Peace and respect to diversity are core values of the European Union and fundamental to the development of the individual and to ensuring social cohesion and societal welfare. In the context of a rapidly changing world and increasingly diverse societies, specific cultural skills and competences become more and more important for young adults to participate successfully and effectively in increasingly pluralistic and complex environments. Globalization and technology have brought many challenges to our societies, marked by their potential to deepen inequalities and thus lead to increase in social conflict, community and cultural identity-based tensions and unrest. Schools find themselves in the frontline of these challenges, as more and more classrooms are composed of students with increasingly diverse social, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The majority of researchers agree that creating a culture of peace in schools requires a holistic, multidisciplinary and multi-level approach, involving the entire school, all the learning environments and stakeholders. The project’s main focus is on developing a “whole school” approach to fostering the development of the necessary social, civic and intercultural competences through:-proposing an innovative and efficient methodology to assist schools in their effort in mainstreaming peace education through peace-responsive school policies and practices, i- Integrating peace education and respect for diversity through the curriculum and through teaching and learning activities, through the development of interactive and intuitive digital learning tools for schools that promote the acquisition of positive skills, values and attitudes in pupils. - develop the capacity of teachers in promoting peace and respect for cultural diversity among students. Supporting teachers and educators is one of the primary objectives of the current proposal as they need to create an athmosphere of trust and mutual respect in the classroom, and support all members of the learning community regardless of their cultural, social, ethnic or religious background.The most important results to be achieved in the end of the project are: 1. The Mainstreaming Peace Education Training Course for School Leaders and Administrators, aiming at providing them with the necessary step-by step guidelines for the development and implementation of peace promoting school policies and practices. 2. The Mainstreaming Peace Education Toolkit for Teachers and Educators aiming at developing their capacity towards promoting peace and respect for cultural diversity among students.3. The Mainstreaming Peace Education Guide for Parents and Families4. The Mainstreaming Peace Education Online Learning platformIn order for a whole school approach to peace and respect for cultural diversity education to be successfully implemented, all stakeholders participating in the learning community must be involved. For this reason the main target groups of the projects are:-School-headmasters and administrators, as they are responsible for the development and implementation of administrative, instructional and curricular policies and practices;-School teachers and educators who need to effectively translate their knowledge about peace and respect for cultural diversity into concrete learning approaches and activities, that can guide pupils to pursue peace as individuals and as part of the community.-School children and pupils who need to acquire the competencies and skills leading to cultural sensitivity and awareness, much necessary for them to be able to adapt to new cultures, new situations and new technological demands.- Parents and families, as apart from school, children acquire most of their knowledge, values, and attitudes at home, thus the necessity of the involvement of the wider community in the coordinated effort of creating and maintaining a culture of peace and tolerance.The tools and approaches that will be developed and used during the project will provide school leaders and teachers with a coherent but multifaceted methodology of raising awareness on important issues, and promote values, attitudes and skills conductive to peace and respect for cultural diversity.

