CHALLENGES OF THE XXI CENTURY" NUR-SULTAN, KAZAKHSTAN, JULY 2019 222
Nowadays the youth tend to acquire the knowledge and information not only by means
of formal learning but rather more by means of non-formal and informal learning, particularly
through the internet, which makes them go hand in hand with innovative technologies. Werquin
(2010, p. 7) claims that although learning often takes place within formal settings and
environments, a great deal of valuable learning also takes place either deliberately or informally
in everyday life. According to Werquin (2010, p. 8-9), there are many benefits to non-formal
and informal learning, in which the following deserve a special attention, namely educational
benefits, in which this type of learning underpins lifelong learning by helping people learn
about themselves and develop their career within a lifelong learning framework. Furthermore,
there are social benefits, in which informal learning provides a way to improve equity and
teamwork and works as a psychological boost to individuals by making them aware of their
capabilities and skills.
In terms of both project and teamwork, there is no doubt that one cannot go without the
other, perhaps more so in the opportunity to go beyond classic lessons, bringing together
students from different educational programmes and ages, as long as there is high motivation
for co-operation, sharing and accepting ideas and carrying them out accordingly. Buch and
Andersen (2015, p. 27) claim that team and project work is both a new and an old phenomenon.
It is evident that people always have cooperated and coordinated work to achieve their goals
and solve problems. But team and project work has—in the post-industrial era—also developed
into the preferred mode of organizing work in many companies and public institutions. It is not
only considered to be an effective mode of production but also an ideal mode to spur
innovative, creativity, and knowledge generation/sharing. According to the English project
week group experience, the spurring of the latter comes into realization among the students
during the project week, but only when positive atmosphere is created, when the
foundations/tasks of the whole project week are explained, followed, monitored and
implemented and when students and teachers establish a bond for different learning approach
that is characterized by willingness and high motivation (in our case motivation for travelling
domestically or abroad, researching tourist-related features of different sights, communicating
in English and German language in the report and in front of a camera, listening to others).
Therefore, among so many definitions of ‗team‘, the one from P. Levin (2005, p. 7) explains the
basics of our formation, ‗‗when you first meet the other people you‘ll be working with, you‘re a
group, not a team. You don‘t become a team until you have developed methods of working
together and relationships have formed between you, i.e. through your collaboration you have
begun to ‗bond‘ and develop ‗team spirit‘.‘‘
Before referring to skills in a project week, we need to originate from the fact that in
order to be innovative, one requires a wide variety of skills. According to OECD (2011, p. 148),
among the most important ones are basic skills and digital-age literacy, which include reading
and writing as well as the skills needed to use digital technology; technical skills, which are
specific skills needed in an occupation and may include both academic and vocational skills and
knowledge of certain tools or processes; generic skills, which include problem-solving, critical
and creative thinking and ability to learn; ―soft‖ skills that include working and interacting in
teams, communication, motivation, initiative, cultural openness and receptiveness to
innovation; leadership, which includes team-building, coaching and mentoring; managerial and
entrepreneurial skills, which relate to leadership, communication and self-confidence.