The three schools involved in the project are technical and vocational schools that realized, after numerous and continuous contacts, that they share some common traits:* the school mission* similar students with similar educational needs* members of staff willing to cooperate in order to improve* the need of teachers to share their educational experiences so as to improve the quality of their educational offer as well as the internal organization of the school. These three partners highlighted their common interest in the objectives of European cooperation and their common belief that it is necessary to provide students with opportunities to work together if they want to improve their soft skills and competences for active citizenship.For all the schools, the students generally belong to the lower middle class, with limited opportunities of facing an international context. They have a highly work-oriented mindset, but they find it difficult to adapt to the needs of companies, which require flexible and autonomous workers, capable of working in a team and with a good knowledge of the English language. This project originates from this premise and aims to provide:* students with the necessary competences for their success both as citizens and workers* teachers and members of staff with the instruments to reach this goal through cooperation, comparison and exchange of good practices. We think that the development of this process will allow us to support our students in a process of strengthening of various skills (language skills, IT skills, digital skills, communication) as well as in the process of development of an entrepreneurial mentality, oriented towards Europe and the world. The participation of teachers in the activities will create moments of exchange of opinions which will bring, on a personal level, to an improvement in their motivation and satisfaction towards their daily work; on the other hand, on a professional level, this will allow them to deepen their methodological and educational competences. The acquaintance with other educational systems will allow the Principal to reorganize the school in a way that will be beneficial. The project will involve 2/4 classes of students aged 16 to 19 in each school, as well as most teachers working on those classes. It will entail curricular activities in each school as well as presence meeting among partners. These curricular activities will entail an entrepreneurial and operative approach, the use of the English language and the use of ICT during the whole process. We chose to adopt the “work based learning” methodology and we will realize an HardWare and SoftWare system for data acquisition composed of:* a data acquisition device* an interface server* a web portal.This system will serve the purpose of monitoring, remotely, some physiological functions for:* bedridden patients* sportsmen/women in training* workers doing “extreme” work. In class, there will be simulations of business activities which will involve* the definition of the product specifications* making and verification* solution to emerging problems* final testing.The students will be divided in groups, some dedicated to the ICT component, others to the research of BIO-MEDICAL parameters. They will work in a team, continuously exchanging information both within the school and with the partners. Students and teachers will always be involved in every phase of the project, from the definition of product specification, to the final testing. This method of work will require continuous confrontation and the definition of a model of good practices. There will be 6 common meetings, 2 for each Country, all lasting 5 days. In these occasions, the technical-vocational aspects of the activities performed by each school will be analysed and the following activities will be discussed. However, these moments will also be an opportunity to delve much deeper in the cultural background of the hosting Country through visits to museums, historical and artistical landmarks. There will also be convivial moments. Furthermore, during these meetings there will be the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs and to visit companies, so as to give the opportunity to get better acquainted to the world of work of the Country. The positive results reached by the students, validated by the companies that will support the project, will be the legacy of a common work that will make teachers want to continue this kind of cooperation in order to enable the students to meet the real needs of the society. Of course, the most important benefits of all this activities will be the contribution it will give to the diffusion of the principles of European cooperation, involving new teachers and many students during this whole journey of growth.

The planned school partnership is an initiative going back to the „European CNC-Network“ established in 2006, a cooperation of more than 30 vocational schools in Europe. The most popular and probably most successful school project of our network was the Charlemagne Youth Price Award winning project in 2010, the „Train for EUROPE“.Within that school partnership „Train for EUROPE”, the participating 24 partner schools produced model locomotives and individual wagons displaying characteristic motifs by using computer-controlled CNC machinery. So, for example, the German wagon is showing a single printing letter framed by an open book in honor of Johannes Gutenberg and the Italian wagon is representing historic inventions by Leonardo da Vinci. By the end of the project, the project partners had exchanged the copies of their own wagons so that today every member of the project has got their own train with at least ten different wagons. These trains are displayed for the public in showcases within the school buildings and are put into operation at special events („open house presentations”).The planned school partnership´s objective is to link into the success of our „Train for EUROPE” by a digital upgrade. This follow-up project is putting its focus on the interaction of the described wagons by means of establishing a digital network linking the wagons using modern micro controlling technology and including the current demands of „Industry 4.0” as the future-related strategy. The defined project title is based on the widely spread „Digital Revolution 4.0” in industry, which – after the invention of the steam engine, the mass production in assembly lines and the computer technology having found its way into production – is seen as the forth step to a comprehensive and intelligent crosslinking between man and machine. The digitalized „Train for EUROPE“ exactly follows and meets these requirements as it offers a highly attractive training object in a sustainable setting and provides various learning materials for further educational use.As a first step, the motif of each wagon will receive electronic devices meant as a dynamic-upgrade based on the STE(A)M concept which may allow the integration of servo motors, audio-visual effects or installing speakers to play music. Apart from that, the showcases shall be equipped with modern touchscreen panels allowing interaction with interested students and visitors. By touching the panel, a radio-controlled impulse will be sent to a selected wagon and will activate the audiovisual moving effects at the