Happy School through SEL

Topic(s) addressed

• Early school leaving/combating school failure

• Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong) learning

• Agencies and/or methods for improving quality (including school education improvement)

Target groups

• approx. 15 teachers 

• approx. 250 students, 3-6 years old, 

• parents

• local community

• local authorities

Methodologies

• Using eTwinning for collaboration with partner schools to facilitate SEL activities (peer-learning)

• Implementing interdisciplinary activities connected with their everyday life, which stimulated concern about emotions and conflicts. 

• Role-playing as a great tool to observe and understand personal feelings and recognize them in other members. Moreover, 

• Using project mascots to improve children’s empathy. 

• The activities to reinforce problem-solving skills and increase cultural awareness

• Using ICT tools to support young students’ effort 

Environments

• The project was based on a whole school approach connecting everyday life problems with the learning process in the classroom. 

• The teams focused on resolving disagreements and conflicts by implementing interdisciplinary activities

• Bringing respect and tolerance for diversity to the school community.

• Involving national and international organizations as community centres 

Teachers

• All the teachers took part in the school’s staff training, where they acquired new knowledge and upgraded their methods and techniques.

• They collaborated and motivated each other sharing new practices.

• Interacting with other stakeholders, they gained more self-confidence and facilitated their creativity, promoting SEL. 

• Finally, they became agents of educational reforms by disseminating the outcomes of the project. 

• As a result, they maximized students’ learning opportunities keeping the focus on respect for diversity and inclusion.

Impact

The teams achieved the project’s key goals:

• Preschoolers in every partner institution learnt how to recognise and deal with emotions as well as proposed and tried to apply ways for effective conflict management. The children became proactive and school drop-out was minimized.

• Teachers upgraded their educational methods, through sharing experience, exchanging ideas and learning about new techniques. They also improved their communication and built their professional network.

• Parents used new strategies to motivate/support their children to understand their feelings and adapt their behaviour. 

• Institutions became open to their local community and increased their effectiveness by developing EU projects and reframing the vision of school policy for SEL.