LINEup aims at identifying key success factors for quality education for all, by mapping and analysing the research design and findings of existing longitudinal data on students’ learning outcomes at primary and secondary level (6-18 year-old students). Considering that 2023 is the European Year of Skills and in line with the objectives of the European Education Area and Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success, the project focuses on achievement and attainment of basic skills. LINEup is based on a comprehensive desk research aiming at collecting, analysing and summarizing data that allow assessing inequalities in education over time in 31 countries, and with a particular focus on Southern and Western Europe. Part of the activities are dedicated to understand to what extent different databases can be made directly comparable and deliver a feasibility study that brings innovation to the research community interested in comparative longitudinal analysis. A qualitative research in project countries complements the mapping to gather primary data on the implementation process and impact of possible compensatory interventions. In line with the findings of recent longitudinal studies, the objective is to further investigate what schools can do to keep their students engaged, meet their characteristics and needs, and reduce inequalities in the short, medium and long run. LINEup will contribute to expand the knowledge base on what shapes educational outcomes over time and on student-centred interventions aiming at lifting the performance in basic skills and reducing early leaving from education and training, which are a key challenge across Europe. Attention will be dedicated to cooperating with national authorities of the participating countries to identify and access longitudinal data and other administrative sources, and to validate and disseminate the results at European, national and local level for a more supportive and equitable school environment.

ContextThe MTTEP project addresses challenges facing teacher educators in using mobile technologies to enhance the practices of both preservice and inservice teachers. It contributes towards the further professionalisation of teaching in Higher Education. Many researchers have highlighted the value of mobile devices in schools but evidence collected by the research team (see Kearney and Burden, 2017) reveal how infrequently teachers use mobile devices in their daily practices. More disturbingly, this research shows how ill prepared teacher educators in HE are to use mobiles and therefore to prepare their trainee teachers to use them in the classroom. The MTTEP project seeks to address this problem. Objectives;The project aims to develop and disseminate resources that will support teachers and teacher educators in particular, in using mobile technologies more effectively. These include: 1. the development of a mobile learning toolkit to enable them to evaluate and develop their use of mobile technologies for pedagogical purposes2. the establishment of a mobile learning network for teacher educators to support individuals and their institutions in the sharing of good practice and sustain the project outputsNumber and profile of participating organisationsThe project involved three institutions of teacher education (ITE) in Europe and one in Australia. Each university was partnered with a school in their own country identified for its excellence in using mobiles. These included The University of Hull (UK) and Lentiz Revius Lyceum* (Netherlands); Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and Metis vgs Bergen school (Norway); and University of Education Karlsruhe and Rennbuckel Realschule Karlsruhe (Germany). Additionally the partnership included Stuttgart Media University, for their expertise in media and graphics. * Lentiz Revius Lyceum replaced Thomas Ferens Academy, Hull, early in the project when the school was forced to withdraw for management reasons. This change was approved by the British Council. Description of undertaken main activitiesProject partners worked on four intellectual outputs (IOs) and various other activities to achieve the project objectives. In year one they focused on the production of a series of exemplary iBooks (IO3) to capture and illustrate good practice in mobile learning in teacher education. In year two the focus shifted to the development of a pedagogical framework (iPAC) and a series of video case studies illustrating best practice in the use of mobile technologies. In year three these resources were amalgamated into a single mobile learning toolkit, hosted on a separate website (http://www.mobilelearningtoolkit.com/). Partners also developed an innovative rubric to evaluate apps in year three and an online course to assist new adopters in using the toolkit. Throughout the project the academic partners also produce academic outputs (5 journal articles) as part of IO4. All of these resources were shared and further tested with participants at the final LTTE event in June 2017. In addition the project hosted two multiplier events to disseminate the emerging outcomes in Karlsruhe ( 2015) and Bergen (2016). Results and impact attainedThe project achieved, and in some cases exceeded, its original objectives and it has already had a major impact on teacher educators which will be extended through an Erasmus+ extension project (www.deimpeu.com ) funded in 2017. The main results of the project are a mobile learning toolkit and a mobile learning network for teacher educators. The toolkit includes:1. three multimedia iBooks deposited in the Apple iTunes Book store which have been downloaded over three thousand time 2. a bespoke theoretical framework for using mobile devices (iPAC) that has been used in many other projects including three extension projects3. a unique set of evaluation tools that can be used to measure and evaluate current practices with mobile tools. These have been used elsewhere including by Apple UK as part of resources for teachers and teacher educators4. a database of video case studies illustrating different ways of using mobile technologies and an expandable template that other users can adopt to design and submit their own video case studies.5. a rubric to evaluate the pedagogical affordances of different apps 6. a twelve week online course about mobile learning in teacher education and schools that institutions can adopt and adapt to suit their particular circumstances Additionally, and as importantly, the project has seen the establishment and launch of a bespoke mobile learning network for teacher educators which is the first of its kind worldwide. The network has already received in excess of one hundred applications for membership from individuals and institutions and held its first meeting at the LTTE event in Hull in June 2017. It will be formally launched at the MITE conference in Galway, in January 2018.

