<< Objectives >>The main goal of the project is to provide access to practical solutions for the use of waste in gastronomy.The main goal will be achieved when we achieve the following specific goals:- the acquisition of knowledge through the prepared diagnosis and the corresponding training related to the use of waste generated in the preparation process,- learning about the requirements and solutions related to waste management in gastronomy,- exchange of experience in the field of waste utilization.<< Implementation >>The activities planned as part of the project are:- a report containing research, diagnosis and comparative analysis in the catering industry taking into account the practices related to waste management in gastronomy resulting from climate change;- pilot training programs on the use of waste generated in the process of food preparation in gastronomy;- a guide including the results of the training implementation, testing results and recommendations in the field of less waste in gastronomy.<< Results >>Gaining knowledge of project participants in the field of:- the use of waste generated in the process of food production and food preparation in gastronomy;- learning about innovative technological solutions used in food production and food preparation in gastronomy;- acquiring the ability to prepare dishes and meals with the use of waste generated in the preparation of nutrition in gastronomy;- learning about ecological products made of semi-finished products and food waste.

In the context of an increasingly globalised world and rapid technological change, employers do not only merely look for technical knowledge (so called 'hard skills') when selecting candidates, but tend to rather prioritise those characteristics involving personality traits, such as creative thinking, communication, negotiation, flexibility, which determine so called transversal or soft skills. Furthermore, as recognised by the Council Recommendation 22/05/2018 on key competences for lifelong learning, transversal skills are particularly relevant for the development of those key competences enabling young students to become active and responsible citizens in today's society. While the role of creativity and non-formal education in helping students to develop such skills has been recognised, education providers, including those in the field of VET, would highly benefit from the inclusion of such learning approaches in their school curriculum. The Playing 4 Soft Skills project aims to address the existing gap in market demand concerning transversal skills by introducing creative learning, non-formal education and digital tools in the context of vocational education providers with the objective to enhance students’ awareness and ability to recognize and develop relevant transversal skills. More precisely, the specific objectives of the Playing 4 Soft Skills project include:1) Enhance students’ awareness of existing soft skills by actively engaging them in non-formal learning activities and provide with useful tools and material in order to assess and further develop such transversal skills in the context of a playful learning environment. 2) Provide teachers with supportive tools and meaningful training on methodologies aimed at enhancing students’ acquisition of specific soft skills through non-formal education and equip teachers in order to act as effective facilitators during the implementation of non-formal learning activities. The project will target current VET students (aged 14-19) and teachers working as part of VET programs across the European Union. More precisely, the Playing 4 Soft Skills project aims to reach around 1000 students and 300 teachers across Germany, Italy, Spain, Latvia, Poland and other EU countries. The project will build on the expertise of partner organisations working in the field of non-formal education, creative learning, digital technology and innovative thinking in order to involve students both as participants and feedback providers and teachers in the role of facilitators. The project aims to benefit VET providers, teachers, educators and policy makers with a series of project results which can be transferable to other educational contexts across the EU. The project results will include the following intellectual outputs: (1) Soft Skills Evaluation Report identifying the most relevant transversal skills to be developed in the context of learning activities with a set of relative indicators in order to measure progress, which will be produced after confronting students and teachers needs with expectations from employers in terms of soft skills; (2) Soft Skills Game Manual for participants explaining the rules, context and objectives of a new educational game tailored to the activation and development of transversal skills and based on innovative game formats developed by project partners; (3) Soft Skills Training Notebook, a guiding instrument for teachers providing training on pedagogical aspects related to non-formal education, explaining in details the role of facilitators and outlining instruments for progress evaluation; (4) Soft Skills Training App, an interactive tool aimed at enhancing students engagement in learning activities and foster soft skills activation and self-evaluation. By involving students in non-formal education activities, they are expected to develop a deeper understanding of transversal skills and further acquire the 'key competences' allowing them to grow as responsibile citizens and to be competitive on the job market. Thanks to the support provided by the digital app, students will be challenged to express their creative potential and ability to interact, communicate and emphatise in the context of both real and virtual scenarios. Such activities will also be beneficial to teachers as they will acquire further knowledge and expertise in the field of soft skill activation and non-formal learning, therefore refining their teaching skills in a crucial area for the future of education and training. Overall, project results aim to have a wider impact outside the boundaries of the project as these will provide with relevant outputs to be used by VET providers, educational institutions, policy makers and public authorities for the inclusion of non-formal education and creative learning as part of school curriculum and education policies at local, regional, national and EU level.