wagon itself. At the same time, a video presentation on the screen will inform about the motif shown on the wagon and about the school that once built that specific wagon. By implementing a web-based network to the system, controlling wagons located at different schools in Europe shall be made possible. When using these new possibilities combined with an integrated webcam, Europe-wide remote interaction and monitoring of different animations will be made possible.The realization of this project idea is highly complex and demanding in view to the programming of the microcontrollers used for establishing the digital network, whereas all the needed goals and competences can be found in the national curricula for vocational IT-training. The students aged between 15 and 20 years will be supported by at least two teachers in each institution. These upgrades by implementing interaction and communication tools to the „Train for EUROPE” is to be seen as a pedagogical catalyzer motivating students to develop, shape and create multiple basic skills and advanced key competences. It will provide students with the chance and challenge to work and cooperate on a technically demanding task in an international atmosphere. In the foreground stands a solution-oriented peer-to-peer-learning approach. This will make students internalize not only the topic much more intensely as they need to develop and deepen the topic self-reliantly but benefit from one another by sharing and discussing results and values.Within the two-year running time of the project, six activities are planned. The focus of the different activities is closely linked to work progress in the project. The partner schools will take over different tasks within the project split in different work lines and separate work groups. Time between activities will be taken to fulfil the agreed tasks. Students will then communicate and discuss their suggestions and ideas via internet-based platforms such as eTwinning.The common work on this technical challenge will intensify the international and the mutual intercultural dialogue. Students will have to communicate in English as the project language and will actively develop their communicative competences. The common project work will inspire a common „European Spirit“, meaning that commonalities as well as the uniqueness of the individual project partners will become recognized.

"The six institutions in this application are all members of the ""European CNC-Network"" made up of approx 30 schools. The first project undertaken by the Network was ""Train for Europe"" which won the Charlemange Youth Prize in 2010. Another project called ""Train for Europe - RELOADED"" was a star project in 2013. All signed agreements to prolong and progress their association through further cooperation and project work. These were carried out under Comenius.Under the new format of Erasmus+ it is no longer possible to run with 20+ institutions and the CNC-Network has therefore decided to run smaller projects under KA229. At a preparatory meeting in Dublin in December 2018 it was decided to propose a number of technical projects and invite the members of the CNC-Network to vote for their choice of project. Furthermore, it was open to the participants to coordinate whichever project they chose. See Annex 1One of these was the Magical Moving Machine for Europe (3M4EU). This was originally discussed in Dublin in 2015 but not progressed at the time. It was the favoured project of the Irish school, Newpark Comprehensive, hence our willingness to coordinate it. The resolution has subsequently been updated to take account of changing application circumstances and technological developments. See Annex 2The basic idea of 3M4EU is to research, design, develop and manufacture a set of individual but complimentary ""Moving Machines"" which will be interconnected to form the final ""Magical Moving Machine for Europe"". Because we are a group of institutions with technological subjects/departments as well as academic areas, it is envisaged that the project will be multi-disciplinary. The final artifacts will be manufactured predominately by Computer Numerical Control technology. CNC Technology, however, has advanced outside the realm of Turning and Milling to the newer technologies of 3D Printing and Laser Cutting. It is therefore envisaged that the proposed project will take advantage of these developments and exploit them in the design, manufacture and operation of the Magical Moving Machine.Technological education is the common denominator for the proposed participants, however, each institution brings its own unique set of strengths and competences to the project. It is this unique set of skills and abilities that makes the project a diverse teaching and learning tool. Each institution will have the opportunity to learn from the other partners and the overall success will depend on the cooperation of all the participants working collectively to produce the final product.At this stage it is not possible, nor is it desirable, to define the final product too closely. Part of the overall plan is to develop the physical machines with the input of the students and the guidance of the teachers. However, for purposes of clarity, it can be thought of as a type of ""Marble Run"" mechanism where the initial motion is triggered by an external source and the final action in turn triggers the next machine and so on. The external power to activate and/or sustain the movement within the machines will be derived from renewable sources, thereby encouraging an awareness of sustainability among the students. The overall size of the individual machines will be limited to 500mm x 500mm x 500mm for reasons of cost and transportation.The activities that will be carried out during the transnational meetings are well defined in the resolution (Annex 2) but will also be developed and redefined as the project progresses. Initially, there will be a brainstorming activity based on the resolution. International workgroups will be set up to progress the design of the common components of the machines. These workgroups will maintain contact between the transnational meetings via eTwinning, email and through the project website. Other social media eg WhatsApp will be used for rapid/less formal contact. Separately, each institution will develop the design of their own unique Moving Machine while liaising with the members of each workgroup to ensure compatibility of design and inter-connectivity of machines.The methodology used in carrying out the project activities will be closely based on those developed by the CNC-Network in previous projects that have proved to be extremely effective. As previously mentioned, international workgroups for the various worklines (CAD, Prototyping, Mechanics, Electronics, Machining, Connectivity, etc) will be established and will work closely during and between the meetings.The resulting products, methodologies and impact of the project will form a permanent feature of the institutions involved. These results and methods will not only benefit the teachers and students directly involved but will be disseminated within the institutions and reported nationally and internationally through local and national publications, the project website, the eTwinning platform and the Erasmus+ Projects Results Platform (EPRP)."

