Study visits with the exchange of good practices are certainly one of the most beautiful aspects of educational projects. This is the way the project partners and entrepreneurship teachers in the PoMP – Fostering entrepreneurship skills in schools project, which strives for a green and sustainable Europe, experienced our study visit to the Kingdom of Norway. We connected with NTNU University precisely because of their long-standing practice of training teachers in entrepreneurial competences.
After a very long journey from Slovenia to Norway – each partner and teachers traveled by a different route – and a rather shocking acclimatization to the Trondheim weather – temperatures that are at least 10 °C lower than in Slovenia and but a few hours of sunny weather during the whole week, otherwise only rain – we started work right away on Tuesday.
The purpose of the study visit to Trondheim and NTNU University was to learn about good practices. And learn about good practices we did. First, we highlight the presentation of the training program for entrepreneurship teachers, which is carried out in the Trøndelag region – less than a quarter of the size of Slovenia – every year for a much larger number of teachers than in our country. This was followed by a presentation of the Johan Bojer STEM High School, which impressed with sustainable construction and a technical education program implemented in cooperation with surrounding companies, specialists in the manufacture of robots and various drones. As an interesting point, we should point out that Johan Bojer is the only school in Norway – and probably much wider – where it is possible to get an education as a pilot of a naval or aerial unmanned vessel. Also very interesting was the presentation of teachers from kindergarten, where young children are taught about sustainable shopping and the circular economy. This was followed by a presentation of the most widespread and oldest entrepreneurship program in the world, Junior Achievement, which is the ‘official’ program for developing entrepreneurship in school in the Trøndelag region. During the presentations, the project partners and teachers also learned about some possible methods of working in the classroom.
Slovenian teachers and project partners also presented their good practices in Norway, although we will present them to the Norwegians in more detail in March, when their representatives come to Slovenia. This is how the Norwegian partners learned about the ScienceJam and POPRI programs, and they also learned about the innovative ways our teachers and project partners work with young people and other teachers. We can say that the study visit to Norway was another confirmation that in Slovenia we are doing excellent work in the field of entrepreneurship education, but of course there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially when it comes to cooperation with the environment.
The PoMP project is supported by the Norway Grants within the framework of the Education, Scholarships, Apprenticeship, and Youth Entrepreneurship program. The project partners, the Primorska Technology Park, Development Center of Novo mesto, Norwegian University of Science and Technology NTNU, SAŠA Incubator, Technology Park Ljubljana, and Scientific Research Center Bistra, Ptuj, are aware that the development of entrepreneurship competence is key for the future, when the citizens of Europe will be faced with many serious challenges. With the project and the study visit, we are adding another pebble to the mosaic of efforts for a richer, greener, and more sustainable future.