Cyprus Report – Building The Capacity of Diaspora Stakeholders

VET is an integral part of education providing lifelong learning systems equipping individuals with skills responding to the needs of the economy but also with skills important for personal development and active citizenship. The European Commission emphasizes the need of VET to become more fit to the digital age since VET will play a crucial role in helping people to find jobs after the Coronavirus crisis.
Therefore, the GROOVE project aims to build the capacity of VET providers/trainers to digitize, modernize their practices and build the low-skilled adults’ digital literacy skills and fill the gap between the demand for, and supply of, a digitally competent workforce through adjusting the VET sector to become more resilient to rapid technological and labour market changes
Securing places of worship and large gatherings of believers from terrorist attacks was the focus of an event organised by the Cyprus Police and CARDET. The event was organised in the framework of the European Project Prosperes (Protection System for large gatherings of people in Religious Sites) and was attended by security experts and academics from Cyprus and abroad, as well as religious leaders and members of diplomatic missions.
In the framework of the event, representatives from Cyprus Police and experts from abroad presented their experiences and effective practices followed in Cyprus and internationally for the protection of religious monuments and large gatherings in places of worship. In addition, an exchange of views and suggestions on the existing challenges and issues that need to be addressed regarding the protection of religious monuments and religious events in Cyprus was carried out. In particular, the workshop was attended by representatives of police authorities, research organisations and universities from Cyprus, Poland, Greece, Greece, Slovakia, Finland and the Netherlands.
The European ProSPeReS project aims to increase the level of protection in religious places of worship by promoting cooperation between experts, security bodies and religious authorities. In addition, it promotes the design and implementation of a holistic programme of training and awareness-raising of stakeholders to enhance the protection and security of places of worship and religious events against terrorist attacks.
More about the project here: https://prosperes.eu/

Με τη δική σας συμβολή και συνεισφορά θέλουμε να διαμορφώσουμε ένα μωσαϊκό παρουσιάζοντας τις διάφορες εκφάνσεις και επιπτώσεις της κλιματικής αλλαγής στην καθημερινότητα και το μέλλον του πλανήτη μας για ενημέρωση, αλλά κυρίως ως ένα κάλεσμα για δράση. Πέρα από το ζήτημα της κλιματικής αλλαγής θα θέλαμε να αναδείξουμε το πλούσιο και ξεχωριστό περιβάλλον της χώρας μας, σε μια προσπάθεια ευαισθητοποίησης για την προστασία του. Για το λόγο αυτό θα γίνονται δεκτές και φωτογραφίες που σχετίζονται με το περιβάλλον. Πέρα από τέσσερα βραβεία που θα δοθούν, θα απονεμηθούν και αναμνηστικά διπλώματα συμμετοχής σε όλους τους συμμετέχοντες/ουσες.
Τα βραβεία του διαγωνισμού είναι:
Όλες οι φωτογραφίες που θα συλλεγούν θα παρουσιαστούν σε έκθεση φωτογραφίας που θα διοργανωθεί στη Λευκωσία τους επόμενους μήνες.
Όροι και Προϋποθέσεις:
Δικαίωμα Συμμετοχής:
Μπορείτε να λάβετε μέρος στο διαγωνισμό με δύο τρόπους:
Οι διαγωνιζόμενοι μπορούν να λάβουν μέρος με μια ή και περισσότερες φωτογραφίες
Κανονισμοί:
Κριτήρια Αξιολόγησης:
These key messages, as well as the existing challenges and perspectives for the Professional Learning of teachers in the Cypriot education system, were the focus of the Cyprus Education Summit 2022, which took place at the University of Nicosia. The conference was organised by the Pedagogical Institute of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, CARDET and the Cyprus Institute of Development, with the participation of experts, academics and researchers in the field of education, as well as teachers.
As stressed by the speakers of the conference, it is extremely important to devote more time, through structured programmes focusing on existing needs, within the school for the effective training of teachers. The conference also highlighted the importance and benefits of interaction between teachers and their active engagement in the dialogue to shape approaches and programmes for their training and support.
At the same time, it became clear that the mental resilience and well-being of teachers should be a key dimension of the School Improvement Plan and the educational system in general, so that teachers are able to effectively manage the challenges of the profession and can respond more effectively to their role. This also requires multidimensional actions and systemic approaches involving teachers, parents and children. Indeed, a central objective should also be to expand the role of schools, which should not only function as places that only provide knowledge, but as institutions that nurture and strengthen the character of children, promoting the well-being of themselves and their teachers.
The Conference also provided practical tools and educational material that teachers can implement themselves to enhance both their own well-being and the mental resilience and well-being of their students from programmes such as Resilient Preschools, ProW, SWPBS and the School of Happiness.
The Cyprus Education Summit, held annually, aims to explore key aspects of education and training and to highlight important actions and initiatives in the field. To this end, through the proceedings of the conference, the exchange of knowledge, views and experiences between experts, researchers and professionals from the field of education are promoted.
The increasing influence of robots and algorithms on our labour markets further increases the need for uniquely “human” skills such as empathy and adaptation to change in complex environments.
This is where the Erasmus+ project INTERFACE (“Using agile, interactive learning environments to promote work-based learning in cVET”), funded by the European Union, comes in. On the one hand, the project deals with the improvement of teaching in vocational education and training.
On the other hand, it fosters low-skilled workers and trainees to receive more secure jobs on the labour markets. The main objective of the INTERFACE Project is to support low-skilled workers and trainees, who are affected by job cuts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as digitalisation.
Crowdsourcing is an important method to improve the way education is conducted by teachers and received by students, and has been used by educational institutions in many countries with successful effects.
Having that in mind, 6 organisations from Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and the Republic of North Macedonia are collaborating in the 2-year Erasmus+ project ENTICING, with the aim to educate and equip teachers with skills and tools on applying Digital Humanities concepts and approaches in their teaching.
The project will blend the benefits of Crowdsourcing with the need to upgrade the levels of digital readiness of secondary school teachers in humanities, by empowering them with competences and tools that will improve the quality of their teaching and at the same time will render them ready to respond quickly in circumstances of crisis.
To this end, the organisations participating in the project will develop an innovative, tailored and co-designed training programme to educate teachers on Digital Humanities Crowdsourcing and support them in improving the quality of their work.
The project activities will involve humanities school teachers in secondary education, ICT school educators and school principals, students at secondary schools, educational institutions, academia and research scholars, formal and non-formal educational providers and trainers, civil society organisations and other key stakeholders, as well as public authorities.
The organisations working together for the project are the University of the Peloponnese (Greece), KMOP Policy Centre (Belgium), Institouto Ekpedeftikis Politikis (Greece), KMOP Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia), CARDET (Cyprus) and Spectrum Research Centre CLG (Ireland).