Pandemics, climate change and natural resource scarcity are just three of the critical global issues facing our world today. The flood of socio-scientific mis-, dis- and malinformation is making matters even worse: it has eroded trust in science and in the authorities, posing the single greatest threat to European democracies of our times.Education must lead the way out of this crisis. Teachers need to be equipped with the competences and attitudes to foster the meta-scientific literacy skills that empower all learners to act as responsible, competent and effective democratic citizens in our increasingly digital world.The SciLMi Teacher Academy is rising to the challenge. It develops, pilots and evaluates cross-disciplinary blended intensive mobility programmes and trainings (BIP, BITs). Pre- and in-service teachers will acquire transversal competences, digital skills and inclusive teaching strategies to educate the future generation to critically engage with socio-scientific issues and to research and evaluate scientific claims and arguments for decision-making and action (PISA 2025 Science Competency 3). The BIP and BITs participants will be guided to compose lesson plans that encourage teachers to incorporate SciLMi skills into their day-to-day teaching practice. After the project’s lifetime, the programmes and trainings will be continued utilising Erasmus+ KA 1 funding.Given the pan-European dimension of the challenge, the SciLMi Teacher Academy will build a pan-European Hub consisting of providers of initial and continuous teacher education, schools, teacher associations, education authorities, foundations, NGOs, libraries, science centres and other stakeholders. The SciLMi Hub members will not only be actively involved in the development process but will also contribute to the project’s long-term impact and sustainability by disseminating the deliverables and facilitating the integration of meta-scientific literacy skills into the education systems across Europe.

<< Background >>EC public consultation on the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) showed that 95% of respondents believe that pandemic marks the point of no return on how technology is used in education. Yet, the promise of digital education to be fulfilled. Teachers are pointing out that the biggest challenge during online education is to engage students. It is especially true when we speak about primary students. One of the reasons they mention is the lack of relevant, interactive and easy to use online content. Research in Lithuania conducted before the pandemic showed that 95% of 1-5 years olds have at least half an hour of screen time each day. In the same study, 40% of parents said that their children use the internet, i.e. YouTube (https://www.mediavaikai.lt/). The numbers increase with age. No coincidence that out of the 10 most paid YouTube stars in 2019 two are below ten years of age.The two main project target groups are the primary education TEACHERS and PRIMARY STUDENTS. TEACHERS need relevant knowledge, useful ready-made teaching materials and various educational tools. TALIS survey shows that less than 40% of teachers were ready to use digital technologies in teaching. Teachers require various tools for several purposes. First, they need support for digital student engagement. Secondly, knowledge and tools related to media and information literacy which they can adapt and use according to their own needs. Last, but not least - help for integrating MIL skills into the subject curriculum. PRIMARY STUDENTS need attractive online learning methods in order to keep their attention and focus. Building strong student-agency in primary classes will benefit students in later stages. It will strengthen their capacity to act as autonomous learners. Media and information literacy skills and their acquisition should be tailored to their experience and connected with their life situations. Else, it will not be relevant. PARENTS’ role in digital learning is also changing. They are the ones who must provide support for their children. In this project, PARENTS will not be a separate target group, but their impact and need for help will not be underestimated.<< Objectives >>The objective of the project is to create a toolbox with a twofold purpose: digital education engagement (including pedagogical material for teachers, best practices, etc. and also basic content for data privacy, effective communication with students, etc.) and media and information literacy (including online, offline and mixed material tailored to specific age group and their needs, integration with other subject guidance, ready syllabi for lessons, etc.) parts. It will help effectively facilitate the learning of critical thinking skills. Project activities are built around co-creation exercises in which teachers will be involved in the creation, testing and improvement stages.The Toolbox will consist of three key components:1. Teacher needs-based tools, easily transferable and implemented in activities with children at school (engagement and media and information literacy);2. Training content to support teachers;3. A digital space for teachers to learn from one another and share their best practices or initiate joint activities, projects related fields.<< Implementation >>Project activities are built around co-creation exercises in which teachers will be involved in the creation, testing and improvement stages.The objective of the project is to create a toolbox with a twofold purpose: digital education engagement (including pedagogical material for teachers, best practices, etc. and also basic content for data privacy, effective communication with students, etc.) and media and information literacy (including online, offline and mixed material tailored to specific age group and their needs, integration with other subject guidance, ready syllabi for lessons, etc.) parts. First of all, partners will map already existing experiences and teachers' needs in each partner country. The objective of this task is to gather resources on digital education engagement and teaching media and information literacy in primary education and identify good practices and tools already in use. Based on results partners will develop the initial version of tools (alpha version), making sure it reflects the diverse needs of teachers Then, partners will prototype an initial set of tools (minimum viable product) and will try out the tools under real conditions at a very early stage of design, in order to correct and adjust them progressively. After that, partners will expand the toolbox