This strategic partnership project aims to help move VET schools and colleges to the next level with respect to internationalisation. The partners in this project strongly believe that a successful and innovative strategic partnership will play a central role in positioning our activities nationally and internationally. There are a number of ad hoc partnerships that participate in mobility and innovative projects within EU funded programmes. However, the disadvantages that present themselves with year to year funding are significant to hinder and prevent the development of alliances between institutions that could provide real added value and benefits to students, staff and the local economy.This project aims to forge a formal strategic partnership between four large organisations. It will explore the breadth and depth to which this partnership can stretch to bring benefit to their vision and priorities as well as those of their locality and region. Each partner will identify their institutional goals, taking full account of their regional economies, and a process of sharing and agreeing a common agenda for collaboration will be undertaken. Local and regional stakeholders will be consulted on this draft partnership agreement and measures will be put in place to ensure the sustainability of the strategic alliance and its activities. A log will record the development and unfolding of the partnership process, its scope and nature, the barriers and the best and worst bits that do or don't work. Partnership will help to develop quality placements based on partners' experience and knowledge of the productive or service sectors.The previous cooperation with companies in their areaswill be crcucial to provide work placements for teachers and students: - On one hand, because every partner would know the companies activities and would know how they fit on participants' profiles,- An on the other hand because every partner will be able to facilitate agreements and suitable conditions.Out of this experience the partnership will produce a manual that would assist other potential strategic partnerships in the VET sector. The project will enhance the aims of the Mobility Charter by aligning strategic policies between institutions and by sharing common ambitions and objectives.

"The UN 2015 sustainable development (SD) agenda requires a united effort from all stakeholders should poverty be eradicated, our planet protected and prosperity for everyone ensured. Lifelong learning and education are key components to the fulfilment of this vision and is encapsulated in the fourth SDG. Specifically, SDG 4.7 aims to ensure that by 2030 all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote SD, including among others through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). PEERMENT rises from the cross of two main considerations: - On the one hand, teachers' training is one of the most relevant and efficient tool for school innovation and improvement. Mentoring and Peer Mentoring are among the most effective ways of staff training, largely present in the world of business and in the volunteering and civil society organizations, but paradoxically very little used in the European systems of Formal Education. Annually, many teachers leave courses enthusiastic to put into practice initiatives which encourage SD. However, upon return to the reality of the classrooms and communities, their passion may be challenged by inability to apply theory to practice or resource constraint. Avenues to rekindle their desire become crucial and research indicates continual engagement to be effective. - On the other hand, ESD is increasing its importance for the future of the new generations, who will face in the next decades dramatic and global challenges. Unfortunately, national policies don't currently foresee adequate ""accompanying measures"" at the level of teachers' training. The new importance of ESD requires new and unprecedented competences of teachers: they should be able to lead their pupils towards the values of peace, solidarity, democracy, and at the same time to allow them to understand complex phenomena using knowledge coming from a lot of different subjects. Currently, none of the existing national systems of teachers' training in the EU appear able to support teachers in this new and difficult challenge. In short, ESD is nowadays marching on the legs of a few willing teachers. So, the purpose of this project is to lay - out, test, improve and disseminate a new model of Mentoring and Peer - Mentoring for ESD. This aim will be reached through a process of Action / Research that will directly involve about 20 Education Specialists as teachers' trainer and senior mentors, about 50 teachers as mentees through in Local Testing Groups (30 of which will receive a ""full immersion"" international experience of Peer Mentoring), about 800 pupils, with further teachers (around 100) involved in the Local and International Systems of Mentoring. PEERMENT is innovation - oriented and will produce five Intellectual Outputs: 1. a study on good practices existing in the EU in the field of Mentoring and Peer - Mentoring; 2. a system for recognizing and validate the new competence of ""Mentor