"The ""Europe in Love"" project is a Strategic Partnership that has addressed more than one field of Education, focused on School Education but also provides relevant results in the field of Vocational Training (VET) and Youth.Love has been the thread of the project and is the main link between people and cultures. In addition, love is the engine that fulfills and guides our lives. It is everywhere and there are many different ways of loving, all being just as good. Love has no boundaries, does not understand the language and has no age restrictions.Europe and Europeanism must seek solid and common references to consolidate their existence and also to ensure progress in the Union process. For this project we have sought a common thread of connection that we all know and feel and which, far from being practical or rational, is directed to our feelings and our hearts. Sometimes it is really positive to follow your heart.This project has involved six educational institutions in Germany (Gesamtschule An der Erft), Slovakia (ZS a Gymnàzium s VJM), England (Carrickfergus College), Italy (Liceo Classico Statale Giulio Perticari), Finland (Myllyharjun Lukio) and Spain (Patronato of the Workers' Youth). The project has developed intersectoral work in secondary education, vocational training and also improves methodologies of non-formal and informal education (Youth). Participating organizations have involved the vast majority of their students between the ages of 12 and 18 and most of their teachers in the project, making a major impact on participating schools.The project has included a simultaneous process of learning and producing intellectual results, the students themselves having learned and participated in the whole process.With love as a central theme, the main objectives of the project have been:Collect: Students have researched Europe's historical heritage, past and present, including legends, films, music, places, traditions, customs, poems, etc. Once the information has been compiled and always with the advice and supervision of the teachers, the studentsReflect: on the compiled material after it has been analyzed, cataloged, classified and organized so that it can be used toProduce: and develop high quality intellectual products including:- 30 Didactic Units that are part of the subjects of the European Union, History and practical English curriculum.- Audiovisual production recorded by the students of secondary education and professional training courses in video and sound.- Methodological non-formal education guide for young people.All materials have been adapted and are compatible with the different curricula of all the schools and organizations of the different participating countries.In addition, an eTwinning project has been created through the Twinspace system to publish the progress of the compilation and production in progress. A multitude of transnational activities have been created in which hundreds of students from all the countries involved have participated, reinforcing their key competences and obtaining very successful learning outcomes. Recently this project has received the ETWINNING QUALITY SEAL.In order to obtain the expected results, in addition to the constant communication and coordination between all the partners, the continuous work and the on-line meetings, there have been meeting spaces with approximate frequency every four months to work together:- 4 transnational teacher meetings have been held to coordinate, define and work on intellectual products- 3 mobility events for learning where students have participated and collaborated in the development and pilot test of all materials, this being a fundamental process for their learning- An international multiplier event where the result of the project has been presented publicly.Finally, it's important to highlight the great impact that this project has had at local, regional, national and European level, since a number of English-language materials have been developed with a clear added value in the field of education, vocational training and youth. All these educational products are beginning to be used by different schools, VET institutes and youth and non-formal education organizations, extending the project's impact in the long term and having a direct impact on thousands of students and young people who wish to acquire and improve their skills in the foreign language, their knowledge of our common European history and their sense of European citizenship."

BUILDING DIGITAL EUROPEAN SCHOOLS THROUGH CREATIVE, COLLABORATIVE, AND EFFICIENT PRACTICES is a project born of the needs detected in the field of secondary education by the participating schools.Fundación Patronato de la Juventud Obrera is well aware of the importance of the digitalization of schools as a process to create 21st century schools and improve the academic results of educational centers. We have been pioneers in the use of the SELFIE tool since 2018, and after detecting the weaknesses we had, and the educational and management opportunities offered by digitalization if carried out properly, we started to create an innovative methodology of our own that encompassed the whole school.We understood soon that this strategy could not only cover the classroom, since it was necessary to achieve a global digitalization of the center that would promote new technologies and integrate the entire educational community in the digital learning processes for it to have a real impact on educational improvement and, above all, to avoid early school leaving.However, thanks to the contact with other European centers, this strategy has shown that it can be improved with the practices that are carried out in other European countries, which is why we want to go a step further in 2019 and create a strategic partnership of 5 European countries to build a useful and powerful tool, along with a methodological guide, in order to establish a digital holistic educational process to help schools across Europe to reach the future.This will be substantiated in 2 high-quality Intellectual Outputs with great impact capabilities: a Virtual Platform and a Methodological Guide for Digitalization.The first Intellectual Output: the DIGITAL PLATFORM FOR THE CREATION OF DIGITAL EUROPEAN SCHOOLS.This digital platform will be a tool that will not only help to implement an innovative process of digitalization for schools, but will also guide them throughout the process to achieve a full digitalization: From the initial evaluation of the school with EU’s “SELFIE” tool, until the full IMPLEMENTATION OF A HOLISTIC DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL PROCESS OF THE SCHOOL.This innovative platform will stand out for a new concept of digitalization methodology, which we have called the HOLISTIC EDUCATIONAL DIGITALIZATION OF THE SCHOOL, which is based on a continuous process of analysis and improvement and the digitalization of the whole school that encompasses the CLASSROOMS, the SCHOOL and the EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY.This digital platform will also have resources to facilitate this digitalization process, such as free software, for the management of the educational center itself, to train teachers and students, and for the relationship and communication between of the entire educational community. It is a dynamic platform that consists of 6 steps:- STEP 1: your school is sent to the “SELFIE” tool to get a true analysis of the real situation of the digitalization of the school and its weaknesses.