Short-term Joint Staff Training Events

ReportDrafted by: Yiannis Zarkadas, Project Coordinator

ERASMUS + / KA2 provides a framework under which educational innovation can be developed by

exploiting transnational cooperation and exchange of expertise and experience. In order to assist

sharing of knowledge, a series of Short Term Joint Training Events have been designed as an essential

part of the project. Thus, the project addresses to the needs of the European Educators, who can

actively develop new knowledge by their implication in cooperative learning activities.

Five (5) Short Term Joint Training Events have been implemented with the active participation of 23

Teachers of the institutions that form the partnership. Apart from those 23 educators who received

funding from the project budget, more than ten (10) teachers and staff had the opportunity to take

advantage of those learning experiences.

1st Short-term Joint Training Event – C1

This task was one of the most important milestones of the project, because, for the first time since

early Socrates Programme years, a well defined framework had been predicted for the staff taking part

in mobility activities to actively participate in structured educational / training actions and thus

maximize benefits for them and their institutions.

Apart from this, C1 was to function as a pilot for the remaining four training events to follow and

because of this the attention and the interest of all partners was focused on the implementation of this

activity.

During the preparation phase, the coordinating institution in close cooperation with the host

institution Istituto Comprensivo di Alba Adriatica outlined the educational content of the activity.

The thematic aspects for examination and discussion were the following:

A. Introduction to Stress.

Recognizing stress and its impact

Understanding the physiological effects of stress

B. Identification of stressors

Major intra-school stressors

School community stressors

Environmental stressors

C. Stress management principles

Behavioral approach

Cognitive approach

D. Cooperative work

Case studies analysis

E. Presentation of the results of the Joint Training Event

Workgroups proposals

A request to all partners had been made to prepare a case study of a stress overload situation that

occurred at their schools and they have personally observed.

The works of the 1st Short-Term Joined Training Event started with the introductions of participating

teachers and followed the above outline.

The second day of the works which had been allocated to the identification of stressors each school

presented the finding of their research work and vivid discussion followed.

During the third day of the works of C1 teachers had the opportunity to exchange their experiences on

stress management principles and techniques to apply at a given situation.

All teachers enjoyed a presentation of the English school on handling situations of bipolarity and

wrong conclusions development by attempting to change the mindset of the person in a stresfull

situation from negative to positive.

Among other suggestions, ideas of relaxation techniques were presented, respiration techniques, yoga

and the exploitation of sports and music as a tool to tackle stress in certain individuals at a scholastic

environment.

At the afternoon of the same day an alternative pedagogy was presented by a psychologist and an

animator to the participants of C1, in the form of an experiential workshop, which propounds the

value of beautiful images and storytelling for pupils of primary schools and thus reduces stress.

The next day was dedicated to case study presentation and analysis. Although the obligation of each

school was to select and present one case, more than 12 cases were presented and widely discussed

upon.

The results of the 1st Short – Term Joint Training Event were the following:

A. Stress is a multifactorial feeling that occurs in the one third of the population of pupils during their

academic life

B. Although teachers understand certain aspects of academic life as stressors, like examination

periods, homework overload, etc there was observed some sort of lack of equal consideration to the

social aspect of everyday school life, which seems to host the major stressors as identified by the

pupils of the participating institutions.

C. Teachers from certain countries, e.g. Greece, expressed that there is a significant lack on their

education and training regarding intra-school stress management.

D. Although most of the participants are aware of behavioral techniques of stress management, that

arise from their personal experience, the majority seems to lack knowledge on the cognitive approach

towards the problem.

E. Certain policy measures arise from the implementation of the C1 Event and teachers are willing to

express them to their respected target audiences (policy makers, public bodies, etc)

2nd Short Term Joint Training Event

The 2nd Short Term Joint Training Event provided for all partners the learning opportunity to get

acquainted to a UK nation wide educational project entitled “Healthy Minds”, which is launched by a

consortium of institutions which consists of:

A. The Education Endowment Foundation (EFF) which has provided the funding to How to Thrive to

lead, design and deliver the project.

B. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research of UK which has been responsible to

deliver the academic element of the research and project evaluation.

C. The How to Thrive Organization, who are directing the overall project, designing the curriculum,

supporting schools, supporting the data collection arrangements and leading and/or delivering all the

necessary training elements.

D. The London School of Economics who are partners on the project and providing the lead research

role.

The works of the 2nd Short Term Joint Training Event started on Tuesday, June 16th by the introduction

made by Mr Paul Johnson, Head of St Luke's School.

Mr Paul Johnson presented St Luke's, which is a school for 138 pupils aged 9-16 with learning

difficulties, including pupils with complex moderate learning difficulties, autism spectrum disorders

and speech, language and communication needs.

