"Our project achieved the goal of introducing young European students to the difficult transition from school to work, offering them a wide range of support concerning the goal of their future careers. We shared a series of good ideas and our European partners were particularly impressed by the possiblities of the German Dual System which serves a good model of connecting training on the job with education at school. The project ""Yes"" achieved insights to the issues of lifelong vocational guidance and to self-entrepreneurship, while representing a strategic tool to contrast failure and school early leaving: secondary school should develop students’ ability to imagine, plan and implement a life-long project meeting personal attitudes and vocations deriving from the environment, while ensuring personal and social development. Every partner school has implemented a curricular with new training targets such as:- Development of key competencies and life skills;- Exercise of active, informed citizenship;- Development of entrepreneurship abilities. Our achievements are built on a keyword: ""versatility"".Today young people need to learn how to be versatile, flexible, available to moving to different working places and life-long education. Teachers, however, don’t succeed in changing the traditional teaching/learning process and, generally speaking, the cultural context in which the learning experience takes place, in order to shift from a disciplinary planning approach to the building of educational opportunities purposely oriented to the development of the purposes described above.The following goals have been achieved1a) increasing teachers competence for what concerns the design of specific training programs aimed at developing students’ skills on life-long planning1b) changing teaching attitude to try alternative routes to traditional education, especially those aimed at including Special Needs Students;2a) great chance for students to experience a mixed route between school and work in which the theoretical knowledge learned in the traditional curriculum can be used in contexts of authentic work2b) students’ cultural horizons have been increased, to be implemented through the exchange of experiences, the improvement of the English language and the use of means of communication and work toolsThe objectives of YES. project were achieved by- Organizing an integrated training system giving students the chance to be part of lifelong learning system;- Providing the students the opportunity to get directly in touch with the world of business and work;- Allowing the students to express their own potential and abilities and better understand their interests and limits, developing reusable skills;- Enablingstudents to learn from practical experience and learn to communicate and work in an international team;- Forming a human capital and create opportunities for employment;- Building self-guidance on job search and skills and motivations analysis;- Overcoming the traditional teaching methods and guide young people in acquiring autonomy and skills starting from facts;- Instilling skills of self-guidance and training students to be self-confident, showing initiative, flexibility, mental agility and willingness to change;- Concerning teachers, YES has set a progressive refurbishing of the educational and teaching techniques as a target; not only in terms of the traditional student/teacher relationship but also from the side of the explorations of the cognitive opportunities of supplementary activities and the transmission of non-formal skills useful throughout the lifetime and to be integrated with already learnt theoretical concepts;- The opportunity for students to test their skills through a real business simulation, also making mistakes in a simulated environment protected from the consequences on their economic and financial decisions;- Educating young people to the evaluation of an enterprise function by experiencing a large range of business experiences, including group work, the development and design of new products, production processes, sales, marketing and finance;- Improving relationship skills and learn how to manage staff selections, measure resources and assess personal features to outline potential business profiles;- Guiding students through the development of a business plan, verifying its compliance to their personal characteristics and how it fits to the socio-economic context.The pupils involved were encouraged to undertake a business as a necessary step to the creation of new jobs, by involving motivation, self-control, risk-taking attitude, problem solving approach and management of human resources;- The pupils involved acquired more relational competence and self-marketing"

CONTEXTThe project was developed in response to two specific needs found at school level concerning the need to improve the motivation of students and ultimately their school results and the need to promote intercultural interaction between people from different countries and backgrounds in a European context that is now facing major challenges. The purpose of this project, therefore, consists of two seemingly distinct ways. In the one hand, by making them use the computer in their analysis, we want to get students more interested in their own learning, thus enhancing their results and efficiency. We want them, on the other hand, to understand what it means to be European, to introduce them to various ways of thought, principles and beliefs. There are 5 schools in our partnership; PT,LV,TR,IT,BGAIM: to improve the motivation, engagement and achievements of the students and encourage intercultural dialogueOBJECTIVESOur objectives are as follows: 1. to engage students in their own learning in order to obtain better outcomes and be inspired (by raising their school performance at least 40% of the target group)2. to enhance the crosswise potential of students–digitalization, computer literacy, analytical and creative thinking, personal and social skills; (at least 30% of students strengthen this skill)3. establish intercultural understanding and acceptance; (a minimum of 60% of students will have increased understanding of other cultures)4. improve English communication skills (participants increase English communication skills)5. Fostering European concepts and improving European citizens ' unity. (observable, as seen in post-LTTA discussions, by analyzing student and teacher attitudes to other cultures).MAIN ACTIVITIESC1 - Feb 2021 - PT - Topic: Using software to develop fun lessons; Customs and traditionsC2 - May 2021 - IT - Topic: Using digital tools to create quizzes; MathsC3 - Nov 2021 - LV - Topic: Using online tools to build book trailers; LiteratureC4 - Feb 2022 - BG - Topic: Digital tools for artwork; Religious StudiesC5- May 2022 - TR- Topic: Digital tools for fun lessonsNUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS124 students aged 15-18 from the 5 partners, selected from the target group of 250. The students come from very different backgrounds - rural and urban - and have a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds and 36 teachers of ICT, English, Mathematics, Literature, Politics.METHODOLOGYThe project is designed to cover 5 main areas:A1. Project management – includes monitoring and evaluation, financial management risk management, cooperation andcommunication strategy that will be applied during the project. A2. Implementation of activities - involves selection of participants, preparatory training sessions, participation in exchangesA3. Elaboration of ICT lessons – completed before the exchanges by each partner schoolA4. Dissemination - dissemination will be a continuous process that contains the sharing of both concrete and abstract results at local, regional, national and international levels, using a variety of tools and addressing school and non-school audiencesA5. Follow-up and sustainability -each school selects a group of teachers to bring new approaches into action during daily class work. The success is analyzed against the performance and satisfaction level of students who have learned the same material without digital instruments. And in next year, another school will be sponsored in every region to provide digital resources during class work.IMPACTStudents can develop their knowledge of ICT resources for educational purposes, practical skills related to the design of mini-lessons, story trailers, digital projects, online quizzes, digital artwork, motivation, school results, experience another culture, increase adaptability, self-awareness and awareness of cultural differences which make Europe so diverse and still unitary.Teachers will have the ability to share common practices, teaching strategies, perspectives and develop English and technical skills, organizational skills, teaching methods and tools. Schools will promote a positive self-image and become more visible within the community. They will gain experience in project management and will set examples to apply for projects for other schools. They will also become more unified and it will create a positive environment among the participants.