"***General****The H.E.A.L. (Health Education And Learning) Erasmus+ project derived mostly by the need of the applicant school to address Early School Leaving, as a minority school with Roma students. However, the other partner schools also face extreme social exclusion problems, due to poverty, migration and refugee, issues inherent into their social environment and location.We chose Health Education as a means to address these problems, because it deals with psychological well-being, malnutrition, obesity, dependencies etc. We thought that this was the only way to establish a secure and pleasant environment at school and to shield our students against every difficulty. So, after a thorough analysis we concluded at the following objectives: 1. To introduce innovative methods like Project Based Learning (PBL) 2. To train teachers with in-field-application 3. To confront health issues caused by poverty, malnutrition, dependencies etc., 4. To prevent social exclusion and enhance social cohesion 5. To address foreign language inadequacies. These 5 main goals were linked directly with the following predefined Erasmus+ axes: SCHOOL EDUCATION: Supporting schools to tackle early school leaving (ESL) and disadvantage. HORIZONTAL: Social inclusion SCHOOL EDUCATION: Promoting the acquisition of skills and competencesThis project involved around 400 teachers and 4000 students which were facing different kind of social inclusion problems. The most deprived were located in Bulgaria, Greece and Lithuania, while students in Turkey, Italy and Poland also faced problems of integration due to migration and refugee situations. In order to achieve our objectives, we designed 7 sub-projects to be carried out on the basis of Project Based Learning. These projects involved teachers and pupils for roughly a 3-month period each. The project titles and the countries responsible for each were the following: 1. Knowing my partners (Bulgaria) 2. Health as a cultural and social good (Greece) 3. Interpersonal relationships (Turkey) 4. Dependencies (Italy) 5. Natural Life, Exercise and Healthy Lifestyle (Lithuania) 6. Healthy diet, Health and Consumption (Poland) 7. Social emotional development, self-confidence - skill development (Bulgaria)***Covid19 impact***Like all aspects of social life on the European continent, the HEAL program was severely affected by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, as well. As a result, the last two sub-projects, namely ""Healthy Eating, Health and Consumption"" in Poland and ""Social emotional development, self-confidence - skill development"" in Bulgaria, could not be implemented through physical mobility.Instead, the children and the educators decided to join forces and they created a book with traditional recipes which was pint in paper and distributed to our schools via classic mail. In this way the hours of our involuntary confinement at home became hours of creation and action. The children asked their parents, experimented and decided which recipes best represent the traditions and food culture of their countryAlso, in order not to lose momentum, online lessons were held, as well as two seminars according to the originally planned titles, so that the teachers do not lag behind in their further training.***Evaluation and results****Generally, all tasks had been equally delegated to the members in advance, while cooperation was based on the notion of friendship, unreserved acceptance of cultural differences and constant communication through social media and educational platforms like e-Twinning. The results of the H.E.A.L. project were evaluated with both quality and quantitive quality assessments on an ongoing basis. The main beneficiaries were the students, who beyond the ""per se"" acquisition of certain knowledge in fields as Math, Science, Literature etc, also improved their foreign language skills, their knowledge about Health subjects and other countries and their cultural heritage. Also, the teachers made touch with new methods of teaching and other educational systems, they improved their English and learned how to implement Erasmus projects. Then, the student's parents improved their parental skills, learning about how to take better care of their children and also coming in touch with the common European heritage. Lastly, local communities were involved by local press, tv and radio programs.Participants were able to raise their awareness about healthy lifestyle (nutrition, physical activity, etc) and to confront with psychological issues like depression and self-confidence. Teaching material was produced and is available in different platforms for future use, while the use of the Project method enabled students to help one another, giving them independence both in implementation and assessment phases. They learned how to cooperate and how to take responsibility for the results of the work of whole group."