- STEP 2: once the “SELFIE” results are available, they are registered on the platform.- STEP 3: the platform generates a report with proposals for improvement in the digitalization of the school according to the model of the HOLISTIC EDUCATIONAL DIGITALIZATION OF THE SCHOOL.- STEP 4: the platform will provide your school with materials and resources to help in the process of digitalization, which will train directors, teachers, and the educational community to be able to carry it out.- STEP 5: the platform will include tools and spaces for virtual dialogue between schools and educators.- STEP 6: the school will be encouraged to repeat the evaluation periodically to monitor its progress and see which aspects could be improved.The second Intellectual Output: the METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF THE PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE HOLISTIC DIGITALIZATION OF THE SCHOOL.This methodological guide will allow any secondary school to implement this revolutionary holistic educational process, matching the regulations and proposals established by the EU in the “SELFIE” tool, and including coordinated action and collaboration frameworks between the different departments of the school and proposals for the use of software and digital applications.The network created for this project will work together during 24 months, during which they will hold 3 Transnational Meetings, carry out activities for the creation of results, virtual mobilities, 3 student training mobilities in the most digitalized partner schools, 1 joint teacher training activity, multiple learning activities (to test the results and train the participating students in new educational techniques), and finally a great Multiplier Event. All of this will be done to obtain high-quality results aimed at facilitating the digitalization of secondary schools, enabling better educational results, and reducing early school leaving through an ICT-based education that connects with younger generations.

The European Union set the reduction of the school drop-out rate to less than 10% as a priority objective in education, in accordance with the provisions of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020). Despite the complexity of this endeavor, just at the deadline of 2020, the figure of 9,9% was reached.This data does not reflect the current national reality of each of the countries that make up the European Union, since they show large variations in their school drop-out levels, but it does reflect a clear positive trend and a collective effort (done by families, educational centers, and public authorities) for fighting this serious educational and social problem that our youth has faced for many years. This is an issue capable of weighing down the social, personal, and labor future of youth, not only due to the lack of regulated qualification, but also due to their loss of confidence and the lack in the development of transversal competences and attitudes towards life that can arise in them.This immense achievement has been possible thanks to the implementation of projects, initiatives, and tools in innovative educational centers, among which we find the project “LEARNING TO PLAY, PLAYING TO LEARN: COLLABORATIVE LEARNING FOR THE EDUCATIONAL INCLUSION OF LOW PERFORMING STUDENTS”; an initiative developed between 2018 and 2021 to generate innovative changes in the learning processes of students from a holistic perspective that would allow generating a teaching method to attract young people, to motivate them, and generate a fun self-learning process to build confidence in their your academic prospects; all through the digitalization of teaching via a gaming methodology.An innovative methodology has been generated based on the use of effective and innovative digital games in the classroom, which allows students to develop their educational skills together -without isolating anyone- and in a transversal way, specifically addressing low performance in mathematics, science, and literature in the first years of secondary education. These subjects, according to recent studies, are one of the main causes of school dropout by widening the gap of knowledge between students at risk of school leaving and their peers, sowing the seeds for future school dropout, and creating in them feelings of inferiority that can lead to anger and bullying towards their classmates.As a result of the severe COVID-19 pandemic and the serious consequences it will leave in our society, the development of this gaming and digital methodology has become even more important, which is reflected in the results generated in this project. In order to achieve the planned objectives, a European network of 6 educational centers in Spain (Colegio Sagrada Familia - PJO), Finland (Harjurinteen koulu), Germany (Gesamtschule An der Erft), the UK (Carrickfergus College), Italy (Liceo Classico Statale Giulio Perticari), and Slovakia (ZS a Gymnázium s VJM) carried out intense work during 36 months, allowing to conduct 3 student mobility activities, 3 Transnational Meetings, 1 large Multiplier Event, multiple management, visibility, and dissemination activities, and many on-site and virtual activities for the creation of an innovative Intellectual Output, the “O1- VIDEOGAME: LEARNING TO PLAY, PLAYING TO LEARN”, coupled with -among other tangible and structural results- the manual “CURRICULAR ADAPTATIONS FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING THROUGH GAMING”, which facilitates the inclusion of said video game and the gaming methodology in the educational strategy of secondary school teachers.All these results and actions have endowed the project with great impact, not only in the educational centers of the partnership, but also in schools from various European countries, thanks to the networks of the partner entities and the relationships they have with other educational centers like “Institut Technique de l'Enseignement Catholique-Boisfleury” (France). This project, despite having developed at a terrible time due to COVID-19, which particularly impacted the educational field, didn’t suffer a negative impact on its quality and ability to promote the creation and work of an effective European network that can already be seen in the day-to-day of these centers. This network grows every year, developing new Erasmus Plus projects (it has already been granted 2 new continuation projects) and contributing to achieve the ET 2020 objectives for school leaving.