Afterward, he briefed the plenary on the “Healthy Minds” Project and the relation to the “Stress – free

E. U, Schools” Project and then he invited the delegations to meet the pupils of St Luke's and observe

the educational work of the school.

At this point the works of the first working day ended.

The next day the hosts had organized a presentation of the “Healthy Minds” Project by Mrs Lucy

Bailey, who is the Project Director.

Due to her busy agenda, day 2 and 3 work had to be merged to the 2nd working day of the Short Term

joint Training Event.

Mrs Lucy Bailey gave a very informative presentation of the project mentioning that it is a unique

research project that contributes to the understanding of how students can be supported to develop

emotional resilience and self efficacy alongside their academic development. The aim is to teach

lessons as part of the core curriculum that will enable students to navigate the world within and

beyond school and to thrive and flourish.

She informed the delegations that The Healthy Minds study is tracking 11,000 students from 31

secondary schools over four years. However access to the curriculum is available to schools beyond

the project. Schools not involved in the research can choose the curriculum as a whole or any of the

individual elements can be taught as stand alone lessons.

She also presented the basics of behavioral and cognitive theory that had been used to form the project

educational material and underlies the project philosophy.

Right after she introduced the curriculum and explained that it has been developed in-line with

adolescent development and the reality of life for students in and beyond school. The design has

ensured that:

Each element builds on the previous and is relevant and directed by student input.

Is taught applying a wide range of teaching and learning styles.

Offers realistic and relevant information.

Encourages students to reflect and practice what they learn.

Meets and exceeds the personal, social, health education requirement.

She also stated that the curriculum is relevant and practical and helps students to understand

themselves and others. The wide range of transferable skills and strategies are likely to increase the

opportunities for social mobility and employability. They will understand how to feel good and

function well through established habits, useful for life.

Then she presented in depth the curriculum elements for each age group starting with the 7 years old

pupils who follow the “Penn Resilience Programme”, that provide foundational skills, techniques and

strategies that enable students to learn and develop the tools for life that will empower them to deal

with set backs and focus and thrive in intense times both in and out of school.

Afterwards she presented the 8 year curriculum element which covers the aspects “From School to

Life”, “Media Influences”, “Sex Ed Sorted Part 1” and “Relationships Smart Part 1”.

She continued by introducing the delegations to the Year 9 Curriculum Elements that cover aspects

like “Realtionships Smart Part 2”, “Sex Ed Sorted Part 2”, “Science of Mental Health” and “ The

School Health Alcohol Reduction Project”.

The presentation of the Year 10 Curriculum Elements followed which include “MoodGym” and

“Parents under Construction”.

After the presentation and a short brake, participants had the opportunity to a hands - on practice

session to selected lessons using the relevant educational material.

Mrs Lucy Bailey ended her presentation by inviting all members of the Training Event to participate

in a relaxation course introducing respiration and visualization techniques, exploitinh in parallel

meta-cognitive skills of self-observation.

At this point the 2nd day ended.

The next day was allocated for partners to present their educational tools ideas and development

process (Pls, see the above mentioned at point 5).

Partners had the opportunity to discuss on different approaches and interact with what they had been

informed by the approach and tools of the “Healthy Minds” Project.

The final fay of the 2nd Short Term Joint Training Event was allocated for the presentation of the

conclusions of the delegations.

Project Coordinator made an attempt to summarize the works of the event in order to assist the

procedure and them invited all members to express their opinions on what would be useful for them to

their distance project work and also the added value to their everyday teaching tasks.

At this point the works of the 2nd Short Term Joint Training Event ended.

3rd Short-term Joint Staff Training Event, 20th - 24th October 2015

The main objective of the C3 transnational activity was to bring together the working groups of the

partner institutions in order to present their educational tools that had been elaborated by each school

and discuss upon ways of exploitation of each educational material in the classroom.

20th October 2015

The participants in the C3 - 3rd Short Term Joint Staff Training Event visited the College were they

were introduced to its activities by the Director of the institution.

Right afterwards, the first day of the works of the C3 started by reviewing the work that had been

carried out so far, during the previous Short Term Joint Staff Training Events. Moreover, the Italian

partners presented the results of their research activity and the English partners briefed the plenary

about the proceedings of the previous training event that took place in Redbourn.

Afterwards, each partner school gave an outline of the work that had carried out and the educational

tool / tools that were about to present during the works of the C3 Event.

21st October 2015

The participants of the C3 Event enjoyed a warm welcome at Vilkaviskis School, where each class

had prepared a brief happening, songs, games, dances, most of which were linked with a specific

country that is represented in the partnership of the project.

Afterwards, all participants followed a clay workshop – as an activity that relieves from stress by the

use of the hands and clay.

After this activity, the main work of the C3 started at the premises of the school by the presentation of

the works of the host institution.

