"ContextThe TIK – Tradition & Innovation @ Kintergarten project started from the Europe 2020 strategy that identified, within its educational benchmarks, that by 2020 at least 95% of pre-school children of 4 years or older would participate in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)The importance of effectively addressing the theme of ECEC where also confirmed by the conclusions of the European symposium on improving early childhood education and care that stated: ""benefits from high-quality ECEC are wide-ranging and multilevel, economic and social, for individuals and for societies"".In this field the experience of the project partner and the evidence of their everyday activities shows that quality early childhood education and care can bring the highest rates of return over the whole lifelong learning process, especially for the most disadvantaged groups.ObjectivesThe project identified and succesfully addressed three needs that play a crucial role in order to enhance the quality of ECEC:- Reinforce the capacity of preschool teachers to involve their pupils in activities that, according to appropriate didactical and communication methods, can provide an early start of the development of basic and transversal competences- Raise childrens families awareness of the importance that ECEC can have for the preparation and the passage to primary school and for the integration in the social life- Develop pre-school children cognitive skills through the implementation of cooperative learning experiences, aimed at integrating the normal activities with relational and richer verbal interactions between pupils with a special focus on those coming from disadvantaged backgroundsNumber and type/profile of participants The project, exceeding by far its initial yet ambitious expectations has directly involved in the project activities and impacted on, a total of: - 50 kindergartens - More than 100 pre-school teachers - More than 1000 pupils - More than 200 among parents, grandparents, relatives and child-carersRepresenting 4 different European countries and many more different nationalities and culturesPotential stakeholders, to be estimated in more than 40 000 individuals and 400 institutions have been reached through the dissemination activities.Activities and related OutputsProject partners experts cooperated at transnational level in order to produce and make two Guides for the innovation of pedagogical approaches in ECEC directly available and accessible for free and without limitation on the TIK Portal.- Teachers’ Guide (https://tik.pixel-online.org/teachers_guide.php) providing pre-school teachers with a consistent set of learning materials to develop the necessary skills for improving achievement in basic cognitive and transversal skills of their pupils in early childhood education, through a fruitful cooperation with the pupils families- Family caregivers of pre-school pupils Guide (https://tik.pixel-online.org/families_guide.php) in order to raise their awareness on the importance that pre-school has in developing cognitive and pre-cognitive skills that are fundamental in the transition to compulsory schoolProject partner partners have also worked in close cooperation with pre-school teachers and children families, to develop IO 2 - Didactical Toolkit addressed to preschool pupils. The Toolkit contains didactical materials presenting traditional tales both of the local area in which the children live in and of the countries/traditions of the children from other countries and/or ethnic groups who are present in the participating schoolsThe Toolkit combines:- Exemplary materials related to the methodology adopted for implementing the storytelling activity carried out in each kindergarten https://tik.pixel-online.org/storytelling.php including the collection of drawings / collages / clay sculptures with which children will have represented their understanding of the tale itself- Media based products presenting selected tales through a visual based storytelling and the text of the tale to be used by educators to transfer the contents at transnational level https://tik.pixel-online.org/storyplot.php Results and impactThe TIK project successfully impacted on its target groups by:- Strengthening the capacity of pre-school teachers and of pupils’ families to build cooperation patterns- Providing pre-school pupils basic and transversal competences through the transnational comparison of traditional tales linked to the local territory in which they live with the ones linked to the cultural backgrounds of pupils coming from other countries/ethnic minorities- Enhancing pre-school comprehension and communication through innovative audio-visual based approaches and tools- Promoting a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to pre-school education supported by innovative pedagogic materials and references methodological concepts in order to develop children’s cognitive and social skills"

