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Author: cardet-wpadmin

6 More Reasons to Thank Our Teachers Today

It’s true what they say – not all superheroes wear capes!

As we come to celebrate the Teachers Day on the 5th of October, no words seem enough to describe the enormous dedication, effort and love that the teachers pour into their job day in and day out. They truly make all the difference in the world of their students…and have a lasting impact on all of us!

With their unwavering commitment and relentless support they walk us through our first mishaps of life, just with as much grace as they cover the curriculum. We consider ourselves lucky. Not only have we been taught by amazing teachers out there, but we also get to work with many of them to empower the community, students, mentors, and society and create a world that’s more just and sustainable.

Today, we cannot help but feel grateful for the small and big miracles they perform every day! So if you are a teacher, our heartfelt ‘thank you’ goes out to you:

For making your Sunday the rest day…

…the rest of the laundry, the rest of the housework, and ‘grade the rest of the papers’ day.

Thank you for waiting till summer for a much deserved break and holding down the fort even on the days that have been difficult to you. We appreciate you and the mental strength you show in doing so.

In our attempt to acknowledge and support your endless efforts of balancing the personal and professional life – we want to make you a priority! As part of the ProW project, we are just about to launch the Teacher Wellbeing and Career Observatory, to help support your wellbeing, as well as career growth and quality of education. We hope that it will generate a systematic change and we want you to be a part of it too!

For saying ‘There are no dumb questions’…

…and then proceeding to explain ‘What are those pyramid-shaped things in Egypt called?’

Thank you for continuously looking for ways to rediscover the world around us, and looking for yet another new way to ignite the spark of curiosity to help us become the very best we can be. Even if that means never taking a break from learning yourself and adjusting to the educational and societal shifts at all times.

At CARDET, we witness the behind-the-scenes daily work you do daily to carry on learning and it is thanks to your immense support that we’ve built an incredible educator community at the Cyprus Education Summit. Thank you for learning and growing with us to help bring the best of the practices to the classrooms around the island. We cannot wait to reconvene for the ‘Student Assessment as an Integral Part of the Educational Practice’ in the Cyprus Education Summit 2023 on 9 December 2023!

For showing us the bigger picture…

…even though math is not really ‘everywhere’.

Whilst we still prefer the type of π that comes with apples and the square root of 9 hasn’t come up just yet, thank you for going out of your way to show us that nothing exists in isolation and it all matters.

Only now do we come to understand the incredible effort and intention that it takes, as we salute our STEAM4All educators who have been on a mission to find even more creative ways to make interdisciplinary learning available for all.

For teaching us how to reach for the stars…

…or at the very least helping us see them as close as possible with the ARISTARCHUS project and the power of VR.

Thank you for not making any dream too big and always looking for a way to make everything seem possible. Thank you for bringing the most innovative solutions to the classroom, after spending hours on training how to implement them first. Thank you for staying ahead of the curve and always raising the bar in education and practices.

For teaching us life saving skills…

…of ordering a coffee in almost any corner of the world.

Thank you for reminding us that the world is our oyster and anything is possible, including learning a new language to travel the world, connecting with people from other cultures and even taking that job offer that’s a 5 hour flight from our home. Thank you for preparing us for all of it and for trying to make it as fun as possible. Through the work we’ve done together on the BoysLingo’s app, we hope it will be even more feasible for you to keep up this great work!

Last but not least, for calling us ‘one of your kids’…

…even when we have kids of our own.

Thank you for caring about our wellbeing, growth, development and creating an environment where we feel safe and secure to roam around and make our first mistakes. During the implementation of the Positive Behaviour Support in Early Childhood Education and Care project, we were shaken by the immense dedication to making any school our second home, and not just a place of formal education.

While no ‘Thank you’ note will ever feel like enough, we ought to start somewhere. Happy Teachers Day our lovely educators and mentors! Thank you for all the love you’ve poured and continue pouring into us.

LEADER AI – LEAarning analytics and AI for personaliseD lEaRning

LEADER AI aims to address the need for effective Higher Education (HE) digital learning that responds to students’ needs, strengths, and skills, through the proper exploitation of advanced technologies. The main results include a Toolkit with practical guidelines, scenario-based training and an interactive eLearning platform with digital resources on how Higher Education Institutions can use AI-based and data-driven tools and approaches for personalised instruction.

MYComm – Migrant and Refugee Youth COMMunication and advocacy for equity and inclusion

MYComm aims to contribute to a more inclusive society in Europe by strengthening the capacity and the role of youth organisations that target migrant and refugees, through communications and audio-visual skills training, social networking and mutual learning that connects such organisations at European level and promotes collective advocacy.

Specifically, it will strengthen the institutionalism and visibility of youth organisations targeting migrant and refugees when it comes to their role in enhancing intercultural dialogue for tolerance, mutual understanding and integration; it will provide youth organisations targeting migrant and refugees with training opportunities for communications and audio-visual competencies and for public policy advocacy; sensitize civil society on youth migrant and refugee struggles and successes, through audio-visual production, narrative techniques and awareness raising for migrant social inclusion; and reinforce a sustainable EU network of youth organisations committed to migrants and refugees which can serve as a motor for public advocacy at local, nation and EU level.

