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Power up! Get active for your future
Power up! Get active for your future
Start date: Sep 1, 2014,
End date: Aug 31, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
Nearly 6 million young people are unemployed throughout the European Union – in some countries the number has risen to over 50%. At the same time, there are over 2 million vacancies, but employers cannot find suitable candidates, mainly because of a lack of qualifications. The European job market needs an increasing number of highly-skilled professionals and the chances for young people to find a job depend not only on the quality of their school education but also on a variety of competences such as the ability to work on their own initiative, the willingness to perform on a high quality level, self-confidence and the readiness for lifelong learning.
However, the young people’s world of today is often shaped by a materialistic way of life and the uncritical consumption of new media which leads to a rather passive attitude. In the project ‘Power up! Get active for your future’ we aim to encourage and enable these youngsters to employ their self-initiative and commitment as well as to recognize their personal skills and competences in order to build their professional future.
To reach this aim, we will, on the one hand, have to motivate the pupils to lead an active life with greater awareness and, on the other hand, offer them a variety of impulses to translate their personal skills into their professional future.
Our project team consists of five schools. The “Collège Louis Pergaud“ in France is a model for the integration of a positive food-culture into modern schools. The “IES Clara Campoamor” in Spain is especially strong in teaching subjects such as mathematics, technology and science. The “Colegiul National Ionita Asan” in Romania is engaged in increasing the quality of school education.
Innovative teaching methods are a crucial component of the curriculum at the “Experimental Zosimaia Junior High School” in Greece. The “Realschule Uetze” in Germany promotes cooperative forms of teaching and learning in order to increase pupils’ activity and is highly engaged in the preparation of its pupils for their further education and professional training.
The results of the project activities will be summarized and published in a multimedia e-book that will consist of two main parts: ‘Power up!’ and ‘Get active for your future’.
The main aim of the first part, ‘Power Up!’, is to rise pupils’ awareness for a more responsible and active lifestyle. Their habits concerning food, physical activity and the use of media will be surveyed and evaluated. Furthermore, there will be a video about the value of nutrients and a powerpoint-presentation about eating disorders and the connection between physical exercise and the psyche. The pupils will create a brochure about a well-balanced diet and a fitness-recipe-book for youngsters. During a workshop, they will perform in their own cooking-show which will be published as a video. Well-balanced healthy meals such as a healthy breakfast will also be prepared. As examples for possible physical exercise, pupils will do a dance project, go climbing, try different grassroot sports and other playful activities. They will also make a video clip about the benefits and dangers of digital media and present different games as an alternative to uncritical media consumption.
The part ‘Get active for your future’ will deal with different ideas how pupils can build and shape their future careers. The pupils will take part in a discussion with the MEP Bernd Lange, present the various possibilities how schools prepare their pupils for their careers, do research on selected companies of their regions and present company profiles in a podcast complemented by a picture gallery. In addition to this, pupils will write a CV and a letter of application according to European standards. They will practice job-interviews in English with support by a coach and document them on video clips. As we are planning to visit different companies as a part of our teaching and learning activities, the pupils will be offered an insight into the various possibilities of the European job market.
Finally, the pupils will work out their optimal ‘work-life-balance’ and experience different methods of dealing with stress. One concrete example will include the use of music.
By this project, the youngsters will realize that they can influence their future career prospects directly by developing a responsible and active lifestyle. The various impulses to prepare them for the challenges of the European job market will expand their spectrum of career opportunities and encourage creativity in shaping their individual futures.
The cooperation with pupils from other nations will lead to a better understanding of different cultures and their mutual appreciation. The communication in English will increase the linguistic competence of the participating pupils. Furthermore, the thematic work will increase reading and writing skills and the purposeful use of New Media will lead to a greater professionalization.