On November 23rd, two experts from the Rescue project staff in Romania were invited by the ‘National Agency for Management’ ErasmusPlus for Romania (ANPCDEFP) to participate as speakers at the International event ‘Strategic Partnerships – Innovation in Education’ organised by the agency in Bucharest, and pursued the development of cross-sector strategic partnerships and the submission of such projects under the ErasmusPlus progam for the 2018 deadlines.

On behalf of World Vision Romania, Mariana Arnautu and Cosmin Grigorescu presented  to participants (over 30 people) from different countries the Rescue Project as Good Practice and Innovation in Education for the Prevention of ESL.  Therefore, questions were asked from participants in how to carry out the project, the tools used, etc.. which showed the participants were very interested in intellectual products and project activities, and especially those that focus on the teachers and community as key actors in ESL prevention. By participating in this event which was organised by the agency, the Rescue project and the results achieved so far were considered as good practice in education, they were promoted and disseminated ( http://www.erasmusplus.ro/evenimente-det/vrs/IDev/1083)

During the period of 6-7 October 2017, at Secondary School Cosereni locate in Cosereni commune – Ialomita County, organised together with World Vision Romania, two days of training workshops with thematic on “Developing learning and participation in challenging schools with early school leaving through the Index for inclusion” in order to provide information and develop skills on communication and intervention on ESL. The Workshops were addressed to 17 persons, represented by teachers and community members ( village Mayor, priest, social worker, parents) in order to equipped the participants with working skills that help them to prevent and reduce the risk of school drop out students in their community by using a mechanism with instruments to prevent early school leaving through a cooperativ

e workflow and collaboration. By participating in this workshops, both teachers and other professionals from community are aware that today’s schools are constantly changing, in different ways, for different reasons, that why is important to set up priorities and a school development plan that engage all community to combat ESL.

During the period of 8-9 October 2017, Secondary School ” Mihai David” locate in Negresti city – Vaslui County, organised together with World Vision Romania, two days of training workshops with thematic on “Developing learning and participation in challenging schools with early school leaving through the Index for inclusion” in order to provide information and develop skills on communication and intervention on ESL. The Workshops took place at Youth Centre in Negresti and was addressed to 25 persons, represented by teachers and community members ( Mayor, priest, social workers, parents, police officer, child protection specialists) in order to equipped the participants with working skills that help them to prevent and reduce the risk of school drop out students in their community by using a mechanism with instruments to prevent early school leaving through a cooperative workflow and collaboration.

During of the workshops, participants analyzed the school community from the perspective of inclusive cultures, policies and practices. The workshops were focused on involving local authorities in developing a school planning and school development framework together with teachers and also prioritizing indicators and aspects of ESL. The highlighted aspects in school community analysis were: extreme poverty and low level of education of parents, lack of hygiene and child neglect, the need to co-operate with social services, medical services, police and other institutions, to respond to children’s needs, develop complementary school programs and mobilize resources to reduce and prevent ESL.

During 5-7 April, one of the RESCUE team staff in Romania attended the RezultatE+ workshop http://www.erasmusplus.ro/evenimente-det/vrs/IDev/953.  The Erasmus+ National Management Agency for Romania (ANPCDEFP) organised this event to support Erasmus+ project teams in developing information and dissemination campaign and events planning skills. More than 40 participants from different organisations attended.  At the end, participants were better equipped to understand the concepts of dissemination and use of result and to elaborate a strategic plan for communication of project results.  Cosmin Grigorescu attended on behalf of World Vision Romania as the lead partner in RESCUE.

During March and April 2017, the teachers in the two RESCUE partner schools in Romania – Cosereni School, Ialomita and Mihai David School in Negresti, Vaslui have been actively involved in gathering data about the ESL in their schools and neighbouring school communities as well.  100 questionnaires and 39 interviews were applied to teachers, principals and other school stakeholders in an attempt to document the main Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that the school teachers are facing in effectively involving in ESL prevention and intervention. We were positively impressed by the level of response and interest we have discovered in the respondents, given the fact that many of them were not teaching in the partner schools. The explanation we could find is that the teachers have become more aware of their role and responsibility in preventing and combating ESL in their schools.

On the 2nd of March 2017, World Vision Romania and their RESCUE partner – Mihai David School in Negresti officially launched the project in their community.  Teachers along with their Principal and colleagues from other schools in Negresti and their rural neighbouring communities have participated along with the County School Inspectorate, the local Police, Social Services, the Student Council and Local Council representatives. The project was well received by the audience who acknowledged the need for such an intervention in their community. The participating students have confirmed the incidence of ESL in their school.  They committed to team up with their teachers in assisting their peers at risk of ESL.  The debate convinced the County School Inspectorate of the importance of the planned intervention. They suggested that the management team extend the piloting of the ESL prevention instruments to more than just the partner school and they have offered to assist in this regard. This event played an important role in raising awareness of the most relevant local and county level institutional stakeholders in the greater scale picture of preventing ESL.

In October 2016, the partners met in Malta to discuss the project in detail as well as various tasks of the consortium.  The meeting was a success, with all partners understanding their respective roles throughout the lifetime of the project. The next partner meeting will take place in Sofia Bulgaria July 2017.