PROSPER comes in response to the documented need for infusing Social Economy and Social Entrepreneurship into Higher Education and will particularly focus on countries where the concept of social economy enjoys a moderate level of recognition (Poland, Greece and Bulgaria) and is little known (Austria and Croatia) (CIRIEC,2017). Indicatively, in Poland needs in the field of Social Economy urge for the establishment of permanent links with research community (Institute of Social Policy, 2014), Croatia, Bulgaria and Greece report some of the lowest rates of employment in the sector (1%, 2,8% and 3,3% respectively) and EC (2014) presses for measures that could spread Social Entrepreneurship education in Austria. Additionally, Social Entrepreneurship is currently embedded within Higher Education with a quite narrow approach that has mainly a subject-specific focus and application in business studies. Within this context, it is difficult to leverage its full potential and offer holistic solutions to urgent societal issues. We need to empower and equip people from all educational backgrounds to become social entrepreneurs and develop a sense of purpose that is based upon creating social value through entrepreneurship.Recognising these needs and studying the latest innovation trends in education, PROSPER aspires to offer a transdisciplinary educational Programme based on the gamified blended learning course “Tackling real-world challenges through Social Entrepreneurship” and the teachers’ PROSPER educational toolkit that would be facilitated and complemented by the PROSPER platform for Social Entrepreneurship Education. PROSPER educational programme will be supported by the following educational approaches:•Game-based learning: building upon the strong potential of gamification approaches to create value and impact on people’s behavior, PROSPER aspires to bring students from any discipline closer to their communities and empower them to create their own sustainable solutions•Service-learning: drawing upon the several studies that identify service-learning as a suitable approach to teach Social Entrepreneurship, our project aims to utilize service-learning to offer actual and real-world learning experiences facilitated by short-term placements in social enterprises.PROSPER will develop an innovative, transdisciplinary and effective educational programme for Higher Education that will be based on the above tangible results:-the gamified blended learning course on “Tackling real-world challenges through Social Entrepreneurship” including 6 interactive modules on social entrepreneurship adapted to be applied in various disciplines through blending gameplay and real-life experiences gained through of service-learning. More than 50 students and teachers will test the course and more than 25 service-learning projects will be developed with the collaboration of more than 100 social enterprises and community actors in the 5 pilot countries;-the teachers' training toolkit for supporting the implementation of the course facilitating the smooth and effective implementation of the course. The toolkit will support teachers coming from diverse fields of study, embed social entrepreneurship into their curriculum following our projects’ interactive and innovative methodology combining the virtual game-based learning environment with real-world opportunities through service learning. It will contain 6 handbooks that will be both printable in the form of handbooks and also transformed into eBooks. More than 25 university teachers will be trained through the transnational training workshop on how to use this toolkit and apply for the course within their curriculum; -the PROSPER social entrepreneurship online platform that will facilitate students’ learning through collaboration, knowledge and experience sharing as well as the open access to more than 100 educational resources that will be produced during the project lifetime. Through online channels of communication, it will also foster interaction between teachers, students and social entrepreneurs, as more than 120 stakeholders and target groups will be engaged to the project activities through the platform and more than 100 social enterprises and community organisations will be registered on the platform and offer short-term placements for students.

Scientific and technological progress is rapidly transforming communities around the world, fueling innovation and enabling new pathways towards improving citizens’ living standards. Actively leveraging the opportunities of these existing and emerging advancements is both a necessity and priority for the young generation to adapt and succeed in an ever-evolving and connected world. In this context education systems should be focused on nurturing students with the required competences to assure the future prospects and wellbeing of our societies. Therefore, it is essential for educators to move from traditional teaching approaches to innovative and active learning practices for equipping students with the so called 21st century skills (i.e. analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, teamwork, scientific and technological literacy etc.) which are essential in our rapidly changing world. The PLASTIC FREE HEROES project provides an innovative learning offer that builds on plastic as a conceptual context for learning in order to enable students to develop 21st century skills. Particularly, a novel curriculum that employs and combines student-centered pedagogical methods will be developed to enable learners to engage with project-based learning activities (i.e. students device innovative reclining solutions or alternative materials to be used instead of plastic as well as advocacy and awareness raising campaigns to sensitize the community about this environmental issue) through which a deeper learning process will be facilitated leading to the cultivation of 21st competences. The project will also develop a “teacher training programme” that will enable teachers to apply effectively the developed curriculum and the innovative pedagogies that include. The curriculum that will be developed will be tested during a pilot phase with secondary education schools in 5 different countries. As a result, it is expected that PLASTIC FREE HEROES will enrich teacher’s knowledge and skills towards innovative teaching practices as the project will directly train more than 20 teachers during a face to face training session as well as a larger number of teachers through the open educational resources and the online training courses that will be produced. A significant benefit is also foreseen for the hundreds of students who will participate in the project and experience the learning activities of the curriculum. Through this process students will develop innovative and transversal skills essential for adapting and successfully provoking to change.

