"The CodeIT project concentrates on programming competence of teachers of non-IT subjects. The huge technological progress has forced the situation in which IT, and in particular, programming become the key competence of the 21st century. Today, digitization and technology development make programming language a language of communication. It is worth pointing out that programming is a method of developing useful competences such as causal thinking, analytics, and teamwork. We must be aware that children who are currently enrolled in school will in future perform professions that do not yet exist, and the only thing we can say about these jobs is that they will be technology based. Ability to programming is recognised by the European authorities. Development of this skill is one of requirements in terms of development of key competencies. EU recommendations in “Developing Key Competences at School in Europe” – Eurydice report [2012], points that it is needed to include ICT competencies in ISCED 1-3. Also authorities of national levels (Ministries) have recognised programming as crucial in the development of children and lots of funding is addressed to teachers of teaching those children that are in classes 1-3. While large amount of money is being directed to train the teachers of initial education, the other teachers – those that teach in higher grades of elementary schools and gymnasiums seem to be omitted as far as programming training is concerned. This causes situation that on one hand children that had good start in the area of programming education in classes 1-3 will not receive the same level of education when they enter grade 4 and on the other, the teachers of higher grades don’t perceive as their professions are as strong as their colleagues and their self-esteem is lower when they compare themselves to those that teach younger children. According to Eurydice report, in project’s partner countries, ICT competencies are intended to be included in core curricula in primary and secondary schools. Countries (except RO & BG) agreed, that this competence has interdisciplinary status, what means that there is a need to implement it cross the curricula. Since that time, the efforts to make it happen have been made, but only IT applied cross curricular approach and implemented computer programming/coding in other subjects, but still, it is not a compulsory requirement at any level of education [European Schoolnet data, Computing our future, 2014, update 2015]. In other partners’ countries programming is not located in other subjects. In order to fill this gap the project aim is to rise programming competences of teachers of non-IT subjects teaching in grades 4 and higher through development of innovative resources: - Virtual Learning Environment for Teachers containing training materials in algorithmic and programming ant its didactic in other than IT subjects, - Model lesson plans incorporating programming for Chemistry, Geography, Maths and Physics, - Handbook entitled ""Advance your teaching skills with the use of algorithmic and programming"", and their wide dissemination and exploitation. Primary target group: non-IT teachers from elementary schools (grades 4 and higher) and gymnasiums with special attention to teachers of Chemistry, Geography, Math and Physics Secondary target group: students of primary schools in grades 4 and higher and gymnasiums (where it applies). The project will directly involve 1007 participants. Teachers will be involved in various project activities: development of materials, providing feedback, evaluation, piloting. Students will be also involved during piloting phase during which models of lessons with incorporated programming will be tested. Stakeholders and decision makers will participate in multiplier events and in specially created stakeholders committees. The methodology that the partnership intends to apply is going to be based on proper, competent management and effective monitoring of the activities, on-going assessment and evaluation of project outcomes, rigorous quality management, appropriate dissemination activities to generate awareness of the aims and objectives of the project. Assurance that the outputs are accomplished with high quality, on time and within the budget will be priority for all partners separately and for the consortium as a whole. It is expected that the impact of the project will be significant at all levels but especially or regional levels in which partners have access to the Centres of teachers training and through them, to practically every school in given region. The project’s desired impact is to influence the decisions about school education referring to incorporating programming into non-IT subjects. It is expected that 250 teachers will enhance their competences at the end of the project and about 1000 after 3 years from the project end."

