This project grew out of the concern that the advancing technology would shape the future of education by changing traditional education models, schools and classrooms and learner teacher interaction which could promote challenges for students, teachers and other stakeholders. In this respect, it is vitally important to keep up with the demands of this fast-growing technology by evolving traditional education methods and models to respond to the demands of technology in a way allowing personalized independent learning, constant access to the learning material and thus promoting lifelong learning. It is also equally significant to train and educate those who are responsible for training of individuals in different vocational fields in terms of improving the quality and efficiency of the training by utilising the pedagogical potential of ICT tools. Within this perspetive, Flipped Classroom Approach-Based Professional Development project for VET Trainers (Flipped-VET) aimed to improve the quality of vocational education and to engage a movement towards work-based, collaborative and problem-oriented learning/teaching by integrating ICT tools into teaching and training of individuals. The project was coordinated by Aksaray University and conducted with the participation of four institutions, Guimel, Bida e.V. Kultur und Bildung, E.ri.fo. Ente Di Ricerca E Formazione and Onageb.Spain.S.L. respectively. Aksaray University is a higher education institution in Turkey which benefited from EU grants through Erasmus + programme with its different actions. The main responsibility of the coordinator was organizing and managing the project activities and budget control including monitoring progress, dissemination and sustainability.Guimel SAS is a non govermental association (NGO) from France aimed to support social and professional insertion of people with difficulties into the society and works to develop autonomy and enpowerment of people supported. Bida e.V. Kultur und Bildung is an educational centre from Germany having broad experience in vocational training and education in terms of social integration of marginalized groups and groups at risk of social exclusion such as immigrants, women victims of violence, unemployed, low-skilled adults and refugees.E.ri.fo. Ente Di Ricerca E Formazione is a vocational educational training centre from Italy with a strong experience in LLP and Erasmus+ Programmes as it carried out and participated in many European projects Also, the institution is known for its training programmes and projects in innovative teaching methodologies, ICT based instruction and flipped educationOnageb.Spain.S.L. is an another NGO from Spain composed of experienced trainers with more than 18 years experienced in vocational education teaching as well as development of adult education contents and methodology. The institution has strong experience in methodology training and vocational education contributed to the project through its expertise in needs analysis and valorisation and dissemination of the outcomes.There were 6 transnational meetings planned during the course of the project including two IP events and creating a web based platform and dissemination of the results as the main project activities. Additionally, a guideline with regard to how to train the VET trainers with Flipped Classroom was planned to be developed on the basis of theoretical and pedagogical literature. Depending on the data obtained from the needs analysis collected from the trainees, the IP event content was determined and the programme was scheduled . With the organization of national meetings, the trainees in each participating country were trained in relevant fields. Furthermore, tutorial videos both in English and the national language were created by each participant. After the implementation of the intensive training programme, qualitative and quantitative data was collected to assess the effectiveness of the application. Finally, the project was disseminated at both local and international levels through conferences, leaflets.The project was instrumental in contributing to the personal and professional development of both trainees and trainers in terms of technology integrated instruction as it provided opportunity to access the theoretical information, ideas for methods, teaching techniques, best practices, activities and resources on Flipped methodology. Also, the project provided an innovative teaching methodology for the VET trainers through the use of web based platform that they can reach rich source of theoretical and practical knowledge about Flipped Education which allowed for personalized professional development. Additionally, the project paved the way for new teaching methodology for VET institutions that they could train the individuals without being constrained by time and place.

