<< Background >>While the educational community has made concerted efforts to maintain learning continuity during this period, children and students have had to rely more on their own resources, teachers and students of teaching studies had to adapt to new pedagogical concepts and modes of delivery of teaching, for which they may not have been trained. (OECD, A.Schleicher). In response to school closures due to the virus spread, UNESCO recommended the use of distance learning programs and open educational applications and platforms that schools and teachers and students of teaching studies can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education (UNESCO March 2020). The rapid transition to online learning has made major changes in teaching practices. Participation in online lectures or video calls suddenly replaced face-to face meetings that had been eliminated due to contact and mobility constraints. The question arose about the readiness of teachers for such changes, about the digital competence of participants in the educational process, and students associated with the process of organizing full-fledged online learningWith the EU competence model DigComp , a uniform Europe-wide reference framework for digital competence was created about 10 years ago. With DigCompEdu, the EU has defined a specific digital competence reference framework for teachers and students of teaching studies in educational institutions. To determine the level of competence, DigCompEdu provides its own self-reflection tool in the form of an online questionnaire. With this questionnaire, teachers can survey their status on the topic of digital competence themselves and anonymously. However, DigCompEdu does not measure skills and competencies in terms of content, nor does it offer content for competence development and further training. Teachers and students of teaching studies are dependent on their own resources and offers. These findings were motivating factor to develop an innovative DigiSET framework. DigiSET offers a solution to efficient and effective learning, addressing the gap between skill assessment and skill enhancement. DigiSET offers the whole learning ecosystem, tailor-made to the real-life needs and supports the enhancement of key digital competencies and addresses the horizontal priority of digital transformation trough development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity. If teachers are digitally literate, they perceive technology as a source of creative potential, rather than something that is mandatory to learn. The effective use of digital learning tools in classrooms can increase student engagement, help teachers improve their lesson plans, and facilitate personalized learning.<< Objectives >>The project DigiSET aims to contribute to the effective and efficient support of teachers in educational institutions and future teachers i.e. students currently enrolled in teaching studies in the development of digital skills using digital tools, through the creation of practical competencies assessment and digital learning content. Target group was determined to test and develop DigiSET toolkit – current teachers and students who train to be teachers. The current teachers have a real experience with teaching, and for some of them it might be very challenging to transfer their teaching methods into online learning. On the contrary, nowadays students are expected to be able to use digital technology in terms of teaching. However, it remains unclear to what extent students are equipped with ICT knowledge. The project therefore wants to achieve that all teachers, both current and future, can reflect the current and future needs of digital education. DigiSET project will be done in three phases and will achieve following goals:Phase I ASSESSMENT OF DIGITAL SKILLS OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF TEACHING STUDIES•Goal 1 – Digital competence assessment of teachers and students of teaching studiesOUTCOME OF THE ACTIVITY:• COMPETENCES ASSESMENT REPORT INCLUDING PERSONAL LEARNING RECOMMENDATIONPhase II Development of e-learning materials on digital skills improvement•Goal 2 - Creation of digital learning content and certificatesOUTCOME: •TAILOR MADE E-LEARNING MATERIALS AND CERTIFICATEPhase III Measurement of acquired competences•Goal 3 – Evaluation of competences progress & certificationOUTCOME AT THE END OF THE PHASE •SKILLS ACQUISITION REPORT (BEFORE AND AFTER)<< Implementation >>This project will consist of three phases (please see above) and activities related to the development of the innovative digital toolkit for enhancement of teachers and students of teaching studies digital skills and competencies. All planned activities are in line with the Erasmus+ expectations for Partnerships Cooperation. Throughout the first phase, the assessment of the current digital skills and competencies of the teachers and students will be determined, and a further learning recommendation will be created. Based on the report results, in the second phase e-learning materials on digital skills improvement will be developed together with the input from partner institutions. In the final phase teacher competencies will be measured, based on the results from competences measurement before and after learning corrections of the DigiSET toolkit will be applied. For detailed description of project implementation, please see the section Result Description.<< Results >>DigiSET project result will be a digital toolkit (web based) that makes the assessment of digital competences of teachers and students of teaching studies via an online assessment tool (questionnaire) and individually recommends to every learner available learning material for closing potential digital skills gaps as objective as possible. Further within the project the relevant digital learning contents will be produced. For developing and calibrate the digital assessment system specifically towards teachers and students of teaching studies needs we need a large data input, i.e., a large number of teachers and students testing and feedbacking the/on the digital assessment tool, individual recommendation system and the digital learning contents on digital skills improvement. This will be done by actively including partners in all phases of the project. Within the framework of this project 360 teachers and students of teaching studies from all partner institution will be involved, for more detailed description of participants, please see the section Participants. For the result to be as objective as possible we believe data collected transnationally has a much higher value for the project result and generally than data collected only nationally. The DigiSET toolkit and all materials produced as a part of this project will be in English, German, and Romanian. For future purposes, outside of this project, it can be translated into the language needed. Open access to products under Erasmus+ is a key principle of the program. Core results and reports will be openly accessible to the public even after the project has ended. These outcomes will be available on the DigiSET website for free after the project has ended. Project partners will obtain the full DigiSET toolkit free. Within the last steps of the project, all project partners will work together on creating a project sustainability plan to ensure long term sustainability of the project result. A possible future exploitation and enhancement of the results of this project is possible.

