"The project ""Global Goals from a school Perspective"" is based on previous international partnerships, where partners from different projects have agreed to commit to 17 Global Goals, because it makes sense - it’s important! The partnership consists of 4 partner schools based on geographically balanced countries in the EU: Denmark, Romania, Estonia and Spain. All are schools which vary in background and nature, which will further support the project by exposing our pupils to a greater variety that exists in our European community. All aspects aid to further support the aims of the project, which is to take steps towards a more sustainable way of living, break stereotypes, focus on equality between genders and develop a greater understanding in pupils of the diversity that belongs to our European community. We quickly agreed that the topic 17 Global Goals could be a great working title. The Goals focus on sustainable development and no matter where you live, there will always be something we can do better. We want to focus on understanding, empathy, acceptance and being open minded towards a change in the way we live now and the way others are living. We want to focus on the personal commitment this project requires. We have to take it as a personal task to help change the world and support the sustainable development. We believe that the activities chosen to be key topics in this project, make us able to implement the EU strategic objectives - literacy and active citizenship, but also values such as solidarity and non-discrimination and contribute to the harmonious and sustainable development of the European societies. We have chosen Global Goals which we believe are important for teenagers and pupils who are shortly to transfer to secondary school to engage in, because they are the future. Furthermore, we believe that the activities we have chosen will support the topics and the pupils in their learning process. We think that imagination and creativity are important stakeholders. All content of the Global Goals will develop the pupils understanding The Goals allow for further reflection in groups, pairs or just alone. Throughout the project teaching methods will be utilized to ensure pupils are active learners and encouraged to come to educated and reasoned conclusions. Intercultural understanding is one of education and didactics most valued aims. It improves both cognitive and anthropological enrichment and broadens up our cultural horizons. Learning techniques chosen are cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem solving and thinking of options, fact and opinion, evaluating and persuasion/ deconstructing - all techniques that enables the pupils to think freely, to engage in the activities and to develop various skills. The impact will be pupils developing their social and cultural awareness of EU and realize that the development that comes with Global Goals, matters and that we can make a difference.The staff will have increased their knowledge about methodologies, training programs, educational instruments and practices. The schools have got a real international connection and have come a step closer to fulfilling the national curriculum for international cooperation and intercultural understanding. Many results will be created: A shared website will provide a learning resource for the participating institutions and others. Google Platform will ensure that pupils and teachers alike will have an opportunity for collaborative learning ensuring that the results of the project are forever evolving as topics are researched. A linguistic resource will be developed to enhance the pupils and teachers awareness of foreign modern languages and will be a sustainable resource after the project has been completed. Many results will be produced: artefact resources of the countries, videos and presentations with information and learning areas to be utilized continuously in the future and booklets. The most important result of the project will be the broader, more accepting minds of our pupils, who appreciate their place in society and fully comprehend and utilize their role as global citizens. It is our ambition that the partnership will develop awareness of the role that each individual plays, has played and especially will play in the future. We will assess the ways in which each institution develops during the project, compare data and by teaching, give the pupils an introduction and an alternative to their countries' traditional life - the European life."

