This partnership idea started from the researches and the observations that were made in all three partner schools and countries, regarding the school performing and the expected results. The conclusions were that students' declining motivation for school and teachers' competence to vary teaching need to improve. In this context, we are interested in finding ways to experiment new learning and teaching paths in different environments, to go beyond traditional lessons moments in our classrooms and demonstrate how important and significant the impact could be on our students’ learning and results. A project that will include outdoor organized activities, where the school subjects will be taught in different environments, is something that will bring an example of good practice for other teachers. This partnership will consist in the integration of different expertise and best practices from each of the partner schools regarding teaching in outdoor environments and it will be an effective way to support the creation of more active learning environments. It will be a fundamental point of departure to share educational experimentations that could be extended to many other local and national colleagues, in order to modify and improve not only curriculums in our schools of the region, but also our mentalities as primary school teachers.We intend to develop the teacher's competence in planning and implementing teaching activities in an outdoor environment. We are convinced that this will lead to students experiencing greater positive variation, being more involved in their learning and becoming more physically active in teaching, and thus counteracting sedentary pupils. We want to make teachers more confident that this is a success path and we want to spread what we arrived at, both, locally and internationally via e.g. Etwinning. A continuous feedback from the students will be requested, in order to strengthen the motivation of teachers and increase the possibility of active participation. The increased skills to plan lessons in outdoor environments will create a complete new mindset for the teachers. These main targets will increase the educators’ skills to successfully teach and that would lead to student's increased success and higher results. It also leads to a school situation that increasingly benefits student's personal development at several levels. This project will also become a solid ground for EU goals of the development of the EU key competences around pupil's personal development skills and their ability of learning to learn. And also a way to achieve Eu's goals of develop teaching methods and promote more effective learning in different environments.The three partner Institutes (Sweden, Italy, Romania) will involve primary school students (7-10years old), from 2 classes, in outdoor organized lessons, that will regard common school subjects and topics from the National Curriculum of each country. At least two concrete lessons are developed, per mobility, that are carried out and evaluated collegiality. The entire process from planning, execution to evaluation, is documented and presented to all the colleges and is made available via digital media.Between the mobilities, the teachers of the classes selected for the project will be expected to plan and implement at least three different outdoor teaching elements per participating school, connected to common topics from each others’ curricula. These are communicated via eTwinning and documented in the Ebook. The participating students will share experiences to their partners via eTwinning, by online meetings or presentation of the activities. We will also publy the whole activity complex, step by step, on the website www.europeanschools.eu in order to make paths, processes and results available for a wider audience of teachers, educators and headmastersOur next goal is to integrate the outdoor education and its potential, into curricula of each partner, so that the project could become only one of the important step of a bigger objective. It means that thanks to this partnership, its activities and experimentations, constantly shared and analyzed, we could really maximize the effectiveness of the curricula and their concrete applications, by providing innovative paths and operative strategies to teachers, so that, school subjects could be presented and developed through the concreteness and the testability given by different scenarios of the outdoor environments. The ultimate objective is, in fact, to transfer awareness we will get through this project partnership into our local workplaces, so that implementing curricula with outdoor education programs, thanks to their beneficial results, will become a real need for our education environments, to the point that in next local or international projects more subjects, like Arts, History and Geography will subsequently be planned on the basis of the outdoor education possibility and potential.

<< Objectives >>We want to create a partnership between three European schools and share experiences around the school and family life of the children of our territory, the importance of its preservation and the pleasure of learning and sharing together in a foreign language.<< Implementation >>Virtual and physical mobilities will enable teachers to learn from each other’s professional practices and will enable children to discover and exchange on the particularities of their territories in sustainable development projects. The use of digital competencies will facilitate the learning of a foreign language.<< Results >>The teachers have observed and learned from other professional practices, they have learnt to work together and gained in confidence to be able to set up other European projects. The children have discovered their territories (by bike, on foot) and how to preserve them. They have learnt to use another language in a concrete situation to be able to share their experiences. They have used digital skills to gain awareness of the world around them.

