Spatially, generationally and socio-economically persistent unemployment and poverty is often due to a lack of reach to marginalised areas and communities. Sociology of education suggests that formal education tends to reproduce social and income inequality. Disadvantaged people and communities have fewer opportunities to access further education, decent employment and to ascend socially. Research on the other hand shows that engagement and informal learning is a powerful weapon in developing the employability and enterprise capacities of people and in particular of people facing difficulties, such as economic and social obstacles and learning difficulties (EC Youth programme - Expert group report 2014 “Developing the creative and innovative potential of young people through non-formal learning in ways that are relevant to employability”).PASSIONPRENEURS project aims to tackle unemployment and social exclusion of disadvantaged groups with social entrepreneurship through interests, talents and passions of marginalised adults. Social entrepreneurship combines the ideas of business creation, economic development, collaboration of people for common concerns and social challenges.. The objectives of PASSIONPRENEURS are: 1. To build social entrepreneurship capacity within communities in marginalised local areas 2. To enable adults to lead change and impact on their communities3. To create resources and support for start-up social enterprises The project targets: - Occupational counsellors, coaches, employment organisations, business support organisations, trainers of VET and adult education centres.- Adults (25-50 years old) from marginalised areas and communities, migrants and unemployed having talents and passions, people who need engagement and motivation.- Local communities, through the peer coaching effect.The project will achieve its objectives by:1. Developing a guide for informal education addressed to counsellors, coaches from employment centres, business support organisations, coaches and trainers of VET and adult education centres. The guide will be organised in three chapters. The first chapter will support the identification of interests, talents and passions of adults. The second will provide all the necessary information, guidance and tools to implement the Training Programme. The third chapter will give guidance on peer-coaching.2. Developing a training programme for adults, with practical activities and tools, so that they will develop social entrepreneurship qualities, experiences, attributes and skills, they will learn entrepreneurial English and will be able to formulate their business ideas. 3. Developing on-line learning resources, such as webinars, videos with the option for an expandable on-line learning community that will serve as a meeting place for adult communities.The partnership involves 7 partners from 7 EU countries, bridging Northern (Germany, Lithuania, Sweden,) and Southern (Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus) Europe, with distinct but complementary for the project implementation profiles. In the 24 months of its duration, the project will develop numerous activities, produce three intellectual outputs, seven multiplier events and two learning mobilities:PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES: Country needs analysis reports, organisation of pilot courses for trainers and organisation of pilot courses for marginalised adults, QA and dissemination.INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS:IO1 Training programme ‘Social Entrepreneurship through passion’ (development of curriculum, practical activities and tools, translation)IO2 Trainers’ guide for adult educators with three chapters: identification of interests, talents and passions; guidance to implement the Training Programme; and peer-coaching (development, translation and piloting)IO3 On-line learning platform (development, translation, online community, webinars and information space)LEARNING ACTIVITIES: C1 Organisation for a learning activity for trainers in Nicosia. 14 trainers-coaches will be trained on how to use the Trainers’ guide.C2 Organisation for a learning activity for adults in Cham. 21 disadvantaged adults will participate in workshops and improve their soft skills in entrepreneurship.MULTIPLIER EVENTS:E1 Multiplier event in ChamE2 Multiplier event in PiraeusE3 Multiplier event in KaunasE4 Multiplier event in MalagaE5 Multiplier event in KristianstadE6 Multiplier event in NicosiaE7 Multiplier event in PalermoThe short term expected impact of the project is to reach 2583 participants from the identified target group, from which at least 475 persons will represent adults facing economic obstacles, social obstacles and educational difficulties.In the long term, due to the peer coaching methodology, the project is expected to have exponential outreach and significant impact at community level.