"The project ""Empowering VET Teachers – Innovative & Enhanced CPD for Newly Qualified VET Teachers Working with Migrant Students"" (acronym e-VET) concerns VET education. In the EU, a high quality of VET has been recognized as one of the elements that support economic growth. At the same time, the rate of youth unemployment across EU is high: in 2019 17.7% for aged 15-19 and 14.0% for aged 15-24, what combined with 4.5 million people immigrating in 2018 to UE put pressure on the EU economies, and potentially could be eased by efficiently provided VET. In most countries participating in CPD it is required from teachers to develop competences needed to work in a multicultural environment. Therefore, the e-VET project focused on increasing the VET teachers' effectiveness by developing their soft skills. Project objectives were to: 1. Provide newly qualified VET teachers with an online diagnostic tool assessing their professional skills and identifying the areas of improvement ensuring further, relevant, based on their individual needs CPD.2. Up-skill newly qualified VET teachers with soft skills methods and tools fostering inter-cultural communication and competences, increasing participation and learning performance of disadvantaged learners, and combating discrimination, racism, bullying.3. Equip newly qualified VET teachers with digital guides on increasing social inclusion within the classroom environment with the use of training scenarios of interactive, project-based learning activities ready for immediate classroom implementation.Outputs of the project are combined in one integrated product – developed in the project e-learning platform https://platform.e-vetproject.eu/ consisted of:- an online diagnostic test assessing soft skills (Diagnostic Tool - DT), that enables teachers working with migrant students or in another multicultural environment to assess their professional skills in 5 key competences: ethics and professionalism, management of the multicultural environment, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking & problem-solving skills. Results of the diagnosis are in form of evaluation that helps to identify the areas which are still to be improved.- MOOC incorporated into e-learning platform that equips teachers with digital guides on increasing social inclusion within the classroom environment by developing their competencies previously assessed with DT. Based on e-learning course text, presentations, videos, as well as online quizzes, and additional materials in 5 modules, teachers can develop in ethics and professionalism, management of the multicultural environment, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking & problem-solving skills. These modules are related to competences examined by DT to assure the homogeneity and complexity of the project results.The e-learning platform https://platform.e-vetproject.eu/ provides both gamification elements (Badges, Quizzes), and reporting features for the users to be able to monitor their progress. This e-learning platform and its content is available in 6 languages: English, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Polish, Spanish. The main target group of E-VET project are therefore newly qualified VET teachers working in intercultural classes. During course of the project also other stakeholders like VET students, participants of vocational colleges, board of educations, teacher development centers, adult education centers, schools and trainers were involved and supported the project with their feedback during pilot testing and seminars. 140 participants were engaged in the testing of the Diagnostic Tool, 40 in the platform testing and 207 in the testing of the MOOC. In traditional and online seminars 229 people from different countries were involved. The participation of teachers of different ages and experiences, as well as from different culture allowed to create a product understandable as a language, to balance the difficulty of the questions and the fairness of the assessment. Although the outputs were prepared for newly qualified VET teachers working in intercultural classes, the platform may be useful to other groups like teachers and trainers of any sector.The project has a European dimension. Offering a full cycle of initial assessment, training modules and three levels of assessment it allows the opportunity to increase teachers’ motivation to work with new knowledge and skills, to improve the effectiveness of teaching using what they have learned and to overcome previously insurmountable obstacles. The acquired knowledge will facilitate their work in a multicultural environment, preventing school dropouts and the social inclusion of migrant students, improving specific ICT skills for working with e-learning platforms and transferring them into schools, especially in pandemics and distance learning. Project results can be also used by teachers on different levels of education. Its online formula allows accessing all interested stakeholders."

CONTEXTAs the footwear sector rapidly grows into an integral part of the European economic growth,providing more than 260.000 job opportunities,the need of Europe for global exports becomes even more decisive for the European enterprises.This case is driven by the fact that Europe is culpable only for 13% of global exports,exporting around 15% of its production outside EU.Concurrently, the European financial crisis still has a negative impact on the sector with a notable number of businesses dropping down and their turnover decreasing significantly due to lack of adequate skills to sustain their operations within a competitive global market.SOLUTIONThe BOOST4Shoes project developed an open,all-inclusive training program for boosting skills towards a more efficient use of the Internet as a sales channel to enhance cross border business activity resulting in higher competitiveness,less business failures and thus increased revenues to ultimately benefit the EU economy.After the completion of the training, all participants in BOOST4Shoes were able to retain and improve their knowledge and skills,acquire new high-quality competences and continue their professional development by implementing the recommended strategies.PARTICIPANTSThe project envisaged the following target groups:Directly:-EU Footwear SMEs-Sales managers and professionals dealing with the footwear sectorIndirectly:-VET training organizations,trainers already providing entrepreneurship,eCommerce,ICT related training or looking to introduce such a training offering,business coaches-SME chambers,Business Innovation Centers,entrepreneurship associations,public officials responsible for entrepreneurship/growth/VET. OBJECTIVEThe purpose of the project was to help entrepreneurs of the footwear sector improve their skills and knowledge in e-Commerce strategies supported by the smart use of ICT/eBusiness for generating revenues through cross-border sales.PARTNERSThe partnership comprised the following organizations:-CIVIC (UK):a digital strategy agency with e-Commerce expertise-COIN (Cyprus):an educational technology & knowledge dissemination company-CRE.THI.DEV (Greece):an NGO focused on action plans for local communities and SMEs-CTCP (Portugal):a VET centre supporting all companies of footwear cluster-ISC (Germany):a research centre supporting the footwear industry-TUIASI (Romania):a higher education institute researching in footwear-DANMAR (Poland):a software development company and VET training centre ACTIVITIESThe project delivered a complete training program on cross-border e-Commerce for footwear sector SMEs,following a concrete methodology:-The first step was a comparative analysis of the current state of play between e-Commerce practices implemented by SMEs in partner countries and winning practices in countries outside the partnership.The aim was to identify the actual needs of the target group in order to form a training program tailored to them.