"In the UKids project, universities and their partner schools from six countries cooperated. The responsibility for the management is assumed by the University of Teacher Education Vienna/Krems. The university partners agreed on applying the distributed leadership concept, spreading the lead as follows: oUniversity of Oulu (Finland): O1 (the programme for the 3rd and 4th grades with materials for students and teachers at the primary schools), oUC Absalon (Denmark): O2 (Training programme as a blended learning approach at the university level), oIFTE (Austria): O3 (digital micro-teaching videos), oMarnix University (Netherlands): O4 (Online platform to present the results of the trash value and the community challenge of the primary school's students), oELTE University (Hungary): O5 (Action Research programme at the school level), oIPP University (Portugal): dissemination and extension. The UKids project has anchored social entrepreneurship education as a transversal competency in the education and training of primary school teachers in the universities' teaching and learning programmes in initial teacher/trainer education and continuous professional development. The project builds on the Erasmus+ programme Policy Experimentation project ""Youth Start Entrepreneurial Challenges"". Within the framework of UKids, parts of the existing programme were developed further and a methodological approach to entrepreneurial learning with gamification for Social Entrepreneurship Education was established. Learning strategies for Social Entrepreneurship were transversally tested and implemented in different learning areas in teacher training.In the universities’ respective partner schools, the Youth Start programme for primary schools was tested on a regionalised basis and extended by two challenges for children (Community Challenge and Lemonade Stand Challenge). A website was developed to exchange the results of the participating primary schools for the Trash Value Challenge and the Community Challenge: https://ukidsplatform.eu/de-at. For all eight challenges used, explanatory films (micro-teaching) were created and published on the website: http://www.youthstart.eu/en/terms/. The translated videos and materials for Activate and Concentrate are also posted there.The programme teaches children and students that, as part of civil society, they should take responsibility for more minor social challenges and develop different approaches to solving them. The selected social challenges are based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UKids Social Entrepreneurship Education training programme for teachers uses a blended learning approach. During the Covid-19 crisis, the programmes were entirely digital, using micro-teaching videos and digital platforms.The UKids Social Entrepreneurship Education project was accompanied scientifically and about twenty scientific articles were published, mostly in the journal “Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education”, showing different perspectives on the joint research. In an article by Austrian colleagues, the children’s worldview was analysed. In an article by colleagues from Portugal and Austria, the programme’s impact in primary school was surveyed and very positively evaluated. All participating countries present comparable case studies for this field of research. In a Hungarian journal article, the role of parents in strengthening a growth mindset is analysed. In a journal article by Dutch colleagues, the teacher training, especially the entrepreneurial learning approach with gamification, in a Hungarian article, the challenge-based-learning approach and in an Austrian article, the relevance of strengthening potential was analysed. Scientific subject didactic articles show the possibilities of transversal competencies for arts education, for education in mathematics, social science and democracy education. A keynote article emphasises the connection between entrepreneurship and sustainability.3.638 students and 126 teachers participated at the partner and associated schools, 1.352 students and 126 lecturers attended the lectures at the partner universities. The UKids project’s impact is assessed positively at the partner universities. The Dutch partner university has chosen Social Entrepreneurship Education as a focus for the whole university. The Hungarian partner university has integrated Social Entrepreneurship Education into Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes, a step on which the partner from Portugal is also working. In Austria, entrepreneurship education has been included as a cross-curricular topic in the new primary school curriculum, which will lead to a further strengthening of Social Entrepreneurship Education in teacher training. The cooperation between the partner universities will continue in the future, and other universities interested in Social Entrepreneurship Education in primary teacher training are welcome."

