Promoting good health is an integral part of Europe 2020, the EU's 10-year economic-growth strategy. More specifically, health policy is important to Europe 2020's objectives for a smart and inclusive growth because keeping people healthy and active for longer has a positive impact on welfare, productivity and competitiveness; innovation can help make the healthcare sector more sustainable and find new cures for health conditions. Maintaining the highest possible level of public health protection, especially for an ageing population, is a key challenge for Europe in the changing global socio-economic landscape as we can see with the problem of the Corona virus. In these days we are experiencing an unexpected situation due to this virus, an unfamiliar foe, that is fast reshaping daily routines and a lot of us have realized how a smile can be very important and, at the same time, volunteering is essential specially to help people who are fragile.

Our project would like to contribute making our students and teachers “smiling clowns” able to improve the lives of people in need such as children affected by the Down Syndrome and long-term illnesses, people in social isolation and the elderly, particularly the ones affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Working on the project our students will realize that they must change their habits and attitudes and contribute to the construction of the world they live in. Our students are often too busy in their technological habits, so that the benefits of volunteering could be enormous. Volunteering offers vital help to people in need and the community, but the benefits could be even greater for them as volunteers. They will realize that “Being a smiling Clown” can connect them to others but it will be good for their mind and body too since volunteering can also bring fun and fulfilment to their life.

We will have short-term joint staff meetings, short term students’ exchanges and long-term students’ mobilities during which activities and workshops will be focused on clown therapy. We will work in collaboration with associations (Down syndrome, Alzheimer, hospitals, and youth centres) but at the same time students will have the opportunity to compare best practices, figures, and treatments in our four countries.

Participating in the art of clowning can be effective for improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, youth at risk, and other marginalized groups. Perhaps this is so because the liminality of the clown may offer a voice to those who find themselves in marginalized positions. Ultimately, since under certain circumstances every one of us can be an ‘outsider’ in need of self-acceptance and social inclusion, clown therapy can be an aid for all of us.

This project is innovative since it is characterized by a strong civic engagement and by an active participation of the students who will be involved in activities that will take place inside hospitals, Elderly houses, Down associations, special centres.

OUR STUDENTS - FAMILIES - VOLUNTEERING ASSOCIATIONS

We want to involve as many people as possible, students from the age of 14 to18, their families, school staff, our local communities, volunteering associations and “Clown in Hospitals” associations since we are sure that everybody will benefit from the activities we are going to organize, and the project products will contribute to make them more inclusive. We want to make our students, their families, their communities aware of the fact that volunteering gives the opportunity to enrich our life through taking an active role in the world we live in, to learn new and interesting skills, to gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures and people but also build self-confidence and boost our self-esteem.

Students will be involved in all the activities, and they will be the protagonists of the workshops. They will have different tasks and they will organize a clown team defining their project managers, storytellers, social media PRs, bloggers, clowns, musicians, costumes, and artistic managers. The students will bring their contribution according to their skills and abilities, for example creating songs, performing, producing visual material or clothes to be used during the visit in hospitals or in the elderly houses.

The role of teachers will be essential, they will have to be prepared to be ready to supervise the students before and during the activities with people in need. There will be a constant exchange of ideas and information by what’s up, e-twinning or mails with their partners and the specialists. For this reason, the staff meetings will take place at least two months before the students.' meetings.

All the people involved will be asked to answer a survey at the start of the project with general and country specific questions on the issues and one at the end to see if their attitude towards volunteering has changed. At the same time, they will be the target of all the dissemination activities and the beneficiaries of the material produced. The idea is to integrate as many people as possible creating awareness for the topic right from the very beginning.

A very important role will be played by the associations of clowns in hospitals, the Down and Alzheimer centres, the hospitalized children associations, Youth centres since they will provide us with figures and material to be used during the workshops. They will help us in the organization of activities that will be carried out during the transnational meetings, the clown activities in the centres. They will also give us the opportunity to disseminate the results of the project.

Obviously a very important role will be played by the Clowns associations in each country since they will help us in the preparation of the students. and in the supervision of the activities.

We will also collaborate with local authorities, and media and we will involve local schools in the dissemination activities The results will be used to evaluate the project at the end and to monitor the impact the project.

Participation to the workshops and the clown activities by hospitals will be open to any student at our schools, including the ones with fewer opportunities. These include students whose families are having social obstacles or are living situations characterized by cultural differences.

They will have the opportunity to offer their contribution according to their skills or interests. They can be very creative and their products such as songs, costumes, drawings will be taken in great consideration Moreover, since the activities can refer to any difficulty, psychological, physical or educational problems, that a person can face at any moment in their life, the project will benefit from the involvement of students with fewer opportunities in order to reflect on different needs, strengths and weaknesses.

