ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

2 weeks 1 hour ago

A week in Croatia well spent!
More than 50 students and teachers in total were learning together about food waste, sustainable loving and cultural food significance in Srednja škola Mate Blažine Labin! Between the 20th and 24th of October participants from Escolas de Mangualde 🇵🇹, Stichting Onderwijs Midden-Limburg 🇳🇱, Prios International 🇸🇯 and 🇧🇬 (us 🤗) explored the Istrian region with the wonderful highschool Mate Blazine as our host and guide. Everyone was more than thrilled to dive in the new cuisine, culture and experiences with friends and to connect it with a world-wide issue that needs to be adressed - food waste.
We talked about culture - students presented their local dishes and traditional methods for cooking, we had a teacher workshop with a group of enthusiasted teachers from all psrts of Europe and tested the prototype for our SustainaQuest game, which the students loved!
Almost all activities shed light on the food waste problem - from ways of cookong to reduce food waste, to the trip to the local market, to the Waste to Taste challenge starting.
Other activities included visiting of the hotel chain Valamar in Rabac and Infobip , who both shared their sustainability strategies and ways for sustainable living and working. We also saw Valamar's composting facility which particularly sparked so much interest among the participants!
This experience happened because of the FoodHeroes Project in which ValueMe participates in as an expert partner - we were so glad to be able to fulfill our role in the best way possible and hope to bring even more knowledge and fun for the next LTT as well! Thank you, students, thank you, teachers!
And dear followers, stay tuned and learn more about the Food Heroes Activities and upcoming initiatives 😉

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

1 month 4 days ago

On October 1st and 2nd we had the very last TPM for the SIDLE Project - participants from Greece, Bulgaria, Turkiye and Norway gathered to discuss how we can achieve long term impact with our project results!
On the meeting, we discussed the results of the piloting of our tools in detail in order to asses what our best strategy would be in order to deliver a meaningful end of the project. ValueMe as a coordinator was assured that dissemination throughout the entire project period was consistent and had a real audience - now what's left is to continue with these efforts. On that note, expect to see 4 in-person events in each of the 4 countries that are all about SIDLE - Social Interaction in Digital Language Environments. The actual highlight and most important step of the meeting was to fully develop the communication strategy - a responsibilty of Gymnasio Neos Kydonias, which they did excellent. ValueMe will develop an implementation strategy.
This TPM ensured we will all collectively fight for the cause of the SIDLE project, which stands for “Supporting Innovative Digital Learning Environments” - FOREVER🥰

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

1 month 3 weeks ago

Did you know that crafting in the classroom is more than just “arts and crafts”? It’s actually a powerful teaching tool backed by science. When students use their hands, minds, and creativity together, something incredible happens:
🧠 They remember more, hands-on making strengthens memory pathways far better than passive note-taking
❤️ Their bodies sync, research shows that group building activities can even align heart rhythms, boosting rapport and trust.
🪢 They learn to self-regulate, because repetitive, mindful craft movements calm the nervous system and improve focus
🌍 They feel they belong - collaborative projects create social connection and reduce isolation, which is excellent if you want to make more 'teambuilding' exercises for a new class, but don't have spare time
📈 They sharpen problem-solving. Planning, measuring, and adapting during making builds flexible thinking skills

Crafts aren’t a “break” from learning - they ARE learning. Say you have to present to a class about microorganism, give them an origami to do while listening or to color a drawing of the microorganism in the class - you will see how they won't take their phones out or zone-out.

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

2 months 1 week ago

Our B.E.YOU project's final newsletter, check it out!
www.canva.com/design/DAGn_m9uBEQ/BAhUSTPYSC2E_QMswGFUPQ/view?utm_content=DAGn_m9uBEQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hc9f84921fd&fbclid=IwY2xjawMicixleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHkroPcGT3q-dvZamaMU2nbEFv5ZJaW_vcyqA7DUtA31OpTzoBIOP6SpPcbja_aem_pm9z5w6MK0xSVO9pNRsStQ#1

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

2 months 4 weeks ago

We are proud to announce that the ValueMe team is part of yet another approved European initiative that combines digital transformation, sustainability, and innovation in education.

