The pilot process and evaluation of the educational/training programme on the social economy and entrepreneurship was implemented during a three-day event on September 2014 in Larissa in the context of the project “European Entrepreneurship School Programme as an Answer to Social Exclusion”.
The pilot training programme was held at the premises of the Centre for Lifelong Learning Open Mellon.
The main objective of the workshop was to assess and validated the content of the training programme on social economy in order to demonstrate the possibilities of applications and points that require improvement to enable the assimilation of the country’s education systems with the aim of developing social entrepreneurship.
Duration and Participants
The process of evaluation and validation took place at two levels and for this purpose two different groups of trainers/experts and final end users (existing and potential entrepreneurs in the social economy, individuals at risk of social exclusion) were developed. The workshop lasted for three days and a total duration of approximately 28 hours.
Structure and Content of the Workshop
A brief presentation of the project and its objectives took place during the first day, while extensive reference was also made to the educational/training programme – its development and main objectives. A short presentation followed of the electronic educational platform developed under the project, while a presentation, analysis and exchange of views then followed for each of the training modules. Modules 1-5 were completed during the 1st day of the workshop.
In the second part, the group of experts visited a women’s cooperative, whose head office is located in a remote area in the Prefecture near Mount Olympus. The cooperative is in its early stages of creation and the group of women/members who had developed it are threatened by social and professional exclusion because of the limited potential and opportunities that exist due to geographical constraints and limited knowledge about entrepreneurship. This group is a key target group of the training programme and therefore active exchange and communication with the experts was
considered to significantly contribute to the examination and evaluation of the effectiveness of the educational/training programme.
In this context the experts conducted a pilot training of the women/members of the cooperative in selected thematic areas for the purpose of investigating the efficacy of the educational material but also of its application in practice. The short-term pilot training and the exchange of views and ideas that followed the training led to extremely useful conclusions.
The second day followed with a presentation, analysis and exchange of ideas and views concerning the educational modules. Modules 6-8 were completed throughout the second day of workshops.
Finally, the third day led to the presentation, analysis and exchange of ideas and views concerning the final educational modules. Modules 9-11 were therefore completed in the third day. A discussion of the educational/training programme and its possibilities of integration in the education system tool place at the end of the workshop.
Evaluation Results
The general views and comments that have been provided by the participants of the pilot procedure are positive, with all participants rating the overall training course with at least «good» to «very good». There were no negative evaluations of the training course, contents, documentation and general organization of the training. In fact, the answers given towards the organization of the pilot application were highly positive with some participants indicating that they really liked the combination of online and face-to-face session.
The interface was rated with good evaluations as well, while most participants did not have any trouble logging on and moving between the different sections. One of the participants, however, indicated that he would have liked more clear sections on the platform and a distinct button to go «back» between the different pages and sections as this was not always clear.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=309sys0TZPk
This 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.
