Empowerment practices for students’ CHOICE against Internet, drugs and gambling addiction Erasmus Project

Project Title

Empowerment practices for students’ CHOICE against Internet, drugs and gambling addiction

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 : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

The CHOICE project is based on an informal educational path for students aged 13-18, which should be included in school curricula and which aims to use drama to prevent addictions to the Internet / technology, drugs and gambling. The number of addicts is growing up in Europe. More and more young people are unable to control the use of drugs, the Internet / technology, gambling. The project assumed the introduction of an informal educational path in secondary education, the aim of which was to use theater techniques as preventive actions towards addictions. The project involved experts from various fields and specializations such as teachers, actors, doctors, psychologists, philosophers, trainers, theater experts as well as social workers who cooperated and supported students throughout the activity. The students who participated in the theater workshops had the opportunity to raise their self-esteem, which is an indispensable tool for making the right choices, especially in risk situations. Thanks to the participation in the educational path, the students gained more knowledge about addiction issues, and also improved their self-awareness and self-esteem. An additional element obtained during the training was the integration of students, which is also in the field of addiction prevention. The importance assigned by the project to the theater performance is a response to the missing link between the information and the world of students: it is necessary to convey knowledge that includes both emotions and the support of the individual. Apart from partner institutions, mainly high schools and other educational institutions were involved in the project implementation. Long-term effects are provided by constant access to the results delivered through the educational platform.The main activities of the project were: RESEARCH PHASE – analysis with the participation of youth aged 13-18 including partner countries (40 students from each country). The analysis was carried out using a questionnaire aimed at examining how to deal with the emotions of young people in specific everyday situations, using a case studies and assessing which of the main factors, situations and emotions can increase the risk of addiction. SHORT-TERM TRAINING FOR TEACHERS ENGAGED IN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION – realization of a training addressed to teachers and professionals who worked on the implementation of the CHOICE educational model to prepare an educational path aimed at improving self-awareness and developing the ability to manage emotions among young people using the drama method. During the training, teachers and professionals improved the competence to integrate their skills and implement the CHOICE model in each participating country in the project. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL MODEL – developing an educational model aimed at improving self-awareness and the ability to manage emotions among students in secondary schools in order to prevent addictions. As part of the result, a manual containing a series of exercises developing various competences among students was developed. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PATH – based on the educational model, workshops addressed to secondary school students (about 40 students in each partner country) were implemented. The workshops were conducted using the drama technique, Life Theater. The training program has been adapted to the needs and abilities of each group. TRAINING FOR TEACHERS – based on the CHOICE educational path, a curriculum for teachers was designed and tested to enable them to plan and implement educational paths aimed at improving self-awareness and managing emotions among young people through theatrical pedagogy. The project was carried out at the European level, in different national contexts characterized by various indicators of addiction and policies. OPEN RESOURCES – development of open online resources in the form of an educational platform containing the results developed under the project, divided into countries (different language versions). The resources have been divided into appropriate categories related to project activities (manual, research reports, instructional videos and others). RECOMMENDATIONS – due to the assumption adopted in the project on supplementing curricula with content preventing addiction, the partnership developed recommendations for the authorities based on recommendations obtained from pupils and widely understood local authorities (eg school heads, authors of pedagogical programs, psychologists , representatives of educational institutions, etc.) in partner countries. MULTIPLIER EVENTS – each partner at the local level organized dissemination workshops and a final conference.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 221785,63 Eur

Project Coordinator

WYZSZA SZKOLA BIZNESU I NAUK O ZDROWIU & Country: PL

Project Partners

• ASOCIACION CULTURAL EUROACCION MURCIA
• Institut za raziskovanje in usposabljanje v vzgoji in izobrazevanju – IVIZ
• TIBER UMBRIA COMETT EDUCATION PROGRAMME
• EQUAL Ireland Education Research and Related Services Co. Ltd
• ISTITUTO COMPRENSIVO PERUGIA 8
• Liceo Scientifico Statale “G. Alessi”
• Teaterskolen Kastali’a