Be Your Own Boss is a project which responds to the growing need for adults in peripheral communities to be able to develop their entrepreneurial skills so that they can enter the labour market at a point of their own choosing through creating their own jobs. This set against a background of economic recession, persistent unemployment and a shrinking job market. The context for Be Your Own Boss is that job creation, and entrepreneurialism, are proven ways for peripheral communities to develop their own futures and grow local economies – yet they are rarely given access to the tools and support, such as business incubation, which is necessary to allow this to happen.BYOB aims to transfer and adapt a successful methodology of raising entrepreneurial skills and job creation to new socio-cultural and linguistic contexts across Europe. The objectives are to give adult educators, and therefore learners, access to a proven methodology, which is grounded in experience provided inside business incubators and supported by online learning materials. The results will be increased capacities of adult educators to develop entrepreneurial skills in learners and the actual creation of micro-businesses and jobs by the adult learners.The partnership brings together a private business, an international NGO, national incubators, and those experienced in adult education from 6 different countries with a broad geographical scope. The profile of those the project will work with are adult educators, adult learners and business incubators who work in, and alongside, peripheral individuals and communities. These groups could be peripheral for any reason such as geographical, economical, social, etc. The aim is to work alongside these groups to create 30 new businesses, and therefore jobs, by the end of the pilot. The partnership activities will include creating a detailed state of the art review of entrepreneurial support for adults and those in peripheral regions, the creation of handbooks for adult educators and business incubators to engage with these individuals, 30 e-tutorials for those both using and experiencing the methodology, a pilot in 3 different countries of the methodology and a website where the project experiences and created tools will be available in all partner languages. Alongside this there will be a detailed dissemination and exploitation plan, a monitoring and evaluation plan, a quality assurance plan and a set of 5 transnational meetings between partners which will include multiplier events in the forms of conferences, seminars or press events.The methodology to be used in carrying out the project is an open approach to project management and participation where each partner has the lead on a different activity under the ultimate control of the project leader. There will be monthly skype meetings between the project lead and each partner and technology such as skype and dropbox will be used to allow all partners to access necessary documents and pro formas.The results of the project will be a flexible model and methodology of job creation and entrepreneurial teaching for adults. It is a programme which will be supported by downloadable tools and resources. The result of the pilot will be 30 peripheral adult learners who have been supported to set up their own micro-businesses in their regions and the jobs which result from this. There will be a replicable and robust teaching model for the adult educators which has been disseminated at local, regional, national and international level. This will result in an impact at policy level.

<< Background >>Depopulation of rural areas may further aggravate the economic decline already faced by these regions and thus widen the gap between rich and poor regions in Europe. The European Commission has therefore identified depopulation as a priority.To combat this depopulation, the ruraLAB project focuses on equipping young people in rural areas with tools and skills in social entrepreneurship, thus preventing them from leaving for urban areas and preventing these areas, which are rich in tourist and ecological resources and have economic potential, from becoming empty.<< Objectives >>The main objective is to provide young people in rural environments with tools that enable them to start their own social businesses, favouring the exchange of ideas and perspectives with social enterprises and other social entrepreneurs through the ruraLAB platform.In addition, the employability of the participants will also be increased, given that training on social entrepreneurship will be developed with contents on social entrepreneurship, marketing, economic management, generation of ideas, etc.The innovation and differentiation of this project comes from the ruraLAB platform, that creates a network of entrepreneurs and a channel to allow micro-investments.<< Implementation >>This described objective will be achieved through the collaboration of 7 partners from 6 different countries. For this purpose, 6 partners have been selected whose countries are facing this problem, and one (The Netherlands) which is an example of good practice in social entrepreneurship in urban areas. Through the 4 Transnational Project Meetings, 5 Multiplier Events, 1 European Seminar and 4 Intellectual Outputs, we will be able to develop a series of tools and results that focus and direct towards the essential objectives of the ruraLAB project.<< Results >>As a result of this project, the following tools will be generated:- A guide of competences that social entrepreneurs in rural areas should work on.- A self-diagnostic tool that allows young people in rural areas to measure their competences related to social entrepreneurship.- A virtual training environment (MOOC) and a series of training contents and games to provide young people with relevant knowledge on social entrepreneurship.- The ruraLAB platform will be created, which will allow the registration of young people in rural areas and, on the other hand, of social enterprises or young social entrepreneurs in urban areas, thus favouring the exchange of ideas and micro-investments in businesses of the young rural participants.- Development of a guide on the ruraLAB dynamic so that it can be disseminated and replicated by youth associations and town councils.- Development of a guide focused on policity makers to set up digital rural hubs that are the backbone of change in rural areas, giving support to young rural entrepreneurs in relation to their business ideas.