<< Background >>Democracy thrives on debate and thus on the exchange of people with different worldviews in mutual appreciation and respect. However, the more plural and diverse societies become, the more radical tendencies (fundamentalism, racism, populism, nationalism, extremism, etc.) seem to spread, undermining democratic values and hindering equal recognition, participation and inclusion of all citizens. Social cohesion in a democracy is based on a culture of communication that enables peaceful coexistence between different cultures, religions, world views and groupings. As a basis for this, all citizens must therefore have the skills to be able to conduct a fair dialogue in mutual respect, even with highly diverse worldviews - both in real encounters on site and in encounters in international contexts, as well as in encounters in digital media. The ideal place to equip all citizens with communication skills for a diverse society is the school. Because the school is the microcosm of society. In school, all pupils are reached, regardless of their opportunities, their physical or intellectual aptitude, their health, their cultural, social or national background and their religions, beliefs or worldviews. The murder of the teacher Samuel Paty in France has shown how important it is to ensure from the very beginning that these social problems are not suppressed in schools, but are sensitively perceived and brought into the conversation in order to overcome them (NZZ, 15.01.2021). For even such laudable initiatives as the largest school network in Germany www.schule-ohne-rassismus.org cannot prevent antisemitic attacks from occurring in schools, as the example of the Berlin-Friedenau school proves (Die ZEIT of 14.4.2017). These are just a few examples from Europe that show that schools need didactic concepts that can be concretely implemented and tested, that can sustainably implement a culture of encounter for common values in diversity and that- reach every individual pupil, - allow pupils to learn, experience and reflect on respectful encounters in real, international and digital contexts,- have a sustainable preventive effect through habitus changes.For the implementation of such didactic concepts that lead to respectful and appreciative encounters with people of other worldviews, those subjects that deal with the so-called ultimate questions, such as the subjects of religious education, ethics and philosophy, are particularly suitable. At the same time, it is religions and worldviews that are functionalised for radicalisation and discrimination. Therefore, if pupils learn in these subjects to engage in constructive and respectful dialogue with each other about religious or secular truth claims and certainties, they will also be able to do so on less difficult issues and on other topics.But pupils can only be reached through teachers. Therefore, teacher education and training must offer study programmes that enable (future) teachers to learn about, experience and reflect on concepts of Learning in Encounter between different worldviews. Throughout Europe, there are good initiatives, programmes and projects of interreligious and intercultural university didactics at universities and colleges - the applicants have also been active in such projects for many years with research, teaching and publications. However, there is still a lack of study programmes for initial and in-service teacher training throughout Europe that train (prospective) teachers not only theoretically but also practically in how to apply didactic concepts of Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity in all types of schools.<< Objectives >>The school is the place where we need to start in order to have an impact on society, and teacher education and professional development is the way to bring a Learning in Encounter concept into schools.Based on their long-standing expertise in intercultural and interreligious projects and programmes in teacher education, the applicants have come together because they want to respond to the need for a concept of Learning in Encounter in teacher education and professional development that can meet the following criteria for concrete application in schools:The concept should:- already have been tested and partly evaluated in teacher education and in schools,- be so concrete that it can be implemented one-to-one in all types of schools,- bring inter-worldview religious and secular, also secular worldviews into discussion,- be interdisciplinary and subject-oriented, guiding participants with different worldviews, regardless of their background, to engage in a respectful interdisciplinary conversation about existentially significant issues,- give participants the opportunity to express their own individual religious or secular worldviews in a safe space of real or digital spaces,- allow participants to practice competences of dialogue and encounter in both real and digital spaces, - enable participants to communicate transnationally across countries and to expand their digital capacities,- enable tolerance of diversity and inclusion of participants with fewer opportunities (with physical, intellectual impairments, health problems, cultural differences, limited social competences, economic disadvantage) for all participants in teacher education and professional development as well as in school.- empower participants to engage in democracy and contribute to the European identity of participants through real and digital settings of Learning in Encounter for common values in diversity.To prepare teachers to implement a concept with their pupils, such as 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity', the applicants want to expand interdisciplinary, digitalise and internationalise the Learning in Encounter as WEL: (see Annex 4) on the basis of a 4-phase concept that has already been tested and evaluated in schools since 2002/03 and at the German applicant universities since 2011. It will be established at as many universities and teacher training institutions for professional development as possible throughout Europe and from there in all types of schools.WEL: stands for Worldviews Encounter Learning and the colon (:) indicates openness and respect for diversity – in regard of all key dimensions of diversity, especially of all worldviews. Therefore, the project partners are pursuing further objectives with this application: We want to develop and offer a study programme WEL:study on a digital platform WEL:digital. At the end of the project, WEL:study will be available in universities, teacher education and training centres, other educational institutions and schools across Europe as a recognised additional qualification and micro-credential WEL:cred (supplemented by didactics and materials for teacher education and professional development) in the form of OER. WEL:cred will ensure that the concept of 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity' spreads from teacher education and training into schools, contributing to a culture of conversation in democracies in mutual appreciation and respect. WEL: aims to empower all participants to deal with diversity and to contribute multiplicatively to a peaceful coexistence and a future-oriented European identity through the communication skills they have gained in international cooperation and digital spaces.