<< Objectives >>The project focusses on students in the Italian and German partner schools learning about the way businesses work. They will simulate running a startup company, choosing a product to market, and examine their home markets about the potential effect of their product. At the same time, whilst getting to know each other, they will also learn about intercultural differences and learn about typical methods for team-building.<< Implementation >>First, the involved teachers will draft a curriculum for the project activities. This will then be realized with the students in regular lessons, and during physical meetings, where the Italian and German students will choose a product for their company and then examine their home markets. Also, they will have intercultural trainings and typical team-building activities that real companies frequently adopt.<< Results >>The main result will be a curriculum teaching intercultural and team-building activities in a simulated startup company which will be published online for free use, in Italian, German and English.Secondary results will be manuals for intercultural trainings and team building activities.

"The project aimed at developing students and teachers' knowledge of media and digital devices, which play an essential role in our lives. Thanks to different kinds of activities students were guided to acquire the so called ""digital citizenship skills"" , developing both their abilities to think critically and their reading/writing skills. Pupils increased their awareness of the power that media play in our society and learnt how to deal with them successfully. These objectives involved the use of English as a tool of expression and communication and the mastery of new technologies.66 selected students in the three partner schools worked divided in teams on different ""missions"" which included research activities, analysis information delivery in different countries and preparation of comparing /contrasting presentations, discussions with the following creation of a blog and publishing of a real international magazine. They also reflected on the role of videogames both as free time activity and as a learning tool. Participants were asked to prepare digital games on their countries which were then used to create a real live game during the last mobility to Italy. All activities were realised using different technological tools and enabled students to experience new didactic students-centred methodologies which supported their motivation and their involvement in school life. Mobility learning activities represented an essential step to reach our objectives: students had the opportunity to work together and produced tangible results: surveys, questionnaires interviews , presentations, padlets, blog, magazine, google docs, videos, digital games, which are available on the project website and also on the twinspace, which was used for the every day work of pupils. During the mobilities visits to news agencies (TV, newspaper, radio) and interviews to people who work in the media industry were realised to provide as much information to our students as possible . Collaboration among partners was essential for the success of the project: all activities were planned in detail during transational meetings and supported by exchange of mails, whatsup messages and the organisation of regular videoconferences. The implementation of the project gave teachers the opportunity to really experience an effective professional exchange of good practices together with the development of reciprocal esteem which gave all the activities additional value . Everything was then shared in respective schools where all colleagues could get in touch with materials produced and get inspired for their daily work leading to a general improvement of the quality of education.Thanks to planned dissemination activities not only students but also families, school staff and members of local communities had the opportunity to get in touch with the culture of partner countries improving their identity as awareness as European citizens."

16 000. Approximately 16 000 words are spoken by everyone of us each day. We know that often people who come to the top are very eloquent. This has been the case in history and this will also be true in the future. Our needs analysis shows that companies need people who are able to give a profound analysis in English on a given topic. One of the things we often hear from people who work in (big) companies is that their staff members do no longer know how to do a speech, how to write an effective report, how to get along with people from other companies of other countries. As the title implies, the aim of this project was thus first and foremost to raise pupil's eloquency about current topics. Words, and the power of words, have become of utmost importance in our everyday life. Therefore, we want to give 18 pupils per country, thus 74 in total, the chance to work on this urgent matter. These pupils, aged 15-18, focused on specific aspects concerning speaking, discussing and reflecting, both during preparatory phases which has been developed in each school, as during the learning activities organised as an exchange meeting in one of the partner schools. This way the students acquired knowledge about speaking in public, and also tried to conquer their possible fear and enjoy the opportunity of having a hands on experience with other European citizens speaking about current affairs. As a result, their speaking comprehension was boosted. Due to the Covid Pandemic, the last meeting was virtual. This implied that the students could also improve their online meeting skills, as they had to negotiate in smaller groups. Moreover they debated in front of everyone online. In this world, where at the moment online meetings are the most important, these are important skills. We can speak, I have a word to say, Our words change things and The birth of a common language were different parts of our project. We focused on speeches and the best way to give a speech (verbal and non-verbal), analysed the use of different ways of communication (both written and oral texts) to compare the reliability of the different sources (e.g. in newspapers/tv/social media) where we focused on populism, historical figures who gave society changing speeches and debating respectively. We invited experts upon the different matters, e.g. on verbal and non-verbal communication and on populism. The students did a lot of speeches during the project, and thus improved these skills, as well as their English. Every exchange, we used European topics to talk about. Most of the time, we focussed on the current affairs, the current European matters, as to also raise the pupils' awareness of the