"We see the role of teachers as vital in the learning process of students. However, in the true spirit of Lifelong Learning, teaching roles and required competencies need further development to sustain high-quality education, especially in the digital age. Recent research on the 'Open Education Europe' platform initiated by the European Commission shows that 70% of VET teachers understand the importance of digitally assisted teaching and learning, but 6 out of 10 people do not receive any training on how to use ICT in the classroom. As a result, only 1 out of 5 students is digitally taught by confident and supportive teachers. Digital skills are one of those skills that will play a big role in our lives, both personally and professionally. As the digital age continues to evolve extremely rapidly, these skills are in dire need of development. To enable students to acquire these skills during their education, it is necessary to be skillful so that they can advance their digital when they enter the business and start the field. This project will create a continuous digital literacy learning cycle for VET teachers and some.Our TCC VET project ""is focused on providing systematic approaches and opportunities for the initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers, and mentors in both school and work-based settings, and developing an effective open and innovative education method through the use of ICT technologies."" To achieve this, TCC VET has provided digital and interactive tools that will directly contribute to VET TEACHERS 'PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT and improve their lessons using modern technology.In this project, 5 project partners worked together, achieving the targeted project outputs to achieve the goal of creating a continuous digital literacy learning cycle for VET.Our project outputs are:-IO1 - TCC VET TEACHER TOOLBOX (Collect and develop low barrier tools for VET teachers to use directly in the classroom)-IO2-TCC VET TEACHER HANDBOOK (Support teachers with a special to motivate and demonstrate the use of digital tools and teaching methods to VET teachers)-IO3-STRATEGIC ROADMAP (Determining for VET school management to best integrate interactive and digital education into their schools)-IO4- Facilitating the TCC VET TOGETHER teachers community. (To facilitate change and peer support. We also facilitate the international exchange of knowledge, skills, and experience and peer support among teachers. Enabling innovative approaches and inspiration to flow from one country to another.)Web page:http://tccvet.com Visit out community: https://thalys.gr/course/index.php?categoryid=43 ( Here you will be able to download the above-mentioned results.) eTwinning page: https://live.etwinning.net/projects/project/193077 Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tccvet2018 These 4 concrete Outputs were shared with VET schools, teacher training universities, VET networking organizations, and other relevant stakeholders and relevant external parties through Multiplier Activities and other forms of communication.The methodology used: Our project management methodology is based on ongoing internal and external evaluation with high frequency and open communication between partners, commitment to cooperation, well-defined and understood roles and responsibilities, clarity of tasks, deadlines, and requirements. Obtained results; • During the COVID 19 pandemic, the need for digital competencies has become more important for teachers and students. Our project continues to guide VET teachers and students during the ongoing pandemic process. • The awareness of teachers about using new teaching methods has been increased, • Teachers' use of digital, interactive tools and teaching methods in lessons has had a positive effect on their approach to involving students in the lesson.• Exchange and peer support was provided among motivated teachers regarding the application of digital tools and modern interactive teaching methods.• Continuity has been ensured in teachers' career development.• To school administrations; Guided them to align practice in the classroom with school policy regarding specific interactive, visual and digital teaching methods.Impact envisaged en long term benefits: VET teachers are the central target group of our project because they transfer their knowledge to the ultimate beneficiaries: the students. They need to understand digital education, explore and acknowledge the opportunities it brings and know how to use it in the teaching and learning process. The above-mentioned funding spent on technology investment will be ineffective if teachers cannot optimally use the facilities in their teaching.Therefore, TCC VET will take an integrated approach to serve the needs of teachers and their VET colleges, to optimally engage the final beneficiaries, the students. They need to become very familiar with digital skills and feel comfortable to continuously keep learning when new technologies or applications arise. This project, therefore, doesn’t foresee a specific single training for teachers and ultimately the students but it will create a continuous cycle for VET teachers to keep up to date with new technologies, applications, and programs so that there will be a continuous cycle of life long learning at the VET schools."