The extent to which teacher leaders adopted additional responsibilities varies in degree and description based also on the size, the country, the location and the conditions of the institution. Aspiring leaders or middle leaders in an education setting needed to develop more sophisticated management-oriented skills and collaborative practices to increase their preparation and readiness to manage their workload, sustain others in their professional growth and lead teams to work on school improvement and development. Due to the difficult tasks assigned, two-fifths of new teachers leaving within five years, and many citing increased workloads, stress and pay cuts as reasons for considering leaving, the challenges of leading frontline teaching teams were great.A shortage of senior teachers was adding pressure to many middle leaders, including teachers with additional responsibilities, such as assistant or deputy heads in primary schools, and heads of year and departments in secondary institutions. This middle tier was taking on greater responsibility for the day-to-day running of their schools while trying to juggle team management and a teaching timetable. The consortium's overall aim was producing and testing a program to help aspiring teacher-leaders, in developing more sophisticated management-oriented skill, increasing their preparation and readiness to manage their workload, while learning how to sustain and empower others and how to lead teams for the benefit of their schools. The program was completed with guidelines to assess the aspiring teacher-leaders to evaluate (using different methods: peer evaluation, panel and quizzes) if the professionals developed the required set of skills, as planned at the beginning of the program; and a training program that trainers, school-leaders, directors can use to replicate the Skill-AED program after the end of the present project. The all-in-one Skill-AED program composed of: *A TEACHER LEADERS-specific training expanding participants soft skills, ability to plan strategies and expertise in the area of educational communication, research, administration and management. *An effective MENTORING AND COACHING techniques equipping aspiring TEACHER LEADERS with the necessary competences and skills to handle both teaching and managerial position, covering MENTORING/COACHING and team-leading tasks *VIRTUAL COMMUNITY AND (local/virtual) PEER SUPPORT ensuring that the participants are not alone in facing their issues and can learn and exchange tips and suggestions with other educators with the same issues and experiences. *A PARTICIPATED EVALUATION METHOD guiding a panel of experts in evaluating the aspiring teachers’ leader after the training and after a trial period *A TRAINERS’ TRAINING aiming at professionals that were going to deliver the Skill-AED program The program has worked in different levels and improved all the participants on different skills, as – for instance – have instructed the aspiring leaders to give feedbacks to their mentees, based on structured evaluations, improving their ability to talk about delicate matters in a professional way while helped mentees in reflect on their preparation and accept comments made with the sole intent to help them improve. The digital solutions applied both at the evaluation and the delivery of the contents made it easier for professionals or institutions to monitor and evaluate learning’ progress and adjust the learning and mentoring provision according to the participants needs.The transnational partnership has contributed to improve and innovate the current situation at their local and regional level, offering also recommendations for validation of acquired competencies for the participants. In addition, the lesson learned, based on different approaches and on shared best practice has contributed to demonstrating the transnational values of the project results and innovation, offering a large number of teachers/ teacher-leaders across the EU the possibility for advancing in their careers, enhancing their competences, and planning their careers ahead, especially for younger staff.

<< Objectives >>This project ‘NQ-ADULT’ aims at developing an up-to-date and evidence-based concept and approach for an educational opportunity for adults aged 30-60 that is unique in the purpose of raising awareness on the importance of Nature Intelligence as a basic competency element for individual, societal and environmental wellbeing. This project also aims at developing a parallel curriculum for adult educators/trainers to support and increase their competencies on NQ at personal and professional level<< Implementation >>In addition to project management (WP1), the project intends to create a theoretical framework for a systematic approach of the promotion of NQ in adult education including an NQ competency model (WP2); a manual of methodologies and tools for adult educators/trainer supporting the development of the NQ competencies in adults (WP3); a training (self-directed e-course and offline course) for adult educators/trainer on the development of their competences for the promotion of NQ adult people (WP4).<< Results >>After the realization of theoretical framework (WP2), the manual a testing phase will be carried out in the 5 partners (WP3). Two training courses will be run addressed to the staff in charge of implementing the project and developing the project results, and to adult educators/trainer aiming at increasing their personal and professional NQ competences (WP4). The activities will be piloted during 5 national events in Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Italy.