<< Background >>Democracy thrives on debate and thus on the exchange of people with different worldviews in mutual appreciation and respect. However, the more plural and diverse societies become, the more radical tendencies (fundamentalism, racism, populism, nationalism, extremism, etc.) seem to spread, undermining democratic values and hindering equal recognition, participation and inclusion of all citizens. Social cohesion in a democracy is based on a culture of communication that enables peaceful coexistence between different cultures, religions, world views and groupings. As a basis for this, all citizens must therefore have the skills to be able to conduct a fair dialogue in mutual respect, even with highly diverse worldviews - both in real encounters on site and in encounters in international contexts, as well as in encounters in digital media. The ideal place to equip all citizens with communication skills for a diverse society is the school. Because the school is the microcosm of society. In school, all pupils are reached, regardless of their opportunities, their physical or intellectual aptitude, their health, their cultural, social or national background and their religions, beliefs or worldviews. The murder of the teacher Samuel Paty in France has shown how important it is to ensure from the very beginning that these social problems are not suppressed in schools, but are sensitively perceived and brought into the conversation in order to overcome them (NZZ, 15.01.2021). For even such laudable initiatives as the largest school network in Germany www.schule-ohne-rassismus.org cannot prevent antisemitic attacks from occurring in schools, as the example of the Berlin-Friedenau school proves (Die ZEIT of 14.4.2017). These are just a few examples from Europe that show that schools need didactic concepts that can be concretely implemented and tested, that can sustainably implement a culture of encounter for common values in diversity and that- reach every individual pupil, - allow pupils to learn, experience and reflect on respectful encounters in real, international and digital contexts,- have a sustainable preventive effect through habitus changes.For the implementation of such didactic concepts that lead to respectful and appreciative encounters with people of other worldviews, those subjects that deal with the so-called ultimate questions, such as the subjects of religious education, ethics and philosophy, are particularly suitable. At the same time, it is religions and worldviews that are functionalised for radicalisation and discrimination. Therefore, if pupils learn in these subjects to engage in constructive and respectful dialogue with each other about religious or secular truth claims and certainties, they will also be able to do so on less difficult issues and on other topics.But pupils can only be reached through teachers. Therefore, teacher education and training must offer study programmes that enable (future) teachers to learn about, experience and reflect on concepts of Learning in Encounter between different worldviews. Throughout Europe, there are good initiatives, programmes and projects of interreligious and intercultural university didactics at universities and colleges - the applicants have also been active in such projects for many years with research, teaching and publications. However, there is still a lack of study programmes for initial and in-service teacher training throughout Europe that train (prospective) teachers not only theoretically but also practically in how to apply didactic concepts of Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity in all types of schools.<< Objectives >>The school is the place where we need to start in order to have an impact on society, and teacher education and professional development is the way to bring a Learning in Encounter concept into schools.Based on their long-standing expertise in intercultural and interreligious projects and programmes in teacher education, the applicants have come together because they want to respond to the need for a concept of Learning in Encounter in teacher education and professional development that can meet the following criteria for concrete application in schools:The concept should:- already have been tested and partly evaluated in teacher education and in schools,- be so concrete that it can be implemented one-to-one in all types of schools,- bring inter-worldview religious and secular, also secular worldviews into discussion,- be interdisciplinary and subject-oriented, guiding participants with different worldviews, regardless of their background, to engage in a respectful interdisciplinary conversation about existentially significant issues,- give participants the opportunity to express their own individual religious or secular worldviews in a safe space of real or digital spaces,- allow participants to practice competences of dialogue and encounter in both real and digital spaces, - enable participants to communicate transnationally across countries and to expand their digital capacities,- enable tolerance of diversity and inclusion of participants with fewer opportunities (with physical, intellectual impairments, health problems, cultural differences, limited social competences, economic disadvantage) for all participants in teacher education and professional development as well as in school.