Hecat aims to investigate, demonstrate and pilot a disruptive technology to support labour market decision making by unemployed citizens and those seeking to help them. At one stage or another, almost half of all EU citizens will rely on a Public Employment Services (PES), and so this is a key touchpoint of a contemporary state and has impacts on citizen’s thinking about social cohesion, care and existential wellbeing. The ambition of the project is to improve citizen’s experience and outcomes of unemployment by offering real-time evidence-based insight into their personal position in the labour market. Hecat builds on the experience and learning of existing basic algorithmic techniques used by some European PES administrations to: - deliver labour market insight directly to unemployed citizen and so is built on European values of open data, collaboration, transparency and citizen-participation - broaden out the focus on quantity of jobs drawn from the ‘economic imagination’ to add a focus on job quality and sustainable employment - go beyond profiling the ‘stock’ unemployed people, to incorporate measures of labour demand, and so take a labour market approach - go beyond the profiling of ‘problem categories’ of citizens that current survey-data based systems use, to exploit emerging big-data processing and analytics to treat each individual as a unique complex subject in a real-time and near limitless database that leverages the insight trapped inside statistical agencies - frame the development in deep contextual insight into the origin and transformation of the experience of unemployment and its administration based on anthropological inquiry - bring this insight into the hands of decision makers with a a platform-UX that exploits novel artificial intelligence with learning capabilities and cutting edge, accessible visualisation and gamification techniques to support knowledge discovery and decision making at the critical moment, as a decision support system

LINPILCARE wanted to LINk Practitioner Inquiry via effective professional learning communities with results of Academic Research in order to support teachers and schools in teaching and learning evidence based.To become a knowledge society in future Europe where flexibility and innovative thinking are important, we have to rethink education. Evidence based teaching and learning is the future in education. (OECD) So educators starting from their own practice and their own problems have to reflect systematically on how they can improve their own practice informed by and based on evidence.On top of that, working in professional learning communities enhanced communication skills, exchange of experiences and social skills.The project Linpilcare supported practitioners to reflect on their own practice, to inquire their own practice, to link the results of their practitioner inquiry with results of academic inquiry and to dialogue about this in effective professional learning communities.The project has developed:IO1: a common conceptual framework on evidence based teaching and learning called 'thinking through practice' ;IO2: more than 78 tools that support practitioners in realising evidence based teaching and learning;IO3: in service training modules, local, regional and national recognized courses and 2 international recognized courses in Estonia. During two conferences - one in Estonia and one in Slovenia - the content of the project has been spread among an international group of practitioners and policy makers.All results are available on www.linpilcare.eu, where you also can find the next courses that the consortium members organise on the content of Linpilcare.

Project MERIA has been proposed on the initiative of mathematicians and mathematics educators from Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark and the Netherlands to improve mathematics education. The “exercise paradigm” in many everyday practices of teaching mathematics (including upper secondary and even university courses) may be a main factor that shapes the common students’ impression of mathematics as uninteresting (tedious routine work), irrelevant (at least to them) and useless (except to pass an exam). The alternative proposed and pursued in this project can be roughly characterized as inquiry based mathematics teaching (IBMT), where exercises are replaced by “inquiry activities” of various types. The project aimed to be based on serious and visionary research on how to realize the aforementioned tasks.The main objectives of the project are: 1) promoting IBMT based on the theoretical approaches of Theory of Didactical Situations (TDS) and Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), 2) providing systematic and overarching support to the curriculum, by creating a repository of mathematical showcase scenarios and modules for secondary schools, 3) upgrading teaching skills of in-service teachers so that they have necessary competences for dealing with diversified groups of learners by using learner-centred approaches and methods, 4) strengthening cooperation and flow of ideas between educational and research institutions dealing with mathematics education at different levels as well as transfer of innovative practices at European level. The project team consisted of mathematicians and researchers in mathematics education (university professors), mathematics teachers and teacher trainers from 11 institutions (6 faculties or universities, 2 high schools, 2 professional associations and 1 national institute for education). Jointly, the project partners designed six intellectual outputs: Practical Guide to IBMT, Template for Teaching Scenarios and Modules, collection of six scenarios and modules, Workshop Guide and Project Impact Analysis. The team has worked closely with teachers from 13 associated schools in all four countries. The role of the associated schools was to try out the teaching materials and provide feedback on its usability, as well as to participate in the interviews providing a basis for the understanding of teachers' needs and barriers for implementing IBMT. In the final phase of the project, we have organized cycles of professional