<< Background >>The project “Fair News” is a cooperation partnership to support innovation in the field of school education. The project aims not only to enhance understanding among high school students of the operation of fake-news, but also to work with students on a deep level in order to strengthen their understanding of how knowledge and media content is created and distributed. The project aims to help students to become more conscious readers, co-creators and co-distributors of knowledge.The project is addressed to high school students in four European countries (Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria). As leading organisation, Fondazione Spazio Reale has a long tradition of developing and implementing social and cultural projects in the field of education, with an emphasis on multiculturalism, inclusion and ‘giving voices to difference’, thus motivating Fair News as a project designed to address the defined needs of high school students.In the current landscape, in which young people are exposed to multiplying media perspectives, the question of how knowledge is created, disseminated, and consumed is ever-more important. Young people need the ability to recognize bias and identify fair and trustworthy sources of news and information. Further, as the digital world becomes increasingly atomised, and much of social and civic life takes place online, many young people risk disconnection and isolation from the local, national, and international communities. A recent OECD Report, Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World (2021) has highlighted the need for new skills in media literacy given the “massive information flow of the digital era.” The report shows that less than 50% of 15-year-olds in OECD countries were able to distinguish fact from opinion, with students in Italy and Austria below the OECD average. The report makes clear that schools are not, currently, fulfilling the role of teaching the skills necessary to navigate ambiguity and manage complexity in the digital world. New approaches are needed to develop these skills among high school students by creating broader educational communities beyond formal education and including a range of stakeholders.This necessity has been foregrounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not only led to increased social isolation, but has also highlighted the importance of the ability to navigate and participate in digital media. The questions of what makes news fair, and how the voices of young people across Europe can be heard in the media landscape, is now of pressing importance. This means that there is a need to create broader connections between young people, to enhance their understanding of their reality, and to offer them spaces where they can not only reflect on their situation but can experiment with and experience a knowledge community. Recent movements, such as FridaysForFuture, have shown the depth of desire among young people to be heard, to participate in society, and to imagine alternative futures. We want students to possess the skills to take the lead in reshaping media discourse. As the future voters and makers of our reality, we believe that these skills are vital in supporting and enhancing democracy and we aim to create a community of mature listeners, media consumers and media creators.We believe that these needs can be approached from a holistic perspective by bringing together conceptual and practical knowledge in critical thinking, media literacy and news creation. By partnering with educational organisations, media producers and communication specialists in five European countries, we aim to facilitate and develop the skills and knowledge needed to understand and create news which is fair and inclusive, and so to foster a new form of educational community capable of enhancing social engagement and cohesion, in relation to the Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning laid out in the Recommendation of the Council of the European Union in May 2018.<< Objectives >>This project aims to help high school students to learn to navigate ambiguity and manage complexity.It will introduce them to the theory and practice of Fair News by:-Developing a deeper understanding of how knowledge is created, co-created, distributed and amplified in an increasingly complex digital landscape;-Improving awareness of the power of words and images from a holistic, multidisciplinary, and long-term perspective;-Offering a space in which students can learn and teach, enabling them to become media literate by listening as well as speaking to them, to prioritise the needs and voices of students;-Empowering students as digital citizens and participants in democratic life through new ways to consume, create, present and distribute their own news content.The innovative aspects of the project derive from:-The holistic approach which emphasises the transdisciplinary nature of knowledge and the need for a bottom-up approach to education, in which students are active co-creators of knowledge, and not placed solely as consumers or