The presentation of the Lithuanian partners started with an introduction to a story under the title “The

two frogs”. The story was designed in such a way that the target group of the activity, pupils of the 3rd

Grade (8 – 9 years old) after hearing the first part of the story, could alter the plot, elaborate different

story ends and therefore different emotions could arise and be under examination.

The objectives of the activity were the following:

A. Development of rational – critical and creative thinking

B. Encouragement of the target group to identify problems, generate ideas in order to manage specific

situations and gain control upon them and select appropriate solutions on specific problems –

development of problem solving skills

C. Assistance and support for the target group in order for them to express their feelings through

creative writing and arts.

Afterwards the partners from Lithuania chose to present their work on a major stressor that had

already been identified, during the common research activity, bullying. Their activity was developed

in two axes: The first was about the causes of bullying, examined by the aspects of the victim and the

“bully” and focusing on the emotions that arise from such an act, and the second was oriented mostly

on the ways and the methods to stop bullying.

The activity had been implemented by 9 and ten years old pupils who had the opportunity to discuss

on the above mentioned, express themselves through drawings, theatrical play with two different

scenarios developed by the kids, one about physical bullying – an attempt to steal a school bag from a

the child – victim by the bullies and another one about emotional bullying with a sensitive child who

likes reading a lot as a victim.

In both scenarios the solution that had been promoted by the children is the behavioral change of the

bullies and their asking for forgiveness – Saying “I’m sorry” is the hardest word, was the motto of the

activity.

22nd October 2015

On the third day of the works of the C3 the Greek delegation presented their educational tool – a

fairytale under the title “Pencilius, the butterflies and the African Elephants”.

The fairytale as a final product merges 42 original stories of the pupils of “Varnaleion” and more than

60 drawings made by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade of the school. Through this educational tool pupils have

certain learning opportunities, closely aligned with the objectives of the “Stress-free E. U. Schools”

project:

A. To identify stress a feeling, its physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms and the

effect on different individuals

B. To develop and adopt methods and techniques in order to manage stress overload and get relieved

from stressful situations

C. To develop their creativity alongside with the development of critical thinking

D. To develop emotional awareness and express themselves

The fairytale is about a small pencil – child, a pupil in the primary school of Pencil-land who wants to

be a good pupil, with his grades straight As, to receive positive comments from his teacher and his

mother. But as a small pupil faces some difficulties now and then and sometimes he does not manage

to do as he wishes. So, one night he calls his god-mother the Fairy Aquarella, and asks for her magic

assistance to overcome his problems and difficulties in his school. His god-mother draws and implants

a strange little black creature with 14 eyes and 4 ears in his head which, with its eyes and ears would

help Pencilius not to miss a think and excel at school.

In the first two or three weeks the little creature indeed helped little Pencilius to be a perfect pupil and

to enjoy all the positive feedback from his teacher and all the good comments from his mother. But as

time goes by, certain symptoms occur, like butterflies in his stomach firstly and huge pressure right

afterwards, like a flock of African elephants dancing in his belly. And all of a sudden, because of these

strange symptoms, which become more and more annoying, Pencilius starts to fail in his subjects and

his grades become worse and as a result he does not want to go to school any more.

He decides to call his helper, his god-mother once more and asks her about this little creature that

shouts all the time in his head and produces the butterflies and the dance of the African elephants on

his belly. She informs him that the name of the little creature is Stress and everyone in Pencil-land has

it. In order to assist him, his god-mother draws a little red valve. Now Pencilius can open the valve

when he feels stress overload and get relieved. Now, by the use of this stress control mechanism

Pencilius becomes again a very good pupil, and enjoys the positive comments of his teacher and his

mother.

The Greek partners mentioned that specific care was given in order to follow the typology of the

fairytale as a textual genre, and to keep it aligned with the tradition of the Greek fairytales which

include the element of magic and the repetition of certain motives.

After the final production of the story a school-wide project was initiated and using the fairytale as a

starting point – as a stimulus – each class worked on certain aspects regarding the objectives of the

learning tool and the “Stress-free E.U. Schools” Project.

The 1st Grade started a details emotional awareness project giving special focus on the feeling of fear

and incorporating the fairytale in the Language curriculum.

The 2nd Grade exploited puppetry and, using inexpensive materials, created a small puppet theater in

its classroom, deploying stories that derived from the fairytale.

The 3rd and the 4th grades started working on a theatrical play based on the original fairytale.

The 5th grade organized and attended art workshops and had the opportunity to test the impact of arts

as a stress management method and in parallel to express their feelings following the style of drawing

of certain masters like Juan Miro.

The 6th Grade in cooperation with the 5th grade created tools to assist dialogue on school stress and

participated in workshops with experts from organizations dealing with psychological health.

23rd October 2015

Italian partners presented their educational tool entitled “A story ...many emotions” a cooperative

work that had involved 8 classes. The 5th undertook the task to develop a story, which was then

presented to the other classes.

