Reviewers

Prof. Anna Cierniak-Emerych, Wroclaw University of Economics and Business

Prof. Aldona Glińska-Neweś, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun

Proofreading

Magdalena Liebner

Cover design

Amadeusz Targoński, targonski.pl

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Typesetting

Protext

Digital edition

Copyright © 2021 by Poltext Ltd.

All rights reserved.

Warsaw 2021

The Publication has been issued under a licence granted by the Foundation for the Development of the Education System.

Poltext Ltd.

www.poltext.pl

ISBN 978-83-8175-323-4 (epub)

ISBN 978-83-8175-324-1 (mobi)

Contents

Cover

Title

Colofon

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Competences in the Context of the 4th Industrial Revolution

1.1. The Model of Competences of Project Leaders

1.2. The 4th Industrial Revolution and Its Implications

1.3. Towards Competences 4.0

1.4. Final Remarks

Chapter 2. The Erasmus+ Programme’s Contribution to Skills Development and Innovation from the Polish Perspective

2.1. The Erasmus+ Programme in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2.2. Research Related to Measuring the Improvement of Competences

2.2.1. Leaders of Internationalisation: Survey on School Co-ordinators of European Projects

2.2.2. How Did Mobile Teachers Change Their Schools? Research Report on the Long-Term Impact of International Mobility on Polish School Education Staff

2.2.3. Teachers Online: Survey of eTwinning Platform Users During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2.2.4. Erasmus… and What Next? Tracer Study on Education and Careers of Polish Students Participating in Erasmus Mobility Projects

2.2.5. Polish Students’ Mobility in the Erasmus+ Programme in 2014–2016

2.2.6. Analysis of Youth in Action and Erasmus+ Youth Programmes Outcomes Within the RAY Network

2.2.7. European Voluntary Service – Competences for the Labour Market

2.2.8. Foreign Volunteers in Polish Schools and Pre-schools

2.2.9. Survey of the Scholarship and Training Fund Programme Results

2.2.10. The SCIEX Programme Participants Survey

2.2.11. Survey of Erasmus VET (Vocational Education Training) Graduates’ Careers

2.2.12. International Survey of VET International Mobility Graduates’ Professional Careers

2.2.13. Ongoing Research Related to the Improvement of the Competences of HEI (Higher Education Institutions) Graduates – Beneficiaries of Erasmus / Erasmus+ Programme: Panel Survey

2.3. Final Remarks

Chapter 3. The Realisation of Erasmus+ Projects from the Managerial, Organisational and Psychosocial Points of View in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

3.1. Review of Management Theories in Relation to Managing Erasmus+ Projects

3.2. Erasmus+ Projects as Organisations in the Context of Current Management Paradigms and Practices

3.2.1. Erasmus+ Projects as Organisations

3.2.2. Erasmus+ Projects’ Organisations in the Context of the Network Paradigm and the Relational View

3.2.3. Strategic Management

3.2.4. Agile Project Management

3.3. The Stress Factor and Personal Features as Determinants of Business Sustainability and Success

3.4. Final Remarks: The Competence-Based Approach to the Sustainability of Erasmus+ Projects

Chapter 4. Research Aims and Procedures

4.1. Research Context, Aims and Questions

4.2. Research Group

4.3. Research Method and Tool

4.4. The Questionnaire Feedback

4.5. Research Design and Approach

Chapter 5. Data Analysis

5.1. Factor Analysis

5.2. Analysis of the Reliability of Scales

5.3. The Erasmus+ Project Leaders’ Competence Profiles

5.4. The Sustainability of Erasmus+ Projects in Reference to Project Leaders’ Competences and Selected Contextual Factors

5.5. The Sustainability of Erasmus+ Projects and Personal Traits

5.6. Final Remarks on Research Findings

Chapter 6. Conclusions and Recommendations

6.1. The Professionalisation and Training of Leaders in the Context of Current Socio-Economic Needs

6.2. The Erasmus+ Programme’s Contribution to the Development of Competences 4.0

6.3. Further Research

List of Tables

Annex I. Questionnaire – the research tool

Annex II. Model matrixes for factor analysis for individual competences

Annex III. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to age

Annex IV. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to work experience

Annex V. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to sex

Annex VI. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to formal education

