<< Background >>The project “An Emotionally-intelligent Approach to teaching Speaking in a forEign language,” or EASE for short, aims to improve the effectiveness of adult education in a foreign language by applying an emotionally-intelligent approach to teaching speaking skills. Six partners from five countries (France, Ireland, Spain, Romania, and Poland) will come together to develop resources for foreign language teachers in 6 languages: French, English, Spanish, Romanian, German, and Polish. There is much evidence to support the fact that there is in fact a link between speaking skills in a foreign language and emotional intelligence (EI). Over the past ten years, dozens of studies have confirmed a positive correlation between high EI and oral communication in a foreign language, and it has been recommended by linguistic researchers that foreign language educators utilise the benefits of social and emotional learning to enhance their students’ speaking skills, especially for those with low EI (Afshar & Rahimi, 2016 ; Sajad & Saeed, 2017; Mendez Lopez & Tun, 2017; Shabani, 2018; Esmaeeli et al., 2018). Regardless of the body of research that exists on the topic, the available teaching materials which adopt an EI approach available are either from scientific journals and quite difficult to digest, or not substantial in nature and merely touch on the topic. In fact, preliminary research carried out by the partners prior to writing the proposal revealed a serious lack of practical teaching materials in each of the project’s languages aside from English, with English still only producing limited results. EASE will thus attempt to create materials that are practical, digestible, and substantial to fill the gap in EI-related language teaching tools with a focus on oral communications.<< Objectives >>The overall aim of the EASE project is to improve the effectiveness of adult education in a foreign language by applying an emotionally-intelligent approach to teaching speaking skills. With this broad aim in mind, the specific project objectives are: - To improve the quality and availability of foreign language teaching resources for adults, particularly in oral communications, by creating original and innovative educational materials - To improve the capacity of foreign language teachers to break down emotional barriers to learning speaking skills through blended CPD sessions, thereby improving their quality of teaching, - To promote and implement an innovative approach in teaching speaking skills in a foreign language by using research-backed techniques to simultaneously improve emotional intelligence and the acquisition of a foreign language - To improve the resilience potential for adult language teaching institutions by creating materials adapted to face-to-face and online environments, thereby easing the transition between face-to-face and online learning environments - To increase adult learners’ communicative competence in a foreign language by encouraging self-directed learning and reflective thinking using an innovative digital platform<< Implementation >>In order to meet the objectives stated above, the partnership will carry out the following activities: Development of Project Results: Three innovative results will be produced as part of the EASE project. Each Result lead has the required expertise to direct the production of each result. The intended outcome of these results is to create freely-accessible materials to support foreign language teachers in their application of the Emotional Intelligence approach while teaching speaking in the classroom, as well as to support learners to become more self-directed and improve their skills outside of class as well. Publicity: A publicity plan will be developed by the lead partner which will focus on the promotion of the project’s aims, objectives, and results. Adult education institutions and other relevant stakeholders will be targeted through a wide outreach effort by the partnership via online and in-person communications. Transnational Project Meetings: Five TPMs have been planned, one in each country represented by the partnership. Multiplier Events: Toward the end of the project’s life and after the Results have been developed, each partner will hold a national Multiplier Event which will showcase what we have created with the expectation that invited organisations will use the products. Evaluation: The partners will follow an Evaluation plan created by the lead partner which will evaluate the extent to which the project is meeting its objectives and intended outcomes, plus the effectiveness of the partnership. 4 evaluation reports will be produced during the course of the project. Sustainability: The partnership will create and conform to a sustainability plan which will ensure that the project’s results will be used long beyond the duration of the project.<< Results >>The primary target group of the project is foreign language teachers in adult education, and the secondary target group will be adult learners of a foreign language. The EASE project will centre around the development of three innovative Results which are based in linguistic research and supported by the European framework DigiCompEdu: Result 1: Booklet on incorporating EI in foreign language teaching Result 2: Blended face-to-face and online Continuing Professional Development (CPD) sessions for language teachers on using EI approach Result 3: EASE Self-Directed Learning Platform Aside from the production of these results, we will also produce: - Project results in 6 languages (English, French, Spanish, Romanian, German, and Polish) - Management plan - Publicity plan - Evaluation plan - Sustainability plan - 5 Transnational Meeting agendas and minutes - 5 online meeting agendas and minutes - Multilingual project website - Project social media pages - Editions of digital newsletters - Editions of physical leaflets - Evaluation questionnaires for internal and external stakeholders - 4 publicity reports - 4 evaluation reports The project is expected to produce a number of intangible outcomes as well, including: - Improved quality and availability of foreign language teaching resources for adults - Increased capacity to successfully teach speaking skills - Stronger interpersonal relationships within the language classroom - Exchange of knowledge and best practices among partners on the topics of EI and language teaching - Increase resilience to changing circumstances (switching from face-to-face to online teaching) for adult education institutions - Increased emotional intelligence among the target groups - Heightened theoretical knowledge about EI’s application in the classroom - Improved ability among teachers to recognise and break down emotional barriers to learning - Increased communicative competence and confidence in a foreign language among students - Heightened ability among learners to engage in self-reflective thinking regarding their own language acquisition - The creation of an open and accepting foreign language classroom atmosphere for the institutions involved

