IO1 - Toolbox for Entrepreneurship in Initial Primary Teacher Education
This toolbox gives an impetus to on-going efforts in different European countries and serves as an inspiration for educators in HEI´s formal Initial Primary Teacher Education in particular as a means of fostering EE.
As a practitioners’ guide to planning and managing EE in initial teacher education, it focuses on education for (young) adults who will become primary teachers. The toolbox is an example of hands-on EE: In planning, it addresses background analysis, programme development and evaluation, followed by EE management and learning activities.
The toolbox targets educators at HEI´s who work as teacher trainers. It can be used by both beginners and experienced educators – as a tool for reflection and as an aid for educators to help them to become even more effective. The toolbox is relevant to both project and course managers, and to assistants as well as facilitators and presenters.
The toolbox consists of learning activities with different durations of time in order to be adaptable for different institutional requirements (i.e. modules with various ECTS).
The content and structure of the toolbox have been revised and tested during the project time among the project partners. Additionally, tools were tested in numerous steps by students, lecturers and the project team at various times. These tools are all structured after the agreed EE-competencies. Go to this link.
IO2 - European Level Platform
The platform makes the toolbox available to all HEI´s interested and gives loads of examples for its use. It offers the guidelines in eight languages, as well as the framework and the policy report.
Additionally, the platform includes The entrepreneurial scan for educators and teacher students, ‘Good practices’ from different countries, profiles of universities which are experienced in EE in ITE (inside and outside of the EIPTE project). Multimedia material, articles and articles (short and long) of experts are to be found in the toolbox that is located on the website.
The platform includes an `engagement area´: This will enable visitors to the platform to leave comments and contribute to discussion threads about the content. The website is a fluid and flexible space that we have developed and revised continuously during the project-time.
IO3 - Framework: Entrepreneurship Education for HEI´s with Initial Primary Teacher Education
The systematic framework for EE in Initial Primary Teacher Education is a set of guiding principles. It serves as the concept, which has been used for the development of the toolbox. This framework refers to different levels of EE for primary teacher students. For all HEI´s, which are going to use the toolbox in future, the framework is the systematic guideline to explore the existing EE practices. This Intellectual Output explains to all European HEI´s with Initial Primary Teacher Education what the minimum requirements are to implement EE for primary teacher students.
It is being developed along with the toolbox and other outcomes.
The systematic framework for EE in Initial Primary Teacher Education will be based on a set of guiding principles. It will serve as the concept, which will have been used for the development of the toolbox. This framework will refer to different levels of EE for primary teacher students.
For all HEI´s, which are going to use the toolbox in future, the framework will be the systematic guideline to explore the existing EE practices. This Intellectual Output is expected to explain to all European HEI´s with Initial Primary Teacher Education what the minimum requirements will be to implement EE for primary teacher students. The minimum requirements will be considered for the institution, the staff (including the educators) and the students. The framework will, therefore, enable the exploration of all aspects, instead of only some aspects, which are necessary for effective learning to happen within an institution.
The framework clarifies what the teacher students should learn from entrepreneurial educational experiences and aims to influence curriculum designs. The framework should help to configure a more detailed campus-wide strategy for EE. It is underpinned by a set of guiding principles. Go to this link.
IO4 - Guidelines for the Toolbox for Entrepreneurship in Initial Primary Teacher Education
Since the toolbox consists of various elements targeting different levels of EE and includes activities, etc., that require different durations of time, guidelines are needed to explain the use of the toolbox, as an overview and in detail. The guidelines will help any European (or even non-European) HEI with Initial Primary Teacher Education to adapt the tools offered to its needs.
The content and structure of the toolbox have been revised and tested among the project partners during the project time. Therefore, the formulation of the guidelines is currently in the main phase.
See the complete guidelines here
IO5 - Research on the ecosystem for EE in HEI´s with Initial Teacher Education
Analyses of European policy documents reveal an increasing priority of entrepreneurship education over the past two decades. However, the implementation of EE varies significantly within European countries, especially when it comes to primary schools and primary teacher education. In the course of the EIPTE project, pre-service primary teachers from six different countries participated in different intensive weeks. To ensure that more future primary teachers with EE competences will follow, even after the project completion, we need to understand the ecosystem for their education. Therefore, we firstly analyzed theories for university-based entrepreneurship education ecosystems and their usability for (primary) teacher education. Secondly, based on interviews with EE experts from six different countries, who were all involved in the EIPTE project, we gave an overview of the different stages of ecosystems in six different countries and provided a series of first recommendations for the development of a comprehensive ecosystem for EE in initial primary teacher education. Go to this link.