Our project C.R.E.A.T.E (Celebrations - Raising Expectations And Teachers' Expertise) will bring together the pupils and staff of four schools from Wales and Romania who differ quite significantly in terms of background, history, location size and community, but who are united by a combined desire to raise the standards, skills and attitudes towards creativity, creative thinking, cultural awareness and wellbeing in both our pupils and staff. We have created a two year project based on the theme of celebrations and in each term we aim to embark on a creative thinking project based primarily on the arts. This is because we believe the creative arts provide an international language where a lack of a common fluent spoken language will neither inhibit the pupils' progress or chances of success. Tasks undertaken will include photography, e-books, music and drama, creative writing and 2D and 3D art. We also plan to hold termly cultural exchange visits which will include either staff or pupils and staff depending on the nature and primary purpose of the visit. Each of these projects and visits have been timetabled and agreed by all participating schools to ensure joint ownership, progression and positive and successful outcomes. Each school has specific aims for the project which tie in with their individual needs related to their specific improvement plans. For the Welsh schools we have the united objective of planning for Successful Futures and its four main purposes of creating ambitious capable learners, enterprising creative contributors, ethical, informed citizens and healthy confident individuals through the expressive arts, and its aim to develop the four wider skills of critical thinking and problem solving, planning and organising, creativity and innovation and personal effectiveness. However all four schools have several further and significant overarching aims and reasons for participating in this project. We and our partner schools want to establish mutually beneficial links between European countries to raise cultural awareness and thereby raise the pupils' understanding of other races and ways of life. We believe that it is vitally important that children of any nation not only build a sense of pride and belonging based on their home country but also start to build an awareness of being part of an international community. We know that many pupils currently in primary school will be working in a worldwide job market. Therefore, it is essential that we provide opportunities for pupils to develop the confidence to work alongside children from other countries. This project will provide opportunities for children to work collaboratively with pupils within their own schools and across other schools, so communication skills and creative skills can be developed in parallel. We also aim to develop their growing geographical understanding of other places in Europe and their ability to look for what unites us as well as what makes each of us unique. Developing skills that will be of benefit to them in their future employment is a further major priority. We also aim to develop the digital competency skills of both pupils and staff as we establish an inter cultural dialogue via email and skype as well as creating platforms which will allow us to share the work that we have done with each other. Although this is specifically funded as a two year project we envisage that the potential long term benefits for the pupils and staff of all the schools involved will be significant. The skills they develop in terms of creativity, language development, emotional wellbeing, academic engagement, creative thinking and problem solving skills will be ones that they can take forward with them throughout their life long learning and that will raise their prospects in the employability market. Furthermore by providing a means for staff to develop their own pedagogical skills and cultural and European understanding we will also be able to share these skills with future pupils and not simply restrict the benefits to our present cohorts making this a project that will have significant impact for many years to come.

"According to the aims of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, the M.A.D.E project promoted the understanding of local traditions, cross border communication and reinforced the European dimension of education through the implementation of Performing Arts in the school curricula. Performing Arts as a universal language allowed us to be “united in diversity” and to overcome cultural and language barriers. Arts was central to our schooling and not left on the fringes because it had an impact on broader academic and personal wellbeing; every child has a right to the experience of culture: ""Without art, stories, music and feelings children starve"" (P.Pullman). The inclusion of partners from different parts of Europe (North, Center and South) and different social, cultural and pedagogical backgrounds was essential to the project not only to rise awareness towards the common roots of intangible forms of cultural heritage but also to verify sustainability and transferability of the activities/approaches thal were implemented by the partnership through an action-research process.The four partner Institutes (Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania) involved primary students (10-13 years old) in sharing traditional songs, dances, music that were perfomed during joint events in each partner country throughout the three year project (apart from the Corona lockdown 2020) and opened the students to new ways of seeing the world and to implement the European dimension within the school curricula and the local communities. The project was based on: cooperation of students and teachers through the eTwinning platform, short-term mobilities, virtual mobilities and joint performances in each partner country, teamwork and inclusion; musical theater experiences involved students in carrying out tasks and roles on stage with their European friends; visual arts activities inspired by traditional melodic music; performing of dances and songs raised awareness of our cultural heritages, common roots and developed body coordination/rhythm; creation of digital resources preserved and disseminated the project products for future developments and implementations in the national curricula and in other school contexts; multilingual education by learning the songs in the partner languages and using English as a communicative and learning tool (CLIL). Teachers shared their best practices and strategies about teaching Music, Drama, Singing and Dancing through short-term mobilities while small group of students met together for three days, each time in a different country, to sing and dance in joint performances for all the students of the hosting schools, parents and the local comunities. Wall and floor paintings were also created in each hosting school during the three day exchanges by combining the ideas and feelings emerged from listening to melodic music during the Art activities so to leave a tangible sign of the European cooperation. The impact of the project on the participants and organisations was an improvement of “learning to learn” strategies; increased motivation, concentration, perseverance and self-esteem; increased understanding of social, linguistic and cultural diversity; professional development and teamwork skills development; integration of new pedagogical approaches from the partner expertise; inclusion of the European dimension of education in the school policy; active involvement and support to the project implementation by the school staff and the local communities. The impact of the project is due to remain after the life time of the project because the final ""Music, Art, Drama and Dance digital portfolio books"" was made available on some of the school websites and on the European eTwinning platform to be used by other teachers and to be implemented in different school contexts. At local level, an improvement of the image of the Institutes took place as a consequence of the tangible sign of dynamism and openness to the European dimension of education. This allows the partner organisations to become a reference point for the neighbouring schools interested in implementing the approach to Performing Arts in the curriculum."