Rapid digital transformation has influenced education, work and life and the Covid-19 pandemic has only highlighted more the divergences linked to digitisation in some territories, especially between urban and rural areas, and the need for innovation in education to respond to these challenges. For this reason, Our Digital Village aims to intervene in rural areas by promoting the acquisition of digital and transversal skills, preparing people to face the challenges of the future. It will do so by co-creating high-quality educational content that responds to the needs of the local context, while simultaneously ensuring the long-term transformation towards digitalization through active awareness raising on all levels of society. Through self-analysis workshops, the intrinsic motivation to change will be explored, and the needs of each local context will be identified. These will be taken in mind while co-designing the educational materials, followed by a training for teachers and trainers to ensure their capacity to implement the co-designed activities with their learners. In the testing phase of the educational materials, ICT courses will enhance the competences of young and adult learners, while consolidating the newly acquired skills of teachers and trainers. In order to build qualitative tools that can have a long-term impact not only in the communities involved, but also beyond the project consortium, a series of participatory evaluation tools will be developed and deployed throughout the project’s lifetime, as well as tailored activities to promote the project’s impact and results locally and internationally. With the direct involvement of people from rural communities as well as political actors - who will be part of the project processes since the beginning – the project shall promote a bottom-up participation approach that can bring a long-lasting impact on education and rural communities.

Overall goal: creating an innovative integrated school educational approach which will improve teaching and learning performance, inclusiveness and equity of pupils at risk of early school leaving through using therapeutic methods into educational activities and ITC tools envisaging expanding the impact at all levelsSpecific objectives:01. Increasing learning performance and correct poor behavior of 125 pupils facing with risk to ESL into partner schools by developing intrapersonal and interpersonal connected with social, civic, intercultural and media-literacy skills in the partner schools through applying of therapy-based educational methods, between March 2020-June 2021 02. Supporting introduction and effective usage of digital technology for 125 pupils target and enhance continuous communication about ESL problem across different school system actors (project partners, teachers, pupils and families, other stakeholders) through developing a common educational platform with multiple functionalities (forums, chats, blog), between March 2020 – September 202103. Increasing learning motivation and engagement of 125 pupils facing with the risk of ESL in the partner schools through enriching the learning experiences and reducing disparities by accessing digital technologies, using ITC tools and therapeutic digital content in the classroom, between March 2020-June 202104. Supporting teachers from partner organizations to adopt inclusiveness methods, applying more project-based and cooperative/peer-to-peer methods, work into collaborative environment and use digital technologies involving them into teaching-learning activities and practicing on an educational platform, between March 2020-September 2021.05. Increasing the quality of partner’s leadership through learning and applying PM² Open Project Management Methodology, all project duration06. Increasing the visibility of the partners and extending the impact of results at regional, national and European level, during the project and after its lifetime through applying an intensive communication/dissemination strategy and provide open access to educational resources.The major innovation of this project is introducing THERAPEUTIC METHODS IN THE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES and not as a separate approach to increase those skills and prevent early school leaving. The most suitable therapeutic methods considered by project specialists to be included in educational approaches for ESL are: expressive therapy (art therapy, dance therapy/movement therapy, drama therapy, psychodrama, melotherapy, writing and bibliotherapy, photo/video-based therapy), emotion focused therapy, group therapy, color and chromotherapy, game therapy, applied behavioral analysis (ABA), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Occupational Therapy , speech therapy, and others.The main intellectual outputs will be: Therapeutic educational activities for ESL inclusiveness. Handbook for teachers.E-learning platform and interactive therapeutic educational resources.Other results it will be implementation of activities for a target number of 125 pupils at risk to early school leaving.During the project implementation all results it will be open to public and shared/promoted through different media and target. Main impact:Increased learning performance of the target improved behavior of the targetIncreased in interpersonal and intrapersonal skills of the targetIncreased social, civic, intercultural and media-literacy skills of the targetImproved communications about the ESL problem between all school actors (project partners, teachers, pupils and families, other stakeholders)Improved educational methods, pedagogies and practices of staff regarding ESL phenomenaImproved competencies of trainers and specialists concerning new educational approachesIncreased awareness about the important role of parents in preventing early school leavingIncreased awareness of the cultural/social/economic institution as drivers of knowledge in primary/secondary educationInternationalization of innovative practices;