In partnership with leading organizations in Europe, we will support small and medium-sized enterprises in meeting the new requirements of the European Digital Product Passport (DPP) by developing digital and sustainable skills in close cooperation with educational institutions and training organizations.

Our contribution is unmatched - we will create sector-oriented training and adaptive learning paths based on innovations in instructional design.
We will develop micro-learning with credits and specialized programs covering:

📎Digital literacy for the modern market

📎Green transformation and sustainable management

📎AI tools for efficiency and transparency

📎Modern strategies for assessment and traceability

This is a new generation of training courses designed to prepare the workforce and businesses for a sustainable, digital, and competitive future.
Let's tackle the challenges together! We're starting Jan 1st 2026!

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

3 months 2 weeks ago

SYSTEM HUBs: Schools Driving Real Environmental Change Across Europe is approved!

We are so happy to see that such a needed initiative is finally acknowledged. We will tune you in very soon, once we start preparing!

The SYSTEM HUBs project transforms schools into vibrant sustainability hubs where students lead real-world environmental initiatives and teachers gain hands-on tools for green education. Through Living Labs, a digital GreenHUB platform, and international collaboration, the project empowers young changemakers and educators alike.

Key results include:
✅ 30+ student-led sustainability projects
✅ 300+ teachers trained
✅ Critical Eco-Literacy Framework
✅ Policy recommendations to influence national curricula

Together, we're shaping a greener, more sustainable future! 🌿💡

🤝 Partners:
🇧🇬 Valueme (Bulgaria)
🇳🇴 Prios (Norway)
🇵🇹 Agrupamento de Escolas de Mangualde (Portugal)
🇫🇷 Collège Groupe Anatole-France (France)
🇸🇮 JVIZ OS Dobrna (Slovenia)

#SYSTEMHUBs #ErasmusPlus #Sustainability #GreenEducation #YouthLeadership #Valueme

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

4 months 1 day ago

❗The free teacher workshop resource made for the FoodHeroes Project is published as a downloadable material on projects.valueme.bg/resources/

🫣 We can't wait for you to try it out!
It's made for both teachers and students to use as to facilitate an educative, but interesting workshop in class for cultural food diversity.

📂 The overall aim of this resource is to let you have a customizable, but ready-made solution for class activities that tackles important topics of every day life that are not discussed enough.

⚪ We piloted it as a teacher training in a school in the Netherlands and got positive feedback. Get yours on our website with the link above with 2 clicks and no registrations.

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

4 months 6 days ago

On the 28th of June, the ValueMe projects team was on a mission to spread awareness about a very important issue - strengthening the employability of young people from geographically remote areas by enhancing their soft skills, digital and entrepreneurship competences and facilitating their access to the national, European, and global labour markets. That is the topic of the B.E.YOU project.

By hosting this ME for the young people that want to learn, we came together to address some of the biggest challenges facing young people today:
✅ The problem of low employment rates and limited development opportunities for youth
✅ The needs of young people when entering the job market
✅ What are the skills of the 21st century - and how do we build them?
✅ How to prepare effectively for meaningful career growth

We explored the results of the B.E.YOU project - was it a success or not? We unpacked the B.E.YOU methodology, the curriculum, and the framework for successful thinking and development that the project provides.

And the best part? We shared how anyone can benefit from the free online course designed to equip young people with the skills, mindset, and tools they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world of work.

🚀 B.E.YOU is a project that is finishing up in August, but to us it's not a cause that's ending, but a life-long challenge.
Stay tuned and join us on this journey to empower youth!