<< Background >>Due to the shut down of schools as the result of the pandemic and growing need for new forms of teaching and training, including hybrid learning in all of Europe we have come to a conclusion that in order to continue our international cooperation activities and offer cultural exchange, relevant skills and experiences to our students a new online hybrid learning course module is needed in the field of baker confectionery studies. In the project coordinator organisation the teachers have already experimented with online learning content creation including making instructional videos and carrying out some hybrid learning workshops. The teachers are eager to share best practices and learn from their colleagues in other schools in order to create an truly engaging hybrid learning experience for students. With travel restrictions also new forms of international cooperation have emerged. When the students and teachers cannot participate in physical mobilities to enhance their professional skills they are looking for new ways to learn about different traditions in different countries in the culinary arts. During the distance training period the coordinating partner staff also noticed that teachers’ digital skills in our school as well as our partner schools are at different levels. Therefore the proposed project addresses the development of teachers and students digital skills through actively learning by participating in project activities.<< Objectives >>The objectives of HYBAKE project is to create a student centered and engaging hybrid learning course for baker confectionery studies and pilot the course with students from all partner countries. The project aims to enhance teachers and students digital skills through active participation in course creation and piloting.The project aims to create a strong professional network of teachers, foster international cooperation and enhance participants' language skills.HYBAKE project objectives include creating Model structure for a hybrid learning course;Online learning material for baker-confectionery online course, including video instructions for practical workshops;Piloted hybrid learning course on a mutual platformTeachers will have a knowledge and experience of European culinary heritage and will be able to pass it on to students in a modern format.<< Implementation >>The project will include developing hybrid learning course module that will consist of 3 different intellectual outputs, the course design and structure, the course materials and hybrid learning course platform. The online learning materials will include three different baker-confectionery product instructions per partner representing three national holidays, in total eighteen products which are related to three different national holidays of their country and step-by-step instructional videos. In total the project results include at least 9 instructional videos on different traditional holiday bakery products.During the project period 3 physical meetings and monthly online meetings will take place between the project teams to discuss the project progress and content development. During the project period 5 Learning, Teaching and Training Activities will be held spread between partner countries. Each LTT has a specific topic that is related to the hybrid learning course development. In each country, teachers involved in the project will make the products and instruct their colleagues how to prepare the workshop. At the end of the project the coordinating partner will organise a hybrid conference in order to disseminate project results.<< Results >>As result of the HYBAKE project teachers have developed their digital competencies in using IT tools for virtual online meetings (Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Meets), creating virtual tours and videos online, Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Word for recipes and calculation purposes. The participants have benefited from cultural exchange, language training, new social skills in an international context and developing close cooperation relationships.The project contributes to the prestige of vocational education establishments by introducing a hybrid learning course module in practical workshops and develops virtual cooperation possibilities between VET schools. The students that have participated in piloting have knowledge of different European holidays and traditions including culinary traditions and new skills in preparing different national products from partner countries. They have also developed their communication and language skills, have higher self-esteem and developed their digital competences. The hybrid learning course created will be available to other schools to incorporate into their curricula and will be used to develop further virtual and blended mobilities between partners.

Context/background of the projectThe aim of EC action plan for Entrepreneurship 2020 is to ease the creation of new businesses and to create a much more supportive environment for existing entrepreneurs to thrive and grow. In this project we answer directly to EC´s intervention propositions:1) Entrepreneurial education and training to support growth and business creation and 2) Dynamising the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe: nurturing the new generation of entrepreneurs.Investing in entrepreneurship education is one of the highest return investments Europe can make. Surveys suggest that between 15% and 20% of students who participate in a mini-company program in secondary school will later start their own company.The previous KA2 project “Kick off to Entrepreneurship with Pop-up Company” (2014-1-FI01-KA202-000875) was selected as a Success Story and as a Good Practice Example by the European Commission.Objectives;1) CREATE a new inspiring, practical and DIGITAL eLEARNING ORIENTED PEDAGOGICAL MODEL - eLEARNING WITH POP UP COMPANY MODULE - in English to learn entrepreneurship in vocational education2) CREATE REAL Street food pop up restaurant in Finland, Spain, Italy and Latvia.3) UNITE European vocational curriculums of participating schools with new Working as Entrepreneur module (15 ECTS).4) DISSEMINATE new PEDAGOGICAL MODEL TO STUDY ENTREPRENEURSHIP to new countries outside Europe (incl. e.g. Jordania) with the use of filming the whole concept and inviting observers to pop up restaurants.Number and profile of participating organisations;The participating organizations were 9 vocational schools in 4 countries representing fields of BUSINESS STUDIES; Perho and Mercuria (Finland), Badalones (Spain), De Amicis (Italy), Jēkabpils (Latvia) and RESTAURANT SERVICES; Perho (Finland), CETT (Spain), IPSAR Luigi Carnacina (Italy) and Riga (Latvia). There was also a restaurant entrepreneur from each country participating in the project as a mentor.Description of undertaken main activities;During the project Working at a Company study module (15 ECTS) in eLearning format in English was created. The first Transnational project meeting to start the project took place in Helsinki in September 2016.Four workshops were organized and four real pop up restaurants were established in the four participating countries.Workshop 1 in Finland: Teurastamo Christmas market in December 2016 (Helsinki)Workshop 2 in Spain: Palo Alto market in May 2017 (Barcelona)Workshop 3 in Latvia: Christmas market in December 2017 (Riga)Workshop 4 in Italy: Chiaretto rose wine festival in May/June 2018 (Bardolino)The final dissemination seminar was organized in Helsinki in May 2018 and 50 stake holders were invited to participate in the seminar. Results and impact attained;During the project all business and culinary students studied Working at a Company study module (15 ECTS) in eLearning format in English. Students learned to setting up and running a successful pop-up restaurant and they gained valuable knowledge on entrepreneurship during the learning process. The learning process included two main methods; Working at a Company study module (15 ECTS) in eLearning format and establishing a real pop up restaurant in practice during the workshop week abroad. The activities were carried out in co-operation with restaurant entrepreneurs.In each workshop a pop-up restaurant was set up in one of the participating countries with about 30 students and their 10 teachers working together for the success of the restaurant. A total of four pop-up restaurants were set up in the four countries. Over 100 students were involved in the project during the 2 years.

