"Diversity and diversification characterize the student population in France, Germany and the Netherlands. How can these two characteristics facilitate and promote the inclusion of pupils in schools and their acquisition of basic skills? How can we encourage, help and support pedagogical teams and school principals who want to set up, improve and develop pedagogical programmes designed to achieve these goals? Seven partners from North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), South Holland (the Netherlands) and the Lille area (France) - schools, universities and one governmental education authority - have formed a strategic cross-sectoral partnership to exchange good practices in primary and secondary education. This partnership - called Manières d'Apprendre et de Réussir l'Initiative et l'Autonomie Novatrices et Non-discriminantes en Europe ""MARIANNE"" - has observed and studied, analysed and compared, improved and developed innovative and non-discriminatory methods of learning and promoting initiative and autonomy in Europe. MARIANNE has broadly focused on educational projects that develop initiative and entrepreneurship (EntreComp) and on approaches that integrate content (EIST / MINT / STEM) or integrate content and languages (AICL / bilingualer Unterricht / CLIL).A sequence of three joint training events to observe and study these specific pedagogical projects in situ was followed by a sequence of three joint training events designed to improve and develop these specific pedagogical projects in the regions of the partners. The participation of three universities and the establishment of a council of experts guaranteed the quality of analysis, comparison and reflection on the actions, schools and regions of the MARIANNE partnership. In two years, the MARIANNE partnership has both multiplied and qualified inclusive pedagogical actions and provided pupils with basic skills. To accomplish this, MARIANNE first contributed to the in-service training of teams of teachers, school principals and headteachers to enable them to implement effective, equitable and sustainable pedagogical projects for the inclusion of pupils and the development of their basic skills. MARIANNE thus hopes to generate an open and shared European expertise in inclusive pedagogical actions and developing basic skills."

"Migration puts the European communities on trial. The large number of refugees and asylum seekers who arrived in 2015 gives rise to challenges that must be solved. At the same time, there is considerable migration internally within the EU, especially from the new member states of eastern Europe. Getting migrants and refugees socially integrated into society is crucial. Social inclusion and integration is a two-way process. The goal is that the participants in the project will be influenced to be more open and inclusive in their perception of society. We have chosen to name our project “Social Inclusion – Courage to Care” because the objective of the project is to help create a European identity and multiculturalism where there is room for refugees and migrants. How can we develop a European set of values – based on human rights, equality and cross-cultural tolerance. The aim is to develop teaching plans that can be used over the lifetime of the project. We also hope that the participants in the project will be influenced to be more open and inclusive in their perception of society. If we succeed in making the participating youths become solution-oriented, we will have created learning for life and lifelong learning. We recognise a rise in political and social changes in Europe which has opened opportunities for extremist views and brings a threat to our common European values especially that of building healthy democracies. Threats including the rise of the far right, radicalism, racism, exclusion, and religious intolerance offer challenges to young people in Europe which this project aims to tackle. Localised in 6 different geographical and cultural contexts, the 6 schools have realised over the last years the fundamental benefit of European cooperation of the students, teachers and the schools themselves. The experience of working together on a specific project not only in virtual space but also meeting each other and to be in different environments and cultures in Europe has proven an essential step in creating European awareness and fostering a sense of European identity and citizenship amongst students and teachers which could not have been achieved otherwise. The topics have been chosen as they are linked to the EU commission’s priorities and issues facing inhabitants today, they allow a multi-disciplinary approach and are linked to the school's curriculum. Each topic is strongly connected with one of the of the participating schools, its surroundings and its environment. The student visits in each country, will be concentrated around these: 1. ”Free Speech and Media Wisdom.” (Netherlands) 2. ""Migration and the increasing of populisme in todays Italy."" (Italy) 3. “Refugees in Europe.” (Spain) 4. “Social Inclusion.” (Latvia) 5. “Courage to face one's fears and aspirations.” (Finland) 6. “Political extremism, radicalism and exclusion.” (Norway) To learn and research in an innovative way, mostly outside the classroom and on locations that are relevant for the different topics during the Student Meetings. These locations are typical and relevant for the place/country each participating school is located. We will produce a website and a YouTube channel to disseminate our work and findings which highlights the strengths of being part of a united European Union. This will be enhanced by videos made by participants during transnational meetings. This will hopefully encourage an open minded approach to globalization, cultural identity and combating extremism. The participating teachers will gain experience through collaborating and exchanging experience with other teachers. They will be inspired to develop their own teaching practices. We will actively work to spread this to all the high schools in our county. Erasmus+ cooperation will