IO 6 - Web-based self-evaluation for EE competences as a primary teacher
The EIPTE project works intensively on the EE competences needed for future primary teachers, and this Intellectual Output consists of relevant questions and provides an online quiz for primary teacher students to evaluate their EE competences. This quiz is made for future primary teachers, but can also be used for in-service teachers.
The self-evaluation test is completed and was first presented at the Multiplier event in May in Sweden. At that time, both teachers and teacher students answered the questions in the prototype of the test. After that, it has been revised and used during the intensive program week in Sweden. The teacher students in the project answered the questions before and after the intensive program.
There are several online assessments for a self-evaluation of entrepreneurial competences. The question leading to these questionnaires is the following: "Do you have what it takes to become an entrepreneur?" But these assessments were tailored for people who want to start a business not for teachers and not for teacher students.
The Entrepreneurial School Project (TES) cooperates with a company in the Netherlands offering entrepreneurial scans for students and their educators. Yet, a web-based self-evaluation for EE competences for future primary teachers is missing.
Since the EIPTE project will work intensively on the EE competences needed for future primary teachers, this Intellectual Output will produce relevant questions and provide an online quiz for primary teacher students to evaluate their EE competences. This quiz will be made available to future primary teachers but could be used for in-service teachers, too.
IO7 - Report for Policy-Makers on EE competences in Initial Primary Teacher Education
This report for Policy-Makers is a result of the exchange of experiences in six different European countries. It sums up the experiences during the EIPTE project in regards to the necessary local, regional or national strategies for effective EE in Initial Primary Teacher Education. It includes suggestions for future strategies and policies to support EE.
The report does not compare the different practices in each country but provides current information to give the opportunity to see what good practices we want to highlight as valuable from each country.
In the Eurydice Report on Entrepreneurship Education in Europe (2016), all European countries´ efforts on entrepreneurship education (EE) are listed. Many countries, like Lithuania, have included EE in their strategies covering primary education, too. Lithuania, for example, published the "Lithuania Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2014-2020". Yet the explicit integration in the curriculum in primary schools and in initial teacher education for primary schools is lacking. This situation can be found in many European countries.
This report for Policy-Makers will be a result of the exchange of experiences in six different European countries. It will summon the experiences during the EIPTE project in regards to the necessary local, regional or national strategies for effective EE in Initial Primary Teacher Education. It will include suggestions for future strategies and policies to support EE. Go to this link.
IO8 - Case study
Mobile App on STE(A)M topics as an innovative case of entrepreneneurship
Every year, the AP University of Applied Sciences organises an international semester in which students from various study programmes take part in an international multidisciplinary project. In the academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 the focus was on designing an educational app for UGent Volkssterrenwacht Armand Pien. They had already designed a teaching package in which children aged 8 -12 could get acquainted with the solar system and lunar travel and landings. In this way they try to get children excited about more scientific professions at a young age. However, the classical teaching package does not sufficiently fit in with the world of children in which digital media brings about a lot of learning and/or is a motivating factor. That is why the students were commissioned to develop an educational tool in line with the curriculum. This project led to many opportunities for our students to further develop their entrepreneurial skills, resulting in a satisfied external partner, an educational app to promote STE(A)M and strong entrepreneurial students. Go to this link.
IO9 - Research paper on students´ competences pre and post entrepreneurship education in ITE
This paper is based on a systematic enquiry into teacher students’ evaluation of their entrepreneurial skills before and after participation in a curriculum-based module. The study investigates how the relationship was between the entrepreneurial education module and students’ entrepreneurial intentions while taking the module. The module took place three times (2018-20) and the results of the preliminary studies of the first two modules were used to improve the third module. The participants were Erasmus students and Danish students and along the way, these teacher students revealed different approaches to Entrepreneurship Education.
The development of entrepreneurial skills and mindset is one of eight key objectives for lifelong learning defined by the European Commission in 2006, and since then, the EU member states have been working on the implementation of innovation and entrepreneurship into the national education systems, but so far no common understanding of the concepts has been developed. Some member states focused on students’ adaptation to a dominant socio-economic logic in society by targeting on entrepreneurship aimed at a commercial market, while other countries have focused more on entrepreneurship as creating social and cultural value for others. In these modules, the teacher students mostly operated within the latter approach. Go to this link.
IO10 - Research paper on the perceptions of entrepreneurial competences
Research has been written on the perceptions of entrepreneurial competences of the participants of the strategic partnership. Results obtained through this research will lead us to show new ways for developing students entrepreneurial competences to the educational community in general, and especially initial teachers from different countries. At the same time, the conclusions will allow us to explain the importance of entrepreneurial competences in achieving an integral and global education to policymakers and other stakeholders. The research results will also help us (educators and curriculum designers) to adapt the competences to the demands of nowadays society and labour market. The results will be transferred to other fields of studies. Go to this link.