<< Background >>The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the UN highlights the importance of sign language and strongly encourages the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community. However, “only up to two percent of deaf children around the globe access their education through formal sign language” (McClain-Nhlapo, 2017).Concurrently, hearing impairment relates to low academic performance at school as well as low sense of confidence and self-esteem. (NCSE, 2011). This is related, among others factos, to the limited use of sign language at schools and to the fact that deaf students are not taught about the history of sign language, the successes of the deaf people and the overall opportunities that exist to foster their development. As a result, when deaf children grow up, they lag behind both in academic performance and in terms of personal development and self-esteem. They are lacking confidence but also a sense of a strong identity and a sense of belonging in a community of people from whom they can be inspired to pursue their own dreams in life. Consequently, they are usually faced with less opportunities not only to integrate in the working and civic life but also to step up, become extrovert, innovate, and drive positive change in their communities. In this context, the main mission of the ‘Sign for Change’ project is to enhance the extroversion of Deaf children and boost their self-confidence with the ultimate aim of encouraging them to develop personal skills and key 21st century competences that will help them integrate as equal, active and productive members of the society. This goal will be achieved by harnessing the power of sign language and developing an innovative and inclusive training and education package for teachers and students with hearing problems. The methodology to be used is the Social Innovation Education (SIE) model, which has been developed as part of the H2020 NEMESIS project and has been tested and validated for its contribution to personal and collective development in several primary and secondary schools around Europe.<< Objectives >>Particularly, the project aims to achieve the following: - Develop an innovative educational model through SIE that will allow teachers to adopt a new approach in teaching and learning for deaf students - Provide role-models to deaf children by connecting them with the Deaf Community and particularly with deaf entrepreneurs, artists and scientists. - Highlight and promote sign language as a tool for inclusive, innovative education. - Train teachers and enable them to apply the innovative Results of the programme to develop deaf children’s changemaking competences. - Bring deaf students from different countries together to connect and foster their self-confidence as they will view themselves as members of the broader Deaf community.<< Implementation >>The above objectives will be achieved in a 30-month project and the results will be totally open and free accessible to the public. The ‘Sign for Change’ project brings together 6 partners from 5 different countries: Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Spain with complementary skills and with necessary background to achieve the goals ofthe project. The coordinator is FAU-ILI, an academic research center and partners are STIMMULI, a social enterprise which design innovative educational methodologies, Turin Institute of the Deaf, Center of Greek Sign Language and two educational institutions/ schools with deaf students (Colegio Gaudem from Spain and LKNUC from Lithuania).Under the coordination of FAU-ILI the partnership will develop five Results, a training event for teachers in Spain, five physical and one digital partners meeting, management documents for the good governance of the project, pilot training and dissemination activities in all counties. This project will have impact at local, regional, national and European level in the school context of deaf students, educational policies, deaf communities and Sign Language institutions.<< Results >>The project will have the following Results:- A genuine study on the educational context and the changemaking potential of deaf children in Europe. - An E-book “Deaf Changemakers - role models and inspiring stories”. - A Social Innovation Education Curriculum for deaf students. - An online course for teachers and professionals working with deaf students. - Campaigning toolkits for guiding deaf students on creating their own campaigning videos. Regarding other outcomes, the project aims to have a meaningful impact not only on deaf students, teachers and professionals working with the deaf, but also on institutions of sign language, deaf communities and families of deaf children. More specifically:-Deaf students: At least 50 deaf students will directly participate in the activities of the Sign for Change project-Teachers: The project will directly train 15 teachers and professionals who work with deaf students during the training event and at least 100 as part of the Online Course offering.-Sign language institutions and deaf communities: The role models E-book, the adapted SIE model, the online course and the campaigning toolkits can be useful for various environments with deaf students and learners in general. It is envisioned that in the long term the projects results will contribute significantly in the introduction of Social Innovation Education practices in the deaf student’s context, which as an extension will bring a positive impact upon students’ willingness and competences to actively participate in society while strengthening their skills and competences.