recipients; -The creation of educational communities at a local and transnational level, seeking to overcome disconnection and disengagement among high school students by bringing together schools, non-formal educational organisations, online student groups, and a broader network of stakeholders such as families, cultural organisations, and media producers.In accordance with the Erasmus+ General Objective of building a European Education Area and supporting the implementation of the European strategic cooperation in the field of education, the project will prioritise connection and collaboration between young people and educational organisations across Europe, creating an international and transnational educational community.The project aims not only to enhance the ability to identify and decode fake news, but also to work with educators and students to develop sophisticated understanding of how knowledge and content is created and distributed. While fake news is a societal concern for all ages, it has a huge relevance for young people. The ability to understand and evaluate information and knowledge is the foundation of becoming and being a conscious citizen. Further, young people, compared to older generations, use social media and peers on a large scale to access and share information. The focus of the project is not only on the ability to identify fake news, but on understanding and enabling a fair, co-created, and shared media landscape. The project’s objectives thus align with the Key Competencies defined in the EU Recommendation of May 2018 such as literacy and digital competence and cultural awareness and expression.By developing an educational community that brings together young people, educational organisations, schools and media producers, the project aims to challenge the ‘educational crisis’ that affects the relationship between generations and furthers social marginalisation and cultural exclusion. The project’s focus on collaboration and shared experiences resists the impulse to talk down to young people through the transmission of fixed knowledge, but rather seeks to develop new understanding and articulate new concepts through listening to the voices of young people themselves. Through developing the concept of ‘fair news’, we aim to help young people to become more conscious readers, creators and distributors of knowledge. Fair news involves not only the ability to detect and deconstruct disinformation and bias, but also to create and participate in a discourse which connects diverse social groups, fosters intergenerational communication, and allows young people to formulate and express their views, concerns, hopes and aspirations. Fair news is honest, communicative, inclusive, and equally representative of all; we seek to resist the idea of news as objective ‘truth’, and to deepen an understanding of knowledge developed through perception and interpretation<< Implementation >>The project will proceed through four stages of activities, aiming to achieve the project objectives by facilitating educational organisations in the theory and practice of Theory of Knowledge and Media and Information Literacy; training and facilitating high school students as co-creators of knowledge, using a holistic approach which prioritises their needs and capabilities according the the EU Recommendations of May 2018; training young students in the theory and practice of media literacy and media creation, including the production and distribution of knowledge and hand-on experience.The implementation of the project will use methodologies drawn from two disciplines:-Theory of Knowledge (TOK): A purposeful enquiry into ways of knowing, including the interpretative nature of knowledge and its creation across multiple disciplines, enabling students to understand their own perceptions and beliefs, and appreciate the diversity of cultural perspectives. TOK is a key part of the International Baccalaureate curriculum, and the implementation of this project will make the discipline accessible to a wider audience of students and educators;-Media and Information Literacy (MIL): Defined by UNESCO as “a set of competencies that empowers citizens to access, retrieve, understand, evaluate and use, to create as well as share information and media content in all formats, using various tools, in a critical, ethical and effective way, in order to participate and engage in personal, professional and societal activities.” Competencies in MIL are closely aligned with those laid out in the May 2018 EU Council Recommendations for Lifelong Learning.The structure of the project is the following:Phase 1 (4 months): Research, training and facilitation of educators in experiences, needs, and skills in critical thinking, Theory of Knowledge and Media and Information Literacy for high school students.This phase foresees a transnational training activity (C1) for educational workers, involving all partners, followed by a series of webinars through which educators can share their experience of the problems faced by students and develop a methodological approach to solutions. The