The final meeting of the project management teams was hosted by the Serbian partners from Osnovna Skola “Hristo Botev”. The project coordinators discussed the achieved results and planned the forthcoming tasks. It was a long and fruitful day with many activities.
Apart from working hard on the busy agenda, we also really enjoyed our last meeting – last within the project, but, with all the bonds created during the three years of the project life cycle, it will definitely not be the last one.
Final dissemination event of the YESI project Serbia, Dimitrovgrad: 5 July 2022
The final dissemination event of the YESI project in Serbia was held in Dimitrovgrad on July 5, 2022.
54 representatives of schools and the civil sector participated in the event – teachers and principals of preschools, primary and secondary schools and institutions of culture, social welfare and sports, as well as civil associations with which “Hristo Botev” Primary School cooperates in the field of supporting the personality development of students through various activities. The conference was attended by people from Dimitrovgrad, Pirot, Babushnica, Dragoman-Bulgaria and Cakovec-Croatia.
Katarina Simeonov, the project coordinator of the Serbian team, opened the event. She greeted the attendees and presented the objectives of the event. Daniela Kostov Peychev, a member of the project team, introduced the participants. The principal of “Hristo Botev” Primrary School, Mrs. Milena Stavrov, greeted everyone and emphasized the importance of the project for the school.
The moderator of the event, Katarina Simeonov, introduced the participants to Elena Lazarova – a representative of the leading partner in the YESI project, who, in her speech, presented various methods of non-formal education used in the project. The participants enthusiastically took part in the demonstrations of several methods. This activity caused great interest and approval because the participants learned about the methods through their personal experience, interactively and realized the importance and the benefits of teaching through NFE approaches.
Katarina Simeonov talked about the Erasmus+ program in Serbia and the opportunities it offers in the field of school education. The participants followed the speech with attention and expressed interest in applying for the Erasmus + program.
Mrs. Elena Lazarova presented the idea of the YESI project. She talked about the goals of the consortium, the cooperation among the project partners, the impact of the project, visible through the analysis of the surveys for students, which they filled in at the beginning and at the end of the implementation of the project activities.
The most important result of the project is the created Manual on Civic Education. Daniela Kostov Peychev introduced the participants to the Manual as a digital resource – the 36 lessons accompanied by numerous e-resources. The participants received instructions on how to use the lesson plans as well as specific parts of the lessons in the form of video materials.
The participants were introduced to the implementation of the project at “Hristo Botev” Primary School, after which the teachers who worked with their students on the project during the 2021/22 school year, presented their experience in the implementation of the training activities. First, Suzana Stankov, on behalf of the entire team, gave a general assessment of the implementation of the project at the school. Team members Ivana Dimitrov, Monika Vasov Jovanovich, Irena Gigov, Albena Kotev and Dragitsa Alexov also took part in the presentation. Everybody followed with attention and interest the impressions of the teachers and students.
At the end of the event, Katarina Simeonov invited the attendees to join the discussion and talk about their skills, experience and good practices. Supported by interesting presentations and speeches, the representatives of all institutions and associations were happy to talk about their experience in working for the benefit of children and young people, especially those from disadvantaged groups. They expressed satisfaction with the organization of the event, the information and the practical orientation of the knowledge they received.
The principal of “Hristo Botev” Primary School thanked everyone for their participation and contribution to the event and closed the conference.
Conclusions:
– The school’s participation in the YESI project and the way the activities were implemented were highly appreciated;
– High degree of satisfaction with the organization of the event;
– The participants in the event are encouraged to participate in the Erasmus+ program;
– A local network of collaborators has been built. In the future they will work even more diligently for the benefit of children and support those who wish to participate in similar projects.
Second multiplier event – town of Tryavna: June 10-11, 2022
The second dissemination event of the YESI project in Bulgaria was held in the town of Tryavna in the period 10-11 June, 2022.
The event was attended by 53 teachers and principals coming from different towns and villages in northern Bulgaria: Svishtov, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Pleven, Razgrad, Sofia, Lovech, Dryanovo, Knezha, Gabrovo, Polski Trambesh, Cherven bryag and, of course, the town of Tryavna.
The first day the teachers got acquainted through warm-up and get-to-know each other activities so that the participants could know their colleagues from other towns and fell free to talk about their successes and issues freely, but also, the introductory activities were exemplary to be implemented with the students. They were presented to the products of the YESI project and took part in interactive sessions that simulated real lessons, as described in the YESI Handbook for Teachers of Civic Education.
During the second day of the multiplier event we continued with the presentation of resources from the Civic Education handbook. The teachers participated in two simulation sessions from module “Human Rights – Children’s Rights” on the topic of “My right to opinion and expression” and from module “Active Citizenship” – the topic was “Care and Respect for Animals”. Mr. Tsvetomir Marinov from 75 primary school “Todor Kableshkov” in Sofia, who piloted the handbook with his students, made a detailed review of the activities he had done in class and the results he had achieved.
The participants shared that the event was really helpful and practical, they had lots of new ideas and were willing to make use of the YESI training resources with their students during the following school year 2022-2023.
The first dissemination event of the YESI project in Bulgaria was held in the city of Kyustendil in the period 3-4 June, 2022.
The event was attended by 78 teachers and principals coming from different towns and villages in southwestern Bulgaria: Sofia, Pernik, Dupnitsa, Bozhurishte, Borovan, Mezdra, Kostenets, Glozhene, Samokov and, of course, the city of Kyustendil.
