CENTRES

CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.centres-eu.org

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

LIETUVOS JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT - EVALUATION OF CENTRES

PILOT ACTIVITY IN LITHUANIA

1. Context

Lietuvos Junior Achievement (LJA) is a non-profit, non-political organisation providing education and training in entrepreneurship. Through various educational programmes for primary and secondary schools, LJA wants to give children and young people the opportunity to train and develop their creativity, entrepreneurship, and their practical business skills. Young people should be allowed to believe in their own creative powers and use this as a basis for creating value, developing workplaces and taking responsibility in the community. The ultimate goal is to direct young people’s attention to their own possibilities to improve their living standards and change their lives.

2. Approach Special event (student forum) for the secondary school students designed to motivate students to run in future private business, learn more about creative industries and provide training on some basic business skills.

3. Rationale

The past few years have seen a global explosion of various types of educational and training

programmes aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship, but all surveys show that most efficient

are methods based on active and through the principle of “Learning by Doing” techniques

and events.

The goal of The Forum is to further the students understanding of business and economics as well as demonstrate how teamwork can result in increased rewards at both organizational and personal levels.

4. Pilot Description

Format of the event At the students’ summer Forum (summer camp) students gather in order to learn more about

business and to further develop management, leadership, business and inter-personal skills.

All activities and contests are arranged for the teams. The team members may not know

each other, will have to adapt to each other quickly and find out how to work together most

efficiently. At the beginning, there are a series of ice-breaking activities and group work to

learn some basics about creative thinking. Latter all activities are arranged as various

CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.centres-eu.org

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

contests (business plans, presentations, etc.) among the teams. Participants are divided into

smaller teams (up to 5 persons /team) and teams prepare their solutions for the various

business situations. Teams prepare presentations and latter have discussion with all

participants. Teachers and business people formed jury, which evaluated students’

presentations.

Participants

First stage – business case contest Schools were invited to take part in the business case contest and the Forum participants (students) were selected from the team members, which proposed the best case study solution. Case studies were prepared by the business companies and these companies work in the field of Creative Industries. Business people from these companies evaluated students’ case study solutions. Examples of the business case studies are presented at the end of this chapter. Outcome: 97 students’ teams presented their case studies solutions (in total 300 students from 50 schools). Second stage - Student summer camp (Forum)

The Forum was the final and main stage of the whole pilot project. The Summer camp

participants’ selection was based on the online case study contest results.

Participants of the summer camp included secondary and vocational students (age group:

16-19) and teachers:

Number of students: 35 from 14 schools, in 12 cities

Number of teachers: 10 from 10 schools. Location: countryside homestead. Duration: 5 days (4 nights) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Examples of business plans for creative industries - Themes of the

online Competition

Example 1: You are working in the advertising agency as a project manager. Your friends are jealous of you since you work in the best advertising agency in Lithuania. Your key client, on whom your salary depends on, has a major business problem – the sales are decreasing rapidly. The client manufactures ecologic apple juice.

CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.centres-eu.org

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

Task: Increase the sales of the apple juice. The campaign should encompass standard (TV advertising, radio, out-door, etc.) and non-standard advertising solutions. Evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested actions. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Example 2: New popular Spanish clothing network is planning to open a shop in one of the shopping centres in Vilnius. Task: Prepare the concept for the shop opening: the idea of the event, reasoning, opening scenario. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Example 3: Retail trade network while collaborating with the ornithologists is supporting preservation of endangered Lithuanian bird species (producing bags with endangered species, providing nesting boxes and feeder tables to local communities). Task: Work on the communication plan covering all Lithuania for the preservation of the Lithuanian endangered species. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Example 4: Advertising agency is planning to greet its clients with Christmas (greetings, presents), budget for 1 client – 100 Litas. Task: Create the concept for greetings. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Example 5: „BigBoom“ is a very popular sandwiches’ bar in one of the Lithuanian cities. Nearby, a new similar sandwich bar has been opened. However, it is not seen from the street. The municipality does not grant permission to provide directions on the building or put a sign on the street. Task: Think how to attract customers to the new sandwich bar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Example 6: One of the schools in Vilnius has decided to digitalise their work (possible e-books, website of the school, social network between teachers and students, etc.). Task: Create the project for the digitalisation of the school, suggest what and which processes shall be digitalised, justify the benefits for the school, teachers and students. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Example 7: Healthy nutrition and healthy lifestyle is relevant topic in todays’ society. However, lack of interest in this topic is noticeable between young people. Task: Create an idea for the game for the mobile phone application, which would stimulate interest of young people in healthy nutrition and would form the principles of healthy lifestyle.

CENTRES (Creative Entrepreneurship in Schools) project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.centres-eu.org

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

5. Impact & Legacy The Students’ Summer Camp achieved its main goals i.e. gave students deeper understanding about the business and creative industries. Students’ responses show that they got familiar with knowledge about business and creative industries as well as about the effective time management. They improved their team working, communication and presentation skills. Questionnaire, students and teachers feedback are listed in the Annex #1-3.

6. Quality

7. Insight Online case study contest followed by the Students’ Summer Camp proved that these ways of training/teaching are effective entrepreneurship education methods and could be highly recommended for further implementation on the national and international level. Probably the only one main obstacle for the wide implementation of the Students’ Summer Camp methodology is the relatively high cost of such an event. .

What worked or not Possible action to improve

Business people at the Forum Yes Could be more, but need to be good presenters

Competitions Yes Students like to compete

Splitting students into the teams

Yes Team working is good experience

Tight schedule Yes Push students to use time wisely

Tight schedule No Maybe more free time, but there always be not enough free time

Name Better to use something like “summer academy”, or “summer school”, as the name “camp” presumes that there will be mainly leisure activities.