Project Number: 2015-1-SK01-KA201-008942
Erasmus+ Programme, KA2, Strategic Partnerships in School Education

In many European countries, there is a considerable “gap” between what is learned in the classroom and the real life context of pupils’ world (New Skills for New Jobs flagship initiative, 2010). Part of the problem lies in the fact that teachers have limited access to resource materials, through which to emphasize relevance. Furthermore, most curricula are examination-driven, as a consequence of which teachers adopt a highly didactic approach to cover the syllabus and meet the expectations of students, teachers and parents. As a result, pupils are not adequately prepared by the education system for the world of work.

To address the above challenge, on the 1^st of September 2015, the publishing house Dr. Joseph Raabe Slovakia, based in Bratislava started implementing the transnational project World of Work (WOW). The WOW project has been funded with the support of the EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport – Erasmus+.

Our project combines the efforts of 7 organisations from 3 European countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany) to create innovative methodical materials and an online platform to increase the relevance and quality of “world of work”-related subjects in lower secondary education schools. We believe that the process of acquiring career awareness skills starts long before pupils make their choice for the type of education they would like to pursue in upper levels. Therefore, one of the most effective ways to address low levels of attainment, early school leaving and subsequently youth unemployment, is to foster development of innovation and cooperation between schools, universities and the business sector in order to achieve sustainable results in raising the quality of school education. Furthermore, the project will seek to address the reported lack of resources and insufficient level of specific competencies among teachers in this educational area.

The target groups of the WOW project are lower secondary school teachers, who teach subjects in the educational area “world of work”,  as well as pupils and parents.

It is expected that more than 4800 pupils in lower secondary education, teachers and parents will participate in various project activities.

We believe that the project  World of Work  will fundamentally influence the education system, both at national and European level, through exchange of knowledge and experiences between schools, universities, science association and the business.

Project Aims:

• Enhancing the quality and relevance of the learning offer in education and training by developing new and innovative approach for teaching subjects related to the “world of work”.
• Fostering the provision of key competences, including basic skills and transversal skills, related to the educational area “world of work”.
• Increasing labour market relevance of learning provision and qualifications and reinforcing links between education and training with the world of work.

Project Objectives and Activities:

• To produce an evidence base research on good practices and major challenges with regard to “world of work”- related subjects provision in partner countries, as well as across Europe.
• To design, develop, test and validate innovative methodical materials for teachers in “world of work”-related subjects in lower secondary schools.
• To organise and carry out 64 creative workshop activities for teachers and pupils to demonstrate in practice how to apply the WOW methodical materials.
• To develop a WOW video, which will serve as a practical visualisation of how methodical materials could be applied in curricula and out of class activities.
• To create and launch a WOW online platform (free interactive tool), where all materials will be uploaded in four language versions, to allow for future exploitation and sustainability of project outputs.
• To carry out one large dissemination event for national and international stakeholders.

Project Outputs:

• WOW Research Report,
• WOW Methodical Materials,
• WOW Video,
• WOW Online Platform,
• WOW Workshops.

This project has been funded with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme, action Strategic Partnerships in School Education.

This publication (communication) reflects only the author's view and neither the Slovak National Agency, nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.