Following the Footprints of Jan Amos Komensky Erasmus Project

Project Title

Following the Footprints of Jan Amos Komensky

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

Our project will be based on cooperation between two schools, CÍRKEVNÍM GYMNÁZIEM NĚMECKÉHO ŘÁDU (CGNR) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic and Ichthus College in Veenendaal, the Netherlands. The partnership between these two schools was created several years ago with the support of the respective towns, Olomouc and Veenendaal, which are partner towns since the year 1993. Both schools are Christian schools – CGNR is a Catholic school and Ichthus College is a Protestant school. Due to differences in this field and mutual cognition at the same time the participants willd be able to confirm that cultural, religious and social differences are not an obstruction to mutual co-existence, cooperation and understanding of each other.

Main aims of this project include the pursuit to address the young generation with the timeless heritage of Jan Amos Komensky, leading them to purporting questions of eternity and through team work in pursuit of human reformation, theoretical as well as practical. Thanks to the exchange programmes, the pupils will get to know the basics of Komensky learning and they will participate in other projects regarding Komensky, understanding the life and work of Komensky, creation of educational boards called “Youth of J. A. Komensky” and “Old Age of J. A. Komensky”, creation of videofiles “The Life of J. A. Komensky” and also creation of a comic book mapping the life and work of J. A. Komensky. The participants will have a unique opportunity to study similar aspects of Czech and Dutch culture while working on these projects. They will also be able to find common signs in the educational systems of both partner schools and countries and improvement of communicative skills in the English language. One of the most important aspects of this project will be solving one topic from two possible perspectives, Dutch and Czech.

There are 34 people participating in this project – 30 pupils and 4 teachers. Involved pupils are 16-17 years old and they attend schools focusing on general education. Other participants are going to include pedagogical staff, parents and representatives of both partner towns.

Each school will organise one week of educational activities that will take place in the Czech Republic and in the Netherlands. These activities will involve participation at the other school´s classes which will allow the pupils to personally experience everyday life of a foreign school and educational system of a foreign country, and also participation in extra-curricular activities which will support and deepen relationships between project participants. The pupils will prepare a plan of activities that will be attended throughout the year on eTwinning involving communication in the English language.

In September 2020, an introduction meeting of all project participants will be held in Olomouc which will provide the pupils the opportunity to get to know their project partners, the partner school and the partner town. They will also visit the places connected to life of Komensky and start working on the project.
Throughout the year, the participants will complete assignments in TwinSpace.
In May 2021, the second personal meeting of the participants will be held, this time in Veenendaal. During this visit the Czech participants will get to know the partner school, everyday school life and attend extra-curricular activities. They will also tour Veenendaal and visit places connected with life of Komensky. During this meeting the pupils will prepare the background papers for final meetings. The last three days will be dedicated to closing and evaluation of the project and presentation of the whole project “Following the Footsteps of J. A. Komensky”. All pupils will enrich themselves with knowledge about life and work of J. A. Komensky and, thus, meet the main aim of the project – deeper knowledge of J. A. Komensky as a theologist, educationalist and writer. Last, but not least, there will be the exchange of both educational exhibitions – “Youth of J. A. Komensky” and “Old Age of J. A. Komensky”.

After the second meeting in Veenendaal, both schools will organise meetings of project participants with their parents, other pupils and general public in their respective countries. These meetings will present presentations and results of the cooperation, presentations of photographs, videos and personal narration of participants.

At the end of the project there will be an evaluation of the project via questionnaires and the results will be assessed and shared with the partner schools.

The expected result and long-term impact of the project will be the creation and usage of quality materials about the life and work of J. A. Komensky from the perspective of Czech and Dutch pupils , which will be available for long-term usage at both schools.
Last but not least is the important impact of the project in strenghtening of personal, social and communicative competences of all participants.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32084 Eur

Project Coordinator

CIRKEVNI GYMNAZIUM NEMECKEHO RADU & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• St. voor Chr. Voortgezet onderwijs op reformatorische grondslag voor Veenendaal e.o.