<< Background >>The PARENTS ENGAGE project will enhance the teachers’ capacities to design effective responses for school - family links, informing refugee parents to be actively involved in their children education. For this to be achieved, PARENTS ENGAGE is addressing the multiple needs of its target groups, as follows:a) Teachers: Considering the increased flow of migrant and refugee populations since 2015 in Europe, schoolteachers struggle to work in multicultural environments, by improving the education of disadvantaged migrant and refugee students being in peril of ESL. As such, school staff needs to respond effectively to these challenges and be trained in multicultural environments on how to support these students and their parents. The project emphasizes on the provision of consolidated tools and training material for teacher staff, effectively supporting their professional development. b) Parents: Migrant and refugee parents’ participation in school life is hindered through multiple barriers and challenges within educationa and society. There is often less engagement by them in school processes and in their children education while many migrant students lag behind in educational achievements. Strengthening parental inclusion in local structures could enhance their involvement in their children’ education. PARENTS ENGAGE will focus on this potential, by leveraging the knowledge and initiatives already carried out by CSOs in collaboration with schools on parents’ engagement in school education and in schools system. c) Students: migrant and refugee children tend to show lower academic performance compared to non-migrant children or are more likely drop out school. Thus, they need a safe and inclusive environment enabling their school life’s integration. The active parental involvement can lead to higher academic success, more time spent on homework, and fewer discipline problems, with all features remedying disadvantage and tackle students’ Early School Leaving (ESL). Hence, the enhancement of migrant children’ education, by focusing on educational interventions that increase the refugee parents’ involvement in their children education, is a primary aspiration of the PARENTS ENGAGE project.<< Objectives >>PARENTS ENGAGE aims at: reinforcing teachers’ skills in fostering productive relations with migrant and refugee families, supporting migrant and refugee parents to be involved at their children’s schools,improving education and tackling ESL and disadvantaged migrant and refugee children in primary and secondary education. Since parental engagement can be a vital step towards this direction, the core objectives of the project are:1) to capitalise on the experiential knowledge of CSOs working with migrants and refugees by researching and evaluating their relevant practices,2) to provide evidence-based teacher training for enabling teachers to strengthen parental engagement at school so as to improve the academic performance of children and avoid ESL,3) to reach out migrant and refugee parents directly, providing tailored support materials for increasing their school engagement.<< Implementation >>PARENTS ENGAGE has envisaged to implement the following activities:Result 1 (Collection and analysis of innovative initiatives engaging migrant and refugee parents in school life): A1: Mapping on identification and collection of innovative practices developed by CSOs, aiming at increasing the parental engagement in children’s education. In light of ensuring a more comprehensive approach, relevant practices will be explored at a school level in the participating countries; A2: Assessment and categorization of practices based on concrete criteria, so as to further showcase their characteristics, and elements which facilitate the refugee and migrant parents’ engagement in their children’ school life. Result 2 (PARENTS ENGAGE Online Platform with interactive training materials for teachers): Α1: Development of PARENTS ENGAGE Online Platform with interactive training materials for teachers; A2: good practice case studies, enabling the familiarization of both teachers and refugee and migrant parents