Start with Yourself Erasmus Project

Project Title

Start with Yourself

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Health and wellbeing; Creativity and culture; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

Nowadays many schools in most European countries face unprecedented challenges to educate children by teaching them the added value of social empathy, kind-heartedness, brotherly love and intercultural dialogue so that they can feel the benefits of social inclusion and be able to fight against prejudice, discrimination and bullying.
All “Start with Yourself” project partners – Italy, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Turkey – strongly believe schools play a critical role in helping students to raise self-esteem, learn the value of tolerance, respect and empathy. So, we decided to design this project.
After the SWOT analysis, we identified these common issues: students relying more on individual work techniques than team work, students’ low tolerance levels, a number of students who were victims of bullying or showed bullying-related issues and/or concerns, teachers’ will and need to share knowledge on different educational systems with other European schools and learn from their peers through sharing best practice. We aim to raise knowledge and improve social empathy levels in partner schools. The key focus is to use social empathy to intertwine all the students, families and staff within the school communities to boost social inclusion.
Our aim is to enhance all participants’ awareness on the critical role social empathy plays in students life and their future work setting in a global and multicultural society.
The project specific objectives will help participants to:
-be more aware of the importance and key role of social and intercultural dialogue amongst 250 students (age 12-15) as well as all the other participants;
-raise understanding of cultural and social differences;
-encourage and develop interpersonal empathy, social tolerance and responsibility;
-decrease students’ emotional stress, bullying and risky behaviours;
-boost students’ self-esteem, wellbeing, kindness and health;
-achieve the ET2020 framework objectives.
There will be different groups of participants: 250 students, 80 of these will directly attend the LTTAs; as for school staff, there will be 100 teachers, 40 of these will attend LTTAs and 20 auxiliary personnel, students’ parents (about 200) and around 100 people who represent the local communities.
The project concrete results are: project logo, project website, eTwinning and Facebook project page, promotional materials (roll-ups, banners, brochures, flyers, etc), questionnaires, schools presentations, bookmarks, films “Experiencing loneliness” and “Social empathy, tolerance and friendship”, 5 travel guides, Feelings Collages, InterNational Heritage 3D cards exhibition, Wall of Friendship, Anti-bullying Workshop, Festival Tolerance Day, Anti-Bullying Week and two project online newsletters.
All participants will develop and strengthen their team work skills within a transnational and multicultural context. They will raise their interpersonal communication skills as well as their understanding, tolerance, social empathy levels, digital literacy skills which will lead to an increased quality of the teaching and learning processes and to a more consistent social inclusion.
At a wider European dimension level, this project will have a positive impact on the participants’ cultural, citizenship awareness and knowledge, making them more open-minded and tolerant. All participants will have the opportunity to know one another and their culture, especially during the LTTAs, where they will meet face-to-face, doing team work in workshops, documentary visits, etc. They will be able to share examples of best practice and broaden knowledge on different, engaging and innovative teaching and learning approaches.
Participants will learn and understand the key concepts on empathy and the key value of social empathy. However, all participants will be more aware of the barriers to empathy and the risks of lack of empathy such as distrust, prejudice, bullying, racism, etc. By working collaboratively, they will acquire and develop knowledge on interpersonal empathy as it is the ability to understand what other people are feeling and thinking. Besides, it helps people connect us as human beings and it is critical for everyone’s life. All participants will learn how to perceive and interpret others more fairly.
All schools will benefit in the long-term as all participants will improve their social empathy skills, becoming more active learners and better citizens. Teachers will become more open-minded to collaboration and innovation.
The concrete results will be long-lasting as they will become teaching and learning tools giving the curricula a transnational dimension. Project products will remain available for on the project webpage, for the minimum 5 years after the end of the project,and they will be freely accessible. All participants will raise motivation, social and cultural awareness on the importance of positive relationships and the rich and diverse European cultural heritage.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 165200 Eur

Project Coordinator

Agrupamento de Escolas de Vialonga & Country: PT

Project Partners

• Ozel Akdeniz Ortaokulu
• Geniko Lykeio Iasmou
• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO FROSINONE IV
• Publiczna Szkola Podstawowa nr 1 im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaletach