Leisure and leisure activities are an important aspect of quality of life for all young people, including the disadvantaged and disabled people. The leisure activities are the engine through which young people have fun, make new friendships, and develop skills and competencies. Until now, leisure activities have not been considered as areas of support and assistance. For disadvantaged young people, integrated leisure and social activities can be the key to social inclusion. Many recreational activities provide opportunities for dating, engaging in social interactions and developing friendships. Often, it is these relationships that make leisure activities the most meaningful. Much of the youth still has a limited range of entertainment and activities. Opportunities for entertainment often consist in leading disadvantaged youth groups among the general public. However, very little support is given for the individual participation of young people in these public settings, although it is the media themselves that may provide greater opportunities for social networking. All societies recognize the importance of leisure activities in the psychological, cognitive, civic, professional and physical development of young people. Therefore, in many places around the world, young people take a certain amount of time during which they are not at work and school and can participate in various activities according to their personal preference. Productive leisure is fundamental to the personal and social development of young people.Psychological benefits of leisure activities for disadvantaged young people are:- Perceptions of freedom, independence and autonomy- Improved self-improvement through improved sense of self-esteem and self-confidence- Better ability to socialize with others, including greater tolerance and understanding- Better teamwork opportunities- Increased creativity- Improve the expression and reflection of personal spiritual ideals- Greater adaptability and sustainability- Better sense of humor- Perceptions of a better quality of life- More balanced competitiveness and a more positive outlook for lifeThis project has the following objectives:- Creating an inclusive youth community by consolidating their free time as a positive for well-being, reducing education cessation and stable mental health- Creating, approving and disseminating new youth-oriented results: A guide for youth workers and teachers on “How to build an inclusive youth community?” - Methods, case studies, tips; Handbook on inclusive youth entertainment activities for youth workers / leaders and teachers and the mobile application for inclusive recreational and leisure activities- Organizing motivational leisure seminars to stimulate human interaction, verbal interactive collaboration and improving 21st century skills- Creating awareness campaigns that integrate disabled youth in the four countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria and Serbia) into youth organizations, but also the families of disadvantaged young people.- Measuring the impact of the Positive Leisure Time for Youth concept by piloting in Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria and Serbia with local youth organizations, and successfully deriving implementation guidance.The following target groups were included:- Youth workers, youth leaders and members of youth NGOs- Youth with and without disabilities (and their representative youth organizations)

"In terms of support and integration of learners living with psychological disturbances, several observations are shared on the field:Vocational education and training (VET) professionals lack the knowledge, tools and experience to support and monitor these groups;More and more learners in VET organisations are affected by psychological disorders;These learners are more likely to drop out and abandon their training/integration pathway due to lack of adequate supportProfessionals in the sector declare themselves helpless in the face of this situation, not having references or resources adapted to the reality of VET in terms of support for these particular groups.In order to address this issue, seven partner organisations from six European countries came together to cooperate at European level on the issue of support for learners with psychological disorders. Actors from the fields of education, vocational training and socio-professional integration on the one hand, and experts in psychology/mental health and in the support of people suffering from mental health disorders on the other, have come together to develop common solutions thanks to a global approach to the challenge which brings them together.Thus, the Psych Up project aims at improving the support of learners living with psychological disorders during their training/education pathway, by paving the way for the emergence and professionalisation of ""psychological disorders referents"" in VET organisations in Europe. This objective will lead to two results:The adaptation of the support and training pathway for learners with psychological disordersThe development of a community of practice at European level to exchange and enhance field practices for the support of learnersThe project intends to reach its objectives by working on the clarification of the role, missions and competences of the ""referent in psychological disorders in VET"" (or ""Psych Up Referent"") thanks to its 3 productions A common function profile, highlighting the specific tasks, roles and competences of the Psych Up Referent, as well as six versions adapted to the national contexts of the partnersA common training framework, presenting the ideal training pathway for the Psych Up Facilitator: learning objectives, training contents, ...; as well as six versions adapted to the national contexts of the partnersA collection of resources for the Psych Up Referent, including more than 60 resources useful to professionals in the field for the discovery, management and support of psychological disorders in training Thanks to these common references, throughout Europe, VET professionals will be able to adapt and improve the support and supervision of learners living with psychological disorders in training, in order to guarantee them a better socio-professional integration"

Not applicable.