provide new approaches, which in turn will give the participating teachers a greater understanding of professional knowledge and education. Students will improve their international cooperation skills and give them greater understanding of language and culture. All the objectives of the Project are closely linked to all the priorities we have selected. We will develop an online survey for all participants. The survey will measure participants' perception of democracy, human rights, social inclusion, racism and religious intolerance. This survey will be repeated at the end to see what impact the project has had. Over two years over 300 students and their teachers from different countries will be actively involved in the project, and cooperate with their partners, virtually and during student visits, conducting comparative research and practice related to 6 topics. Many students inside and outside the schools will be part of the project and benefit from its results. Directly the project will include 285 mobilities, indirectly we expect to involve over 2000 individuals in our school communities and wider communities including online communities."

Sharing our past; shaping our future The aim of the project is to create a European Studies Module that will ensure European study is embedded into teaching and learning in the participating schools as a long-lasting outcome. The module will be designed and written by children after exploring and sharing their past and investigating the needs and possibilities of education in the future. It is a project that will challenge the partnership schools to meet the needs of pupils and staff in an interesting and innovative way. The project involves six primary schools from England, Spain, Poland, The Netherlands, Finland and Croatia. The children at the schools come from socially diverse backgrounds; many have limited opportunities to travel or communicate outside their locations and many have fewer opportunities than average. The project is a vital element to combat social isolation. The smallest school has just 49 pupils and the largest over 400; the pupils range in age from four to fifteen. The schools recognise that they need to connect these children with the Europe they belong to and encourage them to have ownership of their future education. The schools' development plans prioritise encouraging independence and ensuring social inclusion; priorities which can be met through this project. Now, more than ever, countries are examining their own heritage and what it means to be a citizen of a particular country. Through exploring education in the past, pupils will learn how their history is intertwined with how and what they learnt. Welcoming the similarities and valuing the differences between European nations, helps children to embrace positive changes and to make plans for the future which includes an ongoing appreciation of European culture. Additionally by examining education in the past and the ways in which gender, disability, social and cultural differences were, for example, causes for discrimination, pupils will plan for future learning which is focused on integration, social inclusion and equality. The objectives are: - to create a European Studies Module - to develop critical thinking - to understand the similarities and differences in cultural heritage between the participating countries - to create a collaborative book about the history of education in the partner countries - to enhance the access opportunities and participation of disadvantaged learners - to advance language skills - to develop ICT and media literacy - to raise teaching standards through the sharing and confronting of ideas, practices and methods - to develop the ability of staff to facilitate and implement the teaching of the study module Alongside developing basic skills for life, pupils and staff need to be able to reach out to the European community in a way that they have not been able to previously, via first hand communication and a better use of technology, ensuring the positive transfer of skills and ideas which can be long-lasting and transformational. The project is designed to equip staff and pupils with all the tools they need to write the European Studies Module. In order to achieve the objectives, pupils and staff will: undertake historical research; learn new ICT skills; have cross-generational dialogue; think critically about the changes in education and the differences between the participating nations; recreate a day of schooling from the past; collate historical information into an online book; learn games and songs from the past; think critically about national priorities in the past; develop ICT skills to present data; learn about progressive pedagogy from other nations; gain an understanding of current teaching and learning; visit Future Classroom Labs to explore new technologies and ways of teaching and learning; discuss together priorities for the future; design a future classroom and finally, bring together all that they have learnt to write a set of objectives for the studies module. Partnership staff will write an instructional guide for teachers in conjunction with the studies module, so that there is good provision for sustainability. The module will then be taught in the partnership schools through either geography, history, languages or citizenship lessons, or separately as a European studies lesson or club. As well as the project impacting on participating schools, other schools and their communities, this project and its results could have a positive impact on many groups, such as historical societies, or those with a general interest in European studies, outside education. The European Studies Module, the comparative study and the Cultural Heritage book, will all be available as electronic copies. A feature of the project will be a commitment by participating schools to share results of their 'Year three' - the year in which the module is being taught in schools. Partnership schools will continue their collaboration through the sharing of results and evaluating outcomes into the future.