Annex VII. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to the type of institution

Annex VIII. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to the number of partners

Annex IX. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to project budget

Annex X. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to the number of co-ordinated projects

Annex XI. The relationship between competences and project status in reference to the education sector

Annex XII. The relationship between competences and project status

Annex XIII. The quality assessment of the research model for prediction

Annex XIV. Assessment of the research model: prediction of project suspension

References

Introduction

The aim of this work is to study how competences 4.0 facilitate Erasmus+ Programme project leaders in the realisation, management and sustainability of their transnational co-operation projects in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Commission reports that the period of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the realisation of Erasmus+ projects to a great extent. It is true in reference to the need of changing the system of work and altering the mode of operations into an online one. Accordingly, the international co-operation within the Erasmus+ Programme has had to be adapted to the new situation and conditions. Yet, the European Commission’s perspective on this issue results only from quantitative surveys analysing the numbers of suspended, prolonged or continued projects. There has been no research so far on the sustainability of Erasmus+ projects in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic in reference to their leaders’ competences and their adaptability potential. According to broad literature, competences 4.0 constitute a specific ‘survival kit’ for functioning in a globalised, digitalised and drastically changing environment, which requires that people adapt fast and effectively to new social and vocational situations and challenges. Therefore, the pandemic situation, with its all possible consequences experienced by whole communities and populations, is a unique opportunity to check if generally accepted views and theories apply here.

Consequently, the working thesis of this research is that competences 4.0 facilitate the realisation, management and sustainability of Erasmus+ projects in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the extent to which the thesis corresponds with observable facts needs to be researched and proved. In the light of this thesis, the research aims at providing answers to the following questions: (1) What are the levels of competences 4.0 among Erasmus+ project leaders? (2) Which competences 4.0 facilitate the management of Erasmus+ projects during the COVID-19 pandemic? (3) Which competences 4.0 or other contextual factors impact the successful realisation and management of Erasmus+ projects in the times of COVID-19 most?

Accordingly, chapter I of this book presents the issue of competences from educational and industrial or business-oriented perspectives. From the content point of view, Erasmus+ Programme projects are of an educational nature, but at the same time, their successful realisation requires high managerial skills. Detailed definitions of competences 4.0 in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution with its consequences are also presented on the basis of relevant literature review and in reference to bibliometric analyses. Finally, chapter I shows which competences 4.0 form a reference framework for this research.

Chapter II of this book presents the Erasmus+ Programme’s aims and objectives in the broader context of the European Union’s economic and educational policy. It also shows how the Erasmus+ Programme contributes to the development of the competences of its participants. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been growing concern about the sustainability of the Programme and its impact on participants, especially that the COVID-19 pandemic time span overlapped the end of the European Union’s seven-year budget period and the beginning of the next one. Since together with the new multilateral financial framework, a new Erasmus+ Programme was being designed by the European Commission, it was necessary to assess how COVID-19 affected the Programme in this time in the case of the need to introduce potential changes and modifications to its structure and offer. Consequently, the European Commission conducted a survey to examine this phenomenon followed by additional activities in this respect carried out by the Foundation for the Development of Education System which is the National Agency of Erasmus+ Programme in Poland. Finally, the structure of the Erasmus+ Programme has practically remained unchanged with substantially increased budget, though the continuation of the Erasmus+ Programme in its fundamental form, which is the mobility of students and professionals, was put in question at the beginning due to radical limitations and restrictions connected with travel.

In addition, chapter II extends the context of this discussion by exploring various surveys already conducted by the Foundation for the Development of Education System which have researched the development of competences as such by Erasmus+ Programme participants within their mobility and co-operation projects. However, the author has assumed that further assessment of the situation and more in-depth research is needed.

