Project

What is SdE

WHAT IS SdE

SdE is an European project, carried out by partners coming from Finland, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom and Spain. The partnership consists of four vocational schools (VET), two higher education institutions (HEI), one high school, one enterprise and one regional ministry of education. The key target groups of the project are students, teachers, trainers and local small and medium sized companies.

Sustainability-driven Entrepreneurship (SdE) project origins from the need of VET schools to involve sustainability in their education plans. Entrepreneurship education has been on the agenda of pedagogical development in all levels of education for years. Nevertheless, it seems that sustainability is not so often included in entrepreneurship studies and initiatives applied at educational institutions.

Sustainability, considered both from cultural, social, ecological and economical points of view, has an increasing importance in the labour market, because it manages and addresses the problems rising from growing inequalities, scarce resources, environmental issues. Therefore, SdE project regards as a priority that those who are considering starting a business understand the value and potential of sustainability, both for their own business, for their communities and for the planet.

WHAT ARE SdE OBJECTIVES

In all participating countries has aroused needs for developing learning and teaching materials related to sustainability-driven entrepreneurship. In addressing these needs, the sustainability-driven entrepreneurship project aims to:

improve and increase entrepreneurial competence among students, teachers and trainers;
increase background knowledge sustainability and sustainability-driven entrepreneurship;
produce learning and teaching material and related pedagogical methods to support the students when acquiring these skills and competences;
create and pilot a competition at local and European level, where multi-sectoral student teams solve challenges given by companies.

Taking into account the relevance that sustainability has and will have in the labour market, the final objective of SdE project is to equip students with more positive expectations and images for the future, giving them the needed preparation to face the new challenges of business in today world.

WHY IS SdE INNOVATIVE

Innovation underlies SdE project, because sustainability has and will have an increasing importance in the current and the future world and labour market. It is a matter of fact that nowadays the awareness about the problems addressed by sustainability is growing and this will probably impact also on customers’ choices. The recent strikes with millions of people on climate change is just one evidence of this and it is clear that the younger generation is now more than ever concerned about the future and the sustainability of the mother earth.

While climate is changing and inequalities are growing, people should think their acts more carefully. The education providers have to develop their education to meet with this demand now and in the future. With this regard, SdE project is innovative because it aims to develop new learning materials to support the acquisition of needed competences. To attain such ends, the project is carried out by this international network in cooperation with working life partners and enterprises.

Moreover, SdE project sets up a quality assurance group, made up of external stakeholders (company representatives, students and teachers). The quality assurance group is in charge of monitoring project’s advancement and outputs. They will give qualitative feedback about curriculum development and training and learning materials.