The project was launched on 1st September 2015 and finished on 31st August 2017.The aims of the Project were to create strategic partnership among Lithuanian and Estonian institutions seeking to develop regional police cadets training conception in the field of the bilateral cooperation, as well as to develop joint curricula and training materials on bilateral cooperation, joint professional English and recommendations for experts in bilateral cooperation. The Project was aimed at strengthening international and inter-institutional cooperation opportunities to improve the quality of training; it allowed and promoted cross-border cooperation and internationalization of police education at EU level.State police college (the leading partner) (Latvia), Lithuanian police school (Lithuania) and Police and Border guard college of Estonian academy of security sciences participated in the project. In order to achieve the aims of the Project, to develop joint curricula and training materials on bilateral cooperation, joint professional English and recommendations for experts in bilateral cooperation, as well as to implement the pilot trainings the team, which consisted of Project coordinators, Project programme coordinators, professional English language experts, Bilateral cooperation experts, was created. Leading experts and Project coordinators and Project programme coordinators with great experience in the planning and implementation of projects t international level, language teaching and training in cross-border cooperation took part, as well as highly qualified police officers with experience in cross-border cooperation were involved in the activities. In the framework of the Project the following activities were implemented:1. To achieve the aims of the Project six transnational meetings of the Project partners were organized. The issues about Project implementation and management, contents and development of curricula and training materials, recommendations, implementation of the pilot trainings, as well as issues about the Project multiplier event - conference - were discussed during the transnational meetings.2. Development of joint professional English curriculum and training material (for training in bilateral cooperation).3. Development of two curricula (LV/LT; LV/EE) and training materials in the field of bilateral cooperation (LV/LT; LV/EE).4. Two pilot trainings (target group - cadets of the State police college, Lithuanian police school and Estonian academy of security sciences), which took place in Latvian -Lithuanian close border area and Latvian and Estonian close border area.5. Development of recommendations for English language and experts in the field of bilateral cooperation who train the cadets.6. Provision and management of the Project closing conference. In the framework of the Project the following results were achieved: 1. Joint professional English curriculum and training material (for training in bilateral cooperation) were developed. In the future on the basis of curriculum it will be possible to design and develop adult non-formal education training programme with the aim to improve and deepen the knowledge of English among police cadets and police officers. Training materials may be used by English language teachers and by other persons of law enforcement agencies. 2. Two curricula (LV/LT; LV/EE) and training materials in the field of bilateral (cross-border) cooperation (LV/LT; LV/EE) were developed. Curricula and training materials may be used by training experts in the field of bilateral cooperation, by police officers and other persons of law enforcement agencies.3. Two pilot trainings for cadets of police education establishments were implemented in Latvian -Lithuanian close border area and Latvian and Estonian close border area. The test run of developed curricula and training materials was done, the knowledge of cadets was improved, and the cooperation was strengthened. 4. On the basis of the analysis of the pilot trainings methodological recommendations for the trainers/teachers, who train in the field of professional English language and bilateral cooperation, were developed. They can be used by the persons who are planning trainings of such kind. 5. Project closing conference was implemented where the results achieved within the Project were presented.Long-term benefits:Project experts gained a great experience in the development of modern curricula and training materials, in project implementation and management and dissemination of the results, in organizing, providing and managing of the joint trainings. The cooperation among the Baltic States police education establishments was strengthened.The knowledge of English language was improved and deepened, as well as the usage of English was promoted. The knowledge in bilateral cooperation was also deepened and insight about cross-border cooperation was given.

There are over 2.4 million firefighters across EU countries reflecting a vast professional population requiring innovative and effective vocational training. One of the primary (if not the primary) causes of accidents or, ‘near misses,’ on the fireground is a loss of, ‘situation awareness’ (Trippett, 2007). Situation awareness (SA) represents the capacity of the human brain to maintain an accurate understanding of a situation when there are many competing demands. Under pressured fireground operations, even the best-trained individual may have poor SA. When this occurs, key information may be overlooked or dismissed, or faulty information may be used to make critical decisions.A tool to assess SA in terms of information awareness has previously been developed in the FireMind project funded under the Erasmus+ programme and this tool has been successfully used, for example by the Fire Service Academy (IFV) in the Netherlands (Bomhof, 2017). FireMind has proved very successful in measuring SA in terms of how aware firefighters are of the information available to them (Arendtsen et al., 2016) and whether they tend to accept or reject available information when making decisions.The FireFront project has added an entirely new capability by introducing measures into the tool that assess not only firefighters’ SA, but also an entirely new measure of ‘situation understanding’ (SU), or ‘sensemaking’. SU is concerned not just with how much information an individual is aware of (and using to make decisions), but the understanding of that information. Highly trained individuals, such as firefighters, will use their knowledge, experience, and training to augment the sensory information available, predict what is likely to happen, and so support their decision-making. Whereas FireMind assessed awareness of information from the fireground, FireFront assesses firefighters’ understanding of the importance of that information; the tool name reflecting the likely involvement of higher cognitive functions in frontal brain regions in situation understanding.The aim of the FireFront project has been to develop the SA and SU measures as part of a complete ‘package’ that will present a scenario to firefighters, assess their SA and SU, and then give individualised feedback on their performance and what it means. Within the current project, the tool has been implemented across a number of training platforms as originally proposed as Output 03 (Methodologies for applying FireFront across different training platforms).The target group in this project are firefighters and those involved in their training. The three tool-versions have been used to successfully test over 1,700 firefighters across four countries – as well as 700 non-firefighters. The tool has been very well received by end-users. The online version of the tool incorporates a Likert rating scale asking firefighters how useful they found the training delivered by the tool to be (1, not useful – 10, very useful). The mean score was 8.2.Dissemination activities in the Netherlands and Estonia were very well received. The project generated a lot of interest, not just within the firefighting community, but also other groups including the other emergency services and the military. The flexibility of the tool means that any group could easily adapt the approach for use in their own training, and discussions to facilitate this are ongoing.