with them; A3:Training materials designed for teachers supporting them in adopting innovative practices of parental engagement; A4: Information Packages for parents; A5: a small-scale pilot in schools. Result 3 (PARENTS ENGAGE Mobile application for parents): A1: Determination of User Functions; A2: Determination of application contents; A3:Program Interface Decision; A4:Program Interface Design; A5:Database Design; A6:Determination of database associations; A7:Integration of the interface into the program; A8: Programming user functions and general functions of the program; A9: Testing the program; A10: Elimination of errors considering feedback received from parents; A11: If necessary, making necessary changes in the database and program interface; A12: Translations in local languages for facilitating that this result will be available on a multilingual basis, while a final Test shall also be implemented during the Multiplier Events.Result 4 (Digital storytelling of teachers and migrant and refugee parents’ experiences with parental engagement in school): A1: Provision of guidelines on the strategy to be followed in each of the participating in the consortium countries; A2: Production of digital storytelling videos in close collaboration with parents and teachers in each participating country. Result 5 (Policy Recommendations for migrant and refugee parents engagement in schools): A1: a relevant desk research will be conducted in each partner country; A2: analysis of data and synthesis of ideas, consultations and deliberations with relevant stakeholders, publication on the project’s platform, and dissemination plans to promote the reports to governmental and EU-level policymakers.<< Results >>In terms of quantitative results, the project’s targets, growing also through dissemination activities, are the following: - PARENTS ENGAGE will directly reach out to 500 students of primary and secondary education in the participating countries and their parents.- At least 28 in-service teachers will be directly trained through the PARENTS ENGAGE teachers training and learning activities.- More than 500 teachers and school heads will be reached through the Open Education Resources available through the project’s online platform (R2).Regarding qualitative results, the project will benefit students’ academic and social experience, capacity to continue the school and even seek further education as also their sense of belonging to school community and society. As for parents’ capacity to become more engaged in children’ education, the materials and support provided will make them feel more empowered and enabled to partake in school activities. In addition, two main types of outcomes will be produced:1) Reports and studies: current practices will be researched for the gathering any developed wisdom and applied innovations into a comprehensive mapping of innovative practices in multicultural classrooms with a specialised focus on parental engagement (R1), the most challenging but necessary area of practice (BRYCS, 2018). For this purpose, the practices of CSOs will be scouted for innovative practices. Ultimately, a policy report with recommendations (R5) will be produced to support policymakers in designing effective policies.2) Innovative teacher training and parental engagement materials: PARENTS ENGAGE will develop a useful and comprehensive set of interactive online training materials for teachers (R2) who need to develop their skills in working closer with migrant and refugees for their students’ benefit and for tackling ESL. Also, a detailed and easily accessible set of guides through an Information Package for parents (R2) (translated in all partner languages) but also a mobile application (R3) to navigate them into the school system to be empowered to better support their children education will be developed during the project. Finally, a set of audiovisual materials (R4) will be produced, inspired by the ‘digital storytelling’ approach, whereby participating parents and teachers will share their experiences with the PARENTS ENGAGE program and how school-level parental engagement affected their lives.

