Objective Schools: Future Labs aims to increase the employability of young people, by increasing their interest and achievements in STEM and foreign language subjects. Problem statement The problem we are addressing is two-fold: • Low interest of students in STEM subjects, because these subjects are taught (and therefore perceived) in dry, theoretical, abstract terms; • Low proficiency in foreign languages, because classroom teaching is largely theoretical/passive, instead of participatory which would enable students to use and practice the language they are learning. Ultimately, these two subject areas are fundamentally linked in the sense that in theory, they appear abstract and useless, yet once they are practiced, they open doors to the world. Methodology, Activities and Outputs To reach its objective, Schools: Future Labs will develop and test a teaching methodology based on Action Research, involving task-based exploration of STEM subjects during classes taught in tandem by STEM and foreign language teachers. Using mobile science labs that enable students to develop and implement their own experiments, this methodology is student-led, self-directed and includes project planning and implementation skills: all essential to the development of transversal skills. The activities of the project implementation phase will primarily concern training of teachers, piloting of the methodology by teachers in their classes, further training and production seminars and on-line mentoring, resulting in the development of project outputs. The outputs of this project will be: • A teacher training Course for the Schools: Future Labs methodology; • A series of “plug-and-play” STEM-CLIL lesson plans, applied to a variety of STEM subjects and applicable to any foreign language; • A virtual student learning portfolio which will document each student’s learning outcomes. Expected Results The efficacy and effectiveness of this methodology will be comprehensively evaluated, both in quantitative terms (do students test better than those not involved in this project?) and as importantly, in qualitative terms (are students more interested in STEM and FL than those not involved in this project? Do teachers and students find classes more interesting and motivating?) We expect the evaluation will demonstrate that as a result of Schools: Future Labs, students are more interested in STEM subjects, achieve a higher and deeper level of knowledge, develop better fluency in their chosen foreign language, and that these results are achieved in a cost-effective way. Based on this evaluation, we expect that: - the participating schools will continue to use this methodology with their students; - the Schools: Future Labs Teacher Training Course will be accredited as a teacher training course; - the participating teacher training institutes will offer this course as part of their new and in-service teacher training offer. We will also use these results to promote: - the adoption of the Schools: Future Labs methodology by public education authorities in the participating countries and its implementation in more schools, including in secondary schools; - the piloting and dissemination of Schools: Future Labs in more countries in order to extend its benefits to students (and businesses) across the European Union. Long-term impacts We expect that as a result of this project, students will, as they grow older: - make a more successful transition into employment, in careers that are vital to the competitiveness of the European economies; - possess the skills that the private sector desperately needs. If these needs are different in 15 years' time, they will have developed the transversal skills necessary to adapt. Participants The project will be piloted in 5th and 6th-grade classes (or local equivalent) in seven project partner schools in four countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Poland and Romania. One linked secondary school will also participate in each country as an observer, with a view to extending the methodology to secondary schools in the future. Participants will include STEM and FL teachers who will be trained in the Schools: Future Labs methodology, as well as their students who will benefit from this methodology. Two Teacher Training Institutes (BG, PL), a University (EL) and an Education Ministry department (RO) specialised in teacher training, as well as two national cultural institutes (Goethe-Institut (DE) and Instituto Cervantes (ES)) will train, accompany and support the teachers and ensure that their work results in effective project outputs. The Spanish Ministry of Education completes the partnership, bringing its network and know-how to project dissemination.