PROJECT CONTEXT. Tackling early school leaving is a key contribution to the Europe 2020 agenda. To reduce dropout rate in the EU to less than 10% (15% in the case of Spain) is one of the objectives of E2020 Strategy. (Rates 2013: Spain 21.7%; Italy 17%; EU 12%). The two participating countries show dropout rates significantly above the European average, being necessary to undertake strategic actions in this regard. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The project aims to promote a strategic partnership between the city of Vila-real (Castellón) and the City of Sacile (Italy) as local education authorities, with support from schools and local educational organisations, to develop a methodology based on school mediation as a innovative strategy for preventing early school leaving, that allows to provide high quality education and addresses the increasingly diverse needs that occur on school contexts, in line with the priorities of E2020 and the strategic framework E&T2020. Specific: 1. Improve the skills and competences of teachers to address the diverse needs that occur in school contexts so that they can adopt innovative approaches focused on students (school mediation), further reinforcing key competences such as digital and language competences. - Activities: training activities for teachers and creation and revitalization of a TwinSpace about the project. 2. Facilitate the students development of basic skills (especially communication and social skills, digital and language competences) to enable them to participate effectively and constructively in social and professional life. Activities: Training as school mediators, participation in the project TwinSpace, virtual mobility associated to a system of peer learning and certifying learning through Europass documents. 3. Improve the capacity of participating organizations of internationalization adding European value added to the experience of school mediation through working with European organisations and the use of European tools for sharing and recognition of learning outcomes (e-Twinning and Europass). 4. Facilitate the permeability of the methodology of school mediation from non-formal to formal education, analyzing the possibilities of implementing the program in schools and guiding the implementation process with quality assured through the following intellectual products (digital format, accessible and Creative Commons license): - "Toolbox" Multi-MEDES consisting of multimedia educational materials on school mediation, which enable the development of up to 60 hours of training on school mediation aimed at students, teachers and families. - Methodological Guide for supporting the implementation of amediation programme in schools. - Methodological Guide for evaluating the quality of school mediation programs, linked to a quality award "MEDES". NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The project MEDES involve approximately 5830 people, both directly and indirectly. The profile of direct participants: teachers and secondary school students between 11 and 16 years as well as professionals from local educational organisations. Indirect participants: students and teachers from other schools; regional, national, European and international educational centers at different levels and / or educational fields; local, regional and national education authorities, teachers associations, education unions, associations of parents of students and other socio-educational professionals. RESULTS AND IMPACT Teachers and students will be trained as school mediators, developing key competences such as social abilities, communication, etc. as well as linguistic and digital skills. Open educational resources, multilingual and freely available will be developed. The implementation of mediation in schools will be facilitated through a methodological guide and quality standards. At level of long-term impact, the MEDES project aims to include school mediation as an innovative strategy for preventing and reducing early school leaving within educational strategies at the local, regional, national and European level.
PROJECT CONTEXT. Tackling early school leaving is a key contribution to the Europe 2020 agenda. To reduce dropout rate in the EU to less than 10% (15% in the case of Spain) is one of the objectives of E2020 Strategy. The two participating countries show dropout rates significantly above the European average, being necessary to undertake strategic actions in this regard. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The general objective of MEDES has been to promote a strategic partnership between the city of Vila-real (Castellón) and the City of Sacile (Italy) as local education authorities, with the support of educational centres and local educational organisations, to develop an innovative methodology, based on school mediation, for preventing early school leaving, that allows to provide high quality education and address the growing number of diverse needs that occur in school contexts. In addition, MEDES have had the following specific objectives: 1. Increase the competences and skills of the teaching staff in school mediation, reinforcing also key competences such digital and linguistic competences. 2. Train young mediators and facilitate the development of key skills to enable them to participate effectively and constructively in social and professional life. 3. Improve the internationalization capacity of the participating organizations. 4. Facilitate the permeability of the school mediation from non-formal to formal education, analyzing the possibilities of implementing the program in educational centers and guiding the implementation process with quality guarantees. MAIN ACTIVITIES In the framework of MEDES, in addition to the development of the methodology of school mediation and dissemination activities of the project, training activities have been developed addressed to teachers and students (trained as school mediators); exchanges of student mediators between the participating centers (establishing a peer learning system); and creation and dynamization of a Twinspace. PARTNERS MEDES has been developed by six different organizations from Italy and Spain, the municipalities of Villarreal and Sacile; two educational centers, the Instituto de Educació Secundària MIRALCAMP and the Istituto Comprensivo di Sacile; and two expert entities in school and humanistic mediation, the Cooperativa Itaca and the Associació el Porc Espí. NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The direct beneficiaries of MEDES have been teachers and students of secondary education between 11 and 16 years old as well as professionals from local educational organizations. The indirect beneficiaries had been students and teachers from other educational centers of different levels and/or educational fields, at local, regional, national, European and international levels; local, regional and national education authorities; teacher associations; unions; associations of parents of students; and other socio-educational professionals. In numbers: - 47 professionals and teachers from the participating organizations, who have been trained in school mediation; - 27 students participated in the training workshop: Peer learning; - 25 teachers in the participatory workshops for content creation; - 30 students have been trained as mediators and 20 have participated in the exchanges; - 1.424 people have participated in the multiplier events (teachers, students, professionals, educational authorities, etc.). RESULTS AND IMPACT MEDES project has trained in mediation teachers and students (as mediators), developing their key competeces (linguistic and digital skills). MEDES has developed open educational resources in different languages and has facilitated the implementation of mediation in educational centers. The following intellectual products have been developed (in digital format, in three languages and under Creative Commons license): - MULTI-MEDES Toolkit consists of three types of materials: A PRESENTATION animated with all the contents of the educational program necessary to train future teachers specialized in school mediation; two videos that simulate a mediation in which mediators manage conflicts and a interactive web. - 3.2,1... MEDI-ACTION aims to be a simple guide to support the implementation of the mediation programme in an educational centre. - VALE is a methodological guide for the evaluation of quality in school mediation programs. - MEDES quality seal in recognition of the centers that implement these methodologies with quality guarantees. In terms of long-term impact, MEDES project aims to include school mediation as an innovative strategy for the prevention and reduction of early school leaving within the educational strategies, first at local level and then at regional, national and european levels.