Erasmus+ – THRIVE Project
(Training Hope, wellbeing, and Resilience In Vulnerable Early school leavers)
Project Description:
Early school leaving is linked to a range of adverse life outcomes, ranging from unemployment, to social exclusion and poor health, and meeting the needs of early school leavers (ESLs) has been outlined as an urgent EU priority (European Commission, 2013). Second chance education settings cater for the needs of ESLs, by providing the opportunity for individuals to get back on track and avoid a multitude of long-term negative outcomes.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma have been found to impact significantly on learning, and can compromise a learner’s capacity to benefit from education.
ESLs often have difficulty in establishing trusting relationships with teachers and adults, maintaining positive relationships with their peers, and in a substantial proportion of cases, have had to contend with significant instances of trauma in their lives. In addition, as a considerable proportion of ESLs in Europe are migrants, and, therefore, have likely faced childhood adversity (Baarnhielm, Labam, & Schouler-Ocak, 2017),
Approaches which are sensitive to the traumas of ESLs provide a valuable framework in which to understand and intervene with this group, and help to increase the ESLs’ motivation to remain involved with second chance education, through the cultivation of safe learning environments and positive learner-educator relationships.
The THRIVE training programme will build upon the expertise of those working with ESLs, and will be informed by research in resilience, neuroscience, wellbeing and best practice around mitigating the effects of trauma, with the aims of improving the learning experiences of ESLs, enhancing their ability to benefit from education, training and employment opportunities, and promoting their overall resilience and wellbeing. Through the provision of training for those working with ESLs across the participating countries, these educators will be equipped to transfer innovative practices to second chance education settings at a national and EU level.
Duration:
October 2018 – September 2020
The Research Team:
The THRIVE project is proudly coordinated by ICEP Europe in Ireland, with the consortium comprising of institutions from five European countries:
CESIE (Italy), Verein Multikulturell (Austria), University of Malta, Association for Education & Sustainable Development (AESD) (Romania), Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) (Ireland), and ICEP Europe (Ireland).
Funding:
This project is funded under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Initiative
Project Objectives:
- To understand the emotional and social learning needs of students and the training needs of their educators in second chance education settings;
- To identify current best practice approaches to developing trauma sensitive educational environments and promoting resilience, wellbeing, and social and emotional competence in ESLs in second chance education;
- To develop an innovative training programme based on research in neuroscience and psychology, and best practice approaches to increasing resilience, wellbeing and social and emotional skills within a trauma sensitive educational framework, for staff working with ESLs, to increase their competencies in addressing the priority emotional and social learning needs of ESLs;
- To support the implementation by staff in second chance education settings of teaching and support interventions aimed at developing their learners’ resilience and wellbeing and helping them gain the skills they need to benefit from education, training and employment opportunities.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
