In the recent years, technologies that enhance or recreate real world environments are increasingly influencing the world of the production industry and business. In particular Virtual Reaity is expected to drive productivity that experts believe will bring companies significant ROIs. Just about any process that can be carried out in the physical world can be simulated in VR. The quantity and quality of VR solutions are constantly being improved and equipment and content creation costs continue to fall, so the momentum to explore VR’s role in business and education is likely to continue to grow. This will also have a strong direct impact not only on SMEs but also on HE business management and related studies.The EU is trying to prepare intensively for the challenges of digital teaching and learning and it therefore included this issue in a series of educational policies published, such as “European Strategy 2020” (Com2010), “New Skills Agenda for Europe” (Com2015/196), “A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe“ (Com2015/192), “Education Policies in Europe and Beyond” (EU 2017/29000) and the “European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators” (EU, DigCompEdu 2017, 52). However, Europe’s HEI are not able to fulfil the postulated requirements and they are poorly prepared to tackle the challenges of digital teaching and learning. The need for comprehensive and effective digital teaching and learning has been exemplified even more starkly by the impact of Corona on higher education. The problem is not the lack of infrastructure or software, but that HE managers and teachers have insufficient knowledge about the potential of VR and its application within their own faculty. HE managers and teachers themselves need in-depth education and training concerning what VR is about, what kind of VR skills and competence industry requires from graduates and how their own pedagogical approaches can be boosted by using VR applications.Therefore, the VRinSight project has implemented the following main activities and delivered the following outputs:•Implementation of the “VRinSight 3 in 1 survey” with VR developers, HE managers and teachers as well as with SME managers to get a clear picture about the state of the art in the field of VR developments as well as about frameworks, demands, needs and attitudes within HEIs and SMEs with regards to applying VR solutions.•Development of the “VRinSight Curriculum” about relevant key data and background information, pedagogic considerations and recommendations about applying VR at the HE level, global developments in the field and a compilation of a virtual learning materials library for HE managers and teachers with a specific focus on business management and related studies; the so-called “VRinSight Showcase” is a collection of 25 VR apps most suited to HE business management studies and an education setting.•Development of the “VRinSight Training Programme” enabling HE managers and teachers to acquire knowledge, skills and competences to apply VR in their own classes; also enabling SME managers (and their R&D and HRD experts) so both sides can learn together about the potential of VR and its possibilities for HE and industry. The heart of programme is the “VRinSight Classroom and VR Lecture Theater apps”, purpose-built VR environments specially created for the project allowing for virtual learning experience and live multi-user interaction in VR. The training programme and VR applications were tested by over 80 target group representatives in DE, CY, BE, FI and also AT and ES.•To raise general awareness of the project’s objectives and promote university business cooperation as key factor for successful capacity building, a “VRinSight Green Paper” was published. Its focused on the project’s objectives in general, with article contributions from key stakeholders in education and technology, presenting 24 of Europe’s best practice examples in VR HE teaching and digital education.•The project intensively promoted capacity building, especially at the university business cooperation level. Therefore, it set-up an informal network with project partners, associated partners and almost 200 other stakeholders representing all direct and indirect target groups (HE managers and teachers, SME managers, IT experts and VR developers, education policy makers and stakeholders at all levels etc.) •The overall aim of the project in the long run was to boost the use of VR applications within HE business management and related studies and to contribute to reaching the digitalization goals set by the authorities of the EU.Partners from DE, CY, AT, ES, BE and FI represent 4 HEIs and 3 business representatives (1 business association, 1 EU network and 1 VR developer); they are all embedded in relevant national and transnational networks, which will actively contribute to the project to ensure effective dissemination and exploitation of its outcomes.

