Institut pro regionální rozvoj, o.p.s.

The International Conference of the Erasmus+ project « Kissing Tartu » will soon take place at the National Museum of Tartu, Estonia from the 16th to the 19th of May 2024. The place is perfect to host this conference called « First Kiss », Tartu is the European Capital of Culture 2024 and always had a strong culture of « kissing ». The conference is a part of the Hybrid European Opinion Festival. 

The conference aims to offer students from the 6th to the 12th grade the opportunity to discover this culture and also learn more about sexual and health education. This subject is often taboo but it is still important to have basic knowledge of these fields to be aware of the risks and also to prevent undesired behaviors. A time for debate is also planned to share a stimulating discussion about this crucial topic for young people’s development. 

Speakers will come to talk about the various aspects of this subject. Merilin Mandel will speak about the growth of a person while Katriin Kütt-Oad and Margit Kagadze will be more focused on health and sexual education. 

Then, the audience could experiment with more practical activities like a virtual reality experience to learn more about emotions and an e-quiz freely available online. Two workshops are also planned about orgasm and sexual health and the second about the impact of the internet on health education. The conference will end with an overview of the challenges in this field in Malta, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. 

On the 18th and the 19th, the audience will enjoy the other events of the Festival like the different debate sessions about global issues.

For more information, please follow the organizers on their social media platforms and their websites.

Kissing Tartu reached another step by finalizing the virtual reality (VR) app: the sexual and health education content is ready to be tested. Pupils around 13 years old from a Prague school had the opportunity to test it and benefit from this experience.

The partner organizations of this Erasmus+ project from Estonia, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Malta developed this app to make people feel a wide range of emotions. The Prague school participating in the test phase borrowed 10 virtual reality headsets from IRR for a week in order to allow the pupils to discover our output.

Previously, the project partners tested the finalized app during a meeting in Malta on September 19-20th. Then they could discuss the last details to fix. 

In the VR environment, the students tried three rooms dedicated to a specific emotion. The first one is called « Falling in love » which makes pupils immersed in a bright and calm atmosphere. In this way, they better integrate the information and advice about the feelings and the behaviors in this kind of situation. 

The second room is more disturbing but as important as the previous part of the app. It is about « Falling out of love » which can be emotionally intense. However, it is primordial to receive an education to make people aware of these unpleasant situations.

Last but not least, the third room is about the « Aftermath » and teaches how to recover after a relationship.  

The feedback from the students was very positive. They appreciated having access to an innovative tool to strengthen both their e-learnings by utilizing VR headsets and their emotional education. They could experience various feelings of uncomfortable situations to learn more about themselves. The VR was very useful in facilitating the sharing of information to really involve them in this experience and deal with more taboo subjects. The discussions between the teacher and the pupils after the test were very enriching and completed the experience.

The project “Digital pathways to motivate and engage young second-generation migrants in employment” is being implemented within the Erasmus+ programme with six European organisations. This project aims to create innovative educational content that will enhance the employability and competitiveness of unemployed second-generation young migrants in the labour market. The aim is to facilitate their successful integration into the local society and economy, which will benefit not only the individual but also the community as a whole.

The project partners have embarked on the development of a series of educational games that aim to make learning content accessible through gamification. The games are designed to be not only educational but also visually appealing and engaging, which increases motivation to learn. The games cover a wide range of topics from legal awareness to the skills needed for successful integration into the labour market. The reason for choosing gamification is its ability to engage and motivate users to learn in an active and fun way, which is particularly important for young people and people from marginalised groups.

To ensure the high quality of the educational games, a peer review process between the partners takes place. This step allows to gather feedback from different stakeholders and ensure that the resulting content is not only valuable, but also visually appealing and user-friendly. Peer review helps to identify any gaps in the content or the game itself, ensuring that the final products are as effective and engaging as possible for the target audience.

The project is now entering the phase of translating the game content into different languages, which will increase its availability and accessibility for young migrants in different European countries. This step is crucial to achieve the widest possible impact of the project. Pilot testing of the games is also planned in the near future to gather further feedback directly from users and to adapt the games to best meet the needs and expectations of second generation young migrants. This testing will be an important step towards the ultimate goal of the project – improving the employability and social inclusion of young migrants in Europe.

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Kissing Tartu is an Erasmus+ project co-founded by the European Union.

It’s been developed by a series of partners coming from different countries- Estonia, Denmark, Malta- and it can be located inside the framework of the bigger event which will take place in Tartu – from the 16^th to the 19^th  of May- coinciding with Tartu being European Capital of Culture in 2024.

Tartu is a city where the culture of “kissing” has always been present and, together with our partners, we decided to take this opportunity to spread among the youngest part of European citizens, what sexuality truly is and to allow them to learn more about it.

It’s an opportunity for the students, from the 6^th to the 12^th grade, to learn more about the culture of kissing, but also to learn more about sexual and health education, which sometimes is underestimated or not explained properly.

We aim to make them aware of sexual and health education so that they can make responsible choices. Young people need to know more about it, considering they are in their teenage, a crucial phase for the growth and development of the individual. It’s of crucial importance for students to be truly aware of the many aspects of sexuality.

It is also an instrument of prevention: raising awareness among young people of the risks they may face, will surely have an impact on their sexual behavior, preventing undesired situations from occurring.

We decided to do it through a series of free educational tools, which we believe will be enjoyable to use for millennials. The main tools we have created are e-quizzes- through which students can test their knowledge and learning, but more than anything, can learn everything they don’t know about sexuality. Another tool we have created is the virtual reality experience, through which students can experience aspects they may not know.

E-learning is, for instance, the best way they can learn something, while still enjoying what they’re doing. There is no limit of time or space, as these tools can be used whenever students wish to.

It’s an optimal educational opportunity that can bring many benefits both in their educational and personal life. Benefits may regard their health, getting to know risks they may have not known before and so, once learned, acting to prevent them. Prevention is, for instance, the best way to be safe. Being aware of their sexuality and sexual and health education can also help them enjoy this aspect of their life more.

On our platforms, we share many contents regarding this topic, which are surely more visually appealing- especially for young people- than this article.

If you want to know more, follow us on our social media, check out the Tartu 2024 webpage, and get on board!

Try our e-quizzes, learn, and enjoy the virtual reality experiences we are offering you.  Learning has never been that easy!

If you are a school and want to take part to the project, contact us.

If you’re a student and want to get involved, just follow us and start learning through our tools. We are counting on you!