Recent research shows that underachievement is an immense problem in education. Some figures:-25% of all students in secondary education are regularly bored from teaching material they find too easy; from the top 20% of the class even 56% are often bored (Intomart Research 2014)-15–20% of students perform below level in primary education; 1/3 of (mildly) gifted are involved (Report Dutch National Council of Education (Onderwijsraad) 2011).-only 5% of the pupils in the Netherlands achieve the highest level in international comparison - the Czech Republic and Slovenia are 4%, in Belgium 10%, England 18% and Singapore 43% (TIMSS 2011)Causes for lagging of the talents are (Segers&Hoogeveen 2012):1. Talent is not sufficiently stimulated and rewarded. 2. Limited flexibility in curriculums and room for talent3. Teachers and school leadership are not enough equipped This gave rise to formulate the following problem definition:How can talented be encouraged to use their talents during their school career to prevent underachievement and early school leaving and what is needed in the context of cooperation between educational sectors and other stakeholders, the skills of teachers and teaching materials?General objective of the Talent Education programDevelopment of a sustainable and structural approach which supports top talent in further development of their talent and thus preventing underachievement or dropouts. As a result the partners chose the following objectives from the Erasmusplus program:1.Improving range of lessons2.Strengthening the skills of the teachers.3. Improving cooperation in and around education.Target groups of the project are talented preschooler, school pupils in primary and secondary education and their teachers. Schools and regional or local authorities are also part of the target group. The strategy of the project is 1)to focus on the role of teachers2)to choose some “strategic elements” in the chain of education in which a new approach could be effective and have impact on all education. The consortium chooses for:a. identification and adaptive approach at a very early stage (2 – 6 years); b. education metacognitive skills in primary education c. Design Thinking (DT)in primary and secondary education d. differentiation in the classroom based on a personalised approach in secondary education. In all “elements” basic expertise is already available and can be transferred, but is not yet adapted to each form of education nor widely spread. 3)to develop new education in practice: PLC’s of teachers in all subjects, coaching on the job, pilots in classrooms, exchange of students of all ages to apply the method of DT and to cooperate with their teachers in a living laboratory. 4)to gather all developed methods and tools in a Toolkit for Teachers which is available for all teachers and could be applied in practice immediately. The partnership consists in 18 partners: Kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, universities in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the Netherlands. The coordinator is the Samenwerkingsverband Passend Onderwijs VO in Leiden, founding organisation of the Leiden Approach for Talent Development (Leidse Aanpak)Results and impactMany schools and organisations, teachers (141), students (292), schoolmasters, educators and scientists (35) participated in the project. Teachers say to be better equipped to challenge their students, students indicate to be challenged and motivated to deeper learning by using the new methods and are delighted to have more space for learning.In all four educational lines of the program (Practical Differentiation, Design Thinking, Metacognitive Skills and Challenging Young Children) manuals, tools for identification of talent and lesson-plans have been developed and good practices described. These are the results of the collaborative work of teachers in PLC’s and the exchange programs of students. All tools are available in the online Talent Education Toolkit for Teachers .A scientific study has been published on the implementation of metacognitive skills in 15 Czech, Slovenian and Dutch schools. It shows significant improvement in the skills of students. Reports on achievements in Czech educational competitions and in Dutch national tests support this conclusion. Another report presents the Impact and Self-evaluation Methodology of the Talent Education project, which contributes highly to sustainable learning effects. A scientific article about the chain oriented system approach of talent education in Leiden shows that the TE project functioned as a “flywheel” in the evolution of the Leiden Approach to a wider and more inclusive approach. The LA could serve as a prototype of chain-oriented talent education in Europe. All educational sectors cooperate in talent development which provokes many opportunities for transfer and sharing knowledge, for creating a very strong local learning environment.

