HOPEs: Happiness, Optimism, Positivity and  Ethos in Schools

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The Department of Psychology of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences participates in the European HOPEs program which is funded by the European Commission, within the framework of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships program in the field of School Education. The main goal of the program is to create and develop an innovative educational tool that will integrate and combine basic theories and concepts of positive psychology and character education. The educational tool will be used by elementary school teachers with the ultimate goal of developing positivity, proper education and character training of students. Through this educational tool, the ability of teachers to interact and influence students' behavior and abilities in a positive way will be strengthened, so that education is more effective and has more meaning. Trained teachers will be motivated to improve their teaching methods and guide their students in issues related to self-awareness, resilience, happiness and positivity.

The program started in September 2016 and has a duration of 24 months. HOPEs is implemented in 5 countries (Greece  Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Malta) with the cooperation of 6 organizations. The coordinator of the consortium is the Pedagogical Institute of Cyprus, while the participating organizations are the Department of Psychology of Pantheon University in Greece, GrantXpert Consulting Ltd in Cyprus, the Institute of Development Ltd in Cyprus, ICEPE - Institute of Child Education and Psychology in Ireland , the ISPA University (Instituto Superior de Psyicologia Aplicada, Crl) in Portugal and the University of Malta (UNIVERSITA TA MALTA). The newly established strategic partnership was created based on the long-standing experience of the partners in topics such as positive psychology, character education, values education and skill development of elementary school teachers.