<< Implementation >>Under the direction of the KPH Wien/Krems (KPH), a multilingual digital teaching, learning, interaction and cooperation platform 'WEL:digital' (PR1) will be set up adn gradually developed, including all project contents, communication possibilities, materials, evaluation tools, etc. Multilingualism, an account for all participants, OER offers, interaction possibilities between the participants (professors, students, teachers, pupils) and spaces for the public will be built up successively. In cooperation with the partners, a digitally supported, internationally available study programme WEL: is being developed, to which all universities and participating fields of study contribute asynchronous study offers for retrieval on WEL:digital. The partner universities have pledged to continue WEL:digital beyond the end of the project (cf. Annex 9).The study programme WEL:study (PR 2), which is based on an additional qualification of the PH HD and University of Education Karlsruhe (PH KA), will be further developed under the leadership of Ankara University (Ankara Univ.) with the partners and adapted to the study requirements of the European countries. Together with the partners, an advanced training course on didactics in higher education will be developed as a tutorial (with videos, handouts, etc. and further links, PR 3) for all interested lecturers in initial and in-service teacher training and, under the leadership of the PH KA, supplemented by the partners with innovative teaching and learning materials for teacher training (PR 4).Under the leadership of the PH HD, in cooperation with the Heidelberg School of Education (HSE), a study programme of an internationally recognised certificate WEL:cred (PR 5, see Annex 5) is being developed, adapted to the requirements of European universities and developed as a decentralised, digitally accessible transnational micro-credential as OER for teacher trainees and teachers throughout Europe. In order to implement the four-phase teaching concept WEL: in its digital, international and interdisciplinary form in the schools right from the start, the concept will initially be implemented at four schools from Austria, Germany, Greece and Turkey under the leadership of Eskisehir Osmangazi University (ESOGÜ). To this end, the teachers will be trained via WEL:digital online tutorials and will receive an initial handout (PR 6), which will be updated and later made available internationally as OER on WEL:digital together with innovative teaching materials (PR 7).Evaluation and monitoring will be defined under the leadership of Aristotle University (AUth) for each partner organisation to ensure appropriate use of all evaluation tools. Monitoring will include: (a) monitoring of project parameters (b) tracking of the engagement of different stakeholders in the project (c) development of the WEL:cred (d) implementation of the concept in the partner universities and (e) in the cooperating schools.Pre-post evaluations will be carried out several times during the project, the results of which should lead to quality improvement of the individual project outcomes and to a questionnaire for self-evaluation (PR 8).Project management activities at Heidelberg University of Education (PH HD) include setting up the project organisation, the communication channels, networking the partners and associated partners with each other and with the project management. For this purpose, a start-up meeting will be held in the 46th calendar week in Heidelberg as a hybrid event with all partners and associated partners for planning the project and to form a common understanding of 'Worldviews'. The meeting structure (training, working units, lectures and dissemination) will be repeated for the project meetings in Thessaloniki 9/2022 and Ankara 3/2023 and will be complemented by project reporting and evaluation. The steering committee meets every six weeks for project development and monitoring<< Results >>The open societies in Europe of plurality and diversity need the initiation and deepening of competences of real and digital communication and encounter for social cohesion and participation.We expect that our project 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity' will have the following outcomes:- Leading sustainably to a better culture of conversation, openness to diversity, understanding of each other, knowledge of conflict emergence and conflict resolution and thus to shared values of recognition and tolerance of other worldviews and beliefs through teacher education and professional development in the schools and from there in the society.- Contributing to inclusion and diversity in the fields of education through the digital, international and interdisciplinary WEL: concept through teacher education and professional development in schools and through them in society.- Anchoring digital skills and competences in society in a sustainable way through teacher education and professional development and through schools, and contributing to a digital communication culture in tolerance and recognition of diversity.- Contributing sustainably to the culture of debate of different worldviews (opinions to religious or secular truth claims) and thus to common values and participation of all people in democratic society through teacher education and professional development in schools and in society.- Reaching young citizens with fewer opportunities (with physical, intellectual impairments, health problems, cultural differences, limited social competences, economic disadvantage) through teacher education and professional development in schools and enabling their participation. In this way we help to overcome barriers linked to discriminations related to gender, age, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, disability through Learning in Encounter for common values in diversity.