- empower participants to engage in democracy and contribute to the European identity of participants through real and digital settings of Learning in Encounter for common values in diversity.To prepare teachers to implement a concept with their pupils, such as 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity', the applicants want to expand interdisciplinary, digitalise and internationalise the Learning in Encounter as WEL: (see Annex 4) on the basis of a 4-phase concept that has already been tested and evaluated in schools since 2002/03 and at the German applicant universities since 2011. It will be established at as many universities and teacher training institutions for professional development as possible throughout Europe and from there in all types of schools.WEL: stands for Worldviews Encounter Learning and the colon (:) indicates openness and respect for diversity – in regard of all key dimensions of diversity, especially of all worldviews. Therefore, the project partners are pursuing further objectives with this application: We want to develop and offer a study programme WEL:study on a digital platform WEL:digital. At the end of the project, WEL:study will be available in universities, teacher education and training centres, other educational institutions and schools across Europe as a recognised additional qualification and micro-credential WEL:cred (supplemented by didactics and materials for teacher education and professional development) in the form of OER. WEL:cred will ensure that the concept of 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity' spreads from teacher education and training into schools, contributing to a culture of conversation in democracies in mutual appreciation and respect. WEL: aims to empower all participants to deal with diversity and to contribute multiplicatively to a peaceful coexistence and a future-oriented European identity through the communication skills they have gained in international cooperation and digital spaces.<< Implementation >>Under the direction of the KPH Wien/Krems (KPH), a multilingual digital teaching, learning, interaction and cooperation platform 'WEL:digital' (PR1) will be set up adn gradually developed, including all project contents, communication possibilities, materials, evaluation tools, etc. Multilingualism, an account for all participants, OER offers, interaction possibilities between the participants (professors, students, teachers, pupils) and spaces for the public will be built up successively. In cooperation with the partners, a digitally supported, internationally available study programme WEL: is being developed, to which all universities and participating fields of study contribute asynchronous study offers for retrieval on WEL:digital. The partner universities have pledged to continue WEL:digital beyond the end of the project (cf. Annex 9).The study programme WEL:study (PR 2), which is based on an additional qualification of the PH HD and University of Education Karlsruhe (PH KA), will be further developed under the leadership of Ankara University (Ankara Univ.) with the partners and adapted to the study requirements of the European countries. Together with the partners, an advanced training course on didactics in higher education will be developed as a tutorial (with videos, handouts, etc. and further links, PR 3) for all interested lecturers in initial and in-service teacher training and, under the leadership of the PH KA, supplemented by the partners with innovative teaching and learning materials for teacher training (PR 4).Under the leadership of the PH HD, in cooperation with the Heidelberg School of Education (HSE), a study programme of an internationally recognised certificate WEL:cred (PR 5, see Annex 5) is being developed, adapted to the requirements of European universities and developed as a decentralised, digitally accessible transnational micro-credential as OER for teacher trainees and teachers throughout Europe. In order to implement the four-phase teaching concept WEL: in its digital, international and interdisciplinary form in the schools right from the start, the concept will initially be implemented at four schools from Austria, Germany, Greece and Turkey under the leadership of Eskisehir Osmangazi University (ESOGÜ). To this end, the teachers will be trained via WEL:digital online tutorials and will receive an initial handout (PR 6), which will be updated and later made available internationally as OER on WEL:digital together with innovative teaching materials (PR 7).Evaluation and monitoring will be defined under the leadership of Aristotle University (AUth) for each partner organisation to ensure appropriate use of all evaluation tools. Monitoring will include: (a) monitoring of project parameters (b) tracking