"<< Background >>The European Union sets 8 key competences to be developed in school education: linguistic communication; communication in foreign languages; mathematical, scientific and technological competence; digital competence; learn to learn; social and civic competence; sense of initiative and entrepreneurial spirit; and cultural awareness and expressions. Of these, the competencies of ""learning to learn"", ""digital competence"" and ""cultural awareness and expressions"" are the most difficult for teachers to work on and evaluate. The last two are directly related to the priorities of the Erasmus + program, digital transformation and social inclusion.The current reality in primary education in Europe is that our classrooms are more heterogeneous than ever. On the one hand, the necessary increase in immigration implies that there is a cultural mix; on the other, the increase in the number of divorces means that we have to consider different family structures; finally, the number of students with limited social competencies or with attention deficit disorders is worryingly increasing. All this makes it necessary to develop projects that seek inclusion and attend to the diversity that exists in our classrooms, managing to motivate the student towards learning, such as the one we present in this report.This project will develop a game-based learning methodology, with the peculiarity that modern board games will be used. This methodology has been successfully tested in previous projects by one of the partners, applying it to young people between the ages of 18 and 30 to reinforce social skills in the search for employment. However, the methodology has not been tested in children 6 to 12 years of age (primary education), where it probably has greater potential, since the game is part of the child's intelligence and schemes. Unlike traditional board games, modern ones involve a greater strategic component and a need for collaboration between players to achieve the objective. Due to these requirements, it is possible to do a post-game reflection in which the behaviors that have occurred among the players are analyzed, as well as the way in which their decisions have influenced the outcome of the game. In turn, these games constitute an ideal setting for some students to explain to others, both the operation with the strategies followed, analyzing the way in which the experienced information is structured and shared, something essential to work on the key competences. Consequently, modern board games, accompanied by the necessary support material, are considered a useful tool to be incorporated into the teaching process in primary education.Beyond the work of the key competences, this methodology will allow to form groups of students who usually have no relationship, who have even had some disagreement in the course of the academic year or who simply have never had an encounter. Through the use of collaborative board games, which create cohesion and encourage active participation and listening, inclusion, respect, tolerance and equality will be promoted.<< Objectives >>The main purpose of this project is to create a European consortium to design, apply and transmit a methodology that allows to acquire several key competences through learning based on modern board games. The methodology will also allow the development of soft skills and will encourage active participation in learning in an inclusive environment that will respond to the different profiles of students.The specific purposes are:OE1. Carry out an analysis of the key competencies selected to develop the appropriate tool or indicator to evaluate it. In this way, the success of the applied methodology will be known.OE2. Select the appropriate board games, designing the necessary support material to apply the methodology and work on the key competences.O3. Develop the methodology and support tools for it, which allow it to be applied and replicated in any school at the primary stage, emphasizing the continuous exchange of experiences between students from the 3 countries through digital media.O4. Create the training and physical and digital documentation necessary to train any teacher as a facilitator in the application of this methodology.The project is aimed at teachers in schools, providing them with adequate training so that they can apply the methodology developed. The direct beneficiaries will be the students of the two primary courses in which it is intervened, and since the methodology will be replicated in successive years, all primary students in the corresponding courses will benefit. In addition, the app developed in the project can be used by the parents of the students to reinforce the skills worked on in the school, in a family leisure environment.Thanks to the consortium formed in this project and the incorporation of simultaneous activities into it, students will be able to interact with their peers from other countries, creating an environment of empathy, acceptance and collaboration. These activities imply that the students, together with their teachers, prepare adaptations of the games to be applied in the other schools of the consortium. The idea of ​​the consortium is for the project to go beyond the classroom, giving parents guidelines on how they can use modern board games in their family environment, since the family and the school environment are two of the main agents of socialization at this stage of life.Furthermore, thanks to carrying out the project transnationally, we will be able to share the good teaching practices applied in each country, how they contribute to the development of the project, and what impact they are having on each student body. It is intended that the developed methodology contains all the tools and characteristics so that it can be applied in any educational center, regardless of the country. In turn, this project will develop an App that will help to implement this new methodology in a practical way. Thanks to all this, through a comparative analysis, it will be possible to observe the difference in the achievement of the learning of the basic competences and soft skills of the students (which are fundamental for the personal and social development of the children) of the different countries of the consortium. The benefits of cooperating transnationally derived from this comparative analysis lie in the transfer of the strengths of the methodologies used by the countries with the best scores in terms of student learning.