The story that the 5th graders had elaborated under the title “John & his dream” was about a person

passionate with motorcycles. He had an ambition to become champion at the races driving a

motorcycle that had been prepared and tuned for the championship by himself. He had worked for a

year in New York City and managed to gather 30.000 Euros and continued to work in order to make

the best preparations to make his dream come true. During this period his was suffering severe stress

which led him to take some wrong decisions and face problems with the law, and he finally was sent

to prison. During his service in jail he had the time to think and understand that his behavior was

inappropriate. Eventually, and after his enrollment in a fencing club – a sport that is very demanding

in terms of personal discipline - he changed and finally he became a better person and fulfilled his

dream to become a champion.

Italian teachers, after a productive dialogue exploring possible ways that each class could participate

in the project, decided that they could follow different strategies.

The 2nd Grade after an in depth reading of the story produced a histogram about emotions.

The 4th Grade examined themes such as the physical and the behavioral aspects of the the hero of their

story.

The 5th Grade focused on a specific period that the hero was imprisoned and dealt with his routine

while in prison and to the hero’s dream.

All implicated classes had the opportunity to watch Disney’s film “Inside out” at a local cinema.

The outcomes of the work in the Italian school were the following:

A representation of the feelings that the hero (and the audience) have experienced

Drawings of the “dream that John had”

Fencing at school

Production of a video about the routine that John faced in prison

Organization of “John’s race” in the school yard

Certain messages were collaboratively generated about stress and the impact that it may have on

different individuals.

After the Italian presentation, the English delegation introduced the participants to their approach.

They created a comic stripe presenting a stressful situation and used this as an incentive to assist their

pupils discussion on identifying strategies to combat stress.

Following this activity, they intend to produce a number of similar stories in order to ensure that their

pupils understood and capitalized the strategies that had been developed.

They presented a tool that they use in their school, which is an institution providing education to

pupils with special needs, mainly mental disorders and specialized in autism, the Network of the

Hand, through which they teach their pupils how to construct their personal networks of significant

others in their lives, by drawing or typing the names of persons that could provide assistance and

guidance for the problems they face.

Regarding their roadmap to the production of their final educational tool they mentioned that they

produced a DVD that demonstrates discussions in the classroom on the physical sympptoms of stress

and the affection on the bodies of the pupils.

It includes certain techniques of stress management, like muscular relaxation through respiration, and

the introduction to mindfulness.

They stated that only a small group of pupils were actively involved in the production of the comic

and that is because of the special type of institution they represent and the limited abilities of their

pupils.

After the English, the Turkish delegation proceeded to their presentation. Turkish partners have

selected to exploit a well known figure from their tradition, Nasreddin Hodja, a person of popular

wisdom able to provide solutions for the people that seek his help.

Initially, they encouraged their pupils to generate stories about school stress which included an answer

given by Nasreddin Hodja. They proceeded to a selection of some stories and they presented them to

their pupils, askinf them to alter the end of them. They intend to construct finger puppets in order and

produce the scenario for a puppet theater play with their story.

Apart from the educational tool they have been working on, Turkish partners introduced the

delegation with some activities they had chosen to apply to their school regarding the management of

school stress.

A. They prepared name cards for the pupils, that were used the first week of the new school year.

B. They allowed parents of their junior pupils to enter the school for a certain period of time to relieve

stress from them.

C. They organised building tours for the junior pupils that had just enrolled to their school.

24th October 2015

The day was dedicated to discussion upon the exploitation of the educational tools that had been

created and presented. The different nature and the formats of the educational tools was the main

difficulties that the partners should overcome.

The English partners suggested that a common approach towards the use of the educational tools in

the classroom should be adopted and specific notice should be given to provide assistance for the

teachers who may wish to use them in their classrooms. They stated that specific teaching tools should

be produced in order to facilitate the use the educational tools, which should include the age group

that those teaching tools address to, a clear set of information for the teacher on how to exploit the

educational material and the description of the final format that the teaching tool will be delivered.

All partners adopted the proposal of the English partners and agreed to develop specific teaching

tools, run a pilot application if applicable and present and share these products during the next Short-

term Joint Staff Training Event that would take place in Turkey.

At this point the works of the 3rd Short-term Joint Staff Training Event were completed.

4th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event, Ilimtepe - Korfez, Tr 10th

- 16th March 2016

Due to the tragic events of the terrorist attacks in Istanbul some days before the scheduled event,

many members of the partnership were very skeptical regarding their travel to Turkey. The Italian

delegation canceled their participation to the event.

The 4th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event was held in Turkey between the 11th – 15th March

2016.

With the good cooperation between the coordinator and the host institution it became possible for the

Italian partners to attend most of the works of the event through SKYPE.