"The quality of our nutrition affects our well-being throughout our lives, but it has an even greater impact on children whose bodies and minds are still growing. As studies presents nutritional deficiencies can seriously damage a child’s neural development, possibly leading to lower IQ and even learning disabilities. The essential role nutrition plays for developmental, cognitive and behavioral outcomes in life’s early stages, unfortunately, is often not well understood and appropriately acted upon by schools and parents, as nutrition education program as well is not coherent and integrated into school curricula. If from a young age child health-friendly nutrition is taught, it is likely that these knowledge, understanding, habits will last a lifetime. This could contribute to obesity and other problems and diseases reduction across Europe. EU Strategy 2030, conferences responses, Framework for Action Education 2030 highlights the importance and educational improvement needs in early childhood development as ""education is one of the most potent ways of improving individuals’ health – and of making sure the benefits are passed on to future generations"" in this way reaching the topic of well-being and health to which the project with its aims and results corresponds. Therefore within the project “Innovative teaching methodology of health friendly nutrition development and practice in pre-primary and primary education (HealthEDU)“ we sought to create a comprehensive, unified educational program for children involving a unified education for teachers, school staff and parents (educational institutions community), too. To provide them with health-friendly education knowledge correlated with schools achievements, eating habits, positive attitudes, we developed and promoted understanding and health lifestyle principles and body awareness, suggesting health-friendly menus and dishes for children as well as a correct food culture. Methodical material contained trans-nationally formed educational activities for children, educational trips. The materials were systematized on the basis of international good practices, the knowledge gained during the professional international training courses, experience, EU countries’ working practice, the content of health-friendly nutrition information including the pedagogical point of view and the importance for child education and schools improvement, which is necessary for maintaining human beings’ good health. All this was prepared by thematic area specialists and in compliance with EU health policy, the World Health Organization recommendations, and international researches. An E-learning course created and evaluated by experts and also an approved training program plus its methodical material were developed. By creating a portal as Open Education Resources to public auditorium, teachers were able to learn, provide lessons and use it as material and full e-course. We also recommended the course and the teachers training (qualification development). At the end of the project, in Lithuania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Greece a final conference as strong dissemination event was organized in order to invite all target groups - educational communities, public bodies and local, regional, national authorities, experts for all the results, good practice, feedback from beneficiaries’ presentation, and also workshops and round table discussion. The conference was led by health-friendly food chefs through practical shows. The project sustainability raised awareness of such program usability in Europe. The project ensured the spread of information for the public and private sector educational organizations, networks, regional, local, national authorities and mass media. The creation and development of non-formal education program based on the best European practice and achievements were proposed and used as facultative or as integrated lessons to the already existing school curricula - this improved the school curricula, the children knowledge as well as the quality of education. To conclude, we can say that inclusive education, encompassing child+family+educators, led to qualitative education and corrected the way to understand each other, the willingness to learn together, the fostering of motivation and effective learning."

ContextEuropean labour markets and societies face various challenges and transitions such as the refugee crises, demographic change and future jobs, having a big priority e.g. in the EU Horizon 2020. Guidance practitioners play a key role in adressing these challenges successfully. Their tasks comprise individual career guidance and client counselling for unemployed as well as employed persons who want or need to reorient themselves, profiling, skills assessment and training delivery. Furthermore, they match people to job profiles, and offer services to employers, as well as care catering for those furthest removed from the labour market. To perform this range of tasks competently, a high-level qualification and transnational training as well as state-of-the-art information on effective concepts and approaches and networking of practitioners on a Europe-wide level is essential.ObjectivesOn this basis, the Academia+ project supported the exchange of experiences and transnational trainings of counsellors in Europe. To do so, the project partners developed, piloted and evaluated 3 research-based online Counsellors Study and Training Exchange Programs (C-STEPs) for qualified career counsellors that reflect a transnational, European perspective and meet the needs of the target groups.Each of the C-STEPs focused on a current key challenge, and combined theory, research and practice of guidance: Counselling migrants and refugees, Future jobs, Demographic change.Through the trainings and a learning environment, the project supported provision of