Chapter III discusses Erasmus+ projects in reference to management theories, approaches, current paradigms, concepts and practices. Additionally, the issue of how personal traits may impact business activities is included in this discussion, which provides a broader context for this research. Personal traits have been proved by various researchers to be one of the intrinsic determinants of business sustainability. And if one considers the fact that due to COVID-19, Erasmus+ project leaders have been exposed to a highly stressful environment, then considering personal traits as a contextual factor is plausible. Finally, chapter III explains how the adopted research model of competences 4.0 relates to presented current paradigms and approaches to management.

Chapter IV describes a research tool and research procedures and chapter V presents research results, discusses research findings, comments on the working hypothesis and provides answers to research questions. The research tool is a questionnaire completed by 990 Polish Erasmus+ project leaders. The research questionnaire’s aim is to establish Erasmus+ project leaders’ competence profiles. This, in turn, should lead to seeing the relations between the level of Erasmus+ project leaders’ competences 4.0 and projects’ sustainability. These relations are also studied in reference to such moderators as: age, experience, sex, formal education of a project leader, type of institution, number of partners in a project, budget of a project, number of projects in realisation, sector of education. Additionally, the research uses predictive analysis in the form of logistic regression in order to assess the chances of project suspensions in relation to the level of Erasmus+ project leaders’ competences 4.0, project features and project leaders’ personal engagement and experience.

Chapter VI includes conclusions in reference to:

The professionalisation and in-service training of project leaders in the context of modern socio-economic needs.

The Erasmus+ Programme’s contribution to the development of leadership competences.

Further research proposals.

Chapter 1 Competences in the Context of the 4th Industrial Revolution

1.1. The Model of Competences of Project Leaders

According to Lamri, the last two decades of the 20th century marked the beginning of discussions on how competences, as such, should be defined in their modern shape. At that time, the French approach dominated, with perceiving competences from the technical point of view as something that determines whether an individual can do something or not (Lamri 2021:78–82). Yet, the gradual departure from the strictly technical perception of competences could be seen in Parlier’s definition in which competences are understood as knowledge and soft skills (Parlier 1994:91–108). This is the point in which English terms of hard skills and soft skills became an integral part of the discussions on competences. The former meant technical competences or simply the things that an individual can do, whereas the latter meant social, emotional and relational competences or simply human competences (Lamri 2021:84). However, the turning point in thinking about competences came in 2000 when Le Boterf proposed three-dimensional perception of a competence as (1) the ability to act, using internal and external resources in a proper time and with suitable proportions; (2) eagerness to act; (3) the opportunity to act when an individual undertakes some action depending on external conditions. This approach places the notion of competences in a broader external or functional context (Le Boterf 2000). Putting all the threads together, Lamri finally proposes four main categories of competences, namely: (1) technical competences – acquired through learning and experience; (2) behavioural and motivational competences, such as extraversion, openness, agreeableness and emotional stability – they determine how an individual reacts in various situations; (3) cognitive competences – creativity, critical thinking, communication and co-operation; (4) social competences – they determine how an individual perceives society and his or her relation with this society (Lamri 2021:87). This categorisation is crucial in further discussions on competences, as most of its elements reverberates in current discussions on competences of the future, and finally, on competences 4.0.

However, the starting point for the discussions on competences in this research is the model of competences which can be broadly understood as a matrix of competence profiles of project leaders, regardless of the nature of projects. A helpful matrix of competences in this respect was elaborated in the framework of a separate project initiated by the author of this book with the following authors involved: Paweł Poszytek (Foundation for the Development of Education System – FDES), team head; Dominika Walczak (Educational Research Institute – IBE, The Maria Grzegorzewska University – APS); Beata Jancarz-Łanczkowska (Centre for Education Development – ORE); Piotr Mikiewicz (Educational Research Institute – IBE), and with contributing experts: Liliana Budkowska (FDES), Marta Choroszczyńska (Mazovian Teacher Continuing Professional Development Centre, MSCDN), Prof. Joanna Madalińska-Michalak (University of Warsaw – UW), Anna Ryś (City of Łódź Teacher Continuing Professional Development and Practical Training Centre – ŁCDNiKP) and Ewa Sprawka (City of Łódź Teacher Continuing Professional Development and Practical Training Centre – ŁCDNiKP). The authors’ group also consulted this project with Prof. Stefan Kwiatkowski of the Maria Grzegorzewska University – APS – and Prof. Michael Kelly of Southampton University and validated its results, presenting them during various scientific conferences worldwide as well as publishing internationally. Originally, this model was designed and developed in reference to educational leaders. At a later stage, it was elaborated further on by the author of this book to form a universal point of reference which is not oriented towards any specific professional area.