The aim of the project was to prevent burnout at work and raise resilience by developing toolkits for SMEs staff, management staff, SME owners to help them to forecast burnout ( develop coaching and counselling methods and tools) recognize the warning signs, to take steps to get balance back and to change peoples’ approach to a balanced life, to improve working conditions, reduce the cost of burnout, stress. Main project rezults developed during the project lifetime are: - Framework about burnout and resilience- Assessment to explore and recognize burnout and resilience- Toolkit for resilience - 5 toolkits, 5 ways to raise resilience. Toolkits are linked to the test on identifying factors that hinder or help your resilience.5 toolkits are:1. Personal coping 2.Experience of work 3.Health and wellbeing 4.Think yourself strong 5.Create resilience in your environment- Toolkit for managers 5 toolkits, 5 ways to raise resilience designed for SME managers to help prevent burnout at work. The content helps spot any warning signs at an early stage and ultimately improve employees’ happiness in the workplace. The toolkits are linked to the self-assessment on identifying reduced resilience of your employees. 5 toolkits are:1.Circle of Influence2.Core Quadrants of Ofman3.GROW Model4.Progression Feedback5.Social Styles- E-learning development with gamification elements- Guidelines for workshops - A total of ten workshops were delivered across the partnership, with two workshops taking place in each partner country (Belgium, Italy, Poland, Portugal and the UK). The main objective of the workshops is to test the SME Tools to Prevent Burnout platform (IO5) with managers and employees working in SMEs. The platform has been designed for two target groups: managers and employees. The workshops enabled the partnership to test various aspects of the platform including the quality of platform content and how user-friendly it is. Guidelines are attached to this report together with the final report. The partnership grew from relationship established over several years with an emphasis arising from LdV Transfer of innovation.The project proposed a well-balanced partnership structure designed with full consideration of the skills and expertise necessary for the execution of the project. Okrganizations were directly involved in the development of the project: CTCP from Portugal, Obelisk from Belgium, Materahub from Italy, Inova from UK and Globalnet fro Poland. CTCP is a public training institution that operates in the area of footwear industry in Portugal. Obelisk is a company providing multiple trainings and consultancy, it's a customer-orientation, flexible, professional and mature organization with 16 years of expertise in the area of learning and development. INOVA Consultancy is a private for profit SME specialised in providing consultancy services and project work in the field of gender diversity and equality. Materahub IT is an aggregator of people and business, a “space” where they meet, encourage the creation of new job opportunities through a process of mentoring, training and business development. Globalnet specializes in e-learning solutions and cooperates with people from various vocations. It owns the e-learning platform that is adjusted to different training courses. These project partners are responsible for the creation of toolkits and e-learning content. Due to its geographical spread the project contains high cultural diversity and varied national contexts. In addition, the project is composed of partners with large networks of contacts and expertise in creating connections among organizations. Thus, the project impact and reach will go beyond the partner countries. Generally the project and its results will have a possitive impact on many areas. Not directly the project will cause the decrease of stress level and the general working conditions should, therefore, improve - less stress and tools to prevent burnout and raising resilience and at the same time: - raised resilience will influece the professional activity of employees- less people suffering from stress and equipped with tools to fight burnout and raise their resilience- self - assessment tools to assess participants resilience and help them raise it- less people suffering from stress-related conditions caused by work (cardiovascular, musculoskeletal disease, immunological problems)- better health of staff, wellbeing, improved satisfaction with life, possitive emotions-positive effect on health and resilience,-an increased mobility of people involved in the project, - an interest in the project of the employees organizations, companies,- interest in the project outcomes of the institutions not involved in partnership,-an increase of the offer of educational institutions,- development of new initiatives between partners from European countries,- increase in interest in lifelong learning

The SEDETT (Social Enterprise Development Education and Training Tools) project was a partnership of eight organisations (HEIs, training, community and youth advice organisations) from the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania and Lithuania, that was formed to explore factors affecting the sustainability of social enterprises from Oct 2016 – Oct 2018. The context for the project was that social enterprises recognize that they cannot rely on the continued availability of public funds to remain sustainable as businesses. Social enterprises need to have the capacity to attract investors in order to be sustainable and continue to deliver their goods and services. In addition, higher education and vocational training providers have a role to play in ensuring social enterprises remain sustainable by developing relevant curricula with appropriate learning resources that reflect social enterprise practitioners’ experiences. Social enterprises also needed to learn in order to achieve their own organisational development and this can be enhanced through the use of creative learning experiences that allow practitioners to develop their soft skills. Therefore this project aimed to:-•Produce a social enterprise capacity assessment tool (SECAT) for practitioners to use for self-evaluating their organisational development.•Produce learning resources for educators and trainers to use when developing inter-active course materials on social enterprise development.•Provide examples of resources for educators and trainers to use as creative learning experiences for social enterprise organisational development.The aims were achieved through case study research undertaken with over sixty key actors in twenty-two different types of social enterprise organisations that were located in the partners’ home countries. The synthesis of the collected data allowed an inter-active SECAT to be developed and blended open access e-learning materials to be generated which will facilitate personalized and organisational learning at differing levels of engagement. The project outputs were refined and developed in four workshop/training events that included locally based practitioners. The target groups for this project were students, teachers, trainers, partners’ institutions, research centres, careers and youth advisory agencies, policy-makers, existing social enterprises and their staff seeking to achieve development.The impacts of the project outputs include (i) the increased awareness and knowledge of social enterprise development at local, national and EU level; (ii) the availability of the SEDETT toolkit of open access blended e-learning materials for formal and in-formal courses of education and training; (iii) the use of the SECAT by practitioners to develop organisational capacity in the social enterprise sector across Europe, and (iv) the potential incorporation of the innovative learning methods into partner organisations education and training approaches. The innovative outputs of the project have contributed to the EMES research agenda on innovation in social enterprise and support the key priorities set out in the Europe 2020 Education and Training Strategy.

The Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe outlines the significant impact of manufacturing goods on natural resources, energy, the environment and climate change. In this way, significant improvements in furniture manufacturing processes and materials have the potential to contribute to a competitive furniture sector and related industries, as well as to their sustainability and energy efficiency. Thus, the Commission set in its “7th Environment Action Programme” that by 2020 50% of all public tendering procedures should endorse common core EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria. For that purpose, it has already been established a set of GPP criteria for different aspects of the furniture, such as production, use and waste. The GPP-Furniture project established an innovative partnership in four European countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Spain) formed by six partners: clusters, chambers and professional associations with a strong relation with the furniture and the procurement administrative bodies; Universities specialized on wood technology, design furniture and public procurement legislation; and a SME specialized in IT learning solutions. GPP-Furniture project had for objective to design and develop an e-learning training course to cover the skill and knowledge needs on green public procurement for current and future managers and workers of the furniture industry and habitat sector. To achieve this objective the partnership has carried out the following activities: - Analysis to identify the needs on the furniture sector related with public procurement and green public procurement. For this task it was done a survey to 65 respondents from the different consortium countries. As a final result, a report with survey results and main conclusions was launched.- Definition of the GPP-Furniture Joint Curriculum. Starting from the results of the previous survey, firstly it was defined the specific learning outcomes that the GPP-Furniture has to cover. Secondly, all learning outcomes were grouped into different units and modules. Finally, the different units and modules were weighted in accordance to the ECVET points, in order to facilitate future workers mobility and training course recognition. Three reports were drafted during the development of this task.- Study of the training methodology to be implemented in the GPP-Furniture course, taking into account the final audience or target group, and the distance learning methodology. During this activity it was decided the specifications of the training course, such as the duration of the course, the certifying assessment, distribution of the work among partners, etc. As result of this task a final report was drafted.- Development of all training materials: videos, slides, scripts, quizzes, additional materials, etc. that constitute the core of the training course. Training materials have been developed in English and the different Consortium languages (Spanish, Bulgarian, Polish, and Romanian).- Development on a e-learning platform for the GPP-Furniture training course. The platform is open to all interested students and is the main contact point between Consortium partners and learners.- Realization of a pilot test with a group of students to know their comments and suggestions about training materials and training platform in order to detect possible improvements and mistakes. As a result of this task a report has been drafted.- Development of a joint curriculum with the integration of different learning modes (distance, face to face, etc) and innovative approaches. Apart of these activities, consortium partners have been carried out an intensive dissemination activity on the different project steps and achievements, besides of different multiplier events that all partners have organized.GPP-Furniture has demonstrated a great impact. It has been performed the Impact+ Exercise developed by the UK National Agency that demonstrate the wide number of benefits in short, medium and large scale for the partners´ organizations, staff involved in the project, learners and general system or society. Thanks to GPP-Furniture project European furniture SMEs has a new tool to foster modernization and knowledge expansion aligned to the needs and opportunities offered by the increasing number of “green” tenders by the public administration.