Effective VET teaching meets needs of both students and companies. ICT is necessary for that, because:-classroom, online, blended teaching have to be available-apprentices and employees have to have ICT skills, varying from basic to specialist ones, depending on the job -use of ICT-based training materials and online course is often for teachers the only possibility for self-development as an educator. But in spite of accessibility and affordability of ICT hardware and software applicable for teaching, its use in E&T is relatively low, taking into account variety of ICT and possibilities it gives. Lack of relevant abilities is one of reasons. The objective of the MOTIV-e project is to develop easy to access and use training resources for VET teachers wishing to increase their abilities to integrate ICT in teaching. The project consortium are: -VET institutions: Riga Technical School of Tourism and Creative Industry (LV), Šolski center Velenje (SI), ASUC „Boro Petrushevski“ (MK)-R&D institute KOMAG (PL). Their competences will contribute to high quality and usability of the project results. In the MOTIV-e project complementary to each other results will be developed in 4 languages: English, Latvian, Macedonian, Polish, Slovene: 1.MOTIV-e Platform with training materials providing knowledge and skills necessary for use of ICT for teaching2.MOTIV-e AR Toolkit and MOTIV-e 360 Panoramas Toolkit that enable to learn how to integrate augmented reality (AR) and interactive 360 panoramas in teaching 3.MOTIV-e Software Sandboxes -a set of ready-to-use installations of ICT tools that can be used for learning how to use these tools and what opportunities they give.Instructions on the MOTIV-e Platform and sample content will be provided for the toolkits and software sandboxes. 4.MOTIV-e Advisor helps teachers to optimise their efforts in self-development in providing ICT-enhanced teaching. This tool, based on prior interaction with a teacher, will advise them which of the available resources they should use, and will give direct link to these resources. All the solutions listed above can be use as separate tools. But to enable a teacher to take advantage of the whole potential they give, relations between them will be established and this way MOTIV-e Training System will be developed. Among varied tools and technologies covered by the MOTIV-e Training System, there is also Virtual Reality. This technology is considered as attractive and usable for training but at the same time - as being beyond capabilities of ‘average VET institution’ or ‘average VET teacher’. To overcome this second belief and prove that in fact it is otherwise, VR Centres will be built at each project partner’s facility, and knowledge how to do it at ‘any VET school/centre’ will be shared. Comprehensive guidance how to build a VR Centre, and how to develop and use VR-based materials will be provided. A VR centre is a place and an environment for development of VR-based training materials and using them in an unlimited way, both via browsing (immerse in the scene and watching what is there) and via interactive activities in the ‘virtual world’. A VR centre is composed of properly combined with each other hardware and software solutions, and supplementary equipment. 5 intellectual outputs will be carried out to develop the project products:O1.Identification of good practices and technological potential of available resources and solutions for ICT-enhanced trainingO2.Development of resources and software for ICT enhancement in VETO3.Development of the MOTIV-e VR CentreO4.Prototype of the MOTIV-e project results. Integration of the developed components in ready-to-test solutionsO5.Pilot tests and validationContent of the online training solutions will be established based on results of 2 researches: i) identification what are VET teachers’ needs, ii) review of available hardware and software resources suitable for VET teaching utilizing Extended Reality solutions. Prototype versions of MOTIV-e software products will be developed in English. During the whole development process, they will be periodically, internally tested by the project partners. Once the products are ready, they will undergo external tests –by VET teachers. Based on their feedback, validated software products will be developed and translated into partners’ national languages. As regards VR Centres, prior research for optimal hardware and software composition will be carried out. Then all the components will be integrated into fully operational object for using VR. The MOTIV-e project results will comprehensively support VET institutions in increasing their abilities in use of ICT:-they will educate teaches how to use ICT in teaching-they will show a variety of ICT solutions, possibilities of their applications and benefits, which will help the management staff to take actions and decisions in favour of ICT-enhanced teaching.