version - in accordance with the tools, the consortium will develop two guidelines. The guidelines for student engagement and the guidelines for teachers and schools’ administrators (specific instructions to guide them to systemic implementation of media literacy in school through administrative and multidisciplinary approach). Thus, the Beta version will be ready to test. The consortium will also pilot this version in schools and based on collected feedback will develop the final version of the Toolbox. To support teachers the consortium will develop an online training module. Before developing the first version of the training module, partners will conduct a survey on teacher needs. It will include an inspirational collection of best primary students engagement practices and material that explain the main aspects of media and information literacy enriched with primary students compatible examples. Then based on the produced report the initial version of the training module will be developed. Partners will test the relevance of the training content and format (digital training course). For testing, the consortium will select a diverse group of teachers, with different experience in the topic. Based on collected feedback partners will develop the final version of the online training module. Also, self-check tools for teachers to evaluate their engagement methods and for schools regarding media and information literacy learning and teaching will be developed.Moreover, digital space for the learning community will be created. The community of teachers will be formed to foster the sharing of good practices for developing media and information literacy skills and encouraging cooperation with colleagues. To better disseminate and sustain project results, partners will organise media and information literacy and learning engagement (MILLiE) convention.<< Results >>Main project results: (outputs):media and information literacy tools (online and offline)primary student engagement toolstraining material for primary student engagement in online/virtual learning and media and information literacyopen badgesthree media and information literacy and learning engagement (MILLiE) conventionsproject websiteteachers-practitioners contact baseat least ten press releases and articlespolicy brief for policymakerssix open educational resourcesMain outcomes:- training of 60 teachers in MILLiE conventions- 12 case studies and best practices from piloting and testing- improved collaboration and co-creation skills for teachers- more engaging and inclusive teaching methods for online education- increased motivation of pupils- an international community of primary teachersExpected impact:- teachers feel more competent and prepared to work virtually or blended- pupil attainment increased- raised awareness of media and information literacy importance in primary education- increased awareness of the necessity to integrate media and information literacy education to primary schools among policy-makers- heightened awareness of teacher training institutions to adapt media and information literacy skills provision for future teachers and provide the necessary focus on engagement.Impact on TEACHERS. The targeted teachers will benefit from the resources and tools to be offered and from the training content, that will be tailored to their specific needs. They will also have an opportunity to further stay in touch with an online community of teachers from different countries. Examples by their peers and exemplary success stories of creative and effective education can provide and strengthen the needed motivation and foster them to adopt more innovative pedagogies and afterwards share their experience. Moreover, teachers will have a need for continuous professional support, whether it will be encouragement from school administration or opportunities to use online learning material. Last but not least, teachers will be able to show to their classes that the technology and the digital world have an impact on their future and that the students - from an early age - can benefit by obtaining all the necessary skills for distinguishing valid and accurate pieces of information on the internet. Impact on STUDENTS. Students will be able to acquire necessary literacy skills for finding, analysing and evaluating information. Their civic engagement skills will be promoted within a familiar environment (both social (classroom) and digital (familiar platforms) and tools to express their voices on issues that matter to them and to help them assume a constructive, positive role in their communities. Moreover, it is expected that students' motivation and engagement will increase, resulting in higher academic achievement.

Although the European Union's disinformation policy has significantly developed since 2015, Russia’s war in Ukraine has reminded us all of the urgent need to stay ahead of the curve in order to fortify our resilience against the ever-evolving threat of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). In the last year, Russia’s strategic use of FIMI in its war of aggression against Ukraine has brought an unprecedented response by those defenders who seek to safeguard universal values, democracy, and freedoms by exposing Russia’s efforts to manipulate global discourses. While governance, law, protocols, data exchange, and forensic practices should converge to address FIMI, they currently remain disparate and unaligned. This fragmented approach creates a significant hurdle in the fight against FIMI, hindering the ability of member states to prosecute, ban, attribute, or sanction FIMI actors or campaigns originating from state and non-state actors. To overcome this hurdle there is a need to better synchronise the interventions and harmonise our approach towards FIMI, as proven in the case of cyberattacks. Our consortium, SAUFEX (Secure Automated Unified Framework for Exchange), comprises of concerned stakeholders who possess significant expertise and hands-on experience with the current systems and structures concerning FIMI and are situated in the EU's Eastern regions, where FIMI incidents are frequently observed. We strongly understand the importance of consolidating and utilising available information to establish a collective comprehension of FIMI. To achieve this, our project proposes the creation of a FIMI data-space, which we will herby refer to as a FIMI knowledge database, as well as the establishment of a Resilience Council to act as an intermediary between state and non-state actors, specifically regarding interventions and FIMI attribution.