#BEYOU

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

5 months 6 days ago

Last week was an adventure in the southern part of Netherlands - in the Limburg region. Stichting Onderwijs Midden-Limburg, our FoodHeroes Project coordinator hosted the first project LTT, in the Connect College in Echt, full of lots of fun activities that tied culture and knowledge together. ValueMe had the important role of joining the planning and focus of the LTT, along with Prios. Both of our organisations created, in total, 3 workshops that kept the partners and their students motivated to continue the #stopfoodwaste movement and to build the #Wastetotaste community. You'll see what I mean! We deem this mobility successfull, because students shared they had an overall great time in the country, managed to sample its culture, but most importantly, most students reported they "now feel more responsible about food and sustainability" which is what matters the most here. Our activites were as follows: 🏫Welcoming, ice breakers and peer-led tour of the school Shortly after the welcome, ice-breaking games like human bingo and energizers to get the students talking and more comfortable with each other, which is very important. Then followed a student-guided school tour. 🍅“From Waste to Taste” Sustainability Workshop The “From Waste to Taste” workshop channels creativity toward tackling food loss. Participants played “3 Truths and a Lie” related to the zero waste concept, test their knowledge in a “From Soil to Bin” quiz, and brainstorm upcycling recipes in a seasonal-ingredient challenge. Lastly, a vigourous debate unraveled whether we shoul rely more on technological solutions or behavioural change. 🛥The day continued with a boat trip around Roermond and some free time to explore the beautiful city! 🍞Hands-On Food Bank Collaboration The group travels to Maastricht’s Foodbank Maastricht , where the owner shared his experience and tasked the students with helping show people the importance of his facility. The students gained a deeper understanding of the problem by seeing all the rescued food and then cooking with it and this way doing the workshop “Sustainable food practices" that taught them how to sustainably reuse food. In the end, we all had a shared dinner and shared the positive emotions. 🙌 Students’ SDG Action Lab & Teachers’ Food Diversity Workshop In one hall, students tackled the SDG Workshop an interactive lab from Global Exploration that showed the students the importance of the SDGs and really got them thinking of the global food waste problem. Meanwhile, in a neighboring room, teachers had a session about Cultural Food Diversity (Lead by ValueMe). We fostered a group discussion about food heritage, cultural differences and globalisation by having the activity "What's in my lunchbox?" and a presentation about global diets and health. 🥩#WasteToTasteChallenge Planning & BBQ Innovation The students helpe with planning of the Waste-to-Taste Challenge by sharing ideas on how to make the campaign more succesfull and to reach more students. Later on, they were tasked to ask supermarkets and other shops for food they might be throwing away (but is stills safe to eat) to make a BBQ dinner for all

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

5 months 2 weeks ago

🎉 Exciting News from the SIDLE Project! 🎉

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the piloting phase for our SIDLE training program - a crucial first step toward creating long-term impact in digital language learning!

🔹 What’s Happening?
We’re kicking off the pilot implementation of:
✔️ The ready-to-use training modules
✔️ The SIDLE assessment strategy to evaluate how teachers master the integration of the SIDLE methodology
✔️ The SIDLE platform for community building among educators

This is Output 5.1 in action - testing and collecting feedback to enhance our resources for greater reach and relevance.

🔹 What’s the Goal?
Empower teachers to implement social interaction in digital language environments across schools - blending innovation, pedagogy, and real classroom practice.

💡 Who’s Involved?
All partners are actively participating in this piloting phase. As project coordinator, we will:
📌 Develop the pilot plan
📌 Collect and analyze data
📌 Deliver comprehensive feedback
📌 Summarize final results to support ongoing improvement

📊 We aim to train at least 30 teachers during this pilot!

If you want to experience the course for yourself, just go to www.sidle.eu/, register and start learning! You can share your experience in the comments or send us your feedback via DM!

Stay tuned for updates and insights as we shape the future of inclusive and interactive digital language learning! 🌍💬

#SIDLEproject #DigitalLearning #TeacherTraining #InnovationInEducation #LanguageTeaching #CommunityOfPractice #Valueme #EUprojects #SocialInteraction #PilotPhase #EducationalImpact

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators

5 months 2 weeks ago

Being a project manager isn’t easy, but at ValueMe, we know that great things happen when we commit to life-long learning and lifting each other up

In our team, learning never stops. We’re always on the lookout for fresh ideas, new tools, and better ways to work. Whether it's the latest industry trends, innovative project management techniques, or personal development insights, we’re constantly sharing knowledge among each other and raising the bar for ourselves.