Global levels of financial literacy vary and are negatively associated with the main element of inclusion and growth such as poverty, inequality, social exclusion and social mobility. In Europe, objective measures of financial literacy have reported above average achievements in countries such as Sweden and Denmark and below average levels in some countries such as Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Portugal. Financial institutions and the products they create are becoming complex whilst individuals are increasingly required to make personal financial decisions, which affect their quality of life over an increasing length of life. Financial illiteracy is highlighted among young people and initiatives to provide financial literacy have been promoted by the OECD, EU, national governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. However, the provision of financial literacy for young people has primarily focused on children of secondary school age (11 years and above). A comprehensive solution to the problem of financial illiteracy in Europe calls for the need to commence learning this essential skill earlier in childhood. Lack of age-appropriate teaching and learning resources makes it difficult for teachers who are often not subject specialists to provide the right quality of financial literacy. The ProFiLE project brings together eight partners located in four European countries (UK, Hungary, Croatia and Italy) which have obtained below average scores in recent financial literacy surveys (OECD/INFE & PISA 2015). In each country a HEI/NGO partner will work with a school partner. Project outputs will strengthen the provision of financial literacy in the participating countries and beyond through the development of age appropriate learning outcomes in financial literacy, teaching materials, learning tools, integrating toolkits and an academic publication on financial literacy for pupils in the target age group (7-11 years). Each of these outputs will target providing support to educators in formal and non-formal learning institutions on how to begin and/or sustain effective financial literacy programmes. Direct beneficiaries will be teachers in schools and home schooling set-ups, parents, learning support staff in schools, clubs, societies and other institutions supporting learning. Such individuals and institutions have struggled with the development of appropriate resources as financial products and institutions require specialist technical knowledge to understand. The outputs will be translated into four languages (English, Hungarian, Croatian and Italian). Mainstreaming and multiplier events, a project website and media outlets will be used to disseminate the learning outcomes, learning materials, learning tools, integration toolkits and research findings. Using these resources, it is anticipated that educators will be able to confidently support 7-11 year-old learners in gaining requisite financial concepts and skills. With lifelong skills in financial literacy, these children will transition into later stages of their life equipped to become competent financial decision makers. The project will contribute to finding a solution to the problem of unequal access to financial literacy.

<< Background >>Society is changing rapidly, with increasing pace of change. Many young adults can´t balance anymore the (ever changing) expectations from society/school/work with their inner-self, their personal characteristics and their social roles and they follow their own learning pathway. This means for NEETs 100% informal learning, often limited within their social groups. To have their learning outcomes validated against a formal qualification is difficult.Spencer&Spencer described in their Iceberg of Competences Model that 1) the parts that are above water level are the observable skills and knowledge, which are or can be made visible and 2) the largest part of the Iceberg which is not visible, is kept hidden inside a person: social roles, self-image, personal characteristics, motives, and underlying emotions. Schuur (2021) describes how the national and European policies are directed at making the non-formal and informal learning (70-94% of all adult learning) visible and formally recognized / validated. The reality is that informal recognition is extremely important for employability and participation. From the perspective of the companies and organisations (competence-demand) the required competences are: 1) clear, consisted and focused verbal/written communication, 2) teamwork, 3) making decisions, 4) problem solving, 5) plan&organize, 6) obtain and analyse data, 7) proficiency with computer software programs and personal characteristics like flexibility, stress tolerance, creative, integrity, positive attitude. (Schuur/Duvekot, 2015)The solution is to intervene with specific instruments that are able to connect with the deeper layers of a person (invisible knowledge and skills, social roles, self-image, personal characteristics, motives, and underlying positive