The first day comprised 5 sessions, during which the teachers got acquainted with the products of the YESI project and took part in several interactive sessions that simulated real lessons, as described in the YESI Handbook for Teachers of Civic Education.
We started with energizers and ice-breaking activities – highly valued with the temperatures outside. Then, with great pleasure and as a fun change at the end of the school year, the participants stepped in the shoes of students and took on different roles – children and adults; of visually impaired people and their helpers; of children who are subject to bullying.
The practical simulation sessions were moderated by Elena Lazarova and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvia Tsvetanska.
During the second day of the multiplier event we continued with the presentation of resources from the Civic Education handbook. The teachers participated in two simulation sessions from module “Human Rights – Children’s Rights” on the topic of “My right to opinion and expression” and from module “Active Citizenship”. With the topic “Care and Respect for Animals”. Ms. Veneta Yordanova, who piloted the handbook with her students, also shared experience. She told the participants in the event how her fourth-graders, inspired by the training resource “Active Citizenship and Volunteering”, implemented practical activities in support of the refugees from Ukraine. They raised money by selling their drawings, made some musical performances and sold cup with plums (yes, plums which they picked up from a nearby public garden). Their campaign reached the hearts of passersby in front of the church “St. Sedmochislenitsi” in Sofia. The campaign resulted in raising a small but solid sum for the children, and they decided to provide it to help the children of Ukraine by contacting the actor Alex Alexiev to support his noble work.
The emotional charge was especially great, but all good things come to an end. We parted satisfied and with many new ideas.
The dissemination event of the YESI project in Greece was held in the city of Thessaloniki. Over 110 students and about 10 teachers were gathered all together in Thessaloniki’s Intercultural Centre, to share their outcomes and experience of the project. The event was attended by 73 guests (head offices of directorate of Primary Education, teachers and parents from schools of Thessaloniki, teachers and students of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and medical personnel of hospitals).
Despite the difficulties due to Covid-19 restrictions, teachers and students managed to implement the scheduled activities of the project during the academic years 2020 – 2022. The project was coordinated in Greece by NGO AENAO with collaboration of Directorate of Primary Education in East Thessaloniki. The participating schools were:
Participating schools presented their outcomes through short activities, sketches and songs.
The multiplier event closed with the award of certificates to the teachers that participated in the project during the two academic years 2020-2022, and awards to students.
The meeting was hosted by the Portuguese partners from IPSantarém. It was meant to sum up the completed tasks and the results from the second year of the project implementation and discuss in detail the forthcoming tasks during the last year of the project. All partners had their representative attend the meeting.
During school year 2020-2021 the training resources have been piloted in 36 (BG – 15; GR – 8; SR – 5, PT – 8) classrooms with some 700 students (initial poll) and 560 ones (final poll). The following schools were involved in pilot stage 1:
Bulgaria (Sofia) – 6 primary school “Graf Ignatiev”; 2 seconady school “Emiliyan Stanev”;20 primary school “Todor Minkov”, 145 primary school “Simeon Radev”, 81 secondary school “Victor Hugo”;
Portugal – Agrupamento de Escolas Cidade do Entroncamento-Escola Secundaria com 3º Ciclo do Entroncamento
The partners we introduced to the analytical report comparing students’ opinion and understanding of project topics prior and after the training activities during pilot stage 1.
All teachers who were involved in piloting the training resources filled in questionnaires prepared by the project team. The answers were processed and a common evaluation report was created. With the provided answers and comments the teachers evaluated some important aspects of the training resources from the Resource Pack. They provided some suggestions for changes in the training resources considering the practical implementation in the classroom. The suggestions and modifications had been processed by the project management teams and were discussed with the authors of the Resources Pack. Some of the suggestions were accepted and the necessary changes had been made before the joint staff training event held in Serbia earlier in September, 2021.
The project management teams discussed the forthcoming tasks for the last year of the project – implementation in schools, extra training events at local level, evaluation and dissemination activities, issues with some sections of the web site, etc.
The last day of the joint staff training event was the busiest one. The morning session involved the participants in activities’ simulations from the Identity, active citizenship and social involvement module.
Simulation of IAC1: My identities
Simulation of IAC3: AC and the protection of the environment
Simulation of IAC8: Active citizenship and healthy living.
The afternoon session was devoted to the Implementation in schools after the training event – the Opinion poll for students and the expected feedback from the teachers. The participants also planned future eTwinning projects on the topic of Children’s’ rights, Diversity and Active citizenship and we finished the training event with visits to some cultural sites in the region.
Day 4 was dedicated to the activities from the Diversity and social inclusion module. The participants were involved in a simulation of a training session on the topic of Bullying and social inclusion. They stepped in the shoes of students and participated in activities meant to teach them the 4 practical steps to counteract bullying. The simulation was followed by sharing experience on the topic.
We also visited a center for people with SEN in Smilovci, Caribrod region, where we learned what the trainers in the center do to support SEN children from the region.
Day 3 of the learning event in Serbia coincided with the first school day for our hosts from Osnovna Skola Hristo Botev – beautiful children and dedicated teachers! Visiting the local gymnasium was also quite impressive!
During the third day we also visited a branch of the host school located in Trnski Odorovci and implemented some of the training resources with the children, played games and had fun.
Day 2 of the joint staff training event was dedicated to the training resources from the Children’s Rights – Human Rights module of the resource pack. We participated in two simulations: The rights of refugee children and the Right to rest, leisure and play. A really fruitful day with loads of emotions and practical ideas for activities to do with the students.
