Majstri techniky - manuálne zručnosti sú na nezaplatenie

We wanted to use the experience of Croatian teachers to train 10 technology teachers from Slovakia and 10 from Slovenia. This would help them involve children from marginalized groups, refugees, c...

We wanted to use the experience of Croatian teachers to train 10 technology teachers from Slovakia and 10 from Slovenia. This would help them involve children from marginalized groups, refugees, children with disabilities, and girls in working with small machining tools during lessons or after-school clubs. The goal was to improve their skills and open up more opportunities in the labor market. Through this project, we wanted to show that informal education in technology can be fun and accessible to a wide group of children. However, for this to succeed, teachers need to be inspired – which is why we trained them. Since competitions are a great motivational tool in informal education, we chose to use them as well. We planned to organize national rounds of the Masters of Technology competition in Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, so teachers and their teams could compare results. With this project, all three organizations aimed to improve our skills in international teamwork, gain experience with an EU project, and raise awareness among foreign organizations with similar goals.

We implemented 9 activities: 1. Governance and financial management 2. Project promotion 3. Recruitment of teachers for the project 4. Teacher training 5. Creation of educational materials 6. Project kick-off workshop 7. National Masters of Technology competition in Croatia 8. National Masters of Technology Competition in Slovakia 9. National Masters of Technology Competition in Slovenia

The specific outputs and outcomes of our project were: 1. We trained 10 teachers from Slovakia and 10 from Slovenia, guided by 10 teacher-trainers from Croatia, to engage children from the target group in non-formal education in Techniques and help them improve their basic skills. 2. We organized national Masters of Technology competitions in Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia, where healthy children, children with special needs, those from marginalized groups, and girls competed in teams on equal terms. 3. We created web site and educational materials in four languages (Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian, and English), including 22 worksheets with tasks, exercises, and methodological procedures, as well as 11 instructional videos for working with small machine tools—all freely available on the project website (LINK TO WEB). 4. We established the foundation for sustainable national competitions in all three countries and prepared for an international Masters of Technology competition, with potential for expanding to other European countries. 5. As a participating organization, we gained valuable experience working in an international team and project.