And when tasks feel tough, we know we’ve got each other’s backs. Our amazing leader, Adi Konedareva is always there to guide us. Buut this also works the other way around as everyone on the team brings their own strengths and perspectives, keeping even the boss on their toes.

At ValueMe, we believe that the best teams are the ones that learn together and grow together. We don’t just manage projects, we build a culture where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. That’s how we stay ahead, and that’s how we create real value - for ourselves, our partners and the people that are in our projects, students, teachers and people that wish to learn innovatively

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators is in Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland.

6 months 2 weeks ago

The ECO-SAGA project keeps going, don't miss out!
The team behind the ECO-SAGA project had their 2nd transnational project meeting in our Polish partners' home town - Lubiszyn - a beautiful small village in the countryside near Gorzow Wlkp.

On our TPM we discussed:

🔔The student-led workshops' plan and their overall execution plan
🔔The guideline and toolkit to-be made for the workshops
🔔The curriculum of our EcoDigital Educator program
🔔The modules development process
🔔Our website's development , reached goals, and expected progress
🔔Our dissemination strategy and how to reach a broader audience

We think this TPM was a success as it cleared many misunderstandings and made the overall focus of the project even clearer for all participants.
We had the opportunity to visit the municipal school in Lubiszyn and to feel inspired by their eco-friendly practices, which we will share in another post of ours in the future in our new little rubric -Partner Spotlight🤫

The Challenges‼️
Have you wondered what are the most common challenges with which project participants have to deal with when working with partners from rural areas that need these initiatives the most?
Well, most often, that is the travelling process!
This trip to Poland was certainly quite a challenge, but was definitely worth to do! ValueMe travelled from Sofia to Berlin, then took a bus to Gorzow Wlkp. and lastly travelled by car to the village. It may not sound like too much, but it was certainly tough to plan, yet every second was memorable and with a purpose.

Let us know if you would like to hear more details about project work or insights about work trips like these.

ValueMe - The Competence Hub for Educators is in Sofia City Province, Bulgaria.

6 months 2 weeks ago

Transnational Project Meeting hosting checklist: How To Make Your Meeting a Success

- Before the TPM:

✅ Pick proper dates
Make sure the dates picked for the project meeting are convenient for everyone – make a poll to see the dates where everyone’s free! Do this at least 2 months prior so partners can book flight tickets.

✅ Prepare and Share a Clear Agenda
Include time for presentations, discussions, decisions, breaks, venue logistics and other cultural activities.

✅ Confirm Participants' Needs
Check for special dietary needs, accessibility requirements, presentation equipment needed.

✅ Book Venue and Technical Setup
Book a proper venue with a clean, simple and business-like athmostphere. Have reliable Wi-Fi, projector, power plugs, coffee and snacks, etc.

✅ Prepare а Welcome Pack
Include printed agenda, local info, transport maps, emergency contacts, Wi-Fi codes and a small welcome gift to greet your partners and start a warm connection.

✅ Assign Roles in advance
Speak with your partners about who creates the meeting protocol, who presents what workpackage or activity, who organizes logistics, trips, books hotels? This way, you can avoid confusion and have a smooth meeting

✅ Plan Cultural or Networking Activities
Short cultural visit or a social dinner - building partnership relationships is key!

✅ Print Participation Certificates
Stay professional and prepare good-looking certificates of participation for everyone that proove they've taken active participation in the TPM

- During the TPM:

✅ Take clear notes and photos (with permission) — you'll need them for reporting and dissemination.

✅ Summarize Key Decisions and Next Steps
Make sure every partner leaves knowing exactly what to do next.

- After the TPM:

✅ Send a document with all conclusion from the TPM
Clear action points, deadlines, responsible partners listed.

✅ Share a Thank You Email
Include minutes, group photo, and a short thank-you
note for attending.

✅ Collect Feedback
Create and share a simple 2-minute evaluation form to improve future meetings.

These are the basic essentials for a great and successful TPM that will leave your partners energized when they return home.