Funded

Projects

Titan Partnership has established a rich tradition of collaboration and the successful execution of funded projects, not only within the United Kingdom but also across Europe. Our past projects have encompassed a wide array of themes, including equality, diversity, and inclusion, addressing child criminality and exploitation, exploring education technology, and empowering staff and students to unlock their full potential.

Previous Projects

The Managed Move Mentoring (MMM) programme was funded by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (WMPCC) and was led by Titan Partnership.

The programme was based around four key themes: attitude, behaviour, attendance and progress with an anticipated impact leading towards improved achievement.

This project had a very specific mentoring framework that provided enhanced mentoring support to young people placed on a Managed Move in the North West of Birmingham. The project’s objectives were:

  • To help affect a positive Managed Move for students that will, in the long term, decrease permanent exclusions.
  • To support young people to settle into their new school quickly and effectively.
  • To assist young people to demonstrate positive behaviours and attitudes for learning.
  • To help students on a Managed Move to achieve and progress to the best of their abilities and to increase aspirations for their own learning and future careers.

The Managed Move process can be, by its very nature, a challenging and daunting prospect for any young person and even more so for those with a history of challenges around their school and personal life. This mentoring programme aimed to instill key positive behaviours that will help young people have a successful Managed Move to a new school.

The programme had a real impact on those young people involved with mentors providing the intensive support needed to help the students settle into their new schools whilst improving their confidence and self-belief, all of which are crucial to academic achievement.

The West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner stated that one of the biggest contributors to knife crime is high rates of exclusions and off-rolling, particularly of boys aged 12-15. A Police keynote speaker stated that enterprise education may be a solution to crime as we need to refocus the mind set of enterprising young people away from crime and create more positive options for them. This project tackled these issues.

The project worked with those currently ‘at risk’ of or involved in crime in North Birmingham who had been excluded from school. Nearly 60% of these had been involved in knife crime, drugs and issues to do with aggressive behaviour. A number were known to police and YOT teams. Our project included parents/carers in behaviour change. It provided participants with emotional resilience, confidence and enterprising mind-sets to make alternative choices to crime whilst raising aspirations.

The STEAM project aimed to help schools to raise awareness about STEAM Careers and subsequently increase student participation in STEAM subjects. Starting in September / October 2019 selected schools (primary and secondary) undertook a series of activities that addressed these aims. Using the resources supplied by STEAM School (www.steam-school.com) which focused around a weekly live broadcast from global STEAM innovators, students learned first-hand about jobs from the world of science, tech & digital media.”

This project aimed to answer the question “What does an Attachment Aware Classroom and Curriculum look like?”

Working with schools across the Titan network that had already received or were about to undertake Attachment Awareness training or Trauma Informed Attachment Awareness School training, we worked with Heads of Department and their colleagues to explore how the methodology of Attachment Awareness can be better embedded into the classroom, ultimately benefiting all students but most specifically Children in Care or previously in care, many of whom have experienced multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

The Eureka Project was launched in December 2016 in the UK by the Lead organisation, Titan Partnership.

 Titan Partnership was awarded funding from Erasmus+ for the EUREKA project, which aims to upskill teachers in the early identification of the most able students and deliver a curriculum which enables them to reach their potential. This project builds on the best practice shared between three countries in the Erasmus+ Talented Children project in relation to the development of face-face training programmes and additional electronic resources.

Our Czech partner The Pedagogical and Psychological Counselling Centre in Zlin (KPPP), was tasked with delivering a 5-day training programme to build the skills and knowledge of staff in education to identify most able learners at an early stage. The training aimed to include observation/shadowing at schools and the assessment centre in Zlin as well as workshops and seminars with teachers and educational psychologists. This took place in June 2017.

Following this training programme, our partners Galway and Roscommon Education & Training Board (Ireland) and Ellinogermaniki Agogi (Greece) have led on the production of resources including a guide to support the identification training and a resource directory of best practice ideas and materials from across the partner countries.

In March 2018 a second training course was delivered by partners Birmingham City University aiming to support teaching practice and curriculum adaptation to ensure the most able students are sufficiently challenged.

The training has been accompanied by partnership meetings in Greece, Ireland and the UK to supplement the learning experience of staff and develop supporting materials.

The Eureka Project concludes in October 2018 with a final conference in the UK hosted by The Titan Partnership.

Full information on the project can be found on the project website: www.theeurekaproject.eu

European Interaction Guidelines for Education Professionals when working with Children in Prison Learning Contexts

The EIGEP project comprises organisations from Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and United Kingdom and aims to help practitioners working with children in custody (prison, detention and alternative detention). These practitioners will participate in intensive training and will then receive technical assistance to implement this approach with learners. The existence of specialised staff training on child matters is an integrated indicator in the “Manual for the Measurement of Juvenile Justice Indicators” developed by UNODC and UNICEF 92006).