for ESD""; 3. guidelines for Education Specialists who want to work as ""Mentors for ESD""; 4. guidelines for teachers who want to be involved in Mentoring and Peer - Mentoring systems; 5. a set of didactic materials on some relevant ""Global Challenges"", in form of ""web - quests"". All these Outputs will be produced through a strong involvement of direct target - groups in processes that have these steps: design of a prototype - experimentation - self-evaluation - improvement of the prototype - dissemination. The process will include: - local seminars to test the effectiveness of the guidelines for Education Specialists; - local testing courses to experiment the guidelines for teachers; - practical work of mentees teachers with their students, to test the competences acquired thanks to the training based on mentoring. A series of Multiplier events and a transnational learning activity (in the form of teachers' course) at the end of the project, will be the main tools for dissemination, together with a massive use of the project website, social media, newsletters addressed to thousands of stakeholders and press conferences. In the short - medium term, the envisaged impacts are: - Capacity building of Education Specialists and Teachers in projecting, planning and managing a mechanism of mentoring and peer- mentoring for ESD; - Empowerment of students in the key - competences, through their involvement in innovative experiences of learning and active citizenship. The longer-term benefits will be: - Mainstreaming and diffusion of mentoring and peer - mentoring for teachers' initial and in service training, not only in the field of ESD. - Enhancement of ESD in the EU, conceived as a fundamental and inter-disciplinary part of curricula. PEERMENT is a concrete contribution towards the Global Action Programme on ESD that seeks to generate and scale-up concrete actions in ESD and is intended to make a substantial contribution to the post-2015 agenda."

"<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries in all continents. Education systems are now asked to capitalize the lessons learned, embedding the innovation generated under emergency, switching to sustainability of novel approaches, methods and practices. In many countries, education providers are struggling to integrate Digital Learning in their curricula, reorganizing their offer and delivery systems accordingly. Their prior concerns seem to be focused on technical requirements of digital learning systems and tools, on how to exploit the opportunities offered by these systems for effective delivery, how to integrate them in the curricular activity (blended learning) and on what kind of skills and competences teachers and learners should have, in order to use these new tools in the best possible way. On the other hand, the lockdown has made evident that digital is changing our approaches, ways of organizing ourselves, of interaction and expression. It is also true that the overload coming from long-time internet connections is extremely tiring, physically as well as psychologically. Digital learning implies not only the need of coping and adopting a so-called “digital mindset”, but also the wellness of each involved person (Trainer/teacher, learner).In Denmark, a research conducted among 20.000 students and 3.000 teachers in 9 learning institutions regarding online training, which was financed by the Ministry for Higher Education and Science, revealed that 6 out of 10 students consider that their professional development is worse with online education than usual. Teachers are also experiencing a decrease in quality. This is shown by a comprehensive study of online education in higher education during the corona shutdown in spring 2020.One in three had difficulty planning their time and breaks, and many miss the social activities associated with taking an education (Onlineundervisning går ud over studerendes læring, published on January 2021). In addition according to Center for Digital Youth Care, “Both in counselling and on school presentations, we have experienced that young people lack physical contact. The discussion has gone from ""the digital contact works really well – why would we meet more than we do"" to ""I'm tired of hanging out on platforms – I miss the physical a lot"" (“Vi savner det fysiske!”: Observationer fra unges digitale hverdag under Covid-19, CfDP). In the light of these premises, WIDE project assumes that for development and sustainability of full inclusive education systems/programs, it is necessary to adopt a holistic approach, starting from the design phase including wellbeing of both, professionals and trainees/learners, as crucial dimension for effective LTTAs and retention of the learning outcomes themselves. Shortly, wellness plays and essential role in the design, development of inclusive digital/blended learning programs, and delivery systems.