As stated by the Europe 2020 Strategy, highly skilled individuals with critical mind-sets are needed to create the businesses of the future and more generally, to help business and the public sector to innovate their processes and systems to accomplish with the high standard set by European and National Governments. In order to facilitate students’ transition from full-time education to the labour market, contents and learning approach have to accompany individuals in challenging their thinking, practices and routines, so to evoke mindful thoughts about new sustainable ways of improving organizations / networks / society from within.For example, ICT professionals have to develop skills in marketing or management; services workers have to develop customer-oriented skills and digital literacy or tourism services professionals have to look for new ways to attract interest by potential clients. In many knowledge-intensive sectors, skills as managerial and scientific knowledge are in fact more and more frequently needed. The aim is offering participants a solid knowledge on how organizations operate and what employers expect from employees. The thematic workshops, based on collaborative learning methods, accompany students in acquiring skills requested by the 21st century workplace while learning the most common (and implicit) rules within a working organization, to meet employers’ expectations. The SUSTAIN program will accompany participants in analysing different aspects and situations related to sustainable and socially responsible organization, ethical behaviours, social equity and sustainable management of resources thus building up the necessary skills and competences to be a suitable and reasonable employee. The process is aimed at offering students a better prospective on how sustainable and ethical organizations operate, to learn how to behave in a work environment and be better prepared for their internship or work insertion.One aspect concerning innovation is the provision of easy to understand information on organizational awareness (allowing students to understanding different aspects of the organisation including workings, structure, and culture of the organization) and organization competences (basics attitudes and competences necessary to be an active part of an organization) contained in the eLearning of the project. All those contents are usually absent in technical vocational carriers, but information as social responsibility and quality management or environment management (ISO 9001 and ISO 14000) are utterly relevant for companies of all type and shape – especially the small ones, that require staff to cover different position within the organization. Class activities structured in workshops, structured around company’s departments, will help them experimenting and practicing what real life situation, to get a better prospective on how organizations operate and have a hands-on experience. The inclusive education implies a vision different from the common education based on the heterogeneity and not on the homogeneity. Any inclusive training methodology is a fundamental element in students and trainers' curriculum. The use of diverse strategies will allow trainers to generate tasks and activities in which all learners have possibilities of participation, simultaneously which will encourage the cohesion of the group as well as foster collaborative learning paths.The content is developed jointly by 6 partners from different countries which ensure transferability of the learning content. Blended solutions are more likely to achieve success with ‘millennials’ or ‘digital natives’, for this reason some learning and evaluation activities will be conducted online. This will also facilitate data collection and reporting, sparing time to the educators while monitoring the learning outcomes level along the process.

<< Background >>While the idea and benefits of the STEAM curriculum are spreading around the world, it still does not impact each demographic in the same way. It is still the case that those are coming from ethnic minorities are consistently underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. For example, in the fields of computer engineering and computer science, there is a substantial disparity between minorities and their counterparts. Of the 5 million employed workers in the computing field, minorities only account for about 30% of employees (A Guide forMinorities in STEM: Increasing Workplace Diversity, March, 2020). At the same time, STEAM practitioners agree that that the manner by which science is taught at the level of primary schools influences students’ (including those with ethnic minority background) perceptions and attitudes towards science, and their uptake of STEAM subjects and careers later on (STEM in Primary School, Scientix 2019, EU). The MISSION:STEAM project identifies and creates opportunities for children (age 6-12) coming with a minority background to be engaged with STEAM activities and further follow the STEAM pathways through education and trainings from the early ages of life (primary school). Researches show (e.g. Olsson, M., & Martiny, S. E. (2018), Steinke, J. (2017) women and men form gender roles in childhood, largely based on their exposure to media and popular culture.According to STEAM in primary education (Scientix, 2019) three key strategies were proposed to tackle the most challenging aspects of delivering effective STEAM teaching in primary classrooms, including work with children with an ethnic minority background.