The schedule of the 4th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event was fixed through close cooperation

with the Turkish partner as follows:

11 MAR Plenary [Open Session]

Presentation of the works of the 3rd Short – Term Joint Staff Training Eventing – C3

Briefing on the work to be carried out during the event in Korfez – Turkey

◦ Objectives

◦ Working Methodology

◦ Expected outcomes

12 MAR Introduction to ILIMTEPE ILKOKULU

Briefing on the Turkish Educational System

Presentation of Policies and supporting structures for the promotion of pupils'

sociopsychological development / well being

Presentation of the host institution

13 MAR Presentation of the works of the partner schools

Each presentation must include the following points:

A. Target audience

B. The objectives / the purpose of the teaching tools

C. Presentation of the materials (E.g story – comic - cartoon – games – activity sheets –

video – puzzle – music, drama, mime, dance, role play etc)

D. Indicative Teaching Scenario – Guide on the Application in the classroom – (Guidelines

for the teacher)

14 MAR Follow – up

Discussion – Cooperative work

15 MAR Plenary [Open Session]

Presentation of the works of the Event

Collaborative Evaluation of the C4 Event

1st day of the STJSTE - 11th March 2016

The first day of the event started with an impressive welcome which was organized by the Turkish

partner with a parade of people showing their rich cultural background accompanied by a band that

played traditional tunes and a group of tambourine players who were giving the marching pace to the

parade.

After a building tour and a warm welcome by the director of the school, the works started in the

amphitheater of the school as an open event – providing the opportunity to the guests of the Turkish

partner to get acquainted with the objectives of the project and the project work that would take place

in Ilimtepe, Tr.

Turkish partners outlined the work that took place so far and presented the delegations to the audience.

After a short brake, delegations were transfered to the meeting room of Ilimtepe School where the

objectives of the 4th STJSTE were stated by the project coordinator:

A. To share the teaching tools that had been elaborated by the partners and introduce participants to

the methodology with which each tool had been produced.

B. To inform partners on the specific aspect of school stress that each tool is addressed to, and

C. To present a scenario of the application of the tool in the classroom.

Afterwards, partners made brief introductions to the products that they were about to present and the

time schedule of the next days was arranged, in order to facilitate Italian partners to attend the works

through video conferencing.

Because of the re-scheduling of the works of the 4th STJSTE, the presentation of the Turkish

education System took place on the 11th March, which was quite informative and interesting for all

participants.

2nd day of the STJSTE - 12th March 2016

The second day of the works started with the presentation of the English partners who presented a

digital disk that included 4 lessons:

The first lesson introduces pupils to school stress through its physiology, as it presents the symptoms

of stress that affect the body of a child. Its target group is pupils between 7 – 15 years old and it is

accompanied with a detailed set of guidelines for the teacher.

English partners have produced cards of feelings and a set of stickers which can be used directly on

the bodies of the pupils, making this way a greater effect that just drawing them on a picture of a

human body.

They exploit comics as a teaching tool for elder pupils to assist them towards emotional awareness

and to help them build their personal strategies to handle emotions.

Role playing is widely used by English partners to promote their emotional resilience.

The second lesson is about self-talk and the ability to alter negative thoughts to positive ones. They

exploit situations presented through comics stripes where negative thoughts occur to the hero of the

comic and they change these negative thoughts through speech, either by the pupils themselves or by

“helpers”, assistants in the educational process.

The third lesson is about the formation of a personal network of a child, using a figure of a hand, and

the pupils are expected to write down, or draw, on each finger the names of people that they could

address to to seek assistance when in an uncomfortable situation. They may expand the “hand

network” with another one for people outside pupils’ school, where family members or friends can be

recorded.

The fourth lesson teaches pupils relaxation techniques through breathing control and visualization of a

safe place.

After the very informative presentation of the English partners, the Lithuanian delegation presented

their teaching materials / tools. Their work builds upon the work that was presented during the 3rd

STJSTE in Vilkaviskis that identified bullying as a major stressor for the pupils of the Lithuanian

school. The application of the tool should occur on mixed groups of pupils and it includes

identification of stress as an unpleasant feeling, the relevant emotions to stress, like fear, and then the

pupils proceed to explore the physiology of stress.

They make intensive use of cooperative techniques like brainstorming, and debate and through

teamwork pupils are expected to present either verbally or through pieces of artwork their

conclusions. For this purpose a lot of material should be at hand, like drawing papers, pencils etc.

Afterwards they use as a teaching tool the model of a human body where they can attach pieces of

paper with notes of the effects of stress on the human body. It is a visualization activity that helps

pupils develop better understanding of the problem.

They use two short stories of bullying incidents: one is about a group of bullies that steal a schoolbag

from a child and the second is about an incident where psychological bullying is forced on a pupil by

“calling him name” and isolating him from the social environment of her classmates. After discussion

on the two incidents, they identify and write down in a big piece of paper the stress symptoms and

they divide them in two major categories, psychological and physical, depending on the way that the

victim perceives them. Then each pupils cuts one of those and sticks it on the human body model.

