PATH (Prevention of Addiction THrough emotional education) Erasmus Project

Project Title

PATH (Prevention of Addiction THrough emotional education)

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 2018

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

The PATH project aims to create a minimum quality standard to support school education that involves all important figures (including parents) in the experiential and practical program for children and adolescents.
The aim is to draw the attention of all educators to the importance of the children ability to control affects, use reflection and emotional self-regulation (as opposed to the impulsiveness of the automatic system), in order to promote daily well-being of both, individuals and communities.
To achieve this goal PATH will propose strategies based on cognitive games and daily activities (including the correct use of ICT) which represent a form of functional gymnastics to develop the ability to inhibit impulsivity, self-regulatory and voluntary behavioural control.
This will ensure a more balanced development of children’s personality, both emotional as well as cognitive, reducing the risk of problematic behaviours characterized by somatic effects and psychiatric disorders, such as substance abuse disorder and addictions.
The innovation of the PATH project consists in the production of handbook with practices and methods to be transferred to the teachers of pre-primary and primary schools on emotional education. The handbook will contain also guidelines for trainers to support teachers’ personal growth to understand better their own emotion, thus becoming more empathetic.
The expected result of the initiative is twofold: one and more immediate consists in the empowerment of competencies underlying academic and relational success; the other one manifesting in later stages of development as a capability to control impulsive behaviour like use of substances (for recreational, sociable or delinquent purposes).
PATH is promoted by a partnership of 6 European organizations from 3 countries (IT, ES, CH) and is coordinated by the Italian scientific society SITD (Italian Society for addictions). It includes 3 intellectual outputs, 1 learning / teaching activity, 1 Training of trainers, 4 multiplier events to be carried out in the 24-month period:
– Intellectual Output O1: state of the art on best practices on emotional education at schools environment
Description of best practices (in partner countries in particular and in Europe in general) on initiatives and methods of prevention of youth dependence adopted in educators’ training initiatives.
– Intellectual Output O2: PATH training model
Description of the PATH model: training of educators (qualitative and quantitative definition of the objective of the pilot courses in each partner country, manual of the methodological guidelines, design of the training kit and realization of teaching and evaluation materials, training of trainers, models for report the implementation phase and the participatory methodology to be used with teachers, assistants and other educators …)
– O3 report on the implementation of the model in the field
Description of the implementation of the PATH training model on different levels of education (kindergarten classes and elementary schools selected for the pilot phase of the project and follow-up of teachers (including the personal experiential path of deep understanding of their emotions)
C1 Training of trainers on the PATH model
Realization of a short training activity for the trainers of the partner s(for a total of 22 participants). The course offers the opportunity to test the training package before implementation in the field.
During the course participative methodologies will be used to discuss the transferability of the training package in different educational contexts and their customization.
At the end of the training process, each partner can therefore have almost 7 training experts on the PATH training model, which will carry out the local training and couching the working groups involved in the experimentation of the model in the schools.
H2 multiplier events in the 3 partner countries
3 Events, one for each participating country, will be organized to discuss the project results with local stakeholders.
The project partners are:
– SITD Italian Society ToxicDipemdenze (IT)
– Comprehensive School Institute CAPOL. D.D., San Nicola La Strada (IT)
– Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (ES)
– HERTIN s.r.o., Training Center, Ostrava (CH)
– Základní škola Gen. Piky, primary and pre-primary school, Ostrava (CH)
– PARADIGMA, association for research and community psychology, Caserta (IT).

Project Website

http://m41609.wixsite.com/path

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 291772 Eur

Project Coordinator

SITD Società Italiana Tossicodipendenze & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Paradigma
• Zakladni skola Ostrava, Generala Piky 13 A
• HERTIN s.r.o.
• Istituto Comprensivo Capol. D.D.
• UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA