<< Background >>The EQstudents project is one-of-a-kind project which addresses the lack of a structured curriculum in national educational systems regarding the development of the EQ components in primary and lower-secondary schools, as understood by Goleman (emphasis on scientific achievements, development of cognitive intelligence). It adapts cross-sectoral approach, bringing together 7 EU partners coming from 5 EU countries from within and outside the education (specialization in neuro-science, game development, therapeutic intervention, development of innovative and creative teaching tools) - to create an alliance of different experts, organizations and sectors with diverse perspectives and resources to address complex educational challenges more effectively.The importance of EQ was already recognized in the Analytical Report of the EU (2018) “Strengthening Social and Emotional Education...”, which states that developing emotional competences has a positive impact on various aspects of children’s and young people’s life with regard to their education, learning, well-being and mental health. The emotional component of education is compulsory in some EU countries, while in others it’s not existent, e.g. the national guidelines on the Italian school curriculum describe the learning aims that schools have to pursue to develop social and emotional competences from early years across the mandatory school years, while in Poland the deficit of social capabilities is indicated as one of the key barriers in the long-term development of the country as low levels of emotional competences have been reported and still no guidelines have been introduced. Cultivating children's EQ to be better prepared for the challenges in life, recognize and manage their own emotions is especially important in today’s pandemic and tomorrow’s post-pandemic world.Additionally, the project corresponds to the Commission Recommendation of 20 February 2013 Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage (2013/112/EU) as it increases the capacity of education systems to break the cycle of disadvantage, ensuring that all children can benefit from inclusive high quality education that promotes their emotional, social, cognitive and physical development; addresses differences in the availability and quality of education and strengthens the link between students, teachers, pupils and other school experts. What’s more, the project addresses the needs of the future. Acc. to the Capgemini Research Institute “EQ - the essential skills for the age of AI”, 74% of executives and 58% of non-supervisory employees believe that EQ will become a must-have skill, 61% of executives and 41% of non-supervisory employees believe that it’ll become so in the next 1 to 5 years. People who have high EQ capacities, who can connect with others, display empathy and understand emotions are needed in the workplace. EQ is no longer an additional set of skills, it’s a core skillset of the future. Acc. to N. Frasquet of Coty Inc., “Only those people who rate highly on EQ skills will have a higher chance of retaining their jobs, compared to the ones who just have their basic technical and digital skills in place.” The EQstudents project is the answer for the detected needs as it aims to develop, test and implement a comprehensive system supporting development of emotional intelligence (EQ) of school-age children (6 - 15 years old) with active participation of primary and lower-secondary schools, parents, experts and project partners in the participating countries. It’ll directly address the need for the educating community (school, teachers, parents, etc.) to come and work together with the aim of supporting children and teenagers in the development of EQ by providing specific tools and models. In the long-term perspective it’ll contribute to building an emotionally intelligent generation, increase awareness of EQ, their significance now and in the future, in schools, in the job market.<< Objectives >>The aim of the EQstudents project is to boost EQ of children and adolescents by developing, testing and implementing a comprehensive system supporting development of EQ with active participation of primary and lower-secondary schools, parents, experts and project partners. Also it’ll directly address the need for the educating community to raise an emotionally intelligent generation.The EQstudents project will aim to:- develop, test and implement a comprehensive system supporting development of emotional intelligence (EQ) of school-age children (6 to 15 years old) with active participation of primary and lower-secondary schools, parents, experts and project partners in the participating countries- increase capacity of school teachers, specialists for teaching children emotional intelligence- support parents in raising emotionally intelligent kids- protect the most vulnerable children from the impact of pandemic threatening their growth and development- strengthen cross-sectoral cooperation (schools, partner organizations, stakeholders) across project countries in order to stir innovation in the education sector- promote inclusive education providing all primary and lower-secondary students with equal access to high-quality , free of charge services, diagnostic tool, activities, resources- promote the development of the emotional intelligence components in national education systems- contribute to raising emotionally intelligent generations in the long-term perspective.The objectives of the project are fully in line with the detected needs in the project countries (PL, CY, IT, GR, RO) as well as respond to EU call of action and recommendations. It will increase the capacity of education systems to “break the cycle of disadvantage”, support children and young people's emotional well-being during and after the pandemic, and provide high-quality support programmes and tools to primary and lower-secondary schools across countries. The consortium also wants to raise awareness in local communities on the importance of development of EQ from early years and how it affects the quality of lives, influences human behaviour and relationships, and drives future success.<< Implementation >>The EQstudents partnership will implement the following activities: (1) MANAGEMENT, (2) SHARING, PROMOTION, (3) QUALITY CONTROL & EVALUATION activities, which will take place during the whole lifetime of the project implementation.1) MANAGEMENT. To ensure the proper project management, OIC Poland will develop the Management and Financial Plan which will include the timetable defining all activities, project outcomes, time limits, project milestones, risk management etc. It will also describe the reporting requirements and the communication rules and tools. Management will be supported by communication, meetings and reporting. The Project Management Group (PMG) will be formed involving a representative from each partner. The project management will be based on the PRINCE2 methodology. Transparent rules of management and direct contacts between all project partners will be the foundation of effective project coordination.2) SHARING & PROMOTION activities coordinated by OLYMPION with the support of OIC Poland. These activities will be carried out during the lifetime of the project for the benefit of primary and lower-secondary schools, relevant stakeholders and engaging the end-users. They will be based on the Communication Plan, approved and executed by all project partners. The exploitation activities will be focused on integrating the project results into national practice and provision in their respective countries as part of the overall strategy. 