Since the 1st newsletter, the PLACES ACADEMY has been developed.
The PLACES ACADEMY is a web-based learning academy, where teachers can find material to support
their teaching about the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and about the EU.
The PLACES partners have developed 8 stories that teachers can use as inspiration for their teaching
about the SDGs and the EU. The stories are based on SDG number 3 (Health and Well-being), 4
(Quality Teaching) and 10 (Reduced Inequality) and the basic idea of European Union.
On the other hand, they are based on the
project’s needs analysis, where we collected
information from schoolteachers and students
from the participating countries to ensure that
the stories are based on real everyday
challenges. In this way, we were able to create a
link between the SDGs, which may seem
abstract and far from our everyday lives, and the
challenges children and young people
experience in their school- and everyday life
with friends and family.
However, the stories are told as fairy tales to capture and hold pupils’ attention and in some of them,
amazing things happen such as children dancing with dragons, stones turning into a delicious soup
and eyes changing colour.
In the PLACES ACADEMY, teachers can also find a set of 12 instructional videos that together make up
‘The Highway to Tell’. These videos provide schoolteachers with tools to develop their own stories
and provide knowledge and tips on how to use language, facial expressions, sounds and facts to
create stories that evoke emotions and are therefore remembered by pupils.
An aim of the PLACES project is to engage and activate pupils in relation to the SDGs in different
ways, and to support the pupils’ acquisition of 21st century skills. The stories are created with that
purpose, but also the PLACES activity cards are developed to inspire teachers to create different
types of activities in class that activates the pupils in different playful ways. Through not only listening
to stories but explaining and discussing the stories, telling, and retelling, building, playing, and acting
different variations of the stories, the pupils will be invited to playfully engage with the stories and
the SDG themes making the stories “their own” and adding to the transformative power of
storytelling.
In each of the participating countries, the PLACES partners are training school teachers to use the
PLACES ACADEMY materials in their teaching. The training is planned based on the countries’
different cultures and ranges from workshops with teachers to short online introductory courses to
more formal in-service training activities.
For example in Belgium, a whole day with PLACES was on the agenda, when teachers were invited to
an in-service training day. In the morning, Chantal Muller, Delphine Haesaerts and Isabelle Picquot
introduced the teachers to the PLACES ACADEMY, and in the afternoon, it was the teachers that got
into action, as Chantal Muller from HENALLUX – Haute Ecole de Namur-Liège-Luxembourg explains;
“In groups, teachers had to create their own teacher plans based on the PLACES Academy. The
results were very different as some teachers started with a story and used it as it was, while others
took the idea from a story and adapted it to their own story,” After a full day in the PLACES Academy,
several teachers expressed that they were ready to use storytelling and active learning with their
pupils.
The same is the case for the Greek teachers, who have been part of PLACES since the project started
in 2022, and where Electra Bada, Aigli Brouskou and Katerina Zolota from the Institute of Child Health
have organized several workshops with the teachers, telling stories together and using the PLACES
Activity Cards. It has been positive for the implementation of the project in Greece, that it has been
possible to have a continuous process and communication from the beginning to the end of the
project with the teachers, thanks to the strong network that the National Institute of Child Health has
with the schools.
In Italy two whole-day trainings were organized; one for primary school teachers and one for middle
school teachers. The training activities were held in person and carried out with a very active,
concrete and practical approach, and was organised in different phases. Veronica Velasco and
Claudia Meroni from the University of Milano-Bicocca started the day with an introduction to the
PLACES project and the conceptual paper, as well as the needs analysis that has been carried out.
After that the training focused on the PLACES ACADEMY material and how to use storytelling and
playful activities in the classroom. The training day ended with an introduction and dialogue about
how the teachers can participate actively to provide important evaluation and feedback.
Based on the training that the teachers have received, teachers are trying to use the material from
the PLACES ACADEMY in their teaching together with their pupils. From February 2025 the PLACES
partners will gather documentation and evaluate the application of the PLACES ACADEMY in practice,
and based on this we will make the final fine-tuning of the material and a set of recommendations
and top tips, which will be easily accessible for teachers and other external stakeholders.
The plan is that the PLACES platform will be finalised in summer 2025.
