Second joint staff training event – Serbia – Day 1

August 30^th, 2021

Day 1 of the joint staff training event in Serbia was devoted to getting-to-know each other and team building activities. The participating teachers from Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal and our wonderful hosts from Serbia made us feel at home and provided excellent working conditions.

Nov 27, 2020 – last day of the online training event

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end . Friday was the last day of the YESI online training event. During the session we planned the following steps the teachers were expected to complete during the school year. The participants were presented to the opinion poll questions their students had to answer prior to the training course activities and after it. The questionnaires were translated in Bulgaria, Serbian, Greek and Portuguese so that students could answer in their mother tongue. The teachers also had the task to fill in feedback forms after delivering each training session. There had been created 38 feedback forms for each of the training resources in the manual. All answers were to be stored online so that the project management team could go through the teachers’ opinion and recommendations and make the necessary changes.

First joint staff training event – Day 4

Nov 26, 2020 was dedicated to the ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP module. The participants took part in a simulation of a training activity on the topic of ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP AT SCHOOL. The training session is meant to engage students in activities to teach them the importance of being active citizens and the meaning of the sustainable development goals. Considering the age specifics of the target group, having stepped in the shoes of the primary students, the participants played games teaching them how they can contribute to the dream of living in a world with no plastic.

In PROTECTING AND RESPECTING ANIMALS training activity the teachers, once again, stepped in the shoes of students. They shared stories to learn that cats and dogs can get poisoned from seemingly innocuous items such as chocolate, cleaning products and batteries; small birds can choke on small pieces of plastic, while ducks, fish, and other creatures that live in the water, can be harmed by plastic soda rings and other trash. So the three groups planned CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGNS to protect the animals. The Serbian ‘students’ shared information about a campaign they had already organized in the park neighbouring the school. All groups had great ideas and designed inspiring posters to involve other students in their campaigns.

First joint staff training event – Day 3

Nov 25, 2020 was the DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION day. The participants took part in simulations of two of the designed training resources – Religious diversity and Diversity and Stereotypes. We played the e-games designed specifically for the training resources and enjoyed watching a great video about stereotypes. Primary students would love it, but it was good fun for adults too.

First joint staff training event – Day 2

During the second day (Nov 24,2020) of the online joint staff training event of the YESI project the participants took part in simulations of training activities from the “Children’s rights – Human rights” module. In the “My right to opinion and expression” training resource they had the task to think of their dream about the future and present it to rest of the group as an artistic creation. The participants were split in 3 groups making use of the breakout rooms option in ZOOM.

The participants could opt to step in the shoes of a specific target group. This is the artistic work of group 3 – the group of the ‘children’ and their message to the world!

This is the message of the group of the ‘teenagers’ during the second day of the YESI online training event. This is what they want to share with the world!

First joint staff training event – Day 1

Monday (Nov. 23, 2020) was the first day of the online joint staff training event. The training was organized as a MOODLE course and was hosted on the servers of the Portuguese partner Instituto Politecnico de Santarem. The participating teachers were introduced to the project idea and the created Resource Pack which was to be used in extracurricular training activities with primary school students. We got to know each other by playing games (Well done, Iva , Moni and Paschalina ) and learned more about the non-formal educational tools used in the project.

Second transnational meeting of the project management team

Thessaloniki, Greece, February 18, 2020

The meeting was hosted by the Greek partners from AENAO. Its goal was to discuss the structure of the Teacher’s Toolkit (comprising the Handbook for teachers and the Digital Tool), the technical requirements to the e-resources and the opinion poll questions.

Prior to TPM2 partners have taken the following decisions:

1. Accepted the withdrawal of the Regional Center for Professional Development in Education (RCPDE) from the project.
2. Accepted the new partner from Serbia – Osnovna Skola “Hristo Botev”, Serbia.
3. Authorized the lead partner to take the necessary steps to inform the NA and sign an annex regarding the change of partner.
4. Agreed on the specific tasks of new Serbian partner.

During the meeting project partners completed the following activities:

1. Prosveta foundation reported about the legal actions completed related to the change of partner.
2. Partners presented the five resources created at national level and discussed the contents and the technical characteristics.
3. Partners discussed the interface and architecture of the project website.
4. Partners discussed the structure and scope of the opinion poll considering the age group specifics.

Decisions:

1. Have all training resources ready by April 30, 2020 – English versions.
2. Have the website ready by February 29, 2020 – English version.

Kick-off meeting

Sofia, Bulgaria, November 13, 2019

Prosveta-Sofia Foundation, in partnership with Instituto Politecnico de Santarem, Center for non-formal education (Thessaloniki) and Regional Center for Professional Development in Education (Serbia) have launched a new Erasmus+ project aimed at innovation in the sector of school education. The participating organizations from Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal and Serbia have broad experience in creating teaching resources for school education and delivering trainings to students and teachers. You can read more about the expertise and experience each partner brings to the project on the Project Partners page.

The project aims at supporting students and teachers in becoming more open-minded and accepting the diversity of the surrounding world; at understanding and respecting differences among people and at learning what is the meaning of being an active member of the small community of your class and school. The project is targeted at students in primary schools and their teachers.

To do so, the project will create a Teachers Toolkit with 36 training resources. Each training resource will comprise detailed instructions for the teachers and numerous e-resources so that they could deliver trainings to their students on topics related to children’s/ human rights, diversity and social inclusion, and active citizenship and social involvement. The teachers will be trained on how to use the Teacher’s Toolkit and it will be used on a regular basis during school years 2020/21 and 2021/22 in some 60 classrooms in Europe.

Project partners met on November 13, 2019 in Sofia, Bulgaria to formally launch the project, to discuss some organizational and methodological aspects of prospective work and agreed on a detailed plan for the first year of the project.

During the following months the partners will start creating the training resources in the three modules:

• Children’s Rights (Human Rights);
• Diversity and Social Inclusion;
• Active Citizenship and Social Involvement.

The second transnational meeting will be held in Thessaloniki in February. It is aimed at discussing the headway regarding project outputs. The partners discussed the situation with the Serbian partner Regional Center for Professional Development in Education who informed the project manager just before the KOM that they have to withdraw from the partnership because their status was changed by the local authorities in Nis, so they no longer are a separate legal entity. The partners analyzed the issue and took the decision to look for a new organization from Serbia, and to create the training resources that had to be created by the Serbian partner so that the partnership would keep up to the project timetable.