By implementing ASAP, the partnership aimed to strengthen the capacity of school communities to address digital and social media literacy in a structural, preventive and educational way. The project sought to: – generate a solid transdisciplinary understanding of preadolescents’ digital and social media practices; – translate research evidence into an innovative Educational Model and Programme grounded in metacognition and experiential learning; – equip schools, educators and families with practical tools to foster critical thinking, emotional awareness, responsible media use and wellbeing; – support inclusive school environments and proactive prevention of cyberbullying and online harm; – provide educators with a coherent training pathway and schools with clear Emergency Practic-es to manage critical situations; – consolidate project evidence and lessons learned into policy-oriented recommendations sup-porting coherent and preventive approaches to digital and media literacy. Overall, ASAP aimed to move beyond risk-based approaches and empower learners, educators and families to engage with digital media consciously, critically and responsibly.
The ASAP project was developed to respond to a growing educational gap in how schools ad-dress children’s and preadolescents’ relationship with digital and social media. While young people increasingly grow up in digital environments, most school interventions focus narrowly on online risks, legal aspects or technical skills, often through reactive or emergency-driven ap-proaches. Crucially, preadolescence is a critical yet underexplored phase of development, in which emo-tional regulation, judgement and identity are still forming, while exposure to social media inten-sifies. Schools, teachers and families frequently lack structured tools to address these challenges in a preventive, educational and developmentally appropriate way. The project also responded to the limited implementation of the Personal, Social and Learning-to-learn Key Competence in school education, despite its recognised importance at EU level. ASAP addressed the need for a broader, structural form of digital and media literacy that helps learners understand how digital environments shape thinking, emotions, relationships and be-haviour, while strengthening school–family cooperation and inclusive educational practices.