development for mathematics teachers in Croatia, Slovenia and Denmark. A cycle consisted of two workshops, between which the teachers used teaching materials in their own classrooms. Teachers collaborated, discussed and reflected on the implementation which makes a very rare and very precious form of professional development. Students have evaluated lessons based on MERIA scenarios as interesting and engaging, while teachers describe materials as concrete, detailed and useable. Teachers have in particular pointed out that this type of material is rare and needed, in particular due to current curriculum reforms in Denmark and Croatia which focus more on problem solving and active learning. On the other hand, we have learned that teachers lack time and experience to design their own innovative materials. Hence, an interactive repository has been set up on the project web page for teachers to share their materials and further efforts of the project team will be made to develop design principles for tasks that support IBMT. At the end of the project, a final conference with teachers from all four countries was organized at the Faculty of Science. At the conference, all intellectual outputs were disseminated, plenary talks were given that extend the theoretical frameworks used in the project, workshops presenting teachers' new ideas was organized and finally, a public lesson was given by one of the teachers form the team. For a majority of participants it was a first such experience, which emphasized the importance of collaboration between teachers aimed at improving the teaching practices. Understanding the ways in which in-service teachers improv their skills and collaborate provided an idea for a follow-up project that has been also granted by the Erasmus+ programme. This project is called Teachers' Inquiry in Mathematics Education (TIME) and it will focus on small communities of teachers using the method of Lesson Study to jointly experiment and improve the quality of teaching in their schools.

Context and BackgroundThe objective of the transnational project PROMISE was to develop, implement and evaluate innovative practices in teacher professional learning based on a wide knowledge and experience of different European partners to face common challenges in teacher education for inclusion in Europe. The project supported the achievement of the European objectives formulated in the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training 2020 (ET2020). The PROMISE project had a systemic approach. The conceptual framework was based on a series of consecutive projects, which reflect the history of in-service education and professional development.ObjectivesThe project objectives aligned with the EU priority to address educational and thereby social inclusion; enhanced participation in learning opportunities for all young people resulting in avoidance of their disengagement from schools and society in general. The project provided professional learning opportunities that use a range of creative, innovative methodologies and tools to allow teachers to approach these issues with a sense of curiosity and an openness to exploring new ways of thinking, knowing and doing; the head, hand and heart. Participating in this type of learning required participants to engage in ‘boundary crossing’ on a number of levels – local, national, regional, sectoral, physical, professional, cognitive and emotional – which was necessary to find solutions to the societal and educational issues addressed.Number and Type of Profile of ParticipantsThe primary target group for the project were teachers at various stages in their careers and in a range of contexts including pre- and in-service teachers and those working in the vocational sector. In addition, the project included the involvement of teacher educators, education leaders, education researchers and policymakers. The project aimed to have at least 800 participants directly involved in the activities of the project but it is estimated that dissemination methods employed resulted in a higher number of at least 1450 people who have engaged with the project outputs.Description of ActivitiesIn the initial stages of the project, the consortium met as planned face to face to ensure progress towards the project objectives in five transnational project meetings. Subsequent to outbreak of the global pandemic with associated travel restrictions, the partners committed to meeting at least bi-monthly online to ensure that progress towards the objectives continued. At times of increased project activity, these meetings were increased to monthly events. The activities of the project include the development, implementation and evaluation of common and individual professional learning units, tools and resources addressing key elements of inclusive practice and providing innovative learning opportunities for participants. The project activity commenced with collection of authentic professional dilemmas by all partners from stakeholders in their context in the form of vignettes of practice to ensure that the final project products would be meaningful to the target groups. Each of the products developed for IO1-3 were initially delivered by the partner organisations in their own context and during two Learning Events held in Aberdeen and Fontys for evaluative purposes. A project website was then designed based on the underlying principle of the project that teachers are most engaged with their professional learning when they hold ownership of it. As such the website was designed then further shared and evaluated at learning events and dissemination events attended transnationally. Whilst it was considered disappointing not to meet face to face for the learning events in the later stages of the project, innovative design of online learning and dissemination events resulted in high participation from across Europe and the opportunity for a larger number of participants that would not have been possible if the events had required physical travel. Following the learning events, the project website was amended in response to evaluative comments made by participants. The IO4 product was an online