<< Objectives >>On a specific level, the project aims at reaching practical and specific goals. In fact, given the previously mentioned scenario WIDE aims at taking care of the personal/professional wellbeing of the educational process related to online/blended training which has been put at stake during endless hours of digital learning. The aim is to tackle the challenges which digital learning has put into evidence in this over one year of pandemic experience focusing on the creation of healthy learning contexts, wellness educational procedures, beneficial attitudes in acting online educational moments for both the teachers/trainers and the learners. By developing an innovative framework applied to VET education WIDE looks forward to making the online educational experience a positive one, a fruitful one, with higher impact and effectiveness, shared motivation (for both targets).Trainers/teachers and students shall feel an equal enjoyment in delivering/attending online education paths compared to the face-to-face methodology. They shall perceive the value of what they are learning in this e-education conditions, shall appreciate it as a fully integrative approach to learning (not exclusively related to the emergency situation of the pandemic) with unique values. Finally, the target shall perceive digital/blended education also as valuable due to the wellbeing conditions which can/shall be promoted in its delivery.Having achieved the above, the WIDE project objectives, on a large scope, are: •Contributing to the reinforcement of inclusiveness of education systems in digital era;•Developing innovation for education policies;•Fostering participatory and multi-stakeholders approaches to innovation in education•Integrating the dimension of wellbeing as a crucial one, evaluating the quality and the responsiveness of education systems, as well as the resilience of students and teachers.<< Implementation >>In order to meet the project objectives and achieve the expected impacts of the project, it is foreseen that the following activities will be implemented: Throughout the project’s lifetime, 5 project results will be developed: R1 - Wellbeing in online/blended education analysis, so as to collect meaningful data regarding needs and perceptions experienced by learners, teachers and parents during distance learning in order to inspire the customization process of the modelR2 - The WIDE methodological framework, the customized model to be tested in VET education through a set of pilots involving targets in all partner countries and finalized to verify the effectiveness of the framework itself and its finetuning.R3 - Wellbeing guidelines for inclusive digital education in e-learning pathways, to support VET professionals, teachers, trainers, and all interested actors in applying the framework, adopting the methodology in the design & development of online/blended educationR4 - WIDE e-learning path, to guarantee the diffusion of the model and support the training of trainers and stakeholdersR5 - Policy recommendation for healthy online education, a policy paper providing key recommendations for the implementation of WIDE model in VET and tips to overcome relevant challenges Pilot activitiesR2, R3 and R4 will be pilot tested in each country from M12 to M22. Pilot activities will serve as training paths corresponding to reference framework and target groups (students/trainees/educators from secondary schools, university). Based on feedback the aforementioned 3 results will be adjusted and finalised on M23. It is expected that 750 participants (learners and teachers) will be involved in pilots. Internal project communication will work through:- 4 transnational meetings (IT, KR, ES, DK) in M2, M12, M21, M27- n. 1 C-training devoted to partners’ staff and open to local relevant stakeholders in Italy, delivered by Dr. Ioannis Angelis, author of the Lov-e and cur-e-osity model for the redesign and customization of the original model to be tested within VET education. 14 participants, 2 per partner- Monthly and ad hoc Zoom meetings - Quality Assurance and Monitoring and Evaluation control As of quality assurance, Monitoring and Evaluation actions, with the support of the appointed external evaluator, will be realized periodically: 1) each 7 months with regards to administrative and financial monitoring, 2) each month, through the virtual meetings and during the physical transnational meetings, for checking the correct implementation and the respect of the project’s timeline, results of the LTTAs and of the Multiplier events included; 3) periodical, structured feedback of stakeholders involved in the validation meetings.4) Preparation of an intermediate report and a final report on M14 and M28, respectively. 5) ad hoc reports to be produced in relation to each monitored and evaluated activityFinally, a strong dissemination strategy will be designed, so as to reach effectively the relevant target groups (-VET- teachers/trainers, students, parents, participants with fewer opportunities etc.). The dissemination activities include: -the organisation of 7 multiplier events, one in each partner country. during the last 2 months of the project- at least 195 attendees in total-Digital dissemination events (at least one per partner), involving direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project’s results. -Validation Meetings with relevant stakeholders in each country will be also part of the communication strategy, playing the role of a steering committee (min 10 members)-4 newsletters