EMPowering schools' Action fostering Teachers' Innovation, empathy & Support within the Educational community

The EMPATISE project was born to tackle common needs in the target areas, rural or disadvantaged, of Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Portugal, which share common challenges in the education system. The context analysis conducted revealed several relevant problems: high rates of educational poverty, uniformity in school curricula, lack of coordination between local actors, isolation of teachers, high rates of school drop-out and NEETs, as well as unemployment and emigration. According to Eurostat (2019), 22.5% of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, with negative consequences for their future. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these issues, especially in the most vulnerable areas, where early school leaving was already a significant challenge. EMPATISE was created with the aim of improving educational opportunities (school and extracurricular) for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, breaking the vicious cycle of poverty, early school leaving, unemployment and social exclusion, and contributing to the creation of a more inclusive education system, based on cooperation and empathy and oriented towards local community development.

EMPATISE was designed with the overall objective of empowering teachers and educators in addressing the challenges of educational disadvantage, early school leaving and low basic skills, through an innovative educational model based on empathy towards students and cooperation with local actors in the educating communities. Specific objectives: 1. To improve the skills of teachers and educators in non-formal learning and in adapting to the individual needs of students 2. To provide capacity building tools for educators working in disadvantaged contexts 3. Aligning educational programmes to learners' individual competences and interests 4. Increase opportunities for young people, especially those at risk of dropping out of school In addition to improving the skills of teachers and educators, the project aimed to promote capacity building of disadvantaged communities in dealing with youth issues, the increase and improvement of educational opportunities for young people living in disadvantaged areas and the strengthening of cooperation between educational and social actors in and between EU communities

After an initial analysis of the needs of teachers and educators through focus groups, the analysis of best practices for the development of a training programme (Educational Leadership Programme) was initiated and made available to the target groups through a dedicated e-leaning platform. Through a series of laboratories, co-designing workshops and feedback gathering, Empatise developed and tested the project's outputs, including the OERs of the educational programme, the 5 Educational Community Pilots (formalised by the Educational Community Pacts to which the local actors involved adhered), and the Open Dashboard (which allows one to easily find activities adapted to the needs of each student, improving their educational competences and soft skills), constantly promoting cooperation between the local actors and the inclusion of the final beneficiaries. All outputs were widely disseminated through multiplier events and communication and dissemination activities.

Outputs (see https://empatise.eu/ ) 1.Empatise Leadership Program Course: e-learning platform offering open educational resources (OER) for teachers and educators 2.Toolkit for educational communities set up & development: a practical guide with resources, methodologies and tools to promote the development of educational communities, helping them to create stable models of cooperation, improving the capacity for coordination between local actors such as teachers, educators, and associations. 3.Open Individual Pathways Dashboard: an interactive resource that allows educational community actors to co-design customised development pathways for students, taking into account their individual characteristics and specific needs and easily identifying the most suitable activities for the student. Expected results Improved skills of teachers and educators Strengthened management skills of young people from disadvantaged communities Increased and improved educational opportunities for young people Increased co-operation between educational and social actors Reduction of school drop-out rates These results represent a step forward in improving education in disadvantaged areas, potentially capable of a lasting positive impact