<< Background >>We live in time of unprecedented change in education. The pandemic forced all educators to teach remotely with online learning. The crisis caused by Covid 19 has exposed manyinadequacies and inequities in education and the pandemic has hit the most vulnerable the hardest.The project wants to focus on 2 aspects that are combined. The first is CREATIVITY - creative problem solving, it will facilitate the process of boosting creativity. Thesecond aspect is distance/digital learning which is a must in pandemic and afterpandemic times. According to research on CREATIVE COMPETENCES in partners' countries of youth trainers ( research was conducted in 09/10 2020- 30 youth trainers participated and 10 interviews with young leaders, with partners stakeholders as well as betweenpartners staff ( 50 respondents). All partners cooperate with YOUTH teachers and trainers on regular basis. Research Methods – CATI, surveys send by email, in-depth interviews anddesk research. It gave an overview of the situation in YOUTH sector. The reasearch touched also the needs of learners as the survey was also madeamongs YOUTH. The results were that education does not strengthen the competence in creative thinking. The education, work requires them to be creative, think design but also beable to work with teams (Ocean Eleven teams). Unfortunately, this is not what systems in partnership countries teach them. Thrown into the standard thinking of competence tests,they are unable to solve tasks in an unconventional way, which is often required of us not only in professional work but also in solving everyday problems. It is expected that in thefuture many jobs will be replaced by robots. It is also a challenge for education so that young people who leave the school walls can adapt to the new reality and easily retrain ifnecessary. For these types of activities, they need broadly defined creativity, ability to solve problems and unconventional thinking, which we want to teach them during workshops.THE RESEARCH RESULTS ALSO SAID- YOUTH TRAINERS, LEADERS, WORKERS:- 80% of respondents have a lack of skills and knowlledge on learning startegies connected with digital learning, online and remote learning,- the majority of them feel frustrated by the fact that they are not supported in the digital education, they cannot renew their skills, they do not know what can facilitate the online, digitaleducationa and they do not know the software available.- The main problem reported in each country was the problem with learners engagement and problem with inclusion of all learners.- THEY NEED NEW approach, creativity, tool to trigger motivation- the need of ready to use tools and materialsThe project responds also on partners' needs that are knowledge on creativity and distance learning, new offer for partners' learners and partners' target groups, new educationalmaterials, new approach in trainings, advising youth, and a need for self development and a need for new competences to adjust to a new education caused by panndemic Covid 19.<< Objectives >>The aim of the project is to empower youth trainers, youth workers, young leaders and educators with tools to boost youth creativity and to enhance directly the youth creativity bycreative techniques and to support the creative competences of students and teamwork competence. The indirect target group of this project are young people who need a newcreative approach to education, to everyday life, to have a new idea how to adapt to new reality. YOUTH also need a sustainable approach to education, work and life as they areconscious about environment and climate change ( the research showed that) We need creativity to solve existing problems/ to reinvent our world in these difficult times, to expressourselves. Creativity also enhance our well being. It is nowadays difficult to live in uncertainty, with a lot of anxiety and perturbations, worriesbut at the same time hope and aspirations. To help young people and their teachers/trainers to deal with everyday problems, to focus more on sustainability and environment , to bemore innovative and self develop - the creativity is needed.THE GOAL OF THE PROJECT is to equip YOUTH teachers and trainers, YOUTH workers, leaders and educators in partnership countries ( and by using e-learning tools in EuropeanUnion and worldwide) with tools and knowledge on how to deploy remote learning programmes, using CREATIVITY, CREATIVE TECHNIQUES and a mix of technologies and how to combine it with relevant and end engaging content, a well articulated instructionalmodel, effective teaching presence and learner support. The project goal is to equip target groups with tools to design and facilitate digital and distance(remote) learning, toadapt digital competences and build capacity of YOUTH teach/trainers to implement online teaching and learning by using special methodology, creative technics, inclusive learning,elearning.