of the engagement of different stakeholders in the project (c) development of the WEL:cred (d) implementation of the concept in the partner universities and (e) in the cooperating schools.Pre-post evaluations will be carried out several times during the project, the results of which should lead to quality improvement of the individual project outcomes and to a questionnaire for self-evaluation (PR 8).Project management activities at Heidelberg University of Education (PH HD) include setting up the project organisation, the communication channels, networking the partners and associated partners with each other and with the project management. For this purpose, a start-up meeting will be held in the 46th calendar week in Heidelberg as a hybrid event with all partners and associated partners for planning the project and to form a common understanding of 'Worldviews'. The meeting structure (training, working units, lectures and dissemination) will be repeated for the project meetings in Thessaloniki 9/2022 and Ankara 3/2023 and will be complemented by project reporting and evaluation. The steering committee meets every six weeks for project development and monitoring<< Results >>The open societies in Europe of plurality and diversity need the initiation and deepening of competences of real and digital communication and encounter for social cohesion and participation.We expect that our project 'Sharing Worldviews: Learning in Encounter for common Values in Diversity' will have the following outcomes:- Leading sustainably to a better culture of conversation, openness to diversity, understanding of each other, knowledge of conflict emergence and conflict resolution and thus to shared values of recognition and tolerance of other worldviews and beliefs through teacher education and professional development in the schools and from there in the society.- Contributing to inclusion and diversity in the fields of education through the digital, international and interdisciplinary WEL: concept through teacher education and professional development in schools and through them in society.- Anchoring digital skills and competences in society in a sustainable way through teacher education and professional development and through schools, and contributing to a digital communication culture in tolerance and recognition of diversity.- Contributing sustainably to the culture of debate of different worldviews (opinions to religious or secular truth claims) and thus to common values and participation of all people in democratic society through teacher education and professional development in schools and in society.- Reaching young citizens with fewer opportunities (with physical, intellectual impairments, health problems, cultural differences, limited social competences, economic disadvantage) through teacher education and professional development in schools and enabling their participation. In this way we help to overcome barriers linked to discriminations related to gender, age, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, sexual orientation, disability through Learning in Encounter for common values in diversity.- Contributing to the Europeanisation, internationalisation and digitalisation of research, education and teacher training.In order to have a positive effect on the communication culture of European societies through teacher education and professional development and through schools, the project wants to sustainably anchor the following results in various European countries: A multilingual digital teaching, learning, interaction and cooperation platform 'WEL:digital' (PR 1) will be the basis and tool for the other project results: a) In teacher education and professional development the project will create and offer the new, innovative and joint, digitally supported, internationally available study program WEL:study (PR 2), from which practical guidance for teacher education (PR 3) and highly didactic, innovative teaching and learning material (PR 4) can be accessed as OER. The study programme WEL:study will produce a transnationally recognised certificate WEL:cred (PR 5) for student teachers and for teachers as qualification in professional development, which can be accessed as a micro-credential throughout Europe.b) The project will offer multilingual didactics for teachers of all types of schools from primary school to grammar school, which serve as a handbook for the introduction and implementation of the four-phase pedagogical concept Worldviews-Encounter-Learning in schools (PR 6). For this purpose, innovative learning materials (PR 7) are available to the teachers. These materials will be created successively as part of the final examinations of the certificate students (WEL:cred) and from series of lessons already carried out in (partner) schools according to the concept WEL:.c) On WEL:digital the project partners will set up a questionnaire tool for a) teacher education and professional development and b) schools on WEL:digital, which enables the participants to evaluate their own projects in WEL: (PR 8).

