Facing severe economic, financial and social crisis, the new European Commission has defined a strategy for growth. The number 1 priority is to ensure Europe is growing again and employment rates are increasing. This top priority and the social, economic and educational situations in the 4 participating countries, inspired us to work together and tackle the problem of early school leavers by keeping them motivated for their future and increase the opportunities for our students as well as other students in Europe to access the European job market.Localised in 4 different geographical and cultural contexts, the 4 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 fundamental objectives of this project are:1. To decrease the number of early school leavers and increase the employment rate in Europe by implementing the concept of personalised learning, both by students and teachers, in an international setting. 2) 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 Visits (‘Active Learning’). These locations are typical and relevant for the place/country each participating school is located. 3) to produce the ‘European Backpack’ and ‘Briefcase,’ for both students and teachers. How the results from the research carried out by students and teachers are created for the ‘European Backpack’ and ‘Briefcase,’ is entirely for the students and teachers to choose on the understanding that it is publicly accessible for example: a film, info graphic or a blog. Over two years 100 students and their teachers from different countries were actively involved in the project, and cooperate with their partners, virtually and during student visits, conducting comparative research and practice related to 4 topics. Furthermore, many students inside and outside the schools will be part of the project and benefit from its results. The topics have been chosen as they are linked to the EU commission’s priorities, 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 that topic. The 4 topics are:1. Discrimination and integration (Sweden)2. Language barriers (UK)3. Exploring New Horizons: study/ work/ training in Europe (The Netherlands)4. Coping with social and economic disadvantages (Greece) We have achieved the goals and will continue to do so of decreasing the number of early school leavers by keeping the students motivated for their future and increasing employment rates in Europe by an innovative new approach: Active Learning. The European Commission’s investment says on its website about the top priority: ‘This investment should be targeted towards education, research and innovation’. That is the centre of our approach ensuring the students and teachers own their own learning process by creating personal and specific research questions which focus directly on the theme. They will work in international teams of 4 people. This is a big step in the concept of personalised learning. (Education) We aim to challenge tradition learning styles of learning i.e. inside the classroom. Instead teachers and students will venture out to address their personal research question in different locations focusing on specific features relating to the chosen topic of each country during the student visits. (Research) This way of learning will enable students to contribute to and make a positive impact on the surrounding society and their own ideas for their future prospects. (Innovation) The project will facilitate ‘Action Learning' aiming to increase practical skills by developing independent learners and implementing the concept of personalised learning with an international group of students aged 15-18yrs and their teachers. Throughout the duration of the project students and teachers have created products such as blogs, films and digital posters which contain the results of their research. All of which will be contained within a 'European Backpack’ for students and a ‘European Briefcase’ for teachers. This is a digitalised portfolio which young people and teachers from all over Europe can access from anywhere and share. It can be downloaded via a website which we have produced ourselves during the project.

The four schools involved in this project are located in different geographical, social and cultural contexts, but they were inspired to work together by 1) an article of the European Commission pointing out the need to help young people, through inspiring education, to discover and use their talents, 2) the increasing split in many European societies between more globally oriented and more nationalistic groups, and 3) the urgent need to ensure young people acquire active citizenship skills.The project has- focussed on such local/regional/national issues that are strongly linked to the broader European community- involved developing a methodology called European Challenge-Based Learning (ECBL), which inspired our students to work together on real-world challenges and acquire such 21st-century skills as problem solving, critical thinking, information literacy, as well as using a multi-angular approach to investigate the issues in question and to formulate out-of-the box solutions. CBL is related to Problem-Based Learning, but we have included steps that are directly linked to European cooperation, working in mixed, intercultural groups of young people and to such local/regional/national challenges that are relevant for the whole Europe.This will help the participants to experience concretely that problems can be seen as challenges which can be solved, not by ignoring them, nor by simplistic slogans, hate speech or by isolating oneself from the others, but rather through common reflection, discussion, and collaborative effort enriched by multi-angular, European perspectives.Our main objectives in relation to the EU and Erasmus+ priorities were:- To develop and reinforce a network among our schools, and to increase the capacity of our schools to cooperate and learn from and with each other- To foster social commitment and entrepreneurial spirit in young people- To encourage our students to learn in a practical and analytical way, as well as to develop their capacity to think out of the box and adapt to constantly changing circumstances while providing multi-angular solutions- To foster social integration and to enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community.Over two years, more than 100 students and their teachers cooperated with their partners, both virtually and during LTT activities, in conducting research related to four challenges. Many others have been involved and benefitted from the results.Each of the LTT activities involving student mobility focused on one of the four challenges. These challenges were linked, on the one hand, to the local school and the local curriculum, and, on the other hand, to the EU priorities and the reality in other European countries, thus allowing a multi-angular approach. The four challenges are the following:1. Sweden: Political involvement of young people2. Portugal: How can we contribute to the integration of immigrants?3. The Netherlands: How to make the city of Roermond attractive for young people in order for themto stay in their province in the south of the Netherlands?4. Finland: Reducing the use of plasticThe methodology, CBL, includes a set of steps, among them:- Before the LTT activity: preliminary research in the four countries about the challenge; teachers contacting organisations, companies, local politics, experts etc. in order to provide the students with a list of contacts that facilitate investigation;- During the LTT activity: in mixed groups, students describe the situation and identify the underlying challenge(s); supported by a coach, they gather more information by contacting relevant persons and/or organizations; they reflect on and discuss the information obtained; based on multi-angular approaches, each group defines a possible solution and presents it in a multi-media way to a larger audience.- Students document their learning experience in a Learning Log.By the end of the project, students have created products such as vlogs, films and digital posters to present the results of their research and their out-of-the-box solutions. The teachers have optimised the CBL methodology, which can be used in schools and in international projects. All this has been published on a website which young people and teachers can access anywhere and which will complement local and regional dissemination of the experience and the results.The project has been evaluated regularly so that necessary adaptations could be made in time.