-The next step was the validation of the needs by representatives of the target group in order to address and describe the learning outcomes forming the Online Sales Manager profile.-The training methodology and set of e-Commerce strategies were based on the validated needs.-To materialize the recommended strategies and support their implementation in real life,the partnership then developed the Online Sales Manager (OSM) modular course comprising hands-on actions linked to ECVET system with supporting tools.The course is implemented within the Online Sales Strategy Genie,a virtual environment that promotes personalized learning pathways at individual SME level and delivers the most important actions based on the user profile.-Together with the OSM,a personalized tool delivering a re-modeled course towards skills retention after the implementation of the actions was developed in a dedicated virtual space serving as a Learning Motivation Environment (LME) in order to complement the training program towards lifelong learning.15 trainers were trained upon the methodology and results in order to deliver the course in a blended-learning environment.All results were tested and evaluated during a piloting period before the final release.RESULTSThe main results of the project are: -OSM Training Content -ECVET supporting tools -Online Sales Strategy Genie -Skills Retention Service -BOOST4Shoes Academy LONG TERM BENEFITSSupported by the BOOST4Shoes Academy,a virtual space developed for the sustainability of the training program,SMEs are able to implement all recommended strategies ensuring sound e-Commerce practices,improving sales’ performance through enhanced cross-border capabilities and capacity to respond to new trends and consumers’ needs,increasing EU’s SMEs competitiveness within a global market.ACRONYMS-TPM: Transnational Project Meeting-LTTA: Learning Teaching & Training Activity-ME: Multiplier Event-IO: Intellectual Output-PQP: Project Quality Plan

BACKGROUNDIn a global scale, serious disease issues are wiping out bee populations, and severe concerns arise regarding beehives becoming thorny if an outbreak occurs. Honey Bee Industry Council executive director, Trevor Weatherhead, stresses out that beekeepers should be aware of their obligations, with 'bee havers' (people who have bees, but are not involved in their treatment) actually becoming a biosecurity threat to other beekeepers. Accordingly, European Parliament indicates that there is an exceptional need for appropriate training in beekeeping, on the grounds that beekeepers are often powerless to combat bee diseases, due to lack of information and training in conjunction with the very limited effective means to counteract them. Therefore, measures for providing adequate support to beekeepers are not yet fully successful due to the R&D efforts still remaining deficient regarding treatments for parasitic species, exposure to chemical products and other potential risks that affect bee health.OBJECTIVESDevelopment of an apiculture training game for low-skilled adults supporting the development of beekeeping associations in rural areas by low-skilled adults who have been trained with Plan BEE.The main objective is to provide a serious game serving as a single information point guiding a potential beekeeper on how to start a lucrative business depending on his/her own needs and background by diminishing the risks related to traditional beekeeping (bee diseases, mortality rate, exposure to chemical products, etc.). Also, contribute to the increase of the bee population in the wild by promoting apiculture.PARTICIPANTSThe partnership comprises a software development company researching on personalized training environments, a finance and business development association, an adult training organization targeting rural areas, an educational games developer, a technical consultancy looking into innovative training methodologies and a beekeeping association. Most partners own a proven track record of mainstreaming result of E&T projects.ACTIVITIES-Elaboration of a training methodology especially for low-skilled adults from rural areas-Development of a training curriculum focusing on sustainable beekeeping-Iterative design and development of a serious game-Creation of a dedicated virtual space for direct communication and ideas and experience exchange among the target groups in order to build up a huge network increasing the impact of the project-Validation of the outputs through a series of workshops providing feedback to be adjusted in each subsequent iteration until the completion of the project following a pilot period.METHODOLOGY-Validation of the identified training needs of low-skilled adults-Elaboration of a training methodology using a serious game-Development of training and assessment material covering sustainable apiculture-Creation of a game concept for training on beekeeping, including the design of a gamification schema and the definition of game avatars and their characteristics,the conceptualization of the game screens and a description of the game play-Re-modeling of the training material to knowledge content in order to be successfully delivered through the serious game-Configure and support a community of Plan BEE enthusiasts, beekeeping practitioners, trainers, etc. to serve as the single information point guiding a potential beekeeper on how to start a sustainable business based on his/her own situation-Promotion of the Plan BEE Society and the pilot training activities through multiplier events in order to engage pilot participants-Validation of the educational game through piloting activities-Symposium promoting the project results and how they can be adopted in real-life situationsThis methodology is iterative, while feedback from each iteration leads to improvements for the next iteration.RESULTS-Sustainable beekeeping training content and Trainer's Guide on how to deliver the training and the serious game-Plan BEE Serious Game-Plan BEE SocietyIMPACT-Increase in the number of successful apiculture businesses highly focusing on rural areas-Prevention of the potential risks associated with bee health through the promotion of sustainable beekeeping-Promotion of online sales strategies to boost international trades (mainly exports) of apicultural products in Europe-Improvement of key competences of adults from rural areas in order to combine the worlds of education and workLONG TERM BENEFITSThrough the development of Plan BEE Society, the project recommends a standard-based approach towards the improvement of adult training on issues that are crucial for a functional rural society. This process enables stakeholders to move towards this direction being supported by Plan BEE established tactics.The projects can thus contribute to improve life quality through active social participation and personal growth.

