Produced by the European Project YOUCOOPE, Awel Aman Tawe (AAT) has developed, in collaboration with partners from five countries, a MOOC to train teachers in co-operative entrepreneurship and to encourage educational institutions to include the co-operative model in their curricula.

The new online training on co-operative entrepreneurship has been launched. It has been produced by the European Project YOUCOOPE that, since last April, has been developing in collaboration with nine partners from Italy, Wales, Belgium, Spain and England.

Co-operative Entrepreneurship in Education: Tools and Resources is a short digital course oriented to secondary and university education professionals interested in understanding and introducing entrepreneurial education using the co-operative perspective. This Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) will provide them with knowledge, tools and didactic material to incorporate co-operative entrepreneurship concepts, skills and real-life experiences into their lessons.

Jeremy Miles, Welsh Labour and Cooperative Member of the Senedd for Neath said “It’s great that these resources are being made available for free to schools and colleges to learn about co-op entrepreneurship. I’m very proud that a social enterprise in my constituency, Awel Aman Tawe, has been part of the project. As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s vital that we encourage entrepreneurship and particularly in Wales, where we can build on our cooperative tradition.”

AAT’s Chair of Trustees, Mary Ann Brocklesby said “We are delighted to have worked with European partners on this and share our experience of developing our two renewable energy co-ops, Awel and Egni. It’s vital that Wales continues to link with our European partners in order to learn from their cooperative traditions”

Teachers interested in taking this digital training can sign up for free in the YOUCOOPE website and take the MOOC in English, Italian or Spanish, which will allow them to apply too for exclusive online workshops where they will be able to dive into co-operative entrepreneurial education, meet other educators with their same interests and learn new ways to introduce these methodologies in the classroom.

Both the online course, the downloadable digital content and the workshops for teachers of secondary and university level promoted by YOUCOOPE, take into account the EntreComp European Framework for the development of entrepreneurial skills, supported by the European Commission, that includes the so-considered essential softskills for the personal and professional future of youths.

Entrepreneurship and Cooperativism

The European Project YOUCOOPE: Co-operative Entrepreneurship for educators, led by the  Santander International Entrepreneurship Center (CISE) from Spain in collaboration with Awel Aman Tawe/Egni Co-op and other nine institutions, will be focused on training the trainers so that they can motivate and boost entrepreneurship among European youths within the context of co-operative values as the tool to obtain the social and entrepreneurial skills that improve their employability.

The project is also looking to encourage educative institutions both at secondary and university level, to include the co-operative model in their curriculum and to boost it among young students and entrepreneurs all over Europe.

The resources generated during the project will also encourage educational institutions to look for collaboration with existing cooperatives at local level, so that young people can gain perspective on the importance and efficiency of this model, as well as facilitating the transition from the classroom to the working context and reinforce real-life experiences.

YOUCOOPE Project has a budget of over 230,000 euros and is co-financed by the European Commission. As well as Awel Aman Tawe, the consortium is made up of another nine institutions from five European countries: Co-operative College CI (United Kingdom), Ciudad Industrial del Valle del Nalón (Spain), Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy), European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (Italy), Bantani Education (Belgium), Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione (Italy), Escuela Andaluza de Economía Social (Spain), University of Trento (Italy) y Awel Aman Tawe (Wales).