Dear readers,

 You are receiving the second newsletter dedicated to the international project PROWELL (Promoting Well-being and Mental Health for Pupils and Teachers in Basic Education through Innovative Prevention and Intervention Programmes for Primary Schools), which we began implementing in November 2024 together with seven other partners from three European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Spain. Through this newsletter, we would like to inform you about what we have achieved since the project began, how the project is progressing and what still lies ahead in the coming period. We believe that, together with you, we will achieve our goal – to support teachers, particularly at lower secondary level, in the area of mental health.

Stay tuned!

__________________________________________________________________

Today, the mental health of pupils and teachers is an important issue in all European and non-European countries. Experience and research findings have confirmed that pupils, teachers and the public still lack sufficient awareness of the importance of mental well-being, learned helplessness syndrome, and the seriousness of escalating violence in and outside schools. This means that although we are aware of these problems, we do not address them sufficiently, and education should begin as early as primary school. The situation is the same in the Czech Republic and Spain.

To help close this gap, on 1 November 2024, the Slovak publishing house Expol Pedagogika, together with seven other partners, began implementing the international project PROWELL (Promoting Well-being and Mental Health for Pupils and Teachers in Basic Education through Innovative Prevention and Intervention Programmes for Primary Schools).

What have we achieved in the project so far?

  1. First work package (research)

Following the first joint meeting of the project partners in Bratislava in December 2024, Pan-European University in Slovakia, in cooperation with Miguel Hernández University in Spain and ZŠ Most in the Czech Republic, began work on the first project output – RESEARCH – focusing on the social-emotional health and well-being of pupils, behavioural patterns and motivation, the competencies of teaching and non-teaching staff to address learned helplessness, and school inclusion policies and procedures. The partners developed questionnaires for school management and teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as observation sheets for pupils. The data collection process across the three partner countries was then coordinated and monitored.

After the survey was completed, PEU prepared a research report, and we used its findings to develop the prevention and intervention programme.

  2. Online partner meeting and completion of the research

In May 2025, the partners met online to successfully complete the first work package of the PROWELL project. The findings showed that the mental health of pupils in the three partner countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Spain – requires some improvement. The analysis of the collected data was subsequently used to develop intervention and prevention programmes, as well as activity resources for pupils.

  3. Third project partner meeting in Most (Czech Republic)

In December 2025, another in-person project partner meeting was held, organised by the partner school in the Czech Republic. During the meeting, the partners discussed the conclusions arising from the research conducted in the previous phase and presented proposals for activity resources for pupils, including their structure, content and scope. The partners then agreed to develop an initial concept and test it in the partner schools.

  4. The first half of the PROWELL project is complete

In April 2026, the PROWELL project reached the halfway point, and so far we can conclude that we are successfully meeting the project objectives according to plan. The project partners met online again in April 2026, where several staff changes in the individual teams working on the PROWELL project were discussed. Together, we reviewed the partner schools’ feedback on the activity resources developed for pupils and proposed the next steps in the project.

What lies ahead in the next phase of the project?

We are currently working on the third work package of the PROWELL project: the Prevention and Intervention Programme. Miguel Hernández University in Spain is leading this work package in cooperation with Pan-European University. Another task is to incorporate the feedback into the activity resources for pupils and finalise them. After a busy summer, all partners will meet again, this time in Spain.

Where can you find us?

More information about the PROWELL project and current developments is available on our official website and Facebook page:

More info:   https://prowell.expolpedagogika.sk/

https://www.facebook.com/well.being.project24/