It is evident that children’s literature and especially the genre of fairy tales, helps a young child make sense of what it means to be human and helps them understand the world around them. Another well established fact is that mental health and wellbeing is an important issue for all educators, who are often the first line of defense for their students. Based on these assumptions, we considered it appropriate to undertake a two-year training program to address exactly mental health issues, using fairy tales as a means to do this.With different multicultural project activities we want to stimulate students’ curiosity and motivate them to explore innovative approaches to solving problems and tackle with environmental issues.In order to decide the choice of the axes on which this project is based, we conducted a thorough analysis in each of our organizations and concluded to the following needs: a. Need for innovative approach to educationb. Teacher’s need to have in-service training on Mental Health Issuesc. Poor use of English as a second language. d. Reluctance to access traditional literaturee. Early school leaving and reluctance to attend school To achieve our objectives, we decided that the main idea will be: “Raising mental health awareness and teaching valuable life lessons through the perennial wisdom of old tales”. Actually, the project will be implemented on two educational axes as follows:* Students axis: Traditional Tales - Intercultural education – Arts – Literature* Teachers axis: Tackling with and promoting innovatively Mental Health Education StrategiesDuring the two year program, students will implement six 3-month sub-projects, dealing with environmental issues. The results of their work will be presented during the LTT activities and travels abroad. The essence of the project is also contained in its acronym, where “TALES”, refers to children and the full title “Teaching about life and emotional skills” refers to educators.1. Turkey: Shadow/Puppet Theater. (Handcraft, making puppets and shadow-figures)(Empathy)2. Bulgaria: Most popular tale in each country. (E-book, dramatization, costumes of the era). (Self Esteem, Self Emotion - Skill Development) 3. Greece: The Aesop fables. (Dramatization) (Interpersonal relationships)4. Serbia: Funny change of a popular fairy tale. (Creative writing, original theatrical presentation)(Adolescence, behaviors and perceptions - Addictions)5. Romania: Fairy tales from around the world and of non-western civilizations (Common characteristics, common ethical subjects, differences) (Issues of physical / mental health and quality of life in fiction and poetry)6. Lithuania: Fairy tales and art. (Presentation of traditional fairy tales in traditional and modern art in each country. Recreation of artistic approaches) (Skills to deal with stress and fear). All activities are addressing both the needs of teachers and pupils. For example, the projects, which will be implemented using innovative mental health approaches, will give teachers the opportunity to try out new teaching styles, but at the same time will also give students the opportunity to improve their performance and gain new and necessary knowledge on cultural and linguistic aspects like the fairy tale genre.Several international seminars are planned, to elaborate simultaneously on the psychological thematic, as well as intercultural subjectsThe seminars will be addressed to broader educational community and the participants will receive official documents as motivation to enrich their portfolios.Etwinning platform will be essential for the implementation of our TALES project, aiming mainly to combine physical mobility with virtual exchanges, making also each LTT mobility integral part of our parallel eTwinning project. Therefore, one third from all activities planned for the overall duration of our project, are going to be implemented through the eTwinning platform.The project is also addressed to other organizations and institutions too, like local communities that are going to be heavily involved by local press, tv and radio programs and get an open mind on different subjects. Also, higher educational authorities will receive the results of our discussions on the reasons why certain problems arise in our educational systems. The experience and the outcome of the seminars will be published in concise e-books, which will be distributed in every possible way and in as many educational sites in the countries concerned.

** Context **The A.R.S.L.O.N.G.A. (Alright Students! Let’s make Ourselves Neighbours and Great Artists!) Erasmus+ project came as an answer to the fact of our changing world. Citizens of Europe have to be able to confront the development of industry and technology, modern education and the labor market. Also the recent trends of free movement make Europeans face challenges of quickly adapting to these changes, to new cultures and to foreign languages. In this modern Europe, people get far away from their roots and their own cultural heritage easily. Another factor that is also considered is the refugee issue, which through involuntary displacement might create substantial cultural turbulence of any kind. The cultural heritage, however, is determined and can be understood only historically. Education must develop in a way that enables cultural development and orientation towards the future, too. As a result and after conducting a full SWOT analysis in each of the participating schools, this project established the following objectives:** Goals **1. To introduce some innovative activities through implementing the most modern teaching methods to all of our schools, namely Problem Based Learning (PBL), and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)2. To train teachers on new methods through seminars and in-field-application and by making the adequate electronic and in-paper publications.3. To confront the xenophobic attitude through Art and Civilization Projects, this being the best way to ensure the surviving of the European spirit.4. To prevent social exclusion and enhance social cohesion also through Art and Civilization Projects5. To address linguistic problems through CLIL Teaching, E-twinning programs, in-person communication etcThese 5 main goals are linked directly with the following predefined Erasmus+ axes:HORIZONTAL AXIS1: Open and innovative education, training and youth work, embedded in the digital eraHORIZONTAL AXIS 2: Inclusive education, training and youth.SCHOOL EDUCATION AXIS: Addressing underachievement in the basic skills of math, science and literacy through more effective, innovative teaching methods. Except from the above, we have also set some additional (general) objectives for both students and teaching staff to accomplish:• To assume the role of responsible citizenship,• To develop critical thinking, independent action, collective and social spirit• To involve students, parents, associations, community, authorities into the project activities. • To improve the students’ skills of teamwork and cooperation• To integrate arts in all school subjects (math,science,litterature).• To integrate children with special educational needs through the project to finally be part of the community.• To encourage and motivate students in the development of creativity and innovation.** Main activities**In order to achieve these objectives, six sub-projects were designed, which were implemented by all participants, and which were carried out on the basis of Problem Based Learning. At the same time all required actions (seminars, papers, and publications) were undertaken so that teachers were familiarized with this new method and applied it unimpeded in their classrooms.** Participating organizations **Participant schools came from six countries:Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey. All of them act in the primary and/or post-primary educational level and they belong both to the public and to the private sector. They were of a medium size and their choice was based on multiple criteria such as: tohave diversified experience of participating in similar European programs, to have a different area of specialization in the various learning objects, to face a variety of educational problems and to come from different European countries, with the widest possible dispersion.** Results and impact **All goals were achieved, while more than the planned activities were introduced for both students and teachers. In conclusion, our project aim was to show the pupils the meaning and the importance of various arts while the second part of our goal was to inform teachers about the value of PBL and CLIL methods so they could be able to apply them in practice. More than 20 organisations, not formally participating were involved in the project, around 50.000 people heard about it, through press releases, and about 300 teachers participated in all designed seminars.** Long-term benefits **Access to the available material is ensured by installing the relevant website to a provider supported by the Greek Ministry of Education, free of charge forever. Also, both the e-twinning and the Erasmus+ platforms are also free and long lasting, and as a result, the available material will be easily accessed by the European educational community easily and for a long period of time. This material consists of lesson plans, 3 e-books, seminar proceedings, evaluating questionnaires etc.