<< Background >>The proposed project in response to the challenges and needs identified in European Societies and specifically in the context of School education. The implementing partners, have grasped the urgency to put forward concrete actions and responses to support and empower teachers and educators to utilize digital tools and resources to elevate their capacity to engage their students and most importantly to address social issues and factors contributing to social inclusion in an interactive manner. The levels of poverty, inequality, and structural segregation in the EU are alarming, pervading social inclusion our societies and feeding extremism and radicalization. In 2018, the at-risk of poverty or social exclusion rate for secondary school students aged 15-19 years was 27.7% in the EU-28, which amounts to about 7.5 million young people (Eurostat, 2020). Secondary school students tend to face threats of exclusion for a variety of reasons – disabilities, social and economic disadvantage, refugee status, ethnic or religious minorities (Inclusion Europe, 2014). Additionally, according to the JRC Technical Report, COVID-19 has made educational institutions switch to online learning and teachers’ preparedness regarding digital technologies is a decisive factor of whether inequality in learning outcomes will further increase as education moves online (EC, 2020).In response to this threats and challenges, EU Ministers of Education emphasise the need for action to support and empower educators, as front-line professionals working directly with children so to help promote social cohesion and inclusion. Educators should be given developmental opportunities and supported to develop their digital skills encourage and facilitate their contribution to tackling diversity and exclusion issues. According to an EC report on teacher satisfaction, educators lack the tools to communicate and transmit social, civic, and intercultural values. Although there have been initiatives to promote social inclusion in the past, they are not sufficient to meet the challenges that educators face in terms of addressing diversity. While it is recognised that young people should be at the forefront of social inclusion efforts from an early age, they are still increasingly disenfranchised from societal change-making processes. For social inclusion to succeed in the long-term, there is a need for a “deeper change at the personal level and this is where dialogue has a particular role to play” (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2007). Through dialogue, people’s personal ‘mental models’, the way they experience and interpret the world, change, establishing reconciliation and civic competences (Diamond, 2007). To that end, eDialogue aims to educate and empower educators, offering them opportunities to enhance their professional skills, image, and role by learning new and innovative methodologies that will elevate their capacity in open dialogue moderation. In doing so, they will be enabled to become active and skilled leaders in the use of digital tools and open dialogue for social inclusion among students.Specifically, the tools and methodologies that will be developed will support educators in using open dialogue to address challenges and aspects of social exclusion such as discrimination, segregation and racism, bullying and cyber bullying, radicalisation, fake news, and other forms of online misinformation.Through this innovative and integrated approach e-Dialogue addresses diversity and promotes non-discrimination and social inclusion, directly supporting the ‘Social inclusion’ priority. E-Dialogue will enhance the professional development of secondary school educators and will strengthen their leadership in education using open dialogue for social inclusion among students.<< Objectives >>eDialogue aims to educate and empower educators, offering them opportunities to enhance their professional skills, image, and role by learning new and innovative methodologies that will develop their skills in open dialogue moderation. In doing so, it will enable them to become active and skilled leaders in the use of digital tools and open dialogue for social inclusion among students.Specifically, the tools and methodologies that will be developed will support educators in using open dialogue to address current aspects of social exclusion such as discrimination, segregation and racism, bullying and cyber bullying, radicalisation, fake news, and other online misinformation.Through this innovative and integrated approach e-Dialogue addresses diversity and promotes non-discrimination and social inclusion, directly supporting the ‘Social inclusion’ priority. E-Dialogue will enhance the professional development of secondary school educators and will strengthen their leadership in education using open dialogue for social inclusion among students.The objectives are to: -Develop educators’ digital skills and dialogue facilitation capacities-Develop learners’ digital competencies and voice their thoughts, opinions, and ideas about current social phenomena that trigger social exclusion-Enable educators to apply the use of open dialogue in online and face-to-face contexts -Develop a comprehensive and integrated EU practice and policy guide to support educators’ use of open dialogue to enhance social inclusion among students<< Implementation >>To fulfil its objectives, eDialogue will carry out the following activities:- Pilot test the Dialogue Blocks (R1) with 5 educators and/or trainers in each of the implementing countries- Host a Transnational Training Activity that will be attended by representatives of the 2 representatives or educators from each country- Form a Team of National Open Dialogue Moderators Team in each country- Register 30 educators from each country on the Online Resource Platform- Undertake pilot sessions of the 'Collection of Activities for Young Learners' (R3) in 3 schools in each country- Hold focus groups with 8-10 stakeholders in each country as part of the Development process of R4- Organize 5 Multiplier events (Ireland, Cyprus, Serbia, Poland and Greece) with 20 participants each- Organize a Conference in Spain with 40 participants<< Results >>Through the workings of the proposed project the following tools and resources will be developed and made available:R1:eDialogue Training Package for EducatorsR2:E-learning Platform&Open Educational ResourcesR3:Collection of Activities for Young LearnersR4:EU Policy Recommendations Guide-“It’s time to speak up”The project is expected to have a strong positive impact on schools and education systems across Europe as it will address the well-documented need of developing educators’ digital skills and strengthening their leadership skills using digital tools and open dialogue to foster social inclusion among students.A)Material Results:-Project plan:a detailed plan including all activities and tasks defined by quantitative and qualitative indicators.The plan is a guideline for all project partners for effective implementation, serving also as an evaluation and monitoring instrument. -Partner contracts:the partner contracts settle all rights and duties of the parties involved,especially administrative and financial regulations and payments.-Project platform:the project platform will promote and present the main information of all the project objectives and activities in all partner languages;it will lead to all partner organisations,related projects and initiatives from across Europe and allow all intellectual outputs to be downloaded.-Quality Management concept: this will contain the project’s basic QM strategy and list all evaluation activities,tasks,deadlines,and responsibilities.-Dissemination and exploitation plan: the project’s dissemination strategy will list all dissemination activities,tasks, deadlines,and responsibilities.-Dissemination materials such as flyers, posters, promotional video clips etc. as deemed necessary by the consortium.-Intellectual Property Rights: to ensure that the general public has free access to all intellectual outputs and to settle any kind of further developments and transfers.-Dissemination and exploitation reports: documenting and evaluating all dissemination and exploitation activities implemented during the project’s lifetime.-4 half-yearly reports: Every six months each partner will provide a full report about all their expenditure as well as all content development and evaluation activities.-4 peer group evaluation reports: partners will evaluate all levels of the project implemented through four questionnaire-based evaluation reports.-Progress and final report: according to the requirements of the project as well as the documents provided by the NA, the partnership will submit a progress and a final report (if appropriate).B) Non-Material Results-General awareness-raising throughout Europe concerning the project’s objectives and issues. All dissemination activities have the aim of informing target groups representatives, stakeholders, and policy makers about the importance of educators’ digital skills and their ability to promote dialogue to support inclusion among students in Europe.-Working with school leadership teams, teachers,and staff to design online education will have a positive impact on the quality of education offered in Europe.-The setup of a dissemination and promotion group of at least 500 target group members, stakeholders, and experts from all over Europe including: Ministries of Education, European Bodies, Schools, Universities, Research centres and associations,IT companies,public authorities at local,regional,national and EU levels etc.-The setup of a dissemination partnership with a representative from regional or national media in each partner county to ensure continuous media coverage throughout the project’s lifetime.-Each National Ministry of Education, as an associated partner,will sustainably apply the project outcomes in schools after the project has ended.-Through intensive dissemination, promotion, and exploitation work at all levels, the project contributes to improving education and the capacity of schools to offer online learning