Practical techniques for relearning interpersonal relationships and fostering psychosocial development in the post-Covid 19 era

In school education, the main goal and reason for priority activities is the student and his broadly understood intellectual and psychosocial development. After more than a year of the pandemic, educational centers covering the entire educational community (teachers, students, parents) had to experience a gradual return to normality after months of isolation and distance learning to in-person classes. This long period of lack of contact with teachers and peers and social distancing had a huge impact, especially on students. During their psychosocial and emotional development, which is so important in the context of adult life, they were forced to break off established relationships, habits and forms of learning, and systematic work. Therefore, the Together Again project fits perfectly into the needs of students, teachers and parents after the pandemic. Rebuilding contacts and interpersonal bonds after the period of isolation is the most important. The project formula - cooperation between schools and associations of psychology specialists from four countries provides an opportunity for the most interesting solutions to a problem that affects the entire population of young people in Europe.

The main goal of project no. 2021-1-PL01-KA220-SCH-000023629 'Together again. “Practical techniques for relearning interpersonal relationships and fostering psychosocial development in the post-Covid 19 era” is to alleviate the effects of isolation and social distancing of students and young people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown, young people lost contact with peers, friends and teachers, were forced to manage their learning on their own and were forced to function in the virtual world. The use of digital technology can enrich and stimulate a child's experience, but it will never replace interpersonal relationships. Therefore, the priority result of the project was and is the implementation of a training program for teachers (handbook) and the creation of a resource of tools to rebuild and strengthen intrapersonal and interpersonal competences and skills of young people. Project activities in which young people gain competences in the field of emotional intelligence, psychosocial and emotional development are a goal and a way to mitigate the negative effects of distance learning and social distancing after the pandemic after the pandemic.

The project's goals were to create a European network of institutions, continue training and activities to raise awareness of relationships in the school environment. To ensure understanding between partners, a a cooperation agreement was drawn up specifying the rights and obligations of members. During the project implementation, the schools encouraged the creation of a local/regional network not only to disseminate the project results, but also within the local government structures of the society, which enabled the continuation of activities. In order to transfer knowledge to interested parties, the project results were disseminated through publications, conferences and other events organized at local/national/international level partners' activities. These events promoted the knowledge generated during the project, reaching a huge number of people. Innovation characterizing the project's subject matter and its results: a manual, a set of 20 tools for teachers and 20 tools for students.

We are proud that we managed to achieve all the intended goals and results. They were of a material nature - measurable, and intangible, in terms of acquired competences - which is difficult to define in a measurable form. The actual results are: Report of Focus Groups on the situation in schools Manual for teachers - development of social and emotional competences in high school A set of 20 tools and scenarios for teachers to develop students' social and emotional competences, A set of practical tools for student-student relationships in order to mutually learn mental, emotional and social competences in the post-covid 19 era. In intangible form it is: Developed good practices in strengthening interpersonal and interpersonal skills - in many schools, thanks to our project, the educational action plan was updated using our design strategies. Creating an educational community through an alliance of schools, families and associations. An interesting additional result of our activities was a favorable opinion of a university researcher, the dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Pedagogy and Humanities, prof. KAAFM Ph.D. Ewa Wilczek-Rużyczka. The professor gave a lecture during a dissemination event, in which she recommended the results.