Our Erasmus+ Project ENSITE (ENvironmental Socio-Scientific Issues in Initial Teacher Education) supports the development of future science and maths (from now on referred to as science) teachers’ environmental citizenship and related teaching competences.We face severe global environmental challenges such as deforestation and plastic waste. Europe’s society needs to acknowledge these challenges and accept their role in supporting sustainable development. Our educational systems have to fulfil the obligation to enable citizens to do so. Science education, in particular, must equip them with the ability to find adequate technological solutions.ENSITE supports this endeavour. Research proposes the engagement of socio-scientific issues (SSI) as one promising path to developing environmental citizenship competences. However, science teachers graduating from higher education (HE) institutions are not prepared to teach SSI, because they not only require teaching “scientific facts” but also involve controversial information, complex data sets and ethical, social, economic or cultural motives. Such aspects are rarely covered in initial teacher education (ITE).We aim at improving HE by including environmental SSI in science ITE. To this end we will develop an innovative approach to support teachers in (1) developing competences in dealing with environmental SSI (“Learning”) and (B) acquiring teaching skills to supporting their future students at school in becoming responsible citizens (“Teaching”) themselves.ENSITE consists of 11 HE teams from institutions across Europe comprising experts in science education (research and practice), environmental issues, pedagogical concepts to acquire transversal and forward-looking skills (e.g. critical thinking, creativity, reasoning, reflection), students’ mobility, diversity in science courses/classrooms and large scale dissemination. All partners acknowledged that their educational science courses rarely cover citizenship education and see huge potential with regard to benefits for them and their students.We decided on a thoroughly elaborated range of activities to produce purposeful results.Our research activities cover the development of 13 teaching modules on environmental SSIs for future science teachers. These intellectual outputs (IOs) cover subject knowledge on SSIs (definitions, topic areas, relevance, etc.) and how to deal with them, implications for learning/teaching processes, pedagogical concepts to design lessons, and the role of teachers’ background (beliefs, cultural, etc.) which affects teaching SSIs.In order to ensure highest quality and a convincing red thread relating to our overall topic (environmental citizenship education), each research activity follows a clear methodology: In our iterative design process, each development phase is followed by a review and pilot, optimisation loop and, finally, production. Every partner has precisely defined responsibilities. Project meetings will be organized to support internal communication.We perform several pilot activities validating our IOs at partner HEI and paving the way for long-term implementation. We use feedback from participating teaching staff and students to improve our IOs (content, user-friendliness, media format, impact etc.).We will also disseminate our results in three subsequent summer schools. Thus, in every project year we will reach out to future science teachers across Europe. We will present our IOs, engage students in a variety of innovative activities and stimulate inter-cultural and social experiences. Feedback collected during our summer schools will be used to further improve our materials.We organize (national and international) multiplier events to promote the project among relevant educational stakeholders, initializing dialogue on the matters at hand and substantiate our findings, as well as boost sustainable dissemination and exploitation.We plan several targeted European-wide and national communication, dissemination and exploitation activities, such as establishing a web portal, pursuing a flexible and modern social media strategy or scientifically present our research findings.We expect ENSITE to boost innovation in HE and more particularly science ITE across Europe. This will lead to a substantially higher number of HE educators with a versatile range of scientific, transversal skills, citizenship competences and related teaching competences. In the longer term, this contributes to a widespread shared awareness of social and environmental responsibility. Our open-access materials will support Europe’s science teaching staff to benefit beyond project duration. Our materials will particularly allow each partner HEI to strengthen their trans-national collaboration, implement innovative approaches in their science ITE programmes and facilitate institutional change, raise their reputation, and actively contribute to Europe’s smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

In today's rapidly changing world of learning and work, young people need to acquire and develop the skills and competencies of the twenty-first century through all forms of learning (formal, informal and non-formal) in order to meet the many challenges of life. However, much of this learning remains unrecognized, especially by those who are excluded from formal learning opportunities. These learning outcomes need to be made visible, assessed and accredited, as recognized in a number of important policy reports, frameworks and guidelines of the European Commission, UNESCO, OECD, ILO, etc., and as a result of the need to ensure that learning outcomes are not only visible, but also assessed and accredited. The PEPPY project is the result of a reflection process involving different actors and operators in economics, training and education around a common issue. At the territorial level, we ask at how training and mentoring programmes for young people can be improved to enable them to acquire sustainable adaptation skills and to engage them in a process that continuously constructs, reinforces and develops their skills to meet the permanent challenge of employment.Identical questions and observations on the subjects of lifelong skills building, experimentation and the formalization of educational approaches, which link and feed the reflections of different European structures, most of whom have been partners for more than ten years, are aimed at ordinary inclusion and are based on an integrated approach to the pedagogical question.In order to support the possibilities of permanent progressive autonomy and to valorize the potential of resources and skills for all young people, the actors of the PEPPY project have decided to initiate a project approach combining research-action and direct support for the implementation of territorial initiatives for local youth.PEPPY is thus a two-pronged approach: working on the desire for creative freedom of young people in project mode to encourage and support their entrepreneurial skills and reveal their potential for skills acquisition and autonomy, also initiate a territorial, collaborative and proactive educational and pedagogical dynamic in order to reinforce the evolution of teaching and training professions on the subjects and positions of tutoring to strengthen each young person's autonomy skills.This pedagogical challenge involves the opening of a European digital platform for networking and resources for support in setting up projects by young people, which will combine the dynamics of collaborative workshops and idea incubators and on which young people will be supported and supervised in their efforts by multidisciplinary teams of educational professionals and actors in everyday life and local development.The PEPPY project will be aimed at young people aged between 18 and 25, most of whom have left the system, NEET, young people without diplomas, trainees in vocational training, enrolled in Pôle Emploi or in a higher or vocational training course to prevent them from dropping out, so that they can reveal their skills and enjoy spontaneous freedom of engagement, do something meaningful in society, accompany change and be recognized for their own identity and values.In view of the desired impact on pedagogical practices and dynamics, PEPPY will also address a second target group comprising pedagogical and accompanying adult actors working with young people, pedagogical staff, teachers, professors or trainers, and any other educational actor potentially able to accompany a young person both in his socialisation and in the determination of his project.Therefore, through PEPPYs, several operational objectives will be implemented:- Encourage young people in their personal projects to develop their skills and knowledge;- Reinforce/create pedagogical models to promote the autonomy and adaptability of young people;- Create a space for pedagogical innovation that favours informal learning as a factor in developing skills and stimulating young people;- Involve young people in public policies and in the construction of society through learning elements and developing skills in non-formal and informal education;- Innovate in the recognition and improvement of learning elements and developing skills in non-formal and informal education;- Promote connections and set up collaboration among all territorial actors in education and training;- Develop a framework of recommendations to improve the pedagogical/collaborative practices of the territorial actors of the sector.

