ECO NET – The programme:
Objectives and working procedures

ECO NET - Promoting training firms in South Eastern Europe Education for future business partners in a common Europe - learning and working together

• Background
• Target countries and target groups
• The modular approach
• The modules in detail ...
• Aims of the training modules
• Evaluation

Background

The training firm concept has proved itself in projects in Bulgaria, Romania and Albania as well as in other countries as a successful approach to adapting the area of business training to the needs of developing labour markets - i.e. a high level of practicality by focusing on the acquisition of core competencies (the area of entrepreneurship) and the opportunity to simulate real business work processes in the schools.

Experiences from previous projects in the region as well as with training programmes developed in Austria, e.g. for training firm managers, offer school models which can be used to introduce this concept in the countries of the region - on a larger scale and based on proven quality standards. In this way, the existing regional training company network (Albania, Bulgaria and Romania) could be extended to the whole region.

As the requirements of the individual countries and the current situations there are highly diverse, the concept needs to be flexible enough to facilitate tailor-made procedures for the respective countries. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the fulfilment of international quality standards and the inclusion of basic contents, which are required for the introduction and successful implementation of the training firm concept and the participation in international networks.

Target countries and target groups

The "framework programme ECO NET" is principally directed towards all the countries and regions of South Eastern Europe.

Current partner countries are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro und Romania.

Target groups:

• Representatives of the education ministries of the partner countries involved
• In-service teacher training institutions of the partner countries
• Managers of the training firm centres in the partner countries
• Headteachers of the pilot scheme schools
• Teachers of the pilot scheme schools
• Pupils of the pilot scheme schools

(for more details on the target groups, see ECO NET Partners)

The modular approach

Based on previous experiences with the introduction of the training firms model in South Eastern Europe and international standards, content modules are defined which can be combined flexibly according to the requirements of the target country in question.

Advantages:

The greater degree of flexibility makes it possible to adapt the implementation process to changing framework conditions, while at the same time maintaining comparable quality standards.

The core areas of these modules are:

1. A basic knowledge of business management, which is the prerequisite for the implementation of the training firms concept, and the creation of the basic preconditions for schools
2. The establishment of training firms and a national training firms centre
3. Going public and regional networking
4. Dissemination

Alongside these training modules, there is a further core area which is significant for the implementation of the programme:

- Detailed planning, reflection and evaluation

The modules in detail ...

Aims of the training modules

The modular structure of the training concept has three objectives:

Firstly, teachers should be qualified with regard to content and methods so as to be able to convey to pupils the required subject contents and key qualifications in accordance with entrepreneurship education. Central to this is the training of training firm managers.

Secondly, the general framework for the functioning of the national network of business/economics schools and the regional network should be created by organisational and structural measures. These measures are aimed towards equipment and well-functioning communications technology and setting up a training firm centre, and the required restructuring in the area of curricula and training at the school authorities' level.

To ensure sustainability, targeted measures to create the conditions for the dissemination of the scheme should be taken at the respective national levels in close cooperation with the national education ministries.

Evaluation

The evaluation of the implementation process in the framework programme ECO NET is based upon:

1. an ongoing internal feedback and evaluation process by the target groups which are participating directly in the project and
2. an external monitoring process and the evaluation by the monitoring institution nominated by the sponsor.

Instruments used in the internal feedback and evaluation processes:

- Questionnaires:

Participants at events evaluate to what extent the contents, methods and organisation of the event have corresponded to their needs

- Feedback/reflection phases at events:

are integrated into the implementation process, in order to give all participants the opportunity - at regular intervals - to compare the targets set with that which has been actually achieved, and to give feedback on experiences in everyday practice.

- Reflection phase (see initiation and concept development):

a one-day event, which reflects in a selective way on the targets set and actual achievements over an extended period (at least ten months) - based among other things on the evaluation/monitoring results of the external monitoring institutions.