"Following the latest world information, we have come to the conclusion that children with autism and social obstacles will increasingly be represented in society and education. Given the experience so far, we have realized that the typical population does not know their characteristics and abilities and do not always show interest in cooperation and interaction with this population. Their horizons and experiences are very scarce and poor, and all this has prompted us to think in the direction of how to change it. Through our project: ""We are the same although we learn in a different way"" we believe we will achieve it.The main goal is: To prepare typical pupils and teachers to understand, accept and involve children with autism and social obstacles in society. The project will involve 14 students aged 15 to 17 from each partner school, 3 students with autism or social obstacles, 4 teachers and 1 profile from the professional service. Partners in the project will be schools from the Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Lithuania. 30 hours of workshops are planned on the topic: Autism and social obstacles in the primary schools and activities at 5 meetings in which all partner schools will take part. Two events will be organized: Word autism awareness day on April 2 and organizing a panel of experts on the topic: ""Socialization"". English classes, culture, risks and security will be organized. Through the activities, the participants will be introduced to the notion of autism, how many people with autism and social obstacles are represented in the general population and what are their characteristics. By acquiring the knowledge of the participants, one less known problem will be brought closer to them. They will realize that people with autism and social obstacles are among us and we need to create conditions to accept them in society. Something so unfamiliar, but widespread, will become familiar and understood. Through the activities of the project, teachers and students will learn the way of perceiving, the way of learning, the way of (non) communicating and what are the problems of people with autism and social obstacles. In this way, they will understand that although they are so different, they can engage actively in education and be successful. If we change the way of communication, the methodology of work and techniques and we accept diversity, we will greatly help children with autism and social obstacles. We will enrich the experience, work and personality of the participants.Collaborating with partner participants from other countries will exchange practices and ways to solve these problems in different countries across Europe. Opinions, knowledge and experiences will be exchanged and will be taught to communicate at a higher level. The trainings, workshops, events and exchange of experiences from the meetings will contribute to the participants in the project and other students and teachers from all partner schools and local people to engage in the process of social inclusion. Teachers will increase the capacity to work with students with autism and social obstacles . They will learn new methods and techniques. In this way, it will indirectly influence both the way of work and the typical students, because by applying the new knowledge they will see that each student is unique and special. They will realize that by adjusting the methods of work according to the abilities and possibilities of each student, the maximum offered by the student will be derived. All participants in the project will have long-term benefits from the implemented activities. Upon returning from joint meetings, the participants will transfer their experiences to other students and colleagues. The teachers will apply the new learned methods in the regular teaching within all subjects. The finished materials will be applied on the lessons. The participants will acquire the skills to create visual assets for these categories of children and make social stories that will be used in their later life. Students will acquire skills to communicate with children with autism and social obstacles . Project activities will contribute to changing our attitudes, opinions and feelings towards people with autism and social obstacles . Through joint engagement and mutual cooperation and assistance, we will help people with autism and social obstacles not feel isolated in their environment, they will understand that we want to help and that we are here for them. All this will enrich everyone with new experiences, newfound feelings and will raise us to a higher level of functioning.The results of the project will be presented through: media (local radio and TV), logo of the project, printing and distribution of an information brochure, prepared web site and Facebook profile and a final event in all schools. In this way, the dissemination of the information and the achieved results of the project will be carried out."

According to the World Health Organisation, environmental factors could be responsible for up to 20 % of all deaths in Europe. Europe already has high standards for air quality, but in many cities, pollution remains above acceptable levels. Pollution is a huge threat against which there are no forms of successful adaptation. The conservation of the environment and its diversity is a moral duty of man, conscious of being part of a broader ecological relationship in which he is inserted in the same way as the other endangered species and , for this ,needs protection. Another very important problem linked to unemployment, social exclusion, and poverty is early school leaving. There are many reasons why some young people give up education and training prematurely:personal or family problems, learning difficulties, or a fragile socio-economic situation. Some of the most common reasons that are the same for all school partners are addressed to a range of triggers and combines education and social policy, youth work and aspects such as demotivation and dissatisfaction . Based on these facts and having in mind the present situation concerning the environment in our regions and the number of drop-outs at our schools we decided to prepare this project. The countries involved in this project proposal are: Bulgaria (coordinator), Italy, Croatia, FYROM,France and UK.The age range of students is 14-19.The aim of our project:”The splendor of nature” is to make more investments in knowledge and encourage innovation and the development of more sustainable solutions to solve different environmental problems. We would like to reduce threats from pollution common for the European region and to improve the standards of living adequate for the health and well-being of the population by providing opportunities for environmental democracy via the use of ICT and environmental protection activities, and raising awareness about environmental problems in order to result in positive development in our regions. The project activities focus on environmental education on the one hand and on the development and promotion of national reserves and natural heritage at the other hand. We would like to foster groups being at risk and motivate them to stay at school and show them that through studying they will be prepared to build their own future. Our plan is to offer students research project within areas that examine man's impact on the environment. In order to reach the objectives of the project we have planned 2 Joint Staff Training events and 4 Short-term exchanbges of groups of pupils.General objectives:-To create an environmental awareness in all students -To raise the awareness about environmental problems -To analyze and classify components of natural ecosystems in parks and natural reserves-To raise the awareness on the high natural values of the areas and the chances involved on local, national and international level.