training will be facilitated by Traces&Dreams. Phase 2 (6 months): Collaborative laboratories with high school students on critical thinking and Theory of Knowledge.This phase foresees a series of collaborative laboratories, hosted by educational organisations in each country with the methodological support of Traces&dreams. Transnational communication and collaboration will be enabled through digital blended learning. The laboratories will foster understanding of critical thinking and the Theory of Knowledge through analysis of how knowledge is created and disseminated in the media. Young people will develop the skills to share their experience and communicate their understanding through personal and group projects.Phase 3 (6 months): Practical workshops on principles of Media and Information Literacy and the creation and distribution of knowledge.This phase foresees a series of practical workshops focusing on media literacy, digital citizenship, and the analysis, production and distribution of news in various media, held with high school students in each country with the methodological support of Traces&Dreams and Toscana Oggi. The participants will produce their own digital newspaper based on the concepts of ‘fair news’.Phase 4 (2 months): Installations and Digital Newspaper launchMultiplier events in each country, through which young people will launch the digital newspaper, share their knowledge and their creations, act as ambassadors to their peers and engender an ongoing educational community including all stakeholders.<< Results >>OUTCOMES.For partner organisations:The project will introduce partners to theoretical, methodological and practical concepts related to critical thinking, the Theory of Knowledge and Media and Information Literacy. The focus on collaboration and learning-through-doing will enable organisations to develop a new form of education through facilitation, which can be utilised in both their work with students through this project and through future projects with young people.Schools and educational organisations will become increasingly aware of the problems of fake news and social disconnection among young people, and will enhance their ability to adopt a holistic and bottom-up approach when addressing these issues.Strategic relationships will be formed between schools, partner organisations and other stakeholders within and between countries, enabling an ongoing ‘enlarged’ educational community.Traces&Dreams will lead the preparation of educational material on critical thinking, the Theory of Knowledge and media literacy that will be accessible to a broad audience.For students:The project will enable students to understand the detection and deconstruction of fake news, and the principles underlying fair news, using an innovative bottom-up approach which emphasises the experiences, views and needs of students.Students will gain enhanced abilities in critical thinking, Media and Information Literacy and the Theory of Knowledge, according to the EU Recommendations of May 2018.Students will also develop practical skills and abilities in content production and dissemination, including the production of their own media creations based on the principles of fair news.RESULTS.The outcomes of the project will be synthesised, realised and shared through the following Project Results:PR1: Formative report on the creation and development of educational communities using methodologies of Theory of Knowledge and Media and Information LiteracyLeader: Spazio Reale. All partners participate. Based on the training activities undertaken through C1, the knowledge created and the experiences shared will be developed into a document reflecting the needs of students in relation to MIL, and the use of TOK in the creation of educational communities, to be implemented through laboratories and workshops with high school students and designed for ongoing use and adaptation in various contexts.PR2: Framework for innovative pathways in the use of Theory of Knowledge among high school students Leader: Centrul de Resurse si Consultanta in Educatie. All partners participate. Based on the theoretical innovation and practical application of the training activities undertaken with high school students and the methodologies defined through PR1, this result will present a document outlining the use of critical thinking, Theory of Knowledge and media literacy in facilitating the skills and competencies required for high school students to participate in democratic life through the understanding and creation of fair news and the formation of broader educational communities. PR3: Resources for the creation and dissemination of Fair NewsLeader: Traces&Dreams. Toscana Oggi participate. Based on the innovative experimentation defined through PR2 and the practical activities in the production and sharing of news by high school students undertaken through workshops, this result will present a hands-on guide for the creation and communication of fair news from the perspectives of high school students, and its realisation through a digital newspaper.

