Skip to main content

Author: Chara Pilidou

GRETA – 3rd Newsletter

 

Το έργο GRETA είναι ένα καινοτόμο εκπαιδευτικό πρόγραμμα που χρηματοδοτείται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση (Erasmus+). Και ναι, το όνομα του έργου επιλέχθηκε ως φόρος τιμής στην Greta Thunberg, τη σουηδή έφηβη που ενέπνευσε ένα διεθνές κίνημα για την καταπολέμηση της κλιματικής αλλαγής. Το έργο διαρκεί 24 μήνες και επικεντρώνεται σε θέματα κλιματικής αλλαγής. Η συντονιστική ομάδα του έργου GRETA αναπτύσσει πρωτότυπο εκπαιδευτικό υλικό που εφαρμόζεται στην σχολική τάξη από δασκάλους και μαθητές. Βρείτε περισσότερα στο πιο κάτω σύνδεσμο:

Κατεβάστε το ενημερωτικό δελτίο

 

An alternative way of promoting intercultural education

How would you feel if you could teach and promote intercultural education in the classroom and in non-formal learning environments through a board game and other digital tools?

For the purposes of our project “Game to EMbrace INtercultural education” – GEM IN, we have designed a board game and other supplementary tools that teachers can use to support intercultural education, promote social inclusion, intercultural dialogue and active citizenship, through the promotion of European values.

The board game has already been trialled by teachers, as we offered training which provided them with the knowledge and skills needed for the effective pilot application of the board game, in order to achieve the learning outcomes in their classrooms. During the training, the teachers got acquainted with the “learning through playing” methodology, the introductory activities that they could do with their students and the GEM-IN board game.

The primary goal of intercultural education is to cultivate respect for all, to build a sense of belonging and to guide students in becoming responsible and active global citizens. Intercultural education aims to empower students to take an active role in addressing global challenges and becoming active contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure world.

In our schools, we recognise the need for more flexible and inclusive learning methods, as the student population becomes more and more diverse. Education is required to cultivate a school environment which will meet the needs and requirements of all groups, social and cultural and will lead to the creative interaction of all students. In addition, it must prepare students as citizens of a multicultural society, who will respect diversity and at the same time maintain their cultural identity.

The purpose of the project “Game to EMbrace INtercultural education” – GEM IN is to support intercultural education at school and in non-formal youth environments as vehicle to foster social inclusion, cross-cultural dialogue and active citizenship by promoting European values.

More information about the digital tools and board game can be found on the project’s website here, in the Digital Archive or on the project’s page on Facebook.

How to make the upskilling process additive with game design concepts

According to Skills Panorama, Cedefop survey (Nov.2019), ‘ICT is a general-purpose technology, and so changes and disruptions in the economy can have significant influence on the future skill demands for the professionals.

There will be 1.6 million ICT professional jobs that will need to be filled between 2018 and 2030. It wasn’t long ago that coding was seen by many as an odd hobby for people tinkering with computers in their basements. But over the past several years, coding has progressed from a hobby to a critical career skill. Coding and programming have emerged as some of the most desirable skills for employers. On the other hand, one of the most important objectives in education is to prepare students for their future careers. Although Coding is fast becoming one of the most important subjects taught in schools, there is still a lot to be done all over Europe.

Computational thinking and the ability to understand how the computer executes the programs are necessary 21st‐century skills that can drastically influence the future labour market. Schools have a responsibility to provide their students with all the tools and skills they need to succeed in the modern workplace. Knowing this, the project’s partnership has agreed on the importance of enhancing ‘coding’ in general education, involving youngsters in the process as early as possible. To adapt to changes in the landscape of the jobs market, schools should adjust their curriculum and incorporate coding.

This project aims to cover the benefits of students learning to code in school, as well as offer tools, approaches, methodologies and tips to teachers on teaching coding effectively.

CReative rESilienT leARning communiTies meeting COVID challenges

The Covid-19 pandemic brought unexpected and new challenges for local communities in almost every field of their lives. Specifically, because of lockdown restrictions and measures, cultural activities needed to be rethought. The aim of CRESTART is to map the cultural changes observed before and after the Covid-19 pandemic in certain dimensions of the institutional and national culture of the participating countries. The project will develop and share a participatory and user-friendly toolkit for strengthening the creativity and innovativeness of local communities on how to successfully tackle similar challenges and reduce cultural risks.

CARDET supports ETF partnership of Entrepreneurial Centres of Excellence

In 2020, the European Training Foundation (ETF) established a network of Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). CoVEs are educational institutions and/or organisations, which meet given criteria, local or national, in innovation and quality in how they operate, offer services, and respond to labour market skills demands.

CARDET, contracted by the ETF, is the facilitator of an initiative that will support the establishment and facilitation of a Partnership in the area of Entrepreneurial Centres of Vocational Excellence (Entrepreneurial CoVEs), promoting entrepreneurship excellence as a key competence for lifelong learning.

Bringing together CoVEs and experts from across the region, the partnership seeks to put forward a joint vision and conceptual framework of what it means to be an entrepreneurial vocational training centre. It will also aid in the effective collaboration between the ETF and the participating organisations. 