emotions) and use the positive emotions to make them visible and connect them with recognizable demands form companies/organisations, through valuation of prior learning. The project, Ode to Joy, is named after one of the positive emotions (joy, pride, contentment, esteem) which are catalysts for increasing people's satisfaction generally in their personal lives and professionally in their work. Joyful people are more motivated to act and participate, are much less likely to experience burn out, and have a better mental and physical health and are more resilient towards uncomfortable emotions.We want to achieve this through fusing experience-based methods together, such as drama, bodywork, dance, music, symbolwork, storytelling, nature work, validation of competencies, CH-Q procedure, with more formal VPL methods, that help NEETs reconnect with their body and mind, increasing their ability to experience joy and to connect and through this experience develop a greater sense of attunement and joy. Therefore the concrete objectives of our project are:•To equip adult educators with tools with which they can support their target audience in personal growth through increased awareness, motivation and positive emotions;•To foster virtuous connection between NEET young adults (18-29 years old), the employment sector and the formal and informal learning environments;•To provide Common Guidelines to implementing the project’s model and approach of focusing on the fostering attunement and connection to one’s emotion through experience-based methods;•To provide recommendation for policy makers to embed the model and the process in the active labour market policies.<< Objectives >>Our main objective with the Ode to Joy project is to 1) increase the ability of people to experience pleasant emotions like joy, happiness, contentment, pride at work and in their lives, 2) to use these as evaluative perceptions, evaluative feelings and patterns of salience, 3) to create a higher level of intrinsic motivation for learning and for recognition of their competences, both in their professional and in their personal life. Therefore we aim to reach multipliers in adult education (such as those who provide and validation professionals) through the project, with potential contrubtion from artists using these methods, developing a bottom-up method for personal, social, organizational recognition and their link with validation, and a Toolbox of exercises and games from different methods that support the increase of positive emotions (such as drama, bodywork, dance, symbol work, CH-Q bottom-up recognition of competences, work in nature, etc.). The alternative fusion of these methods creates a positive, joyful approach to increase the impact of learning, the recognition of the learning outcomes and create more positive feelings and resilience in case of negative emotions. This leads to the further development of skills and competences of the adult educators, who then use the positive approach, methods and instruments for their clients (with a special focus on NEET young adults – those who experience a disconnect between their experiences in education and the demands of the labour market, not having the standardized formal education necessary to enter the labour market even though they might have the competences themselves through informal and nonformal learning) they are working with, so that they become more attuned. We develop a Handbook as well, that accompanies the Toolbox, supporting adult educators by providing theoretical background on the techniques described in the training curricula.The common focus in (formal) Validation of Prior Learning (VPL) systems, methods and instruments is at the level of national professional standards and key competences, and only marginal focus is at personal, social and organizational levels of recognitions. Yet these are essential to give meaning to the person (the competence supplier) and its direct environment (the competence demand). We develop a Positioning paper in which we present a comprehensive Model of positive emotions that will join together the pillars ofpositive emotions with multiple intelligences and key competences. This we hope will lead to more access to high-quality learning opportunities and so involving more NEETs in (non-formal) education.As we are in the middle of the global uncertanity due to the situation regarding the COVID19 pandemic, we find it ever more important to focus on the topic of being attuned to oneself, and to focus on developing a new approach towards recognition of competences in the labour market. On a personal level, millions of people being forced to stay in self-quarantine and to take a deeper look at their lives and habits, potentially shifting their focus on what is really important, we see a great potential in promoting the importance of the ability of experiencing pleasant emotions and being resilient towards difficulties and unpleasant emotions. This resilience can be a key also in the broader sense: We see that due to the economical recession that will likely folow this pandemic, there is a chance to shape the attitude of members of the labour market - recognizing the importance of a more holistic approach towards competence recognition, to meet as humans in the workplace, to value the ability to change in a dynamic world.