Five European secondary schools from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland and Poland would like to carry out this project. About 600 people will benefit directly or indirectly from the project work.“The future used to better once “– is a frequently quoted statement by the Bavarian comedian Karl Valentin. It has to be scrutinized thoroughly, but it still contains a lot of truth, which is important for the organization of the professional and personal development of our students. By tackling different fears about the future, the teenagers should develop their own ideas and the readiness to plan their future, to be proactive and to improve necessary and suitable competences. In the course of the three-year project, innovative and creative methods will lead to relevant and high-level basic and transversal competences in a lifelong learning perspective. The project aims at improving the necessary skills to undergo successfully vocational training and to develop self-confidence, commitment, personal initiative and the willingness to lifelong learning.Europe constantly grows together and shares a mutual labour market; in many EU-countries, the youth unemployment rate is alarming. The current life of a teenager, often characterized by surplus, materialistic value orientation and careless media consumption, increasingly leads to a passive and less performance-orientated attitude. Many European teenagers do not recognize their own abilities and do not actively plan their professional future. Accordingly, for all the participating partners there is a great need for a common project.While cooperating, teachers as well as students will gain insight into the diversity of the European cultures and languages. Working in the project ought to support the students to acquire vital abilities and competences for their personal development. By gaining a “European competence”, the students will be prepared for the European labour market that will provide better employment opportunities. The topic ”future“ will be examined from multiple perspectives. Industry 4.0 is a collective term embracing a number of contemporary automation, data exchange and manufacturing technologies. Teenagers must be able to develop the necessary skills to get along in the digital world of work. All levels of society undergo drastic changes. The demographic change as well as the mass migration of refugees into Europe will have a strong effect on the structure of the population in Europe and will pose one of the enormous challenges of the 21st century. Therefore, new concepts of coexistence have to be developed. The changing labour market and society will have a big impact on every individual, too. Topics like nutrition, physical exercise, media consumption, stress management and preventive health care will become increasingly important.The project will focus on the following aspects:• work• society• Europe• environmental issues• the individual of the futureThe contents of the project will be analysed in interdisciplinary lessons using cooperative learning methods. Transnational learning, teaching or training activities will take place in every participating country. For each meeting a specific issue will be prepared by the partner schools following the principle of team-based group work. Experts will present the findings of the group-work during the international meeting. After that, transnational groups will work on a common task.A significant final product of the project work will be the improvement of skills as well as personal and professional development. Furthermore, several products are planned: a project website, a documentation on the visit of a company using 3D-printers, construction and programming of mini-robots, a brochure ”social utopias“, a quiz on Europe, an advertising film “EU“, a poster on efficient energy use, an educational video “Fit for the future“, a virtual survival kit with vital tools for managing the future, and a word field “future“ in the different languages.The students will participate in the process of planning, deciding and organizing the project. By using English as working language and various means of communication, language and IT-competences will yield a sustainable improvement. The students will become acquainted with evaluation techniques as well.The products, experiences and acquired skills will be presented to local communities, neighbouring schools and the press. The results will be published on the corresponding website, too. Through these dissemination activities, the products can provide teaching material or ideas for other future projects.

After taking part for the first time in a Comenius project, we decided to become the leaders of a project about drama. We made the following assessments : a gap between so-called high culture and youth culture, the small proportion of youngsters in the artistic field, little room for non formal teaching in our pedagogical practices, the lack of motivation of our students for learning a foreign language, their lack of knowledge about cultural venues, about the history of theatre, be it French or European, their low self-esteem and above all their lack of tolerance towards other people due to poor knowledge of their cultures. We therefore made the decision to work on Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, because first of all, it is one of the only plays that has been translated in every language and furthermore, it is a play dealing with issues which are still very relevant today and which reflect some of our initial assessments.Our aims were therefore to reduce the gaps by showing that, whatever the form and the era, the values conveyed have remained the same. We also made a point of having the play be performed in front of an audience, in the real conditions of a show. Working on drama has therefore enabled us to demonstrate that non formal learning doesn’t stand in the way of formal learning but on the contrary, complements it and even makes formal learning easier. Moreover, as all the target students were involved in a common project around a common work of art, where speech was at the heart of the various artistic approaches, the situation of communication was established straightaway and allowed students to overcome the language barrier, and