<< Implementation >>The project activities that will ensure the achievement of the main objective and the 4 specific objectives are:1. Project management: ""Colegio Hijas de Jesús"" will do so with the collaboration of all associated organizations, especially ASPAYM CyL given its extensive experience in managing projects of a similar nature. This activity will aim to fulfill all the specific objectives, the main objective and the indicators. The methods used will be: evaluation forms, meeting minutes, activity reports of the team of members and financial management through the financial managers of each organization.2. Press conferences - initial and final. Each partner will organize a launch event for the project through which they will ensure the promotion and dissemination of the project. Each partner will be responsible for their own event and will inform the coordinating organization.3. Methodology for developing the results of the project: although the Hijas de Jesús School is the coordinator of the only result of the project, developing it is the responsibility of the 4 organizations. The evaluation will be made by each partner, including the comments of the others (feedback provided in periodic Zoom meetings). Therefore, the evaluation will be carried out by the coordinator, using the management instruments agreed by all the partners in the first transnational meeting.4. Transnational meetings between project teams. The partners will hold 4 meetings, 3 of them face-to-face and one virtual. Each transnational meeting will have the objective of guaranteeing good cooperation between the 4 organizations and fulfilling the main objective of the project, achieving a solid strategic partnership in the field of school education. 2 people per country will attend each face-to-face meeting.5. Training of facilitators. To ensure that all partners apply the methodology according to what has been agreed upon, rigorous training will be carried out for the teachers who will apply the methodology in their respective centers. This training will take place one week before the start of the school year and will be organized jointly by the Hijas de Jesús School and ASPAYM CyL, at the school's facilities. This training will be attended by 3 people (teachers) per country, training them so that they can train future teachers.6. Multiplier event. Each partner will organize a multiplier event in which the intellectual results and activities carried out during the project will be disseminated. For the event, all the counselors from the primary schools in the region will be invited, as well as representatives from other primary schools in the province.<< Results >>The expected results of the project are: 1. Project result: a toolkit will be developed, called Meeple School, which will allow the application of the ABJM methodology to promote the acquisition of key competences and soft skills (meeple is the name by which the wooden doll is known with humanoid form that appears in many modern board games). The kit is made up of:- Methodological guide: it is a multimedia manual hosted on a web platform and adapted for teachers and educators in the field of school education, which includes theoretical and scientific justification, work methodology, impact evaluation and measurement tools and audio tutorials and hung video. It will include a pre-review research on the acquisition and promotion of the eight key competences selected by the European Commission and on the promotion of soft skills. It will also collect research on the use of board games as an educational tool and its effects in the educational field. Special attention will be paid to generating an accessible methodological guide adapted to groups with fewer opportunities to promote inclusive, motivating and innovative education. This multimedia guide will be the necessary resource to be instructed in the application of the methodology.- Meeple School application: this mobile application will be a common consultation aid during the application of the methodology. It will contain in a schematic way the basic steps to apply it. By developing a learning methodology based on board games, you will have basic information about each of the games included in the project, as well as a database of other games that could also be used for the acquisition of skills and abilities. The app will have the necessary information to carry out and record the reflection that the teacher makes with the students after each session. The project will guarantee the maintenance and update of the app for at least 5 years after the end of the project. To guarantee and measure the success of the methodology created, a test will be carried out in each of the countries that make up this strategic association. The sessions scheduled with the students will be held in person in each country. Regular videoconferences will be held between teachers so that they can make the necessary observations about the strengths and weaknesses of the Meeple School methodological tool.Both the Methodological Guide and the mobile application will be available for free in the mother languages ​​of each of the countries participating in the project (Spanish, English, Romanian and Greek).2. Impact on associated organizations: the professionalization of teachers and educators in the development and implementation of an innovative methodology. Once the project is finished, all the organizations that participate in the project will be able to carry out activities that use the methodology developed to work on key competencies and soft skills, they will be able to train other teachers and educators in this methodology and they will have in their portfolio a great experience in this field, combining non-formal education and formal education, for greater efficiency in improving the learning of contents related to key competences and soft skills of school education students. These results will remain available also after the end of the project, as described in the field aimed at sustainability.By training teachers as facilitators of this methodology, in successive years the new students who go through the selected course will benefit from the methodology, since their teachers will be prepared, and the center will have the necessary material, which is not expendable. and can be used indefinitely."