<< Implementation >>We are goign to develop four project results (JOY Model, Educators’ resources, Training materials, Positioning paper). Our project will be based exclusively on experience-based methodology (like bodywork / drama / storytelling / working in nature / dance / bottom-up valuation of competences, etc.). We are going to explore the possibilities to fuse together personal development through these methods with the formal demands of the labour market / competence recognition.We develop these results in a cooperation with all partners involved. We will organize 6 transnational meetings at key milsetones of the project, with virtual meetings and workshops in between: we found during the pandemic that online working together can be effective and we want to utilizes these opportunities.Two international training events will be organized. The first (Toolbox training event) will serve as an opportunity for partners to share their own practices with each other, creating a shared understanding right at the first half year of the project, laying the ground for the work on later results. The second training event will be organized for the sake of piloting the developed Curriculum (R3) and to collect feedback on it before further development if necessary.Two sets of Multiplier Events will be organized, the first set being a Stakeholder meeting in the first year of the project, where we introduce the JOY Model, as well as collect feedback on the Educators’ resources (R2) (still in development at this point) and use this feedback to further develop R2. The second set of MEs will be organized at the end of the project, in the form of locall workshops for educators, using the developed and previously piloted curricula (R3). We will also present all other results at these events.<< Results >>Through the project, the partnership will develop 4 main results: 1.Based on outcomes of a cross-national research, a shared model and process for the use of socio-creative instruments in combination with VPL and other recognition of competences and transversal skills and guidelines to implement the model and approach will be developed;2.Educators’ resources, a Toolbox and a Handbook, and pedagogical guidelines will be created based on methods used by partners. The Toolbox includes a number of methods, games and exercises adult educators can use in their daily work, complimented with the theoretical backgrounds of the methods in the Handbook; 3.The Toolbox will be used to create a training curriculum, tested in an international pilot-training of trainers. Based on this, five organisational curricula will be developed by the partners, in a way that is the most relevant to the local settings partners are working in, to enhance the usability and the impact. Two pilot-trainings for multipliers in adult education, especially those who provide services for NEETs, will be organized by each partner, each training reaching at least 10 educators (in total 100). Participants of the local pilot trainings will apply the tools they learn with their target groups, each reaching at least 10 members of the secondary target group (500 in total).4.A synthesis Report of the applied methods, the adaptation of the Handbook and the tools, based on the evaluation of the training, A policy recommendation paper, including procedures and instruments linked to the informal recognition of competences; Guidelines and tips for adult educators, career guides and VPL practitioners; and a Position Paper with the summary of our recommendations.Two short term staff training events will be organized: the first one will give an opportunity for each partner to share the games and exercises they use and teach them to the other partners, ensuring having a shared understanding and maximizing co-creation. The second one will be organized to internationally test and collect feedback on the Training of Trainers.Two sets of MEs will be organized. The first set will be stakeholder discussions during the Research phase (R1), disseminating the results to educators, as well as sharing the Toolbox and the Handbook (R2) in the middle of their development and ask for their feedback on our ideas. The second set will be to disseminate the Training of Trainers (R3) in each country, but participants will also be presented with the Toolbox and the Handbook, as well as the Synthesis Report (R4).At least 392 people will directly benefit from the project - these people will be taking part in the research, the training events, the multiplier events and the local small-scale workshops, conferences or seminars. They are going to be part of our target groups (multipliers in adults education, including artistic workshop providers, coaches, councellors, as well as educational policy makers). We expect that those multipliers in adult education we will train in the local workshops will reach another 500 member of their own target groups. Another 2500 people will be reached through the multiplication effect and through other dissemination activities.We expect a great impact from this project on multiple levels. On the one hand, people participating directly will realize the value and the importance of the Joy-approach, be more satisfied with their overall life and specifically with their work, experiencing a greater intrinsic motivation to act and participate and becoming more healthy both mentally and physically - becoming more attuned. Parallelly we will develop recommendations to adult educators, in which we set up a bottom-up formal, non-formal and informal valuation system for the recognition of competences, that connects the personal, social, organizational and formal recognition through the experience of positive emotions.