The complexity and diversity of current problems of the modern Europe lies in the unresolved situations in time or new challenges. The context of project, as partners identified in the analyzes made in their schools, consists in: economic integration of immigrants from different poorer European countries or countries outside Europe and the situation of children being left home without one or both parents who work abroad; low economic standards of families which have gone through a crisis that leaves deep traces;; problems of integration of people with special educational needs in schools; recent situation of refugees coming from conflict zones; growth of nationalism based on the populism and discouragement of vulnerable groups; early school leaving, lack of interest and the denial of educational approach. Cultivating empathy to students in schools is a key element of this project, resulting in an increased ability to express and evaluate other people's emotional experiences and resistance against manipulation. Specific objectives are: to increase esteem towards people in need; to promote confidence and respect of vulnerable people by increasing self-esteem and creating a set of workshops used as a creative new space in school, called Erasmus Hub, a place where children can meet, regardless their background, to experience new methods of learning and to spend time together. The project will be addressed to the entire school population, but directly involved in the project will be over 500 students. Of these, 100 are from social groups associated with educational difficulties, economic obstacles, social obstacles and health problems. Our activities are: Cooperation between school coordinators (A1) – coordinator school, dealing for all issues regarding the project development; project monitoring and analyzing the process (A2) - reviewing the progress made on developing the activities to support the objectives collate the feedback from staff and learners involved in the learning activities; creating and updating the website (A3) - a place that will become our diary and a portal to wider community; launching, promoting the project on the occasion of “European Day of Languages” (A4); Creation of a project logo (A5) – a contest for project logo; Erasmus Street” (A6) – information space for dissemination the results; Getting Europass Mobility (A7) – to record knowledge and skills acquired; Listen! (A8) – debates and seminars about vulnerable groups; What do you think about the others (A9) – questionnaires about stereotypes and previous knowledge concerning our future friends. Observe! (A10) - emotional competences that work on with our students; In the shoes of others (A11) - activity in which students try to put themselves in the peer; Tell my Story (A12) - children will tell us about their lives, one of themes become characters of a social theatre play; Erasmus Hub (A13) – a place where all students will have attractive learning experiences. Erasmus+ project “Effective Steps to Empathize” is based on sharing experience and ideas. It involves all participants in decision to reconsider the way of looking the others and themselves. Through activities of the project will get more and better solutions at facing diversity and students’ needs. “Learning by doing” method will be the most used, a training methodology focused on the learning process for the individual. Active, collaborative learning and teaching combine with teaching methods centered on the work of teacher, short activities in group or individual will be other methodology to be used in carrying out the project. According to the project partners' experience, these methodologies are successful in terms of involvement, attendance and positive relapses on educational results. A constant improving of students and teachers’ language skills will be a result of using English to develop applications and educational materials. Our project results will be an increased empathy for people from school and neighborhood , Erasmus Hub - a space created for non-formal education, Erasmus Street - designed for dissemination, Emotions Dictionary and Tell my Story – printed final products, Social theatre play, DVDs containing happenings of the project. The project will encourage intercultural dialogue and give participants the chance to recognize the difference and multiplicity of the world for a responsible global citizenship. Improving schools’ management strategies and practices will raise the image of our institute and region. The most important impact on our schools will be the decreasing percentage of absenteeism and early leaving of students and increasing good results to exams (by our Erasmus Hub). The most important legacy of our project will be, probably, Erasmus Hub. This space was designed as a meeting place for all students, regardless of their position in school, to learn by doing things and to experiment.
A reality in modern Europe, in contrast to the prosperity and the level of civilization attained, is the existence of vulnerabilities in people’s social integration and acceptance. The complexity and diversity of current problems lies in the unresolved situations in time or new challenges such as the economic integration of immigrants from different poorer European countries or countries outside Europe, the situation of children being left home without one or both parents who work abroad, low economic standards of families which have gone through a crisis that leaves deep traces, problems of integration of people with special educational needs in schools; refugees coming from conflict zones; early school leaving, lack of interest and the denial of educational approach. In this context, social inclusion, even if it is difficult, complex or time-consuming, was the right solution. Cultivating empathy to students in schools was the key element of this project, resulting in an increased ability to express and evaluate other people's emotional experiences and resistance against manipulation. Specific objectives were: increase esteem towards people in need; promote confidence and respect of vulnerable people by increasing self-esteem and creating a set of workshops used as a creative new space in school, called Erasmus Hub, a place where children can meet, regardless their background, to experience new methods of learning and to spend time together. The project was addressed to the entire school population, but directly involved in the project was over 550 students. Of these, 100 were from social groups associated with educational difficulties, economic obstacles and social obstacles. In our school, the participants came from these target groups: with parents’ works abroad, with problems of adaptation in community, from broken families and with disadvantaged background based on poverty. Description of undertaken activities: Cooperation of school coordinators: Implementation of the project was done after a plan, used by all partners, which contains the objectives, activities, resources, responsible, expected results, time and place of realization. Project monitoring and analyzing: project team collaborated to review the progress made on developing the activities to support project objectives and collated the feedback from staff and learners. Creating and updating the website: Romanian school launched the project website, a diary and a portal to wider community. European Day of Languages: in 2017 was the official start of the project and in 2018 was an opportunity to present the progress and showcase the products of the first year. Creation of a project logo: contest organized in each school and after a week and 5509 votes the project had a logo that personalized our documents and final products. Erasmus Street: students, guided by their teachers, created an information space that exist throughout the project and provide clarifications about the project activities. Europass Mobility: host schools provided information, coordinators have taken the necessary steps to obtain the certificate containing knowledge and skills acquired in each LTTA. Listen!: this activity was the first step to increase esteem for others using debates and seminars about vulnerable groups, therapeutic stories. Questionnaires about stereotypes: had the role of measuring and comparing the level of empathy at the beginning and end of project. Observe!: improving the aspects of emotional self-awareness, managing emotions and reading emotions using empathy. In the shoes of others!: students have been put themselves in the peer through different methods: role-playing games, virtual diary. Tell my story: children from the target group told us about their lives using different approaches. Some of these became characters of a social theatre play. Erasmus Hub: activities developed and learned during LTTA were collected in a teaching guide and put into practice in our schools. We improved activities for students outside of mobility by creating a TwinSpace Page where students/teachers interacted. Learning by doing method was the most used, focused on the learning process for the individual. According to the project partners experience, this methodology was successful in terms of involvement, attendance and positive relapses on educational results. A constant improving of students and teachers’ language skills was the using English to develop applications and educational materials. Our project results increased empathy for people from school and neighbourhood: Erasmus Hub - a space created for non-formal education, Erasmus Street - designed for dissemination, Emotions Dictionary and Tell my Story – printed final products, Social theatre play. The most important legacy of our project will be, probably, Erasmus Hub. This space was designed as a meeting place for all students, regardless of their position in school, to learn by doing things and to experiment.