The TfT project was developed out of the shared recognition of a need to integrate the basic and transversal skills associated with 21st Century Learning (21CL) meaningfully into mainstream secondary school education. Though there is no universally agreed definition of “21C skills”, Voogt and Roblin (2012) — in their comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21C competences — note a common recognition of the importance of skills relating to communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and technological fluency. These are frequently considered higher-order thinking and learning skills, and they are seen as being transversal (not subject-specific) and multi-dimensional, impacting on attitudes and knowledge. Though the importance of teaching and creating opportunities for students to develop these skills in schools is generally agreed upon, the process of integrating of 21C teaching and learning practices into the classrooms is complex. It involves changes at system and classroom levels, and the provision of adequate resources.To address these issues, TfT focused on developing a transnational model of teaching and learning that helps students to develop their 21C skills – and thereby become effective problem-solvers and self-directed learners. The overall objective was twofold: (1) to develop a coherent model for the integration of 21C teaching and learning (21CL) in schools, in order to scaffold the development of students’ basic and transversal skills in an innovative way; and (2) to simultaneously support teachers with the implementation of this model.This project brought together educators (principals, teachers, researchers, and others) from 4 countries (Ireland, Sweden, Estonia and Germany) and 5 organisations across Europe (four upper primary/secondary schools and one university), with expertise in various areas, to enhance and refine a model of 21CL. The primary participants on the project — 16 teachers and 5 project leaders — aimed to improve both their own skills and practices and to help other teachers develop these practices in their own schools.In order to meet the aims of the project, five different “Learning, Teaching and Training” (LTT’s) workshops were carried out, with one in each partner country, whereby each project partner led sessions for the TfT participants in which they shared their school’s particular expertise in its designated area of 21CL. For example, the first LTT was held in Dublin in the Bridge21 learning centre of Trinity College, and it involved immersive experience with the “Bridge21 model of 21CL”, which as developed by TCD partners and colleagues and served as a starting for the TfT teachers to collaborate and develop their own model. From there, the other LTT’s involved project partners sharing and leading sessions related to assessment, diverse learning styles, constructivist teaching methods, and building communities of practice. Throughout this process, participating teachers were developing their skills and competences in orchestrating and creating active, 21CL experiences, while simultaneously developing a pragmatic, transnational model of 21CL.To measure the impact of this project, questionnaires and interviews – designed to identify the 16 participating teachers’ confidence with and frequency of usage of 21CL, as well as their beliefs about the purpose and usefulness of the TfT project itself – were completed at the start and end of the project. Analysis of this data was undertaken to understand and interpret reported changes in confidence, usage and beliefs of the teachers over the course of the project. Findings indicate that teachers reported an increase in confidence with integrating various 21CL practices in their teaching, as well as an increase in their own classroom usage in all areas of 21CL practices, with some aspects being at the statistically significant level. From the data collected, it was also evident that the teachers believed that their participation in the TfT project had a positive impact on their own teaching practice, as well as their schools overall, and greater educational community.The process of this evolution and the end result has been shared with relevant stakeholders and the European educational community in a variety of ways, including via our open-access project website. In addition, for the sake of longevity and openness, all related publications and results will be housed in perpetuity on the Trinity Access to Research Archive - TARA.

<< Background >>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.<< Objectives >>The INITIATION project aims to cultivate 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. Thus, high school students and teachers are the main beneficiaries of the project.<< Implementation >>To achieve the aforementioned objectives, INITIATION will implement the following activities and produce relevant results:A1. 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. A2. Develop tailor made learning resources (Result 2) for the effective participation of high schools students in the provision of solutions to environmental problems by applying the model of social entrepreneurship. A3. Develop a web-based Digital Platform for Schools Social Entrepreneurship (Result 3) to be used as a tool that actively supports and develops high schools students’ social entrepreneurship and social innovation thinking. A4. Pilot the curriculum, learning resources and digital platform at 4 national pilots. Prior to the pilots, develop a teachers handbook (Result 4) 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.A5. Make recommendations for the exploitation of the proposed approach of INITIATION project and its results (Result 5).Moreover various multiplier events will take place in Greece, Cyprus, Estonia and Italy, as well as a short training for high school teachers in Palermo, Italy.<< Results >>The project results are the following:R1. 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. R2. Learning resources tailored to the needs and characteristics of high school students and promoting microlearning (be short, relevant, contextualized) and practice-based training.R3. 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.R4. 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.R5. A guide with recommendations for the adoption and exploitation of the INITIATION approach and relevant results, by high schools, educational authorities, and policy makers.Through the proposed intervention, it is expected that high school students under the guidance of their teachers, will gain the necessary knowledge for developing social entrepreneurship and social innovation mind-sets to provide sustainable solutions to environmental problems. Moreover, teachers will gain the necessary competences to support their students to implement the entire process from the identification of environmental problems to the setup of social entrepreneurship endeavors.The project will also benefit actors of the social economy ecosystem (HEIs, social enterprises, SE policy makers, organizations supporting SE, etc.) through co-creation of knowledge and exchange of expertise with school communities and inspiration from fresh ideas coming from future social entrepreneurship actors on solving environmental problems.Last but not least, national, regional and local education authorities, as well as policy makers, will increase their ability to exploit ready-to-use tools and resources to develop strategies for the effective integration of social entrepreneurship in secondary education.