to be issued at months 7; 14; 21; 28 in all partner languages, mailing list to 8K contacts-4 press releases to be edited by the communication lead partner, translated into partners’ languages and published on local and specialised magazines (online/printed)-Establishment and development of social media channels<< Results >>Through the implementation of the project, a sound management and a proactive cooperation, partners (DK, IT, GR, CY, ES, KR, FR) expect to obtain relevant results and outcomes:* Realize a survey and report at European level involving partners, associated ones and other education providers in Europe belonging to each partner’s network, aiming at collecting information regarding perceptions of students/trainees, teachers/trainers, parents, related to long time exposition to distance learning. The data will be analysed to profile if and how wellness is considered as valuable dimension to be foresight in the design of digital/blended learning environments.* Design, customization and sharing of a common framework focused on wellbeing as crucial dimension of effective and inclusive education in the digital era: this framework will be inspired by the Lov-e & Car-e-osity model created by Dr. Ioannis Angelis, which induces a participatory and relationship-based process for digital learning. It respects and places the learner’s learning needs at the centre and pays attention on how this can be adapted to the learner’s wellness and life. Output of this action will be the intervention framework/model, redesigned and adapted to be transferred from corporate environments to VET education.* Design and develop an e-learning path for VET professionals (teachers, trainers, educators, et.) aiming at supporting the achievement of necessary competences to apply the novel methodology to educational contexts, fostering capitalization, diffusion and sustainability over the project’s life and behind the partnership.* Testing the WIDE framework in all partner countries, within VET education chain, with specific reference to secondary up to university curricula. Each partner will coordinate a local pilot. Activities will be monitored and evaluated for finetuning of the framework IO3.* Developing policy recommendations for innovating educational policies, though a participatory approach based on the involvement of local up to international stakeholders and policy makers. The focus of the process will be defined by recommendations guiding the correct design of inclusive digital learning environments respecting a holistic approach to involved people.Project results:R1 - Wellbeing in online/blended education analysisR2 - The WIDE methodological frameworkR3 - Wellbeing guidelines for inclusive digital education in e-learning pathwaysR4 - WIDE e-learning pathR5 - Policy recommendation for healthy online education EXPECTED IMPACTS:* Increasing awareness of local, regional, national, and international stakeholders, private and public, on the importance of wellbeing as key dimension in the design, development, anddelivery of training programs, especially in case of blended and/or online learning* Promoting cooperation among teachers and trainers* Upskilling of teachers, trainers, VET professionals* Boosting the development of skills for life for teachers as well as learners* Innovating education policies including wellbeing as essential dimension for effective and inclusive learning"

Today, an open public debate is as important as ever. As one of the most important elements of a healthy democracy, a public debate allows citizens to be introduced to the ideas and values of others while simultaneously sharpening their own. This public debate is gradually shifting from the physical to the digital domain. Online, however, things work differently. Many people, organizations and governments are concerned about the prevalence of fake news, hate speech, and self-enforcing echo chambers on the main online platforms. Therefore stimulating and facilitating meaningful dialogues between students on societal and moral issues is believed to be a key element of civic education, both as a form and goal.However, teachers across the European continent indicate they find it difficult to teach civic education online, and guiding discussions in particular. Moreover, several Dutch evaluations amongst students in vocational education have shown that the methods currently used in civic education are often not geared toward the experiences and interests of students, and therefore not motivating enough.That is why this project aims to develop and validate a new, evidence based digital discussion platform for civic education on a European scale that allows students from different schools across the continent to discuss important, thought-provoking European topics in a unique way: anonymous, one-on-one, and without distractions! The target group of this project are students in vocational education (MBO, or their respective equivalent) from the Netherlands, Romania, Italy, and Portugal. Studies on citizenship competences in vocational education have shown substantial lower levels amongst students in vocational tracks than amongst students in academic tracks, and less experience with discussions.

