EDUinspirations 2011 competition: 12 projects awarded on the topic Mobility from Childhood to Seniority

The underlying theme of EDUinspiracje 2011 competition organised by the Foundation for the Development of the Education System, a National Agency of the Lifelong Learning Programme was Mobility from Childhood to Seniority. The competition has been designed to identify the best projects implemented under the Lifelong Learning Programme and disseminate their results as best practice examples. The 2011 competition aimed to demonstrate the importance of mobility for learning at all stages of life and present the most valuable individual and institutional mobility projects.

The EDUinspiracje 2011 competition is correlated with the conference promoting the results of mobility projects implemented under the Lifelong Learning Programme entitled Mobility as a Tool to Acquire and Develop Competences from Childhood to Seniority held on 17-19 October 2011 in Sopot. The conference is organized by the Ministry of National Education and the Foundation for the Development of the Education System as part of Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The selection of the leitmotif for this year’s competition is no chance decision. It demonstrates the importance the European Union attaches to promoting mobility in education and training at all stages of life.

The European Commission has taken several steps aimed at recognition of qualifications, experiences and competences across the European Union with a view of providing easier access to learning and employment opportunities in various countries. Therefore, the EC supports and encourages enhanced mobility of individuals and these implemented by enterprises and various organisations.

Referring to educational policy and strategy of the European Union, the competition aims to present wide mobility opportunities offered by LLP, its rich and diversified educational offer, which depending on the individual sub-programme is addressed to specific target groups: the youth – pupils, students, teachers; managerial staff; adults, and senior citizens.

Mobility may take various forms; courses, trainings, visits, exchanges, placements, study periods abroad, and involves individual, institutional and partnership projects. Mobility stands for activities related to raising competences acquired thanks to moving to different countries, learning from one another, exchanging experiences, or in other words; the internationalisation of the teaching and learning process. These activities should translate into measurable and durable results, which are useful, practicable and transferable. EDUinspracje competition has selected projects, in which mobility contributes to the introduction of changes aimed at improving the quality of education.

The competition is addressed to beneficiaries of Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, and Grundtvig, which are the sub-programmes of the Lifelong Learning Programme, and Study Visits, which is a transversal programme. Laureates have been selected in two competition categories: individual mobility projects and institutional projects (implemented by host and sending institutions). Projects implemented in the years 2008-2010 were eligible for standing in the competition.

The following criteria have been taken into consideration when selecting the best projects:

1. Importance and significance – was the project important and did it meet beneficiary’s needs?
2. Effectiveness and profitability (cost-effectiveness and satisfaction)?
3. Efficiency – to what extent mobility goals were met?
4. Effect and impact – what is the relationship between project goals and overall goals of the institution, target group, system. To what extent benefits reaped by the beneficiary impacted a larger group of recipients/institutions?
5. Sustainability of the results – will the project’s impact be maintained over a longer period of time, e.g.: transfer of knowledge, putting the experiences into practice? How will results be used following project completion?

In order to enter a project for the competition, you had to fill in an on-line application form and send applicable documentation to the National Agency of the Lifelong Learning Programme not later than on 29 April 2011. The documentation included a competition entry describing the project and the mobility, its results pertaining to individual competition criteria (providing answers to 10 questions based on project assessment criteria), a PowerPoint presentation illustrating the achievements of the mobility and scanned documents confirming the staging of mobility: Europass documents or other formal documents, such as a certificate confirming participation in a scholarship, training, course, or a certificate confirming the qualifications or formal recognition of a study period abroad.

In total, 189 entries were submitted for the competition. Following formal assessment at the National Agency, 134 entries were sent to external experts for further evaluation. The reasons for rejecting projects on formal grounds included lack of the required documentation and/or double entry. Top quality projects selected by external experts were recommended to the competition jury composed of representatives of FRSE, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

On 14 June 2011, the competition jury finally selected six laureates in two competition categories and awarded honourable mentions to 12 projects.

Competition results have been posted on FRSE website at:  http://waloryzacja.llp.org.pl