"Erasmus+ KA2 project was launched on 1st September 2016 and ended on 31st August 2018. Within the project, it was planned to review the system and methods of close combat training of police officers, which are related to the training and application of them. A priority and innovative objective was the creation of a unified and uniform model for the use of physical force and special combat techniques in the work and training of the Baltic Sea region police officers, as well as a strategic partnership among the educational institutions of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.Within the project it was planned to involve experts from the field of close combat from project partner countries, exchange of experience and creation of a common understanding on these issues. By mutual co-operation, it was planned to develop a training programme and methodological material (Standard), then, by involving the national police officers (cadets), to transfer them practical skills, to test-run the program developed. National project experts' training, as well as the provision of joint practical and theoretical training of experts and cadets on the use of physical force and special techniques would provide for the continuity of knowledge acquisition among police officers on the ground and cadets from the project partner countries.To implement the project the State Police College has concluded the partnership agreements with the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, Lithuanian Police School and Police School in Katowice. To achieve the project aims and to develop the project training programme, methodological material on usage of physical force and special fighting techniques, as well as to implement the joint training of experts and cadets, the team consisting of project coordinators, project programme coordinators and project experts was formed. Leading experts and project coordinators and project programme coordinators with great experience at international level in the planning and implementation of projects, in usage of physical force and special fighting techniques, and training took part in the project. The results: 1. International meetings with project partners have been implemented, where issues related to project management and implementation, content and development of the training programme and methodological material, the content and implementation of experts’ and joint experts’ and cadets’ training, to the project multiplier event – closing conference – were discussed.2. The training programme on use of physical force and fighting techniques, methodological material and manual, video manual have been developed.3. Experts' joint training (duration 5 days) at the Polish Police School in Katowice. 12 project experts participated in it.4. Joint experts’ and cadets’ training (duration 5 days). Target group – cadets of educational institutions of the project countries, in total 24 cadets and 16 project experts. The aims were to test-run, analyse, evaluate and approve the content of the project training programme, to make a short film and a film on the methodological material, and to strengthen cooperation among the project educational institutions.5. Organization and provision of the project multiplier event and dissemination of the project results (conference).A modern and multidisciplinary three-level training programme for physical education and competence (240 hours) was developed. It covers the following levels of knowledge: Level 1: basic level or lowest level of preparation. The target audience: cadets, the number of planned teaching units is 160. General and special (professional) physical fitness requirements are covered. Level 2: Moderate level of preparedness. The target audience: police officers who work at the service places and who need this professional competence, improving their skills and abilities in dealing with the detention of offenders. The number of teaching units is 40. Level 3: High level of preparedness. The ""Professional (pedagogical) improvement programme"" is intended for police officers (instructors, experts and educators) who work with cadets and police officers and train them with the aim to acquire new, innovative and professional pedagogical knowledge in the acquisition, methodology and implementation. By concluding the project, this new experience at the international level was collected and methodological material was published, as well as new - digital technical information and video on the Project were created.The next academic year it is planned to change the formal education programme “Police work” for cadets and police officers, to combine general and special physical education subjects (Level 1 – 160 teaching units), to create one study course of 5 credit points (200 teaching units). Next year the second level training programme will be implemented for police officers; the third level programme will be implemented this year to prepare the trainers."

