The year 2015 ended with a record number of people forced to flee from their country because of war, famine and poverty: according to the UNO’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugees in the world are more than 60 millions. In 2015, according to Frontex data, the illegal entries in Europe were more than 1.5 million, five times more than the 280,000 in 2014.The migration crisis in the Mediterranean has put the spotlight on immediate needs, but also highlighted many of the structural limits of the EU's migration policy and the instruments at its disposal. The EU Directives n. 2013/33/EU and n. 2013/32/EU on the immigration politics, introduced important new features including the easier entry into the labor market, the duration of the Residence Permit, new system of first and second reception, the reduction of the timing for the examination procedure of the asylum application. Nevertheless, the access to the working conditions varied from state to state and there were no homogeneous measures of intervention and social integration, although last year the reception's theme entered in the policy Agenda, pushing national governments to intervene. In May 2015, the European Commission stresses the need to reduce the causes of irregular migration and to establish a system of redistribution in the EU countries (Agenda Juncker of the 05.13.2015); Italy, however, and the partner countries were among the most exposed to migratory flows and continued to deal with the difficulty of finding lasting solutions in the field of asylum. The project aims to photograph the state of the reception system of refugees in Europe (supported by the EU Regulation 516/2014) and to provide a system for the sharing of effective practice, observed and produced by the partnership. The project aimed to develop innovative methodologies and tools to enable European practitioners, who carry out services for the social and economic inclusion of asylum seekers, to work effectively with them. The project defined the competence profile of the practitioner working with refugees, the Divise for the validation of skills acquired in formal, non-formal and informal contexts, in connection with ECVET principles, and produced an OER, in addition to the Report of best practices that can be use for the social and work inclusion of refugees, the Common System of Procedures for the recognition of qualifications and a report of training needs analysis. Two training courses, face to face and in e-learning, have been described and tested. It produced Guidelines to improve the practices of social and work inclusion of refugees. The project consortium is initially composed by 8 organizations from 6 EU countries that assist refugees and asylum seekers in different ways with reception, guidance and training activities and job placement: 2 training and employment agencies, 1 public authority which manages local network of refugees’ reception, 2 non-profit organizations that deal with reception services and social and work integration of migrants, 3 private organizations that deal with research and innovative teaching. After the end of the project, the public authority, for administrative problems, had to left the project, but it has been not a probelm for the implementation of activities and for the achievement of project goals. The Partnership promoted the use, test and implementation of ECVET system by applying it to the qualification of the practitioners working with refugees. The organizations work with refugees in different countries and in different settings; ECVET has beeen the common term of reference (a common language) to describe what they do and standardize their training and assessment methodologies for practitioners working with refugees. The Guidelines for the inclusion of refugees, validated by the consortium, represented the common term of reference to standardize the methodologies and techniques of social and work inclusion of refugees.