Leisure and leisure activities are an important aspect of quality of life for all young people, including the disadvantaged and disabled people. The leisure activities are the engine through which young people have fun, make new friendships, and develop skills and competencies. Until now, leisure activities have not been considered as areas of support and assistance. For disadvantaged young people, integrated leisure and social activities can be the key to social inclusion. Many recreational activities provide opportunities for dating, engaging in social interactions and developing friendships. Often, it is these relationships that make leisure activities the most meaningful. Much of the youth still has a limited range of entertainment and activities. Opportunities for entertainment often consist in leading disadvantaged youth groups among the general public. However, very little support is given for the individual participation of young people in these public settings, although it is the media themselves that may provide greater opportunities for social networking. All societies recognize the importance of leisure activities in the psychological, cognitive, civic, professional and physical development of young people. Therefore, in many places around the world, young people take a certain amount of time during which they are not at work and school and can participate in various activities according to their personal preference. Productive leisure is fundamental to the personal and social development of young people.Psychological benefits of leisure activities for disadvantaged young people are:- Perceptions of freedom, independence and autonomy- Improved self-improvement through improved sense of self-esteem and self-confidence- Better ability to socialize with others, including greater tolerance and understanding- Better teamwork opportunities- Increased creativity- Improve the expression and reflection of personal spiritual ideals- Greater adaptability and sustainability- Better sense of humor- Perceptions of a better quality of life- More balanced competitiveness and a more positive outlook for lifeThis project has the following objectives:- Creating an inclusive youth community by consolidating their free time as a positive for well-being, reducing education cessation and stable mental health- Creating, approving and disseminating new youth-oriented results: A guide for youth workers and teachers on “How to build an inclusive youth community?” - Methods, case studies, tips; Handbook on inclusive youth entertainment activities for youth workers / leaders and teachers and the mobile application for inclusive recreational and leisure activities- Organizing motivational leisure seminars to stimulate human interaction, verbal interactive collaboration and improving 21st century skills- Creating awareness campaigns that integrate disabled youth in the four countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria and Serbia) into youth organizations, but also the families of disadvantaged young people.- Measuring the impact of the Positive Leisure Time for Youth concept by piloting in Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria and Serbia with local youth organizations, and successfully deriving implementation guidance.The following target groups were included:- Youth workers, youth leaders and members of youth NGOs- Youth with and without disabilities (and their representative youth organizations)

"Digital VET Upskilling for Trainers and Women Beneficiaries [DIGIVET]European Commission Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP) 2021-27: ""The COVID-19 crisis shed light on the key enabling factors for effective digital education and training: connectivity and suitable digital equipment for learners and educators; teachers and trainers that are confident and skilled in using digital technology to support their teaching and adapted pedagogy; leadership; collaboration and the sharing of good practice and innovative teaching methods.""The DEAP outlines the European Commission’s vision for high-quality, inclusive, and accessible digital education in Europe. It is a call to action for stronger cooperation at the European level with a stated priority of ""Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation"". The DEAP also refers to the need for: ""advanced digital skills which produce more digital specialists and also ensure that girls and young women are equally represented in digital studies and careers."" There is a recognised gender imbalance regarding women with the level of digital skills necessary to move closer to the labour market. The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey in 2018 showed that only 39% of educators in the EU felt well or very well prepared for using digital technologies in their daily work.The Europe 2020 Strategy recognises entrepreneurship and self-employment as key for achieving smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan: Section 4.2.4. Unemployed, in particular, women: Given the significant number of unemployed people across Europe, entrepreneurship support schemes should be put in place to encourage business creation as a route out of unemployment. Few business development support schemes target unemployed women specifically.Women face a variety of barriers:• Lack of awareness of the potential for entrepreneurship among role models results in a lack of encouragement or even a negative social attitude• Education and training programmes generally do not do enough to nurture entrepreneurial attitudes and skills• Lack of prior work and entrepreneurship experience is detrimental to business start-up and entrepreneurship performance• Limited business networks and business-related social capital have consequences for business start-up and obtaining legitimacy• Gender bias/inequalityWe will:• create a VET digital curriculum focusing on developing entrepreneurial mind-sets (E.G. recognising and acting on an opportunity)• encourage attitudinal changesDIGIVET will promote the following entrepreneurial qualities:• Skills and attitudes: women may have the determination and enthusiasm to run a business but may not have the appropriate skills-set and leadership qualities• Meta-qualities: to be developed through action learning sets; developing the ability of learning-to-learn; and identifying self-weaknesses for subsequent developmentPartners will meet in Month 2 to agree upon a draft curriculum to be presented to local VET stakeholders and women focus groups for feedback and