After this activity, a school psychologist explains how stress affects the body and the soul, providing

his expertise and guides the pupils to generate ideas and transform them to strategies for stress

management.

They also use relaxation techniques, and apart from this they teach pupils conflict management and

problem solving skills.

They promote the ability of the pupils to stay focused on their efforts and their empowerment.

After a short brake the presentation of the Turkish partners followed. They had chosen two well

known characters in Turkey, the Bold Boy and Nasreddin Hodja – who is also well known in Greece

as well, at least among the teachers of the Greek delegation.

They have created puppets of the two characters and their approach is that they can teach pupils stress

management skills through puppetry.

For his purpose, initially the reviewed the stressors and their impact on the pupils of the 5th grade,

who were asked to make lists and grade each stressor. To assist this procedure they have used comics

and other relevant material and in order to familiarize their pupils with the puppets they let them

experiment and play with them, recording their original dialogues.

Afterwards they selected a major stressor for the Turkish school which is time management. On this

idea they constructed a scenario of puppetry with the two heroes.

In brief, Bold boy, a clever and trustworthy youngster who loves his teacher and his well appreciated

by his classmates faces problems with his exams. Although he studies a lot, he is not satisfied with his

grades and he feels embarrassed to inform his parents about it. Feeling very stressed about this

situation, he decides to ask Nasreddin Hodja - a man of popular wisdom, clever and deeply religious,

well accepted by his community because of his qualities and his friendly, joyful character - for help.

Through puppetry, information on time management issues is revealed to the pupils, including

scheduling skills, personal organization, etc, that the Bold Boy follows, resulting in lowering the level

of stress and eventually he succeeds in his exams.

Apart from the very pleasant presentation and the puppet show that the delegations enjoyed, the

Turkish partner informed the delegations on the activities that they organized for their pupils in the

framework of the project.

• They have organized a seminar with a pedagogics expert both for their pupils and for the parents and

caregivers of their school

• They selected bibliography on school stress and suggested selected books to the parents of their

pupils Turkish parents closed their presentation mentioning that parental pressure is the main stressor

in Turkey with parents very demanding for good grades.

After the Turkish partners the Italian team proceeded to their presentation through videoconferencing

with SKYPE. Italian partners have examined different aspects of school stress and the first stressor

they have identified and decided to deal with it was homework. Italian teachers mentioned that a

significant number of pupils fail to deliver their homework with their parents to justify this situation,

perhaps justifying this way their lack of parental control – unlike Turkey and Greece, parents in Italy

seem rather absent that oppressive.

To solve this problem the teachers have decided to promote the right behavior with a well organized

set of meassures:

• They record the missing homework,

• They send certificates of completion of homework to the parents

• They record the completed homeworks of the pupils, and

• They have established an award for the pupils that meet their obligations regarding homework

delivery.

Another stressor, according the research that had been carried out during the fist year of the project in

all partner schools, seems to be poor social relations among pupils. Many pupils had declared that a

potential bad opinion that their peers may construct about them is the cause of their stress. To address

to this problem Italian partners have designed an activity called “My portrait”. It is a game aiming at

the improvement of the relations among pupils and can be applied to different age groups.

Initially pupils are asked to identify something of good quality for each one of their classmates. They

write down their ideas and the teacher writes down on separate sheets of papers the names of the

pupils. Then pupils must guess the mane of the pupils taking into consideration the positive comments

that they had already made.

This way they not only elevate the relations among pupils but they create a positive climate in their

class which contributes in many ways to the collective improvement of the everyday school work.

In the framework of the project the Italian partners have made good use of sociological tools as well

such as the sociogram, a tool to identify the social dynamics of a group of individuals such as a

primary school class. They have searched for isolated pupils, who usually suffer from large amounts

of stress regarding their acceptance by their fellow classmates. For this purpose they created

questionnaires and have exploited artwork in order to gather the key data for the creation of the above

mentioned tools.

3rd day of the STJSTE - 13th March 2016

On the 3rd day of the event the Greek partners presented their teaching tools. They introduced the

partners to their approach of opening the “Stress free E.U. Schools” project to all the pupils of their

school by the initiation of a school-wide intervention providing space for the teachers to take

initiative, use their skills and creativity to exploit their educational product, a fairytale under the title

“Pencilius, the butterflies and the African Elephants”.

Most of the teaching tools that the Greek delegation presented are directly linked to this product.

Afterwards, the presentation of the teaching tools followed. Greek teachers selected to demonstrate

five different teaching tools, which cover the age span of the pupils of the Greek school, form 6 to 12

years old.