The goal of the project is to reduce crime and delinquency and improve positive educational outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system. This initiative will help jurisdictions improve outcomes for juvenile offenders through a process of research-based decision-making, improved risk reduction, and program improvement through the implementation of evidence-based practices and more cost-effective use of scarce resources.

The partnership will work to:

  1. Define what is a learning context, for a child within the juvenile justice system.
  2. Map professionals who are responsible for the education of children in juvenile justice, to identify what kind of specific training they receive to work with these vulnerable young people, from which agencies, and what on-the-job preparation they receive.
  3. Identify a list of common competencies needed by these professionals; research and identify how these competencies are promoted in Europe through education staff training policies.
  4. Develop a European key competency profile from this research and a training package of common modules to match the profile. This work, informed by research as above, is likely to focus on communication and teamwork with children in prison & detention, working with vulnerable groups (foreign language usage/non-native speakers), dealing with learning and understanding difficulties, physical and psychological deficiencies and understanding and managing bullying behaviour in juvenile justice.
  5. Pilot the modules in the partner countries and adjust the initial content to meet the national contexts.
  6. Develop and distribute to relevant stakeholders the Program Toolkit containing the piloted modules and the training methodology for teachers, to prepare them for working in juvenile learning contexts.

The training will be disseminated to mainstream it within the juvenile justice system; sustainability will be ensured by the engagement of, and information for, a wide range of policy makers. The program will be evaluated to measure the effectiveness of the training in changing practices and policies in the participating states.

The EU Gangs project recognised that Birmingham is a centre of excellence for meeting the challenges presented by gangs. The project aimed to train professionals and community activists to operative effectively in gang related environments and offered an accessible formally recognised qualification to support their professional development.

Through research conducted in each of the partnership countries (Romania, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and UK) a training needs analysis was completed with the professionals working with vulnerable young people to collect the skills and knowledge required to effectively intervene and prevent gang involvement. This was developed by experts at University College Birmingham (UCB) into a Level 3 professional qualification entitled ‘Working with Gangs’ accredited by City and Guilds. Since the project ended in September 2016 this content has now been amended by feedback from participants to include youth violence as a wider issue. ‘Working with Gangs and Youth Violence’ is now accredited by Open College Network (OCN).

In July 2014 professionals from the police force, health, social and community workers from across the partner countries attended a training the trainer course delivered by UCB and Walsall College to run the L3 ‘Working with Gangs’ programme and cascade the training in their own countries. Participants were able to understand the social and psychological aspects of gang culture and to offer practical approaches that will result in improved interaction and engagement in this complex environment.

Since July 2015 over 100 professionals have been trained to deliver the EU Gangs programme across the partnership countries and the ‘Working with Gangs’ course has been adapted for national contexts and accredited in each country. The 90 hour programme has benefited just under 200 police and probation officers, health, youth and community worked, teachers, psychologists and many other professionals who support vulnerable young people. The programme successfully developed a transnational vocational programme, accredited within Europe, to support the gang agenda so that those professionals who come into contact with gangs will be better prepared for their roles.

The project came to an end in September 2016 but the networks of practitioners continue to operate and the programmes will continue to be delivered in each country.

Funded by the European Union Erasmus + initiative Titan worked as part of the Talented Children project; aiming to upskill teachers in early identification of talented children and teach them to create individual and special educational plans for those children.

Education and training systems should aim to ensure that all learners, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special needs, and migrants, complete their education. Schools and other education institutions must create an atmosphere of acceptance and recognition of gifted and talented children from all backgrounds. This includes knowledge and skills in the early identification of the talented child and support for both the child and their parents and family through the education process. Research conducted by Masaryk University, Czech Republic, found that talented children whose potential is not recognised are at risk of suffering from feelings of social exclusion and depression.

The project aimed to include the development and implementation of innovative practices in the field of early identification of talented children. In order to achieve this, partners compared and contrasted the provision of gifted and talents identification and support in each partner country and used this to highlight key examples of best practice to share transnationally.

Project achievements included:

  • Study visits for professionals in the UK, Czech Republic and Turkey to observe the gifted and talents provision in schools.
  • The Talented Children Final Conference hosted on 16th June in Birmingham in order to share the findings of each country.
  • A handbook for teacher on gifted and talented provision in each country.
  • A recommendation paper for decision makers and strategists.

Addressing bullying in the physical and virtual classroom incorporating cyber bullying.