"Technologies that are currently shaping the economy, such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing or robotics, must be better integrated into training in order to keep pace with the challenges of the job market. Unfortunately, many teachers in most VET organisations are not familiar with these technologies. However, if these technologies are not deployed in VET programmes as quickly as possible, Europe risks a drastic loss of expertise and competence compared to other nations on the world market. However, a teacher as a key person for starting the training of today's pupils does not have the appropriate resources in schools to start this process. For this reason, the project ""Educate and Train emerging Challenges: Internet of Things"" (Train IoT) aims to create a complete set of tools to address this dilemma. This set consists of:- An elaborated curriculum for the implementation of Internet of Things in the classroom.- Hardware components for use in class (IoT Kit ""Raspberry Pi"" and IoT Kit ""ESP"")- A so-called ""IoT Broker"" with a corresponding iOS app to make the Internet of Things tangible and experienceable in class.- A Massive open online course with videos for an easy introduction to the subject. The set has been extensively tested at several Italian schools of our partner ""Consorzio degli Istituti Professionali"" (CIP) and enables a cost-effective introduction to the topic of IoT, both initially in class and more complex projects in the sense of ""project-based learning"" to implement. The project was implemented by the following consortium:Universities: Bochum University of Applied Sciences (HBO, IoT Kit and IoT Broker Development, Curricular Content), Tallinn University of Technology (Taltech: Curricular Content)KMUs: WAPP GmbH (WAPP: programming of apps and websites, IoT integration), it:matters (ITM, project management, conception of IoT kit and broker, implementation), ITT Group (ITT: development of IoT hardware, IoT integration), Associazione Glocal Factory (GF: dissemination and publication)Vocational training organisations: Consorzio degli Istituti Professionali (CIP, intensive test of the set, requester) The set developed in the course of the project was extensively tested in class by our partner CIP with the schools connected to the network. Following (partly shortened) feedback from the involved partners:We would like to start with our teachers, who have contributed a very important part to the success of the project:Marcello Dessolis, Bassi Burgatti Cento: ""Now I am planning to include some activities in the curricula of the third and fourth classes of the technology courses, therefore I could say that the TrainloT project has been very useful for me"". Cesare Casirati, Ferraris Pancaldo Savona: ""TrainloT Project is useful in helping to transform the students' approach to the world, using plug and play devices for data monitoring and usage; allowing to project and test connected devices designed to emulate the real world loT networks."" Benedetto Coriale and Luca Pignagnoli, ""Silvio d'Arzo"" institute of Montecchio Emilia: ""In our opinion the best result of this project is the participation, motivation and interest of the students"" Benedetto Coriale and Luca Pignagnoli, ""Silvio d'Arzo"" institute of Montecchio Emilia: ""The TrainloT project can be very useful for the Italian school, because it can lead students to acquire important skill in the framework of an innovative subject like Internet of Things. Moreover it can be seen as enhancement of ordinary didactic programming"" Nicoletta Rossi, ITE G.B. Bodoni Parma: ""In general, even if lot is perceived as something easy to use and learn, it is not. In fact, there is a need to teach lot in a simple, effective and (why not?) enjoyable way. Let's hope our work will help in this new challenge!"" Further messages from the other partners involved:Dr. Sven Seiler: ITM: ""We are very happy to have made a valuable contribution to our Italian partners with TrainIoT and the developed Iot starter kits! The positive feedback spurs us again and again on such projects in the field of vocational training to conceive and then successfully implement"" Rosanna Rossi, CIP: ""The proposal of the project has been useful on two sides. Firstly the didactic approach is very active and has a proposal that is winning and close to the experience of the students, it is very useful for motivation of students Secondly the project proposal is very useful for the revision of vocational curricula.""Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Köhn, HBO:“It is very important for young people to learn in a practical way the ideas behind modern research buzzwords like “IoT” (Internet of Things)” / “It was a pleasure to work with very committed Italien students and teachers.”"