Give Me Five is a project open to the future and aware of the past of Europe: we look back to our history of wars and enjoy our present of peace, recognizing that the main strenghts of our continent has been learning to live together in peace, aware of different identies, but at the same time as citizens of Europe. This idea of unity in diversity we would like to co-construct with our children. The project aims at creating an European social skills curriculum for pupils aged 3 to 14 years, built in different modules, and with a mix of didactic techniques, according to the age of children. The curriculum is a web based tool box containing: -educational trails (the toy library, the library, the museum, the library, the stadium, the post office and pharmacy) diversified according to the stages of development of pupils' social skills. Within these paths , there are virtual and real activities carried out in collaboration by all pupils of the partnership, during the school time and the meeting for learning activities; - the agora: a virtual space where teachers draw together the curriculum ( goals, contents, activities, methodology, expected results and evaluation) that is the result of virtual and one-to-one collaboration (during short term training of trainers) among teachers in the 6 countries. The tool box will be made OER (open educational resource) and available for other schools to experiment and validate on the web. We see uneasiness and frustration in the traditional school system for many of our children, especially the ones belonging to a foreign family or with some other specific need (economic, disability and lately every day more difficulty in learning other than certified disabilities). This is why we need to tackle and face this uneasiness from early child development and we chose to involve schools of different grades. Teachers operate in multiproblematic classrooms with a sense of powerlessness. Teachers try to support and interact with little success with children characterized by low study motivation, with inexistent interest in disciplines, who are perpetrator or victims of bullying (even more cyber bullying), who show great difficulties in communication not only with adults but also with peers, who are confused about values and hardly respect rules since they do not see their legitimacy and usefulness. Children seem lost when it comes to positively managing conflict or frustration. It is increasingly difficult for teachers to manage such situations, despite the commitment and the passion for their work. The first step is to recognize that the problem of managing a classroom is never single, but a complexity of them and that children have their own resources, always, that must be sought and valued with different methods. We believe that the creation of a curriculum of social skills from childhood to secondary school degree can be an effective tool to meet the needs of teachers and all students including those with disabilities, special needs, immigrants and potential school dropouts. Through a focus on developing social skills, pupils can learn to understand and control their emotions, use different communication strategies, know their strengths and weaknesses, cooperate by providing their talents (that are therefore recognized, even if not the traditional ones related to strong disciplines), ask and accept help, respect themselves and others, give reasons for their choices. Through targeted training on the development of social skills teachers can acquire all the information, tools and methods needed to respond appropriately in the various stages of development, to promote the wellbeing of the child and the development of social skills ,so pupils, future citizens, can participate actively and constructively in social life. The European dimension of the project adds value to each system / local or national experience and will be inspired by the 8 key competences of lifelong learning in particular the social and civic competences. Key competences are necessary for self-fulfilment personal development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. In particular social personal, interpersonal and intercultural skills: enable people to participate effectively and constructively in the social and working life. Co-designing and applies innovative teaching methods and learning materials starting from a renewed understanding of the fabric of social dynamics promotes the ability of the school to meet its continuous and profound social changes. The discussion and sharing of experiences from different European countries also helps to acquire and consolidate a common European perspective. As added values, the project will work on an extended network of partners, beyond the KA2 partnership: META Erasmus KA3 project on minority education through art and Cooperativa "Mondo Aperto" on cultural mediation for inclusion.
The project aimed at creating an European social skills curriculum for pupils aged 3 to 14 years, built in different modules, and with a mix of didactic techniques, according to the age of children. The curriculum is a web based tool box containing: -educational trails (the toy library, the library, the museum, the library, the stadium, ) diversified according to the stages of development of pupils' social skills. Within these paths , there are virtual and real activities carried out in collaboration by all pupils of the partnership, during the school time and the meeting for learning activities; -the post office: a space dedicated to communication between project partners -the chemist’s: a section containing social relationships issues identified by pupils and possible solutions - the schools: a space dedicated to the schools of the project. - the agora: a virtual space where teachers draw together the curriculum ( goals, contents, activities, methodology, expected results and evaluation) that is the result of virtual and one-to-one collaboration (during short term training of trainers) among teachers in the 6 countries. - the The tool box will be made OER (open educational resource) and available for other schools. The idea of the social skills curriculum arose from the analysis of our schools and from the necessity to respond to the discomfort in which pupils and teachers find themselves. Pupils, especially the ones belonging to foreign families or with some specific needs, experience situations of frustration starting from early childhood and for this reason we thought convenient to involve schools of different grades. Teachers operate in multiproblematic classrooms. Teachers try to support and interact with little success with children characterized by low study motivation, with inexistent interest in disciplines, who are perpetrator or victims of bullying (even more cyber bullying), who show great difficulties in communication not only with adults but also with peers, who are confused about values and hardly respect rules since they do not see their legitimacy and usefulness. Children seem lost when it comes to positively managing conflict or frustration. It is increasingly difficult for teachers to manage such situations, despite the commitment and the passion for their work. The first step was to recognize that the problem of managing a classroom is never single, but a complexity of them and that children have their own resources, always, that must be sought and valued with different methods. We thought that the creation of a curriculum of social skills from childhood to secondary school degree could be an effective tool to meet the needs of teachers and all students including those with disabilities, special needs, immigrants and potential school dropouts. Through a focus on developing social skills, pupils improved several skills: to understand and control their emotions, use different communication strategies, know their strengths and weaknesses, cooperate by providing their talents (that are therefore recognized, even if not the traditional ones related to strong disciplines), ask and accept help, respect themselves and others, give reasons for their choices. Through targeted training on the development of social skills teachers acquired information, tools and methods needed to respond appropriately in the various stages of development, to promote the wellbeing of the child and the development of social skills ,so pupils, future citizens, can participate actively and constructively in social life. Co-designing and applies innovative teaching methods and learning materials starting from a renewed understanding of the fabric of social dynamics promotes the ability of the school to meet its continuous and profound social changes. The discussion and sharing of experiences from different European countries helped each school to acquire and consolidate a common European perspective. Lastly, the construction of a vertical curriculum with European schools belonging to different levels of education has made it possible to share development processes and paths that have had a positive impact on the school communities of each partner country.