European topics. We speeched about it, spoke about it, and last but not least, debated upon these matters. We created a common website for the project that is linked directly to our respective school websites. This was used to upload results and correspondence, and to present the stages of our project to the school as well as the local community. All results are also be uploaded on eTwinning and continuously displayed in our Erasmus+ project corners at school. In all the schools, articles have been written about the project, either in a local news paper or in the schools' paper. The tutorial on how to give a proper speech is helpful as a guideline for teachers and students all over Europe, because pupils have written these guidelines themselves. Writing this, the students became aware of the pitfalls of speeching and they made sure others can benefit from their researches. During the activities, the tutorial was further complemented with the newly adopted skills. All the aforementioned activities facilitated raising an awareness of shared concepts and promoted the capacity to act on related issues. The participation in this project allowed our schools and communities to promote a positive attitude both towards European pupils and to dare to speak in front of a public. The project made our teenagers more conscious about the fact that being able to tell their opinion in a structured, respectful way is of utter importance in everyday life. They became more aware of differences and similarities between different European countries, of how working together could bring them to a higher level. Their level of English increased, as well as their sense of initiative and their digital competence. These skills are important for their future at school and when they look for a job. This project helped them to raise their skills to the top.

The iSTEP-project (international STartup ExPerience) is set in the context of recent megatrends which have changed the way we live and work, namely in a world which makes increasing use of digitalization. This shows in our everyday lives with our use of mobile digital technology which we use in our free time to communicate, organize, play etc. A similar trend can be seen in the economy as well: for a long time, production has been more and more digitalized, and also other sectors such as services. Digitalization also opens up new opportunities for transnational business processes especially for innovative new businesses, as investment costs have also dropped significantly. This may be particularly profitable in the European Union's Common Market which encourages transnational business processes.On this background, the students involved in the project learn about setting up a startup company, organizing the necessary works, defining and choosing appropriate staff and creating advertising media. While doing so, they learn about the advantages of the EU's Common Market which enables them to distribute the company's departments and recruit staff everywhere in Europe, where they find the best pre-conditions. In the course of their activities, they learn about the different social, cultural and economic conditions in the four partner countries which will affect their decisions regarding their business activities. Finally, the documents they produce in the course of the project such as a company profile will later serve as a valuable teaching resources for any teacher dealing with the topic in their lesson.The project addresses 20-25 students in each partner school in Germany, Italy, Romania and Turkey, aged 15 or above who focus on Business Studies and Economics and are interested in entrepreneurship. In the process of the course, the expertise of startup entrepreneurs, managers, labour market and advertising experts is used to help the students apply realistic procedures. Furthermore, fellow students from their schools have the opportunity to examine information and media about the invented product and assess it. Specifically, the involved students will do the project-related work in four processes: they will...1. simulate founding a startup company which is going to develop an innovative product or service which makes use of digitalization opportunities. 2. examine possibilities in their home countries about where to manufacture the product, where to have their Research&Development department etc. which involves examining each national labour market and infra-structures in order to make informed and realistic decisions. 3. take care of recruiting staff for the various departments by simulating common application processes such as job interviews and assessment centers. 4. produce advertising video clips suitable for use in each of the four countries and present them in a simulated trade fair stand to the public.Each process involves preparatory activities and exchanges between the students from the different countries via the Internet. The processes are each concluded by a personal meeting of delegations from each school at one of the partner schools.In the course of the project, the students gain valuable intercultural experiences in each interaction with their peers from the partner schools. In particular, they have many occasions to discuss important business-related decisions and make democratic decisions, taking advice from their teachers into account. Frequently, they prepare presentation materials like posters or Power Point presentations which they present to various audiences. External experts present a lot of valuable first-hand knowledge to them regarding their business processes which they have to understand and adopt. They roleplay as recruitment officers or job applicants. The documentation requires them to create numerous written texts and visual and audiovisual media. Throughout the project, they use English as lingua franca in written and oral communication which improves their Foreign Language Skills.The project works result in the production of several documents describing the company, its mission statement, its structure and the product it markets. Other documents cover information about the partner countries' infra-structures and labour markets, and common application procedures there. Also, video clips and other visual media are produced. Finally, the project execution process is documented in written form. All applicable results are published on the Erasmus+ Results Platform and on the project website. The project helps the involved students to gain a deep understanding of how a modern business works under the conditions set out in the European Internal Market. For the schools, the project becomes an important element of their internationalization strategies, helps to create understanding and motivation among staff to support such activities.

