<< Background >>Four partner VET schools from Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania and Latvia have joined their interest and motivation to work in “A Star is Born: empowering creative art talents through competitions and with online tools” project.The main idea for this project came out considering these aspects:-the need of collaborative initiative in exchanging good practice and educational tools for VET teachers who supports creative art students, prepares them for competitions, develop their talents and seeks to reach good results-the need of collaboration in Europe facing the significant challenges in youth employment-the importance of building students’ digital skills as ability to prepare and compete in local, national and international labour market-the need to create more opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to take part in hairdressing competitions-the need to improve image of VET qualification as attractive and appealing to young peopleExploiting the potential of different approaches on preparation of art students for competitions and developing digital skills can best be achieved through strategic partnership of European VET organisations who specialises in creative study programmes and have interest development of students’ talent and their professional skills. The project should be carried out transnationally because the intended results could not be achieved in isolation and reach planned results.Project corresponds strongly to identified priorities at internal strategies, regional, national and European policies. European Skills Agenda clearly shows how important is to develop students personal and professional skills in order to be adaptable in competitive labour market (transversal skills). A Star is Born project also will foster digital skills development of teachers and students.<< Objectives >>Our project will be one of the key solutions for 21st century challenges. Youth unemployment was already and during the coming up economic crisis will increase as a challenge in the whole Europe and beyond. Schools are playing a crucial role in preparation of young talents to be competitive in the local, national and international labour market. Teachers and students are in need to be equipped with digital tools and increase their ability to solve problems with relevance and novelty which is a creativity.A Star is Born project partners have diverse experience in preparing students for competitions. Lithuanian partner has quite good system in supporting students; Latvian – has extensive experience in taking part in competitions; Czech – mainly national competitions, but in Slovenia there are no national competitions for hairdressers. Therefore, there is a gap between partner countries in this area. All partners want to share experience and improve students talent development. One of the main focuses will be to empower creative art students with high levels of skills that are needed to achieve high results not only at the national level, but international one as well.Combination of key elements will be covered within our project: Talent development + Creativity + Digital skillsThe main project objectives:-to motivate students to be active in learning process and to equip them with skill sets to help them to be successful in their future jobs, to become responsible citizens and attractive for international labour market-to empower talented creative art students no matter their background-to increase students’ digital skills-to enhance knowledge and expertise of teachers-to enforce creative and critical thinking and to promote fair competition-to motivate students to take responsibility of their learning and self-evaluating-to support creation of international competitions for hairdressersProject greatly supports Erasmus+ programme objectives for VET schools in a way to help realise the full potential of teachers and students by the use of new ways of learning, technology and digital tools. Creation of competitions is part of skills development agendas in Europe as well.<< Implementation >>In order to achieve these objectives partners have planned: -1 teachers training which will bring teachers who are working with creative art students, on career guidance, support and motivation of students. It will be essential to exchange good practice in cooperative learning methods, to find creative ways of working with students and to support them in the preparation for competitions, to prepare them to work in multicultural teams, to exchange experience in talent development approaches.-4 students exchanges will include international competitions where multicultural teams of students will work online before each mobility (blended). Preparation of their professional digital portfolio will be part of their training during the mobility.-1 Guide for teachers - A Star is Born will be developed and showcase gathered best practice about students preparation for competitions, digital tools for students professional portfolio creation and practical experience in organising international competitions for creative art students.- Local events will be organised in each partner school.During this project we will use methods of cooperative learning (on/offline), multicultural teamwork, problem-based learning and other student-centered approaches, as creating collaborative learning groups, using debates, discussions, workshops and also previous project developed tools. The implemented activities will be a part of schools’ internationalisation strategy that will ensure continuation of work on “A Star is Born” project objectives. Shared experience and presented project outputs in the community and other organisations will ensure the awareness of importance of talent development, digital skills development, preparation for competitions, creativity and impact of trained teachers in quality of education.