during the mobilities, we were able to notice this willingness to communicate with other people, from the students as well as from the accompanying teachers. Another goal was to create or reinforce partnerships with the creation field and to make sure students would get to grips with their culture and the cultural heritage of their country as well as with the culture and cultural heritage of the other European countries. This project strengthened the students’ self-confidence thanks to team work during which other people, belonging to the same nationality or not, brought their skills and their drive into the common project. Difference was thus no longer an obstacle but an added value, which enabled all of us to put to the test the European motto : « United in diversity ».The main activities that were carried out around this project were the following ones (they can all be seen on the website juliet-romeo.eu): a logo was made (it was used on the website from the start), postcards were created which included a quotation from Shakespeare’s play illustrated in a contemporary way (see ‘free figures’ tab on the website juliet-romeo.eu). These postcards were sent to the different countries and thus allowed students to keep exchanging. Posters were made for the final performances (see ‘the play’ tab). Very precise requirements had to be fulfilled during each mobility : an acting training session for the target students, the visit of one or more cultural venues in the host country, an outing to see a show chosen from the cultural offer in the host country, an exhibition on the history of the theatre of the host country created by the students of the said country, the discovery of the city and of the daily life of their exchange partners (see ‘mobilities’ tab). One week was devoted to rehearsing and then performing the juliet@romeo play, adapted from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. The performances took place in France at Jean Vilar theatre in Saint-Quentin (see ‘the play’ tab) and were filmed in order to create a DVD.Each activity was carried out and we can emphasize the high quality of each of these achievements, which are visible on the juliet-romeo.eu website. The parents and the audience were for that matter really impressed by the performances : they didn’t expect such high standards.Students and teachers had to make use of and highlight their creativity, they had to work in teams using their mother tongue as well as English and they realized how important pulling together is for such a project. The teachers involved were able to work in multidisciplinary teams and also discovered other ways to teach thanks to the various mobilities. Of course we have all improved our language skills and now have a much less inhibited attitude to speaking a foreign language. We have all learnt about the history of the theatre of the participating countries.Our partner schools and cultural partners have but one wish : turning these partnerships into long-term ones.Website of the project : juliet-romeo.eu

In the three years since this project started Europe and the world has seen a marked increase and mainstream visibility of what is increasingly termed 'populism' and acceptance of right-wing extremist values and views. The application for this project was submitted before the UK referendum to leave the EU in June 2016. It is argued that many people's decision to vote leave was influenced by intolerance of people that are different to oneself decision some believe he application ndeed in various elections in member states since 2014 the radical right was able to secure between 10% and 25% of votes. According to the EU document 'The European Union and the Challenge of Extremism and Populism' as a result of various European strategies and political 'opportunism' , right-wing politics has 'spread into the public space and pervaded traditionally moderate political discourses in Europe'. These issues are being discussed in the media, within communities and at home, impacting on the views and opinions of our children.These themes have to be handled carefully and sensitively in our multicultural societies hence why the planning for this project has been extensive and the workplan will be conducted by experts in this field and involves young people, parents and members of the wider community in all regions. This project cannot be carried out by one country in isolation. We need a collaborative approach bringing in expertise from across Europe to inform and contribute to this complex issue. Although we are including partners from only 3 countries they are linking to ELAN the European Local Authority Network established by Cardiff Council in 2015. Partners from this network will join partners in this project in a series of planned events thus broadening access to wider base of expertise. The first planned project meeting will coincide with an event in Cardiff aimed at bringing professionals from a extensive number of European countries together to discuss a wide number of essential themes, this being one of them. Our objective is to develop materials for use in primary schools following extensive and detailed teacher training. We recognise that due to the sensitive nature of this project all participating staff need to be highly trained prior to introducing any of these themes in the classroom. Once trained these individuals will work with experts to begin designing lesson plans utilising the collaborative and extensive knowledge and experience available in all countries. All teaching materials will be supported by a series of short films created for and designed by experts, teachers and the wider community. These films will be used as part of the resources developed during the life of this project.The materials will be thoroughly piloted in participating schools before publication and extensive teacher training opportunities for other professionals not involved in this project will be available throughout to widen participation in all regions. Cardiff Council has invited The European Local Authority Network (ELAN) partners from across Europe to the first multiplier event highlighted in this application. This network was established by Cardiff Council in 2015 to bring local authorities together in partnership and collaboration.