- Contributing to the Europeanisation, internationalisation and digitalisation of research, education and teacher training.In order to have a positive effect on the communication culture of European societies through teacher education and professional development and through schools, the project wants to sustainably anchor the following results in various European countries: A multilingual digital teaching, learning, interaction and cooperation platform 'WEL:digital' (PR 1) will be the basis and tool for the other project results: a) In teacher education and professional development the project will create and offer the new, innovative and joint, digitally supported, internationally available study program WEL:study (PR 2), from which practical guidance for teacher education (PR 3) and highly didactic, innovative teaching and learning material (PR 4) can be accessed as OER. The study programme WEL:study will produce a transnationally recognised certificate WEL:cred (PR 5) for student teachers and for teachers as qualification in professional development, which can be accessed as a micro-credential throughout Europe.b) The project will offer multilingual didactics for teachers of all types of schools from primary school to grammar school, which serve as a handbook for the introduction and implementation of the four-phase pedagogical concept Worldviews-Encounter-Learning in schools (PR 6). For this purpose, innovative learning materials (PR 7) are available to the teachers. These materials will be created successively as part of the final examinations of the certificate students (WEL:cred) and from series of lessons already carried out in (partner) schools according to the concept WEL:.c) On WEL:digital the project partners will set up a questionnaire tool for a) teacher education and professional development and b) schools on WEL:digital, which enables the participants to evaluate their own projects in WEL: (PR 8).

<< Background >>The education of children and adolescents with special educational needs substantially differs among European countries, both with regard to the teachers in charge (specialized teachers with subject-specific knowledge and skills, specialized teachers with interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, special education teachers, mainstream teachers specializing in continuing education, school curative educators), as well as in relation to the school system (inclusion, specialized schools, specialized competence centers, combination of different models). The different policy and practice relating to the education of children and adolescents with special needs leads to the question of the best possible education for this target group and thus the best possible basic and continuing education for the teachers in charge of them. Once the international comparison and exchange leads to an identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the respective education systems, the next step would be to adapt the content of the curricula.<< Objectives >>The objective will be to establish a sustainable exchange on an international level, in particular to illuminate and compare the basic and continuing education of teachers in charge of children and adolescents with special needs. The exchange will help to draw conclusions about the requirements for teacher education, especially in relation with specific legislation and policies in many European countries to implement inclusive education. Further, the orientation of the basic and continuing education will be critically examined in connection with the respective education systems. This includes content-related aspects such as education plans and curricula as well as organizational-structural aspects such as the timing and duration of education, the focus on specific versus inclusion-oriented contents of theoretical and practical phases, as well as the combination of theoretical and practical phases. First, the exchange should take place at the level of the professors, then at the level of the current and future teachers. Ultimately, this exchange should develop a network of relationships and connections allowing the preservation of special educational expertise in inclusive settings, which could lead to joint conferences or new education modules.<< Implementation >>The exchange takes place through different types of cooperative meetings: First, digital and in person transnational meetings within the project management framework to plan the project and the transnational learning and exchange forums: - Video conferences address the point on different issues: comparing the job description in the participating European countries or regions, analyzing the respective system of education and continuing education, determining the practical components of the education and continuing education, establishing the subject specificity relating on the education of professionals in the different fields of special education (language, hearing, seeing, cognitive development etc.), determining the contents of the education and continuing education in the different countries and regions. - Four in person meetings involving at each meeting one to two people from the core group of each institution.Secondly, learning and exchange forums lasting two to three days deepening the content of the cooperative partnership, held on a rotating basis at each participant location and dedicated to different topics (e.g. specific features of the education relating to the different fields of special education with regard to inclusion). An additional objective consists in the establishment of a resource sharing cooperative network of professionals for the transmission and sharing of subject-specific contents in connection with inclusive education and in the establishment of a network of professionals specialized in the different fields of special education.<< Results >>The exchange of professors and teachers from different countries illuminates the differences in education and continuing education. The priorities of the respective education system will be presented in an overview (synopsis) and published in digital form. Barrier-free videos are planned to give access to summaries and digital presentations. The videos should be available in German, English and French and, in taking account of the idea of inclusion, in simple language, in sign language and with subtitles, in order to provide an orientation for students interested in studying education or teachers participating in continuing education, as well as for professors and government officials. The exchange could lead to proposals regarding an adjustment of the focus and the contents of the education and continuing education of the teachers, and regarding the weighting of theoretical basics and practical components. The comparative overview of the education and continuing education system of the different partners could help to conceive and to develop transnational continuing education courses within the framework of the cooperative network.