STARTIN Developing inclusive and innovative entrepreneurship education in Europe

Funder

EU Erasmus+

Value to Coventry University

€37,870

Total value of project

€316,590

Project team

Dr Jacqueline Cawston
Cathryn Thompson-Goodwin
Dr Michael Loizou
Holly Turpin

Duration of project

01/09/17 - 30/11/20

Project overview

At this time of economic crisis and with the challenges of an ageing population, youth unemployment, climate change and increasing inequalities, Europe needs more social entrepreneurs. The main challenges of educating students in entrepreneurship and innovation include developing new educational approaches, reducing the digital gap between educators and students, and improving learning and teaching practises in innovation-related skills, attitudes and knowledge. It is necessary to design, develop and test new models of entrepreneurship education combining innovative tools and methodologies to support and boost social innovators and social entrepreneurs across Europe solving the social challenges the EU is facing today and leading the transition to a more productive, innovative and inclusive Europe.

Project objectives

The aim of START IN project is to stimulate the “social entrepreneurial mindset”, developing capacities and abilities from early ages, laying the foundations for young social entrepreneurs to transform ideas into action in different social, cultural or economic contexts. The project will design and develop a pedagogical advanced environment for boosting social innovation and social entrepreneurial skills in young people within the education framework. This will be materialised by means of didactic materials and cutting edge ICT-based tools allowing the generation of ad-hoc content through a co-creation process between educators, students and stakeholders. 8 local and regional school authorities, Universities and learning provider organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship from 7 countries (Finland, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Turkey and United Kingdom) will work together to define, develop and test a new model of Inclusive and Innovative Entrepreneurship Education in Europe supported by a new EQF-based Curriculum of reference, new pedagogical approaches and in particular e-learning tools.

Impact statement

Societal Impact:

The project is expected to impact schoolteachers, trainers and non-formal educators, by enhancing their educational, pedagogical and technological skills. The impact on teachers is that not only will they be able to develop entrepreneurial education but also apply the ideals of social inclusion and innovation to their own teaching style. Developing a new model of entrepreneurship education will boost social entrepreneurial skills in young people within the School education system in Europe and lead to more social innovation initiatives led by young people.

Academic Impact:

Impact from the outputs of the project will inform educators of new pedagogical approaches, methodologies and tools for teaching entrepreneurship and developing the social entrepreneurial mindset. The project is also expacted to have impact in the area of technological development by creating Open Educational Resources to be used by both teachers and students.

Policy Impact:
The desired impact is to reach the wider number of relevant stakeholders in Europe, involved in the development of entrepreneurship education models focused on social innovation and social entrepreneurial skills development within the School education system.

Project outputs