"<< Background >>Climate change is the greatest challenge of our times. Humans are recognized as a major cause of Climate Change (UNESCO, 2009) and hence their active involvement in mitigation and adaptation actions is crucial. The EU has launched the Green Deal initiative to raise awareness on climate change, industry innovation and more, while the European Education Area initiated a special Education for Climate Change Coalition, pledging for concrete actions made by individuals and collective actors at the local, regional and national levels. In this respect, the role of education in addressing climate change is increasingly recognized. Despite the efforts happening on an EU level, it seems that there is no specific behavioral change towards a greener future and not the appropriate attention has been given especially now, where the focus is on the covid-19 health crisis; meanwhile climate education so far has not the desired impact (Anderson 2012, Bancay 2010, Bangkok 2012, Sezen-Barrie 2020, Monroe 2019). It seems increasingly difficult to build meaningful educational experiences able to involve young people in transformative processes and overcome the ingrained ""nihilistic sense”. The teachers need, therefore, to be renewed to better deal with knowledge and skills in an interactive environment, promoting creativity, aesthetics, global and critical thinking and to promote relevant societal change. Unfortunately, the teaching today is more cognitive-based and more theoretical than action-based as part of a problem-solving procedure. Τhe sector needs teachers and role models that take responsibility. To be fully involved and engaged. Critics of environmental education have argued that teachers must have a comprehensive knowledge of environmental concepts to be better environmental teachers. It is also expected that if teachers have a more refined conception of what environmental education entails, they will feel equipped to include it within their existing curriculum. In addition to subject knowledge and skills, there is a need to develop general competencies (critical thinking and problem-solving skills, creativity, communication and collaboration skills, empathy) which enable learners to solve the complex issues they will face (OECD/CERI 2008; Binkley et al., 2014). Given the increasingly active role of the learner in the learning process and the use of inclusive learning methods in schools, learning through play is also gaining popularity. The use of the games in education has become the interest of many practitioners and researchers (Qian & Clark, 2016). Well planned usage of games for learning, enables students to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills, creativity, communication and teamwork skills while boosting confidence. Teachers are expected to incorporate in their teaching methods 21st century life-skills (critical thinking, flexibility, imagination, problem solving, creative disruptive innovative mind, resilience, meditation-mindfulness), develop emotional intelligence (EQ) like self-control, empathy, self-knowledge, management of emotions. Manuals and learning material often distributed are quite theoretical and scarce practices are being implemented for 1-2 hours during school schedule and most of them are extra-curricular. One of the most impactful ways to learn in an experiential way and memorize content better triggering also intrinsic motivation is Live-Action Role Playing (LARP). It has been confirmed by research, that learners memorize content better when they are actively involved in the learning process, as in the case of dramatizations, simulations and role play. This has lead us to explore within this GreenEduLARP project the potential of EduLARP for Cimate Change Education (CCE).<< Objectives >>Project GreenEduLARP aims at using the tool of EduLARP (Educational Live Action Role Playing) for Climate Change Education (CCE). This way students but also teachers – as involved participants- will be connecting the topics related to Climate Change learned in classroom with real-life situations, therefore more easily relating them to their own life, making connections also on how green their life and attitude is. The aims of the project are: i) to empower teachers with new competences in environmental education using LARP, ii) to enhance students with confidence and agency skills through the LARPing methodology and teamwork while also learning about climate change and building concepts around it, iii) to create accessible online material for further use and capitalization, iv) to build a transnational strategy on how to adapt EduLARP methodology in school curricula.<< Implementation >>To achieve these objectives, the project will bring together stakeholders and target groups (teachers, students, LARPers policy makers, education designers, environmental activists) and engage them in co-design, co-creation, testing, piloting, validation, sharing and promotion activities. Teachers and students will be involved in building stories related to green actions adapted to the ΕduLARP game methodology trying to shift towards greeneer attitudes while developing soft skils. Through the AV Hub tutorials will be widely disseminated on EU level while the designed Strategy will advocate for more experiential learning through EduLARP for more effective Education System. connecting to other schools and projects via the Connecting platform. Teacher training offline and online activities, video tutorials and animations will complement these activities to demonstrate the educational potential and impact of GEL on teachers, students and community and contribute to the development of future oriented curricula that will empower young learners to become agents of change in the environmental transformation, better citizens and great team workers.<< Results >>The GEL expected project results are:1. GEL Curriculum is the learning and teaching material aiming to support teachers and students to develop the necessary soft skills such as agency, creative thinking, environmental literacy and problem solving that will transform them into green changemakers with greener attitudes. Through targeted EduLARP activities this result aspires to empower teachers with new competences for CCE and serve as a good practice for designing and delivering green EduLARPs.2. GEL Teachers´ Toolkit aiming to support teachers on the smooth and effective implementation of the project´s curriculum, on how to introduce EduLARP methodology in class for climate change actions. 3. GEL AV Hub where videos, animated presentations, interviews and tutorials will be produced in cooperation with technicians with practical and useful tips for future applications, ready to use activities and digital resources.4. Strategy on LARPing Adaptation to National School Curricula, the first ever and unique document with transnational power, to highlight the importance of the interdisciplinary approach of EduLARP and open the discussion on future curricula with concrete recommendations for policies and practices."