<< Results >>Project will focus to achieve these results: -12 trained teachers will improve personal and professional competence-4 blended mobilities will be organised for students from creative art study programmes (hairdressing, beauticians, etc.). All 4 partner organisations will have experience in organising these type of mobilities-64 students (16-25 years old) will increase their personal and professional skills -At least 12 students will take part from disadvantaged background-4 blended mobilities will be organise for students from creative art study programmes (hairdressing, beauticians, etc.)-4 VET schools will improve their quality of education for creative art students -1 Guide for teachers will be developed on methods of preparation of creative art student’s for competitions; digital tools to create students’ professional portfolio; sharing best practices from practical cases-At least 4 videos from the learners´ exchanges to inspire peers to make a step and become their own level stars in labour market-Students´ created materials (creative projects, professional digital portfolios, articles) -Teachers and VET schools increase their capacity and knowledge how to organize international competitions for creative art students (e.g. hairdressers) and support student’s skills development-Project outcomes will be disseminated via various on-/offline channels to inspire more teachers and schools to integrate sustainable systems to support talent developmentProject will develop sustainability plan with activities to ensure integration of gained knowledge into practice after project ends. Needless to say that after completion of the project, trained teachers will act as mentors to creative art students to foster their skills for international competitions. They will become “ambassadors” of cooperative online learning and experienced teachers to use digital tools to create one of the essential element for creative art students to become successful in competitive labour market – professional portfolio. Teachers will become advocates on these aspects to make the project sustainable. They will pass the knowledge within and outside the partnership throughout online and offline channels and networks. Students will become examples of raising stars for their peers. Future projects will be discussed and planned during the cooperation.

"Our project ""How to live healthy in digital times for media vet learners?"" is a product of a partnership of four schools from Gjövik/Norway, Kiel/Germany, Maribor/Slovenia and Split/Croatia which are offering vocational education and training (VET) for students who want to work in the field of media later on. The media branch is a very fast changing and technological exigent. The working conditions are hard and affected by a global competition. That leads to challenges for professionals to stay healthy, as media professionals often work long days (and nights) in front of the computer. We want to show how students can deal with these challenges.Due to the lack of material, manual and awareness of health problems directly connected to the profession it is our objective to create a digital manual for physical exercises tailored for different professions. The digital manual wil be interactive and user-friendly to support acquiring and developing basic skills of students and hence also future workers.The number of participating students varies depending on the school and the number of VET media classes while the number of teachers is from 2 to 4 (PE, media and language teachers) with the possibility of other members of school staff being involved if necessary. The students are all users of media technology aged 16 to 20.The planned activities involve an initial staff training event in Maribor so as to prepare a detailed working plan combining physical mobility with virtual exchanges. Following it an exchange of groups of students will in Norway create a logo alongside with posters about lifestyles and habits and start film preproduction (storyboard). Continuing the storyboard preproduction previously started in Split we will gather actual materials later to be used in postproducation in schools it being films related to issues of healthy lives. Both meetings would involve students working in mixed groups preparing the material in an international spirit and experiencing work on a complex project. Everything done will be documented on a common platform and evaluated with the results being presented at next meeting in Maribor and the final dissemination and evaluation of department colleagues planned to take place in Kiel.Tasks and responsibilities will be equally distributed among partners and communication ensured via ICT modern tools such as Skype and eTwinning alongside with international meetings all involving measurable goals and objectives in terms of procedures, tasks and resources used. SELFIE is to be applied as a self -reflection tool and results will be published on eTwinning, Erasmus +, in school newsletters following meetings and newspaper articles.The project will result in the above mentioned digital manual accessible at all times, also a website, posters, logo, video materials, articles and documentation reports all having informational and educational purposes. The longterm benefits of the stated activities are awareness being raised of the importance of physical exercise and availability of the digital materials used for exercising on a daily basis. Our aim is not only the prevention of health damages. With this project we would like to establish a partnership of two northeuropean and two southeuropean schools with the same vocational education in one branch. We want to learn from best practise in the field of digital lessons, digital cooperation and European mobility. To establish a European project spirit, we will be a part of a Film festival in Maribor."