review. Each partner will engage with a minimum of 5 local VET stakeholders and successful entrepreneurs, and engage with women focus groups (minimum of 5 women), and use the Plymouth Development Tool for Vocational Training (PDTVT) to underpin the curriculum development.Target Group: VET educators and trainers who can engage with women who are furthest from the labour market.We will use non-formal education methods to train 24 VET trainers/educators, from the UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Romania at a short term staff training event (C1) held in Romania in Month 12. We will use Kolb's Experiential Learning Tool to monitor the 24 VET ""trainees"" as they return to each work with 10 women beneficiaries (240 in total).6 Partners:Germany: AULUK: WSX EnterpriseAustria: VAEVUK: Make A Dream Publishing LtdItaly: CASCRomania: BUCOVINAPartners will meet 6 times during the 24-month project. At project end, each partner will host a local multiplier conference event, to a minimum of 30 attendees, to promote and disseminate the results and outcomes of the project. These events will be live-screened online for those who cannot physically attend these events.We will develop digital training resources that include 6 training webinars hosted on the internet. The project website, training platform, and resources will be available for a minimum of 5 years post-project.We will look at mapping the co-created VET digital curriculum to the EQF at level 3 at the project end.We expect 30%+ of the women to move into further training/employment or self-employment and 60%+ to improve their socio-economic and mental well-being (WEMWBS evaluation) following upskilled VET educator support.In the long term, DIGIVET will provide an innovative solution to the EU's declared challenge of improving levels of digital skills amongst VET educators."

"It is a commonly held belief that contemporary society is changing rapidly in the 21st century. As a result, citizens are charged with the task to reach the hectic pace of technological evolution in every aspect of their life. Furthermore life-long learning is widely accepted to be an inevitable part of modern man’s life in order to survive in an extremely competitive working environment. ICT plays a significant role in life-long learning as those without digital skills are nowadays considered to be illiterate. Even those with basic digital skills soon feel inefficient to respond to modern market demands, while those that manage to follow the technological changes and have advanced digital skills are much in request and very well-paid. The European Commission is promoting various initiatives aimed at increasing training in digital skills for the workforce; modernising education across the EU; harnessing digital technologies for learning and for the recognition and validation of skills; and anticipating and analysing skills needs.A strong digital economy is vital for innovation, growth, jobs and European competitiveness. The spread of digital is having a massive impact on the labour market and the type of skills needed in the economy and society.It is changing the structure of employment, leading to the automation of ""routine"" tasks and to the creation of new and different things: - It is leading to the need for more skilled ICT professionals in all sectors of the economy. It is estimated that there will be 500,000 unfilled vacancies for ICT professionals by 2020. - It is leading to the need for digital skills for nearly all jobs where ICT complements existing tasks. Careers such as engineers, teachers and many more - require increasing levels of digital skills.- It changes the way we learn by fostering online communities, by enabling personalised learning experiences, by supporting the development of soft skills such as problem solving, collaboration and creativity, and by making learning fun.- It is leading to the need for every citizen to have at least basic digital skills in order to live, work, learn and participate in the modern society.- The full potential for improving education through ICT in Europe remains yet to be discovered and this is why the European Commission is developing policy and supporting research to make learners fit for 21st century life and work.Educators of all sectors but most importantly adult education trainers face many challenges as they deal with increasingly complex and diverse learning situations and meet competence demands in a constantly changing work environment with the evolvement of new technologies, a constantly changing labour market with highly technical skill demands and a challenging socio-economic context. As a result, there is an urgent need for adult education trainers to enhance the uptake of ICT in teaching and learning, to promote stronger coherence of the needs of the labour market thus achieving a better skill match for their students as well as bridging the gap between education and the working world.The project will aim to develop an online learning platform and mobile tools for adult education trainers’ digital skills and competences improvement by participating in personal professional development programme. The Project will enhance digital integration in learning, teaching and training while promoting access and learning through open educational resources, supporting ICT-based training, learning and assessment at the education level.Project consortium will create an online, dynamic, multi assessed online platform, which will provide appealing and effective high tech possibilities for level – measuring, training and validating digital skills. This will help adult education trainers to control skill deficit and update their abilities throughout their career focusing on the current needs of the labour market and the economy. Project target groups are adult education trainers and LLP centre lecturers.Project intellectual outputs are:1. Digital literacy technical requirement report2. Digital skills learning outcomes for adult education trainers3. Digital skills training online learning platform 4. Mobile application for educational and technical softwares5. The usability toolkitProject partners have expertise in pedagogy and new ICT technologies into formal and non-formal education. All partners have necessary human capacity, experience and technical resources to fulfil requirements of the project activities. Partner organisations are university, adult education and training centres, vocational training institute, software development company and educational NGO."

