CONTEXT "CHESS: A GAME TO SPREAD AT SCHOOL" (CGS) is a project aimed at primary school teachers and in part to early childhood, to give them a pedagogical training tool, capable of addressing the educational needs of their pupils, to obtain - thanks to the game of chess introduced in the classroom - the development of key competences, functional to counteracting the poor results of the students, in particular in the scientific subjects. OBJECTIVES Therefore, general objective of CGS is to strengthen teachers' competences with the following specific objectives, to: 1) develop an innovative training protocol, consisting of 4 didactical modules (A,B,C,D) which allows teachers to teach chess independently in the classroom, and to train their colleagues to introduce chess in the classroom, without the need for external trainers; 2) obtain a formal recognition of the competecences acquired by the EU; 3) activate a model that expands independently through Peer Education. In the training protocol, modules A and D are created in CGS, whilst modules B and C are implemented by the CASTLE project (an official EU "Success Story"). PARTICIPANTS The project Partnership comprises: - C.S.E.N. the largest Sports Promotion Body in Italy, has a sports division dedicated to chess for educational purposes. It is the project Applicant. - EUROPEAN CHESS UNION (ECU) is the representative sports body for chess in Europe with 54 affiliated chess federations. It has endorsed the School Chess Teacher Certificate. - SPORTS SOCIETY ALFIERE BIANCO is engaged in the research and development of new models of school chess teaching. - CLUB DEPORTIVO ELEMENTAL 64 VILLALBA is engaged in chess training in Madrid and the development of new teaching models dedicated to teachers. - UPPSALA SSS is one of the largest chess clubs in Sweden and focuses its activities only on school-age children. To date, it has involved 13,500 pupils and trained 300 primary school teachers. - UNIVERSITY OF TURIN (UNITO) is among the universities in Europe which has carried out the most research into the effects of playing chess at school. - FUNDACIÓN APRENDER includes 2 schools in Madrid, among the first to introduce chess between school subjects for educational purposes. - BÖRJE SKOLA of Uppsala has been using chess in education in all primary school classes since 2012. - The ITALIAN NETWORK OF SCHOOLS FOR CHESS consists of 2 Apulian schools with the aim of spreading the game of chess in schools. - CHESSITY is a comprehensive online chess learning platform designed for primary school children under the supervision of their teacher. ACTIVITIES The project includes four TPMs to plan and manage all aspects related to the administrative, organisational and development activities of the Intellectual Outputs (IOs). The project undertakes to develop five IOs: 1) IO n.1 Game protocol on giant chessboard for the kindergarten, which constitutes module A of the CGS training protocol; 2) IOn.2 Chess-on-desk plus use of the web for classes 3a, 4a and 5a of primary school, with preparatory elements for learning Coding, which forms the module D of the protocol; 3) IO n.3 Guidelines for teacher training on the CGS methodology, to provide additional operational support for the CGS method; 4) IO n.4 UNITO's scientific research report, which highlights the results achieved; 5) IO n.5 Interactive training platform, necessary for the online development of the project and its replicability. There are two Multiplier Events of 2 days: one to present the project and the other as a final event; to which are added 2 Multiplier Events of 1 day to give resonance to the IOs made in CGS. There are also two Learning, Teaching, Training Activities (LTTAs) of 3 days each to ensure that skills are transferred to teachers in a way that conforms to the project objectives. METHODOLOGY CGS plans to adopt the innovative Peer Education Method to the teaching of chess. This method builds the skills of teachers through peer learning and tutoring. The method will be combined with the use of the web platform to support the learning and tutoring. RESULTS AND IMPACT By the end of the project, 312 teachers will have successfully peer trained with the CGS method. They should capable of training other colleagues with the Peer Education Method. 6,500 children will have learned chess at school, with significant benefits in overall social and academic performance. In addition, the trained teachers will have obtained formal recognition of the skills acquired, strengthening their professional profile. This project will deliver a lasting impact both for the teachers that come out strengthened and motivated due to the use of a new educational tools and also for the schools that become more innovative and effective in their educational purposes. The long-term advantages are its accessibility, easy use and sustainability due to the Peer Education.
Through the project Chess a Game to be spread in Schools - CGS we would like to obtain a formal recognition by the European Union regarding the training received by teachers who intend to use the game of chess as an educational tool in their classrooms and, through a tested and recognised as valid model (CGS), respond to the Declaration of 15. 3.2012 of the European Parliament, which indirectly invited them to use chess, also to "...improve concentration, patience and perseverance and to develop the sense of creativity, intuition and memory as well as analytical and decision-making skills...". We want to affirm a possible model to allow this to happen in a simple and cost-effective way for schools and for the EU itself, through Peer to Peer training among Teachers, again in support of the European Union, which in the Declaration claimed to be able to support such an introduction through the European Commission, but without then getting real feedback from the EC itself. Here is the link to the Declaration of the European Parliament of 15 March 2012: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-7-2012-0097_IT.html
This project started from the assumption that the game of chess has pedagogical value when introduced in primary and early childhood schools during school hours. Through the development of a new training protocol dedicated to teachers (on four models: A, B, C, D), the CGS project wanted to work on strengthening the teachers' profiles, through classroom training and operational experimentation in the classroom of the skills acquired, as well as on acquiring the necessary methodologies to transmit the aforementioned skills to other teachers, so that their fellow teachers could also apply them within their classrooms following the training received. This project responds to the Declaration of 15.3.2012 of the European Parliament, which encourages the introduction of the "Chess in School" programme in the education systems of the Member States, providing a valid possibility of introducing the educational use of the game of chess in primary and pre-primary schools, based in short on peer-to-peer training between teachers, considerably lowering the total cost if one wished, as an alternative, to employ chess instructors from outside the school.