The project BEYOND EUCLASS and Cometa Research Center

The project “BEYOND EUCLASS, managed by ENAC-Ente Nazionale Canossiano, recalls the main objective of the Action “Jean Monnet Projects” belonging to “Jean Monnet” Activity of the ERASMUS+ Programme, that is to promote civic education on European Democratic Citizenship in secondary schools within and beyond European Member States. BEYOND EUCLASS was labelled as “good practice example” and “success story” for the results achieved.

The project aimed to give a critical thinking about EU contents providing young European citizens the capacity to formulate their opinion on the EU and to resist misinforming actions. The general objective was to equip students with knowledge on European Union subject relevant for their academic and professional lives and enhance their civic skills promoting innovation in teaching EU subjects. School has to equip students with knowledge, skills and competences useful for the world of work, but their mainly mission is to guide them through their personal development and construction of their own identity.
The specific objectives of the project were:
– to improve the students’ knowledge and affection towards the European Union to support the development of an active citizenship;
– to make aware and contribute to the training of teachers in order to integrate their courses with issues concerning the EU integration with an interdisciplinary approach and illustrating them the opportunities offered by the EU within the educational sector;
– to promote innovation in teaching EU subjects
During the project ENAC was able to organise 8 seminars for students attending their last year of IVET studies and last three years of upper general secondary school. The seminars involved approximately 830 students. In addition, one conference of three days was designed and delivered to 30 teachers of upper secondary general and vocational schools. In addition, during the project life a contest was organised in order to involve students not only during the seminars but beyond increasing their affection towards European integration. The contest winners had the chance to participate at the EU Learning week organised in Neumarkt (Austria).
The project is now part of a cycle of projects on the similar topic https://www.euclass.it/our-projects/
Cometa Research Center

Cometa Research, supported by Cometa Formazione, is a centre for analysis and research of Cometa network, an organization focused for more than 20 years on fostering, education, training and placement.
Cometa Research, in the perspective of an applied-research centre, has consolidated a practice of research, consisting in training activities (Ph.D. courses, lunch seminars, support to teachers-researchers), aiming at sharing the main scientific results and the models of research with other partners and experts at international level.

The departments currently active and their research topic includes:

1. Vocational Education & Training: this area focuses on several topics connected with pedagogical issues (didactics; lifelong learning; STEM; motivation in learning; learning approach; work-based learning; life-based learning; school-enterprise model; disability; NEET; social inclusion; formative assessment; digital tools for didactics; counselling; skills; apprenticeships; tutoring).
2. Law and Policy: it is mainly based on (comparative) policy analysis in the youth, educational and social policies.
3. Social Innovation, which includes keywords such as social economy (social entrepreneurship and social business models), social sustainability and evaluation of social impacts (mainly in educational sector), technological innovation (makers, digital skills in handicrafts, tourism, hospitality sectors).