3) QUALITY CONTROL & EVALUATION led by COMCY will aim to ensure that the project has a robust quality management plan and a culture of continuous improvement achieved through regular evaluation. The project partners will establish a quality board to support evaluation of the project results and peer review group for evaluation of results and activities in terms of the planned products, time limits, budget and communication between them. Within the QE Plan, all evaluation indicators, tools and criteria used in the project evaluation will be included. The project products will be assessed taking into account their usefulness, accuracy, impact as well as keeping international requirements and standards too. The evaluation results will be used to improve and adapt the project results to the needs of the target group. They will be presented in reports and discussed during each transnational project meeting.The production of the project products will be divided into 3 phases:Phase (1): Design, development & capacity building - The PR1-5 will be designed and produced with active involvement of all project partners, experts and end-users (participatory, bottom-up approach: focus groups, consultations) to elicit their perceptions on the planned results and have their recommendations on the design from the early stages of the project. In this phase, all products will be tested internally and evaluated. To exploit the products, FPP will organise a short-term joint staff training event (Italy) to facilitate working with the tools, training materials and methodology developed.Phase (2): Pilot testing and evaluation - coordinated by FPP. The products elaborated in the 2nd phase will be tested among end-users (PR3, PR4, PR5) and subject to evaluation by the experts (PR1-2) in every project country according to the provided guidelines and milestones. The trainers participating in C1 will be engaged in this phase, in order to support the process.Phase (3): Fine-tuning, translation and adaptation - Based on the testing results, PRs will be fine-tuned and translated/ adapted to national context. Adaptation is especially important to ensure that the results are found to be effective in the national school setting. The products will be made available on open license in EN, PL, GR, IT, RO.<< Results >>In the course of the project, there will be 5 project results produced i.e.:PR1:Model of working with a pupil aged 6-10 for development of emotional intelligence- EQ Kids- it will define processes, tools and rules of working with a pupil aged 6-10, especially the ones with adaptive difficulties, for development of emotional intelligence in educational environment and at home involving teachers, tutors, school pedagogues, psychologists and parents. The addressees of the model will be school personnel i.e. teachers, tutors, school pedagogues, psychologists, parents but also sociotherapist and other experts working with a pupil aged 6-10 experiencing difficulties. PR2:Model of working with a pupil aged 11-15 for development of emotional intelligence- EQ Teens- it will define processes, tools and rules of working with a pupil aged 11-15, especially the ones with adaptive difficulties, for development of emotional intelligence in educational environment and at home involving teachers, tutors, school pedagogues, psychologists and parents. The model will concern older pupils being at different stages of cognitive development than younger children where there are new opportunities for development of emotional intelligence and new problems and issues connected with the specificity of the adolescence period.PR3:Emotional Intelligence Assessment Tool for a pupil aged 11-15 - a multidimensional psychometrical electronic tool designed for diagnosis of 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence of students aged 11-15 based on Goleman concept. It will measure the following key components of emotional intelligence: Self-awareness , Self-regulation, Social skills, Empathy, Motivation. The accurate diagnosis of 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence would allow to tailor teaching methodology and to develop the child support programme. The tool will automatically generate individual feedback on the subject of 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence.PR4:Emotional Intelligence: What Teachers and Parents Can Do - training and professional development - The training toolkit for teachers and parents will be available in the form of asynchronous on-line training on emotional intelligence, in multimedia form (videos, exercises, practical tasks, podcasts, live short webinars for teachers and parents on the topic (recorded) OER, etc.) available via on-line platform (not Moodle). It will concern how to nurture and develop 5 key dimensions of emotional intelligence of pupils aged 6-15- the topics are not included yet in curricula at universities and the training offers. It will include 30 short trainings for teachers and 20 short trainings for parents.PR5:Hybrid game for children aged 11-15 (story, script, cards, coach's manual etc.)- it will aim at developing and nurturing 5 key dimensions of emotional intelligence in social relations i.e. Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Social skills, Empathy, Motivation. The game will be addressed to children aged 11-15 who will be taking step by step in the game according to the developed story to learn how to adapt to a changing environment, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges or defuse conflict correctly.The hybrid game means that some part of the game will take place in a virtual environment (on-line groups via laptops, tablets) and some part of the game will be in a form of outdoor game with printed materials (e.g. maps, tasks) moderated by a teacher. The game will be accompanied by a moderator’s manual, cards, maps according to the tasks included in the game.All the project products have potential for transfer and exploitation in other EU countries.The products will be available in EN and national languages of the partners on open Source licence. They could be easily taken up by individuals to their everyday work and organization. The partners will also create powerful promotional material targeted at schools,pedagogical staff, learners,stakeholders,multiligual www, social media.