TEACH INC project was implemented to provide a response to a set of needs directly related to needs of the participating schools and the demands for modernisation of the educational systems in Europe. Need for key competencies in creativity and innovation, need for efficient tools to motivate for further learning, and need to generate a change in schools and teachers were addressed within Erasmus+ strategic partnership project TEACH INC. The rate of school failure in ages 18 to 24 is 10.9% in the EU, with countries where this number doubles, e.g Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal. The educational authorities, institutions and schools recognise that preparing students and motivating them for further learning is key to reduce early school leave (and failure) and increase attainment in tertiary education. They are aware that the part of the solution lies in the educational system, playing a key role in fostering and developing (young) people’s creative and innovative capacities and that it is necessary not only to teach students the required subjects, but also to transform problems of real life by finding creative solutions and building resilience. Schools have a duty to provide their pupils with an education which will enable them to adapt to an increasingly globalised, competitive, diversified and complex environment, in which creativity, the ability to innovate, a sense of initiative, entrepreneurship and a commitment to continue learning are just as important as the specific knowledge of a given subject.TEACH INC aimed to address these needs by providing secondary school teachers with the skills and competences to embed innovation and creativity in their teaching activities, and thus enable them to prepare their students better for the labour market. The project pursued the objectives of defining the skills and competence framework needed for embedding creativity and innovation in secondary education; responding to the needs of teachers and schools through access to creativity techniques, best practices, examples and testimonies; enhancing the take up of creativity techniques and innovation by giving the secondary teachers, their institutions and relevant stakeholders guidelines on mainstreaming the tools; promoting community where teachers and other interested stakeholders can share knowledge and experiences, and which ensures the sustainability of TEACH INC results beyond the project duration.The project was carried out by a strong partnership, consisting of higher education institutions for teacher education (Lithuania, Belgium), secondary and VET schools (Spain, Greece, Portugal), and private training providers on innovation and creativity (Spain, Cyprus) which shared their innovative training methods and hands-on approach. Project partners designed a teacher competence framework, which allowed them to develop relevant and applicable learning materials on innovation and creativity in the classroom. Additionally, school managers and policy makers can use the framework for management purposed and decision making, ensuring more schools take creativity in the classroom as their strategic approach. Learning materials - a teacher’s guidebook - was developed on selected creativity techniques and assessment methodologies. The materials were adapted for the secondary school setting and complemented with teachers’ testimonials and real life examples, on how the techniques can be used with pupils in different science subjects like languages, music or mathematics. According to the “Zero measurement” evaluation, teachers involved in TEACH INC piloting activities reported being 5% to 24% more confident in the competencies, relevant to a strong, creativity and innovation oriented teacher profile. Secondary school teachers also believe that TEACH INC helps to strengthen the teacher‘s profile, provides tools to motivate and engage students whereas creative learning can help minimize early school leaving and increase students’ motivation to achieve better academic results.TEACH INC provides teachers with a skill-set and knowledge to fully integrate creativity and innovation into the competence curriculum of their students, independently of the course topic or subject. Increasing the competences of (future) teachers in creativity and innovation will spark the uptake of new participatory teaching and working models with a strong experiential approach. Teachers will find themselves better prepared for the changing educational environment in which a change of paradigm is taking place from group classroom education with a knowledge provider (teacher) and knowledge receiver (student), towards more individualised and participatory approach.

"According to both European and national evidence, a range of soft skills will become increasingly important for both ICT specialists and the rest of the sector’s workforce. The main non-IT skills demanded in ICT sector include business skills (creativity, innovation, customer service, sales), project management, communication and foreign language skills (Source: CEDEFOP, EU Skills Panorama Analytical Highlight, 2012).The project partners using the above statement as a basis for their wok, had on one hand analysed European Level Research and on the other carried out local research in attempt to identify themost important/ necessary soft skills in the ICT sector of their regions. Analysis of secondary sources (national/ regional reports, studies, etc.) and fieldwork showed that there is a wide range of soft skills that the employers and staff of ICT micro-companies should possess in order to be successful. There is no doubt that all soft skills are useful and desirable in any company; at the same time there are some differences in partner regions in prioritizing all the different skills. Assuming that the findings of desk research and expert interviews are equally important, the most important soft skills to be developed in the ICT micro-companies in partner regions are:Communication, Problem solving, Teamwork, Learning mindset, Creativity, Leadership, Strategic thinking, Customer service, Innovation and Risk managementThe SKILLS+ project aimed to improve the competitiveness of micro-enterprises in ICT sector by introducing a soft skills development programme covering the above described areas, thus encouraging sustainable development of these companies. The objectives of SKILLS+ included needs analysis; sharing best practices and methodologies for the development of soft skills; adaptation of existing development programmes and materials and complementing them with new materials to create a new, tailored, multilingual programme specifically and directly aimed at the soft skills that are most needed in micro-sized ICT firms; developing an online learning space; testing and evaluation; creation of local and international networking and cooperation opportunities for the target group and stakeholders; dissemination and preparation of appropriate mechanisms/processes for further exploitation of project results.The SKILLS+ Learning Space (e-learning platform) focuses on the soft skills most needed by people in micro-companies of ICT sector and includes different types of learning resources and tools - the more ""traditional"" reading resources are supported by educational videos carefully selected to support the theoretical presentation, practical advice on applying the lessons learnt to the learners’ own environment, self assessment questions, references and further suggested study materials. The innovative concept employed within the Skills+ Learning Space is the so-called single-concept learning or “thin slicing”. Considering the short attention spans so common today, single concept or bite-size learning focuses on one behavior change, one narrow concept and one slim goal at a time. Thin slicing is about isolating a single learning concept and, with very limited information, delivering a powerful impact. The SKILLS+ learning programme is therefore made of small e-learning ""snacks"" that demonstrate how specific skill works in different situations. Then the learning experience has been integrated into a blended learning intervention, involving the project partners' trainer experts as facilitators in the learning process. The project has been implemented by a consortium of 6 partners from 5 European countries spanning from North to South of Europe (Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Netherlands, Norway). It includes organisations involved in training, consulting, research, business incubation, association activities, thus allowing to combine different views and experiences and achieve the expected impact of the project. The main outcomes are the SKILLS+ Development Programme, Learning Resources and Online Learning Platform in Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian and English, which has been tested and validated in all project countries. The project has also produced a number of resources and tools that were used for dissemination (project website, e-leaflets, newsletters, social media sites), to promote the project and exploit its results.The primary target group of the project were employers and employees of micro-enterprises in ICT sector. The project has increased their access to training and has improved their competences in the area of soft skills. 124 persons participated in pilot training; and over 10.000 unique visitors have accessed the project webpage and open learning resources in the learning platform, which are available free of charge. 28 ICT and consultancy businesses joined the project as associated partners, their contact be"