| Project Detail |
Children’s Universities (CUs) encourage youth to try new experiences and develop new interests. They represent a trend in modern societies. Many academic institutions adopt them as part of the Third Mission (to engage with societies) in universities. The aim is to spread knowledge outside the academic environment with considerable profit for the society and the economy. The PHERECLOS project intends to bring together schools and academic actors to develop collaborative educational environments. It will create six Local Education Clusters (LECs), which will work as agents of innovation in education and play a fundamental role in advancing critical thought, decision-making, competitiveness and sustainable development among children and youth. Objective PHERECLOS builds upon the theory of science capital and the experience that Children’s Universities (CUs) have made in the Third Mission of universities. With their engagement with children and young people, they became intermediaries between various actors in the educational and social landscape. As translators of the concerns, messages and knowledge of other parties (incl. business and industry, the state, civic society organizations etc.) they help to dismantle institutional boundaries of universities towards a wider society. The project will establish 6 Local Education Clusters (LECs), which bring together schools and further relevant actors in the education ecosystem of a particular pilot region, supported by a peer mentoring programme. The LECs will be incubators for enabling a dialogue between various parties and help to set up joint activities in (formal and non-formal) education, which help to develop collaborative learning environments as experimental testbeds for schools. At the same time they impact on the quality of science engagement opportunities in these areas. PHERECLOS will implement a digital “OpenBadge” ecosystem which labels institutions as reliable and responsive actors and showcases all LEC parties to become real change agents in education. At the same time, this ecosystem will testify individual achievements with respect to STEAM engagement in formal or non-formal settings or even unintended learning outcomes. The regional effectiveness and impact will be monitored by academic transfer and implementation research and lead to the development of implementation guidelines and policy briefs to enhance the sustainability of the overall approach. PHERECLOS promotes the territorial dimension of local education clusters in all their manifold facets and their catalyzing role relating to access to STEAM and higher education, critical thinking and informed decision making in a wider societal context – including competitiveness and sustainable growth. |
