Identity and Connectivity

Social media is part of all our lives, but no more so than that of young people. There are undoubted benefits to using social media but there is also more and more evidence that misuse of social media can lead to mental health problems. This project aims to involve young people and teachers from five countries, UK, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Finland in embedding social media awareness into the curriculum and school policy. This will be achieved by exploring current practice in the schools, using workshops to develop a strategic approach and working collaboratively on curriculum based projects. This project addresses the Horizontal Priorities of…•supporting individuals in acquiring socio-educational skills through critical thinking to improve their social development skills - this will be achieved through the workshop and curriculum activities which will require both communication and critical thinking approaches.•developing social inclusion competences that incorporate online safety and digital well-being including tackling discrimination, violence, fake news and other forms of online misinformation - this is achieved through to topic content and the focus on both the benefits and dangers of social media, which will cover specific issues such as discrimination and fake news.This project addresses the Erasmus+ School Priority of…• strengthening the profile of the teaching profession by enhancing professional development, facilitating teacher mobility and developing innovative teaching methods - this will be achieved by the involvement of teachers in looking at best practice, focusing on curriculum approaches and school policy.The objectives of the project are to:•analyse and share existing strategies and resources for dealing with social media in the •partner schools •identify common areas of strength and priorities for development •develop a structure for the workshops based on needs •run 5 workshops covering both the advantages and dangers of social media•use the outcomes for joint curriculum working•produce a report on the outcomes, sets of case studies and recommendations for school policy •disseminate the outcomes widely The planned activities of this Strategic Partnership will….•strengthen the cooperation and networking between organisations •exchange experiences and good practice, through peer learning activities and workshops•better prepare professionals to incorporate the use of social media into the learning environment•facilitate the school’s capacity to develop policies on the use of social media in developing peer support and general student well-beingThere will be five sets of mobilities, each hosted by a partner. These will take the form of workshops on different aspects of social media. The starting point in each workshop will be to look at existing practice and strategy within the curriculum. Depending on the context, this may also involve lesson observations and discussion with both teachers and pupils. The workshops will create resources on the use of social media covering the following topics:otypes of social media and their use by young people - an analysis of the different types used in each country, the scale of use and approaches to the use of social media in the curriculumocommunication benefits - positive examples of how social media is used for communication, how it can combat isolation and the potential social and educational benefitsodangers of social media - how abuse can lead to bullying, xenophobia, racism, sexual abuse and the mental health consequences of these dangersosocial media as a news source - news channels and information sources but also the potential for fake news, abuse of personal data and political indoctrination.oonline safety and school policy - a model school policy on online safety and the potential benefits of social mediaThese workshops will facilitate sharing of expertise and peer learning but also develop potential joint curriculum activities to address the specific workshop topics. This will enable the teachers concerned to explore using social media in the learning environment and at the same time develop additional resources. Partners will explore using eTwinning as the tool for these joint curriculum activities. The final workshop will explore school policy and support schools in their strategic approach to ensuring general student well-being, through promoting the benefits of social media while also equipping students to cope with the challenges. The project will develop a set of case studies covering the different topics and these will be widely disseminated both internally and externally. This will enable the partnership to achieve its objectives of better preparing professionals to incorporate social media into the curriculum but also by producing a set of recommendations for school policy, the project will produce a model that could be adopted beyond the partnership.