Background

Recent studies indicate that children in Europe, aged between 9 and 16 years, are exposed to excessive smartphone use.  The “EU Kids Online 2020” report indicates that in 19 European countries, children in this age group spent an average of 2 hours and 47 minutes online in 2020. The amount of time children spend online each day has almost doubled in many countries, while smartphones have become the preferred device for accessing the internet across Europe.

The project

The FreeMobi project aims to prevent and combat the excessive mobile/smartphone use  by primary school children (6-12 years old) in Spain, Greece, Italy, Poland and Cyprus, and to further empower children on their digital journeys, promoting their digital literacy, resilience and well-being. More specifically, the project will work directly with children and schools to create a toolkit, based on the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) approach, to empower and equip primary children with the skills needed to use smartphones and to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly. As formal and informal educational settings play a key role in supporting digital literacy, the project will also build the skills of their families and educators, as well as involve the wider schools communities (including parents/guardians’ associations, other education providers, health and welfare professionals, local authorities etc.) through the SEL approach, in order to engage them in creating supportive environments for children, and guiding them on the safe and more responsible use of smartphones and online interactions. Awareness-raising activities, including child-led community events and visual campaigns in primary schools, will also be implemented to promote healthy digital habits and to raise awareness among local communities.

During its 24th month lifetime, FreeMobi will directly and indirectly positively impact:

• 60 primary school leaders trained in guiding children’s mobile/smartphone use and supporting their digital literacy and resilience
• 150 primary school teachers trained in guiding children on the responsible use of mobile/smartphones and on addressing emerging risks and challenges
• ~2.500 primary school students with new enhanced understanding about responsible smartphone use and empowered to make sound choices and express themselves in the online environment safely and responsibly by project end
• 150 primary school pupils involved in designing the SEL toolkit per country (at least 50% girls)
• 150 school pupils involved in participatory workshops (at least 50% girls)
• 10 primary schools use the SEL toolkit by project end
• 70 stakeholders participating in local cooperation networks (including schools by project end.
• 15 local cooperation networks meetings held by project end
• 10 joint actions designed/implemented by the local cooperation networks for building supportive environments by the end of the project

FreeMobi at a glance:

• 5 National reports (one per implementing country Spain, Greece, Poland, Italy, Cyprus) on supporting primary school children’s digital literacy and resilience
• A transnational focus group (half day face to face) with approx. 40 school heads from at least 15 European countries
• A summary report that combines the results from the national reports and the transnational focus group
• Guidelines on adapting SEL to the digital space for primary schools in EN and translated in ES, GR, IT, PL
• Training Curriculum and materials for primary school leaders/heads
• Guide to support school leaders/heads in the implementation of a whole school approach to SEL for the digital space, and on building vision, skills and knowledge across schools and the wider communities
• Transnational co-creation/validation workshop (half-day f-2-f event) with approx. 40 school heads to review and validate the draft content of the Guide for school leaders/heads
• 5 (1/2-day) seminars for 60 primary school heads
• Capacity building and awareness programme for primary school teachers and parents/guardians (training curriculum and materials)
• Training manual to support the capacity-building and awareness-raising implementation
• 5 capacity building and raising awareness seminars for 150 primary school teachers and 150 parents/guardians (300 in total)
• Digital modules of the Training Programme for primary school leaders and the Capacity building and awareness programme for teachers and parents/guardians
• 10 cooperation protocols setting the standards for network members cooperation
• 10 reports of the selected per country schools with ideas/proposals for the SEL curriculum toolkit development
• the FreeMobi SEL curriculum toolkit – digital toolkit for preparing children for smartphone use and digital interactions, promoting healthy digital habits, and preventing and/or addressing the negative effects of online engagement on their emotional and psychological well-being
• Report summarizing the results of the pilots in the 5 countries
• 1-day event in Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Poland, targeting ~30 stakeholders representatives
•  Half-day online School heads workshops Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Poland, targeting ~ 20 school heads
• 1-day child-led community events in Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Poland targeting at least 40 students, educators, families, local authorities, CSOs/organizations working in the fields of education and child mental health, HEIs, policymakers, and other members of the local communities each
• 1.30-hour transnational webinar targeting ~ 30 ESHA members across Europe
• 2 HEADstart quality card summarizing the Guide for school leaders  and presenting the toolkit to be included in ESHA’s quality HEADstart cards series and promoted through ESHA Academy,
• 1 podcast showcasing project results
• 1-day event – Closing conference- in Utrecht or other EU MS, targeting ~80 participants,
• International (1 to 2-hour) workshop at ESHA Biennial Conference 2027 targeting 50+ ESHA conference participants
• Other dissemination activities including information material (Digital project leaflets; 10 banners for events and/or trainings; other digital materials; 10 press releases issued by all partners; 1 short animation video to be used for information and awareness raising in schools)