Dyslexia (specific impairment regarding reading/writing skills) is an increasing problem affecting children as well as adults (estimated prevalence 8-20%). The long-term effects from it are higher youth unemployment rates, functional illiteracy, and high rate of unfinished vocational trainings. According to the European Dyslexia Association, 8% of the population suffers from dyslexia, although some experts claim that the percentage reaches 20%, of which between 2% and 4% are seriously affected. Dyslexia is a functional illiteracy. According to UNESCO, the number of functional illiterates varies from 10% up to 30% in EU. Today, experts estimate that up to 25 million workers in Europe are affected by this problem. On the other hand, dyslexia in the adulthood means a lifetime of underachievement, frustration and often unemployment. Today is well known that the long-term effects of dyslexia on education and labor market are enormous, e.g. higher youth unemployment rates (12%). While this is the general situation of the problem, there is still no common frame of recognized curriculum in most of the EU countries. Experts believe that the problem may be more severe and less known in Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania and Greece, where the knowledge about methodologies to detect the problem is insufficient. Teachers and parents are often not able to pick up the symptoms that indicate dyslexia or other learning difficulties, which, consequently, are diagnosed very late, or are not diagnosed and as such. EUPALT was a successful EU project which approached this problem, covering different levels of education and developing training tools. The products developed in the frame of EUPALT include a country based self-assessment tool; an online resource center and an e-learning course. Target groups of EUPALT project are therapists and teachers working with people with dyslexia. The “Understand & Teach” project has built on the achievements of the EUPALT has added new simplified tests and a guide. While not so highly academic, through extensive research and qualitative questionnaires, the “Understand & Teach” has achieved a more accessible result, which is not aimed at professionals in the area of children with learning difficulties, but at teacher, educators, parents and students, who have or are in touch with people suffering from dyslexia. This greatly increases the number of direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project.The “Understand & Teach” project has accomplished several things during its course. First of all one of the main goals during the two year period was publicity and understanding of the issue. While not entire misunderstood in all EU and partner countries, many of the countries such as Bulgaria and Turkey still diagnose dyslexia as a disability and adapt to it as such. During the project we have managed to publicize and promote a different viewpoint on dyslexia, especially the lighter causes, which can easily be overcome by adaptive teaching and understanding in the classroom environment. The next result that the “Understand & Teach” has provided is an online resource, which provides easy to use guides and tests for self-testing. While not as accurate as professional scientific questionnaires, the tests posted can provide two different effects – either relief that the child/student is not affected by dyslexia or to warn of possible signs of dyslexia and point in the direction of a professional for further testing. Through the tests, another benefit is understanding what the condition of dyslexia comprises of and how it works and to a certain extent that it is by no way a disability in the conventional understanding of the word. Another result that “Understand & Teach” has provided is the creation of an accessible (translated in 6 languages) and easy to read guide to parents, teachers and people suffering from dyslexia. The guide provides practical advice on how to both understand the condition and adapt to it to achieve easier learning and less harmful effects for the future development of the student/child and just other people in general. The other results from the project are building up on and publicizing the EUPALT compendium of knowledge with even more sources, so that further academic research into the topic can be continued and developed. The project has also managed to attract the attention of several governmental institutions and a possible side effect which would further develop the cause, would be the continuous work and implementation of regulatory framework on the topic and unification of European support frameworks in schools for children/students with dyslexia.

"The project ""Inclusion and Integration in Europe for experts in the pre-school education, youth and social work"" is a strategical partnership of 5 institutions from Germany, Ireland, France and Greece, which are active among others in the adult education. The idea is to jointly work out structures and necessary prerequisites that enable inclusion and integration. Structures and necessary prerequisites that enable inclusion were investigated and identified. Important was the mutual exchange of previous findings and the development of a handbook which summarises our 2-year cooperation and inclusion ideas. One change to our grant application was, that we concentrated on the topic of inclusion, integration was only to look at in comparison to inclusion.The handbook was drawn up in our common working language, English. Contents were provided by each institution, the summary and publication production was done by the coordinating institution. Colleagues from the Irish organisation were responsible for proofreading and stylistic touch up.Each institution makes the handbook freely available electronically on their website. It is recommended to prepare a translation in each organisation's native language and to provide both (English and native language) also in print formats, so that a wider audience can inform themselves about the project, its results and the topic inclusion and integration.The project has led professionals working with children, adolescents, adults and families to adopt a prejudice-conscious pedagogical attitude. With the help of good examples from other European countries, the experts gained new ideas and insights on the subject of inclusion, one's own obstacles and scruples were dismantled and intercultural competences strengthened. The participating institutions created inclusive offers and modified with the help of self-reflection already existing offers so that they are inclusive.The project activities were divided into the preparation and follow-up of transnational meetings, the transnational meetings with the project partners and the meetings with the participants for developing and implementing methods and instruments for inclusion and integration and for carrying out self-evaluation based on the index for inclusion. In the project's preparatory phase, all project partners used this material to illuminate the stand of inclusion and integration in their institution.Within the project 5 transnational meetings took place: the kickoff (with a public event) in December 2017 and the final meeting in September 2019 in Leipzig, the 2nd meeting in February 2018 in Kilkenny/Callan, Ireland, the 3rd meeting in September 2018 in Rethymno, Greece and the 4th meeting in April 2019 in Bordeaux, France. During these meetings, discussion rounds, visits to institutions and observation of effective inclusion methods in practice, video work, lectures and presentations on instruments of inclusion and informal collegial exchange were used as methods. At the end of the 2-year project we consider a strong partnership with the other institutions with whom we would like to cooperate in the future as well, e.g. 15 social workers of the FAIRbund e.V. will visit the KCAT institution in March 2020 as part of a further training course and with the partner Odyssée a further training trip on the topic ""Intercultural work with refugees and migrants"" will be organised for 8 kindergarten teachers from Leipzig day-care centres. The Greek partner organised a 2weeks internship placement for vocational students of the Johanniter Academy this October who worked in kindergartens, schools and institutions for disabled or disadvanteged children.In our partnership, all employees were given the opportunity to participate in the project and to contribute to the development of a common concept about incluson. We would like to share our findings and results with other institutions and open our facilities for consultations, for example."