"Schools educate and equip their students for a rapidly changing""global world"", in which boundaries blurr and networks mulitply. This ""global world"" is increasingly facing new challenges: changing societies, divergent cultures, economic disparities between and within continents, migration, armed conflicts and large numbers of refugees as a result, the influence of ""other"" religions and ideologies other than traditional. These challenges give rise to uncertainty, sometimes cause anxiety and put traditional western (European) values to the proof, such as universal human rights, constitutional freedoms, tolerance, preventing and combating discrimination.As institutes of education, schools (and their teachers) face new tasks: how do we equip pupils to prepare and qualify themselves for their role in this globalized society?In most Western European countries, school programs are strongly adapted to the realization of standardized cognitive and routine skills and standards with fixed curricula and a standard set of subjects. The ""global world"" on the other hand calls for skills that are not based on routine and cognition, but on empathy, anticipation, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition, it is increasingly important that future members of the ""global world"" , future Europeans, hence current students, are aware of norms and values in a global society and are able to form opinions, speak out and constructively take part in the civil “discours”.But how can teachers equip their students? What could be their contribution?This forms the core of the program the Bonaventura College in Leiden, The Gymnasium Lilienthal in Bremen, the Liceo Classico in Cagliari and La Annunciata Ikastexea in San Sebastian set up collaboratively.I. In equipping students two lines come together: a) equipment for their role in the globalized society through the development of so-called transversal competences and skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, analysis, research attitude, creativity, curiosity, ability to innovate, initiative, planning, perseverance, empathy, sense of social relations and others (cf. the results of the UNESCO Conference in Bangkok in November 2013). The competences of the Common Framework of European Competences (CFEC) serve as a guideline; b) the development of attitudes and values to make a constructive contribution to a renewed European morality, based on respect, tolerance, sense of changing relationships and curiosity about new cultures. It is important that students from different cultures and backgrounds will learn to speak out and to communicate.In the project Empowering Students to European Citizenship, participating schools promote students from different backgrounds to collaborate on ethical issues developing their transversal skills. Students of 15/16 years of age from four countries form groups of about 8 people, both in a virtual learning environment (e-community) as in physical exchange deepening a theme. In addition, they work towards presentations in concrete social situations: debates in youth centers, exhibitions, publications in local newspapers, for fellow students, etc.II. Teachers from the four partner schools collaborate in an e-community as well as in physical exchange. They develop a methodology for personalized learning on ethical themes. A first group focuses mainly on the method aimed at the transversal skills, the second mainly on the way ethical issues can be integrated into curricula of schools. An important part of the methodology is the assessment of transversal skills and the way this can be included in a portfolio. The methodology should be applicable to all secondary schools, to be presented at national and international conferences and open digital platforms available to all schools.Both the effects on the motivation and skills of students as the methodology in this project are subject of scientific research, which is conducted under the supervision of the Graduate School of Teaching of the University of Leiden (ICLON).The methodologies, the descriptions of ""good practices"" and the reports of the research are made available through international and local conferences and through platforms for knowledge sharing as School aan Zet, ""Talentstimuleren.nl"", Leraar2020, Leerling2020 etc."