The partnership has the main priority to improve the social inclusion of the vulnerable students from the partner schools, who are at the risk of dropping out of school. Very often, the vulnerable students get self-excluded because they lack confidence and motivation, they lack knowledge and skills, and they don't feel as belonging to the school community. Many of them, because they are different (some of them are overweight, some get from various ethnic minorities, some have a migrant background or get from families with social difficulties), have developed over the years, some psychological trauma. The specific objectives of this project are the following: O1. to increase the participation numbers in school community activities and projects for approx.300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR and DL, by improving the learning/teaching environment and the wellbeing of the school communities (in the sense of developing a behaviour based on the understanding of values, respect and tolerance towards other people, better integrating the differences and creating a more socially-inclusive dimension). O2. to reduce the school dropout risk for approximately 300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR and DL (50 by each school), by developing a positive attitude (based on a trial-error ethos) and confidence through sports and ICT activities, both face to face (during students exchanges) and online (eTwinning platform of cooperation). O3. to improve school performances (better results in school subjects) for approx. 300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR and DL through digital activities which will improve their digital skills and open up further opportunities. In the preliminary communication between partners, we have identified, in the data provided by the SWOT analyzes (made by the management teams in each school) needs that can be covered throughout a medium-term period through common objectives and activities, despite the target audiences being different in each country. Thus, whether we talk about poor students in Romania, Turkey or Italy, coming from the countryside or disadvantaged families, or about migrants in Portugal, Italy, Deutschland or Finland, all of them are vulnerable and disadvantaged students who feel excluded and need help to overcome the social difficulties. Thus, in the Romanian school, 50 students out of 1250 receive government support because they come from poor families with incomes below 50 euros/month/persons. Sometimes, if their families consider they can earn more money having a seasonal job, they risk dropping out of school). In Turkey, 50% of the students, coming from the different rural parts of the country and facing economic and social obstacles, are assisted by the government to live in the school boarding. Due to the lack of financial stability, many of them show a lack of motivation in their studies as the 5% of students in Italy. In Germany, more than 40% of students have a migrant background, 25% of them are poor, and 20% feel excluded as overweight like 21% of girls and 29% of boys in Finland. Not only is social inclusion congruent with equal opportunity, but it also benefits the public by preventing young people from becoming socially excluded after finishing their high school studies. In order to address these needs, we considered both sports/physical education and ICT, as tools which can bring added value to overcome two main barriers to integration: the lack of confidence and motivation and the lack of knowledge and skills which can give them access to social and economic opportunities. Sports can be an efficient tool, a common language for all partners because sports are a means to increase the confidence of vulnerable people. Engaging in sport would enable all the people to interact positively, thus furthering integration. In the same time, technology, which is nowadays kind of environment, will help us to create a space of social inclusion by helping us to manage different aspects of our lives better. In this context, following the Latin dictum "Mens Sana in corpore sano" we intend to gather all the positive energy of young people from the 6 partner countries, in a project that will be a model of European cooperation. 6 students exchanges events will offer opportunities to these young people to overcome their fears and vulnerabilities by sharing emotions and knowledge with peers from other countries. Complementary, the eTwinning activities developed to support cooperation will increase the chances of success and at the end of the project, all the direct beneficiaries (approx. 300): will improve their school performances and communication abilities, thus achieving better results in school subjects (comparison before and after) and will have increased their propensity to get involved in school community activities and projects.
The priority of the partnership was to improve the social inclusion of vulnerable students from the partner schools, students at risk of dropping out of school. This idea was revealed in the preliminary discussions between the partners, as a result of the identification of this phenomenon of exclusion that affects a large part of the students who are at risk of dropping out of school. An analysis of the causes of this phenomenon revealed that, often, the phenomenon of exclusion is one of self-exclusion, those targeted being, in general, students who lack confidence, lack knowledge, and skills and do not feel part of the school community. Many have developed this lack of trust as a result of psychological trauma and bad management of diversity (some of them are overweight, some come from various ethnic minorities, some have a migrant background or some come from families with social difficulties). Therefore, we decided to develop this project, which proposed 3 major objectives. O1. increasing the number of participation in school community activities and projects for approximately 300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR, and DL, by improving the learning/teaching environment and well-being of school communities (in the sense of developing a behavior based on understanding the values, respect, and tolerance towards other people, better-integrating differences and creating a more socially inclusive dimension). O2. reducing the risk of dropping out of school for approximately 300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR, and DL (50 from each school), by developing a positive attitude (based on a trial-and-error ethos) and confidence through sports activities and ICT, both face-to-face (during student exchanges) and online (eTwinning cooperation platform). O3. improving school performance (better results in school subjects) for approx. 300 students from RO, PT, IT, FI, TR, and DL through digital activities that will improve their digital skills and open up additional development opportunities. Although the target audience was different from partner to partner (poor students, coming from rural areas or disadvantaged families from Romania, Turkey, or Italy; students with migrant status or coming from families with a migrant background from Portugal, Italy, Germany, or Finland), the problem was the same for everyone, namely the difficulty to integrate and perform at school, a fact that led us to organize common activities that lend themselves to this diverse audience and can help them overcome the identified social difficulties. According to the SWOT analysis carried out in each of the partner schools, the identified difficulties were the following: "Ion Ghica" Economic College Targoviste, Romania - a number of 50 students out of 1250 receive government support because they come from poor families with incomes below 50 euros/month/person. Sometimes, if their families think they can earn more money by having a seasonal job, they risk dropping out of school). In Turkey, 50% of the students, who come from various rural areas of the country and face economic and social obstacles, are assisted by the government to live in the school's boarding schools. Due to the lack of financial stability, many of them show a lack of motivation in their studies as is 5% of students in Italy. In Germany, more than 40% of students are migrants, 25% of them are poor and 20% feel excluded because they are overweight, as do 21% of girls and 29% of boys in Finland. The stake of our project was social inclusion, on the one hand, to ensure equal opportunities for these young people and to prevent them, in the long term, from becoming socially excluded. The solution I thought of was the approach of two methods/tools that have proven over time that they can bring added value in the process of integrating people with social difficulties - sport and ICT. Sport because it is a common language for all partners, a means of increasing the confidence of vulnerable people, which allows positive interaction and, implicitly, integration. ICT because it can be a useful tool in remote interaction. In this context, following the Latin saying "Mens Sana in Corpore Sano" we built the design of this project that gathered the positive energy of young people from the 6 partner countries, in a project that would be a model of European cooperation. 6 LTT events were organized, which offered our students the opportunity to overcome their fears and share their emotions and knowledge with colleagues from partner countries. eTwinning activities were carried out to support cooperation but also to improve school performance (improving communication skills or using technology). At the end of the project, we can boast that all those involved became more confident in their own abilities, established friendships with partners, and became more active and involved in the projects of the school community to which they belong. In a word, we consider this project a SUCCESS.