The aim of this project was to create innovative intervention model based on cognitive and narrative psychotherapies principles and elements improving students with EBLD learning motivation to prevent early school leaving (thereafter - ESL). The aim of this model was a precise identification of the genetically programmed needs, i.e. its’ content, which determines emotional and behavioral difficulties. The project seeks for extension of the model with children thoughts i.e., enabling to modify them and replacing the needs satisfaction forms with pro-social behavior. It was expected that this method will increase an internal motivation of students with EBLD for behavioral changes. Project partially has reached it's objectives: • to create the instrument defining students with EBLD profile; • to create and test innovative intervention model based on scientific research methods and cognitive and narrative psychotherapies principles and elements; make it ready to use for an international team of educators; • to create gamified IT tool using the project intervention model enabling particularly approaches for engagement of contemporary learners and educators. Intervention model was created for students with EBLD of 12-19 years old studying in relevant educational institutions (e.g. secondary, VET, special or youth schools). The direct target group of the project - students with attention problems, hyperactivity, memory problems, tension to disobey the social rules and instructions, having poor language abilities, poor social skills, aggressive, withdrawn or bizarre behavior, poor academic performance and students with mild intellectual disabilities. Special attention will be paid on socio-economically disadvantaged students. The other large group of beneficiaries - tutors/educators, who are working with the target group of students and will have possibility to use created innovative intervention model and other project outputs. Project contained several innovative products: • a new instrument to define the psychological and pedagogical profile of students with EBLD, aimed to reveal an in-depth behaviour reasons as well as cultural differences; created new Students Needs Analysis Instrument, helping school specialists to identify the reasons of emotional, behavior and learning difficulties of students with EBLD; • a new intervention model for students with EBLD; • a new EBLD intervention teacher training curriculum; • a new gamified training tool, enabling students with EBLD to learn at personal pace, using verbal and visual interactions. The consortium of project partners consisted of 3 HEIs, representing social sciences (LT, IT, GR), 2 SME dealing with technologies (LT) and innovative pedagogy (LT, BG) and 1 VET (DE) with expertise in pedagogy for students with special needs. After project evaluation, project duration was shortened from 3 years to 2. Accordingly, there was made a budget cutoff. All this influenced project activities and made some difficulties in reaching planned numbers of people from the various targeted groups. Some of the planned activities (such as learning/training activities for teachers), were not implemented as well. Due mentioned reasons, project consortium could not reach mentioned impact as it was planned in the project proposal (there was no possibility to test such activities practically): • Increased learning motivation and reduced early school leaving of students with EBLD; • Students with EBLD increased social inclusion and more active participation in society; • Increased level of Digital competence of educational institutions specialists; • Increased opportunities for professional development of teachers, researchers, lecturers, high school students, policy makers and other stakeholders; • Parental increased satisfaction with schools.Despite mentioned aspects, the impact of created intellectual outputs could be observed through such activities:• Educational institutions specialists and their improved competences, related to Professional profiles. It was reached during multiplier events whereas participated teachers and even pupils with EBLD (in Bulgaria, Germany).• Increased teachers‘ motivation and satisfaction in a daily work. This impact could be partially monitored, during the multiplier evens. Unfortunately, due to shortened project duration and budged cutoff, project team could not arrange learning/teaching activities for teachers in order to measure their motivation or satisfaction working with created IOs.• Increased professional development of specialists, involved in the projects activities. All specialists, which were related with the creation with IOs activities, participated in multiplier events, enhanced their qualification in their daily work with students’ with EBLD.

School starting ages vary across Europe. The experience of transition to school can be very supportive for children and their families, setting them up for future academic and social success. However, it can be a difficult experience for some children, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), those who have already experienced multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences, or those from hard to reach communities such as migrant, refugee and Roma and Sinta groups. Transitions have been identified as an important focus area as a result of the partners’ work on previous Erasmus+ projects, such as ITIDE, PROMISE, and PROLEA. This project aims to synthesise and develop best practice around transitions to school for dissemination across partner countries to support positive outcomes for all groups of children. Whilst acknowledging individual regional contexts and investigating best practice in our partners' regions, we will find solutions through collaborative transnational knowledge exchange. We will be addressing the horizontal priority of supporting educators, and the school education priorities of tackling disadvantage and increasing access to high quality early child education and care. Cross-cultural research on transitions to full time compulsory schooling argues that these experiences relate to social competence and academic achievement (Tizard et al., 1988; Ramey & Campbell, 1991). Preschool children with SEND often experience a more challenging transition to school than others (Janus et al., 2008), with success depending on the child’s adaptation to the new environment and on the parents, teachers and school facilitating the child’s learning. Parents play a key role in providing information about their children whilst teacher attitudes and expectations and communication with parents and other members of the transition team are highly important in determining the quality of the transition (Salend, 2008). Hard to reach and vulnerable communities include children who have experienced trauma, looked after children, refugee and migrant children, marginalised groups such as Roma and Sinta, and children who experience intergenerational poverty. For them, transitions are particularly hard as they are less likely to attend early years care settings (Gilley et al., 2015). The family may also lack experience of schooling, or have negative expectations that the home culture and language may not be valued. Schools may make 'assumptions about levels of cultural familiarity and contextual knowledge' (Vickers, 2007). For these children and families, transdisciplinary networks to support transition are valuable (Krakouer et al., 2017) as well as a focus on partnerships and professional learning for early years professionals and school teachers. This project focuses on supporting educators: we will work collaboratively with early years educators and primary school teachers to link education practices with research and innovation through the planned knowledge exchange on transitions practices in the partner countries. These professionals will work with us in developing and evaluating individual learning units: learning and professional development resources for the teaching profession. These will enable professionals to engage more effectively and support learners from disadvantaged and diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The project aims to tackle school disadvantage by strengthening collaboration amongst early years professionals at different stages of the educational system through the workshops and learning units. These training opportunities and best practice guidelines at the regional and transnational level will improve transition into formal compulsory schooling and support relationships between schools, early years settings and families.The project partners have extensive experience of working with schools and educators to provide training and psychological services for Early Years, SEND and vulnerable populations including refugee and marginalised groups. Each organisation has established access to networks to access participants in these groups regionally. Proposed activities are: knowledge exchange on transitions policies and practices in the partner countries with a literature review, resulting in policy guidelines; training materials disseminated free of charge; workshops to evaluate the materials, leading to an evaluation report; and transnational best practice guidelines. The resources will be embedded within existing structures within the partner organisations to ensure continued impact and life for the materials beyond the end of the project. The expected impact is to improve transition experiences for those groups who find them most difficult, by equipping Early Years practitioners, teachers, and families with knowledge, tools and ideas to promote positive transition experiences.