TRADES OF THE FUTURE

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The Erasmus+ Project titled “Trades of the Future” is the product of a collaboration between 5 primary schools from Italy, Greece, Slovenia, The United Kingdom, and Spain. With its futuristic focus, the project seeks to develop skills and competencies in order to facilitate students´ eventual inclusion in the modern workplace. The project focuses on three main objectives: the development of digital competencies; the improvement of English language skills; and the growth of cultural interaction across European educational systems.

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The participating schools offer a rich mix of cultures, as represented by a multicultural group of children aged 10-12, and staff coming from different European centers and belonging to both English language and technology departments.

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Given that many of the participating centers work with children from underprivileged backgrounds, and assuming that future trades and professions will require higher technological capacities within the workplace, participating schools will undertake the challenge to train students on the correct use of tools and resources to progress their digital competencies and minimize their risk of social exclusion. Driven by this purpose and guided by the three aforementioned objectives, the project activities will take the following forms:

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1. Initial, intermediary, and final management and implementation of the project

2. Sharing ideas and work through online tools such as eTwinning (pages, forums, videoconferences, chats), email, and Skype

3. Short-term exchanges with groups of 24 students in each of the participating schools. Schools will follow the methodology of learning through projects, specifically focusing  on "Future Trades: From tradition to new technologies". The preparation for and results of the activities will be shared on the eTwinning platform.

4. Formation events with personnel from three different countries, focusing on the use of digital resources, G Suite, STEAM projects, Programming, and Robotics.

5. Diffusion, according to the plan developed amongst all of the centers.

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The report obtained by participating schools about the European Union´s SELFIE tool concerning the use of technology in the centers will serve as a foundation to approach the aforementioned objectives wherein not only students but also teachers, spaces, and resources will be aligned to uphold the goals of the project.

These goals or objectives will apply cohesively to each participating school and reflect the 5 areas established by the European Digital Competence Framework for citizens: Information, Communication, Content Creation, Security, and Problem Solving.

Thus, project activities will be oriented towards:

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1. Researching digital information that is relevant and reliable;

2. Utilizing appropriate tools for data organization and storage;

3. Interacting with other European colleagues to communicate and share resources;

4. Creating digital content and sharing it with children from the other schools;

5. Using devices with security, protecting personal data, and developing online security (cyberbullying, false news, etc.);

6. Introducing computational thinking through learning-teaching activities in programming and robotics;

7. Developing notions of computer use related with the protection of health and the environment;

8. And imparting an attitude of continuous learning in order to encourage the assimilation of technological innovations as they arise.

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As for the objectives concerning the improvement of English language skills, they will be undertaken within English language classes as well as in other bilingual subjects in each country as guided by CLIL methodology (Content and Language Integrated Learning).  Amongst all schools, emphasis will be placed on the communicative aspect of language, especially within exchange activities.

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Our project will have a great impact on:

1. Students. Thanks to exchange activities, students will build upon transversal abilities such as self-confidence; adapting to diverse environments; tolerance and appreciation for different cultures; and English language practice in real-life contexts. This will improve their communication abilities, increase their access to European resources (Europass, European Skills Passport, etc.) and will benefit their personal and work lives in the future.

2. Teachers, as they will have the opportunity to enrich their portfolios within the European Digital Competence Framework, and further improving their methodological and digital competence.

3. Centers, since they will be made to internationalize and expand upon their European dimension. This will in turn lead to future opportunities to coordinate formation projects, professional exchanges, job shadowing, or study visits.

SUMMARY