"The permanent changes that society is going through as a whole confirm the need to be in a continuous process of training and updating knowledge. In this sense, the training of trainers is configured as a strategic axis within the development policies and plans of the organizations.Following the approach of Javier Augusto Nicoletti, the implementation of training modalities that are capable of training for the permanent challenge of adaptation required by the changes that occur in society has become relevant. The formation of trainers acts in the field of the most demanded interventions in the current social, cultural and educational contexts.Research in the field of training of trainers has to seek solutions that solve real, relevant and pertinent problems in the social environment where they are developed.The training of trainers, as a space for the training of subjects already trained and qualified, requires the application of differentiated strategies already applied in formal training. According to Fernández Lamarra (2010:123), ""in the face of these contexts and challenges, the criteria of academic relevance and the competencies that education and the university propose for training must be substantially modified. López Barajas Zayas (2006:247), explains that ""people, companies and organizations, on the other hand, need to adapt to changes in the environment in which they carry out their activities. Training has to prepare them to know how to do in the new scenarios"".Within the framework of ERASMUS+ we will respond to three priorities throughout the project:- Social inclusion: through an innovative and integrating tool, the dissemination of shared values will be promoted, in the interest of equality, social inclusion, diversity and non-discrimination. Through the contents of the tool, new approaches will be sought to reduce disparities in access and participation in non-formal education, addressing issues such as discrimination, segregation and racism. The tool will strengthen content related to the integration of people with a migrant background, including the collection and dissemination of good practices on the issue. In order for our tool to reach a considerable dissemination it will be offered to different organisations active in training of trainers both at local and regional level.- This tool will support educators, youth workers, educational leaders and support staff in their professional development. An action will be developed to enable trainers of trainers to acquire the necessary skills to better address inclusion and diversity within the classroom, including cultural and linguistic differences, through the use of more diverse and better adapted teaching styles.General objective:- To expand and develop the competences of trainers of trainers, educators and other staff supporting adult learners, in order to promote the integration of diversity and social inclusion of the most disadvantaged and low-skilled learners. The aim is to improve teaching methods and tools through the effective use of innovative solutions and digital technologies.Specific objectives:1) To integrate diversity in a transversal way in the training of trainers working with low-skilled adults.2) To increase the digital competences of trainers of trainers, as well as of other educators and staff supporting adult learners so that they can benefit from the new models on offer, which will be a further step in their lifelong learning.3) to increase the basic skills of trainers of trainers, as well as of other educators and staff supporting adult learners, in order to learn new methodologies and ways of adapting to the learning pace of learners and to their cultural and linguistic diversity, thus promoting the social inclusion of women, immigrants and very low-skilled disabled people4) improve the use of resources made available by new technologies to trainers, other educators and other support staff in basic language teaching to facilitate communication with immigrant learners5) To widen the training offer in order to respond to the lack of competences of the trainers who face a heterogeneous group, not only at a training level, but also at a cultural, ideological and/or religious level which forces to take into account important aspects when developing certain methodologies or ways of acting in the classroom. 6) To make the training offer more flexible by incorporating e-learning courses in order to respond to the professional and personal needs of the students that are given by the current organization of the working world.7) To recognize, elaborate and evaluate mediation and evaluation tasks, putting them into practice inside and outside the classroom.8) To dynamize transnational organization by increasing cooperative work with a greater coordination and exchange of information leading to a renewal of the training of trainers in relation to social inclusion."