Three of the 11 European Youth Goals as developed in the 6th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue are: Inclusive Societies, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Quality Learning. They are in the core of this project as we believe that the mental health and wellbeing of the individuals will lead to the wellbeing of society as a whole. Also, working on social inclusion through involving and innovative methodology will create more motivated learners and teachers and therefore more quality learning.Being inspired by these principles, we have decided to work on a project based on a methodology of learning through and about empathy. Our students will face real-life actual cases, which they will elaborate into short films/videos by first writing a script, then directing, performing and filming. These case-study videos will end with questions for discussion and invite to action. They will be publicly available on the project website and YouTube channel. All 4 countries address a different topic connected with empathy. They have been chosen based on the schools’ expertise and curriculum and each LTT meeting will be centred around one of them:1)Empathy and Social Media 2) Empathy and Leadership3) Empathy: Nature and climate 4) Empathy and cultural diversity in Europe.The objectives are1.Students to increase empathy or raise awareness of the need to empathise with others as a key motivating factor for active participation in society; build social and communication skills and creativity; improve foreign language skills as a tool for communication in Europe; increase the level of digital competence; increase motivation for learning; raise awareness about environmental and climate change challenges, leading to changed behaviour in consumption habits and lifestyle.2.Teachers to explore, share, and get familiar with strategies for teaching informed empathy; motivate teachers and improve their competence through exploring innovative teaching methods; acquire innovative approaches for language teaching; get familiar with innovative use of ICT in teaching and learning empathy; explore innovative ways to address social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity.3.To develop case-study videos as free teaching resources and describe the methodology to use them in 4 lesson plans for the 4 LTT meeting topics. Also, the methodology of the whole project will be publicly available on the project website, which will contain all study materials used throughout the 2 years of the project, like worksheets, tutorial videos or presentations. Number and profile of participantsAbout 200 students aged 15-18 are (in-)directly involved. Of those, about 24 students of each school will travel abroad to a partner school and about 100 students will provide their help and efforts for the goal of the project. Also, about 20 teachers will work on the project activities, guide the students and share their experiences.Activities and methodologyBefore the exchanges1)Students discuss (a) statement(s) connected with the topic, taking into account the experience in their country, and document their responses using a digital tool, which they learn to use in a workshop 2)Students fill in a survey to assess their current awareness of the topicDuring the exchanges1) The students receive an introduction to the topic by an expert and have a study visit, workshop or other activities which help increase their awareness and promote informed empathy2) In heterogeneous groups, the students explore real life actual cases, write a script and produce a video which opens discussion and invites to actionAfter the exchanges1)Students fill in a second survey to assess how their awareness has shifted 2)Students share their work at their schools The concrete result will be 1)A website containing a description of the 4 topics with activities, methodology and learning materials 2) A YouTube channel with the videos produced by the students during the LTTs 3) 4 lesson plans, based on the 4 topics, describing how to use the videos produced by the students.Impact and benefitsWe focus on a connection with real life without obviously persuading the learners to actually solve the problems at the moment. This makes them feel safe, but also creates mindsets and understanding of oneself, others, nature and society, making them in the longer terms more caring, proactive and inclusive EU citizens. The work on the topic of empathy and in connection with the subtopics of each country will develop qualities in the students such as better communication skills, multicultural cooperation, care for nature and the environment, empathy in all spheres of everyday life.The public character of the project and the free availability and spreading of its results in the educational community through the results will provide the methodological tools and materials for the colleagues across the whole EU and will help them deal with the major problem of modern demands in education.