CONTEXT Rates of early leaving from education and training are falling since 2002 in the European Union. Despite this positive trend, early leaving remains a serious issue in many Member States (Eurydice, 2016) as the number of young people leaving school before completing upper secondary level is still high. EUROSTAT (2015) reports an 11% of early school leavers (either man or woman). Young man, ethnic minorities, and foreign-born residents are more likely to leave education. In particular, foreign-born residents are twice as likely to leave formal education than natives (19 % vs 10,1 %). This is mainly due to problems related to languages skills, underachievement, and lack of motivation. In addition, about 60% of early school leavers are subsequently either inactive or unemployed, illustrating the long-term and negative repercussions of the issue (Education and Training Monitor, Eurydice, 2015). OBJECTIVE School Talent Bank is a project aimed at promoting entrepreneurial education in secondary schools in order to prevent early school leaving, facilitate the transition from school to work and increase students’ engagement especially in those schools which register a high percentage of ethnic minority and foreign born students. Entrepreneurial education is an empowering method that enables students to take the future in their hands, by promoting learning by doing, self-efficacy, resilience and motivation (Bacigalupo et al, Entrecomp, JRC, 2016). TARGET The project wants to target teachers in secondary schools, who play a central role on learners’ attainment, talent valorisation, motivation, and engagement. The project aims at enriching school teachers with entrepreneurial competences and mind-set in order to foster school engagement, and to inspire them to apply entrepreneurial methods across a variety of subjects. The indirect target group is represented by secondary school students. ACTIVIITES - Development of a training course: increase the entrepreneurial competences and mind-set of school teachers with a particular focus on Diversity and Talent management and Emotional Intelligences delivered through “learning snacks”. - Creation of a Student Talent Bank Platform which will host the “learning snacks”, a community of practice and a Student (Time) Talent Bank. METHODOLOGY The project methodology is based on 3 principles: 1. Develop products that are tailored to the needs of the target group identified. 2. Ensure that the products and outputs of the project are sustainable and usable, making them available to a large number of stakeholders even after the end of the eligible period. 3. Develop a learning process based on “active learning” and “learning by doing” principles. In order to achieve its results, the project foresees the participation of 7 partner organisation gathering teachers, students, teachers’ networks, and other relevant shareholders (training centre, incubators, city halls, NGO, and universities). School Talent Bank wants to address the EU2020 target of reducing the rates of early schools leavers below 10 %, which is currently challenged by the increasing migratory flows throughout Europe. In particular, the project will be focused on “Education and training 2020” (ET2020) challenges of: 1) Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training; 2) to promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship; and 3) enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training. In the long term, the project aims at developing a more integrated society based on active citizenship and mutual respect for diversity. The talent (time bank) community and the teachers’ community of practice will work as drivers for the sustainability of the project even after the end thanks to the empowerment of the primary and secondary targets and the virtuous cycle that these communities will create.

Following the research prior to the application stage, the ETC4SE partnership had identified that the long-term unemployed needed the encouragement to enter into the social entrepreneurship world, in order for them to develop economic activities as presented in the project and being social responsible.An overall solution was needed, an ecosystem containing information on training resources, case studies, examples, a simulator as well as mentoring support to help them achieve their goals, materialise their project and solve community challenges. The project aimed to improve certain general social competences of the TG users such as active entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and the use of digital competitions. By also providing information and data on Social Economy and localised information, our TG could work and develop the above mentioned competences. This project also aimed to put into service a specific method for social entrepreneurs to learn in the European countries and more elaborately, a method based on specific didactic material related to social entrepreneurs and economic activities creation, integration with social inclusion, user guides and How to Guides, containing different contents that can be adapted to other countries and different didactical / educational programmes. The main objectives of the project have been to create the followinga) an online multilingual platform containing training material, resources for mentors and users, and a business simulator for the creation of a social enterprise business plan,b) an ecosystem for social entrepreneurshipc) national competitions for social entrepreneurs through the method of pitching (4) with more than 80 TG members applying to participated) 5 multiplier eventse) marketing and dissemination material such as brochures, newsletters, a website (www.etc4se.eu) Taking this project as a model of management in the sector of the Social Economy for long term unemployed, the impact witnessed is great, the target group members had the possibility to understand the importance of the human capital over the capital as base for the creation of a stable and competitive company, the support structure to set it up, the resources and simulator tool to try and error. The project lasted for 24 months with the following partners participating: 5 organizations led by Drosostalida, a Greek social enterprise. SPI, a consultancy company from Portugal, IRIS, a VET center in Greece, Stichting Incubator, a Dutch incubator and BtF, a company from the United Kingdom.