COVID-19 has taught us that our societies that we thought were invulnerable, aren't, and that many of our ways of doing things, valid until recently, are not useful before the reality that arises after one of the harshest pandemics experienced in decades. But it also taught us one more thing: the more we weaken the environment, the greater the danger of new pandemics, diseases, and uncontrolled infections, since the loss of biodiversity acts as a catalyst for the spread of viruses and infectious diseases. Thus, it is essential to create among all of us a European society that is resilient, sustainable, and adapted to the reality that has arisen from coronavirus, and in order to achieve this ambitious goal, schools and students must become one of the main exponents of this change.The project we present is based on the idea that “Many little people, doing little things, can change the world”, meaning that in order to rebuild the European society that we need after the severe COVID-19 pandemic, we must all work together to change our environment, and no one is more capable of achieving it than students. Their desire, their enthusiasm, and their innocence are the key to launching a process of training and digital action that makes our neighborhoods more sustainable and helps them live in the new reality.This is why we propose the creation of ECOexcellence Schools, schools that show their commitment to building the new post-COVID-19 society by implementing innovative changes in:- The management and organization of the school, aiming it towards sustainability through new processes of digitization of management and communication, promotion of renewable energies, and waste treatment. This will become the Intellectual Output O1: METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF A SUSTAINABLE AND DIGITAL CENTER.- The implementation of teaching methodologies and curricular contents in classrooms, based on sustainable digitization, environmental training, responsible consumption, and the fight against COVID-19, which will all turn into the Intellectual Output O2: COURSE FOR TEACHERS: TEACHING BASED ON DIGITALIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY FACING COVID-19, which will favor the digital training of teachers and guide their pedagogical action towards sustainability and learning-action, promoting their students to become ECO-friends and contribute effectively to the sustainability of their immediate environment.- The development of awareness, solidarity, and training projects for residents of nearby neighborhoods to promote the use of measures against COVID-19, responsible consumption, sustainability in daily activities, and help alleviate the consequences of the virus.- The creation of international support and cooperative work networks to face this global challenge in a coordinated manner.The ECOexcellence seal will define those schools that do not only focus on the training of future generations, but have implemented digital and sustainable management and teaching processes, decisively contributing to the protection of the environment, solidarity, and the fight against the pandemic in our neighborhoods and cities, and have implemented a method that encourages high school students to put what they have learned into actions, becoming the promoters of change in the dynamics of consumption and waste management in their neighborhoods. This working method will effectively raise the awareness among students, not only of the importance of caring for the environment, but of their essential role in achieving it, enhancing their self-esteem and many non-formal skills that sometimes schools are not able to promote well enough.We will encourage the participation and involvement of students thanks to the “ECO-friendly student” badge, a digital certificate that acknowledges them as the protagonists of the project, and endorses their development of non-formal and environmental skills and competences.In order to achieve all of this, we will generate a strategic partnership that will work together for 24 months, among 6 entities like PATRONATO DE LA JUVENTUD OBRERA (Spain), MYLLYHARJUN LUKIO (Finland), ZS A GYMNÁZIUM S VJM (Slovakia), LYCEE PHILIPPINE DUCHESNE ITEC BOISFLEURY (France ), LICEO CLASSICO STATALE GIULIO PERTICARI (Italy), and GESAMTSCHULE AN DER ERFT (Germany), who will carry out 4 Transnational Meetings, 1 teachers training activity, 1 blended mobility of students, pilot tests of the materials created, national activities for the development of tangible results, an intensive use of the e-Twinning platform, and lastly a large Multiplier Event in Valencia (Spain).With this, we propose an impactful project that will not only improve the efficiency and sustainability of schools, but also train the students to become the agents of change of the future, and raise their environment's awareness to allow this positive change.