Titan delivered the EU BULLY project, with funding from the European Commission, to tackle both cyber bullying and bullying in the physical word. EU Bully operated in England, Wales, Ireland, Romania and Greece. The project has a specific focus on creating safe and secure environments in both physical and virtual environments to enable young people aged 5-18, parents, teachers and other support staff in schools and community organisations to discuss bullying openly. At least 5000 young people from primary, secondary and special schools, 2000 parents/carers and 500 teachers and other school or community support staff across all countries have benefited from the project. Each country was involved with experts from Hungary (InSite) and Wales (Spectacle Theatre) who supported developments in drama.

EU Bully offered a blended approach; creating innovation in the virtual world alongside the transfer and roll out of best practice in the use of drama in the physical world to provide safe and secure environments for bullying to be addressed openly. EU Bully supported all young people, including those identified as most vulnerable (Roma, travellers, ethnic/faith minorities, young people in care, disabled, at risk of offending, those living in poverty) and included additional support staff (in residential homes, health care systems, specialist associations supporting these groups in the schools and the community).

Adding value to the EU Bully project was the development of an app to be downloaded onto mobile (handheld) technologies for use within the curriculum in schools as part of ICT key learning strategies. The app also created an impact in the wider community with accessibility outside of the physical classroom allowing it to be used as a tool in the wider virtual world for young people. The app provides real time support and empowers the victim to both log the event, with the content identified, and report it. The logs have been used to create a database providing real time research data on cyber bullying. The database is held on the EU Bully website and allows the app to continue to be used as part of ICT teaching content in schools as part of a mainstream teaching resource. In May 2015 trainers from all the partner countries attended training to run drama based workshops delivered by Spectacle Theatre. There a play was devised and has since been translated and adapted by partners allowing it to be filmed for inclusion on websites for wider dissemination and use as an educational resource.

For further information please consult the below resources for schools, community groups and parents which can be used in classrooms or at home.

Using Drama to Address Bullying: A Teacher’s Manual – InSite Drama

This manual was devised to support the teacher training workshops delivered by InSite Drama. Download here.

The EU Bully Quiz Game

Developed by Zammer Ltd through consultation workshops with young people this multiple choice quiz challenges myths about bullying, raises awareness of tips to stay safe online, and asks the questions: what should I do in a bullying situation? The game is an interactive and fun exercise to complement workshops and lessons on bullying, or can be set as homework. Teachers have the ability to register their students and follow their progress on a number of topics.

Access the game and register your school here www.zammer.co

The EU Bully Research Survey App

Students can be part of the solution by anonymously adding their bullying stats to the EU Bully research survey app. The app collects information on the nature and spread of bullying across Europe and beyond to inform the EU and national policy researchers. The app can be downloaded from iTunes and includes a simple yet fun game to grab students’ attention and start up the conversation about bullying.

Using mobile technology in the classroom – teaching the teachers!

Titan was awarded €300,000 from the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme (COMENIUS Multilateral) for the MLEARN initiative working with Titan member primary and secondary schools. The project worked to embed mobile learning technologies across all levels of the curriculum through the development of a new and intensive teacher training programme for both initial teacher training and continuous professional development following detailed a detailed research and training needs analysis process carried out by Lancaster University. The initial report, the training needs analysis and the final report on the outcomes of the training can be viewed here:

MLEARN Desk Research (Lancaster University)

MLEARN Training Needs Analysis (Lancaster University)

MLEARN Final Report on training outcomes for staff and students (Lancaster University)

The international project focussed on using hand-held technology in the classroom; teachers were trained in how to use mobile technology such as tablets, mobile phones and other hand-held devices. The aim was to inspire teachers to plan and deliver innovative lessons using handheld technologies that engage learners across the curriculum.

Directly funded by the Comenius Strand, the partners in the MLEARN project were located in Greece (Action Synergy SA), Italy (Fondazione Monde Digitale), Romania (Center for Promoting Lifelong Learning – CPIP), Netherlands (Bloemcampschool) and UK (Titan Partnership and Hamstead Hall Academy). The projects main outcomes included a new training programme recognised at EU level with a final showcase event which took place in Brussels on 15TH March 2016.

All those involved in the project shared ideas and good practice following the ‘training the trainer’ sessions held in July 2015 for staff and trainers from all the partner countries, led by Hamstead Hall Academy. Those expert trainers cascaded the training to colleagues in their own schools across the five countries. The progress of the teachers and students was monitored and analysed across a year by Lancaster University with the conclusions presented in the final research report.

Resources from the MLEARN project can be found at the MLEARN E-learning platform. By creating an account on the E-learning platform you will be able to follow the MLEARN training programme online and access case studies and resources.

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