"According to the European Parliament and of the Council Regulation No 562/2006 Article 15 Member States shall encourage border guards to learn languages, in particular those necessary for carrying-out their tasks. In the context of this regulation the border guards (border police officers), who work at road border crossing points on the EU's external borders have no published and available training tools to learn and develop specialized English and Russian language terminology skills. To improve the situation in this partnership project it is planned to develop an interactive learning tool for the acquisition and development of specialized English and Russian terminology for border guards in order to ensure efficient EU external borders’ security within better communication with border crossing persons. E- learning tool shall include border security related terminology - the terms and phrases in English and Russian with respective translations into partner’s national languages, audio tracks for proper pronunciation in English and Russian languages, authentic audio and video recordings, which will be filmed at the crossing points of direct relevance to the daily issues while communicating with border crossing persons. While using this tool border guards will be able to do electronic training and assessment tasks, receive immediate feedback to adjust the learning pathways and to determine their level of knowledge of foreign languages. In order to standardize the use a common terminology within the project a joint dictionary of border related terminology shall be developed. Training topics included in the tool shall not only contribute to the learning of foreign languages, but within the context of specific topics, such as "" Vehicle examination "", "" Visas"", ""Interviewing "", and other topics closely related with the EU's external borders control shall eventually facilitate cooperation with foreign partners in detection and prevention of trafficking in human beings, illegal migration, smuggling, stolen vehicles’ detection, issues with refugees and asylum seekers.The project involves participation of 12 leading experts from border guards’ educational institutions in partner countries with vast experience in teaching foreign languages, development of modern electronic training tools and experience in planning and implementation of international projects. The project will also involve highly experienced border guards with experience in border checks at road border crossing points. In order to successfully implement the project and develop the training tool six international meetings with the intention to coordinate and work out the components of the tool are going to be implemented. The development of training tool shall include the following steps:1. To define the content of the tool according to national, EU and international practice, legislation and training needs;2. To develop technical platform, modular design and integration of information;3. To identify, analyze, sort and edit specialized English and Russian terminology, record pronunciation in English and Russian;4. To develop and record audio and video scenarios;5. To develop topic assessment exercises;6. To develop user guidelines and summaries for topics;7. To develop specialized dictionary.The outputs of the project will be disseminated by implementation of, seminars, roadshows at border guards’ workplaces, training of trainers at the national and international levels. Information on the tool will be distributed to other EU border guard (border police) educational institutions with which the project countries have long-term cooperation hence providing them with the Internet link or DVD. Information shall be forwarder to FRONTEX Agency Training unit, thus ensuring the dissemination of the results in the EU scale. Information about the availability of the training tool will be posted on the websites of the participating countries.Education institutions will be able to use this tool to develop border guards’ (border police),specialized English and Russian terminology, to assess their knowledge e.g. before deployment to international missions, as well as to develop e-learning courses on the basis of the tool."

Firefighters are the role-model of modern heroes: a brave life safer in emergency situations. This positive image is tested each day and sometimes to the limit. Firefighters are all-rounders, rescuers, of persons and goods, and team-players. A wrong or slow response can set human lives at risk. To respond and react to emergencies accordingly, in a timely and professional manner, firefighters need to be up to date. This helps them to catch up with the increased methodological, strategic and technical demands of modern firefighting. Technological developments allow firefighters to immerse in more realistic training environments, by using visual aids, such as Augmented Reality or Smart glasses. This provides guidance and training for developing reasonable response strategies for several emergency situations. Neither the technological nor the pedagogical benefits of immersive technologies have been tested so far, for firefighters training in the EU. The application in a training environment creates an immersive work or rescue environment. It responds to tendencies for modern training, in the context of a professional training 4.0 / VET 4.0.FIGHTARs, as a transnational project, aims to prioritise specific skills/competencies for an immersive rescue environment in firefighters training, by providing guidance concerning pedagogical suitable options (didactic value added) as well as by developing, testing, evaluating and transferring several digital enriched training scenarios (“training toolkit”). This helps to create scenario-specific and personal training for firefighters in the piloting EU countries in CZ, LT, SK, EE, DE and CY. The applied methodology, to manager FIGHTARs, includes relevant measures of planning, executing, monitoring, controlling and closing activities.The project will develop, test, evaluate and transfer didactic guidelines for using immersive/digital technologies in firefighters training (IO1) as well as tailor-made learning scenarios (IO2), for using e-learning modules combined with AR and 360° video. To institutionalise it excellence centres for immersive firefighters training (IO3) will be established to cater the local and regional, specific training demands.The focus is on the training of future and existing firefighters, in a rather school-based/classroom setting. FIGHTARs create serval training schemes, according to legal or frequent needs, by enriching existing training offers. The use of immersive technology, such as Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, learning and 360° video, will optimise training and lead to better response/rescue patterns of firefighters, during a mission. These immersive technologies will be used in a blended learning framework, which combines e-learning modules with practical exercises using AR and 360° video.Planned scenarios are e.g.:-Opening safety doors (Learning video or AR remote Training), -Risk assessment, when dealing with hazardous substances on site (360° video and learning video, -fire tactics (360° videos and AR Remote training) and -Rescuing persons from a crashed (electrical) car (AR Remote training, AR visualisation of a car)The European Added Value to the project is sizeable, and crucial for the success of the project. In particular, the similarity of challenges that specialised firefighters training centres face across Europe means that a European initiative like FIGHTARs, provides modern and excellent training settings to support the efficiency of rescue missions, to save especially human lives. As one result, such a training portfolio will be highly interesting and responsive to firefighter trainers all over the EU.