The rapid advancement of technology poses major challenges for children and teenagers, related to the use of internet. Media consumption among children and teenagers is at an all time high, without them possessing the necessary skills to process, evaluate and filter content. Mobile devices now provide constant connectivity to social networks, which poses its own series of threats ranging from exposure to harmful contents and behaviour to privacy and security risks. Much of what occurs online is public, or has the potential to be, raising concerns about privacy and the lasting effects of information shared online on adolescents’ lives. In this context, while mastering digital skills are of crucial importance for using technological devices, they are not enough for equipping youngsters with the skills to navigate the complex online landscapes safely, responsibly and ethically. Aggregated research data consistently points, that educating responsible digital citizens requires the acquisition of multiple higher-order skills, defined under the domains of digital, media, information, global and emotional literacies.Schools play an important role in preparing future citizens and professionals. Strengthening Digital citizenship education in schools will better prepare future citizens that will live and work in a world dominated by technology, prevent unethical and harmful behaviour, and equip students with the skills to fully participate in their community.With the above background, the project’s main objectives are:1.Encourage the acquisition of media literacy and citizenship skills in school pupils by Integrating innovative learner-centered educational approaches in the relevant areas throughout the existing school curricula. 2. Enable pupils to practice media literacy and citizenship skills actively in school and in the wider community through experiential, peer-to-peer and project based learning, thus promoting 21st century literacies and increased understanding of the larger society through initiatives that allow them to engage locally.3. Increase the capacity of school teachers to effectively teach media literacy and citizenship skills through increasing their competence in the relevant areas, as well as through providing them with innovative teaching/learning tools to engage with their learners.The main target groups of the project are school teachers, school pupils, and their parents/legal guardians. The main results expected to be produced at the end of the project are:1. The E- Responsible Competence framework and assessment system 2. The E-Responsible Toolkit for Teachers aiming at developing their capacity to teach media literacy and citizenship skills. It will be composed of: - The Training Course for Teachers aiming at increasing their competence in the concepts, competencies, and skills that need to be integrated into the teaching learning process, as well as in ICT and technology in order to allow them to effectively use the digital tools to be developed during the project.- The Learning Pack, composed of ready to use modules in the classroom, supplemental learning materials, and activities, in order to assist teachers in Integrating media literacy and EU citizenship education into their teaching and learning activities.- The Teacher’s Guide compose of teaching material and guidelines teachers, step-by-step user guides, lesson plans and resources to use with learners, activities and guidelines, exercise and activity templates, a library of useful links and third party resources.3.The Guide for Parents and Families, containing parental guidance and resources on the skills and competences covered by the project, in order to facilitate families to engage actively in the learning process with their children.4. The Online Learning platform, hosting all the outputs, produced during the project. Two training events will be carried out, one for organisations staff members and one foe school teachers.The project will involve around 600 direct participants and 2000 indirect participants. The project will equip students with Digital citizenship skills and competences that will allow them to benefit fully from the opportunities technology offers, while avoiding online threats and risk behaviours. It will also support teachers through improving their skills in the relevant areas and providing them with teaching and learning tools and methodologies to use in the classroom.

The technological changes our societies undergo require educational institutions to introduce innovative learning approaches in order to prepare future citizens possessing the necessary 21st century skills and competences. Research in game-based learning has clearly demonstrated that using games as an educational tool provides immense opportunities for deeper learning. With the emergence of massively multiplayer online games, data shows, young people aged between 13-17 yo. spend on average 6 - 8 hours/daily in 3D immersive gaming environments, and the most popular gaming environments, Roblox and Minecraft, have 70 million players monthly, the majority of whom are between 11 and 17 y.o. While Roblox and Minecraft are the top online entertainment platforms for teenagers, their educational potential has not been fully explored to this date.The current project aims to develop a series of tools, targeting to improve both educational methodologies and approaches, through introducing the use of multiplayer online games in the classroom in order to foster soft and transversal skills and competences in learners.The most important results to be expected during the project and on its completion are the following:1. The Virtual Games for Real Life Skills training programme2. The Virtual Games for Real Life Skills toolkit for teachers and educators 3. The Virtual Games for Real Life Skills competencies for Parents/legal guardians4. Two training events: 1 for teachers and one for pupils will be carried out in order to directly reach the target group representatives from one side, and to allow us to test, evaluate and improve the methodology with regards to the results achieved during the trainings, and the participants feedback.5. The Virtual World Games for Real Life Skills local workshops for students, which will be carried out in each of the partnering countries for a duration of three months. The main target groups of the project are secondary and high school pupils, their teachers and parents/legal guardians. The project is expected to involve around 600 direct participants through its activities, and around 4000 thousand indirect participants through its dissemination and promotion activities. The project is expected to improve the skills of students, their entrepreneurial, digital, critical thinking, social and cultural skills, promoting better chances for professional realization and improved performance in all areas of their lives. Their motivation to learn and engage with the educational process at school will be strengthened, as they will be provided with “fun” learning tools in a gaming environment they already use as part of their entertainment. Teachers will upgrade their own digital skills and will be provided with tools which will diversify their teaching approaches and methodologies. Parents/legal guardians will be able to engage better in the learning process of their children, as well as with the school teachers and staff through the gaming environment and the communication tools to be provided through the project.