this summer, even though we can't hold our last meeting in England. On one hand, the cancellation of our final meeting is very disappoiting. Not only for the students, that has been looking forward and preparing the meeting, but also for the teachers, that have become close colleagues and friends during the project. Reservations that had been made, must be cancelled, plans that had been thought, can't turn into actions. Especially the get-together in the final meeting helps to review the project together and reflect about highlights and things that could improve. It's a pity that our last meeting cannot take place.On the other hand, the lockdown of our daily life and also the sudden cancellation of all kind of exchange activities reveals plenty of positive aspects. Things, that had been taken for granted for years, suddenly seem precious and in danger. Open borders are not a matter of course, either is the freedom of travelling. We realize how strong our european relationships have become and how lucky we are to being able to share international experiences.We had defined the following goals for our project, but they have now got a significant new meaning: 1-Globalization and disappearing cultural identities 1a) Reflection of our own culture in times of disease 2-The meaning of learning to live together 2a) The real meaning of learning to live together, not only at home in quarantine, but also as european partners 3-Cultural traditions (Intangible Cultural Heritage) 3a) What is it that we all miss most? Are we really so different from each other? 4-Common Cultural heritage (tangible Cultural Heritage) 5-Active European citizenship 5a) What does Active European citizenship mean to us? How can we show solidarity? 6-Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training 7-Digital competenceEspecially the content of our project -cultural heritage and traditions- seem to have an ambigous meaning at the end of project. Theaters are closed, museums are closed, concerts are cancelled, celebrations of all kind as weddings or traditional festivities can't take place. Other things seem to be more important right now. Life is reduced to very basic needs of the human being. But being deprived from all the culture, the beauty and the freedom, we realize another time, how much we have been taken these goods for granted."

"A common challenge for the European school systems is the prevention of early school leaving. Tackling early school leaving is first and foremost an investment in the future. Young people who leave school early are at increased risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. They are often in more precarious and less well-paid jobs than those with training. Generally, children from low education and socially disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely than others to leave the school system early.With our project we got support to develop conducive and supportive learning environments that focused on the needs of individual pupils, especially the disadvantaged ones. We promoted a relevant and engaging learning environment for them.The main goal of our project entitled ""Gates and Keys"" was to create a meaningful and motivating learning atmosphere where they would have the sense of belonging. The pupils were able to realize how important it was to possess a school education and a professional education so that they could take care for their future concerns and become active and responsible citizens who could contribute to Europe. Besides, the project was framed on different levels to reach as many pupils as possible and to motivate them to gain interesting and positive experiences which kept up their motivation for learning. We experienced that extra-curricular activities did not only help students to catch up and to revive their interest in learning, but also helped them to re-build a positive relationship with the school and its staff, as well as providing fulfilling activities which boosted self-esteem and reduced frustration.As early-school leaving is closely related to social exclusion, we blended the discovery of reasons of social exclusion, such as prejudices and cultural barriers with the factors of early school leaving. Students discovered themselves through discovering the ""other"". That's why we carried out our studies in the form of a transnational project which offered chances to compare and discover.For years, we have been confined to see through the key holes, which has caused us to misconceive the big picture. It was high time we had found the right keys and opened the doors. In order to take our place in the big picture and touch it to better understand , we, 8 partners from different countries or backgrounds, Turkey, 2 Italian Schools, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary,Poland and Denmark came together and had the idea of this transnational project which would give us the clues to be able to find the keys in the maze.Mobilities of both students and teachers across Europe constituted an integral part of our approach, along with the use of information and communication technologies. Our students participated in activities in multinational teams and acquired active, hands-on experiences by engaging with exploring, evaluating, mapping, meeting volunteer teams, music, dance and art.In a united Europe students and teachers greatly benefited from working together with partners from other European countries, thus they were able to learn to understand and accept other cultures and their traditions. Furthermore, they raised their cultural awareness, broadened their horizon and learnt a lot about working on projects in teams, connecting them to school.With this project we mainly addressed to pupils in the age of 14-17 who attended secondary school. At every participating school there was a class or group of pupils who worked on the topics with various subject teachers. Besides an own website, where we published our project work for all people, we also made Erasmus+ corners to attract people who cannot read about our project in the internet. Through the activities the joy about learning was supported in a long term way. The students involved in the project used languages, ICT, theatre, cinema, music, photo, arts, culture, local dances, traditions and local customs, as vehicles for research and to communicate the results of their work.Our students got familiar with abstract concepts and were able to encounter with real problems rather than ready made problems. In this way, they had the opportunity of learning to deal with uncertainity and making decisons. Finally, the results of our interaction reached our schools through products such as Booklets: religions-similarities and difference, Rituals and My Health Guidebook and Poster:How can we reduce racial prejudice and racism? , a website, exhibitions, ideas for lesson plans, workshops and presentations.At the end of the project the reports of our round table discussions were collected.The proposals were identified to reduce school drop-out schools-wide.The project was developed through different stages which the schools involved run simultaneously, with a joint work event at a distance."

Our project was based on the belief that a common challenge for the European countries is striving for a Europe where the diversity of cultures and cultural heritage are essential to the development of a genuine openness of mind and basic rights, where open and interactive processes and practices of culture combine to help us deal with the complexities of living with ourselves and one another. At the core of the project we put cultural heritage, multicultural understanding and cultural traditions as resources for the future to promote diversity and dialogue and foster a sense of identity, collective memory and mutual respect within and between communities. Our project developed as a journey through partner countries’ cultures to raise awareness of our own traditions and identify the common values which unite us. In this context, intercultural dialogue was essential to exchange views and opinions and establish linkages between different cultures, communities, and people, promoting understanding and interaction for avoiding bias, racism, conflict and marginalisation of people on the basis of their cultural identity, Therefore, through intercultural dialogue pupils were trained to democratic and civic participation. To develop this attitude and key life-competence we used methodologies that involved learners actively in their own learning. With our project we wanted to get support to develop conducive and supportive learning environments focusing on the needs of individual pupils, especially the disadvantaged and migrant ones. The extra-curricular activities could not only help students to catch up their interest in learning, but also help them to build a positive relationship with the school and its staff, as well as providing fulfilling activities which could boost self-esteem and reduce frustration. Mobilities of both students and teachers across Europe constituted an integral part of our approach, along with the use of information and communication technologies. Our students participated in activities in multinational teams and acquire active, hands-on experiences by engaging with exploring, evaluating, mapping, meeting volunteer teams, music, dance and art.In a united Europe students and teachers greatly benefited from working together with partners from other European countries, thus they could learn to understand and accept other cultures and their traditions. Furthermore, they raised their cultural awareness, broadened their horizon and learnt a lot about working on projects in teams. With this project we mainly addressed to 100 pupils in the age of 14-18 who benefited directly from the mobilities. At every participating school there was a group of pupils who worked on the topics with various subject teachers. Through the activities the joy about learning was supported in a long-term way. The students involved in the project could use languages, ICT, theatre, music, photo, arts, culture, local dances, traditions and local customs, as vehicles for research and to communicate the results of their work.