The first tool that the Greek partners presented was a workbook consisting of the translation of the

fairytale in English and a set of worksheets to be filled by the pupils. It can be applied to pupils of the

5th and the 6th grade during their English language lessons and it will take 4 to 6 lessons in order for

the pupils to finish all the proposed activities. It includes multiple choice questions, open ending

questions, short paragraph editing, and free expression of the pupils activities, especially drawings. It

follows closely the objectives of the educational tools and its application can assist pupils to learn

about stress and its impact on different individuals, identify stressors, develop stress management

skills and deploy strategies to tackle stress.

The second tool that was presented was the work of the “All day School”, a structure for the pupils

that their parents work late and thus there is a need for a safe place for them to remain and have all the

needed attention and supervision in order for them to do most of their homework and follow some

extra activities, like ICT, or sports.

The above mentioned teaching tool comes in the form of a board game, similar to the well known

game “Snakes and ladders” playable by a dice and depending on the square that the dice roll will lead

the player he faces a situation of stress which drops him back or a situation of good stress

management that elevates him on the board. Although the game was evaluated as “very fun to play

with” by the pupils of the “All day School of Varnaleion” it was mentioned that it is their own version

of the game and may not be easily playable by other pupils form other schools.

The board game is accompanied by a workbook, which can also be used as a separate teaching tool,

the third one that the Greek delegation presented. This tool focuses more on the domain of emotions,

and the impact of stress on the feeling that an individual may experience. It is addressed to pupils

form 7 to 9 years old and includes mostly artwork and handicraft activities alongside with some “right

or wrong” and multiple choice questions.

The 4th teaching tool is called “Stress exterminator” and it is actually a handicraft that each pupil can

easily construct following the attached guidelines. It can be used from the 3rd grade to the 6th and it is

a self guidance tool aiming at relieving pupils from stress. Each pupil can draw his own major stressor

and can suggest her own strategies to tackle stress and have the completed tool with her iat home or at

a locker at school.

Finally, the 5th tool is an adaptation of the fairytale as a theatrical play scenario. Although it was

originally written to suit a certain class, the 3rd grade, any teacher can easily make arrangements to fit

in their needs. The objective of the tool is to provide another way of revealing the causes of school

stress, the techniques that one can use to relieve himself from stress but overall, like the original

fairytale, it states that stress is something that is normal, may be a valuable mechanism and only

“toxic” stress causes severe problems to individuals.

At this point the presentations of the partners’ teaching tools ended.

4th day of the STJSTE - 14th March 2016

During the fourth day of the Event partners attempted to review and generate ideas on the application

of the teaching tools in the partner schools.

It was more than clear that the number of teaching tools pleasantly exceeded the initial expectations of

the partners and since the allocated time for the application in the classroom was not enough partners

should reach to an agreement on their next steps.

During the review of the teaching tools many interesting proposals have occurred and all participants

agreed to examine them regarding their feasibility.

Finally, all partners adopted the proposal of the English school that each school could freely choose

one or two of the teaching tools that were presented, apply it in their school and during the next – final

– STJSTE provide their comments.

All partners agreed to share and exchange their products, making them freely accessible to anyone

who could have special interest on them through their ICT infrastructure.

5th day of the STJSTE - 14th March 2016

The works of the 5th day of the event started by the presentation of an evaluation questionnaire,

prepared by the Greek School in order to assist the evaluation process of the works of the 4th STJSTE.

Afterwards, all partners expressed their opinion on the work that had been completed the previous

days in Turkey.

It was more than clear that all delegations were satisfied by the results of the works of the event. They

once more mentioned that the quality of the teaching tools was high and the number of them exceeded

their initial expectations.

After this round of talks, partners were transfered to the premises of the Local Government of Korfez,

where they met the Administrative Director of Educational Affairs, who informed them on the

educational structures that operate in the region, the legislative framework under which they provide

their services and the significant service they provide to the local society.

Then, the delegations visited the Mayor of Korfez, where they had the opportunity to discuss with him

and get informed on the economic and social background of the city and the region.

5th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event – Nea Aghialos, Gr - 19th

-24th May 2016

The final Training Event took place in Greece between 20th – 24th May 2015. The Training

programme of the event was the following:

20th May - Plenary [Open Session]

• Presentation of the works of the 4th Short – Term Staff Joint Training Event

• Briefing of the work to be carried out during the event in Nea Aghialos

• Learning objectives – Working methodology

21st May

Getting acquainted with “Varnaleion”

• Presentation of the host institution

• Presentation of the works of the School in the framework of the “Stress-free E.U. Schools” Project

22nd May

Learning Tools Application and results

• Each delegation presents their work focusing on the results of the Learning Tools in terms of

usefulness & effectiveness

• Discussion

23rd May

• Presentation of a cognitive-oriented approach and respected teaching material

• Cooperative team work

24th May Plenary [Open Session]

• Presentation of the works of the event

• Collaborative evaluation

1st day - 3rd day of the works of C5 - 20th - 22nd May

The works of the 20th May started having a wide audience of teachers form neighboring schools,

parents & caregivers and the Educational Councilor present, as an open event. Therefore, apart form

the scheduled presentation of the works of the 4th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event a need to

provide a briefing about the Stress-free E.U. Schools project arose. The Greek partners introduced all

guests to the aim and objectives of the project and an outline of the work carried out so far was

presented, in respect with the Short-term Joint Staff Training Events and their outcomes.