<< Implementation >>Working on the project will allow young people and their trainers, leaders and educators to better integrate and will give them tools for their future professional work. As predicted byforcaster, we must learn to work as a team and be ready for constant changes. Not only in the current job but also changes in the professional path. We must be creative and open towhat is happening around us.We are the change and we can change the world. Creativity and non-standard thinking are an essential skill of future. Creativity will help infinding solutions to make apositive impact on our Planet. The project will develop the following results:PR1 HANDBOOK ON CREATIVE MINDSET - The handbook is aimed to be used by youth trainers, youth workers, young leaders and educators in order to carry on trainings andworkshops on creativity in the digital era. It will combine digital learning with enhancing creativity. The guidelines will cover and develop:- pedagogical skills - guidelines will contain useful methodology to teach remotely using online learning; - methods to facilitate the digital/ distance learning - learning startegies conbined with learning styles and with methodologies developed,- technological skills PR2 READY TO USE SCENARIOS - The output will develop and gather creative WORKSHOP scenarios for youth trainers, youth workers, young leaders, educators and partners' staffaccompanied creative technics embeded in workshop scenarios based on the subjects gathered in IO1 with the aim to empower youth with technics to be creative, to giveteachers/trainers a ready to use tool. The scenarios will focus on green and sustainability. Creativity helps us with dealing with work/life problems and see the situation from the otherside. Target groups will gain knowledge about creativity, where does it come from, how can we develop creativity within ourselves?IO3 eLEARNING FOR CREATIVE MINDSET The aim of this output is to develop eLearning course on the eLearning platform, create eLearning CREATIVE MINDSET platform tailormade for the project to support the digital and distance teaching and learning. OUTPUTS developed in IO1, IO2 and IO4 will be uploaded on platform in a form of eLearning Modules,gradually. The modules will be done in SCRUM and EdTech methodology.PR4 TRAINING THE TRAINERS WORKSHOPS This Intellectual Output consists in a comprehensive package of tools for the youth trainers, youth workers, young leaders andeducators as facilitators of the enhancing creativity by combining workshops with creative technics with distance and digital learning. This package is targeted to the youth trainers,youth workers, young leaders and educators who will provide accompaniment and workshop to the creativity process.QUALITY ASSURANCE PLAN and project evaluation – this package results consists in the following tems:- Quality Assurance Plan-evaluation reports (1st managing expectation, 2nd for progress and final)- Permanent stakeholders consultation- Permanent quality control of all activities and events implemented during the project.Sharing, Promotion, use of results, DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION- Dissemination & Expl. Plan- 2 Dissemination reports- Project Website.- Regular Newsletters, each 6 months- Articles and other publishing material in 4 languages ( English, Portuguese, French and Polish)- Multiplier events in each country- Pilot/workshops targeted to public in generalnvolved consisting in “exploitation” workshops with th- Agreement for the sustainability of the partnership and OutputsPROJECT MANAGEMENT PACKAGE:- 4 meetings and correspondent agendas,- Reporting package including financial and quality feed-back from the partners- reports to be submitted to National Agency<< Results >>The youth education is currently facing the lack of updated didactic methodologies for upskilling the youth trainers/ workers/leaders/educators towards creativity and for attracting young to the education. Working on the project will allow them to better integrate and will give them tools for their future professional work. As predicted by forcaster, we must learn to work as a team and be ready for constant changes. Not only in the current job but also changes in the professional path. We must be creative and open to what is happening around us. We are the change and we can change the world. Creativity and non-standard thinking are an essential skill of future.Each partner organisation will strongly benefit from widening their European contextual knowledge of topics relating to boosting youth creativity and design thinking. They will have the opportunity to meet people from other organisations actively working to support YOUTH sector and improve their creativity in the workplace - using different approaches and methods.Partner organisations will furthermore exchange ideas, knowledge, experience and good practice during and after the project, resulting in increased EU-wide understanding and knowledge of Human Centered Design.SUCCESS INDICATORS Long-term impact will become visible after the project ends:- no. of youth inspired to change, to be creative more that 80%- no. of ideas with a focus on sustainability in youth more than 80%- No. of educational institutions recognising the success of developed tools updating and transfering the materials developed - target 6- project results used as an incentive for other projects,- project results used by partners on regular bacis and updated regularly within trainings,- new cooperation between partners within the area of creativity and design thinking- No. of educational institutions successfully using the project results - 10 - 5 years after the end of the project- No. of trainers using the resources provided by the project - 60 one year after the projectIMPACT ON PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONSA questionnaire evaluating the perceived quality of the consortium, management and project will be collected from partners every 6 months. The importance of the project activities’impact on the partner’s organisations and work culture will be measured by the indicators:- Integration of the project activities into partners organizations - target 3 organizations;- new collaborations during the project lifetime among the consortium - target 2- skills acquired/improved by staff; teamwork, competences in foreign languages, problem solving, creativity, design thinking;- satisfaction of the project PRs - more than 80%