"Active participation of youth and their engagement is important challenge for Europe. European countries need active young people empowered by social media literacy and community media skills that will give chance them to reach positive impacts in local communities. Community media has a multiplying impact both in local and European levels. Because of this reason, European Union Member States cooperate to increase capacity of young poeple through active participation to society. Increasing media litearcy will help to build capacity of young people. Community media is include tools and networks that young people can use to transmit their voice with local media actions in the community to become more empowered. European Parliament described the importance of community media in Europe “as non-profit making and independent, not only from national, but also from local power, engaging primarily in activities of public and civil society interest, serving clearly defined objectives which always include social value and contribute to inter-cultural dialogue” (Resolution 2008/2011 INI). Young people's insufficient communication is an identified common problem in Europe, because they do not have enough necessary media literacy and skills to effective communication. Community media will encourage young people to develop their skills and increase their potential to turn into more integrated with public domain so that they will claim their rights better and remain actions to their social life better. Otherwise, young people will face risks of marginalization. They will effectively failing to sustain themselves as “learning individual” and therefore less likely to adapt in our era of social and economic critical points. Community media networks and tailored trainings are related with needs and expectations of young people and it will help them to participate in society, engage the public and contribute to a strong youth movement as a whole. Young people have limited access to media trainings or hands-on support activites in media tools. Lack of access to community media skills training effect young people and they are unable to give their messages to public. This issue limits young people's engagement in active participation processes to gain public support for their aims and viewpoints. The project's idea is to share educational approaches as youth community media models, exchange good practices in local, national and European levels and empower young people's active membership of local communities (municipalities,neighbourhoods, disadvantaged communities etc) and guide young people through a process, where they get to: 1. Gain socail media literacy and community media skills 2. Obtain entrepreneurship skills to establish their own media (such as local news website, newsletter creation for local communities, blogs etc.). The project aims to develop and assure young volunteers' community media into civil society. The project will design and implement community media approaches and tools to create grassroot community development transfer to young volunteers. Other innovative element is the utilization of a ""self organizing"" approach in the project aiming towards ""youth volunteers community media"". This youth approach to community media is not very common when compared to community media in general. Creation of community media networks and tailored trainings are related with needs and expectations of young volunteers and it will help them to participate in society, engage the public and contribute to a strong youth movement as a whole. The project aims to accord recent media literacy strategies implemented in project partner countries, so as to improvement access to social media and community trainings hands-on actions.The project aims to increase access to community media skills training to able young volunteers' message to wider audience. There are 5 intellectual outputs in the project. These are: IO1: Community media training scheme IO2: Community media volunteering training toolkit IO3: Community media youth volunteering e-learning platform IO4: Community media youth volunteering animation videos IO5: Self assessment mobile application on community media youth volunteeringThe project is targeting socially disadvantaged youth due to being located in areas with huge unemployment rates, and these include youth from poor families, minorities; youth workers fromdifferent types of organizations; young people who are interested in social media and community media as volunteers. Project partners are foundation, education volunteering youth association and training association of disadvantaged young people those have experience on youth work and non-formal education. Partners are active in community media in their country with their youth workers, media editors. Scope and scale of the project will be specific to young volunteers."