The diversity and complexity of students, fast pace of life, constant changes and huge amount of information place increasing demands on the teachers (who represent different generation) to provide effective pedagogy and instruction, validate and incorporate students’ knowledge and experience in the learning process (which differs from but also greatly contributes to the knowledge and experience of teachers) and thus create inclusive, healthy, welcoming, productive, collaborative, ‘making mistakes is ok’ climate in the classroom. To meet these demands teachers have to adopt new professional practices, skills and competences, as well as revisit their mindsets as personalities, professionals and citizens. At the same time learners have to assume more responsibility for their own learning, be more skillful and vocal in presenting their ideas. Both teachers and students have to improve their ability and motivation to collaborate in making the choices in terms of what, when and how to include in the teaching-learning process.Contemporary students are characterized by being autonomous, independent and self-confident, but at the same time they often lack collaboration and self-expression skills. The majority of schools still offer mostly traditional teaching where all students have the same tasks and work individually according to the teacher’s prescriptions. In order to make learning more effective, interesting and appealing to the learner we have to find answers to the questions “How to make students motivated and interested in what is happening in the classroom? How to incorporate students’ knowledge and skills in the learning process? How to promote student engagement and desire to be responsible for their own learning? What is the teachers’ role and what competences and characteristics should they possess in order to promote students’ and their own learning? How to connect learning in the classroom with the outside world – events and processes in local community and globally? How to move towards more meaningful and purposeful learning?”Aim: to explore the experience and best practice of partner countries in supporting active engagement of learners (both students and teachers) in planning, implementation and evaluation of the learning process at school and beyond in order for them to become co-creators of their own learning within collaborative learning process.Key aspects to be explored: self-led learning learning, an engaged classroom, collaboration with shared responsibility for decision making and results, providing open and immediate feedback, education technologies, Learning to learn and Cultural awareness and expression competences, interdisciplinary approach, Teacher as a learner, facilitator, supporter, guide, coach, mentor, nurturer, etc.Objectives:•To identify examples of learner engagement in co-creation of their own learning in partner countries;•To find out what are the obstacles to engaging learners in the creation and implementation of the learning process;•To collect examples of best practices where teachers are using new approaches/pedagogies, the latest technology, space, etc. to steer pupils/learners towards more meaningful and purposeful learning;•To explore what kind of support is required for teachers to be able to ensure student-led learning;•To elaborate a podcast series with instructional support materials for educators on how to implement new pedagogies in their practice. Target audiences:Direct: •Staff from project partner organisations who directly or indirectly work with schools;•Educators hosting learning visits in all partner countries;•Educators benefiting from the project results (i.e. Intellectual output, multiplier events, etc).Indirect:•Learners;•Educational community.Expected impact:•Increased capacity of partner institutions and their staff to provide professional development of educators;•Developed series of podcasts with supporting materials for school leaders and teachers on how to implement new pedagogies in their practice;•Raised educators’ awareness, increased knowledge and deepened understanding of multiple modes of instruction and learning that support active engagement of learners in all stages of the learning process and different contexts;•Presented practical applications of new approaches in teaching and learning;•Expanded partnerships and professional networks of educators and educational organisations in partner countries and across Europe.Nowadays all European countries face similar challenges in education systems and actively look for diverse solutions to react to fast changing situation in all spheres of life. Many school education systems struggle to respond to the profound and complex changes our societies and economies are undergoing. The need for innovative approaches and help for schools in adapting to the changing context, including the digital era and the increasing diversity among learners, is obvious.