<< Background >>HDLU ss the largest professional association has an overview of the labor market needs and the needs of artists. We are aware of the fact that artists do not have a number of concrete skills and knowledge to cope better in the world of work. However, the vocational artistic high school curriculum does not provide any content that would enable students to acquire skills for a quality understanding of opportunities and relations in the labor market immediately after graduating from high school. We're talking about knowledge and skills from entrepreneurship, law, and economics, financial management, digital skills and marketing, communication, social network content management, etc. One of the weaknesses of the creative and cultural industry is the mismatch of the market labor and the needs of the sector for an adequate and educated workforce. The emphasis should be on developing new skills through the education system. Artists who acquire these skills should have a higher probability of success in making a living practicing their art form. For two years now, the HDLU has been periodically conducting a seminar for its artists on business skills. Through feedback questionnaires and daily inquiries by members who are addressing us for help, we are aware that both secondary and higher education do not prepare artists to run their own business or to do business with others. Artists can do business through several very different business models, but through education, they are not even familiar with how to legally sell their work or service. In the world, cultural and creative industries have shown great resilience to crises, so future artists should be well informed about the opportunities offered to them for various types of cooperation in the global marketplace. This makes it very difficult for artists to work because they spend too much time gathering information, and often because of ignorance, they work illegally, not pay taxes, avoid doing business internationally, work without contracts and so on. In the last 5 years, circumstances and market conditions have changed drastically for artists and they are, more the ever, unprepared to act professionally in this market. Artists need to acquire new set of skills (digital, entrepreneurial and communication) to be able to respond to these market changes: (1) decrease of direct sales and significant increase of online sales(2) outburst of art fairs in region which set new business, communication and presentation standards for artists(3) changes in consumer behavior - internet is the main source of information and comparison when making purchasing decisions(4) increasing interest of buyers to own artworks, especially affordable young art(5) stronger legal and fiscal regulation requirements by the authorities(6) expected registered minimum earnings for artists to be able to receive social and health welfare and other financial benefits(7) internationalization of market and need to work and sell globally to be able to survive(8) strong growth of creative industries which bring job opportunities for artists (gaming, advertising, tourism and interior design).This project addresses the need that has long been neglected, and the schools haven`t got the ability to solve the problem by themselves.<< Objectives >>The locomotive of the global economy is dynamic, competition is intense, and changes occur frequently. This is also visible in the art sector. As art institutions, we need to cooperate to improve our artists' sector influence, impact, and success on the labor market, which is a bit different from other professionals. We also need to share experiences, exchange good practices, and cooperate to transfer our work to higher-level expanding and internationalizing educational activities of institutions and participants. In cooperation with our partners we can produce an innovative vocational curriculum that covers basic knowledge and skills that young artists need for a quality start to work, either as entrepreneurs (freelancers, independent artists, self-employed) or company employees. Students will gain knowledge that would not be obtained without the project. Together we will develop an innovative curriculum that does not exist in any art secondary vocational school in the Republic of Croatia. This curriculum does not exist in the programs of similar high schools in the region (Slovenia, Austria). After its development, the curriculum will be able to be applied more widely than in the Republic of Croatia. It will also be applicable in both primary and upper vocational education and training.Project has the aim: - To educate students to be self-sufficient and self-reliable in running their business carriers- To educate teachers to implement the materials of the new curriculum to benefit of the students- To educate already finished artists in business/IT/digital skills they are currently lacking.<< Implementation >>During the project, the participating organizations will produce, pilot, evaluate and publish a new curriculum consisting of 3 modules covering the topics of entrepreneurial, IT, and communication skills for artists and designers. Partners will first analyse the available research, agree on a methodological framework of the curriculum, produce curriculum outcomes, produce learning and teaching materials and then pilot the course through LTTA. After the piloting the curriculum will be amended and improved according to evaluation results. The final curriculum document and all learning and teaching materials will be published online and presented in final conference in each partner country. Also, all materials will be available in all partner languages + ENG.<< Results >>The outcome of the project is a curriculum for the implementation of a new course. Through the project, experts will develop a curriculum and learning and teaching materials that will educate students in vocational schools for art and design professions. The curriculum will consist of 3 modules: • Entrepreneurial skills for artists in creative industries (1) legal and fiscal framework for artists (2) pricing strategy, sales, and negotiation skills • IT skills for artists in creative industries: (1) setting up a self-promotion website with appropriate content (2) web shop implementation• Communication skills for artists in creative industries: (1) writing an artist statement and creating a portfolio (2) relationship building with clients and institutions (3) social media presence.Modules will be methodically developed, and their content will be adapted to the specific needs of students and teachers who will implement the program.All of these topics are adjusted to the real needs of artists and designers after their graduation, in order to become a part of the labor market. All learning materials will be made based on examples and case studies from the art world. Piloting of the modules of the new curriculum would be organized in a form of a 5-day LTTA in Maribor with students and teachers from Maribor and Zagreb.The rest of project activities (transnational meeting and dissemination events) will lead to good practices exchange among partners. Teachers and schools will get new knowledge and experiences to improve teaching and learning methods, personal skills will be improved to ease communication across borders, such as intercultural and language skills, and learning of good practices from other European countries will be achieved. Students participating in the piloting of the project will have a chance to raise skills and competencies for future careers and by this will be at an advantage position over their peers.HDLU has the intention to use the curriculum and learning materials to produce a series of seminars for artists that will be publicly and permanently available on the HDLU website and Vimeo video platform.

