School Children subjected to Adverse Childhood Experience(ACEs), frequently exhibit a series of undesirable attitudes and behaviors, and often face significant difficulties in engaging and integrating in the school learning environment. Consequentially, they often struggle with poorer learning outcomes compared to their peers, often leading to leaving the educational systems prematurely. While significant effort has been done in most of the EU countries, the main shortcomings are in the following areas: - poor and/or untimely identification and detection of victims of ACEs. - insufficient coordination between educational institutions, social, child protection, mental health and family services - insufficient coordination and cooperation between educational institutions, public services and other relevant actors in the field, such as research centers, civil society organizations and professionals in the fields of social inclusion, family and child support, mental health, and behavioral and learning support. In the context of the above described challenges, the current proposal aims to contribute to the already ongoing effort to find solutions through: - Improving timely detection of warning signs and behaviors in school, through increasing the awareness and competence of educational and administrative staff in schools and learning institutions - improving the capacity of school teachers, administrators and educational support staff to adress issues arising from disruptive behavior successfully, thus creating a safer and more inclusive learning environment for all learners - Increasing the capacity of relevant institutions to provide adequate and timely support through improving the communication and cooperation between relevant stakeholders(educational authorities, social and child protection, health services, famillies etc.), - supporting engagement and reintegration into the learning environment through dedicated pedagogical approaches based on positive behavioral reinforcement methodolgies and non-formal learning approaches, in order to improve victims’ learning outcomes, minimize risk behaviors and prevent early school leaving. The project will develop an e-platform for children, and two innovative training tools targeting children/teens subject to ACEs, and teachers/educators/school staff, in order to improve children's learning outcomes from one side, and teachers skills and competences in supporting these learners with this type of disadvantage. A three-months long pilot training course for teachers will be carried out locally as well as two international training events - one for staff members of the participating organisations and one for school teachers. The project will directly involve about 100 teachers and educators, 180 children, aged 6- 12 yo, through the activities as well as around 500 indirect participants. The project will assist children subjected to ACEs to receive adequate and continuous support ; acquire specific transversal skills and competences which will allow them to successfully pursue education and reduce significantly their risk of dropping out of education; strengthen their sense of initiative, and motivation to continue with education, and improve their educational and vocational outcomes. The project will also provide teachers and educators with an innovative learning methodology, available in both physical and digital formats and ready to use in the classroom with pupils.
Caring for children who have suffered an ACE is crucial to their well-being. In setting up this project on ACEs, I wanted to - answer many questions about ACEs (how to detect them, the different types of ACEs, etc.) - Identify children at risk as early as possible and provide appropriate intervention. - Improve my teaching practices to help pupils - Educate health professionals, teachers, social workers and society in general about ACEs and their consequences. - Ensure coordination between the various services (health, education, justice, etc.) to meet the complex needs of children who are victims of ACEs. Above all, I would like to try to raise awareness among elected representatives so that laws can be put in place to protect children from ACEs by allowing open exchanges with the various institutions. Improving care for child victims of ACE is a complex process that requires a multidisciplinary approach and the mobilisation of society as a whole.
Children with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) face many difficulties in comparison with their peers. With this project we have tried to meet the following needs: - improve the identification and detection of victims of ACEs. - support the engagement and reintegration of these children into the learning environment through specific pedagogical approaches based on positive behavioral reinforcement methodologies and non-formal learning approaches, in order to improve their learning outcomes, minimize risk behaviors and prevent early school drop-out - Improve the ability of teachers, administrators and educational support staff to address issues related to disruptive behavior, in order to create a safer and more inclusive learning environment for all children. - improve coordination and cooperation between educational establishments, public services and other stakeholders.