-To reduce drop-outs by increasing the motivation and satisfaction of students Specific objectives:-To educate people to respect environment so that people can avoid speculation, pollution, desertification and deforestation. -To improve and to develop the use of the English language and ICT -To develop research skills for observing, recording, comparing, classifying ecosystems of our region-To increase public awareness about the factors threatening the life in nature-To promote transnational cooperation and exchange.The tangible results expected by the project are: botanical manual; brochure of theoretical and experimental analysis of the; a virtual phrase book, an environmental protection e-magazine; a catalog with National parks of our countries; a booklet with extinct plants of each partner region; a CD with presentations;an interactive map; project website;Facebook page;dissemination materials;eTwinning(Twin Space) platform; PowerPoint presentations.The intangible results expected by the project are:Students will acquire new knowledge and an increasing interest in knowing more about plants and animals of different ecosystems, ecological education and applying all this knowledge in the field.The students will acquire the tools to benefit of the possible mobility opportunities for studying and working inside the European space and surfing through the eTwinning and Facebook.Teachers will gain by strengthening communication between the students and themselves, exchanging ideas in the field of environmental protection and the development of inter cultural dialogue with colleagues and students from partnering schools All schools will benefit by creating better relations between teachers, students and the community, making school more dynamic and stimulating for all.The importance of natural parks will be raised to the public.All schools will benefit by creating better relations between teachers,students and the community, making school more dynamic and stimulating for all.

"Values in Education: Teens in Action!"" (VETA) is a two year project in which schools from eight countries of the European Union( Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) who had established a professional connection over the Internet or/and through previous personal contact, are involved.About 250 students from Years 9, 11 and 12 and 25 teachers have taken part in this challenging project working together to reach the same goals: to improve the students’ level of English as a lingua franca within the EU, to foster positive democratic values to prepare them for an active citizenship in their adult life whithin a common Europe, to increase the students' skills and level of competence in ICT, and Visual Literacy, and to promote cooperative work.Since our project aims at students between 15 and 18, a very critical age, we have considered it would be highly relevant and positive to work on twelve macro topics connected with values, these being: consumerism, poverty and solidarity, Internet safety, gender quality, interculturality, European citizenship, road safety, tolerance and respect, human rights, violence and hate, health and addictions and environmental issues. We have reached the project’s aims by means of watching, subtitling and discussing short films and movies based on these values, and above all by creating, both locally and internationally, student-produced short movies, documentaries or PSA .Therefore, we have provided students with the chance to express their own views and to be heard, and at the same time they have improved their foreign languages skills and competences in ICT and Visual Literacy, thus becoming the central elements of the teaching- learning process.As one of the key aims of the project is to foster cooperation amongst students and teachers, our methodology has been active, cooperative as opposed to competitive, and agreed through general consensus. Students have been encouraged to improve their social and autonomy competences by cooperating in transnational teams. Furthermore, teaching guides have been collaboratively designed to foster the reutilization of the audio-visual outputs in worldwide classes.Regarding the activities, in order to guarantee coordination, three general transnational meetings, plus a bilateral one in Germany for the two countries involved in the Long-term-study-mobility of pupils, have been held: the first one in Spain, and the other two in Norway and in Sweden, with the objective of planning the agenda, discussing key issues and monitoring and assessing the activities. We have developed eight local activities in which students have been be asked to accomplish specific tasks on eight of the mentioned values. Finally there have been two short term exchange of students per year, in Spain and Bulgaria in 2015,and in Finland and Lithuania in 2016, to work together and create internationally team –produced outputs on the four remaining values.Not only the students participating in this project have benefited from it, but also the teaching staff from the participating institutions, the whole educational communities of the partner schools, Local Communities and other European teachers, students and educational communities in general.Through the production of VETA DVD, we intend to transcend the scope of our schools and share our products and results not only locally but worldwide through the Internet, thus fostering the usage of English as a Lingua Franca, together with Spanish and German, raising awareness on EU values and promoting youngsters active citizenship and participation.We expect this project to have a pervading impact on our schools and local communities. Its expected outputs have been devised to be sustainable open access resources, which will remain accessible on the Internet, and which may be easily exploited by other schools and educational associations and institutions all over the world."