We aim at involving students with special educational needs, students with linguistic adaptation and cultural inclusion problems. This priority, which is set by the European Union, will make sure that the project will be accessible to everyone. Indeed, students with fewer opportunities will have the possibility to take on leading roles during the workshops and the activities. Their participation will represent a unique opportunity both for them and other students to reflect on inclusion and special needs.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

We are schools with similar management, so we have decided to follow the same procedures. The coordinators and principals have prepared the application form in perfect synergy, preparing each section together and exchanging information and points of view by mail and what's up. Each school has chosen a particular sector according to its own facilities, the teachers’ and students’ competences and the contact with different associations. Before the actual project some activities will take place and a team (composed of the project coordinator and 2/3 teachers) will be created in each school. They will be also in charge of the monitoring and evaluation of all the activities.

Administrative arrangements will be easier and faster since we have a consolidated collaboration. Secretaries and the principals will oversee administrative arrangements, the organization of travels, the financial organization of the dissemination meetings. They will decide the amount of money to be devoted to the different steps of the project. A particular attention will be devoted to the financial organization of the meetings, the long-term students mobilities, the dissemination workshops and conferences. Travels and accommodation details will be arranged by the project coordinators in accordance with funding rules stated by Erasmus+.

A great importance will be given to the preparation of teachers and students since they will have to be well informed on Down's syndrome, Alzheimer disease, depressive disorders, long term illnesses before entering in contact with people who suffer from these disorders. That's why we have planned a staff meeting before the students' meetings during which teachers will have to be informed and collect material and experiences that will be later shared with the website http://metooasmilingclown-erasmusplus.eu 

Every time there is an activity in a centre or in a hospital a teacher will be with the students. They will have to supervise, help and be ready to solve any problem or critical situation.

Particular attention will be devoted to long-term mobilities: the persons in charge of the management will collaborate with the partner for the preparation of the learning agreement, planning of the activities, the organization of travel, the family accommodation, the language preparation, and the communication between receiving and sending countries.

The coordinators will have regular exchange of information and material using email and the social, they will also oversee the updating of the Mobility tool and the contacts with the national agencies.

Communication both for teachers and students will also take place mainly via mail, skype, twin space: before for the organization, during for the implementation and the monitoring of the activities and after for the evaluation and the dissemination of the results. We will often use what's up since it is more immediate.

WEBSITE http://metooasmilingclown-erasmusplus.eu and Erasmus+ Project Results Platform mainly for the dissemination and the follow-up in order to guarantee the utmost accessibility and impact.

TEAM RESPONSIBLE

The team responsible for the project will have to

• present it to school students, teachers and staff, supervise the organization of the meetings, select the people that will take part in the exchanges and the ones that will have the mobilities (the criteria for the selection will be agreed by all the partners), supervise the preparation of the learning agreement for the long-term mobilities, the definition of objectives, competences to acquire, to appoint a teacher mentor and a tutor in each school; monitor the activities, implement or modify them if necessary; supervise the organization of the dissemination activities; supervise the preparation of the surveys and the feedback forms for the evaluation;

• assess the results and guarantee the sustainability of the project.

They will set up the timetable of all the project activities, supervise the student’s preparation before the meeting, during the activities carried on with the associations, help the students with the European recognitions such as European CV and Europass. The head of the departments will inform the schoolteachers to see if the project can be part of the school curricula.

A great importance will be given to the preparation of teachers and students since they will have to be well informed on Down's syndrome, Alzheimer disease, depressive disorders, long term illnesses before entering in contact with people who suffer from these disorders. That is the reason why we have planned a staff meeting before each students' meetings during which the participating teachers will have to be informed and collect material and experiences that will be collected and shared using email, online meetings.

Between the staff and students’ meeting the students will have the survey on the topic that will be dealt with, they will prepare material, collaborate with local associations using their artistic, musical competences and skills in different contexts. Every time there is an activity in a centre or in a hospital a teacher will be with the students and he/she has to be ready to solve any . The teachers will have to supervise and help the students and be ready to solve any problem or critical situation.

Particular attention will be devoted to long-term mobilities: each student will have a mentor and a tutor who will collaborate with the partner for the preparation of the learning agreement, the planning of the activities, the organization of travel, the family accommodation, the linguistic and cultural preparation and the communication between receiving and sending countries. The tutor and the mentor will side the students before. during and after the mobility to solve problems and facilitate the stay in the host school.

Both the selection of the students and the set up the timetable of all the project activities.

Due to the coronavirus, we will pay the utmost attention but also flexibility in the definition of the mobilities. We will be ready to postpone the meetings and that is why these students' long mobilities will be during the second year.

Please specify each of the planned learning, teaching, and training activities in the table below.