better services and guidance on competencies and qualifications and helped to raise the profile of international cooperation within guidance.Undertaken activitiesThe topics of the C-STEPs and their units built on literature and resources reviews from all partner countries, a transnational synthesis with recommendations, online questionnaires answered by counsellors, practitioners and experts regarding the topic from several European countries as well as reviews of the unit structure plans. All C-STEPs were transnational online trainings integrating the knowledge and experiences from a variety of experts and speakers, coming from different European countries with different personal and professional background, providing specific knowledge about several approaches, perspectives and innovation on career guidance.The project developed an innovative and detailed media centre and learning environment based on course units containing all presentations, videorecordings, group work tasks and results, discussion protocols and further material. The project also created a website in four different languages for course participants and trainers including different outputs from the C-STEPs.To promote and disseminate the project and to support international networking the projectteam connected to several networks with the focus on counselling/guidance, published information in frequent newsletters, on websites and in journals, hosted a LinkedIn-group for discussion throughout the project timeline and organized a multiplier event at the end of the project timeline.ParticipantsIn total 257 persons from 22 different European countries (Belgium, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain) and 13 Non-European countries (Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijani, Australia, Egypt, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Russia, Uganda, UK) participated in the trainings. The project partners acquired 47 participants for C-STEP1 (EU-countries: 11; Non-EU: 3), 89 participants for C-STEP2 (EU-countries: 16, Non-EU: 10) and 70 participants for C-STEP3 (EU-countries: 12, Non-EU: 5).The participants had a wide variety of professional backgrounds e.g. professional career guides from local, governmental and non-govermental organisations, local private businesses or freelancers, psychological institutions, universities and higher education departments, refugee organisations and small NGO’s, but also students and some unemployed persons with a professional background rooted in Career Guidance.Results/benefitsThe C-STEPs reached 257 participants and involved over 40 speakers. The learning environment and media centre functions as a stand-alone resource for non-participants and trainers who like to multiply the event. Email, newsletter, website information and articles in journals addressed more than 10.000 persons.Professionals directly participating in the training or recreating it from the learning environment benefit from the training, so they can better advise and integrate the workforce, unemployed and jobseekers. This enables their counselling organisations to focus strongly on the problems of the respective countries.This has a positive effect on the national labor market, which strengthens the EU.

"Context/background of the projectThe economic crisis that affects all European countries had a strong impact on the already existing ""skills gap"" in the EU labor market. The following challenges and related needs are identified:-ameliorate the cooperation between VET providers and companies to provide a market oriented training offer-provide VET students with enhanced Work Based Learning methods and tools to prevent demotivation due to the lack of practical application of what they learn in a real business environment-Apprenticeships lack in effectivenessObjectivesThe project identified the following objectives to be reached in order to answer to the identified needs:-Improve the cooperation between VET providers and companies and enhance the participation of companies in planning and delivering training so to better match the job market needs-Motivate VET students at risk of dropping out, by providing them with enhanced Work Based Learning methods-Improve the internationalization of the VET training offerParticipating organisationsThe WBL 2.0 project involved: -6 contractual partners including training agencies, companies associations and no profit organisations -57 Companies interested in cooperating with the VET sector -More than 60 trainers and more than 1 200 students -45 Associated partners including VET schools, associations, companies, no profit organisations public bodies, school associations, universities and youth organisations ActivitiesThe project activities were organised as follows:Activity 1:Creation of the Intellectual Output contents: Repository of e-learning video lessons and interviewsThe project partners produced the Repository of e-learning video lessons and interviews, delivered by company managers and professionals according to a Work based learning approach, to provide VET students that want to become web designers and/or social media managers with an innovative ICT based training offer for better understanding the expectations of the market and of the companies.The partners contacted companies’ managers and experts to collect Video interviews and Testimonials.The Video were edited and subtitled and made available on the Project Portal through in-depth description of their contents and didactic potential.Activity 2Creation of a Virtual Platform for Internships hosted within a dedicated section on to the WBL 2.0 portal providing accessibility to:-Profiles of companies interested in host a transnational internship.