Shyness disorganizes and severely limits the social and professional activity in different periods of life over 50% of people and is still increasing. P. G. Zimbardo justifies the increase in the development of the civilization which contributes to a growing isolation of people (L. Henderson, 2000; P. G. Zimbardo, 1990). The reasons of shyness can be genetic or socio-cultural. These socio-cultural ones are connected with growing isolation of people, not proper parental attitudes towards children or their social and economic state. Children from low social and financial status families are less confident and afraid of social rating. The consequences of shyness and social anxiety may be as follows: the lack of interpersonal relationships; the lack of friends and their support in difficult situations; avoiding asking for help; pessimistic style of explanation resulting in depression; avoiding challenges; social inactivity; difficulties with expressing own opinion; the lack of self-realization; solitude and even social phobia. The idea of the Play It Out Loud project is using drama lessons to reduce shyness which is a “tip of the iceberg” indicating deeper socialization difficulties. Drama is natural way of playing, behaving and thinking of children. Cognitive therapies are less useful for children than drama. It is not easy to explain and teach small child to think and behave in an expected way without action and role playing. Drama exercises are also very useful for the classroom application because it concerns a group process and drama can be use for more purposes: learning knowledge, skills, creativity, attitudes and values. Experience of the partners of this consortium (who use drama as a method for learning and development) shows that drama can help children to deal with their shyness and social anxiety. The consortium consists of 5 partners from 5 European countries: England, Greece, Poland, Ireland and Spain. They represent various educational, drama and ECEC related institutions with rich experience, what ensures that the project objectives will be met and all the material will be produced at the highest quality fulfilling the modern standards. The target group of the project are teachers who works with the 6/7 year old shy, inactive socially, withdrawn, avoiding challenges children. The project is addressed especially to teachers/tutors who works with immigrant children, children from low socio-economical status or children with some special needs and with difficulties in communicating and learning.The project is going to be implemented in primary schools which are the most common and available places in every city, town and village. That increases the range of influence. About 500 children are going to be involved to the project. We are going to train 25 teachers from 5 European countries and evaluate the program of using drama in working with shy children. The teachers will gain the new competences of working with the shy. They will also learn drama method which cover many children skills and is proper method dedicated children. In order to achieve the objectives of the project and produce the foreseen deliverables the project will be divided into several phases. Methodology will include: 1. Preparing the questionnaire of shyness for children based on literature, the final questionnaire for evaluating the outcomes of the process of using drama in shyness therapy of children and the template for case study of shy children. 2. Developing 20 drama lessons dedicated children’s shyness. 3. Developing a training course for teachers. 4. Teachers training. 5. Drama lessons in practice. During 3 months, once a week the teachers lead a drama lesson with children. 6. On-going evaluation. In the middle of the process – about 5th drama lesson – the tutor is observing the lesson and giving the feedback to the teacher. The lesson is also filmed and used in the final promoting film. 7. Ex-post evaluation. The questionnaire and the case studies of shy children (at least one child presented by one teacher). 8. Sharing the experiences on the virtual learning platform. Sharing experience on the international level, making the international web for drama in social inclusion of shy children. 9. Multiplayer in each partner county involving 5 teachers sharing their participation and effects of the project with other early education workers and local authorities, stakeholders and media. 10. Final conference and workshops. Effective communication, mutual trust and commitment of all partners are crucial to the success of the project and special importance will be given to these aspects by the coordinator and partner institutions. All partner organisations will benefit from the project outputs. In AHE, ND, Smashing Times Theatre, FyG Consultores and ECTE the modules and training programme will be embedded into regular training offer and the trainings will be carried out after the completion of the project.

The European commissions’ Entrepreneurship 2020 action plan focuses on “reigniting the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe and nurturing the new generation of entrepreneurs”, as an area of an immediate intervention. “Smart Specialization” is the collective process that more than 170 European regions and 16 countries are now using to identify their strengths and their opportunities (http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/s3-platform-registered-regions). It is based on a strong partnership between business, public sector and knowledge institutions to jointly design and implements their research and innovation investment strategies. In fact, the vision of Crete's development plan under the NSRF 2014-2020 is a “dynamic and sustainable Crete”. Dynamic in the sense of having an integrated strategy to exit the economic crisis by investing and strengthening the interconnection and export orientation of the agri-food sector, which is one of the four dynamic sectors identified in the context of the smart specialization of the regional economy of Crete. The same vision is registered in “smart Specialisation” plan of DTRaIN partners regions, identifying the agri-food industry as a dynamic sector for entrepreneurship and local development. Professionals working in the agri-food sector lack the skills for the fortification of local products brand names, and to face the challenge of the constantly changing and highly competitive economic environment. The Design Thinking methodology has been used to revolutionize entire industries and establish an enviable competitive advantage for their companies. Focused on listening, user empathy, whole-brain thinking, collaboration, and experimentation, Design Thinking can be applied in any field and product development to business planning and beyond. Best of all, it is believed that it is teachable to managers and scalable throughout a company.Based on the above, the DTRaIN Project objective is to revitalize the production in the agri-food sector of partners regions, by promoting the acquisition of high-quality skills for managing staff and entrepreneurs working in the sector. To address this objective, a European “Design Thinking” professional profile will be developed, based on a qualification scheme for validating learning outcomes, according to ECVET recommendations, and in line with ISO 17024 norm. More specifically, the aims of the DTRaIN Project are: Design a VET Curriculum and develop training content (EQF 4-5) for professionals in the agri-food sector, willing to upgrade their skills in Design Thinking for innovation methodology.  Design an innovative educational model based on a learner-centered approach, in a flipped classroom ubiquitous environment. Develop training material based on the Educational Model  Produce a Qualification scheme development.Direct target group and users of the training material will be professionals managing staff in agri-food companies that act as work-based trainers in their companies as well as educators in initial and continuous Vocational Training Institutes (EQF level 4&5).The Project implementation has been articulated in sequential activities grouped in seven work packages to achieve the fixed goals, carried out in close cooperation by all the institutions involved. The expected impact of the project is:-the improvement of the occupational qualification and professional skills of professionals working in the agri-food sector, in establishing a strong brand name in markets. -the updating of the professional profile of learners being certified under “DTRaIN qualification scheme” as Design thinking, allowing easier mobility across companies and countries. -Vet institutes to enrich their training services and pieces of training including an “innovative educational model” for implementing a VET curriculum delivering training content (EQF 4-5) for professionals in the agri-food sector, that can lead to a certification.

