CESSIT European Course in November (25 hours)

Aims
The CESSIT course intends to:
• promote the importance of lifelong learning for adult trainers.
• improve pedagogical approaches of adult educators and the attractiveness and effectiveness of adult training.
• diminish adult educators resistance to the daily use of new pedagogical methods and tools.
By participating in the courses you will also have the opportunity to meet other European professionals interested in promoting the development of creative skills and entrepreneurial spirit among their learners

Methodology
The course in organized in 6 modules and the effective training time is 25 hours. The modules are delivered by experienced international trainers. Given the objective of the course, its target group and thematic covered; the methodology applied includes various techniques to actively involve course participants.
Besides being presented with the theoretical aspects of each topic, the participants will have a chance to “test” numerous games, pedagogical methods and interactive techniques designed to promote creative skills and entrepreneurial spirit.

Support materials
• Handouts from keynote speakers
• Hard-copy of the Guidebook for Adult Trainers and Managers
• CESSIT DVD

Language of course
• English

Certification
Certificate of attendance including description of training content and time input will be provided.

Programme (day by day)
Monday:
Welcome session and introduction of participants
Module 1: The Role of Creativity (3 hours)
Set of activities to introduce the creativity and its role in people’s life
Evaluation of the module

Tuesday:
Module 2: Tools for improving creativity at work (6 hours)
Out of the box
Mind mapping
Brainstorming
635 method
6 thinking hats
Method DO IT
Evaluation of the module

Wednesday:
Module 3: Developing creative skills (2 hours)
Inductive and deductive thinking
The use of metaphors
Associations and abstractions
Evaluation of the module
Module 4: Entrepreneurial Spirit (4 hours)
Introduction to Entrepreneurship
Barriers to entrepreneurial spirit
Evaluation of the module

Thursday:
Module 5: From the idea to the result (5 hours)
Idea generation
Communication
Personal entrepreneurial spirit development plan
Evaluation of the module

Friday:
Module 6: Actions for the Future (5 hours)
How to promote creativity in educational contexts – case studies
How to promote entrepreneurial spirit in learners – case studies

Evaluation of the module
Evaluation of the course by participants / Closure
Social Program

Fee (Accommodation and meals): 550 €

Fee (Tuition and materials): 700 €
Cancellation Fee: 120 €

Cancellation rules:
In case any inconvenient may arise and avoid applicants to participate, they will notify it within at least 15 days before the beginning of the course (letter of commitment to be signed by participants). After this deadline the applicants will pay the cancellation fee

Contact
Rui Monteiro
ruimonteiro@spi.pt
Tel.: +351 22 607 64 00
Fax.: +351 22 609 91 64

More Information:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/index.cfm?fuseaction=DisplayCourse&cid=33235

National Seminar – CESSIT highlighted!

“Innovation for Adult Education” was the theme of the National Seminar held the past November 23rd, in Portugal. Gathering over 50 participants, all of them having theme related professional experience, the event purpose was to present different opportunities and results from european initiatives, with a special focus on the CESSIT project.

The participants also had the chance to network and exchange experiences among them and were offered relevant products developed under CESSIT, namely the Guidelines for European Trainers and Managers.  Participants were pleased about the overall experience and feedback was positive – “Very intersting projects as a good alternative for adult education and training”. We hope to see you again in a nearby future!

 

 

CESSIT receives good coverage at the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Conference in Stockholm

Dr John Byrne and Dr Tom Cooney, both from the Dublin Institute of Technology – a CESSIT partner, presented a paper entitled “How Does Engendering Creativity Compare to Vocationally Based Methodologies When Encouraging Enterprising Behaviour Among Early School Leavers?” at ICSB. The presentation prominently mentioned the CESSIT project and went into considerable detail in relation to the aims and the work to date.
This presentation was based on a paper with above title (please check the paper here), prepared by John and Tom and accepted by ICSB for presentation in Stockholm.

Creativity games and techniques

Fostering creativity is essential. But how to do this? It’s just not possible or realistic to say “go on, do something creative!” and cross your fingers hoping for a magical solution. Creativity can and should be trained. Simple exercises will help you and your students to be more creative.
To assist you in this difficult task, the CESSIT project has put together a set of best practices exactly with this in mind! Developing critical thinking, becoming a less rigid thinker, managing critique or how to communicate effectively are some of the important things to learn and that you can find in our Good Practice Handbook here!

Have fun with these! Let us know your suggestions and comments.

EU Commission wants to fight early school leaving with action plan

This week, the EU Commission presented its action plan to reduce the rate of early school leavers, one of the five key objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy. The aim is to reduce the current level of 14.4 % to under 10 % by the end of the decade. Early school leavers have great difficulties in finding a job, are more frequently unemployed and more often dependent on social benefits. The action plan urges the Member States to become active. Austria, which by now has achieved the 10 % mark, is already in a good position.

It is the aim to add young qualified people to the workforce

The action plan of the Commission, which reviews the situation across Europe regarding early school leaving, outlines the main causes and risks for future economic and social development and proposes more effective solutions to tackle this problem. The accompanying suggestion for a proposal of the Council contains guidelines, which support the Member States in developing a policy based on a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to reduce the rate of early school leavers. To tackle early school leaving effectively, not only the education policy but also youth and social policies have to be addressed.

Member States are urged to act

Now the ball is in the corner of the Education Ministers of the individual Member States. They will discuss the proposal of the Commission during their Council meeting on 2nd to 4th May 2011 in Brussels, on the basis of which the Member States are urged to come up with comprehensive strategies by the end of 2012 and to implement these through their national reform programmes. Once before, in 2003, the EU Member States agreed to reduce the share of early school leavers among the 18-24-year olds in Europe to less than 10 % – this proposition failed. One can only hope that history does not repeat itself.

Further information:
Homepage of the EU Commission on early school leaving http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc2268_en.htm

Contributor/author of the post: Petra Kampf – ENTER

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First workshop about The Role of Creativity already implemented!

The project partnership already implemented the first workshop in each partner country, entitled “The Role of Creativity”, which lasted for 2 days.

The main aim of the Workshop 1 – “The Role of Creativity” was to help adult educators to improve the innovative and creativity competences in Early School Leavers by exploring learning techniques and methods that can contribute to developing their creative thinking and attitude towards their own life and work.

The overall satisfaction of the participants was very high!

Early-school leavers in Europe…

According to a study by the European Commission, the percentage of the population aged 18-24 with at most lower secondary education and not in further education or training at EU-27 was 14,4 in 2009.
Even though this average is above the percentage found for the partner countries of the CESSIT Project with the exception of Portugal (with 31,2%), the numbers vary from 5,3 % (for Poland) to 13,9 % (for Latvia).

As such, projects such as CESSIT are of great importance as it will directly impact on the quality and effectiveness of training for early school leavers, and indirectly impact on a trainee’s employability, European competitiveness and social cohesion through its effective dissemination and exploitation – an innovative combination of key competencies, target group and methodology.

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