After a short brake, and he end of the open event partners started to present their experience after the

application of the teaching tools that had been developed and shared during the meeting in Turkey.

Each delegation presented the tools according to their learning objectives, and described the teaching

methodology they followed in order to put these tools in use in the classroom.

Summarizing the feedback that partners gave to each delegation, one could mention the following:

• The less favored teaching tools for the pupils of the participating institutions were in the format of

working sheets. Although teachers would prefer to use the selected format, because of the potential to

draw immediate feedback on the achievement of a learning objective, pupils mentioned that some

were rather dull, others too easy and others could not match the cultural background of the pupils.

• All schools used the Turkish teaching tool, which was a puppetry scenario accompanied with the

puppets of the heroes. The children seemed to enjoy the play, but there were a few problems, starting

by the size of the puppets, which were too small for the pupils of the English school and thus pupils

with special need could not “bond” with them, and ending, surprisingly with the pupils in Greece who

could not perceive why the hero asked Nasreddin Hodja for his help in terms of authority. This was

rather unexpected for Greek teachers who are very familiar with the figure of Nasreddin form their

childhood.

• The board game that was developed by the Greek school and initially was expected to be one of the

more pleasant activities for the pupils of the partner schools proved to have some problems and many

delegations chose to alter it, either by producing extra material so it would playable for their pupils, or

altering it completely. This was expected though because it was more of a “internal” game from a

group of pupils that were very well acquainted with its learning objectives and its framework of

application.

• The Lithuanian tool that visualizes the physical symptoms of stress seem to have worked fine even

for older pupils than its age group.

Attempting a review on the format of the teaching tools that partners had selected, the majority of the

schools used puppetry as a means to introduce pupils to stress management skills and techniques. And,

although the approach of each school seemed different that the others, it seems that all teachers agree

that puppetry can be a strong teaching method of such skills.

Partners mentioned that it was not possible to apply in the classroom all the tools that had been

produced by the members of the partnership because of time shortage – it was less than two months

teaching time since the previous meeting of the partners in Turkey and there was the interval of Easter

holidays for the majority of the schools.

But in any case the whole activity provided for the participants the development of skills on the design

of teaching materials and the opportunity to have their work applied and evaluated by other schools of

different cultural backgrounds, which was a valuable experience.

2nd day of the works of the 5th STJSTE - 21st May

On the second day of the works of the 5th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event Greek partners

attempted to showcase the methodology they followed during the life-cycle of the project and the

activities and teaching tools and methods they have followed in their school-wide intervention.

By leading partner teachers through a building tour from classroom to classroom they presented a

series of brief happenings that could lead to assist pupils develop stress management skills. The

intervention incorporated:

• puppet theater for the juniors of the Greek school, with a variation of their initial education

tool, the fairytale “Pencilius, the butterflies and the African elephants,

• the selection of a hobby as a means of relaxation – showcasing the production of honey from

the 2nd grade,

• Singing and dancing as a means of expression and stress relieving factor, by the 3rd grade

• Universal values like friendship and the value of participation against the struggle to win,

through the history of the Olympic games

• An attempt to observe the effects of stress through simple and entertaining experiments, by

the 5th grade, and

• A proposal to create a safer school environment for pupils facing school stress, by certain

interventions in the classroom, by the seniors of the 6th grade.

4th day of the works of the 5th STJSTE - 23rd May

The coordinator of the project took an initiative and prepared a brief presentation introducing the

participants to a cognitive approach in teaching skills on stress management to pupils.

The presentation included an example of a set of worksheets with experiments that were presented the

previous day to the participants.

After this event all participants explored ways to adjust and incorporate the findings of the work that

took place during the event. They have also examined opportunities for further cooperation in the

framework of E.U. programmes and platforms like E-twinning.

5th day of the works of the 5th STJSTE - 24th May

The fifth fay of the works coincided with the dissemination event that the Greek partners have

organized for the end of the project works.Partners were asked to present their experience from the

works of the Stress-free E.U. Schools project to an audience consisting of parents and caregivers and

teachers of primary schools.

After the event all participants met again in the teachers room of Varnaleion to set the guidelines of

the evaluation of the STJSTEs.

At this point the works of the 5th Short-term Joint Staff Training Event ended.