"<< Background >>The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world, just after the oil industry, produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions and is the second-largest consumer of the world’s water supply. Since 1996, the amount of clothes bought in the EU per person has increased by 40% following a sharp fall in prices, which has reduced the life span of clothing. Moreover, 85% of all textiles go into landfills each year. A family in the western world throws away an average of 30 kg of clothing each year. Only 15% is recycled or donated, and the rest goes directly to the landfill or is incinerated. The production surplus is a massive problem, especially in the textile sector.As a response to ever growing problem in March 2020 European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan that focuses on the design and production for a circular economy, with the aim to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. The prominent part of this Plan is to empower business and private consumers to choose sustainable textiles and have easy access to reuse and repair services as well as to boost the sorting, re-use and recycling of textiles.Upcycling has a potential to become a driving force for a change in circular economy. Upcycling can reduce the amount of the volume of discarded materials and waste being sent to landfill each year, reduce the need for production of new or raw materials which means a reduction in air pollution, water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and often a conservation of global resources. In addition it can support local and rural industry, and small businesses.Although there are plenty of creative, skilled people interested in starting or already running a sustainable small business by producing, designing, making, creating the new goods from old materials and upcycling, as well as a lot of social groups of environmental, eco-friendly, green initiatives there is a need for unified platform to support these small businesses. Moreover, with ever rising consumer awareness for sustainable goods there is a need to ensure the quality and reliability of such products.In spite of growing interest in upcycling and using of discarded materials in various vocational education programs, especially in fashion and design, these practices are usually not intended to establish and accredit a new profession ""creative recycler"" or new industry ""sustainable craft center or manufactory"".Responding to these needs and challenges organizations from different EU countries decided to develop a long-term strategic partnership and to create a unique and innovative learning and networking platform to promote education in upcycling and reusing from the old items that don’t fit for purpose anymore and support small sustainable business.The project is designed to create an online platform ""Gift(ed)"" where we will introduce a new online learning course on upcycling. This platform will also serve as network for individuals and small sustainable businesses, and create a community promoting upcycling and circle economy.<< Objectives >>Our project has the following concrete objectives in its nature:- to create an opportunity for students of vocational education and professional crafters to gain new skills in upcycling and sustainable design;- to create, test and deploy an online platform for education and networking ;- to develop and test new learning and certification course for students of vocational education and other interested crafters in the field of upcycling;- to create and register trade mark for quality and reliability assurance;- to raise awareness of upcycling and sustainable crafting, and to promote green thinking.<< Implementation >>Main activities of the project are the following:- development of learning course “Sustainability in crafts and design”;- development of virtual learning and networking platform Gift(ed);- organization of round table discussions with decision makers (at least1 in in each partner country);- organizations of informational dissemination events for target groups (1 in each partner country);- organization of final conference (1 in each partner country);- organization implementation of pilot group learning.<< Results >>Expected results:Intellectual outputs of the project:- Developed online learning course ""Sustainability in crafts and design” (160 hours); - Developed and deployed online platform ""Gift(ed);- Registered trademark Gift(ed) for quality and reliability assurance;Intangible results of the project:- improved the qualification and competency on upcycling and sustainable design of the pilot group;- improved practice of sustainable crafts and design in partner and associated schools- positive approach to sustainable crafts and design practices in vocational education schools and amongst professional crafters and artists;- raised awareness of upcycling, sustainable crafting and design, circular economy and green thinking;- improved support to sustainable crafters, artists and small businesses initiatives;- improved the quality of international cooperation within 4 organizations."

Cultural and creative industries are the key point of support for a new pattern of economic growth based on creativity and innovation, which has an enormous potential to respond to the challenges of the current policy of the European Union. Skills and competences obtained in VET can't be limited to meeting the demands of technical and industry-based occupations, or handicrafts. VET is a key source for support of the growth of the creative sector. Young people coming out of VET schools will be expected to be capable of individual entrepreneurship, start-ups and inventing their own jobs as the world is now looking for job creators rather than job seekers. The highly paid and highly demanded skillful specialists nowadays are related to products and services innovations.In order to fulfil the current market demand VET should ensure that the curriculum and teaching methods support development of creative entrepreneurship and design product commercialization. The core competencies required by modern entrepreneurial works should be developed through vocational education. There are several competences critical for being successful entrepreneur: team working, problem solving, communication, business modelling, design thinking and business planning. Those competences should be trained together with intercultural and practical professional skills. The industries experience the actual problem with quality of preparation of students for working in multicultural creative companies or running creative start-ups. There is a gap between students' creative performance at school and their difficulties of professional self-actualization after graduation. That shows low level of awareness of real situation in industry and lack of competences to maintain the creative career. Changes in teaching approach would solve this problem and students would be better trained for future life and would easily position themselves inlabor market and see themselves as being the source of regional and national economic success.Four VET organizations across the EU teaching design and/or business programmes: Daugavpils secondary school of design and arts “Saules skola” (Latvia), Scuola d’Arte Andrea Fantoni (Italy), Valkeakosken seudun koulutuskuntayhtymä (Finland) and 1 EPAL NEAS IONIAS MAGNISIAS (Greece) will cooperate on the field of competence training and exchanging the best practices of teaching basic entrepreneurship. The main emphasis of this project is made on the teaching practices in order to shift the teacher’s approach from the low functioning to solution-oriented tasks and achieve the quality and efficiency of vocational training.The project supports teachers from vocational schools from four vocational schools in their search of modern creative approaches in teaching entrepreneurial skills and provides opportunities to students of those school to cooperate and simulating the modern multicultural environment in classroom to solve creatively entrepreneurial tasks.The main objectives of the project are:-to help the educators and their staff to teach creative entrepreneurship in the most effective, modern and practical way by using various teaching methods (case studies, field work, thinking tools, interactive games and moderated discussions) for better performance of the graduators in international labor market.-to create the space where students could begin to develop their personal and professional identity and communicate with peers from other school on EU level.The project activities include intensive virtual activities using modern ITC tools, short-term staff training activities and mobility of students. In the result of the project the project team will develop the Handbook on teaching entrepreneurship in VET school were the best experience is carefully collected, evaluated and the most efficient methods are suggested for use in vocational school.