Four partner schools from Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania and Latvia have joined their interest and motivation to work in “A Star is Born: empowering creative arts talents through competitions and with online tools” project.The main idea for this project came out considering these aspects:-the need of collaborative initiative in exchanging good practice and educational tools for schools to increase creativity of students for boosting their talents and achieving good results-the need of collaboration in Europe facing the significant challenges in youth employment-the importance of building young people’s digital skills as ability to prepare and compete in local, national and international labour market, multicultural teamwork and fluency in foreign languageOur project will be one of the key solutions for 21st century challenges. Youth unemployment was already and during the coming up economic crisis will increase as a challenge in the whole Europe. Schools are still playing a crucial role in preparation of young talents to be competitive in the local, national and international labour market. Teachers and students will need to be equipped with digital tools and increase their ability to solve problems with relevance and novelty which is a creativity.A Star is Born project partners have diverse experience in preparing students for international competitions. Lithuanian and Latvian partners are great one; Czech – mainly national, but Slovenia does not organise national competitions for Hairdressers. Therefore, they have a gap in this area. All partners want to share experience and one of the main focuses will be to empower creative art students with high levels of skills that are needed to achieve high results not only at the national level, but international one as well.Combination of key elements will be covered within our project: Star quality + Creativity + Social MediaThe main objectives:-to motivate students to be active in learning process and to equip them with skill sets to help them to be successful in their future jobs, to become responsible citizens and attractive for international labour market-to empower talented creative art students no matter their background-to increase students’ digital skills-to enhance knowledge and expertise of teachers-to enforce creative and critical thinking and to promote fair competition-to motivate students to take responsibility of their learning and self-evaluating-to support active language learningProject will focus to achieve these results:-9 trained teachers-48 students (15-25 years old) will increase their personal and professional skills-4 schools will improve their quality of education for creative art students-1 Guide for teachers on cooperative learning activities; preparation methods for competitions; online tools for students’ professional profiling-Videos from the students´ exchanges-Students´ created materials (creative projects, professional online profiles, articles)-Project outcomes will be disseminated via various on-/offline channels to inspire more teachers and schoolsIn order to achieve these objectives partners have planned:-1 teachers training will bring teachers who are working with creative art students, on career guidance, support and motivation of students. It will be essential to exchange good practice in cooperative learning methods, to find creative ways of working with students and to support students in the preparation for competitions, to prepare them to work in multicultural teams, to evaluate students’ progress successfully.-4 students exchanges will include international competitions where multicultural teams of students will work online before each mobility. Preparation of their professional online profile will be part of their preparation as well.-Local events will be organised in each partner school.During this project we will use methods of cooperative learning (on/offline), multicultural teamwork, problem-based learning and other student-centred approaches, as creating collaborative learning groups, using debates, discussions, workshops and also previous project developed tools.The implemented activities will be a part of schools’ internationalisation strategy that will ensure continuation of work on “A Star is Born” project objectives. Shared experience and presented project outputs in the community and other organisations will ensure the awareness of importance of cooperative learning methods, preparation for competitions, creativity and impact of social media to professional image.After completion of the project, trained teachers will act as trainers to creative art students and “ambassadors” of cooperative learning and social media impact advocates to make the project sustainable. They will pass the knowledge within and outside the partnership throughout online and offline channels and networks.Future projects will be discussed and planned during the cooperation.