"Accessible Tourism (AT) is an emergent sector with great economic value, solid potential of growth and important social impact, however largely neglected or considered a formidable challenge by both receptive structures and VET providers (European Commission's Study on the Supply of AT (2015). Nevertheless, AT constitutes a substantial niche segment to make Europe become ""No.1 Tourist Destination in the world"" ( EC- COM(2010) 352), as well as a plausible development niche for small communities left outside the urbanization waves that, with their authentic cultural heritage and natural landscapes, already proves attractive to the increasing trend of back-to-nature ecological and original tourism. Apart from architectural barriers, human resources still represent the biggest hurdle to successfully promote AT due to the scarcity of available VET training courses, as well as the lack of a centralized training scheme. Project RESTAT - REcognizing Skills to Transform Accessible Tourism aims to address this gap by offering a holistic, package solution to render Tourism workers and professionals competent, ready to offer diverse tailor-made services to tourists with special needs, and notably, visionary in to subsequently act as the true promoters of AT. In doing so, RESTAT will gather a multidisciplinary partnership consisting of 06 partners from five countries under the lead of Municipality of Tusa and will develop four principal Outputs: - A Practical Skills and Employment Context Mapping research study (IO1) to identify a set of desirable AT skills most likely to be accumulated on-the-job, plus a set of Prospective Job Mobility Opportunities for professionals with skills in AT. It will establish the compass for successive outputs.- A Skills Endorsing Tool (IO2) to objectively evaluate, recognize and even classify the level of skills tourism workers have regarding AT through successfuly completion of a series of testing devices.- An Upskilling Course (IO3) with 04 Specific Training module of intemediate level, useful for both tourism workers and managers in rendering their services more professional, well-planned, entertaining and tailor-made to different special needs.- A Career Guidance Tool (IO4) to boost Employability and Job Mobility of Tourism Professionals point them to the most suitable career options basing on both of their validated skills and personal characteristics.Applying a holistic approach, all four Outputs will be linked to each other in an organic manner, i.e. the development of the next Output shall depend on and continue from the findings and result of the previous one. Individually, IO1 will follow the Delphi method when conducting questionnaires, interviews and focus groups, using a panel of experts and peer-review to allow more converging final answers. IO2 will use a rich, ample battery of modular tests of various formats using interactive graphics that ensure a front-end, user-friendly experience in order to produce an objective assessment integrable to other skills passports. IO3 will employ a MOOC-like format, including multiple forms (texts, videos, webinars lectures, virtual groups, exercies, and tests) for each training module. IO4 will provide an innovative profiling software that combines skills and personality in giving the right career guidance advice. In addition, each output deveopment will strictly follow the EQAVET circle to allow test, revision, and improvement.Regarding Target groups of participants, RESTAT shall strive to involve the following four groups in both implementation and dissemination activities: A - Tourism managers and VET providers aspiring to increase services and quality; B - Tourism workers and professionals (including seasonal ones); C - Central and Local authorites seeking strategic development options; and D – Employers, job agencies and advocacy groups.In the long run, RESTAT aims to make AT a vibrant economic sector in smaller towns’ context with well-prepared workforce to enforce sustainable development, responsible tourism and the social value of equal opportunity. It also aspires to contribute to Europe's harmonization schemes for recognizing, validating and better utilizing workers' skills and qualifications."

<< Objectives >>The objective of the project “Remote Management”, is to promote the acquisition of competences of SMEs managers, in the adoption of remote management strategies and the use of related tools. For addressing this objective, the following specific objectives (aims) have been set:SO1. A systematic review of the practices on remote management tools and strategiesSO2. MOOC (Massive Online and Open Course) on remote management<< Implementation >>The objectives of the ReMa project are going to be addressed by developing a curriculum in line with ECVET procedures and the development of a specialized course based on a ubiquitous educational methodology for managers of remote workers and teams. A review of existing practices and on remote management readiness will be the basis for identifying missing Skills for adopting a remote management strategy and the use of specialized digital applications.<< Results >>The expected results of the project include:- A review of the practices on remote management tools and strategies - A report on remote management readiness of SME's in partners' regions, - List of Skills needed for SMEs managers, to adopt an effective remote management strategy, - A Curriculum for remote management in line with ECVET procedures- A MOOC course (Massive Online and Open Course) in line with EQAVET, for upskilling SMEs managers in remote management adoption.