Teleki Blanka Secondary Grammar School of Economics, Budapest, Hungary is member of Budapest Vocational Training Centre for Economics (BGSZC), together with 20 other institutions, and trains future professionals in logistics and economics. Ludwig-Erhard-Schule Pforzheim in Baden-Württemberg Germany offers education to more than 1600 students in economics, with different programmes in trade, health care, and foreign languages. The institution represents a wide range of practices in the development of intercultural competence due to its intercultural groups of students. This deep knowledge is of special interest for the Hungarian Teleki Blanka Secondary School. The two schools have been operating school exchanges for about two decades, during these years many friendships have been made which facts result strong support and excellent cooperation in educational projects. The main goal of our project proposal is to adapt methodology and good practices of intercultural education in our institutions by widening the field of education through international relationships and integrating a wide variety of educational cooperation into our training programme. Furthermore, we aim to strengthen the motivation for language learning which is necessary for taking part in international educational projects and reaching multilingualism for the students of our institution. Our proposal involves programmes which enhance students to experience and appreciate our common European cultural heritage. In the autumn of 2018 and spring of 2019 participants of the project visit Pforzheim and Budapest and take part in intercultural programmes and workshop activities. By discovering common features and experiencing diversity students’ cultural awareness will be developed. The project also helps to form more tolerant behaviour, which is of exceptional importance in today’s and future Europe. In the project, involving 4 teachers and 36 students from both schools, the teachers’ expertise and long good relationship, furthermore the students’ interest and motivation are the guarantee for the planned outcome. Both mobility activities result different types of project products (collection of practices for development of intercultural competence, student products such as films, materials of a photoexhibition, presentations, etc.), which will be shared with the public, teachers, schoolmates, parents, stakeholders of the schools. This way the participants’ joy and experience may motivate more people to find the ways of mutual understanding and constructive cooperation with different nations within our diverse world.

"Because climate change is changing our environment, the sustainable way of life is an important goal. Responding to climate change needs much more deeper approach than we have had at our schools so far. We have to teach the importance of the changes and the solutions in many different areas of the life. Climate change is also a problem that concerns the whole world and it must also be solved together with different nations. As a school of basic education we have to give to our students basic skills and key competence to build a sustainable future and participate and involve them to the decision making of the society. We need to give students competence to solve problems in multicultural working groups, the idea of solving problems, which considers of Europe, together and the experience that even one person can have influence. This will help our future citizens to solve global problems as climate change. Internationalization, strengthening European identity and the experience of using languages in real life is very important, too. Youth are activating against climate change all over Europe and demanding decision makers to act before it is too late. With this project ""My sustainable way of life"" we promote connecting young people and empower them to act against the climate change. We want to give to young Europeans several ways to minimize climate change and ways to act in a democratic way. In the first learning, teaching and training activity week the teachers of the participating schools will gather together to exchange and develop good practices for our biennal project. The teachers will get to know conflict management in international projects and several tools to develop basic skills of the students. Next the students will concentrate on the questions of climate change and on the different effects in different parts of Europe. Drama will be used as a learning tool. The climate change is a threat for the amount of snow in the north, becaude lack of snow will seriously harm animals and plants survival during the winter. In the first topic students will do snow research in Finland and they will report the results to the national database Talviseuranta. The database will be used in scientific reserarch later. In the next section we will study questions of energy and transportation as a part of climate change and a part of sustainable way of life. Students deepen their knowledge about energy questions in each country, the similarities and differences and the possibilities of green energy. Students will learn about carbon footprint and study different ways to travel in Europe. Students will also organize a campaign for better traffic solutions in Spain.Next we will discuss about circulatory life and what kind of possibilities there are for it in each country. The ethical and egologial questions of consuming, especially clothes will be taken a closer look and students will made a counter advertisement against mass consuming. The needs and desires will be discussed and different sides of redusing, reusing and recycling will be talked and emphasized. Students will organize a fashion show in Germany by using the second hand clothes they have chosen. Finally we will take a closer look for the food production and food consuming. The objective of this activity is to point out the meaning of sustainably produced food. Students will make a short video of their local food of their own country. The cultural heritage of food will be shown too. Students will learn about how food production affects climate change and how citizens can eat sustainably. They will make a poster about different things concerning food waste, why local food is a better choice and how food consumption affects to carbon footprint. As another final work students will cook a sustainable dish for a competition called ""Masterchef: the most sustainable dish"". The prepared food will be eaten at school in a big event, a multicultural celebration between participating EU-countries. As a result of our project we will expect our students to make better, sustainable choices in their lives and also demand decision makers to take into account the climate change. Our students will practice and develop their skills to influence and to participate to the decision making of their society. This will promote engaging, connecting and empowering of the students. The project will support the internationalization of the students and also their families as they act as a host family. The effects will be monitored during the project several times with qualitative and quantitave methods. The long term effects of our project will be seen in the development of the skills of our students who participated in the project, but we will also wait for larger effects to the whole school communities: we hope that each school community will be aware of the climate change and learn new practices to encourage students to participate acting against climate change."