Managing Emotions in Learning and Teaching – Building Inclusive Learning Environments Erasmus Project

Project Title

Managing Emotions in Learning and Teaching – Building Inclusive Learning Environments

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

6 Primary/Lower-secondary schools from 6 different countries (IT, FR, LT, MT, PT, UK), representing diverse European pedagogical traditions, joined in the MELT partnership (Managing Emotions in Teaching and Learning-Building Inclusive Learning Environments) in the conviction that inclusive learning environments can be more easily developed by addressing teachers’ training needs on the one hand, and by devising activities based on transversal inclusive competences for all pupils on the other.
The partner schools agreed that, having a clearly outlined professional profile at both national and European level could help define the competences teachers need in order to face the growing challenges posed by diverse and complex learning contexts. At the same time, they believed that involving pupils in the teaching/ learning process by having them reflect on what helps or hinders learning and sharing among partners a set of transdisciplinary activities for students could boost interest and motivation in all learners.
Following the above indications, the MELT partner schools carried out a two-fold participatory action research involving teachers and pupils (mostly 10-14 years-of-age) and developing the following activities:
-they conducted surveys with teachers and parents about the problems teachers face nowadays;
-they compared the education systems of the partner countries in terms of initial/in-service training, teachers’ rights and duties analysing national ethical codes, contracts, laws, and devised a proposal for a European professional teacher profile;
– they organised staff mobilities with training sessions, job shadowing activities and MELT research meetings;
-they involved pupils in the definition of an ideal teacher profile;
– within pupils’ mobilities, they involved the participants in pilot activities on transdisciplinary competences based on the hosting school’s best practises.
The MELT research was developed through cooperation at distance and joint short-term staff training events. A scientific committee of experts and coordinators of the partner institutions guided and assessed all the process: initial surveys, reviews of education systems, teachers and pupils’ mobilities, final products.
Teams of teachers cooperated to outline the characteristics of the inclusive teacher’s profile, prepared the pupils’ inclusive activities, and received training from various experts during the mobilities.
In the short-term exchanges, pupils from all the partner schools were involved in international learning experiences focused on inclusive competences. By travelling across Europe, pupils worked together through expressive means such as music, visual arts, drama etc. aimed at the acquisition of competences such as cooperating, participating, being able to express one’s emotions, solving problems, acting autonomously and responsibly. Each host school created authentic tasks in art subjects focused on inclusive competences.
A Europass certificate was issued to all participants after mobilities.
A MELT 6-part poster was filled in by pupils with the highlights of each mobility experience.
An e-twinning project accompanied the partners’ work at distance. On the Twinspace, pupils collected their thoughts about learning and about their ideal teacher.
Pupils also took part in a competition to design the project logotype.

The main MELT outputs were disseminated internally and externally, during the project development and at its completion, through seminars and special events held in the different countries at the end of mobilities. Because of the Covid-19 pandemics, the two final mobilities and an international dissemination conference were held online. Although the virtual mobilities could not replace the real experience, at dissemination level the conference proved very successful, since more teachers than if it had been in presence could take part in it.
The project activities and its step-by-step project are carefully recorded in the MELT blog, and in the two Newsletters. The MELT website contains the MELT research and its outputs, which have been also uploaded in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform.
The results of MELT are expected to have a strong impact on the partner institutions’ learning environments after project completion. The research on the teachers’ training needs and the European teacher profile, together with the input from the pupils’ work on their ideal teacher can be used both by institutions and single teachers to organise/choose in-service training and work on the teacher/learner relationship. The set of transdisciplinary activities shared among the partnership and put to test during the mobilities will become part of the partner schools’ practices to help build inclusive environments.

Project Website

https://www.metamindserasmusplus.eu/MELT

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 167901,1 Eur

Project Coordinator

ICS Giorgio Perlasca & Country: IT

Project Partners

• St. Joseph, Mater Boni Consilii School
• Xalbador Kolegioa
• Kaunas Senamiestis progymnasium
• Agrupamento de Escolas nº 1 de Serpa
• Hillview School for Girls