-Profiles of students that are interested to carry out their placement at international level -Monitoring and assessment toolsActivity 3Creation of Guidelines for the organisation of international internships identifying and mainstreaming innovative successful strategies to ensure that work placements reflect the needs and expectations of the business world and the needs and expectations of the VET students and VET providers.Activity 4Organisation of 5 Multiplier events to disseminate the results reached, methodology implemented and output produced in the WBL 2.0 project.Transversal Activities:All project partners were involved in the carrying out of the transversal activities related to the effective implementation of the project: Coordination, Reporting, Dissemination, Exploitation and Evaluation.Results and impact attainedWBL 2.0 impacted on: - VET TEACHERS providing them with innovative work based learning teaching methods for enriching their classroom lessons with Video based materials facilitating students understanding of what are companies expectations in real life business scenarios and motivate them students to finish their VET training pathsAlso WBL 2.0 results implemented effective alternance between training and work through transnational apprenticeships and established fruitful cooperation with companies for organising international and virtual placements - VET STUDENTS who acquired knowledge, competences and skills in the fields of the latest trends in web designing and implementation and raised their awareness on the importance that companies give in the selection of their human resources.Students also got in contact with European companies of the sector in order to carry out transnational apprenticeships virtual or in person and also experimenting forms of teleworking- COMPANIES managers and trainers, by involving them in the creation of the Video collection of training contents. Companies reinforced their participation to the definition of VET training contents addressed to their future workforce, making sure that VET students get trained to be prepared to match their needs of human resources.Longer-term benefitsThe project outputs have all a strong transferability potential and are expected to have long term benefits on the VET sector through a strong cooperation pattern between companies and Vet providers."

<< Background >>The increasing accessibility and complexity of financial services is accentuating individual responsibility on many crucial financial decisions. Starting from this consideration, the EU and other international organizations, like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO, engaged in a strong effort to promote the teaching of Financial Literacy across all educational levels. Nonetheless, cross-country reports are still showing inadequate financial competencies. For instance the 2020 OECD/INFE survey on adult Financial Literacy still reported low results in Financial Knowledge, behavior and attitude. On average, individuals across the entire sample scored just under 61% of the maximum Financial Literacy score (OECD, 2020), which translates in insufficient knowledge about basic financial concepts (e.g., simple and compound interest), lack of rational financial behavior (e.g., saving money, long-term planning, control of finances) and a wrong attitude towards financial decisions (e.g., preference for short-term gains instead of long-term benefits). Within this context, COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated pre-existing issues, causing more harm to the wide portion of the population which is not financially resilient. According to the European Banking Federation, the negative effects of COVID-19 can only be curbed through better Financial Literacy and education programmes, starting from a young age (EBF, 2020).Although it is widely recognized that Financial Literacy should be taught from early education levels, as individuals who studied it since primary school become more financially responsible adults (OECD, 2018; Godsted & McCormick, 2006), many European countries do not teach Financial Literacy before secondary education (EBF, 2020). Moreover, even if many EU countries have already put in place national strategies to address the teaching of Financial Literacy, these strategies often give considerable discretion as to whether and how to incorporate it into lessons, hindering their own effectiveness, while also creating a wide gap between EU countries. Unfortunately, it appears that also teachers' competencies are hampering the effectiveness of Financial Literacy education, as different studies show their low level of financial competencies and suggest the adoption of further training to enhance their financial knowledge (Harrison et al, 2019; De Moor and Verschetze, 2017).Finally, different researches clearly demonstrated the important role that parents play in determining not just the Financial Literacy of their children, but also their interests, behaviours and attitudes towards money. A 2018 PISA survey shows a higher level of financial literacy among 15 years old students