STEP IN project reacts to current situation at secondary technical schools in Slovakia, Czech republic, Italy and Finland, and generally across Europe, caused by COVID - 19, that puts schools, teachers as well as students under the pressure of completely new, unexpected challenges, with the demand for the use of digital tools for teaching all the content online. The experience from spring 2020 brought several issues that teachers and students need to face, revealing problems, such as lack of ICT skills and experience on the side of education providers, lack of skills to exploit available online tools in greater extent, lack of teaching materials that would enhance online teaching, lack of cooperation among schools in sharing the teaching resources and methods and other issues. Also, one of the key problems, common across Europe (learnt about from the talks with project partners) is the unaccessibility of, and difficulties in providing vocational practical training that students from secondary technical schools, as well as from other vocational fields, could undertake during lockdown and online teaching, as there aren´t available teaching resources ready to use with this purpose. The difficulties caused by this fact, result in the lack of students´ skills and competences which they needed to acquire through practice, that would prepare them for their practical jobs and labour market needs. From these reasons, we would like to tackle this problem by focusing our attention on-15 teachers of 5 secondary technical schools, vocational subjects Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, and Logistics, including teachers of practical training related to this field, who will be directly involved in project activities, outputs development and pilot testing of materials, tools and methods related to online teaching-50 students of secondary technical schools, aged 15 – 19, undertaking theoretical and practical training on the above subjects, who will also contribute to development of the outputs and their pilot testing, from at leat 5 schools in SK, CZ, IT, FIN while developing project outputs:O1/Needs Analysis in the target groups of the teachers and students, related to online teaching and practical training in the fields of Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, resulting in setting priorities, content, methods and proven tools related to online teachingO2/Educational Video materials/learning units to teach these topics, including online modules, supporting practical training on:1-Machining, eg. metal processing, turning, milling, grinding and drilling, CNC machining2-Hydraulics and pneumatics, eg. hydraulics, pneumatics, electrohydraulics and electro - pneumatics3-Logistics, eg. truck transport, eg. accessories and equipment for loading, unloading and transporting groupage goods (such as rear or side-lift, forklift, general cargo crane, hook and demountable containersO3/Tests for reviewing incoming and outcoming knowledge and skills of students, related to the machinery use, before and after the use of online educational resources, developed in O2, for the grades of 1 – 4 of secondary technical schools, with sets of questions, for each of the topics:•Machining (manual metalworking, turning, milling, grinding and drilling), CNC machining•Hydraulics and pneumatics (hydraulics, pneumatics, electrohydraulics and electropneumatic)•Logistics, eg. truck transportO4/ Examples of good practice for teachers with overview of suitable tools / technologies and methods for online practical training and teaching concrete vocational topics, tested during the project, Also, we will focus on testing the outputs and implementing them in practice, in 5 pilot schools and/or organisations from SK, CZ, IT, FIN and subsequently enabling their use among other schools from the same vocational field, as well as transferability and adaptability in other vocational fields. Project should be carried out transnationally due to identical problems the schools face and needs created by COVID – 19 in all partner countries, and due to first common experience with online teaching gathered by schools during lock – down in the spring time, as well as the common will to provide high quality incusive digital education across Europe, through mutual cooperation, under the new circumstances. In the project, we expect the following impact: -Detailed needs analysis carried out, identifying teacher´s and students needs in relation to online teaching of vocational subjects (O1)-New educational resources developed for online practical teaching and training - interactive learning units, video – based, on the topics of Machining, Hydraulics and pneumatics, Logistics, including assesment tools – incoming and outcoming knowledge and skills tests for students (O2 & O3)-Cooperation skills developed, sharing of experience and teaching resources, supporting each other and enhancing teaching togehter in a time of crises