The partnership consists of the LEPL College Modus (Georgia), ESITH – Ecole Supérieure des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement (Morocco), Centre de Formation et d’Apprentissage de Bizerte ” CFA Bizerte “   (Tunisia), PI Centre of Excellence in Economy and Finance (Moldova), Balgat MTAL VET Secondary High School (Turkey), Acıgöl Technical Sciences Vocational School  (Turkey), CIFP Politecnico de Santiago (Spain) and IES ARCA REAL (Spain).

The Partnership has been inspired by “EntreComp” EntreComp: The entrepreneurship competence framework | EU Science Hub (europa.eu), the European Union framework to promote entrepreneurship as a key competence for life-long learning across societies and economies. The new concept will contribute to the international debate in the entrepreneurial learning community and aims at empowering training centres to better responding to the changing needs of citizens, economies, and societies. 

To find out more: 

Kick-off meeting: 

Kick-off meeting “ENTREPRENEURIAL CENTRES OF VOCATIONAL EXCELLENCE (COVES)” | Open Space (europa.eu) 

 

Protection System for large gatherings of People in Religious Sites

Religious sites are considered to be especially vulnerable to attacks due to their accessibility and the fact that there are usually limited security measures applied. In recent years, religious sites of different faiths were targeted by extremists. The feedback collected from religious institutions and authorities suggests that there is a growing concern about the security and a balance should be kept between security and preservation of the open nature of religious sites. Thus, the project is aimed at increasing the level of protection in places of worship by forming an outstanding cooperation of scientists, security experts and practitioners, public services and religious institutions (representing Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church and Jewish Community) towards preparing a comprehensive protection system.

The system will cover measures for increasing prevention, protection, deterring and responding to various types of terrorist threats and incidents that may occur in religious places, including attacks with CBRN agents. The measures will be comprised of a set of tailormade templates, tools, procedures, equipment, improvements in infrastructure according to “security in design” and protocols of cooperation with public services. The implementation of the system will be enhanced by preparing and initiating modular training including eLearning with VR, applicable in various types of education in religious structures; conducting large-scale exercises; and conducting EU-wide awareness-raising campaign aiming at faith-based leaders, worshipers and public in general.

The significant impact of the project at a European level appears achievable due to the fact of consulting the project idea with influential religious organizations and involving them in the consortium as well as receiving very positive feedback from international religious structures, that confirmed the relevance of the project and willingness to support the introduction of the system in all EU MS.

Virtual Teams press release

The COVID-19 pandemic enforces thousands of organizations in Europe and the world to work remotely. To make the transition as smooth as possible, those who lead remote teams need to have the skills needed to lead them effectively. Read the first press release of the project Virtual Team and find out more about the topic.

Project – Overview

The COVID 19 pandemic enforces thousands of organizations in Europe and the world to work remotely. This trend is growing faster than ever and shows no sign of slowing down. It’s the future of work with benefits for both employers and employees. Still, many organisations are struggling to apply good practices and routines to ensure productivity and wellbeing in their workforce during these challenging times. To make the transition as smooth as possible, those who lead remote teams need to have the skills needed to lead them effectively.

This project aims to help Leaders in Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to acknowledge the importance of digital skills and wellbeing practices in maintaining healthy and productive virtual teams.

Specific Objectives

  • Provide SMEs tools, techniques and practical tips to help Virtual Team.

  • Leaders lead effectively, communicate successfully and so increase the performance of their virtual/remote teams.

  • Equip HR Professionals to improve their people’s wellbeing by adjusting their policies and procedures. Improve the quality of work in virtual teams.

  • Leaders will be trained on prioritising team building, fostering close collaboration, setting clear direction and objectives and leveraging technology.

  •  professionals will be trained to familiarise themselves with the IT infrastructure and available digital tools to set appropriate teleworking policies in place.

Target Groups

  • Team Leaders and Managers, including in-company VET providers.

  • HR Professionals, including in-company VET providers External VET providers.

  • Partners with a background in psychology e.Partners with a background in management.

  • Partners with a background in Human Resource Management.

  • Partners with a background in technology.

  • E – Workers.

Outputs

  • A toolkit for virtual team leaders, HR Professionals and managers.

  • In-service training    course    for    VET professionals.

  • MOOC on effective management of virtual teams.

Transnational Meetings

Kick off Meeting

The kick-off meeting of the project took place online on July 16th, 2021. The meeting started with a welcoming and a presentation of partners. The development plan of the project including deadlines of tasks and division of work between partners was presented and partners agreed upon all the upcoming activities.

 

 picture1.jpg

2nd Meeting

The second transnational project meeting of the project took place online on November 8th 2021

 

Focus on children; Strengthening Policies in Sports and Leisure ACTIVitiEs

Sports plays a decisive role in children development, promoting important values, social inclusion and a healthier way of life. However, violence in sports remains an alarming phenomenon with limited implementation of policy measures tackling the issue. ACTIVE goal is to promote the embedding of child safeguarding policies by sports clubs, extra-curricular activities organisations as well as leisure and recreational clubs working with children. The projects aims at improving knowledge of sports organisations around the prevention of violence against children in the field of sports and at enhancing sports professionals’ skills in preventing violence cases against children in the field of sports. The project will attempt to tackle these by developing an online self-assessment tool, allowing sports and leisure clubs to identify and address gaps in terms of implementation of Child Protection Polices in their premises.