Students’ well-being and its associated motivation determine performance at school decisively. In the 21st century students are facing ever more complex challenges which go beyond accumulation of knowledge, especially with regard to using modern technology, acquiring social skills and developing a responsible and independent personality. The project “be-well@school.eu” seeked to promote students’ well-being at school in order to realise their academic potential, thus improving results and reducing student dropouts. Hence schools face diverse developments to satisfy their educational mandate in the long run. This implies inclusion and integration, sustainability as well as health education in a digital world and a multicultural society. Four secondary schools (Niedersächsisches Internatsgymnasium Esens/Germany, IIS Romagnosi Piacenza/Italy, Zespol Szkol z Oddzialami Integracyjnymi Przemyśl/Poland and Saulėtekio gimnazija Siauliai/Lithuania) shared a common goal which was to meet these challenges, thus to benefit from each other’s strengths and experiences. Four core themes had been constituted based on a survey analysing the everyday situation both of students and teachers with their respective needs. To achieve improvement of school life, students’ personality development, well-being and success of all participants, it was to accomplish the following “missions”: - “be-4.0@school” (knowledge of learning types and adequate learning strategies, reasonable use of IT)- “be-ecofriendly@school” (sustainable use of resources/environment)- “be-socially-aware@school” (socialisation with a special focus on integration and inclusion)- “be-healthy@school” (developing a healthy lifestyle concerning diet and physical activities)Four groups of international students (alternately swopping team leaders), each consisting of 24 persons (6 per country) aged 14-17, were involved in the project-based work. By means of IT such as eTwinning, videoconferences or social networks, students did research on the missions outlined above, i.e. collecting data, gathering information and ideas, documenting activities and consequently establishing a broad overview of the necessity and possibility of changes. The insights gained were collated and presented in an international meeting of the current 24 team leaders. Expert groups presented, enlarged upon and developed the insights further. With this European collaboration, students as well as teachers acquired a key understanding of what a “European citizenship” actually means. Media-based lessons, padlets, a school garden, a play and a healthy lifestyle magazine – just to mention a few – had been created in the course of the project. All digital products were put together in a multimedia e-book. The key essentials of the activities that followed the encounters of the groups were to implement the improvement measures in school as well as to publish the results within school community. This led to mutual benefits for all involved. Participants were multipliers for students, encouraging them to reflect upon their behaviour and attitudes as well as to exchange positive experiences. Teachers together with their students initiated activities in order to promote the internationalisation and modernisation of the participating schools. These insights were spread not only by sharing information and materials within schools but also by reports and articles in teacher magazines and regional newspapers. Workshops to involve fellow teachers of other schools and were skipped due to lack of time or organisational reasons. Constantly conducted evaluations prove that students have been made aware of the four core themes outlined above. Hence they will influence their fellow students, school community, families and environment in these matters.A significant improvement concerning test results and a lower dropout rate has not been clearly observed yet. Eventually, the project has definitely raised the students’ awareness of Europe and a European identity.