RoboAquaria – Robots in aquatic environments to promote STEM and environmental awareness

With the ocean pollution rapidly increasing and affecting marine life, a strong need emerges: to raise awareness about environmental and climate change challenges and develop sustainability and green skills from a very young age. This is the main aim of the RoboAquaria project, which focuses on the protection of marine environments by integrating Educational Robotics into the classroom and building teachers’ competences to use them. The project will develop a Methodological Framework for the Pilots, Guidelines for the Teachers, and validation, a RoboAquaria Toolkits and Lesson Topics and an E-Learning Toolkit and (OERs) Lesson Plans.

Empowering Teachers: Preparing for diverse classrooms

DD@S strives to move beyond mere acknowledgement of diversity and focuses on how the classrooms can operate harmoniously and challenge the notion of ‘otherness’ from within the educational structure. It ultimately offers practical tools and educational material to ensure that children have equal opportunities not only for education, but to foster friendships, a sense of belonging in their communities, as well as reshape our future society.

This month’s training focused on bringing teachers from Belgium, Greece, Italy and Cyprus to an open transnational dialogue on how to best combat prejudice and inequality in their classrooms. With the support of the partners, EhB – Erasmushogeschool Brussel, Centro per lo sviluppo creativo Danilo Dolci, CARDET, IISS Einaudi Pareto Palermo, University of Nicosia, the Interorthodox Centre of the Greek Church and Symplexis, the 2-day training was held on the 9th and 10th of May, in Athens. It hosted over 50 teachers who shared their real-life experiences, perspectives, approaches and examples of good practices in a process that enabled them to not only learn from the presenters, but from each other too.

The keynote speeches covered the importance of teaching and discussing controversial issues at school, as well as delved into ways of enhancing a democratic dialogue in the classroom. Separate modules were presented to address sensitive and controversial issues such as politics, religion, gender and vulnerable groups. On this occasion, the secondary school teachers also participated in the training workshops to get hands-on experience with each separate module. Their professional feedback on the proposed practices and tools proved invaluable in further enhancing the project’s toolkit and creating a new teachers’ training course.

DD@S is part of the ongoing and diverse work CARDET is doing to empower teachers and make a tangible contribution to the educational system to the benefit of students. The 2-day training consolidated the efforts to provide an efficient inclusive education framework, which without a doubt, will have a positive long-term effect on challenging discrimination in school communities. For more information about the project, to access its resources and stay in the loop for upcoming events and actions, please visit DD@S website.

ACT-INCLUSIVE: Actors for Change Towards Inclusive Education

ACT-INCLUSIVE aims to empower students with disabilities and their Allies in the mainstream school communities (classmates, teachers, school staff, etc.) by providing them with the right tools and knowledge to become Actors of Change towards Inclusive Education and to bring change in their learning and future working environments.

This project will promote social inclusion and diversity in the field of school education, favouring the creation of more inclusive learning environments fostering equity and equality. The project – through awareness-raising formal, non-formal, and informal education activities – will address the barriers faced by pupils with disabilities in learning in a fully inclusive educational environment by facilitating a change in the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour in the whole school community.

LEARN – Learning Skills for Refugees and Immigrants with low or no educational background

LEARN – Learning Skills for Refugees and Immigrants with low or no educational background is an initiative that seeks to assist refugees and migrants at the beginning of their educational journey in their new country of residence. This will enable them to pursue a career so that they can be self-sufficient and equally integrated into society. During the project’s lifecycle, the partners are committed to working on the development of free resources to facilitate the above, which will be accessible through the project’s website.

INCLUDE – Inclusive Academies

INCLUDE project puts forward a comprehensive program, involving research, direct action and the development of learning resources, to educate and support coaches, executives and staff of sport academies working with young athletes (12-18 years old) so that they can actively contribute in tackling discrimination in youth sports.

INCLUDE focuses on promoting inclusion and diversity by taking concrete action to tackle existing barriers linked to discrimination in the field of youth sport. Additionally, its scope, proposed actions and deliverable will make a meaningful contribution to an array of the priorities set by the Erasmus+ programme in the field of sport. Namely, the project will work towards combating violence and tackling racism, discrimination and intolerance in sport and to promote integrity and values in sport by helping improve good governance in sport and promoting the positive values of sport.

Supporting youth initiatives for social inclusion and civic participation

However, amidst this general sense of loss, young communities across Europe have once again proven their resilience and ability to create and develop even at times of despair. Young people have gathered to support their communities through actions of social solidarity, something that is now needed more than ever.

Such young people have been identified and supported through our project REBUILD, in order to facilitate youth civic participation and create more networking and capacity building opportunities. REBUILDers from Europe who took part in the project, finally met at the International YouthNet Forum in Brussels last week. The Forum provided for a safe space for young people to meet and share their experiences from the 25 local initiatives that have been implemented in Cyprus, Spain, Martinique, Italy, Greece and Lithuania. The winning initiatives from each country also had the chance to present their actions at the European Parliament and make their initiatives visible to an even wider audience.

The youth groups from Cyprus that have been an integral part of REBUILD are Pel Art Project, Zero Food Waste Cyprus and 71 Scouts.
 
Find out more about REBUILD here and discover the 25 youth initiatives from across Europe.