This project is inspired by a motivation to provide a positive image of the European Union in response to negative attitudes emerging in the media and from some areas of the political spectrum. The guiding principle is to challenge the misconception that citizenship within Europe threatens our sense of national identities hence confronting negative perceptions of Europe often advocated in the media and to offer an alternative to an isolationist paradigm of nationhood. The project seeks to promote the benefits of closer integration with our European neighbours and peers and to highlight the life-long economic, cultural, educational and social benefits that young people can expect to receive as a result of being a part of Europe as well as to encourage entrepreneurship amongst our students by developing innovative approaches to communication technologies. The project uses the notion of Respect as a vehicle to compare, contrast, highlight and educate participants to challenging concepts in education across borders. Our main Respect4 objectives are: 1. To provide students & teachers from schools located in 8 countries with an enriching cross curricular project which develops their European awareness and promotes a sense of respect, self, European identity and to challenge and overcome negative perceptions regarding European citizenship. 2. To broaden learners' and teachers’ horizons relating to cultural knowledge, language skills and intercultural dialogue. 3. To motivate the use of ICT-based content, contributing to ICT skills acquisition and innovatory teaching methods to benefit staff and learners. 4. To promote teamwork amongst staff and learners in the different partner countries and between different sections of our own communities and organisations, thus developing participants’ organisational/ leadership & conflict management skills and applying these skills to the workplace and daily life. 5. To compare different educational systems in order to transfer best practice and inform students of different possibilities of acquiring further education and undertaking mobility abroad. In order to fulfill the objectives of the project, the partners agreed upon a number of outcomes supporting an ethos of European citizenship ans Respect which could develop lifelong learning skills. These include but are not limited to; the ability to interpret and apply information effectively ,to promote communication skills and to develop mastery of artistic, cultural and practical competencies. Our outcomes need to broaden the students’ horizons. To achieve this, our project planning demands that students have the opportunity to experience life in unfamiliar environments, so our partnership will offer participants the opportunity to spend time in each others’ schools and countries. Participation in Respect4 mobilities will also extend to students with special needs. Free movement throughout Europe was agreed as being vital to academic and economic opportunities for students. Confronting negative attitudes to European identity and promotion of the sense of what it means to be European while simultaneously celebrating regional or national pride demands understanding and respect for the traditions of our partners. Respect makes up the core of the project idea and will be explored throughout the project and is the basis for the title of the project and underpin many of the activities. We needed to encourage the ability to think independently, so our students will be empowered to make informed choices in their lives, and develop their sense of well-being and confidence in lifelong learning. These opportunities can be a direct result of the transnational opportunities which are presented as a consequence of closer European integration.

All partners in this project share a firm belief that “music should belong to everyone” - it is crucial that every child (not just the privileged few) should have access to music education from the early years. Why is it important to start music education in early childhood and why should it be for everyone? The key is the proven benefits of music, the so called “musical transfer effect”. If children receive high quality, meaningful music education from a young age it is very likely to have a positive effect in many areas including: Cognitive ability, literacy, numeracy, social and personal skills.It is our united belief, that in order to have high quality music education we first need well trained and highly skilled music teachers. Special emphasis must be placed on music education in the primary schools, particularly for 5 to 10 year-olds, who are in their most susceptible years. However, in the majority of non-specialist educational settings children of this age may only receive one music lesson per week, generally delivered by classroom teachers with no formal music training.As a result, frequently the teacher uses poor quality repertoire.What role should music conservatoires play in addressing these issues? Firstly conservatoires should play a more prominent role in the training of elementary music teachers and it is our firm belief that those experts in conservatoires should support and engage with the school music education system. Consequently, three leading European Higher Education Institutions of music (The Liszt Academy of Music Budapest - the leader of the consortium, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Glasgow and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague- all of whom are known globally) and their local partners from the field of Education and choral work (The Kós primary School from Hungary, and the National Youth Choirs of Scotland and Holland, resp.) have come together to collaborate in this project, with the following aims: - to raise awareness among professional musicians as well as the general public as to the need for quality music education in all schools - to provide guidance for music educators towards a creative music pedagogy inspired by the work of Zoltán Kodály and his Hungarian music pedagogical legacy.The Kodály-based musicianship training puts singing at the heart of the concept, being the most powerful and accessible tool to develop musicianship skills. Singing is free and can be adapted to all areas of teaching and learning music in all settings.The project “Kodály HUB: Sing, Learn, Share,” set 3 key objectives, all of which have been fully achieved and completed:· to create a new curriculum to be used in the teacher training programmes of HEIs. Though the newly formed curriculums are country specific, the core ideas are easily adaptable to other countries as well.· to renew the music repertoire for classroom use and to compile new methodology materials, focusing on how to teach music in a joyful, meaningful and relevant way. All new materials have already been published on the Kodály HUB.· to open an on-line knowledge centre (Kodály HUB - https://kodalyhub.com) for public viewing where a Songbook, a Community, a Calendar, (later a Forum) and further useful resources are available to assist teachers in their everyday work. We hope teachers will also feel encouraged to share their own music, ideas and experiences globally. During the 30-month period of the project we organised three learning weeks, where 10 pre-selected students of each HEI visited the other 2 countries. The purpose of the visit was two-fold: 1) to get a direct insight into the music pedagogy practices, the good examples, the challenges of the given country and 2) to work together (students and experts) on the creation of the HUB. These exchange visits were coupled with the challenging task of producing altogether 900 analysed songs representing each country’s musical heritage. These songs are already uploaded on the Kodály Hub with a range of age appropriate musical activities, an analysis of the song and, where relevant, an accompanying game or movement activity. Users may search the database using a number of essential search criteria. 4 transnational project meetings, 3 major and many more minor multiplier events were organised to promote the truly European values of the project which is to be shared and embedded worldwide. As a result, in 5 months we have reached more than 1500 registered users on the HUB from all over the world. By providing hands-on freely accessible resources to practitioners and by modernizing teacher training programmes, it is hoped that a new generation of teachers with improved musical and teaching skills will emerge. Subsequently, all children will experience joyful participation in music making, which will further enhance the transfer effect and consequently have a strong positive impact on our society worldwide.