IncluSMe (Intercultural learning in mathematics and science education) offers a constructive contribution for tackling one of Europe’s greatest challenges: education for an increasing number of refugee and immigrant youth, to integrate them into European educational systems and to provide for stable, socially cohesive societies. The project aimed to increase the quality of higher education curricula for prospective maths and science teachers by linking maths and science education with intercultural learning – and thereby strengthening students’ social, civic and intercultural competences.Core to IncluSMe was the design and implementation of open access teaching modules on intercultural learning for prospective maths and science teachers. The modules have been already implemented in Higher Education Institutions in Germany, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Slovakia. The modules are also available free of charge and for immediate use on Erasmus+ Project Results Platform, in Scientix as well as on IncluSMe web portal https://inclusme-project.eu/.By offering international summer schools and multiplier events, IncluSMe strengthened transnational cooperation between universities in establishing mobility programmes for maths and science students in initial teacher education. The project brought together 11 teams of higher education institutions for initial teacher education from across Europe comprising experts in maths and science education, in inclusion and diversity, in mobility and intercultural learning, as well as people involved in pilot projects for refugees:University of Education Freiburg, Germany (coordinating institution)University of Nicosia, CyprusUniversity of Hradec Králové, Czech RepublicUniversity of Jaen, SpainNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GreeceVilnius University, LithuaniaUniversity of Malta, MaltaUtrecht University, NetherlandsNorwegian University of Science and Technology, NorwayJönköping University, SwedenConstantine the Philosopher University, Slovakia

Teaching is a very stressful profession. Researchers point out that one of the sources for that stress is dealing with challenging student behavior . By challenging, we mean behavior that is oppositional, defiant and overall uncooperative. Handling disciplinary issues or better, not being able to handle disciplinary issues, is one of the major reasons for teacher attrition (Ingersoll, 2001a· 2001b), particularly for novice teachers. Moreover, failed attempts at managing challenging behavior in the classroom is a cause for many hours of instruction lost. Self efficacy, the perceived ability to influence outcomes (Bandura, 1977), is very important for teachers (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2007). Teachers' low self-efficacy in managing student behavior is considered one of the variables that have a longitudinal effect on teacher burnout (Brouwers & Tomic, 2000).Pre-service (prospective) teachers while attending university they are informed about behavior disorders and strategies to deal with them. It is only only probable, however, that while placed at a practicum, pre-service teachers do not come into contact with behaviors that we would consider challenging. The supervision provided by a professional teacher during teaching practice takes away from the novice the authenticity of the teaching experience and short but eliminates the chance of having to deal with problems of student conduct.Giving teachers the opportunity to deal with challenging behaviors in a controlled environment with the appropriate supervision would improve their level of professional preparedness or effectiveness (if already professionals) and decrease their chances of developing burnout and eventually dropping out of the profession. Such an opportunity can be simulated by using Virtual Reality technology in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) includes simulated students (Avatars) that provide teachers the opportunity to develop their pedagogical practice in a safe environment that doesn’t place real students at risk. Through the experience of training in a VLE prospective teachers practice the management skills they need to become effective in their chosen professions, and pre-service teachers can hone and refine their skills. For the purposes of our project participating pre-service and professional teachers will be teaching one STEM or one language based subject (Language, history etc) while supervised by an experience trainer. In the VLE the teachers will respond to student-avatars who may exhibit some kind of inattentive, oppositional of defiant behavior.Overall VIRTUOUS intends to create a compendium of all behavior management techniques and methods that have been documented to be effective and develop a training curriculum that will teach those skills. A number of teaching scripts (scenarios) aligned with that curriculum will be developed in the context of teaching STEM and language based subjects (Language, History, Religion). We will develop the student-avatars and a Virtual Learning Environment in which the trainee will be enacting the scenarios and finally evaluate the effectiveness of our program. There will be 10 participants (5 novice or prospective teachers, 5 professional teachers) who will be trained in a VLE to exercise their behavior management skills.Our intention is to develop a new paradigm for training teachers by creating an environment with ample opportunities for trainees to develop, or hone behavior management skills. We aspire to further develop this paradigm so as to encompass all teaching subjects and eventually offer a convincing case to universities or schools of pedagogy to adopt our paradigm as the least threatening, full of training opportunities, inexpensive and effective way of imparting new skills to prospective teachers.