In the discussions on competences in the above-mentioned matrix profiles or framework, a number of properties of the concept were analysed. When investigating competences from the educational point of view, the above-mentioned team considered competences in relation to their:

Subjective character – competences are owned by individuals or collective entities (e.g. society, group of people, organisation)

Complex structure – competences have different structures, depending on their type; knowledge, skills, personality traits, value systems, experience, and motivation for work are the factors affecting the competence structure

Graduality – an entity achieves competences at differing levels, which affects their efficiency and ability to perform a given task, whereas a specified competence level of a given entity is defined by the degree of the development of individual components that make up the competence (e.g. the level of knowledge or abilities in a given scope)

Dynamics – it is expressed by the change in the condition of individual correlates of competence, and as a result, it may lead to a change in the entire competence, which, in turn, testifies to the possibility of its development

Possibility of development – competences are treated as a result of the process of an individual’s learning in the course of the acquisition and production of educational experiences in the course of one’s life, which are significant for the individual

Expression of competences in a certain context/situation – competences are expressed when an individual undertakes to carry out tasks under certain conditions

Interactivity of competences with the conditions, in which an individual operates – lifelong updating of competences, according to the context (new experiences affect the development of knowledge, skills improvement and attitudes of an individual, which are expressed in action)

Transferability of competences to other situations and other frames of reference – this leads to the expansion of freedom and ownership, and the ability to carry out new tasks as a result (Madalińska-Michalak 2016).

Furthermore, the team of experts who originally worked on the preparation of this competence matrix has commenced with the assumption that competences are based on three pillars, which are:

Professional knowledge.

Professional practice.

Professional identity and commitment.

Professional knowledge includes the following competences:
subject-related (factual) knowledge, knowledge of legal and organisational matters, familiarity with health and safety regulations, psychological and pedagogical knowledge, diagnostic and research-related knowledge, familiarity with supporting institutions, and familiarity with sources of (factual / subject-related) knowledge.

Professional practice includes the following competences:
teaching skills, educational / care-giving / prevention-related skills, research skills, digital skills, communication (language) skills, cognitive skills, leadership skills, adaptation skills.

Professional identity and commitment include the following competences:
professional ethics, personal improvement and development, emotional and social competences, cultural and multicultural competences where the concept of professional ethics refers to the rules of conduct of a given professional group, and where professional ethics is normative ethics, which attempts to describe a model professional, the ethical objectives of the profession, rules of conduct and typical ethical conflicts, which may occur in the course of professional practice.

Another aspect of describing competences is to recognise that these competences are constantly being developed in the process of professional development.

For this purpose, three levels of professional proficiency and competences have been identified:

Level 1 – beginner.

Level 2 – specialist.

Level 3 – expert.

Therefore, the matrix model is presented in the form of a table where each pillar of professional work is divided into three stages of advancement based on professional development – from ‘basic’ (beginner) skills to the most advanced competences of a highly experienced professional (expert).

The pillars themselves are broken into detailed competences, e.g. professional knowledge includes subject-related competences, legal competence, familiarity with health and safety regulations as well as psychological knowledge. It also takes into consideration such aspects as diagnostic and research related knowledge, capacity to seek and find factual knowledge and familiarity with the various aspects of the functioning of the education system, including its most important institutions. The aspect of professional practice is also divided into detailed skills and arranged according to the three-level development model.