[1] The need for high quality teacher training to support primary school teachers in bringing innovation to their STEAM teaching. PROJECT SOLUTION: MISSION:STEAM (M:S) will tackle the limited availability of STEAM training (LTT) for primary school teachers and educators working with children with ethnic background. Partnership involving schools, STEAM centres & institutions in the development of Digi resources will develop an educational platform and ensure more teacher resources are provided, in both content and pedagogical knowledge. [2] The need to offer primary school students with ethnic background access to high quality learning resources and materials to guide them through STEAM education and pursue the career in STEAM field. PROJECT SOLUTION: The project will develop guidelines for implementation of STEAM activities with ethnic minorities students (age 6-12) in addition to providing the resources to both students and teachers. The project will encourage the collaboration between teachers and scientists to ensure that the resources developed are scientifically accurate and reflect the teachers’ and students' pedagogical needs. M:S resources will be developed around principles of openness and with consideration for the teachers’ need to adapt and localise educational content in work with primary school students with ethnic background.[3] The need to create a so-called “STEAM culture” based on a shared understanding among key education stakeholders of the role STEAM education can play in preparing pupils with ethnic background for the future. PROJECT SOLUTION: M:S will develop a shared meaning to mobilize the support of all education stakeholders (incl. mentors with ethnic background) in order to consolidate a “STEAM culture” – in other words, to create a general climate favourable to improving STEAM education in ethnic minority groups, particularly in primary school field (age 6-12)<< Objectives >>GENERAL AIM The MISSION:STEAM aims to increase and sustain the interest in STEAM subjects among children coming from ethnic minorities to, later on, follow the STEAM pathway. This will be achieved by creating a specific STEAM curriculum in the native languages of ethnic minorities involved in this project. Education in a minority’s mother tongue, combined with quality teaching of the official language, is more cost-effective in the long term; reduces dropout rates; leads to noticeably better academic results; improves levels of literacy and fluency in both themother tongue and the official or majority language; and leads to greater family and community involvement.OBJECTIVES 1)To develop hands-on learning approaches towards involvement of minority youth in STEAM pathways.2) To increase and sustain the interest of STEAM of those young people coming from ethnic minorities by involving them into interactive online activities.TARGET GROUP 1) Young people coming with ethnic minority background (Age 6-12)2) Parents of those young people3) National minority schools in project countries 4) Educators/Teachers<< Implementation >>In order to achieve project AIM and Objectives, the consortium will implement the following activities:1. Development of intellectual outputs2. Transnational meetings3. Multiplier events4. Dissemination events (inc. online)5. Online activities6. Learning teaching activities<< Results >>As main results within the project 3 outputs will be produced:- O1 - MISSION:STEAM Hanbook and Curriculum (incl. Pedagogical Model, Lesson plans, Worksheets). The handbook will be produced in 8 different languages: Lithuanian, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, Spanish, Russian - for those coming with an ethnic minority background. And the common version in English.- O2 - MISSION:STEAM Science on the Sofa weekends (incl 18 live-stream online lessons in 8 different languages: Lithuanian, Portuguese, Polish, Ukranian, Italian, Spanish, Russian guidelines how to make science lessons, description of the importance of mentor's role in STEAM with same ethnic background). - O3 - MISSION:STEAM Community learning platform (incl. 18 edited online lessons in 7 different languages: Lithuanian, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, Spanish, English; Lesson Plans and Worksheets for download, Pedagogical Model). Their development processes will be supported by European training activities (LTT) for 12 STEAM Educators that will provide helpful inputs to partners for the work they will have to carry on the national level in the validation of what proposed at the European level. The outputs will also be widely disseminated through multiplier events (described in dissemination), two in each of the partner countries. Other than these important elements will be achieved: - Project website incl information about the project and partners, Pedagogical model, incl a link to MISSION: STEAM Platform. It will also have information for educators and parents. - 1 Pilot testing report of O3 - 4 Newsletters/Pressreleases on project progress and results achieved - 12 short videos with STEAM experts-mentors (with ethnic minority background) to promote STEAM education and engage young people from those communities.Expected softer results of developing and implementing these outputs are: - Increased capacity to work in European contexts and to participate/manage European Union funded project, furthermore, create a network of organisations that could work beyond the lifecycle of the project itself; - Enlarge the opportunity for children/youth to raise their interest in STEAM education and follow STEAM career pathway. As consequence get aware of what are the needs and expectations of enterprises and to enter the world of work (in STEAM professions) as an active participant and achieve as much independence as possible; - Favour the acquisition of soft and entrepreneurial skills by young people trying to support those who wish to make their innovative STEAM ideas become a reality by increasing their skills and proximity to market.