CONTEXTChildren today are born into technology and using it comes natural them. However, there is a need for them to acquire technological skills, such as programming. STEM skilled labour force is in high-demand in Europe and demand will continue to increase due to the advent of Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. It is estimated that the EU will have up to 825.000 ICT job vacancies by 2020 due to shortage of skilled labour force. Basic coding skills are needed, as more than 90% of today’s professional occupations do require digital competences, including programming. New ways of engaging children into programming and STEM are needed but more screen time is not the best approach. Hands-on play is more fun and many times more educational. The bridging of the online and the offline worlds may offer a more engaging and healthy environment for children to learn how to program and develop STEM skills.OBJECTIVESTEMKIT4Schools has as primary objective to produce approaches and tools to help those working with children reach out to them with a view to help them engage with programming and develop STEM related skills. It aims to achieve this not by increasing screen time but by encouraging hands-on play through the creation of games playable on a retro design DIY wooden computer in combination with electronics gadgets relating to STEM subjects.PARTICIPANTSTwo schools, a university, a company offering bespoke software development services and training in ICT, a company specialising in corporate training solutions and knowledge dissemination and a technical consultancy designing and building hands on training tools.ACTIVITIESThe main objective will be achieved through the following activities:- Elaborate and validate a guide for building, configuring and using the DIY computer in the classroom- Design and develop a curriculum and lesson plans for using the STEMKIT DIY computer, based on Raspberry Pi edition, to teach children programming through the creation of Minecraft Pi games to be played on the console also in combination with electronics gadgets the children will build and which will enhance understanding of programming concepts (e.g. traffic lights units for experimenting with loops) or STEM (e.g. ambulance with siren controlled by the console to demonstrate the Doppler effect)- Design electronics kits to be used in support of the curriculum and to be built by children to use with the console as an educational hands-on play approach- Prepare a social learning environment utilising motivational workflows such as the recognition of achievements through the awarding of badges, for the delivery of the curriculum to teachers/educators and for skills retention purposes- Test and pilot the outcomes under real conditions with the teachers and deliver a final release- Support the final outcomes through a dedicated virtual space (STEMKIT Club) providing access to all project results and infrastructure for supporting the growth of a community of adopters/practitioners/enthusiasts.METHODOLOGYAn iterative methodology: three versions of the results are produced, one in each iteration. After each iteration the results are tested/validated and based on the conclusions the next iteration is planned.RESULTS- STEMKIT DIY Computer, breadboards, jumper wires, buttons, switches, LEDs, etc.- Electronics Kits to be used with the STEMKIT computer - Guide and blueprint on how to assemble the STEMKIT, install the software and configure the GPIO - STEMKIT Curriculum and lesson plans - STEMKIT Educators guide- Learning Portal with integrated skills and achievements framework- STEMKIT Club virtual space with supporting infrastructureTARGET GROUPIn the life of the project: professionals working with children of 8 – 13 years. Apart from these direct target groups, the beneficiaries comprise also indirect target groups such as schools, children's/parents associations and organisations, policy makers and educational stakeholders deciding about subjects covered by school curricula, parents, content developers, etc. After the life of the project and subject to the delivery of concrete results, more target groups become relevant, such as commercial organisations producing serious games for educational purposes, universities with pedagogical/engineering departments, educational bodies, STEM toys manufacturers.BENEFITS- Elucidate findings regarding to ways of introducing children to programming and STEM through hands-on play.- Create evidence-based policy and research recommendations for the use of games in the teaching of coding and the re-enforcement of educational hands-on play, especially for STEM related subjects- Act as node of knowledge dissemination on how to engage children with programming and STEM- Devise strategies for the adoption of educational hands-on play in the classroom- Provide a pool of expertise and technical assistance to start-up awareness nodes (e.g. Code Dojo)