More Than Knowledge:
Self-Development at School
An Erasmus+ partnership bringing classroom learning, practical challenges and scientific reflection together in Austria and Germany.
What do children need to build a fulfilling, self-directed life? Alongside academic knowledge, we believe they need opportunities to understand themselves, navigate emotions and build caring relationships.
Through this Erasmus+ project, GET – Global Educational Transformation and Empowerland brought that ambition into schools. Together with teachers, pupils, researchers and volunteers, we explored how self-development could become part of everyday education—and what we could learn from putting it into practice.
Project period: February 2025–August 2026
Partners: GET, Austria, and Empowerland gUG, Germany
Erasmus+ grant: €60,000
Project number: 2024-2-AT01-KA210-SCH-000284342
Building the partnership
GET coordinated the project and connected schools, teachers, researchers and volunteers. Empowerland contributed its experience in camps and experiential learning. Regular conversations and shared planning helped us connect the different activities, respond to challenges and learn from one another.
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Supporting teachers
Forty teachers participated in training: 33 attended three intensive days in Vienna, while seven participated online only. The in-person programme combined expert contributions, practical exercises and personal reflection.
GET also provided access to its existing online training and teaching resources. Throughout the school year, individual support and peer exchange helped teachers adapt the approach to their classes.
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Making space for self-development
The project involved 45 classes in Austria and Germany, compared with 16 originally planned. Schools introduced self-development through dedicated lessons or integrated activities, depending on their circumstances. Delivery frequency varied.
Emotional check-ins, breathing exercises, role-play and group discussions gave pupils opportunities to explore feelings, strengths and relationships. Teachers used prepared materials while responding to the needs of each class. The existing GET resources supported implementation but were not all created through this project.
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Creating “Challenge Accepted”
One of the project’s lasting results is a 100-page German-language workbook with 39 practical challenges for young people aged approximately 10–18.
Developed through pupil and teacher feedback, classroom testing and Empowerland’s camp experience, the book invites children to learn by doing. Different levels offer manageable starting points and opportunities to progress.
Activities include discovering interests, exploring another person’s perspective, noticing moments of gratitude and finding creative uses for everyday objects.
Teachers are warmly invited to try the challenges with their classes and share their experiences with us.
Download “Challenge Accepted”:
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Learning through the Empowerland camp
In April 2026, 49 children participated in two successive 2.5-day camp programmes at Stettenhof in Mödingen, Germany.
The camp brought self-development into a different setting through teamwork, strengths-based activities and reflection. GET and Empowerland worked together on preparation and delivery.
Experiences did not stay at the camp: strengths activities helped inspire “Interessen entdecken”, while a compliments exercise informed “Andere mögen” in the challenge book.
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Evaluating honestly
David Matischek led the evaluation under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr. Emilia Iannilli at the University of Graz. The quasi-experimental study analysed pre-post data from 528 pupils across 59 classes at 13 schools.
The study did not find significant intervention effects across the ten measured outcomes. Additional analyses supported the null findings, and more frequent teaching did not demonstrate greater effects.
These findings matter. They have helped us identify priorities for better implementation records, more reliable data collection and targeted evaluation of individual programme elements. We want our work to develop through careful reflection, not only encouraging stories.
Read the full research repor and the German-language practical lessons report by clicking on the documents.
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Feedback
In a separate feedback questionnaire, 200 pupil responses gave the subject an average rating of 4.02 out of 5. Pupils appreciated relaxation, group discussion and opportunities to apply learning in everyday life. They also asked for improvements to timing, language and content.
“You learn how to make friends, and you also learn a lot about feelings,” one pupil wrote.
Teacher Veronica F. shared: “The children look forward to the lesson every week.”
These translated voices describe personal experiences, not proof of effectiveness. They encourage us to continue listening and improving.
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Sharing what we learned
We shared the project through educational networks, public events, the Interpädagogica fair and media contributions. Materials were shared through ESEP/eTwinning, and six entries have been uploaded to the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform, including the workbook, evaluation reports, videos and feedback collage.
Our wider GET mission trailer was also used to support communication.
The funded project has ended, but the work continues. GET’s wider programme involves 71 classes for 2026/27, and approximately 60% of participating teachers are continuing, sometimes with new classes.
More age-specific materials are in development. A new study led by Elena Kirkman is underway with more than 30 classes, applying lessons from the evaluation. Empowerland is also building on the camp experience through continued school cooperation.
For now, our priority is to strengthen relationships in Austria and Germany. Wider international cooperation will develop gradually as translated materials, team capacity and funding become available.
Would you like to use the resources, share classroom experiences or explore cooperation? We would love to hear from you.
Contact: team@get-ngo.com
European Union support
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or OeAD-GmbH. Neither the European Union nor OeAD-GmbH can be held responsible for them.