e-book outlining the experience of undertaking an Erasmus+ project. Initial planning and data collection occurred from the start of the project. Innovative, creative methodologies were employed to collect snapshots of experience through a collection of postcards reflecting different stages of the project activity. The e-book has now been compiled and published on the project website.Dissemination has included all four multiplier events as planned although some of these have been undertaken online due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, hosting the events including the final dissemination conference online resulted in higher participant attendance. The consortium has also published results in academic peer-reviewed publications, professional journals and attended a number of academic and professional conferences to present keynote addresses and papers to disseminate project activity, output and findings.Results All final products have been shared freely on an open access website: https://promise-eu.net/about The website has been designed to permit teachers and other educators including teacher educators to explore areas of professional learning that match their immediate and long-term needs. These include the professional learning units related to promotion of inclusion for all.Each element of the website is linked to provide seamless navigation between the vignettes of practice, individual professional learning tools and the common professional learning units. The website material was used as a basis for the online learning event and the subsequent multiplier events to exemplify how the website might be used as an online resource for professional learning in a range of contexts. Analysis of website usage by the consortium indicates a high level of interest and engagement from across Europe including some countries not originally planned for within Europe and beyond including South America. Additionally, the e-book describing the experience of being part of an Erasmus+ project has been published on the website as a support tool for future consortia considering participation in Erasmus+ projects.Impact AttainedThe transnational work had a positive impact at different levels. There was a high learning impact for the participating organisations due to a wide range of experiences within an international partnership with the opportunity to engage in dialogue and collaboratively and constructively find solutions to these ongoing challenges in inclusion. These boundary crossing opportunities are having a long-term impact on the participating organisations as the opportunity to engage in innovative boundary crossing moments has marked a change the way they approach future priorities. The project activity has raised the profile of the participating organisations and created new opportunities to extend the project and its results or develop new partnerships for the future. Evaluation and feedback from target groups – both those participating in the project events and those engaging with the website – indicates that the professional learning outputs have had a positive impact on two levels. The decision to collect authentic vignettes of practice outlining the real professional dilemmas being faced by educators across Europe to underpin development of the intellectual outputs generated professional learning materials that are positively improving education provision now. Additionally, the underpinning principle that teachers are best placed to enact their own professional agency in decisions about their professional learning needs has led to a sustainable approach to future professional dilemmas through the notion of in-profession coaching. Sharing of the results has had an impact on the decisions about how future teachers might be prepared to join the profession. The project results have served as examples and inspired others by showing what is possible in European cooperation. Effective dissemination and exploitation of the results on regional, national and international level through attendance at both academic and professional conferences and publication of results in a wide range of journals has raised the awareness and engagement of a wide range of relevant stakeholders and a share of the developed solutions and knowledge. The consortium have been approached by individuals in a range of European organisations to discuss the implications for future provision of professional learning opportunities for both pre- and in-service teachers. Longer Term BenefitsThe project is developed on the basis of an understanding of active professionalism (Sachs, 2000). The consortium understand that all members of a school team may be change agents in the practices of the school. It has been noted, in previous projects, that often the most effective change agents in schools are those teachers who engage with the learning opportunities with enthusiasm whilst understanding the theoretical underpinning of their learning. This project provides opportunities for creative and innovative professional learning that can be used to enthuse educators in a range of contexts to continue to seek innovative solutions to the ongoing challenges in inclusive practice. The design of the intellectual outputs was designed to ensure their sustainable use beyond the lifetime of the project. Additionally, the consortium submitted a successful application for further funding to apply the findings of the PROMISE project to new professional dilemmas arising from the impact of the global pandemic on European education. The RAPIDE (Reimagining a Positive Direction for Education) Erasmus+ project will develop professional learning resources for teachers focusing specifically on teaching and learning in the digital era. Finally, two of the organisations have designed a research project which will explore one element of the PROMISE project findings in more detail. Currently, University of Aberdeen and Leeds Beckett University are undertaking a pilot project to explore the use of dilemma-based co-coaching in digital spaces. It is hoped to scale this project up to include the other project partners once European funding has been secured.