The paper combines applied research and development in an international cooperation project in personal development and inclusive education between teacher training institutions in Switzerland, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. It addresses improving primary and secondary school children's transversal skills through a specific personal development teaching and learning program. Additionally, it presents an ongoing qualitative and quantitative research element. The research study focuses on how international partnerships, specifically between Switzerland and the Western Balkans, can successfully implement a teaching and learning program on personal development. In addition, the discussed research study focuses on how a program that includes material development, training elements for teachers, and implementation in schools and classrooms can support the development of students' life skills.

The research study is embedded into different theoretical frameworks: The OECD Learning framework (2018), the WHO life skills approach (2001), and the UNICEF A-S-K model of competencies (2006), including its approach towards inclusive education. As a theoretical foundation, a discussion on these approaches in life skills education and personal development is included in the first part of the presented paper. The set of life skills and competencies in personal development derived from the different theoretical frameworks for the international cooperation program between Switzerland, Kosovo, and North Macedonia is presented and mirrored against the call for lifelong learning formulated by the European Commission (2010).

Therefore, in a first step, these international theoretical frameworks for life skills are discussed and combined with the claim for lifelong learning and the need for making pre-existing competencies visible, focusing on the specific countries' situations in the Western Balkans. All three elements are significant pillars in the presented developed teaching and learning program.

In a second step, the personal development program, developed by the Zurich University of Teacher Education and implemented in the two partner countries, is discussed in more detail. By tackling individual learning processes and transversal skills, the teaching and learning culture is shifted towards child-oriented and cooperative learning settings that allow individualization and differentiation in the light of inclusive education. This shift can bear challenges for teacher trainers, teachers, students, and the entire educational system as belief systems, traditions, standard teaching practices, and the individual child's view are under change.

In a third step, the implementation mechanisms of the international partnership between the three involved countries are discussed from a process-oriented perspective and enriched with presenting the ongoing quantitative and qualitative research study accompanying the project. Along the lines of the international frameworks, the research study takes place on three different levels: project implementation level, students' level, and teachers' level, gathering data through qualitative and quantitative methods for both levels. Apart from the qualitative view on the project implementation process, the first results of the quantitative pre-test study in Kosovo and North Macedonia are presented and discussed, delivering an insight into the current level of competencies and life skills of students in Kosovo and North Macedonia. 

The overall research study consists of a mixed-method approach, differentiating between the assessment of life skills on the students' level, the teachers' perception, and the teachers' competencies in life skills education (quantitative and qualitative). In addition, classroom observations of randomly selected children deliver qualitative data in both the pre- and post-test. For the meta-analysis of the project implementation through international cooperation, a qualitative, action-based participatory approach is chosen where project implementers and teachers are interviewed, meeting protocols, feedback on material development, and training sessions are used for qualitative content analysis (McTaggart, 1997, 2006). The results of the qualitative content analysis will give insight into different categories of successful international cooperation such as participation, ownership, teaching and learning culture, efficiency, communication, etc. All interpretations will be made based on the concept of Grounded Theory, developing recommendations for a “Theory of Change” in international cooperation programs (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, 2008), (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). In the context of development cooperation, the approach used can also be described as an evidence-based action research approach (Popplewell & Hayman, 2012). This research study element of the assessment of life skills is based on the Life Skills Assessment Scale (LSAS) developed in India by Kennedy et al. (2014). The LSAS itself focuses on the ten core life skills developed by the World Health Organization. For the specific self-perception of children, the LSAS was adapted by the Zurich University of Teacher Education to the LSQC – Life Skills Questionnaire for Children. The LSQC and the LSAS specify five life skills in children and young people: 1. interacting with others; 2. overcoming problems and finding solutions; 3. taking initiative; 4. managing conflict and 5. understanding and following instructions. The LSQC is a short questionnaire to be completed by all children twice a year. It consists of 20 statements that the children give their ratings and levels of agreement to. Teachers are instructed through a short introduction on administering the LSQC in their classes. The results of the LSQC and the LSAS can be matched for both the pre- and post-test. All quantitative data (over 2'000 children in both countries) is gathered and processed by the project partners in North Macedonia and Kosovo through SPSS with creating different sets of correlations between age, gender, and location of the schools.

The meta-analysis of success factors for international project cooperation and implementation results is expected to strengthen the view on participatory cooperation with a high commitment and autonomy regarding the specific country or regional context. Due to the vast diversity and multiculturality in North Macedonian and Kosovo schools, specific demands were formulated by the teachers and the project partners. Materials and training were shaped following these demands. With teachers and teacher trainers being the core group for educational changes in a system, the meta-analysis will deliver information on mechanisms of change regarding the teaching and learning culture, the implementation of new curricula, and the need for training of this group. Along the lines of the qualitative analysis' categories, the lessons learned for similar programs will be helpful in the future. In the presented program a train-the-trainer approach was taken to appoint expert teachers in the schools who can act as multipliers. Depending on the study's results, it could be a next step to raise awareness and install a professional teacher leaders' system in the schools, including peer mentoring, peer coaching, and peer feedback on the teaching practice of personal development and life skills. Regarding the specific life skills assessment, all project partners expect the students to show different levels of competence in categories that are closely related to taking own initiatives (according to first raw data). The study will cross-check these first findings with the qualitative data showing the teachers' perception of their student's life skills and personal development. Correlations between age and gender for life skills development are expected. The life skills assessment results on students' and teachers' levels will deliver vital information for the project teams in all countries regarding the adaptation of training, material, and information to the schools.

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