THRIVE

The basic aim is

To reinforce professional development of teachers of students up until 7 years old through an online course, in order to effectively promote positive behaviors in classroom and future school attendance and achievement.

Objectives:

• Educate teachers regarding the processes and methods of teaching.
• Provide teachers with valuable non-formal education methods in working with children towards the promotion of a positive school climate.
• Arm teachers with basic soft skills in order to prepare children to enter and succeed in the classroom.
• Improve teachers’ quality in monitoring and detecting risk factors of school attendance.
• Assist children’s’ self-development and enhance motivation of learning.

Regarding the results of the project we expect:

The creation of an online course which will be developed during the project from specialized in working with children professionals and non-formal educators. The final product regards an online e-platform that will provide knowledge and techniques regarding early childhood education and learning through play, which aims to promote positive behaviors in classroom and student’s motivation in learning. It will be available to those who work with children up until 7 years old.

The expected impact of the project refers to:

Participants: “THRIVE”’s direct target group and participants are teachers working with children up until 7 years old who wish to be engaged  in adult learning and develop competencies via non-formal learning through online courses, as well as schools and preschool structures locally/regionally/nationally. The impact for this group will be the development of their learning in terms of the use of non-formal education techniques as a method to improve teaching quality. Moreover teachers will acquire a facilitated tool in order to develop basic teaching competences. Furthermore teachers will enhance their leadership skills and act as a role model for their students, communicating positive behaviors in school. Teachers will be able to improve their capacity to develop new exercises and teaching strategies following non-formal education methodology. Educators will be able to monitor and be aware of warning signs and factors that may intervene in school attendance. Finally teachers’ well-being will be improved too. Through professional development, teachers will feel the support of a tool that will enhance their efficiency and confidence when working with toddlers and children. Enhancing their teaching quality, teachers will become competent to deal with daily challenges occurring within school and preschool structures.
Participating Organizations: Project partners will have an advantage of this prevention strategy for the strategic development of their organizations and more importantly for their beneficiaries. “THRIVE” will give them a new method to engage with their beneficiaries and offer them additional services which will help their development and progression.  The expected impact on the partner organizations will be therefore direct and will include the development of learning in terms of professional development, non-formal learning, early childhood education and specifically how to combine the three elements, as well as the provision of a new offer for their beneficiaries.
Target groups: The target group, as mentioned above, will benefit in a strong way. The tool that will be developed during the project would be available to teachers who’re working with children up until 7 years old and are interested in professional development. The target group will look for and know where to find a valuable and facilitated and self-paced tool. Regarding the indirect target group which is children up until 7 years old, those will be able to receive a better quality of education. Students will acquire a more effective way to look at learning. Students will improve their self-development and learn how to actively participate in learning process. Through non-formal education directed to promoting positive behaviors and active participation, children will succeed to be better prepared in order to enter classroom. The early prevention strategy will positively affect learning to later educational stages too. It will also prevent early school leaving and therefore social inclusion will be promoted. It will finally promote productivity and well-being at both personal and social level.
Entire Community: “THRIVE” project targets policy makers both domestically and within the EU. The impact on them concerns the development of their learning in terms of the use of online courses as a method of professional development linked to non-formal learning as a method to develop teaching competencies.  Moreover the ability to be able to promote “THRIVE” methodology within their area of expertise with their membership. “THRIVE” act as supplementary to usual training courses regarding professional development. Relevant stakeholders and policy makers will have the opportunity to consider enriching existing training curriculum with THRIVE’s self-paced online courses. “THRIVE” consists a cost-effective alternative that facilitates the education of teachers, in case of limitations of time or space. “THRIVE” suggests a linkage of formal education with non-formal education methodology. The above mentioned compound can potentially lead to further adjustments, alterations and improvement regarding the already existing education approach.  The project will designate the importance of teachers’ professional development in preventing low school attendance and early school leaving.

This project has been funded with the support of the European commission. The information reflects the views of the authors, and the commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

For more information, please visit European project THRIVE

Funded by the Erasmus+  Programme of the European Union (Contract number: 2015-1-EL01-KA201-013917)