"The Way of Jeans project is a strategic partnership between relevant schools and organizations from Serbia, Sweden and Turkey in the field of improving the education system as well as in the production of textiles and jeans clothing. The main objective of the project is to improve the educational system in the field of textile and apparel production in secondary vocational and higher education schools in Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey, through the exchange of experiences and the development of textbooks, that is, professional literature that will be used in teaching in the mentioned field.Specific objectives of the project: 1. Adoption and application of examples of good practice in the field of education in the field of textile industry. 2. Design of textbooks for construction, modeling and completing of jeans clothing, as professional literature for development and support of employees in education and business sector. 3. Networking of relevant actors in the field of economy and education in the field of textile industry in the country and abroad. During the project implementation, the following project activities were planned and implemented:Activity C1Study visit to Slovenia, which took place from December 10 to December 13, 2018. in the city of Mariobor. Nine participants from Serbia and six from Turkey traveled to Slovenia. Place of study visit to Maribor High School for Design. The purpose of the visit was to exchange experiences and examples of good practice in the field of textile production and / or clothing.In addition, during this study visit, the following activities were realized:• Setting goals and time frames for project activities.• Establishment of standardization of clothing.• Visit to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Design Department,.• Visit to the Chamber of Commerce of MariborResults achieved:• Successful exchange of experiences and good practices with Slovenia.• Scheduling and setting up a framework for a study visit to Turkey in April 2019 as part of C2 activity.• Agreement on the implementation of European standards for textbook denim clothing.• Arrangement of timetable activities for textbook development.Qualitative indicators:Activity C1 was performed. The project members were highly motivated.Activity C2The study visit to Turkey, in the city of Izmir, was realized from 23 to 26 April 2019. years. Ten participants from Serbia and four from Slovenia traveled to Turkey. The place of study visit is Izmir and Bornova Atatürk Mesleki ve Teknik to Anadolu Lisesi Izmir and Mimar Sinan Teknikve EML Izmir.The purpose of the visit is to exchange experiences and examples of good practice in the field of textiles and / or clothing production.• Analysis of the realized goals and timetable for project activities.• Analysis of establishing standardization of clothing.• Visit to the University of Izmir-Technical Tour and Emel Akın Vocational College.• Evaluation of trainings, discussions and agreement on next training in Serbia.Activity C3The study visit to Serbia was realized in Novi Pazar in the period from 28 to 31.08.2019. years. Six participants from Turkey and four from Slovenia traveled to Serbia. The place of study visit is Novi Pazar or ""Textile and Leather Design School"" from Novi Pazar. The purpose of the visit is to exchange experiences and examples of good practice in the field of textile production, ie jeans.Results achieved:• Analysis of the realized project objectives.• Analysis of realized models in the textbook.• Visit to the jeans clothing manufacturing companies in Novi Pazar.• Visit to the Ozone Ozone Finishing Plant.• Evaluation of all training arrangements to disseminate project results.Activity E1 - Dissemination and dissemination of project results:The main goal of the project has been achieved, namely to improve the education system in the field of textile production, especially jeans clothing, in secondary vocational and higher education schools in Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey, through the exchange of experiences and the development of textbooks or professional literature to be used in teaching in to the said field.If we also consider colleagues who did not travel but participated as hosts, we can say that over sixty participants participated in the training or exchange of experiences. In addition to the directors who participated in the trainings, mostly the trainings included female colleagues. One of the good sides of sharing experiences is the literature exchanged by the participants during the trainings. The long-term benefit of this project is the unique textbook for CONSTRUCTION OF MODELING AND COMPLETING CHILDREN, WOMEN'S MEN'S CLOTHES, which is posted on the EPALE platform in English and Serbian.Links to the tutorial:https://epale.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/technical_construction_modeling_and_completing_techniques_of_jean_clothes_for_children_women_and_men_0.pdfhttps://epale.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/technics_constructing_modeling_and_completing_dzins_odece_za_decu_zene_i_muskarce.pdfResults for each activity, short-term and long-term results.Long-term results can be classified as a textbook, partnerships establishedThe short-term results are that a minimum of 50 professors have passed"