<< Background >>We live in a world that just a few decades ago seemed like science fiction, with digital devices for anything one could think of and smart gadgets being an integral part of our life. In the face of this technological boom, we often ignore the impact these devices and the time we spend using them, have on our well-being as well as on the environment. Social isolation, psychological distress, depression and anxiety are just a few of the issues youth faces, thanks in no small part to spending huge amounts of time indoors, online, away from others, now more than ever due to the pandemic crisis. Young people especially, are the ones who get affected the most, since they are the main users of any emerging technology. Having the future ahead of them, also means that they will have to deal with the consequences of our environmental ignorance, long term. Sure, there are some well-known facts regarding health (like having the right posture while sitting in front of a PC) and environment (like recycling of digital devices and using energy saving settings) but they are outdated and far from enough to grant someone with high levels of competence proficiency. Both environmental risks, like for example the fact that the carbon footprint of many streaming services exceeds the CO2 emissions of most countries, while we binge-watch our -seemingly harmless- shows or listen to our favorite -though apparently not so “green”- songs, totally unaware that we contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions, and socioemotional, psychosocial and psychological health risks, as a result of excessive screen-time activities, are often easily neglected, even though they are as important, if not more, as recycling old digital devices or our physical well-being. All these make developing High School Teachers’ and students’ skills for a safe and responsible use of ICT essential.However, the switch to digital classrooms (online/distance classrooms) added considerable workload and challenges to teachers who struggle to deliver the curriculum online, thus oftentimes leaving the “Safety” aspects in the tail of their To Do list due to time constraints and lack of competence and knowledge on the subject. Even in the hybrid scheme (blended on-site and online learning) currently adopted by most countries, the conditions do not allow for proper pedagogical design and implementation of a complete training on “healthier and more responsible use of digital technology” in frames of national curricula.<< Objectives >>In this proposal we have formed a Partnership for Digital Education Readiness to build capacity in “healthier and more responsible use of digital technology”. The project aims to develop competences of proficiency levels up to 7 and promote “smart habits” for tech-smart High School Teachers and students. Training material will be designed in alignment with the Competences 4.3 “Protecting health and well-being” and 4.4 “Protecting the environment “, from Area 4 “Safety” of the EU Digital Competence Framework (DigComp). DigComp has been used as a tool by a number of organisations to develop learning materials, in most cases however not in its entirety, but focusing on a selected sub-set of competence areas and competences. To the best of our knowledge there is no training pack freely available to teachers on the entirety of competences listed under Area 4 “Safety” for all 8 levels of proficiency. In the report of JRC “DigComp into Action - Get inspired, make it happen” from 2018 some material for Area 4 is mentioned, with most focusing on competences “4.1 Protecting devices” and “4.2 Protecting personal data and privacy”. Usually, the two competences are coupled with competences of other areas. Materials that we could find in the literature manage to deliver training up to proficiency levels 3-4 “Intermediate” or less. For the competence “4.3 Protecting health and well-being” very limited training is available and almost no training materials are available for the competence “4.4 Protecting the environment”.<< Implementation >>BeWEEN project is built on a bottom-up approach, involving High School Teachers and students around a comprehensive process covering the components of research and analysis, piloting and evaluation and exploitation & policy making. In order to meet the project’s objectives, high schools and at least 15 high school teachers and 150 high school students per partner (ages 13-21, in order to cover all types of schools and students in the various national contexts) will be involved in the project’s activities. Other participants that will be also involved are trainers and representatives of other Educational organizations, representatives of local and national public authorities and policy makers.During the 24 months of the project’s implementation, partners, participants and potential end-users will embark into a challenging journey that will start with the research of the current needs for the development of competences and mindsets along with the collection of relevant good practices from all over Europe. The findings from this procedure will serve BeWEEN as the basis for the development of the relevant training curriculum for the digital competences of the teachers and its development and piloting. Practice-related activities will then be jointly promoted and supported by piloting actions that will enable participating high schools and educational institutions to exploit the full potential of the BeWEEN project’s results and outputs.<< Results >>BeWEEN will contribute for:1.Improving the level of key digital competences and skills of High School Teachers, with the aim to transfer this knowledge to students.2.Promoting and strengthening the European lifelong learning area, by contributing to the dissemination, multiplication and replication of the use of European transparency and recognition tools.3.Impact on EU policies concerning the safe and responsible use of digital technology.