"Short summary in English: The Europäisches Institut für interkulturelle und interreligiöse Forschung stands for research projects and studies on the one hand and regular conferences and educational events on the other, esp. in the academic field of religion and culture. Concerning the current debate about religion and education the project ""Religiöse Bildung und interkulturelles Lernen"" intends to open new perspectives for schools and universities on the one hand and for intercultural learning where people of different confessions and religions meet each other in a pluralistic society. Therefore the strategic partnership of chosen institutions and persons in Germany, Liechtenstein and Turkey will take care for encounter and dialogue in Europe. Intercultural and interreligious learning has to become part of education at school as well as university. Regular exchange of experiences and new insights will be part of the strategic partnership in order to analyze the different results between and within the involved organizations."

The VEO Europa project (www.veoeuropa.com) brought together 6 partners from 5 countries and addressed Strategic Objective 2 of the EU policy on Education and Training (ET2020) ‘Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training’ by using an innovative technological approach to support initial teacher training and continuing professional development. The project built on work undertaken by Newcastle University, who developed a prototype software application for classroom observation: the VEO app for Video Enhanced Observation. This App adopted a novel and data-driven approach to classroom observation by enabling the observer to ‘tag’ (video timestamp) a range of different aspects of both teaching and learning for later review. The flexibility of the App allowed for customised tag sets to be developed to match the requirements of the activity being observed.The objectives of the project were to: •improve teacher performance by sharing best practice •identify the specific needs of individual teachers and using peer learning and observation to improve their performance and competences •use the technology to monitor engagement and motivation •provide a low-cost and time-efficient model of CPD •provide in-house CPD which is focused on the individual teacher•use the technology for self-evaluation, monitoring of teacher performance and setting performance management targets •use the technology to implement and monitor new approaches to pupil learning•demonstrate how this digital tool can be effective in improving the performance of both teachers and their studentsThe main outputs were:•an enhanced App with multi-language interface translation, capable of live recording and tagging, along with a secure portal for retrospective tagging and sharing video, and customisable tagsets•an online platform hosting the full set of downloadable training modules •a YouTube channel showcasing training and best practice videos •a research report and partner publications, including an edited volume with chapters contributed from the project partners and the VEO community of practice•in addition, an interactive electronic book (iBook) was published via Apple iTunes to promote the project and its outcomes to a wider audienceThe project customised the App by developing a multi-language translation interface for tailored use across a range of different country contexts. Learning to use the app was facilitated by a set of downloadable training resources. The training resources were tested with trainees and existing teachers in each country, a minimum of 400 teachers. These local workshops also served to develop the technical expertise of teachers, who were able to cascade their learning to colleagues and act as VEO champions in their organisations, where the VEO trials took place. Through dissemination, the project reached approximately a further 500 key stakeholders in the UK, Germany, Finland, Turkey and Bulgaria, including School Leadership teams, Teacher Training Organisations including HEIs, NGOs, Teaching Unions and National Ministries. Within the exploitation strand, partners have plans to exploit their networks to reach European wide organisations and guarantee the life of the project outcomes beyond project end, including involvement in other projects to build on work already done as well as incorporating VEO into local practice in each country. The VEO Group spin-off company continues its expansion, bringing VEO to wider groups, including medical and other practice-based settings. The project research strand gathered evidence of teacher development to ensure maximum access at a European level and inform policy development. In addition, partners presented the VEO Europa project at a further 22 academic conferences and workshops. Dissemination of the project to academic and professional communities has enhanced the credibility of VEO with teachers and academics and will continue to do so following the publication of the edited book about the project, scheduled for 2018. Results: the project has provided evidence of:•improved confidence and motivation to use educational technology •increased and improved skills and technology use for education•increased use of technology for teacher professional development•new models of observation in teacher training•new approaches to video for teacher appraisal and performance management leading to improved teacher performance, confidence and motivation in teachers •a demonstration of how this technology can be used to provide a more targeted, effective and cost-effective method of professional developmentThe longer-term impact of the VEO Europa project will be evident in the continuing shift in policy and practice in relation to lesson observation. VEO is now an integral part of key educational institutions in five countries, with an academic and professional community of practice developing around its principles.