that have been taught or given financial responsibilities by their parents. In accordance with this, it is important to accelerate and develop the Financial Literacy of parents in order to increase pupil’s Financial Literacy levels. Thus, taking in consideration the scenario outlined above, the project “Promotion of FINancial literacy in primary and secondary EDUcation through gamification and DIGItal storytelling” (DigiFinEDU) addresses the needs of the following target groups:1- Primary and early secondary education pupils (9-12 y.o), who are in need of more coherent and accurate Financial Literacy programmes to develop adequate financial competencies;2- Primary and early secondary education teachers, who needs training to effectively teach Financial Literacy to their pupils;3- Parents, who, by improving their Financial Literacy, would be able to improve also the Financial Literacy of their children and play an active role in their educational development;4- Local, Regional, National and EU Institutions, who are in need of more data on Financial Literacy policies, to develop more coherent and adequate strategies to reinforce the Financial Literacy of their young and adult citizens.<< Objectives >>The project “Promotion of FINancial literacy in primary and secondary EDUcation through gamification and DIGItal storytelling” (DigiFinEDU) mainly aims to increase primary and lower secondary education pupils’ (9-12 y.o) Financial Literacy in order to help them become financially resilient adults. To reach this general objective, DigiFinEDU will also aim to the attainment of the following 5 specific goals:- To promote the implementation of financial education in primary and lower secondary education:DigiFinEDU aims to disseminate the adoption of an innovative teaching methodology and ready-made didactical material about Financial Literacy among European primary and lower secondary schools, in order to spread the teaching of financial education and literacy in Europe. - To develop the understanding and predisposition of children (9-12 y.o.) towards money and basic financial concepts:The project aims to improve young children's financial knowledge, behaviour and attitude by providing them new didactical material and an engaging learning experience through the integration of gamification.- To improve the readiness and effectiveness of parents and teachers when explaining financial concepts to young children:Through this objective, the partnership seeks to improve parents and teachers financial competencies. All project results will include instructions, exercises, training material and content targeted to attain this goal, explaining to them how to transfer it to their pupils, as well.- To increase the inclusion of parents in children’s education process and encourage the mutually beneficial learning environment:The partnership will aim to provide parents an opportunity to play a more active role in the educational development of their children, by presenting them several exercises, teaching practices and involving them directly in project activities. Parents engaging within project activities will also increase their involvement in scholastic activities.- To improve the understanding of financial education policies and strategies on a national and international scale and promote policy harmonization at EU level:Through DigiFinEDU project, partners will also aim to raise awareness among all target groups about national and EU strategies promoting the adoption of Financial Literacy in formal and non-formal settings. Moreover, the study carried out during the project to analyze national and EU policies related to Financial Education will also aim to showcase similarities and differences among EU countries to present good practices and promote policy harmonization by aligning common goals and topics to be addressed.<< Implementation >>The activities planned to reach the objectives may be divided into three steps:Step 1 - Analysis and methodology development: All partners will carry out primary and secondary research activities to:- Outline teachers and parents perceptions, expectations and challenges related to financial education and Financial Literacy;- Compare national and EU education strategies and policies to better outline the wider political context related to Financial Literacy and provide policy suggestions to local, regional, national and EU institutions;- Identify good practices for teaching Financial Literacy, both in school and community-settings;- Present the teaching methodology that will be adopted within DigiFinEDU project.This step will be mainly carried out through the integration of primary and secondary research activities. Primary research will consist in the administration of questionnaires, the conducting of semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups with schools’ staff, teachers and parents, to better understand their opinions, expectations, wishes and challenges in relation to Financial Literacy. Primary research will mainly aim at identifying target groups’ perceptions, as well as identify some suitable local teaching practices. On the other hand, secondary research will comprise a desk review aimed at collecting the necessary data for the topics outlined above.Step 2 - Didactical Material design and testingThe Didactical Material will help teachers and parents obtain knowledge on financial literacy and increase their confidence in explaining and conducting activities with children. There will be several activities for this step to implement:- Develop the Didactical Material with lesson plans according to partners’ knowledge and experience- Train teachers from partner and associated partners schools to obtain the knowledge and competences needed to successfully implement the didactical material developed in their schools and among families, promoting the adoption of financial education practices at EU level;- Test the didactical material in a 12 week piloting within partner and associated partner school;- Monitor the implementation of the testing, receiving constant feedback from teachers, pupils and parents;Activities for pupils will take place in classrooms and at home with their parents, promoting the adoption of community-based teaching practices that will benefit both schools and families. Step 3 - Visual NovelA story-telling based interactive game to teach Financial Literacy of this step, which will include the following activities: - Create scenarios for the game through international teamwork in short-term joint staff training events according to conditions, templates and solutions prepared and discussed by partners. Scenarios will correspond to the modules of Didactical Material;- Implement digital solutions for the game according to created scenarios and provide the game online as an open tool for promoting and improvement of financial education in primary and secondary schools;- Testing activities will be conducted in several phases during the project creation period; - Improve the game according to the feedback received from teachers and pupils.The game will be used in combination with the Didactical Material and will be an engaging up-to-date educational tool for alpha generation children.<< Results >>DigiFinEDU foresees the realization of three main results:1. DigiFinEDU Methodological Material will be based on 3 main reports made by partners. For a deeper understanding of the real situation regarding the integration of financial literacy in schools and among families of pupils aged between 9 to 12 years old. The next two important partners’ reports will be made as desk research of national policies and strategies about Finance Literacy and also synthesis of national reports (transnational analysis). The combination of these three reports will give a broad overview on what activities according to particular policies and strategies should work in practice, but also what is the current situation in the schools and families regarding financial knowledge. This Methodological Material will be delivered to a vast audience as an e-book on the project website.Main deliverables:- National reports on teachers and parents’ perception of Financial Literacy- National and Transnational Analyses reports- Methodological Material (e-book)2. DigiFinEDU Didactical Material will be dedicated to the creation of practical tools, methods, descriptions and instructions for teachers and parents to reform and upgrade their knowledge and competences to teach Finance Literacy. The descriptions of the activities will be included in a comprehensive lesson plan accompanied with test and assessment tools to effectively assess the knowledge and skills obtained by the pupils. This result will also cover the testing phase of the material created engaging pupils and their parents in learning financial literacy. At the end of the testing phase, a report will be developed documenting its effectiveness in fostering financial literacy and skills. Main deliverables:- Didactical Material and lesson plans- Instructions for teachers and parents- Testing evaluation reportsDigiFinEDU Visual Novel will be implemented as a storytelling based online educational game with financial topics scenarios. Teachers and parents will have an innovative and engaging digital tool suitable for children, that will provide them substantial help in understanding basic and more complex financial topics and their implications. Also the Visual Novel will be tested in partner and associated partners schools, to verify its efficacy, which will be documented in a final report comprising the results of this piloting activity. Main deliverables:- Visual Novel- Internal and External evaluation reportsSuccessful implementation of project activities is expected to have a positive impact on schools and associated partners directly involved, in the respective local, regional and national education systems of partners and at the European level. Project’s outcomes can be divided into short-term and long-term outcomes. Short-term outcomes include:- Increased knowledge and awareness about financial literacy formal and non-formal teaching practices of teachers and parents;- Increased awareness of financial literacy national and EU policies by teachers and policy makers;- Enhanced financial competencies of pupils aged between 9 to 12 y.o.;- Adoption of a comprehensive teaching practice in partner and associated partner schools, involving formal learning, community-based teaching practices and blended learning.Long-term outcomes are:- Dissemination of financial literacy educational material at early educational stages at local, regional, national and EU level;- Support to the harmonization process of EU educational policies regarding financial literacy;- Promotion of blended digital practices in schools at local, regional and EU level.